Guild of Truth 02 - Shield from the Heart (8 page)

Sydney picked up some kind of vanilla fruit blend. He took it from her hand. “You already smell like vanilla. You need a
different
scent.”

She studied him. It didn’t take him very long before he realized that he’d admitted to smelling her.

Shit.

He thrust the Twilight Woods at her. “Try this.” He spun on his heel to go look for other sprays.

“Hey.” She trailed after him. “You never explained what a Tracker is.” She doused herself in spray before picking up another stronger smelling one and misting him with it.

He jumped.

She grinned.

He snatched the bottle and squirted her right in the face. “Imagine for a moment that werewolves existed. Their sense of smell? That’s what Regina has.”

Her smile faded. “Do you think she’ll be able to Track us?”

Merrick continued to spray himself. A female employee stared openly at him. “She might,” he said at last. “She’s well acquainted with my scent. She was always assigned to bathe me.” Sydney’s knuckles went white around the new bottle she held. “She used to tell me she bought my soap specifically for me. It was Irish Spring. She thought Haskell was Irish. I felt like telling the bitch that my last name was Welsh.” The old anger started to rise, the back of his neck prickling. He recognized the sensation and quickly stuffed his hands into his pockets.

Sydney’s body was turned away from him, making it hard to get a read off of her.

He wanted to reach out and touch her shoulder, to turn her around to face him. But he didn’t trust himself to touch anything at that moment. Every time his neck tingled the way it was now it meant his powers were lingering, waiting to read the next thing that touched his skin.

The clothes he wore had been specifically chosen from the bottom of their piles in the store. It meant fewer people had come into contact with them, which meant there were fewer impressions left for Merrick to pick up. He caught glimpses of bored employees, but nothing too distracting.

No matter how much he wanted to touch Sydney, he couldn’t. He didn’t want to pick up on her pity or worse … any lingering thoughts about Joel.

A low growl started in his throat when a flash of brown hair caught his eye. Merrick spun to gaze out the window.

“Is it Regina?”

He shifted at the last minute to avoid brushing shoulders with Sydney. He might have his clothes as a barrier but one could never be too careful. “We need to keep moving. What time is our train at?” They were going to take the BART out of San Francisco to meet up with Joel and the rest of the escapees.

She pulled out her phone. “We still have plenty of time.”

“In that case,” he made his way toward the exit, “we should switch stations. We can’t afford to linger here any longer.”

Merrick started making his way up Market Street. There was little time for conversation as Sydney huffed next to him to try to keep up. She was stronger than she looked. Not once did she complain that he was going too fast or ask him to slow down.

A glimpse of brown hair up ahead had him slipping up the next street they came across.

“Why are we going this way?” Sydney gasped.

Merrick double checked over his shoulder. “Regina was up ahead. We can circle around this block to bypass her.”

A lone man with his hair tied back in a ponytail caught Merrick’s gaze and held it. Merrick’s instincts went into high gear. That man worked with Regina. He just knew it.

He deviated off course again. Before Sydney could ask he spoke out of the side of his mouth. “There’s more of them.”

Her postured stiffened. “Is it the man who caught me at the station?”

“No.” He hoped like hell that fucker wasn’t near. He’d kill him if he laid another hand on Sydney. In fact, he hadn’t caught sight of Dennis either.

He paused, another suspicious man up ahead.

Sydney stopped next to him.

Merrick glanced over his shoulder, his mind realizing what was happening too late.

More men were behind them.

Regina stepped out from around a corner.

“Shit, they herded us.”

Joel paced the hotel room as the sound of Juliet, Luke, and Hazel playing cards lingered in the background of his mind.

“Joel, you can stop pacing,” said Juliet. “You’re going to wear a path into the carpet. Besides, Sydney will be fine. Merrick’s with her.”

His nails bit into the palm of his hand. It was that very reason why he was so wired. If Syd had been trapped with anyone else he wouldn’t have been as worried. But he’d seen the way Merrick had looked at her. Fuck, he even had to admit that Syd had looked at Merrick a few times with some kind of emotion in her eye.

