Protector Read online

  At that very moment he wished he had full use of his Arion skills. David and his kind traveled with the wind, at speeds unheard of by humans. He had to get to Holly before someone else did.

  Uneasiness crept over him. Something was not right. She was in danger. He didn’t think it was an Arion. But what? Five minutes passed, then ten. Where in the hell was she?

  Then he heard her scream, but in his head. Holly was terrified. He felt her in his mind, calling his name. For him to feel her so clearly, she had to be close.

  The minute he turned the next corner, he saw her. She stood stiff and still. Sound rolled through the air, not perceivable by human ears, but Mason was Arion. For once in his life, he was glad. There was no mistaking the rattlesnake’s dangerous warning.

  He jumped off the bike, making the tires skid off into the dirt as it landed on its side. Blessed with Arion grace and speed, Mason was behind Holly in seconds, his footsteps almost soundless.

  In his mind, he was thankful he had been above ground. He would never have sensed her danger from the cave. A small whimper escaped Holly’s lips but Mason didn’t have time to comfort her. Reaching for his belt, he grabbed the round knife of the Black Knights.

  It swished through the air with a hiss before plummeting into the snake’s neck, chopping off its head. Turning to Holly, he reached for her and she fell into his arms, her body trembling.

  “Oh, God,” Holly whispered into his shirt.

  Mason held her tight. Twice now he had found her in trouble, fearing he would lose her. No way could he let that happen. He loved her. The words came to his mind with certainty but he kept them to himself. “It’s okay, Angel. I’m here.”

  She clutched his shirt, looking up at him, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I thought… If you hadn’t… How did you—”

  He ran his hand down her hair in a soothing motion. “I seem to have a sixth sense where you’re involved.”

  Her lips trembled. “I just knew it was going to bite me.” She let her head drop to his chest.

  “But it didn’t,” he told her, kissing her head.

  A muscle in his jaw locked. Seconds later and he would have been too late. He’d witnessed the aftereffects of a few snakebites. Not pretty. She shouldn’t have been outside of the cave in the first place.

  “Why aren’t you in the cave?”

  She looked up at him again; her eyes were red, her cheeks streaked. At least she had stopped crying. “I,” she paused as if she struggled to find the words or didn’t want to speak them, “I…thank you for being here for me.”

  Not an answer. As much as he wanted to demand a response, he needed to get her back underground. There would be time for explanations later. Gently he ran his thumbs under her eyes, wiping away the dampness.

  His hands settled on her neck as he leaned forward and kissed her forehead. “Let’s get back to the cave.”

  Her hands went to his wrists, unshed tears pooling in her eyes. “I can’t go back there,” she whispered.

  He fought the urge to demand yet again. They were out in the open, exposed. “I need to know you’re safe, Holly.” The words, spoken in a low voice, held steel determination. “The cave is the best way to do so.”

  “I’ll leave the state,” she said desperately. “No one will find me.”

  He felt a pang of anger as reality washed through his mind like a dash of salt in an open wound. She wanted to leave him. And pain. He bit back both emotions. “Yes,” he replied firmly, “they will. I can’t let you leave.”

  Holly made a jerky movement, dropping her hands to his waist and trying to shove away from him. He held her with ease. “This isn’t fair,” she cried.

  Mason pulled her close, enfolding her in his arms, giving her comfort he knew she needed. She stilled, not fighting, burying her face in his shirt. Softly, he said, “I know it’s not fair but I can’t change the cards that have been dealt.”

  She didn’t look up at him. “Please just let me go,” she murmured.

  For now? Forever? He wasn’t clear on her meaning but it didn’t matter. His answer was the same. “I can’t, Holly.” His voice was raw with hard-spoken honesty. “I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you. You mean too much to me.”

  She wouldn’t look at him. “I wish I could believe that,” she said softly.

  He leaned back, taking her chin between his fingers to force her gaze to his. Her words were like a slap in the face and he needed to see her expression to know if she had meant them. Certainly he had given her reason to doubt him. Still, it wasn’t easy to accept.

  Searching her eyes, he saw turmoil of his own making. He let out a deep breath and released her chin. He was torn over Holly. He wanted to protect her from the Arions, from him, from anything and anyone who might harm her. On the other hand, he couldn’t bear the thought of her not being with him.

  He didn’t know what to say to her. “We have to get back.”

  “No,” she said, tipping her chin up defiantly.

  He was losing patience. Her safety was his first motivation. “This is not up for discussion.”

  She struggled uselessly against his grip as though she thought she might actually get away this time. He saw it as the desperate act it was, holding her tightly until she got it out of her system.

  “You can’t just order me around,” she said through clenched teeth.

  His resolve was ironclad. “Better me than the Arions.”

  She looked like she might argue but instead said, “I need my bag and purse.”

  His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Once I have you safely underground, I’ll pick them up.”

  “I don’t want to go back. Let me go!”

  “No,” he said simply because he wasn’t in the mood to play word games.

  “Yes!” she ground out angrily, her fists balled at her sides.

  A muscle in his jaw jumped. “No, Holly,” he said in a soft voice that defied the tension in his body.

  Her shoulders slumped with defeat. “I hate this.”

