The Amber Shift

Two

Asher

This never happens; the four of us in a room with Corbin and everyone is silent.

I glance at Elijah to get an idea of what he's thinking. He sits across the desk from our leader with one leg crossed over the other, and his chin propped on his thumb. His index finger brushes back and forth over his full lips while he stares at Corbin. He doesn't so much as blink his royal blue eyes framed with dark lashes, and even as his best friend, it's impossible for me to gauge what he is thinking.

Killian, on the other hand, can't sit still. He leans against the bookshelves that line an entire wall of Corbin's office and plays with a decorative glass ball he picked up from the coffee table. His hazel eyes follow the orb as he tosses it in the air and catches it repeatedly. The red waves resting on his forehead bounce up and down with each toss. Killian's actions are innocent enough, but the bastard is huge, with bulky muscles everywhere, and he could easily crush the fragile decoration.

The youngest in our group, Remi, is perched in one of the two wingback chairs in front of the fireplace. With his legs stretched out, he slouches as his brown fingers move over the screen of his phone. He joined our rankings just a few months ago, after his eighteenth birthday, and doesn't feel like he's earned the right to put his two cents in on any matter that revolves around our work. Half the time, he just rubs his palm over the short, dark hairs on his head and shrugs, willing to do whatever is requested.

I shift in my seat next to Elijah and clasp my hands over my stomach, twirling my tan thumbs around each other. I hate this—the quiet—it gets to me. "Is anyone going to say anything?" I ask.

"The babysitting job sounds like a nice change of pace," Killian says.

"It sounds like a waste of our resources," Elijah says, with a slow, deep voice. "Four men watching one little girl. Is that really necessary?"

Corbin unbuttons the cuffs of his dress shirt and rolls them to his elbows. "It is. And she's not a little girl. She's in danger, and the more eyes I have on her, the better I will feel. You four are not only my best sentinels, but you're the closest to her age."

I raise an eyebrow. "And what age would that be exactly?"

Corbin shoots me a warning glare. "She is seventeen and will not be eighteen for another month."

Remi looks up from his phone with a glow in his eyes. "That's my age."

Killian laughs and slaps Remi on the back of the head good-naturedly. "Don't get any ideas."

Remi sits back against the chair and looks back at his phone. "Why not just lock her in a room and tell her she can't go outside without you?" he grumbles.

"She's been through too much. I need to give her a semblance of normalcy after uprooting her." Our boss turns to me. "Asher, do you have anything you want to add?"

I run a hand through my blond curls and contemplate my answer.

It's in my best interest to just do what Corbin says. After all, he's given us all jobs and better pay than we'd get anywhere else in town. So what? We watch his little niece for a while until he determines the danger has lifted. What harm can it do?

"I'm down," I say, shrugging my shoulders. "I mean, it seems easy enough. And like Killian said: It'll be a nice change of pace."

I can feel Elijah's death glare on me, but I don't dare glance his way. Normally, Elijah and I take the same side on things, but this time, I see nothing to get up in arms about. Remi just shrugs, as always, and Corbin nods, letting out a sigh of relief.