You’re overreacting.

Was he? He didn’t fucking know anymore.

More than once he’d wished with every fiber of his being that he and Sydney were Mirror Mates. Then he wouldn’t have these niggling doubts. He’d know for sure that she was the one for him.

He forced himself to sit with the others.

Hazel quietly passed him a hand of cards. He picked them up. “Thanks.”

Three games later Joel was convinced Juliet was cheating.

She planted her fists on her curvaceous hips. “I am not,” she protested.

Joel leaned toward her. “Oh yeah?” he challenged. “Then let someone else deal.”

Luke and Hazel exchanged a smile.

A knock at the door interrupted Juliet’s stammering.

Joel’s head whipped around. “Syd?” Had they caught an earlier train?

The others got to their feet.

He pulled open the door.

“Your girlfriend is a little busy, I heard.” A hand grasped Joel’s hand.

He wrenched back but it was too late. His vision went black. “What the fuck?” He blinked, flailing his free arm. He couldn’t fucking see!

Juliet and Hazel cried out behind him. He heard shuffling followed by a crash.

He dropped to the ground and reached out blindly with his hand. He connected with a shoe. His neck prickled and he Locked it.

“Bastard,” the man growled before Joel was kicked in the chest. He reeled back. The connection between him and his attacker was broken. His vision slowly started coming back into focus. He glanced around the room.

Vander’s men had found them.

• • •

“Nice trick.” Regina strolled toward them, tapping her nose. “Would have worked too if we hadn’t been watching you since the hospital.”

Merrick pushed Sydney behind him.

“What do you mean they herded us?” she whispered up to him.

He took in their surroundings. “They manipulated me into thinking I was escaping them when really they led me right where they wanted me.” He waved his hand around. “To somewhere much less crowded.”

They started to close rank around them.

The man with the ponytail pulled out a long piece of fabric.

Merrick tensed. “I’m not going back with you.”

Regina smiled like she used to when he resisted her in his cell. She always found his defiance amusing.

Her smile was all the warning they got. The men pounced.

Merrick was far from his peak performance but he wasn’t starved and sleep deprived anymore either. He knocked a man with a buzz cut right off his feet. He could hear another attacker coming up behind him but the man with the ponytail came at him at the same time.

They locked grips. Merrick could hear the struggle behind him. Every instinct raged at him to help Sydney, but if he didn’t take care of the man he was fighting he’d be no help to her.

Anger fueled his strength and he kicked out, taking his attacker by surprise. The man’s leg buckled and he dropped to one knee.

Sydney cried out.

Merrick whirled.

Cloth wrapped around his nose and mouth.

“You shouldn’t have taken your eyes off me,” Ponytail said. He tightened the fabric around Merrick’s face making it difficult to breathe.

A kick to the backs of his legs had him dropping to his knees. He struggled to get a grip on the hands behind his head. The cloth tightened further.

Sydney cried out, struggling against the man holding her. Regina walked over to the two of them but didn’t pay Sydney the least bit of attention. Her eyes were for Merrick. She watched him, as if waiting for something.

What the fuck? What was she waiting for?

He’d ask, but the bastard behind him was slowly suffocating him.

“Leave him alone.” Sydney kicked out behind her. The man winced as her heel made contact with his shin.

A few more seconds ticked by. Merrick started to get lightheaded, his heart pounding.

Regina’s brows drew together in confusion. “Why isn’t it working?” Her nostrils flared. Her expression went blank as she finally turned to Sydney. “You,” Regina hissed. She sniffed the air again. “What are you doing? Why can’t I smell him from here?”

Beneath the cloth Merrick smirked. Sydney was using her powers.

Sydney feigned ignorance and shrugged.

Regina’s face darkened. She struck Sydney across the face.

Merrick saw red. The back of his neck suddenly prickled. The sensation cut off as abruptly as it had come.

Regina inhaled through her nose. “Stop it,” she yelled at Sydney before she hit her again, this time dropping her to her knees.

