Quinn's Undying Rose (Scanguards Vampires #6) (23 page)

Blake’s disappointed gaze drifted to Wesley, who merely shrugged, indicating that he didn’t know any more than Blake.

“Blake, you’ll be the person to be hidden from our opposing team. The hiding place will be a safe house in Twin Peaks. Our opponents don’t know of its existence. To help us with moving our trainee, headquarters has authorized two additional agents,” Quinn continued his deception.

While the plan was essentially what he laid out, there was neither a safe house, nor any additional agents. No, the two people who were supposed to arrive within minutes couldn’t be further away from being agents or bodyguards of Scanguards. Nevertheless, he continued his charade so that Blake would play along without giving them any trouble.

“I was lucky to secure two of the best.” He looked at Blake and Wesley. “Don’t be fooled when you see them. They’re both lethal and the best in their field. Questions?”

Amaury straightened. “What do you want me to do?”

“You’ll help secure the property once Blake has left.”

Blake raised his hand. “How are you planning to move me out of here without anybody noticing?” He made a movement with his hand, indicating the size of his body. “I’m not exactly easy to overlook.”

“Good question.” But Quinn had already thought about this and found a way. “You’ll find out in time.”

“When are we starting?” Wesley asked.

“As soon as our two agents have arrived.”

Rose got up from her armchair. “In the meantime, we’d better get those two looking like twins.” She pointed her finger toward Wesley and Blake.

Blake scowled. “No chance in hell. I’m taller than him and broader. He looks nothing like me.”

“Maybe not close up, but with the right kind of adjustments and the same clothing, you’ll look like you’ve come from the same womb,” Rose insisted.

Quinn nodded in agreement. Rose had told him about how the prostitutes she employed had helped her disguise herself and how they’d become decoys for her. It had given him the idea of how to get Blake out of the way of the impending attack.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Blake said skeptically.

“Upstairs, get changed,” Quinn ordered. “Rose, do you need me?”

She shook her head. “Trust me, I’ve done this for a long time.”

Rose ushered Blake and Wesley out of the room. When Wesley walked passed him, Quinn lowered his voice for only him to hear. “And keep your hands off Rose. Make sure Blake does the same. I’m holding you responsible.”

“I got the message the first time.”

When he heard them walk up the stairs, he looked back at his friends.

“Nice performance,” Amaury smirked.

Cain shoved a hand through his hair. “I still don’t understand why you don’t just tell him. He seems robust enough to get over it quickly. Hell, I bet he’d even find it cool.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about. But joke aside, Rose doesn’t want him to know.” If it was his choice, he would tell Blake what was really going on. But he had to respect Rose’s wishes. He was her grandson too.

“What do you need us to do now?” Oliver asked.

Quinn looked at him, noticing instantly that he seemed tense when he only knew the kid as relaxed. He shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the next, almost as if moving farther away from Nina. His nostrils trembled.

Concern for his prodigy made him furrow his forehead. He’d not spent much time with Oliver since they’d moved into the B&B two nights earlier. And by the looks of it, this fact wouldn’t change in the next few hours either.

“You okay?” he asked Oliver.

His prodigy straightened visibly. “Sure.”

“Good. I’ll have you three secure the house. Make sure no entry points are left open. Check all windows and doors; then give me your assessment of where they’ll try to attack. Find our weakest point.”

“How about me?” Nina asked.

“I don’t have an immediate need for you. However, once Blake and Wesley are gone, I’ll need you to do a perimeter check. It’s daylight, so whoever is out there watching us, is human. Stay away from any dark vans in case any vampires are hiding in them and might pull you in.”

He looked at Amaury. “You okay with that?”

Amaury nodded, then glanced at his mate. “Just don’t do anything rash. Just a perimeter check. You find something suspicious, you come right back. Don’t take care of it yourself.”

Nina waved him off. “I know the drill. So, if you don’t need me right now, I might as well help Rose, getting those boys all decked out.”

She took only one step before Amaury grabbed her from behind and pulled her back.

“Oh, no, you won’t!”

Quinn watched with amusement as Nina struggled in Amaury’s grip.

“What’s your problem?”

