Guarding His Heart (6 page)

Tears streaked down her cheeks and she didn’t care. Couldn’t care anymore. She would have to go home and forget him. Tell him to leave her alone and release him from the duty he hadn’t even shared with her.

She’d gambled with this game. She’d seduced him while he was camouflaged to get him to see she knew his secret. The only reason she’d ever step so far out of her box of inhibitions was to prod him to trust her.

He hadn’t told her his secret and he’d hidden his duty to protect her. Frustration and hurt tightened like a fist around her heart.

“Why can’t you tell me the truth?” Her anger had drained, along with her energy, but disappointment burned hot and bitter in her throat as she attempted to hold back more tears.

He rolled from her, levered himself up, and strode to the bathroom. He returned and sat on the edge of the bed.

His mouth drew to a hard line and the muscle that twitched when he was unhappy or angry jumped like crazy beneath the skin of his jaw.

She drew the sheet up to her chin, needing the cover since he’d retreated from her with his warmth. “I know it’s not some top-secret military issue camo armor you wear to disappear.” She lost the battle with the tears and they ran unchecked down her cheeks. “Tell me, Trevor. I deserve to know the truth.”

Yeah, she deserved to know the truth. How much to tell her remained the problem. How much to divulge without losing her, but still protecting himself and his kind.

Damn her tears. She wasn’t using them to control him. She wasn’t like that. She’d tried to hold them back. He understood her emotions as well as he knew her body and its responses to him. He no longer questioned his fate. She was his mate.

Fuck me! Why have the fates chosen this woman, this human for me?

He needed a Watcher female, someone he could be his true self with, in all his forms. He didn’t want to scare Cassie, nor did he want her pity. He was proud of his heritage but this situation was too complicated.

His mate. His mate who sat propped up against the pillows awaiting his response. Answer her question. The simplest one.

“I’m a Para. Paranormal.”

She narrowed her eyes but said nothing.

“I can disappear, creating a reflective field around me, camouflaging my body.”

She glanced down at the sheets, her fingers rubbing the fabric as she chewed her bottom lip. Her brow furrowed and she cocked her mouth to one side in the way she always did when considering a problem.

She locked her gaze on his, her chin lifting and firming. “So I wasn’t crazy and I didn’t just see things. And that’s what you did the first day I was here?”

He stayed very still, assessing her mood. She gripped the sheet and her nostrils flared. She was building a head of steam and he tried to prepare for the questions she might have.

“Why did you scare the shit out of me that day?”

He kept his voice calm, even though a dozen butterflies fought to escape his stomach. “Paras arrive through a very loud portal, not on the ferry with humans. I had to keep the secret.”

“And now that I know there are others like you? What now?”

“I have to ask you to keep that secret.”

She squinted at him and ground her teeth.

Oh, shit, here it comes
. He knew a pissed off woman when he saw one.

“Even though you don’t trust me?”

Hitting him with a sledgehammer would have hurt less. The pain in her eyes stabbed him straight to the heart. He’d caused her this pain.

“Why do you say that?”

What a stupid, stupid question!

Her lip trembled as a sob broke free. Anger, disappointment and pure outrage boiled over in her words. “You slept with me as a convenience. To keep me close. To make your fucking job easier!” She stood, shaking as she pulled the sheet free to wrap around her. “I heard you. I heard that woman with Sage say that you found an easier way to keep track of me. That it was easier to know where I am when I’m beneath you in bed. I believe she said something like ‘easier to know where your sheath is when your dagger’s in it.’”

How could she believe that?

As he raked his hand through his hair, angry with himself, furious with his predicament, he admitted given the evidence, he’d have to believe the same.

Chapter
7

S
he’d kicked him out of her room and out of her life.

Of course, she had. He’d have done the same if he were in her shoes. He invisibly waited for a human to come along and punch the down button for the elevator.

Why did the fates have to choose a human for his mate?

Why couldn’t he just fucking tell her who and what he was?

Frustrated and having no answers, he slid into the elevator when a couple, obviously in love—or lust—happened by. He turned from them as they engaged in a hot kiss that made his belly twist and his heart ache for his Cassie.

His
.

What was his problem? Every time he decided to stay away from her, she dragged him back in.