Merrick roared behind the fabric. The back of his neck was pins and needles again. The cloth around his face cut into his skin. He didn’t care, he —
He saw a woman with the most beautiful blue and gray eyes. His Collette. He was the luckiest man in the world. He’d do anything to keep her. Anything. He finished the last of his journal entry. He’d put it away later. Right now all he wanted to do was watch Collette as she danced. All he wanted was to follow her to their bed like he did every night she beckoned him. He’d follow her to the ends of the earth. He clutched his heart, the feelings inside of him nearly bursting with how much he cared for her.

He hesitantly approached her. “Would you like a partner?” he asked.

She assessed him from head to toe. He knew he was lacking. He would never be worthy of someone like Collette, yet she allowed him to remain by her side.

“Did you finish your silly writing?”

He stared over his shoulder at his beat-up notebook with the warped spirals. “It’s not silly,” he mumbled. She didn’t understand. Didn’t understand what it was like to see so much, to feel so much. He rubbed his aching temple. He was trying his best, but Vander asked the impossible.

He rubbed his head harder.

Too much. They demanded too much!

His nails bit into his skin.

Gentle fingers curled around his hands, pulling them from his temples. “Shh,” Collette soothed. She smiled seductively at him. “Dance with me?”

The pressure in his head eased. “Always,” he breathed.

Merrick gasped as he was hurled from the vision.

“Merrick,” Sydney cried out. She glared at Regina. “What’d you do to him?”

Regina released her hold around Sydney’s throat.

Merrick heard the faint pounding of feet coming their way.

Regina lifted her nose to the air. “Perfect timing,” she said softly. “Gentlemen,” she raised her voice. “The authorities are on their way. Let us depart.”

The rag around Merrick’s face disappeared, though he knew now that it wasn’t a rag. It had once been a shirt.

“Merrick, are you all right?” Sydney rushed to his side.

“Hey.” An officer ran over from one of the side streets. “I heard shouts. Are you two all right?”

The officer helped Sydney get Merrick to his feet. His head was pounding and his legs were a little shaky, but other than that he was fine.

“We’re okay, officer,” Merrick said politely. “Just a little roughed up.” He pretended to feel around in his pockets. “Bastards got my wallet.”

“I’ll call it in.” The officer stepped back to give them space as he pulled his radio from his belt.

Sydney ran her hands along his arms and torso worriedly. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Her touch set his pulse racing. His cock hardened as a wave of hunger and want flooded him. Their eyes locked and he saw an answering flash of desire swirling in her green gaze.

Fuckin’ A.

His hand reached for her face.

The officer returned.

Merrick dropped his hand. Sydney glanced away, but not before he saw the disappointment. His lungs constricted.

“I called it in to the station. They’ll keep a look out. I didn’t get much of a look at your attackers. I’d be happy to take you back to the station so you can give a full report.”

Merrick shook his head. They needed to make their train. “That’s much appreciated but we’d rather be on our way. Could we leave the report with you?”

The officer took notes as Merrick described Regina and her goons down to the very last detail. He even dropped her name to give her a little extra hell.

“And how did you learn her name?” the officer asked.

“One of the men let it slip when they were talking to her,” he supplied helpfully.

The officer nodded and wrote it down on his pad before flipping it shut and tucking it away. “I’m really sorry this had to happen to you two. You seem like good people.” He offered Merrick a card. “You can check in with the station to see if they get your wallet back. We’d be happy to mail it to you.”

“Thanks.”

The officer disappeared the way he’d come.

Merrick headed back to Market Street, Sydney at his side. She worked her jaw, reminding him that she had been hit. His temper flared. “Come on.” He led her into a drugstore and bought a frozen bag of peas from the food section with the card she handed him.

“What’re those for?”

He crunched the bag in his hands. “It’s for your face.”

They made it to the Montgomery station without incident. Merrick sought out a deserted part of the platform and took a bench. He turned to Sydney and cupped the side of her face in his hand. She shivered. He pretended not to notice as he placed the frozen peas on her jaw.

She jerked away from the cold. “Ow. Don’t you need your own bag of peas?”

“I wasn’t hit in the face,” he said, though the backs of his legs and his knees were aching fiercely.