“Most of the Council members want to send us to a high-security facility,” he said.
I sank down on a weight bench. I’d go crazy confined to a stronghold for weeks or even months on end. Not to mention the little problem of being in close proximity to Hamid for that long. At least out here I could get away from him for a few hours at a time.
“I can’t do it,” I said, feeling my freedom slip away.
“Tristan argued against it. He said you’d refuse to stay there unless they locked you up, and he would not do that to you.”
Hope flared in me. “And the Council listened to him?” Please, please, say yes.
Hamid sat on a metal bench near the door. “Not until I convinced them I could keep you safe.”
I gaped at him. “You?”
“I have no wish to be confined to a facility any more than you do.” He rubbed his short beard. “We need all our best people on this investigation, and where I go, you go.”
“I get that, but how exactly do you plan to keep me safe?” If he mentioned day patrols again, we were going to find out how sound proof this room was.
“By taking some extra precautions and having you agree to a few conditions,” he said.
Indignance filled me. “Why am I the only one who has conditions?”
“I’m not the one with a reputation for being reckless and having a problem with authority.” His eyes held mine as if challenging me to disagree. Which of course, I did.
“I don’t have a problem with authority. I just don’t like the Council always being up in my business.”
He wore a wry smile. “They said you’d say that. You’ve made something of a name for yourself in your short career.”
“Really? What’s that?” I asked even though I was pretty sure I already knew the answer.
“The warriors in Los Angeles call you Hellion. A fitting name from what I’ve seen.”
I held his mocking gaze without blinking. “I will take that as a compliment.”
“Which is why I am setting out terms you must agree to.” He was back to being serious again. “The first is that you go where I go, which we have already agreed upon. The second is that you no longer go off alone while on a job, and no patrolling without a full team. You also agree to wear a tracker whenever you go out, day or night.”
I pressed my lips together. Those terms would definitely cramp my style, but I could live with them if it meant keeping my freedom. It wasn’t like I had much choice in the matter. I nodded tersely. “Okay.”
“The Council will be monitoring the situation closely. If they think we are not doing enough to keep you safe, they will send a security detail for us.”
My lips curled in disdain. “Bodyguards?”
“I don’t like it either, but it’ll be that or protective custody. It’s up to us to make sure it does not come to that.”
I lowered my head into my hands and let out a groan of frustration. My life was turning into a three-ring circus. If I ended up with bodyguards, Brock and Mason would never let me live it down.
“Kill me now,” I mumbled into my hands.
Hamid coughed, and it sounded suspiciously like a laugh. I jerked my head up to glare at him, but he wore no trace of a smile.
I narrowed my eyes. “Why am I just hearing this now? You didn’t mention any of this yesterday.”
“You were distressed by the news about the bond and the spell, and I didn’t want to upset you further,” he replied. “I was going to wait until we got back to Los Angeles to tell you the rest.”
“I wasn’t distressed. I was angry.” His choice of words made me sound like a helpless little girl. “From now on, I’d prefer if you didn’t hold anything back to protect my feelings. I don’t like being kept in the dark about things that concern me.”
“I will try to remember that,” he said.
“Good.” I stood wearily. I was normally a ball of energy, but my body suddenly felt like it was dragging. I knew it was an emotional drain, not a physical one, but that didn’t make me any less tired.
Hamid opened the door for me, and as I passed him, he laid a large hand on my shoulder. “I am sorry for all of this.”
“Yeah, me too.” I shrugged off his hand. “Rule number two, no touching.”
“I will write down your rules so I don’t forget them,” he said, and I could have sworn I heard a smile in his voice.
Too tired to stop and glare at him, I called over my shoulder, “You do that.”
Chapter 8
I shifted in my seat in the back of the private jet, wondering why it was taking so long for us to take off. When we got here an hour ago, I’d boarded the plane, leaving Hamid speaking to someone on the phone. Based on the few sentences I’d heard as I walked away from him, he was talking to the Council. I had no idea how he was able to deal with them on a daily basis, but he chose to work with them.
My phone vibrated with a text from Sara. Our house is yours if you need some extra space. It was followed by a heart emoticon.
I frowned at the odd message and started to type a reply when I heard someone enter the plane. Looking up, I saw Hamid walking toward me, his mouth set in a hard line.
He stopped and rested his hands on the seat on either side of him. “There’s been a change in plans. We are going to Westhorne.”
“What? Why?” I fought to keep the panic out of my voice. Had the Council changed their minds and decided to send us to a secure location? Westhorne was well fortified, and the whole valley was protected by Fae wards, so it made sense to send us there. It was the place I considered home, but even Westhorne would slowly suffocate me after a while.
