“You’re sorry you woke me?” He shook his head. “You could have been killed. You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“You’re not disappointed?”
“Yes.”
My stomach dropped.
“In myself. I had a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach the entire flight. I should have listened to it and stayed with you and Mila, against Mr. Aleksandrov’s orders.”
Of course Eli found a way to blame himself for this predicament. He always did.
“It’s not your fault,” I said.
“If this isn’t my fault, then it’s not your fault, either. Our decisions did not create this outcome.”
I nodded despite the nagging voice in my head, telling me I wasn’t good enough. Eli squeezed me tighter.
“I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“Me too.”
Eli carried me all the way to his room, bypassing Mr. Aleksandrov’s room altogether. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t care where we went as long as I was with him. Then it hit me and I gasped.
“Mila!” I shifted in Eli’s arms, but he refused to drop me.
“Mila is fine. She’s with her uncle.”
I shifted again, trying to break free, but he only pulled me harder against him.
“Eli, where are you going? What are we doing? We should be with them trying to figure out who it is and what they want!”
He opened his room door. “And we will once we’ve both calmed down and had some rest.”
“I’ve had rest. I want answers.”
Eli sighed as he carried me into the room and dropped me on the bed. His room was much bigger than mine. Instead of one double bed, the room had three small single beds, and the thought of men as large as Lyric, Xavier, and Eli squeezing into them was amusing. Eli turned and shut the door, locking us in the room together…alone.
“If we go there,” he glances at my lip. “I will kill him, Ruby. You might be calm, but I’m not.”
Eli stood before me, all of his muscles taut and ready to go. Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to give him some space to gather his thoughts.
“Okay.” I exhaled, shuffling back on the bed. “We’ll stay until you’re ready to go.”
He yanked his shirt over his head exposing his seemingly never ending ridges of muscle. Dedicated. That was the only word I could really use to describe him.
“In bed,” he ordered, stalking towards me.
I shuffled back and slipped underneath the blankets. He joined me, keeping the lights on. His arms surrounded me and he pulled me closer, so close I could smell his clean skin. I closed my eyes and let his warmth envelop me. Eli’s hands went to my sore throat, massaging it slightly. I opened my eyes and his intense green stare was on my face.
“It’s going to bruise.” His fingers trailed up my throat and gently stroked my lip, making me wince.
“You should see the other guy,” I joked and Eli chuckled.
His smile faded quickly and he cleared his throat. “You’re done fighting, Ruby.”
I frowned. “You don’t want me to defend myself?”
“Of course I want you to defend yourself, but only when you absolutely have to. I should be there to defend you, always.”
“But you’re not my guardian angel anymore.”
Eli scoffed. “I’ve always been your guardian, bonded or not.” He leaned closer, pressing his warm lips to my forehead. “And I always will be.”
“Screw everybody else, huh?”
I felt him smile against my skin. “Screw everybody else.”
***
When I awoke sometime later, I was pressed hard against Eli’s naked torso. It was nice…and warm…and a million other things. It even made me smile. I peered around the room, the light was on, still, but even with that I could make out the dimmer lighting around the edges of the curtains. It was morning, almost. The sun wasn’t fully up yet, but I was wide awake. I pushed gently, but firmly against Eli’s shoulders, trying to pry myself from his grasp. His arm muscles tensed and air was forced from my lungs. Holy hell, he was strong in his sleep as well. Instinctively, I dug my fingers into his shoulders and held my breath against the ache that throbbed in my ribs. With a heavy exhale, Eli released me and twisted onto his back. I slumped back to the mattress, sighing in relief. For a second there I thought he was going to crush my bones into dust. I rolled onto my side and pushed the blankets off. I waited a few seconds to make sure I didn’t wake Eli before I slid off the bed and tip-toed across the room. I opened the door and slipped out without a glance over my shoulder. Eli wouldn’t be too happy waking up and finding me gone, but I had to go see Mr. Aleksandrov and the others. I hoped in the time Eli and I was gone, they’d extracted information from the intruder.