Not true
. He wanted her more than he wanted his next breath. He needed her.

The elevator opened on the ground floor.
I have to get out of here.
He made a beeline through the lobby and out the doors. He needed fresh air and open sky. Taking a deep breath, he vanished and raced to where he knew he’d find answers.

“Thanks for coming with me, Cassidy.”

Dana sounded short of breath as they walked through the shady woods along the marked path. She rubbed her very round belly.

Cassidy’s heart squeezed painfully and for a moment she couldn’t speak. What she wouldn’t do to be like that with Trevor—so totally in love and in tune with a man. If only he’d give her the chance, but she couldn’t force him to trust her and she wouldn’t lay her heart on the line.

She’d agreed to go with Dana to the far boat dock to get her mind off Trevor.

“It’s really no problem, Dana. I needed the diversion.”

Dana paused for a moment, her hands bracing her lower back as she stretched. She cocked her head and surveyed the trees.

I don’t see anything
.
Maybe living with Paras made Dana more in tune, or maybe she is a Para, too?

“Dana, are you…?” How to ask the question?
Spit it out
. “Are you a Para?”

Dana’s eyebrows shot up as she faced Cassie with a crooked smile.

“So, Trevor finally told you?”

“Not everything. Not enough.”

“Give him some time, honey. He’ll come around.”

“Whatever you noticed in the trees? I’m sure it’s Trevor.” Cassidy shrugged as they continued along the path, irritated he would follow her. If he was so worried about what she was doing, he should’ve told her the whole truth.

She shook her head, trying to dislodge her wannabe lover from her brain. She was so distracted she totally missed the creep who stepped right in front of her. She plowed right into the sleaze who had tried unsuccessfully to single her out several times since she’d been here.

Strong hands manacled her arms.

Embarrassed she’d been so intent on Trevor that she’d slammed into the “professor,” she sputtered an apology. Her eyes met his, cold as ice, black as sin. She gasped and recognized the danger she’d missed before when he sneered. A shiver streaked up her spine as he dug his fingers into her flesh, trapping her like an animal.

Her heart pounding, she glanced at Dana. While her friend’s eyes were wide, she seemed calm. She twisted the ring on her left hand around and around and her lips moved silently, as if in prayer.

Satisfied Dana wasn’t stressed enough to go into premature labor, Cassidy fervently wished for once, that Trevor were watching her.

“Let me go.” She yanked her arms. He released her suddenly, leaving her to rub her soon-to-be-bruised forearms.

“My apologies, Ms. Sinclair.”

He bowed slightly and moved slowly behind her along the path.

Wait, how does he know my name?
I never told him my name—

The cold edge of the knife pressed lightly against her throat.

Dana gasped and ordered, “Let her go.”

The son-of-a-bitch barked a harsh laugh in her ear, his breath hot and moist on Cassie’s neck. “I don’t think so. This woman is worth a lot of money to me.” He wrapped one arm around her waist, pulling her against him while she fought back useless tears. “You, my dear,” he said, addressing Dana, “will bring a considerable bonus. Come on, both of you, nice and easy, to the dock.”

“You need to reconsider what you’re doing.” Dana warned as he herded her down the path, Cassidy still in his grasp. “You won’t get away with whatever you’re planning.”

An evil smile curved his face as he replied, “No one even knows you’re out here and nobody uses this pier, so I think I’m already home free.”

After a few minutes running with the breeze in his face, the boughs slapping harmlessly against his furry arms and legs, Trevor realized he fought a battle already lost.

She was his. Period. And he was definitely hers.

In fact, she was nearby in the forest with Rekkus’s mate, Dana. He’d heard their voices, but not detecting any stress in their conversation, he’d moved on. Cassie had been clear she wanted to be left alone. He’d give her time to burn off some of her anger before he approached her again. He stayed at the boundaries of hearing them.

The tone of their voices changed suddenly. He broke out in a cold sweat under his fur. He shifted back to human form and fought the fear that threatened to paralyze him. While his pulse raced, he focused on controlling his breathing. He needed to calm down to control his innate abilities to cloak and track silently.

My mate’s life may depend on it.
Completely alert now, sensing danger, he cloaked himself and moved in their direction.

