“You questioning the boss?” This was said with an incredulity I could hear plain as day. As if questioning the “boss” led to very unsavory results. I flashed back to the two executions I’d witnessed and knew that if the minions were that deadly, chances were the boss was deadlier.
If the woman responded, I didn’t hear it because they’d moved out of earshot. I strained harder to hear, but it was no use. There was no one in hearing distance that was talking. In fact, I realized, there wasn’t much noise at all outside.
There’d been a hell of a lot of weeping and wailing after I’d run through group with my vial, but there was none now. I needed a better look.
“Coast clear?” Bash whispered when I looked over at him. He was watching me intently with those green eyes. I wished we weren’t in the middle of a war so I could enjoy that look just for a moment.
I shook my head. “I’m not sure. It’s awfully quiet out there. I think they carted all the students and faculty off somewhere but I can’t be sure.” A lump formed directly in the middle of my throat but I spoke around it. “Without looking.”
Bash cocked an eyebrow and stepped closer to me, his eyes bright with nerves. “What if there’s a guard just outside. Maybe if I drilled a few more holes.”
Dread coated my tongue and I wanted to just hold back and let us stay safe here in this tiny refuge, but another part of me couldn’t forget that I’d made a promise. Xavier would die and I’d never forgive myself.
I shook my head, hating myself for it, and murmured, “No.” A surge of emotion welled up in me and I didn’t have the strength to fight it back. I lifted my hand to Bash ’s cheek and rubbed my thumb gently over the stubble there, thinking absently how sexy it was and that I’d give anything for the chance to feel it again. “It’s time. I can go first.”
Bash’s hand took mine and shifted it until my palm pressed against his lips. They were hot and soft, and the look in his eyes made me want to cry, so I looked away for a moment and caught Daniella watching us with a look of surprise.
“We’ll go together,” he whispered, pulling me into his arms and making me forget about Daniella. His strong arms wrapped around my waist, making a cocoon that I would gladly live in. For a long, quiet moment, it was just me and him, no attack, no sister, nothing, just the steady beat of his heart and the warmth of our embrace.
It ended too soon. Bash pulled back slightly and brushed a wisp of hair from my face. “I hate to say it, but if you could distract a guard, I can get the drop on them with something heavy.” He reached for my phone and shined it on the walls, then grabbed a long wrench that would make a fine club. “This’ll work.”
I eyed it and the flexing muscles in his arm as he welded it. “Yeah,” I agreed with a flutter of lust and fear, “that’ll work.”
We went over the details as best as we were able to given the fact we had no idea what was waiting for us outside. The hedge provided the privacy necessary to lure one of them away from the others, while the shed provided the perfect hiding spot for Bash.
I took a deep breath and slipped out of the shed in a low crouch.
The shadows were deeper now as we crept to the hedge and peered out. The path between the Administration and Arts buildings was empty, but there were still a few guards patrolling the area. I saw one disappear past the apple tree I’d braced myself on earlier and another walking towards us with a gas mask still firmly fit across her face.
I looked over at Bash and cocked an eyebrow. She was about my size, maybe a little shorter, but her uniform would fit. She’d work for the bait and switch routine we’d worked up. All we had to do was lure her behind the hedge without her calling it in.
“Good luck,” Bash’s voice broke the tiniest bit. I kept my gaze straight, watching the woman, because I knew that if I looked, I’d break.
So, I just whispered, “You too,” and blew out a deep breath.
Bash slipped away to hide while I placed the ripped and bloody piece of cloth just outside the thick hedge where she’d, hopefully, see it and investigate. Then, I crawled across the ground and lay face down, a few feet from the shed.
The wait felt like forever as I interpreted each crunch of stone, playing up the possibility of our single guard silently signaling for a partner. This could go horribly wrong, we all knew it, but we couldn’t stay here.
My pulse hitched and sped up when I heard the tell-tale rustle of branches as someone pushed their way through the hedge. I breathed in the scent and recognized the pheromones that marked her as female. She was alone.
Her knees cracked as she bent down and, a second later, I felt her fingers on my neck. I knew what she’d find there, a racing pulse, hot skin, and a surprise she’d never see coming.
I twisted and shot my hand out a split second before she reached for her walkie-talkie.
Bash appeared out of nowhere and, with a grimace, belted her across the back of the head with the wrench. She fell to the ground at my side like a ton of bricks.
He groaned quietly. “That doesn’t feel right.” His arms were gentle as he picked her up and carried her to the shed, regret and determination clear on his gorgeous face.
I undressed her because I knew it would make Bash feel even worse to strip an unconscious woman, regardless of the fact that we were fighting for our lives and that she would kill us if given the chance. I wasn’t planning on giving her or anyone else that chance.
Her uniform fit well, if a little snug in the butt. The too-short pants were covered by the black military style boots that were just a bit too big but worked. I quickly braided my hair just like hers and tucked it under, so as little of the bright auburn color was showing as possible. When I pulled the mask over my head and covered most of it with the black cap, I became just another drone in the terrorist army, which was exactly what I’d wanted.
“Now for you,” I said with a tense smile. I walked out of the shed this time, leaving Bash and Daniella, who, I just realized, had been awfully quiet this last while, behind. This part should be easy enough.
The guard I’d seen pass between the buildings crossed again just a few minutes after I’d assumed my post. He glanced down my way and halted when I raised a hand and motioned him forward, hoping to the Old Ones not to give myself away.
“What’d you find?” he called out as he strode forward, arms swinging casually by his sides. Although I couldn’t clearly see his face through the mask, his body language looked relaxed.
I pointed to the hedge and pitched my voice low. “I saw something back there near the shed. Boss said to double up.”
He nodded, as if that were the norm in their profession of murdering and terrorizing. Without asking for further clarification, he walked past me and pushed through the hedge. When he was standing just a few feet from the shed, he paused and looked over at me. “Are you coming, or what?”
He didn’t even see the wrench descending.
“Still doesn’t feel right,” Bash muttered as he deposited the unconscious man on the floor of the shed.
“That’s because you’re a good person.” I ran my hand up his arm and smiled. He was a good person, an exceptionally good guy. I glanced over at Daniella, who was still just silently watching us and thought, she must have sucked all the bad right out of him in utero.
I knelt to pull the guard’s boots off and felt my stomach explode with millions of excited butterflies when Bash began taking off his clothes.
Nudity was commonplace among our kind, I reminded myself as he slipped his shirt over his head and tossed it on the countertop.