I didn’t bother knocking on the door when I reached Mr. Aleksandrov’s room. I just let myself in and was immediately met with tired, aggravated faces. Ignoring them, my eyes zeroed in on the man tied to the chair in the middle of the room. Most of his shoulder length black hair hung in stringy lines over his face, covering it from view. I stepped closer and he snapped his head up. My fist closed in reaction and my entire body tensed—almost cramped. He was in bad shape, swollen and bruised everywhere. Dark shadows hung under his inflamed eyes, making his strange yellow irises pop and even the black fabric of his shirt couldn’t hide the fact that it was covered in blood.
“Well, well, well,” he chuckled, sending chills down my spine. It was familiar—like Hanks or Lucian—only this guy was clearly not a vampire. “Finished with the angel?”
“Who are you?” I asked, ignoring his unappreciated question.
“Forget it, Ruby,” Lyric sighed, running his hands over his face. “We’ve been at it for hours. He isn’t going to tell us anything.”
“Not true.” The intruder laughed. “She’s here now and I’m suddenly feeling very chatty.” He ran his tongue over his lip, lingering on his own split for a few seconds. “I’m the guy that was hired to kill you. Surprise.”
I rolled my eyes, trying my hardest not to let him get to me. “Obviously.”He leaned forward in his chair, his eyes zeroing in on my lip. “I got you good, didn’t I? I have to admit,” he sagged back into his chair. “You can take a punch.”
I snapped forward, surprising myself, even. I reached out for him to claw at him or pull his hair or do something completely the opposite to the tact the angels were trying to teach me. I got within arm’s reach of him before an arm snagged me around my waist and pulled me back.
“Hit him later,” Lyric warned me, turning his body and angling me away from the creep. “We need him conscious.”
“I’ll kill him! Let’s see how he likes it,” I growled, trying to fight my way out of Lyric’s arms.
“Oh, I’d like it very much,” said the intruder. “What do you say, one on one?”
“I’m going to f—”
“Ruby!” Mr. Aleksandrov snapped and I stilled immediately. I don’t think I’d ever heard him sound so mean. “This is a very serious situation and I’d appreciate it if you kept your lid on until we get more information from him. He’s talked more in the last five seconds than he has the last few hours. If you do anything to disrupt this progress I swear to God, I’ll—”
The door opened and cut Mr. Aleksandrov off. We all froze, expecting police or something as bad, instead we got Eli—a pissed off Eli. He glared at me, not very impressed that I’d left him before he woke up. His eyes then squared in on my lip and his eyebrows pulled together even more, his lips pursing tightly. I guess I was looking pretty bruised this morning. Everyone watched as Eli stalked across the room, reaching the creep in merely two strides. He grasped the guy’s blood soaked shirt and drew him in. Suddenly, I was freed as Lyric turned his attention to Eli, but Eli was too fast and punched my (almost) murderer in the face. Both Lyric and Xavier rushed Eli, pulling him back. Mr. Aleksandrov was on his feet, yelling. I fought the urge to block my ears as the four of them raged at each other. I scanned the room for Mila and saw her ankle before it disappeared behind the bathroom door as she slammed it.
Calm swirled around the room and the argument died down, even the imposter felt a more relaxed about his situation. He shouldn’t have, because if no one here killed him, I would.
“There better be a good reason for all this noise. I was trying to sleep.” Hunter yawned, running his hands over his face as he stepped into the room and kicked the door shut behind him. He dropped his hands and his brows furrowed when his stare landed on Eli, Xavier, and Lyric, who were seconds away from wrestling each other on the floor.
“So this is what you guys do when I’m not around?” He shrugged. “Whatever floats your boat.”
He chuckled to himself before finally looking at me. His smile faded, worry taking over his features. He stepped forward, cupping my chin and tilting it up to look at my neck. I swallow hard. He poked it and I winced back, slapping his hands away.