The slight softening of his face told me I hadn’t been successful in hiding my fear. “We’ll be there a week, two at the most. The Council’s team of scholars and magic users is meeting at Westhorne, and they want us there so they can interview us and run some tests.”
My shoulders dropped in relief, making me realize how tense I was. “Wouldn’t it be better to do that in L.A.?”
“Orias and two of his peers have already examined the summoning sites and say there is nothing more to learn from them. The team wants to focus on the spell and our part in it. Westhorne is secure and large enough to accommodate all of us.”
Hamid’s expression told me he didn’t like this any more than I did, and I found that oddly comforting. I hated the thought of spending a week or two being studied by a bunch of warlocks, but if there was a chance of them freeing me from the spell, I’d do it without argument.
I let out a heavy sigh. “When do we leave?”
“In a few minutes.” He turned and went to the cockpit, I assumed to let the pilot know about our new destination.
The flight to Boise was uneventful. Hamid sat in the front row and spent most of the trip on the phone. I couldn’t hear his conversation, just the low rumble of his voice. I alternated between texting with Sara and Beth and staring out the window at nothing.
A few weeks ago, I’d been living it up in Los Angeles and my only worry had been how to get out of doing field reports. How had my life gone from that to this mess so fast?
When we taxied into our private hangar at the Boise airport, I wasn’t surprised to see my favorite Irish twins waiting for us beside a black Escalade. But even Seamus’s and Niall’s playful grins couldn’t bring me out of my funk. My mood got even darker when Hamid informed me I couldn’t ride my motorcycle to Westhorne.
“Why the hell not?” I’d just spent hours on a small jet with him. Was it too much to ask that I have a few minutes to myself?
“Because I don’t have a motorcycle here and you are not to travel alone,” he said patiently as if he were speaking to a child.
I threw up my arms. “Oh, for fuck’s sake. It’s barely an hour’s drive, and I’ll even stay in sight of the SUV the whole time.”
He gave a stubborn shake of his head. “Not tonight.”
I growled in frustration, and Niall stepped forward. “Why don’t you ride together? Hamid’s big, but if you squeeze, you should fit.”
Seamus flashed me a suggestive smirk from behind his twin, and I was mortified to feel heat creep into my cheeks. I was not a blusher and it took a lot to embarrass me, but apparently, being bonded changed all the rules. Just the thought of being pressed against Hamid’s body made my skin feel flushed despite the cool evening air.
“Forget it.” I avoided looking at Hamid as I marched to the SUV and threw my duffle bag in the cargo area. Without another word, I opened the back door and got in.
No one said much during the drive. Seamus and Niall tried to strike up a conversation, but it was soon apparent that neither Hamid nor I was in the mood to talk. After a while, the brothers fell silent. I was positive I heard them both exhale in relief when we passed through the tall iron gates of Westhorne. Not that I could blame them. Hamid and I weren’t exactly fun to be around today.
I smiled for the first time that day when we pulled up to the front door of the main building and I saw Tristan standing on the steps. He came down to the SUV and hugged me as soon as I exited the vehicle.
“It’s good to have you home, Jordan, although I wish it was under different circumstances,” he said when he released me.
“You and me both.” I attempted a smile, but it came off as more of a grimace.
The look Tristan gave me was so full of kindness that my chest squeezed painfully. There were few people I looked up to more than the leader of Westhorne, and he had a way of making you feel like he could handle any problem. I knew he couldn’t fix mine, but just being near him made me more hopeful for a happy outcome.
He held out a hand to Hamid, who had walked around the car to join us. “Hamid, welcome to Westhorne.”
Hamid clasped his hand, and the smile he gave Tristan spoke volumes of his regard for the other warrior. “It’s good to see you again. Have the others arrived?”
“All but one of them. She’ll get here later tonight.” He led us into the main hallway. “The rest of the team is eager to meet with you, but I told them it can wait until tomorrow.”
“Great,” I said without an ounce of enthusiasm.
Tristan smiled. “You missed dinner, but I can have the kitchen prepare something for you.”
“That would be great. Thanks.” I glanced toward the stairs that led to the upper floors of the north wing. “Is my old room still available?”
He looked surprised by my question. “This is your home, and the room is yours until you say otherwise.”
Again with the tightness in my chest. I resisted the urge to rub at it. This bloody bond was turning me into a sentimental fool.
Tristan turned to Hamid. “I had one of the rooms in the south wing prepared for you.”
“Thank you,” Hamid said, but his gaze was on me. Was he waiting for me to say something?