The Guardian (14 page)

Would she be reading right now? Or perhaps listening to her music while she … surfed, that was the

word, the Internet?

He was so focused on the comfort of her, that he didn’t see Noir stop at the door of one of the questioning

chambers.

Noir grabbed him by the throat in a grip so fierce, it instantly dropped him to his knees. Seth knelt in front

of him, wheezing through his damaged windpipe. His vision dimmed.

Don’t lose consciousness.
If he did, Noir might pul him into one of those rooms again.

Panic set his heart racing. He couldn’t take another minute pinned to one of those tables. He couldn’t.

“Are you paying attention to me, dog?”

Before he could answer, an alarm blared.

Noir let go, leaving him to gasp air back into his lungs.

“Summon my legion! We have intruders.”

Coughing and stil wheezing, Seth pushed himself up and disobeyed his master to go to his room, and

make sure Lydia was safe from harm. He had a bad feeling about who was here and what they wanted.

Surely Solin wouldn’t have been able to assemble an army so quickly. But what if he had?

He’d never see Lydia again. That thought hurt even more than Noir’s beatings. Indeed, it felt as if

someone was tearing his heart into pieces.

Seth shimmered in the corner and looked around.

She wasn’t here.

No …

For the first time since he lay in the desert begging to die, he wanted to cry from the pain of it.

But after he’d materialized ful y in the room, she ran out of the shadows with her breakfast knife held tight

in her fist.

The rush of joy and relief in seeing her there overwhelmed him. Before he even realized what he was

doing, he pul ed her into his arms and held her close.

Lydia was absolutely stunned as she found herself crushed against those cold metal plates. The only

person who’d ever held her like this was Solin.

As if she was the most precious thing in the world to him.

If she didn’t know better, she would swear she felt the Guardian shaking while he held her. He had one

hand cradling her head and the other arm wrapped so tight around her waist that she couldn’t breathe.

She was so smal next to him that her head only reached to the middle of his chest.

“You’re … crushing … me.” Her words came out in desperate gasps.

His hold tightened even more before he released her and stepped back. Panic radiated from his gaze as

he bent down to inspect her for damage. “Are you al right?”

Whoa, that was actual concern.

From him.

“Uh, yeah. What’s going on?”

He final y realized he was stil touching her. The moment he did, he let go and moved back another step.

“Someone’s attacking us.”

“Solin?”

“I don’t know.” He reached out to touch her face, then stopped his hand just before he made contact.

But before he could withdraw it, she took it into hers and held it tight. “Were you afraid he’d taken me?”

His brows lowered into one of his fiercest expressions. It was so dark and deadly that she thought he was

angry at her—that he might actual y damage her. “I was afraid you were hurt.”

Seth had no idea why he let her know that. It was a weakness he shouldn’t have. He shouldn’t care

whether she lived or died.

And yet …

He would do anything to keep her safe. He knew that now.

She wasn’t a tool to be used against Solin.

Lydia was the woman who could be used to destroy
him
. He winced at the undeniable truth.
How could I

have been so stupid?
Never had he cared about anyone or anything other than his books, and look at how

Noir had tormented him over those.

The bastard had made him watch as he burned them in front of him and dared him to try and save them.

Page by page, one by one. Noir took his only pleasure from making others suffer.

He would torture and kil Lydia and in turn, that would destroy him.

How would he be able to live if he knew he’d caused her harm? How?

Before he could gather his thoughts, the door he’d banished from his room reappeared to his left. He

pul ed Lydia behind him, then turned to face whoever was pounding against it.

An instant later it crashed open.

Lydia gasped as she saw the demons that were spil ing into the room. They definitely weren’t Greek.

She’d never seen anything like them in real life or in nightmares.

Suddenly, some unseen force pul ed her back toward the bed and held her there as the Guardian

attacked the demons.

She had a newfound respect for his prowess as she watched him battle them. They would get a wound in

here or there, but he paid no attention to it as he cut them into pieces with his sword.

Dang, he was a great fighter. Probably one of the best she’d ever seen. How awful it had to be for a man

so strong and skil ed to be forced to subjugate himself to the cruel whims of Noir and Azura. She hadn’t

realized the true horror of his predicament until now.

To know you had the ability to fight like that and to be tortured the way he was …

How could he stand it?

He stabbed the last one through the heart, then turned toward her. The shield holding her fel and her high

heels melted into a pair of running shoes. “Come, Lydia. It’s not safe here anymore.” To her complete

shock, he held his hand out to her.

Hoping that wasn’t a sign of the Apocalypse, she ran to him and took it.

He pul ed her out into the hal way, where the sounds of fighting echoed loudly. An instant later, a ful suit of

armor covered her.

She looked up at the Guardian, who handed her a sword.

“Do you know how to use one of these?”

“Of course. Pointy end goes into the other guy, hopeful y through the heart.”

He inclined his head respectful y to her. She didn’t miss the look in his eyes that said he half expected her

to use it on him—like she’d done with her dagger the first time they met. The fact that he gave it to her when

he didn’t trust her said a lot.

“Who’s attacking us?”

He sighed. “It looks like Thorn’s people.”

“Thorn?”

“He lives on the other side of the Divide. Normal y he and Noir have a truce. But every now and again…”

His voice trailed off as a winged demon swooped down at them.

Lydia caught the demon just as it went past, stabbing it through the heart.

The demon shrieked before it hit the ground behind her.

Without a single comment, the Guardian led her away from the fighting. She wasn’t sure where they were

heading until he opened a door and shoved her through it.

“What the hel ?” a man growled in a tone so deadly, it startled her.

Her heart pounding in stark terror, she turned to see a tal dark-haired man on the other side of the room.