  “I know.”

  She stared at him.

  “We have to go,” he said, releasing her arms and then reaching for her again as he sensed she might bolt. He fixed her in a hard stare. “Running will get you nowhere. Don’t doubt my resolve, Holly. If I have to forcefully take you back, I will.”

  “Ohhh!” she glared at him. “You’re a damn monster!”

  Mason stiffened. “And you’d best remember that in the future.”

  He turned on his heels, walking briskly to the motorcycle, fighting his raging emotions. The truth was out. He was a monster. And now he knew how she really felt about him.

  He straddled the bike, kick-starting the engine with a roar that didn’t half match the one raging in his mind. He maneuvered the bike, stopping in front of Holly. “Get on.”

  Holly stood, hugging herself, struggling to catch her breath. Mason looked dangerously fierce sitting on the motorcycle. His sandy brown hair blew around his shoulders, his solid body humming with edginess. He looked every bit a formidable warrior.

  He wouldn’t look at her.

  She had hurt him. He seemed so untouchable, yet she felt his disruptive emotions as if they poured into her through her very cells.

  He wasn’t a monster. Not at all. He was a protector. Far different. Her protector. But not just hers and she knew it. He had made it his life’s work to serve others. Oh, how she wished she could call back her words.

  Never in her life had she lashed out at someone. Mason confused her. She wanted to be with him, was willing to give up her past, even her future. All she wanted in return was honesty. And love, she added silently.

  He revved the engine, turned stone-cold black eyes on her. “Now, Holly.”

  His tone cut through her like a knife, hard and uncaring. He was hurt, she reminded herself. She slipped her leg over the seat but didn’t wrap her arms around him. Somehow, she doubted he wanted her to touch him.

  She sensed his frustration
as he rotated around, fixing her in a heavy-lidded look. He grabbed one of her hands, turned, grabbed the other and wrapped them around his waist. Holly let her head fall onto his shoulder. She couldn’t help it. He felt safe and, even mad at her, comforting and perfect.

  God, she loved him. How could she leave him? It didn’t take away the sting of his dishonesty. On the other hand, the mistakes he had made with her didn’t diminish her love for him.

  She had simply been hurt and desperate when she ran from the cave. And stupid.

  When they arrived at the cave, Mason started pushing the bike toward the entrance. “I can let myself back in so you can go back to the cabin.”

  “Not a chance,” he said without looking at her.

  Holly rolled her eyes but didn’t argue. It was useless. They walked through the cave without saying a word to each other. Once they were on the elevator, the silence seemed unbearable, thick and intrusive. “Mason?”

  Slowly he turned his attention to her, fixing her in an unreadable stare and letting his brow inch up. The elevator doors opened.

  Holly threw her hands up. “Nothing.” She stepped off the elevator to find Sterling and Michael in the living room. Sterling, who was pacing, stopped and stared at them. “Where the hell have you two been?”

  “To hell and back,” Mason grumbled holding the elevator door with his hand. “Don’t let her out of your sight. I’m going to the cabin.”

  Holly shut her eyes, blocking out the emotions that roared inside. Hoping her emotional state wasn’t obvious to Michael and Sterling. After several seconds, she opened them, new determination taking over.

  Her hands went to her hips as her eyes darted from Sterling to Michael. “I am sick and tired of being left in the dark. What isn’t he telling me?”

  There was an uncomfortable silence. Michael, looking far from rattled by her demand, said, “What has he told you?”

  Her lips pursed. “Only that his brother is Arion. Actually, the Arion leader or something of the sort.”

  “Nothing else?” Michael asked in a cautious tone.

  “No, nothing,” she said shortly. “I can’t go on like this. I need to know what I’m dealing with.” She made a face and firmed her jaw. “I have a right to know.”

  Sterling walked to the couch and sat down, patting the cushion beside him. “Why don’t you sit down, Holly.”

  She sighed. It would be easy to decline. Well, maybe not easy, but tempting. Being bossed around and controlled by these men was getting old. Still, she wanted to know what was going on. When she didn’t move immediately Sterling’s brow inched up.

  The action set Holly off again. “Don’t look at me like that. I’ll sit if I like.” She moved forward. “It just so happens, I like.” She spoke the words with more bravado than she felt.

  Michael laughed. “You should be quite helpful in achieving our cause. Most would be intimidated. But not you.”

  Holly sat down, giving Michael a shrewd look in the process. “What cause are we talking about exactly?”

  “This is between you and Mason,” he responded with a slight twitch of his lips, as if he understood her attempt to draw out information and was amused by it.

  She wanted to scream in frustration. “Have I no rights? I have been swept from my home and my life, with little to no explanations. Surely, I deserve to know why.”

  “You know why,” Sterling insisted with a hint of irritation in his tone. “You’ve seen firsthand the danger you’re in.”

  Holly was speechless for a moment as she replayed the recent events. Her lashes fluttered downward to her hands resting in her lap. Mason had been gravely injured protecting her.

  Feeling Michael watching her, she looked up and met his gaze. His scrutiny was intense and a bit unnerving, as if he was looking into her soul.

