Bound by Prophecy

Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty-five

Strategy

We lay together, my thumb pressed into the crook of her elbow, fingers wrapped around her skin, while my lips traced feather-light kisses down the line of her jaw.

"Aern," she whispered, trying to bring my attention to the insistent knock at the door.

I released her arm and slid my hand lower, to the bend of her knee, drawing it firmly over my hip. "It doesn't matter," I said, pressing slow kisses to the delicate skin below her ear. "Nothing else matters."

She sighed, but it was the wrong kind of sigh. She pressed a hand against my chest to look at me, a grimace forming on her perfect lips. "I'm afraid it does matter," she said.

I waited, fighting the urge to continue my explorations.

"It's Morgan," she said.

I cleared my throat. That was a mood-killer. "What do you mean?"

"The knife was too low," she groused. "He's been forming an attack since earlier this afternoon."

I leaned up on an elbow.

"He's a little upset, Aern. And he's coming to"-she winced-"finish us off."

"Finish us off?" I said.

She smirked. "His words, not mine. Listen, I got us some time together, but Logan can only cover us for so long."

I sat up. "What on Earth are you talking about?"

She looked pointedly toward the door. "What were we supposed to do? No one knows about Brianna, so they didn't want us together."

"Dammit, Aern," Logan hissed from outside the door. "Open up."

I fell back to the mattress, hand slapping loosely over my face.

"Don't worry," Emily said. "I'll get it."

A minute later, Logan's voice hovered above me. "I know you're awake."

I dropped the hand to glare at him.

"Brendan is sending someone to retrieve you," he said. "We've only got hours to prepare."

I hadn't even gotten dressed yet. I looked down, pursing my lips at hospital-issue Ralph Lauren pajamas. I glanced at Emily where she stood behind Logan, still fully dressed and only mildly disheveled. "Thirty more minutes," I said.

She flushed, ran a hand over her hair.

"No deal," Logan said. "The only reason I got talked into this, was because you needed to recover. But now I'm out. Brendan isn't catching me leaving you alone in here with..." He started to gesture toward Emily, and then cleared his throat. "Besides, you need to catch up."

"Fine," I said. "Get started."

Logan gave me a quick debriefing while I rummaged through the dresser, and then I took a three-minute shower while they waited. As I rinsed off, I marveled at the raised pink skin lining my hip and side, the only remainder of what was surely a handful of gruesome injuries. Aside from some muscle tightness over what was likely still reforming bone, I was almost completely recovered. I slipped on a white tee, loose-fit jeans, and brown leather belt and shoes. Morgan would be here soon, in his custom-made suit and tie, and I didn't want to disappoint him.

When I returned to the main room, Seth was waiting for us. "A few of Morgan's men have been spotted along the borders of our outlying properties," he explained. "Brendan thinks it's a ploy, to get us to move our men from covering home base. But regardless, we'll still need to shield them." He glanced at Emily. "We have people there who need protection."