The Enemy Within (Daughters of the People Series Book 3) (5 page)

She settled back
into her seat. Following his lead wasn’t so hard, but trusting him to pick out
furniture for her? What woman in her right mind would allow a man to have a
free hand there?

They ended up at
a climate controlled storage unit not far from Tellowee. Bobby helped her out
of the truck before he unlocked one of the units and rolled the door up. His unit
was packed from wall to wall with items draped in protective sheets and
cardboard boxes of all shapes and sizes.

She followed him
into the cool interior, peering with him under each sheet he lifted. “What is
this?”

“Furniture.
Mostly wood.” He moved a box and pulled the sheet off of a low rectangular
object, revealing a Mission-style coffee table. “Some other stuff I’m saving
for…” He shrugged casually as his voice trailed off.

“What?”

“Stuff. This
table would look great with your new couch.”

He appeared so
uncomfortable, she let the moment pass and turned her attention to the coffee
table. “Is that wormy chestnut?”

“Yup, with a
hand-rubbed oil finish. You’ll need coasters and can’t put anything warm down
on it, but it should suit you.”

She knelt to run
a hand over the smooth finish, down a perfectly aligned joint. It must have
taken hours for someone to craft this one piece alone. “I can’t take this.”

“Sure you can.”

He stepped
deeper into the unit, lifting sheets as he went.

“It wouldn’t be
right.” She stood reluctantly. “You’re obviously saving it for a very special
purpose.”

“Yes,” he agreed
mildly. “Here’s the bed for you.”

He flipped back
one of the sheets, revealing an intricately carved headboard. Indigo stepped
closer, her body brushing against his in the tight space as she did, and ran a
hand over the design.

“It’s
beautiful.” Questions popped into her mind one after another, so many she had a
hard time choosing between them. Finally, she settled on, “Where did you get
it?”

“I made it. Most
of the design elements are from the Book of Kells.” He stroked a hand down her
hair, then rested it on the small of her back. “The wood’s walnut, from a tree
that used to stand near the house. Do you remember?”

“The one
lightening struck not long after you were born,” she murmured, and found
herself leaning into his warm comfort.

“Dad did a lot
of woodworking back then, before he knew about the MS. He salvaged what he
could, had it sawed for furniture.” He moved to stand behind her, dropped his
hands to her hips, and drew her back until their bodies were pressed firmly
together. “I found it when I got out of the Army.”

When he spoke,
his breath puffed gently against her ear, sending a shiver along her skin. She
eased forward fractionally, away from the delicious press of his body against
hers, away from the heat and temptation. His fingers dug into her hips, holding
her in place.

Distraction. She
need to distract him, or maybe herself, before one of them gave in and did
something they might both regret or, worse, enjoy. “It must’ve taken hours to make
this.”

“Mmm.” His hands
eased around to her stomach as he nuzzled his face into the juncture of her
neck and shoulder. “You smell like wildflowers in the spring.”

“Focus, Bobby,”
she said, and winced when her voice hitched.

“I am.” He
licked her neck above the collar of her shirt, and she shuddered at the feel of
his tongue on her skin. “I’m trying to talk you into taking the headboard.”

She breathed out
a laugh. “Is that what you’re doing?”

“Say you’ll take
it.”

He pressed a
kiss to her neck, just above where he’d licked, and blew gently along the
moisture left behind. Heat raced through her, pooling between her legs in a
rush of warmth and wetness. She melted into him and tilted her head to the
side, silently begging him to continue. Goddess above, what he did to her.

He nipped at her
earlobe with sharp teeth, eliciting a needy gasp from her. “Say it slowly,
though, will you? I kinda like the persuasion part.”

She rested her
hands on his, to keep them in place, to learn the feel of him, which one, she
didn’t know or care. “Tell me why you’re lending it to me.”

His sigh
feathered along her skin as he drew away, stealing the warmth of his touch from
her. “You don’t want to know.”

“Yes, I do.” She
twisted and caught his heated gaze with her own. “What’s so bad that you can’t
tell me?”

“It’s not that
big a deal.” The warmth drained from his expression, leaving his beautiful
hazel eyes cautious and cool. He dropped a perfunctory kiss to her cheek and
stepped away from her. “This is the stuff I made for my own house. Since I’m
living with Mom and Dad and it’s just sitting here. I thought you might like to
use it.”

