Academy of Protectors (The Protector Guild Book 1) Page 13

  Then again, maybe it was good for Ralph to keep an eye on the vampire—something about the knowing look in his mismatched eyes had me on edge.

  I was probably just rattled from my first and last encounter with a vampire.

  Quick and silent on my feet, I made it back to my bed without incident, hiding Greta’s card key inside my pillowcase for safe keeping. I’d have to sneak it out with me when I was discharged.

  I’d been at The Guild for a little over a day and I’d already encountered two vamps and a hellhound—at least living here wouldn’t be dull. As I drifted off to sleep, my hazy brain focused on a pair of mismatched, arrogant eyes.

  Chapter Twelve

  Atlas

  “We shouldn’t have come here, Seamus.” There was a brief pause before the voice, Cyrus I assumed from the grumbling tone, picked back up again. “I thought it was a good idea. But now—we’ve been here for a day and she’s already almost been killed. I could have hidden her somewhere else, she needs more time.”

  I stood frozen outside of Seamus’s place, uncomfortable with eavesdropping, but unwilling to pass up the chance to learn more about the Bentley family. After we left the infirmary, Seamus asked for me to meet with him. Most likely he wanted me to brief him again on what happened outside of Vanish.

  And I didn’t blame him. We needed to strategize. This was uncharted territory.

  Vamps so close to Guild Headquarters? It was completely unheard of. And the fact that they actively attacked one of our own? Things were amping up a lot more than we realized.

  “Cy, what’s done is done. Outside of you and me, no one knows anything, okay. We can keep her safe. She needs training, and she needs to learn about our world. Eli and his team, they’re trustworthy. I’ve known them all since they were kids. And I am telling you that there is no group better for her to learn from. They’ll watch her back and keep her safe.”

  I bristled as he mentioned our team. Were the Bentleys the reason we were tapped to tackle teaching while Alleva was gone? I pinched my lips together and took a long breath in and out. The lack of information was grating. Seamus brought them here and now the girl was already under my team’s skin. The way they all crowded around her bed, waiting for her to wake up. We had other things to focus on, other things to accomplish. Our timeline was crunching and having her here, getting in our heads, was not part of the plan.

  “You’ve been doing her a disservice trying to ignore this,” Seamus continued. “I spoke with Reese this afternoon and she said Max and Ro were almost completely clueless.”

  “I had my reasons—”

  “Your reasons were selfish, don’t pretend otherwise.” Seamus let out a frustrated sigh. “You love her like a daughter. And you weren’t planning on that. I get it. I’m shocked as hell, but I get it. I’m a parent too. But what she needs from you is not parental affection. It’s going to get her killed. She needs to understand what she’s up against. And soon. She’s almost nineteen.”

  What the hell was she up against? It took every ounce of strength I had not to break the door down and demand answers.

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cyrus said, his voice picking up in volume.

  I calmed my breathing as much as I could, hoping they couldn’t hear me through the thin walls. The heavy wind was working in my favor, but their hearing was almost as good as mine. And snooping on my bosses was the exact opposite of what I should be doing right now.

  “She’s undisciplined, Cy, reckless. Look at this.” There was a brief pause, and I heard some clunking around on the other side of the door.

  “So what? So she went to see the hound.” Cyrus let out an exasperated chuckle and slammed something heavy down on a table. “To tell you the truth, I can’t say I blame her.”

  “And you honestly think this is going to be a one-time thing? I’ve known the girl less than forty-eight hours and I know for certain she’ll be back. I’ve erased this from the video feed for now but I can’t keep her off the radar if she’s downstairs having conversations with these creatures. She’s going to draw attention. Even more than she already has.”

  What kind of attention were they so afraid of? I mean I understood why Cyrus was a bit frustrated. One of his kids had almost died, but this was something else. Who exactly was Max Bentley? And did they really think that someone or something was after her? Was it because of the wolf attack the other night, or something else?

  I wiped my clammy hands against my jeans, taking deep, calming breaths. More than anything, I wanted Max Bentley away from here, away from us. She was drawing too much attention to herself and drawing my team into whatever problems and shadows followed her.

  I counted to five before clearing my throat and loudly knocking on the door. Neither of them were obtuse but hopefully they didn’t suspect I heard too much.

  “Come in,” Seamus called, his voice raised louder than it had been, but still filled with a frustrated and exhausted edge.

  I walked into Seamus’s quarters to find both brothers studying me. Matching dark hair, matching dark eyes. Seated like this, the resemblance between them was uncanny. They were almost twins. I hadn’t known Cyrus long, but it was still obvious to me that Seamus was the more jovial one between them. Not tonight though. There was a somberness to his expression, the lines around his mouth etched deeper than usual.

  Not wanting to drag any dirt in, I tapped each boot roughly on the ground a few times before entering. “You er, wanted to see me sir? I hope I’m not interrupting anything important. I can come back later if it would be better for you.”

  I half hoped he’d take me up on it. After the intense evening, I wanted nothing more than a cold beer and a solid night’s sleep. Plus Cyrus was looking at me like he wanted to peel back my skin, just to see what was under it. There weren’t many protectors I found intimidating, but Cyrus Bentley was definitely one of them.

  “Cy, this is Atlas. I don’t think you’ve formally met him yet, especially not tonight with all of the chaos, but he’s part of Six—the leader of Eli’s group.” Seamus ran a hand through his dark hair, frowning as his fingers got caught in a few tangles.

