Dark (17 page)

Where the Spiders touched his skin, they disintegrated as his
natural immunity kicked in, but it wouldn’t last forever. His energy
fluctuated, and he reached out for Eva as he shoved his way through the pile of
aliens, trying to reach her before it was too late. When her hand came up out
of the crystal wave, he grabbed it. Spiders poured off of her like sand,
dissolving where they touched her skin. Relief filled him as he hugged her
tightly. He had no idea that their pairing would grant her the same immunity he
had. He thought she’d died. Her spirit had felt like a great black hole to his senses,
but now he realized that it had probably been his own fear blinding him to her
bright spark.

“Oh God, oh God,” she repeated, burrowing into him. “I thought I
was dead.”

“You’re safe, I’ve got you,” he said, holding her so tightly he
felt her spine creak.

“John, oh hell,” she said suddenly, pulling away.

Greyson wouldn’t let her turn. From the corner of his eye he could
see the Spiders burrowing into the man’s body. “He’s gone.” A few of the
creatures began scuttling towards him and Eva. If they didn’t leave soon, it
would be too late.

“Gone?” she asked, but then her face tightened and he knew she
understood. “We have to get out of here.”

“ETA five seconds.
Greyson,
now would be a good time to get the hell out of there,” Isaac’s voice said in
his ear.

“Yeah, time to go,” Greyson said, to Eva and his brother both. He
picked her up and ran.

Chapter Twelve

Eva looked out at the crowd of reporters and took a deep breath.
You
belong here,
she told herself.
You’ve had two days to deal. Get a grip.
She tucked her hand more securely into Greyson’s arm and forced herself to calm
down. She was safe. No one was going to question her presence here in the foyer
of Bruno’s Stronghold in Manhattan. Even so, as she looked down over the sea of
faces, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of uncertainty. The wide stairs where
they stood weren’t exactly hard to get to. If the Spiders attacked, they’d be
able to barrel right in through the open foyer and indoor garden.

“Relax,” Greyson said, leaning close. “Everything will be all
right.”

His emotions were locked down tight, so she knew he was uncomfortable,
too. She’d learned that if she prodded at him with her empathy, he’d have to
let her in, but she wouldn’t do that. Instead, she smiled crookedly at him.
“Yeah, right.
I’m about to have my face plastered all over
the world news.”

“It’s already been plastered all over the world news, remember?” He
kissed her cheek, ignoring the plethora of flashes that went off as he bent
down. “Don’t worry so much. You’re beautiful,” he said, correctly interpreting
part of her nervousness.

“I need to lose, like, twenty pounds,” she retorted under her
breath.

He poked her in the hip. “Don’t you
dare.
I love your curves.”

Eva’s face went hot. “Shut up,” she muttered, hoping no microphones
were picking up their conversation. On her left, Isaac gave her a tiny thumbs-up.
He was the last of the brothers she’d met, and the most insouciant. Where
Greyson’s outward persona was serious and forbidding, Isaac’s was careless and
relaxed as a cat lying in a sunbeam. Of course, looks were deceiving. Beneath
that exterior, she’d learned that Isaac hid a focused intensity that frightened
her. Her newly developed empathy was not without its drawbacks. She took
another deep breath and looked at the other brothers standing with her and
Greyson at the top of the steps.

Bruno was the suave politician and Solomon the quiet scientist.
Bruno controlled a temper no one suspected he had except the other Sentries.
Solomon had secrets he wouldn’t even tell his brothers. Together, these men
kept large swaths of the planet safe. She knew there were more Sentries in
other parts of the world, but Greyson and his brothers were the only ones
willing to go public, so they were the ones on which the world focused its attention.

“We’re ready,” Bruno said to his assistant, a stern-looking woman
with brown hair scraped back into a severe ponytail.

She nodded briskly and introduced them. “Okay, everyone, we’re
ready to get started. As you know, this is Bruno Day, the spokesman for the
Sentries. Lucky for you, for the first time, his brothers have decided to make
an appearance today as well. I’d like to introduce Isaac Dawn, Solomon Dusk,
and finally Greyson Dark and his paired mate, Eva Dark.”

Eva fought to control her surprise as Bruno stepped forward and
began to explain about the Spiders.
Eva Dark?
she
repeated to herself.
When did that happen
and why didn’t I know about it?
Greyson squeezed the hand on his arm and
she managed not to frown. It made sense, she supposed. Once paired, they could
not be parted. She was more than married to Greyson. She was part of his soul,
as he was part of hers. “My mother is going to freak out,” she muttered to him,
leaning in.

He chuckled and more flashes went off. “She’ll deal with it. She
took the news of John’s death better than you’d expected.”

Eva grimaced. “That was a horrible phone call. I’d had no idea she
went to Florida to get a divorce from him.”

“She seemed happy enough to inherit his money,” Greyson said.

“Yeah, well. That’s how she rolls,” Eva said bitterly.

Greyson sighed. “You don’t have to worry about her anymore.”

She nodded,
then
smiled for the cameras
when Bruno stepped back and gestured to her and Greyson. They stepped up to the
microphone.

“Mr. Dark, do you expect any more of the Spiders to come to Earth?”

“No, this particular infection was completely eradicated. Right
now, there’s nothing more to worry about. However, we will keep vigilant,”
Greyson replied, his deep voice sounding even more resonant with amplification.
“We are always alert, and have been for centuries.”

“Ms. Dark, it’s said you went to school here in the city. How did
you meet Mr. Dark?” a sharp-nosed woman asked, hand outstretched with her phone
to record the answer.

Eva blinked. She hadn’t expected anyone to ask her a question, let
alone one so personal. She swallowed. “Um, I met him when I was in high school.”