She held no
illusions that he was being completely honest with her. Whatever he was holding
back was his secret to keep. She should absolutely respect his privacy, and she
would, right after she found a way to weasel it out of him. “I’ll take it, but
only if you promise to tell me when you need it back.”

“I won’t, not
for a while.” He pulled the sheet free and handed it to her before hefting the
headboard.

“I can help.”

“Not without
ruining your outfit, which I like.” He stopped and raked a gaze over her body
from head to toe, intensifying the memory of him behind her, warm and firm and
strong. “A lot.”

Her limbs went
limp and weak at that expression, edgy, needy, and so very, very appreciative.
“Oh. Um.”

Her eyes
fluttered closed. Could she be any more of a lovesick girl around him?
Friends
,
she recited desperately.
We’re going to be friends.

She clung to
that mantra as they loaded and unloaded furniture. By the time they made it to
a mattress store, she had herself well in hand, right up to the moment when
Bobby helped her pick out a mattress by sprawling out on a few of the displays.
An image of him naked in the bed he’d made flashed through her mind, and her
muscles clenched with a desperate, fierce need to have him there.
Friends
might not be exactly where they were headed. All the ignoring in the world
couldn’t make that thought go away.

By the end of
the week, Bobby managed to squeeze in time to speak with Zena and Laura about
their upcoming assignments. Zena’s sneer at the extra work had been expected.
It was her normal way of dealing with change.

Laura, though,
had been downright frigid to him since he’d spoken to her about Indigo, which
seemed out of proportion to what he’d told her.
Don’t hassle her. She’s
family.
Somehow, it had been enough to send Laura into a tizzy.

He took a sip of
coffee and grimaced at the harsh, bitter taste. She’d stopped making the
coffee, too, leaving it to early-riser Drew, who burned water trying to boil
it.

A knock sounded
on the door.
Speak of the devil
, Bobby thought, and waved Drew and Hiro
into his office.

He’d
deliberately left briefing his closest friends until last so he could ponder
how best to approach them. They’d shared so much over the years, but he’d
always managed to hold the story of the People back. He’d never known how to
tell them he was descended from a group of immortal Amazons living under a curse,
and he still wasn’t sure he wanted them to know now. Telling them would help
them understand the real threat the People faced. Leaving them in the dark
might make them unnecessarily vulnerable.

They’d probably
think he was nuts. No, not probably. Definitely. Who wouldn’t?

Hiro and Drew
sat down in the two chairs placed opposite his desk, and he was struck once
again by how different they really were. Each had joined the Army for the same
reason he had, to escape. Drew often spoke of his childhood in Boston as a
dead-end choice between running drugs or working in the factories. Either one
meant a hard life and an early grave. Hiro’s choices had been less harsh. His
parents had wanted him to go to college, become a corporate schmuck, and marry
a “good Japanese girl,” who they’d already picked out for him. He’d said no by
enlisting the day after his eighteenth birthday.

Bobby had been
running from the woman who’d unwittingly captured his heart.

And now here
they were, operating a security business catering to corporate schmucks, all
still single, and none of them headed for an early grave, an outright miracle
given some of the assignments they’d pulled. All in all, it wasn’t a bad life,
especially now that they were out from under Uncle Sam’s thumb.

Hiro crossed an
ankle over a knee and rested his elbows on the arms of his chair. “I know we
have other business to discuss, but I wanted to get this out of the way. India
visited me a couple of nights ago.”

Drew
straightened in his chair and muttered a curse. “Me, too. Snuck into my house
in the dead of night like she owned the place.”

Bobby rubbed a
hand over tired eyes. He’d have to disclose the whole bit, immortality, curse,
and all. “What did she do?”

“Why aren’t you
surprised?” Drew said. “Goddamn woman broke into my house and you take it like
it’s nothing.”

“Oh, it’s not
nothing, but it could’ve been a lot worse.” Bobby sipped his coffee and
grimaced. “Stop making coffee. I’d rather do without.”

Drew’s eyebrows
snapped into a mulish scowl.

Hiro’s
expression was calm, his voice even. “What do you mean, worse?”

“First, tell me
what she did,” Bobby said.

“Other than
break into my goddamn house? Tried to bribe me to turn on you, that’s what, and
then threatened to kick my ass when I said no.” Drew crossed thick, muscled
arms over his chest. “And if you don’t like my coffee, maybe you shoulda been
nicer to Laura.”