“My problem?”Amaury growled. “My problem is that Blake made a pass at you not an hour ago. Do you really think I’m so stupid as to let him get close to you again?”

Amaury glanced at Quinn. “Your grandson is a womanizer, and you would do the same if you were in my shoes. No offense.”

“None taken.” Unfortunately, Amaury was right: Blake was so much like him, or rather, like he’d been over the last two hundred years. All because he wanted to forget Rose. So what was Blake’s excuse?

“You big oaf!” Nina griped.

“You wouldn’t have it any other way!”

Nina pouted her lips. “As if!”

Instead of an answer, Amaury pulled her closer and sank his lips onto hers, shutting her up with a kiss.

While Cain chuckled, Oliver looked tense again.

Shit, he had to get his prodigy out of here, away from whatever temptation there was.

“Oliver, I want you to start with the garage and basement. Now.”

The kid almost bolted from the room.

Then Quinn turned back to Amaury, who was still kissing his wife. “Amaury!” he shouted. “We are still here. And there’s work to be done.”

His friend released Nina instantly, shrugging and tossing him a sheepish look. “Sure.”

Then he let a seductive look slide over his wife. “Later.”

Nina simply boxed him in the shoulder and left the room, shaking her head. “I’ll be in the kitchen.”

Amaury’s eyes followed the tantalizing sway of her hips, then he twisted his lips into a smile. “Oh, yeah, she wants me.”

Quinn rolled his eyes, noticing that Cain was doing the same. “She’s your mate. Of course she wants you.”

“Yeah, but right now, she
really
wants me.”

“She’ll have to wait, because I
really
want you to start securing the house,” Quinn answered in dry tones.

When Cain laughed out loud, Amaury shot him a pissed off glare. “Wait until it hits you, then you won’t be laughing at the rest of us anymore.”

“Out, both, now!” Quinn ordered.

Even before the two had left the room, Quinn’s sensitive ears picked up the sound of the garage door in the back of the house opening. Since the house was build on a slight incline, the backside of the house was lower than the front. The garage was accessible at street level from the back of the house, yet inaccessible from the front, where it lay underground.

“They’re here,” he murmured to himself and headed for the stairs to the basement and garage.

By the time he reached the garage, the car had already pulled in, and the garage door was closed again. Quinn walked up to the convertible, a red BMW. The top was down, and thanks to the unusually sunny weather, that fact would not look suspicious to anybody watching them. Quinn counted on it. It was important that Keegan’s people saw who entered and left the house. A convertible made sure of that.

He rushed to the driver’s side, opening the door before Delilah had a chance to open it herself. She gave him a grateful smile and accepted his hand.

“Thanks for coming so quickly.”

“Goes without saying.”

Portia exited from the passenger side. “At least that gives us something useful to do.”

He smiled at Zane’s mate who despite her young age acted more mature than he’d seen two hundred-year-old vampires behave.

He was about to turn away from the car when he saw a movement on the backseat. His mouth dropped open. “You brought the baby?”

Delilah lifted her daughter out of the car seat. “I talked Samson into it. Nobody will suspect us if we’re traveling with a baby. She’s the perfect distraction.” She planted a soft kiss on Isabelle’s head. “Aren’t you?”

Quinn lifted his hands in capitulation. “If Samson is okay with that . . . .”

“Not to worry,” Portia added, exchanging a wicked grin with Delilah. “He’ll get over it. I’m riding along for protection. Even if the other side sets anybody on our tail and tries to attack us, they can only use humans during daytime. They won’t know what hit them when they try to attack us. They’re not gonna know that I’m part vampire.”

“And Zane agreed to that?” Quinn asked doubtfully.

“He did,”
a muffled voice came from the direction of the trunk.
“And now he’d like to get out of this prison.”

“Oops, sorry, baby,” Portia said hastily and hurried to the trunk, opening it.

Zane peeled his long figure out from the tight interior, stretching as soon as he stood.

“I wasn’t expecting you.”

“I figured you could use an extra pair of hands.”

“Always appreciated.”

Suddenly, Delilah seemed to remember something and dug into her pocket. “Here’s the phone you asked for. Thomas rigged it. The only person who can text or call back to this phone is the one you contact with it. Otherwise, it’s untraceable.”