He would have been every bit as handsome as the Guardian except for his eyes, which were so off-putting

and unnerving they completely took him down several slots on the hotness scale. One was a vivid green

while the other a deep, dark brown.

She shivered at the sight of them. And like the Guardian, the ferocity of his powers thrummed through the

ether. She didn’t know who he was or what he did here, but it was obvious he could eat her for lunch if he

wanted to.

The Guardian locked the door and confronted the other man with his bloodied sword held out to his side.

“You owe me, Jaden. Watch her and make sure she doesn’t leave here.”

Jaden laughed sarcastical y. “Are you out of your freaking mind, Egyptian?”

The Guardian’s nostrils flared. “It’s the least you can do after what you did to me.”

Whatever Jaden had done in the past caused him to wince. “I would ask if you have any idea what would

happen to me if those assholes found her in my custody, but you know better than anyone the tab on that.

Gods damn you for it.”

“You’re a little late, they already did.” The Guardian glanced at her, then looked back at Jaden. “You’re the

only one here besides me who has the powers to protect her. Don’t you dare betray me.”

Jaden cocked his jaw as if he was considering betrayal after al . Or more to the point, putting the

Guardian through a wal for daring to threaten him. “It’s pathetic when you and I have to become al ies.” He

sighed in disgust. “My enemy’s enemy, I guess … Fine, I’l watch her. But only because it’s you. I wouldn’t

put my ass on the line for anyone else.”

The Guardian inclined his head to him, then used an expression Lydia hadn’t even known he knew.

“Thank you. I won’t forget this.”

His face unreadable, Jaden looked past the Guardian to the doorway. Shouts and metal clanking against

metal and stone echoed through the wooden door. “What’s going on out there?”

“I’m not sure. I’l be back as soon as I can.” The Guardian left them, then slammed the door closed, and

bolted it from the outside.

Like the Guardian’s, this room was dismal and bleak. Only Jaden had a fire blazing in his stone hearth,

and his bed looked like he actual y used it.

Jaden’s gaze darkened as he scanned her from head to toe in a less than friendly manner. One that

made her hackles rise.

“Seth doesn’t know, does he?”

She scowled at his question. “Who’s Seth?”

Jaden twisted his face up into an expression that questioned her mental capacity. “Hel o? The Guardian

who was just here, the big-ass guy with red hair, holding your hand and stupidly threatening me? Did you

miss seeing him somehow?”

So that was the Guardian’s name … Seth.

Strong and sinister, just like the man who bore it.

Jaden rol ed his eyes. “He never told it to you, huh? Typical … Just typical.”

“He said no one used it.”

“They don’t.”

“Then how do you know it?”

Jaden laughed cruel y. “I know everything. Unlike Seth, I have my ful powers most of the time. And you’re

real y lucky he doesn’t.”

“How so?”

“’Cause when he finds out you’re a jackal, he wil kil you where you stand and bathe joyful y in your blood.”

Lydia scowled at Jaden and his dire prediction for her death at Seth’s hands. One thing was certain. Even

without her powers currently working, she wasn’t about to describe any of them to an unknown being. “I don’t

know what you’re talking about.”

He tsked at her. “Yes, you do, little girl. And you can’t hide anything from me so don’t even try. I wil know it

for the lie that it is even before it forms in your thoughts.”

Yeah, he was every bit as scary as Seth, but in an entirely different way.

Jaden crossed his arms over his chest and gave her a smile that said he might be considering her for

lunch. “You’re a Kattagari jackal. The scent of it is so strong on you that if Seth had recognized it, he’d have

already cut your throat. The only reason why you’re in human form right now, and can maintain it even when

you sleep, is that you’re also a Dream-Hunter. Lucky you. Unlike the rest of the Kattagaria, you have

complete control over your animal half regardless of your physical stresses. I’l bet you’re even immune to

losing them when you’re shocked.”

That was al true. It also helped that Seth had taken her powers, including her ability to shift.

“I heard that, and you’re right.” He laughed low in his throat. “Fascinating mixture of blood, isn’t it? I

wouldn’t have considered it possible, but then it does make sense in a weird way when you think about it.

Dream-Hunters are gods. Different genetics entirely than a human or Were. They’ve been able to

impregnate everything from insects to trees to every species known. Given that, it makes sense that a god

could impregnate a Were-Hunter even without the Fates mating them.” An evil gleam sparked in his

bicolored eyes. “That must have seriously pissed off those three bitches.”

Lydia was stunned by his mini rant. How could he possibly know al of that? She had
never
breathed a

word of her mixed heritage to anyone. She knew better. People didn’t like things that were different and she

was about as different as anyone could be. Her birth had been so unusual that, in human form, her mother

had worn gloves to the day she died so that no one would ever learn she’d given birth without mating. There

was no tel ing what the other members of her pack would have done had they discovered it. They might

have been elated. Or horrified to the point they kil ed them.

Her mother had never been wil ing to find out the answer.

To Lydia’s knowledge, only Solin had ever known the truth of her birth. And he would die before he told it.

Maybe Jaden was only bluffing or guessing.

Jaden’s smile was so patronizing she wished she had some way to knock it off his face. “Don’t bother

denying it. I told you. I’l always know the truth no matter how deep you think you have it buried.”

A chil rushed down her spine. She was desperate to know what she was dealing with right now—why he

had the powers he did. “What are
you
?”

“Fubar.”

She’d never heard of such a creature. Had his mother mated with a piece of steel or something?

“Fubar?”

He wiped his thumb down the corner of his mouth as if he’d heard that thought, too, and was trying not to

laugh about it. At least he had a sense of humor.