That answer had the crowd of journalists fighting to ask her more.
Greyson slid his arm around her waist protectively and picked one reporter from
the shouting horde.
“You, in the green.”

The young man cleared his throat as his fellow journalists
quieted. “How old are you?”

Of all the things to
ask,
Eva thought,
irritated. Eva glanced at Greyson. His face had gone as still as granite.
Beneath his hardened exterior, she sensed his emotions swirling. The urge to
protect her roiled to the top and she patted his arm,
then
stepped away. “What does my age matter? I’m very much an adult.” She took a
deep breath and explained more. “I met Greyson when my mom and I moved to a
small town near his Stronghold. I hurt my ankle and he helped me. I kept hiking
into his territory, and he kept warning me to go away. I didn’t listen.” A
chorus of chuckles swept through the reporters and Eva smiled, glad her gambit
to show that nothing wrong had happened between her and Greyson had worked. “Then
I left for college and we lost touch. When I moved back, he was still there.”
She shrugged. “The rest is your ordinary dating story.” She stepped back
slightly, letting Greyson take the lead. She’d said all she needed to about how
they’d met.
If the reporters wanted more information, too
bad.

“Do you have any more questions about the Spiders?” Greyson asked,
ignoring the calls for more information about Eva.

It’s none of their business what they think about me,
she thought, but deep inside,
underneath her reticence, she felt a fierce pride at the thought that she was
the one whom Greyson had chosen. Shy, overweight, messed up Eva was the girl
the Sentry had fallen for? How did she get so lucky?

“Is Ms. Dark a Sentry now, too?” one of the journalists shouted,
above the voices of his competitors.

Greyson paused, obviously trying to decide how to answer. Eva sent
a surge of support through their bond and he relaxed slightly. “She is. When we
paired, she gained the ability to deal with the Spiders.”

Eva remembered her shock when she’d looked in the mirror for the
first time after they’d bonded. The silver shards in her green irises had
worried her, until Greyson explained that they marked her as one of them.
And
he’s right, I can sense the Spiders. Not that I want to,
she mused,
shivering at the memory of John’s body. After the other Sentries had dropped
their energy bomb onto the structure, they’d gone back into her house to see
what was left. The pulse had wiped out the Spiders, leaving the building
intact, but nothing inside was worth keeping, except her willow tree.
Miraculously, it had survived everything, but John’s body had been nothing but
a red ruin.

“If you have no more questions, that will be all for today,” Bruno’s
assistant said, turning off the microphone feed. A few reporters surged
forward, but one look from Greyson and they fell back, disgruntled.

“If we’re done here, I’m going home,” Greyson said to Bruno.

Bruno nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine. Everything should go back to
normal now.”

“No, it won’t,” Isaac said, walking over to them. “You know that a
cluster of Spiders are hiding out near Alpha Centauri. We need to keep an eye
on them.”

Greyson rubbed his eyes. “He’s right. We should set up some
sensors.”

“The sensors fail after about a year or so,” Solomon said as he
joined them. “You know that. Space is unforgiving.”

“What choice do we have? We can’t keep flying out there. It’s
easier to set up a sensor net and monitor the swarm from here. When they move,
we’ll be ready,” Isaac argued.

“You’ll set it up?” Solomon asked.

“If Greyson can manufacture them, yeah, I’ll fly them out.”

“I can probably start building them tomorrow, but I’ll only be
able to make five or so a week,” Greyson said. “It takes a lot of energy.”

“If I can help, maybe it’ll go faster,” Eva offered. “Wouldn’t it be
easier with more people building them? Is it difficult to do?”

Isaac raised his eyebrows. “No, it’s not difficult, just tiring.
You have to use your own energy to activate the tech.”

“I’ll help, then,” she said, slipping her hand into Greyson’s arm
again. From the corner of her eye, she saw that most of the crowd had
dispersed. “It’s not like I have a job, anymore.”

“Wrong. You still have a job,” Bruno said.

Eva stared at him in surprise. “Um, my stepfather is dead.”

“Which means you’ll be in charge of web design for us. We’ve
needed someone to do it for a while, and you’re eminently qualified.
And one of us, now.”
Bruno waved to his assistant. “Eileen,
have you met Eva? She’s going to be the one redesigning our web presence.”

Eileen smiled and held out her hand.

Eva shook hands with the woman. “Pleased to meet you,” she
said,
a bit dazed. Everything seemed to be happening so
fast, but Greyson’s strong, silent presence at her side bolstered her
confidence. As long as she had him, she could do anything.

“You too, Ms. Dark.
If you need anything, just call or
email,” Eileen said. “Mr. Day has my details.” She flicked a glance at Bruno. “I
have to run and set up the press release.”

He nodded and she walked off, smiling to a few stragglers on their
way out of the building.

“She’ll be able to bring you up to speed,” Bruno said.

Eva frowned at him. “Why are you suddenly being so nice to me?”

He laughed. “You’re paired with my brother.”

“And that’s it?”

“That’s it,” Greyson replied for him before his brother could
answer. Bruno gave him a disgusted look, but Greyson just smiled serenely.

Eva shook her head. “What about John’s people?”

“They’ve scattered,” Solomon said. “I alerted the police to the
theft of our technology. They called the FBI. I tried to trace them through
their network, but they’d already slashed and burned the data. The other people
who worked for him have no idea that he’d been doing anything criminal. We’ll
be investigating them all, but I doubt we’ll find anything.”

“Figures,” Eva muttered. “John had me fooled for years.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself,” Isaac said, his green eyes kind. “It’s
easy to see the good in people and miss the bad.”

“I should’ve known better, after everything I’ve been through,”
she argued.

“Even we can’t always see it, Eva. Not even empathy always shows
the true heart of a person.” Greyson said quietly.

Eva thought about that. “I guess we’ll just have to be extra
alert.”