  She flicked a quick look at Sterling. “Yes, I do know the danger I’m in. That’s not my point, as I believe you are well aware.”

  “Holly,” Michael said, drawing her attention. “Mason needs you. We need you. There are big stakes at risk here and you impact them in ways you don’t yet understand.”

  A sudden premonition of danger sent a chill down her spine. She swallowed. “Meaning?”

  “Again,” he said in a neutral voice, “there are things you and Mason need to discuss. Mason has much to face. Without your support he will not be as strong.”

  Her first instinct was to question him but she knew he would simply evade answering. Besides, she wanted to be by Mason’s side, to help him any way she could. It hurt he wouldn’t trust her enough to tell her everything that was going on.

  She let out a long sigh and then her thoughts became words as if by their own design. She didn’t mean to verbalize her feelings. “If he would only trust me enough to let me help.” The words were spoken softly, almost to herself.

  “He will,” Michael reassured her. “Just give him your patience. He is struggling to accept some things about himself and fears how you will respond when you learn all there is to know. Sometimes it’s necessary to come to terms with things in one’s own mind before you can speak it out loud.”

  The words wrapped around her like a blanket and then seeped into her mind, penetrating her hurt and evoking understanding. She looked at Michael, seeing his words as the voice of experience. Knowing he was right.

  Perhaps Mason simply needed to know she didn’t think he was the monster she had called him.

  Perhaps she needed to encourage rather than demand to get her answers.

  * * * * *

  Mason stepped into the cabin, cursing the need for nourishment as he flipped on the lights. Hearing Holly call him a monster still had his gut in knots yet his body demanded food.

  Just another reminder he wasn’t normal. Not even close. He kept food at the cabin for just such occasions. Once he had made himself a couple of sandwiches, Mason moved to the sofa and dropped down onto the cushions.

  He ate as his mind chased answers. The implications of being Arion wore heavily on him. Even having Michael around was weird as hell. He was a damn Arion.

  And so are you, he reminded himself.

  It was hard to accept he might somehow hold the key to conquering the Arions. If, indeed, he was the solution, the person who could bring down David, he had no choice but to take on the role of leader. The question was, would Holly stand by his side?

  He wanted her to, but of her own free will. He wanted her to accept their pairing without influence. He sighed heavily. No way could he tell her about their mating and have her feel she could choose.

  He just hoped she chose him, monster that he was, because he’d already made his choice. He had to have Holly Heart, one way or the other. If the world was depending on him, he needed the comfort and strength she brought him. She was the only salvation he, and maybe the world, had.

  * * * * *

  Holly stood in the kitchen, surprised at how well-stocked it was. A cook she wasn’t but she could manage to whip up some form of food.

  The results of her efforts were two huge stacks of sandwiches and a massive pan of soup, the canned kind—ten cans, to be precise—because that was all she knew how to make.

  The amount of food she had witnessed Mason and Sterling put down told her to plan for big appetites, making what she considered an enormous amount of food. She had to feed three of them. She had eaten the first sandwich she made, starving and impatient for food.

  Once her work was done, she went in search of Michael and Sterling. They were behind the glass doors of the surveillance room, absorbed in conversation. She didn’t knock. What was the point? Even though neither man had looked her direction, she knew they were aware of her. There was a subtle change in their postures, she was beginning to recognize.

  These men didn’t get surprised easily, at least, not from the likes of her. And she was quickly figuring out these men and their special skills could be irritating. It was hard to have an advantage with people who were superhuman. Correction, she thoug
ht, a bit uneasily, super soldiers.

  Pulling the door open, she stood half in-half out of the room. “I made some food. Anyone interested?”

  Surprise flashed in Michael’s dark eyes and, for just an instant, she thought she saw a hint of admiration. He smiled, showing perfect white teeth. He reminded her of a handsome vampire from some horror movie, striking and alluring, but, oh, so dangerous.

  “Thank you,” he said. “I, for one, would love some food.”

  “Me too,” Sterling said, smiling. He, too, was attractive, light to Michael’s darkness, and softer in ways she didn’t quite understand. But still deadly, she had no doubt.

  “It’s ready when you are,” Holly said before slipping out of the doorway and moving back toward the kitchen.

  Holly sat the sandwiches on the table, which was a mere few feet from the stove. Michael and Sterling came into the room, making the small kitchen shrink with their large frames taking up what felt like half the space available.

  Finding a seat and sitting down, each man grabbed a sandwich and finished it off before Holly could even get them a bowl of soup.

  “Man, you guys can eat,” she mumbled as she sat a bowl in front of one and then the other. “What do you two want to drink?”

  Both men answered at once, “Orange juice.”

  Holly smirked as she pulled open the refrigerator. She had already noted the top shelf full of orange juice. As she pulled two glasses from the cabinet, she asked, “What is it with you guys and orange juice?”

  Sterling reached for his fourth sandwich. “We have a chronic vitamin C deficiency.”

  Holly sat a glass in front of him. “Huh,” she murmured thoughtfully. Sitting the other glass in front of Michael, her mind racing with possibilities, she added, “I’ll have to look into that.”

  “You could try,” Michael said, “but some very qualified doctors have made attempts to figure it out and failed.”