“Thanks.” Quinn took it and stuffed it into his pocket.

Pleased that things were running right on schedule, Quinn led the new arrivals upstairs, filling them in on their tasks while they waited for Wesley and Blake to get ready.

They didn’t have to wait long.

Rose had done an amazing job, making the two look indeed very similar from afar. Even at close range the similarities were striking. The clothing was the easy part. They both wore jeans and red T-shirts.

“You look a lot taller, Wes,” Quinn commented, wondering how Rose had achieved that.

He grinned, lifting his jeans by a few inches, exposing the boots he wore. “Rose stapled some rubber underneath it, adding a couple of inches.”

“Looks good,” he said approvingly.

“And I’m wearing padding,” Wes added.

“Are those the agents?” Blake interrupted, pointing at Delilah, Portia, and Zane. “I thought there were only going to be two.”

Quinn winked at Blake. “Sometimes you have to know when to cheat a little.”

“Cool!”

“These are Delilah, Portia, and Zane.”

Blake nodded in greeting, eying the baby in Delilah’s arms suspiciously. Taking a step closer to Quinn, he leaned in and lowered his voice. “They brought a baby?”

“To distract the other side. Watch and learn,” Quinn answered quickly. “As I said before, they are the best at what they do.”

Which in Delilah’s case meant producing a beautiful child. But Blake didn’t need to know that. As for Portia, she was the best thing that could have ever happened to Zane, the vampire he considered his closest friend, who had battled with the demons of his past and finally won. He’d emerged a different man: finally free of the shackles of his mental prison. He was still one of the most lethal vampires he’d ever known, yet some of the volatility that had ruled Zane’s life had been replaced by the peace his mate gave him.

“Okay, into positions. Blake, you and Portia will go out on the porch, make sure you wander around out there, so whoever is watching can see you.”

Quinn couldn’t help but see the grin on Blake’s face as he let his eyes run over Portia’s body. Nor did he miss Zane’s corresponding scowl.

“And Blake,” he added. “We’re watching you.”

He hoped that would be a sufficient hint to make sure the kid would keep his hands to himself and behave. If not, Zane would be on Blake’s ass like a bee on honey. And whatever Zane dealt out would hurt more than a bee sting.

As Portia motioned Blake to the doors that led to the terrace, Quinn and his fellow vampires quickly stepped into the hallway, away from the rays of sun about to stream into the room.

“If he weren’t related to you, I wouldn’t let Portia near him,” Zane started. “But don’t be fooled. If he touches her, the deal is off.”

Quinn refrained from shaking his head. “Why is it that you guys constantly have to remind me that you’ll defend your mates against any man? First Amaury, now you. Don’t you think I already know that?”

“Just a friendly reminder.” Zane tried a courteous smile, but it looked wooden. Friendly was just not his way.

“He’ll behave,” Quinn answered automatically, turning to look at Rose. As he sought her eyes, she smiled at him; however, doubt remained in her eyes.

“You sure this’ll work?” she whispered to him.

“Him behaving? Don’t worry.”

“No, fooling Keegan.”

He stroked his hand over her jaw, forgetting for a moment that they weren’t alone. “Trust me.”

From inside the living room, he heard Delilah’s voice call Blake back into the room. “Blake, honey, you should wear a baseball hat or you’ll get a sunburn.”

Footsteps announced that Blake was coming back into the room.

Quinn could see through the gap of the door they’d left ajar that he entered. A minute later, Delilah said loudly, “There, that’s better.”

It was Wesley’s cue to take Blake’s place on the terrace, a San Francisco Giants baseball cap partially obscuring his face. As he walked out to join Portia, Delilah and Blake stepped into the hallway.

“Good. Follow me,” Quinn ordered, leading them downstairs into the garage.

He pointed at the convertible. “In you go.”

When Blake headed for the front seat, Quinn stopped him quickly. “The trunk.”

“What?”

“We can’t smuggle you out of here if they can see you.”

“But can’t I just lie on the backseat with a blanket over me?”

Quinn chuckled and exchanged a look with Delilah. “You’re watching entirely too many bad movies. That trick doesn’t work in the real world.”

He crossed the distance to the car and opened the trunk. “Make yourself comfortable.”