“I haven’t done
anything to Laura,” Bobby said.

“India,” Hiro
said with some emphasis, “tried to bribe me as well. Do you think she’s approached
anyone else?”

“If you didn’t
do anything, then why is she sulking?” Drew said with a pointed glare.

“All I said was,
leave Indigo alone. That’s it. And I was nice.” Bobby heaved a sigh. “India
would know better than to approach Margaret, but the others, yeah, she probably
has.”

“Why not
Margaret?” Hiro asked.

“If you were so
nice, then why’s Laura in a huff?” Drew asked.

Bobby ignored
him. “Margaret would’ve torn her to pieces on sight.”

Hiro nodded.
“Margaret the Frigidaire…”

Bobby winced.
“Don’t let her catch you calling her that.”

“I’m not
stupid,” Hiro said.

Drew snorted.
“Says who?”

“Margaret might
be cold, but she’s stronger, faster, and a better fighter than India.” Bobby
sat back, gauged his timing, and said, “Plus, she’s a few centuries older.”

“Back to Laura,”
Drew began, then snapped his jaws together with an audible click. “What was
that?”

“I believe he
said Margaret’s a few centuries older than India.” Hiro’s voice held a hint of
dry amusement. “Exactly how old is Margaret?”

“She’d kill me
if I told you.” Bobby rubbed a finger across his mouth, hiding the smile
threatening to rise. “Just keep pretending she’s twenty-nine-ish and your head
is safe.”

“And how is it
that Margaret’s managed to live that long?” Drew said. “Takes more than a wish
for that to happen.”

“She’s immortal,
or close enough.”

“And you are,
too, then.” Drew’s expression lightened as he leaned toward Hiro. “I knew we
shoulda had his head checked after that last mission. All the fungi. Went
straight to his brains.”

“It’s a wonder
he has any left,” Hiro agreed.

“Seriously,
guys.” Bobby rolled his eyes skyward. “Did you never wonder why we rotate women
out of here so frequently?”

“Because we like
to keep ‘em hot?” Drew said, and yelped with Hiro casually backhanded him on
the arm.

“Because people
tend to notice when someone doesn’t age,” Bobby said. “Because these women are
busy chasing an ancient blood enemy and protecting their kin.”

Drew sat forward
in the chair. “You’re serious about all this?”

“As serious as
death.” Bobby took a sip of his coffee without thinking. “Dammit, Drew, stay away
from the coffee machine.”

“I told you…”

“I think you’d
better start at the beginning,” Hiro said.

“Right.” Bobby
pushed his coffee mug away to keep from picking it up out of habit. “About ten
millennia ago, Seven Sisters avenged the deaths of their parents and were
cursed to immortality by an angry god, and at the same time, were cursed to
never bear sons, only daughters.”

He took them
through a brief history of the People as they knew it, and explained how the
Lady Goddess had tempered the curse, providing an out for each immortal
Daughter, and how the People had searched relentlessly for a way to break the
curse for good, so that no Daughter would be born with the same, crushing
burden. He told them of the Shadow Enemy and their thirst for the blood of the
People, and the many battles waged over time as the Daughters struggled to find
peace. Finally, he filled them in on the recent finds at Sandby borg, of the
discovery of the Prophecy of Light and its translation by a team at the IECS,
and the hope they all had that the Light would choose the path that would end
the curse, if only they could figure out what the Light was.

When he
finished, the room fell into a long silence. Hiro stroked his mouth thoughtfully
and Drew tapped a nervous beat on his thigh.

When they
remained silent, Bobby said, “C’mon guys. Would I lie to you?”

“You bet your
ass,” Drew said. At the same time, Hiro said, “Absolutely.”

Bobby sucked in
a breath, straining for patience. “I mean about something important.”

“Hunh.” Drew
stabbed two fingers at Bobby. “There was that time in Reno, with that hooker
you tried to pass off as your sister.”

“Because she
was
my sister, you moron.” Bobby jerked a thumb at the wall behind him. “There’s
the picture of us together when I was a kid.”

“Uh-huh,” Drew
said, skepticism heavy in his voice. “I guess those drug lords in Afghanistan
were your sisters, too.”

“No, those were
really drug lords,” Bobby said. “And that was a little lie for the greater
cause, so it doesn’t count.”