“What is wrong with you? That hurts!”
“It’s real? What the hell happened?” He glanced around the room again and Eli glared as Hunter’s accusing stare landed on him. “You have quite the temper.”
“Only towards you,” Eli growled in response.
Hunter peered past me at the guy in his chair who was smiling smugly. Hunter’s jaw clenched, and like Eli, he launched forward and punched the guy in the face…multiple times. Forgetting Eli, all three boys grabbed Hunter and yanked him away, all while Mr. Aleksandrov swore under his breath and shook his head in defeat.
“I’m so sorry,” Hunter pulled away from the others and stepped closer to me. “I thought you were having another nightmare. It felt the same.”
I snapped my head in Eli’s direction and the way his eyes narrowed in on me caused my heart to race. Damnit, Hunter!
“Another nightmare?” He paused. “How long have you been having nightmares?”
“I don’t have nightmares.” I exhaled. “Okay, so that was a lie. I’ve been having nightmares since the night Lucian breached the school…I can handle them, it’s no big deal.”
“And you’ve been handling them all on your own?”
Hunter turned to Eli. “She’s had me.”
Eli wasn’t impressed and I watched his jaw clench imperceptibly. Crap. Could this get any worse?
“Two?” The intruder laughed once, licking fresh blood from his cut. “I didn’t pick you to be that kind of girl.”
I gritted my teeth until my jaw ached. “You don’t know a damn thing about me.”
“Obviously,” he retorted, mimicking my tone. “Kill me, go ahead. If you don’t, they will.”
“Who will?” I asked, stepping closer. “Tell me so I can fight them head on.”
He shook his head at me, smiling wolfishly. “You can’t kill them. They’re above you. All of you.”
Mr. Aleksandrov paced the room. “I knew it.” We turned to face him. “Last night after my hearing, I knew Cesare was up to something…he made a subtle joke about the plane—about running out of fuel. He planned this.”
“Wait a minute,” I protested, placing my hands on my hips. “Cesare jeopardized our ride home so we ended up here? What are the odds that we’re in the exact place he wants us to be?”
The odds of us being in the same place Cesare assumed we would be after the plane landed was slim and it was painfully obvious that he was obsessed with protecting our race against ‘exposure’ to humans. He wouldn’t risk it.
“You’re right,” Eli agreed. “And the council wouldn’t risk such a big commotion.”
“Tell me…” The stranger shuffled in his seat and cleared his throat. “What makes you so sure you’re not alone here?”
“The other rooms are taken. The guy at the counter said so,” I countered.
His smile widened. “You’d be surprised what a trucker hat and a fake moustache can achieve.”
Confused, we all glanced at each other. Eli turned and stalked from the room. I followed him and watched as he kicked the doors of the surrounding ‘occupied’ rooms in. Some played music. Others, television…but all of them were empty. I watched Eli closely and every time a room came up empty, my chest tightened a little more. Eli, however, was the perfect picture of calm. Not once did he betray what he was really feeling deep down.
I stepped into the room again, avoiding everyone’s eyes. Mr. Aleksandrov must have sensed my apprehension because a thicker wave of calm washed over me. Eli gave Mr. Aleksandrov and extremely subtle shake of his head when he entered and I felt the warmth from his body radiate onto my back as he approached me from behind.
“We’re alone,” Mr. Aleksandrov said aloud and an uncomfortable silence filled the room…before it was broken by a dark chuckle.
“Told you.”
“Why would they kill me?” I wondered aloud. “They need my blood.”
He scoffed. “Your blood means nothing when you’re threatening our way of life by inciting a rebellion.” His lips twitched. “You stepped on the wrong toes, Miss Moore.”
“No,” Mr. Aleksandrov replied, strolling right up to the stranger. “The council have tried to silence the wrong people, and if they want a fight, a fight is what they’ll get.”
“If you go head to head with the council, Ivan, then you’re a bigger fool than I thought.”