A male had joined them. The voice sounded like the man’s he’d seen with Cassie. Maybe he was harassing her. The man needed a lesson and Trevor was just the one to teach it. He smiled. Maybe he could win some points back with Cassie with his chivalry—

That thought flew right out of his mind when he spied the huge black tiger racing toward the women’s location.

If Rekkus was responding as a tiger, Cassie and Dana were definitely in trouble.

He made his way silently, invisibly, to cut off the man’s escape. The dock was not typically used by the island staff.

Probably a boat there to get away. And some small hole in the island’s defense system has been discovered.

A tiger’s roar rent the air. Why hadn’t he heard the man’s painful cries?

The bastard’s smug laughter rang out as Dana said, “Don’t hurt her.”

Oh, fuck
. He couldn’t move fast enough, but he had to keep his composure, had to calm his natural desire to protect his mate.

There
. Rekkus in his black tiger form prowling lethally between Dana and the attacker. And Cassie with a knife glinting at her throat.

He froze.

Think
. One deep breath and then another. He was trained to do this. The last time the stakes had been so high he’d almost gotten himself killed. If he made one mistake, he could lose her this time.

He wouldn’t make a mistake.

Cassie’s life hung in the balance.

Breathe, Cassidy
. She tried to not move a muscle, fully and uncomfortably aware of the cold steel at her throat. The sharp edge pinched her skin, microns from slicing into her neck. Her muscles cramped, holding her chin up and away from the blade as she fought against her sickening fear. Sweat dripped into her eyes, burning them.

The black tiger paced before her, muscles bunched. It growled, baring its teeth, warning the eerie professor to stay away from Dana. Glittering golden eyes narrowed at the attacker, never leaving its prey.

Something about those eyes… Ah! Dana’s mate, Rekkus, is a
shifter
. Hope flickered but Cassidy forced her thoughts to the asshole holding her.

How am I going to get out of this? Why does he want me of all people?

She waited for an opportunity to get free or talk him out of whatever the hell he was planning. What did he say? She was worth a lot of money? Who would pay for her to be kidnapped? Or worse, killed?

The thought chilled her. She closed her eyes for a moment to center herself and when she opened them, she caught Dana’s gaze dart for a second to a location behind her. From her friend’s single raised eyebrow she knew Trevor lay in wait to strike. Could he save her again?

“Come on. We have to go. Now.”

The son-of-a-bitch yanked her back, away from the prowling black beast. She couldn’t hold back the yelp as the knife bit into her skin but managed to get a hand on his forearm. Trying to remain calm and loose, ready for whenever Trevor attacked, for she was sure he would, she moved carefully along with her captor. Rekkus and Dana followed, though Dana remained behind her tiger-shifting mate.

The tang of salt water and sea grass on the breeze grew stronger. Her time grew short. Soon she’d have to fight for her life. Her blood mixed with her perspiration and trailed warm down her neck and between her breasts. He pressed her body to his. She had to swallow the bile that rose in her throat when his erection rubbed against her back.
The bastard is aroused.
She couldn’t pull away with the blade at her neck.

The pier appeared at the end of the path. Maybe Trevor wasn’t there. Maybe this madman would take her to God only knew where and kill her or worse, turn her over to human traffickers. She’d rather die than become a slave to some bastard’s sexual depravities.

She couldn’t take that chance.

As her captor tried to transition her to the boat, his attention on the tiger on the dock ready to pounce, Cassidy pushed with all her might against the wrist holding the knife. She latched onto the knife, feeling the sharp sting as the blade sliced deeply into her palm.

A roar exploded from behind her. A huge hairy creature like the one she’d seen for the briefest of moments during the school shooting leaped from the boat.

He crashed onto the stunned man.

Her attacker screamed and let her go. She fell back into the boat, blood spurting from her hand.

The scene blurred as relief and pain flooded through her. Calmer voices now filled her ears as the afternoon sunlight filtered through the overhanging leaves.

“Cassie,” she barely heard as her vision narrowed and grayed, “I’ve got you, baby. I’ve got you.”

Lifted by familiar strong male arms, she let go, knowing she was secure and safe as everything went black.