“What about
Madrid, when he snuck two hoochie girls into the CO’s hotel room and blamed
you,” Hiro said to Drew. “Islamabad.”

Hiro and Drew
shared grins and said in unison, “The camel derby.”

Bobby dropped
his head into his hands. When had he lost control of the conversation?

“Do you remember
the name of that jockey?” Hiro said.

“Who cares about
him. It was the sister I wanted.” Drew sighed out a smile. “Good times.”

“I didn’t
actually lie about the camel or the jockey,” Bobby pointed out. “Or the
jockey’s sister, who, by the way, was a man and not related to the jockey
at
all
.”

“Are you sure?”
Drew said. “Because I had my hands…”

Bobby
interrupted. Some things, a man didn’t need to know about his friends.
“Positive, and it’s still not a lie.”

Hiro spread his
hands in a mild shrug. “You didn’t tell us about it beforehand, so close enough.”

“Ok, all right.
I fudged a couple of times.” Bobby sat back in his chair and rubbed a hand
across his hair, ruffling it. “But I never lied about anything important and
you know it.”

“True,” Hiro
said.

Drew shrugged
one shoulder. “I always wondered why that hooker looked just like your sister
did twenty years ago.”

Bobby shot him
an exasperated look and ground his teeth together. “Jerusha’s not a hooker, and
if you call her that one more time, I’m gonna…”

“Boys,” Hiro
said, and waited until Drew and Bobby exchanged pointed glares before
continuing. “Let’s say this story is true. Why didn’t you tell us before?”

Bobby barked out
a laugh. “Do you think you would’ve believed me before?”

“If you’d needed
us to.” Hiro’s gaze was steady. “Are you immortal?”

“No. Children
born to Daughters who’ve broken the curse are always mortal.”

“Are you sure
you didn’t sniff a fungus or something?” Drew said.

Bobby fixed a withering
glare on him.

“Who exactly is
your mother sending us after?” Hiro folded his hands across his waist, his dark
eyes patient, steady. “Members of the Shadow Enemy?”

Bobby shook his
head. “When I said traitors, I really meant traitors. Mom thinks some of the
Daughters have, for whatever reason, been manipulating information somehow,
either hiding it from the People or giving false data to us. The problem is,
these Daughters may be working alone or they may be working together, or some
combination, but they aren’t necessarily working with the Shadow Enemy.”

“What about
India? What’s her role in all this?” Drew steepled his fingers together under
his chin. “And how do you know Indigo’s not in on it with her?”

“For one, Indigo
and India have never gotten along,” Bobby said through gritted teeth. “And for
another, we know for a fact that India runs with a bad crowd. I can’t share the
details, but Dani wasn’t in the hospital a couple of weeks ago with
appendicitis.”

“India did
something to her?” Drew’s eyebrows veed over the storm clouds brewing in his
eyes, and Bobby winced. Drew had a bit of a crush on Dani. Bobby dreaded having
to tell his partner about his adoptive sister’s new love interest.

“No, not India,
but she was part of it.” Bobby sucked in a breath and blew it out slowly.
“Look, guys, I’m only telling you this much because India came after you. She’s
dangerous. So are these other women. Some of them make Margaret look like a
school girl out for a walk in the park.”

“We can handle
ourselves,” Hiro said mildly.

“Maybe. Either
way, you need to be on alert. The People we’re going after are highly-skilled
warriors, all of them, and they won’t hesitate to kill you and everyone around
you if they think you’re a threat.”

“Eh, why are we
doing this job again?” Drew said. “Wouldn’t it be better if your people handled
it from their side?”

“Mom
specifically asked for the Enforcer,” Bobby said flatly.

“Well, damn.”
Drew tugged at his ear. “Hell’s come to Georgia and we’re all gonna die.”

Hiro sliced an
impatient glare at Drew. “Bobby wouldn’t take any job with a high risk of
failure.”

“True. I like my
hide where it is.” Bobby sat back in his chair, amused. “That’s why we’re going
high-tech. As skilled as these women are, most of them cling to the old ways.”

“A good sword
arm,” Hiro guessed.

“And spear and
bow, but you get the idea.” Bobby shrugged. “Plus, they don’t know your faces.”

“If the secret
weapon is Drew’s mug, we’re in deep shit.”

Drew shoved Hiro,
sending the other man’s chair bobbling.