  “Nice to meet you, sir.” I stood up a bit straighter, not wanting to give either of them a reason to study me too closely.

  Cyrus didn’t respond, or even gesture in acknowledgement. His cold, depth-filled eyes just studied with me scrutiny.

  Seamus coughed out a chuckle before turning back to me. “Sorry son, you’ll have to excuse my brother. Rough night and all, with his kid.” He backhanded Cyrus in the arm, hard enough to earn his brother’s focus. “Atlas is a good kid. And he’s got a hell of a team on his hands. I’d say the same, even if my son weren’t on it. They’ll take good care of Max, keep an eye on her.”

  “She’s slippery.” Cyrus let out a gruff groan, his arms crossed in front of his chest as he leaned back in his chair. His eyes softened slightly, just for a moment. “I don’t care if you put the best this place has to offer on her tail, even I have difficulty keeping her out of trouble. And I have no reason to trust a bunch of kids I don’t even know.” He narrowed his eyes slightly, whatever warmth was there before was now nowhere in sight. “Same goes for your son. I see the way he looks at women—at her.”

  Of course. Eli was always sticking his dick where it didn’t belong. And now Cyrus was going to be watching us extra close because of it. Great.

  Seamus wasn’t really the eye-rolling type, but the head-tilt thing he did was as close as it got. “The boys are the ones who found her and brought her back, Cy. Stop being so stubborn.” As if suddenly remembering that I was still in the room, Seamus turned towards me and grinned. “Atlas, as I’m sure you’re aware, brothers are a goddamn headache. But the reason I called you here tonight is to see if I can have you and the guys—Declan too, of course—keep an eye out for Max. This is the second time she’s been attacked this week, and with the increase in supernatural activity, we don’t want to take any chances.”

  “Of course.” I gave him a small nod before glancing quickly at Cyrus again. He was back to studying me, his expression completely unreadable. “We can spend more time patrolling Guild boundaries. It’s strange to have a vampire in our territory. Any word yet on what it was doing here?”

  Seamus frowned, shaking his head. “No news. And while patrolling is appreciated as always, I was hoping that you could keep an eye on her in a more direct sense. I don’t want her leaving campus, without one of you with her at all times. And I’d like for you to take her under your wing in terms of training—”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but Seamus continued on, ignoring me.

  “I know she’s quite advanced, but she is also incredibly inexperienced. I understand that your brother is going to cover some extra tutoring sessions, which is great. I’d appreciate the rest of you looking out for her as well. She’s family and I want her transition into this life to go as smoothly as possible.”

  I fought to keep my expression blank as my stomach sank. The last thing any of us needed right now was to play babysitter to a fucking puppy who had no idea how to function around people, let alone one who was a magnet for trouble.

  “Er, sir,” I started, trying to sound as gracious as possible. “I’m glad you thought of us, but are you sure that we’re really the best option? Wouldn’t it be better for her to work with one of the older, more advanced teams?”

  Or, better yet, go back to wherever she came from?

  “I think she’ll fit in better with you. Especially since your team is in charge of training sessions for the next few days, until Alleva gets back. You’re the natural choice.”

  I turned to Cyrus, hoping he would at least agree with me, but I was met with his persistent, impenetrable stare.

  “Our field missions—” I started, trying to string together an argument. Any argument.

  “Your assignments are significantly lightened, for as long as you are training, so it shouldn’t be too big of a problem. And for the few days we need you and your team elsewhere, we can make something work.” Seamus stood, stretching his neck. It had been a long night for all of us. “Don’t worry, Atlas. Max is a good kid, I can tell. I’m sure we’ll get all of this sorted eventually, it’s just a temporary favor.” He paused a moment, his muscles tense. “But please do be discreet about it. Can’t have anyone getting upset about nepotism and worrying Max is getting preferential treatment.”

  I bit back my smirk. No one who grew up with Eli could ever accuse The Guild of giving preferential treatment to relatives of prominent members. Seamus made sure of that. If anything, Eli had a harder time than most, constantly under his father’s scrutiny.

  “Sir,” I said quietly. With a reluctant nod, I acknowledged the assignment for exactly what it was—a decision outside of my control. And if Seamus was putting an entire team of protectors on Max detail, one thing was certain: there was far more to her than any of us realized. Maybe this would be my best chance to get to the bottom of it.

  Until we learned why the hell Seamus and Cyrus were so hellbent on coddling her and keeping her under Guild radar, Max Bentley could not be trusted. And, I realized, my stomach hardening at the thought, maybe Seamus and Cyrus weren’t to be trusted either.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Max

  For the next several days, I was locked in my suite like a prisoner while I healed. Only the thing was, I felt great. Even better than before the attack. Greta checked my vitals and found that I was perfectly fine, but Cyrus and Ro wanted me in bed just to be sure—it was an abnormal amount of blood to lose, and I’d certainly never been injured to quite that degree in our sparring sessions. Not to mention the three broken bones in my right arm and hand. Those took the longest to heal, and put me in the most amount of pain. One of the bones didn’t heal quite right and had to be reset by Greta, leaving her to snicker at my tirade of swear words. She and I had a love-hate thing going on. Before I left, she loudly complained about having lost her ID card and what a pain it was to get a new one issued. The wink she immediately delivered, settled any fears I had about keeping her old one.

  While it was nice that Ro delivered all my favorite foods to my bed, I was antsy and ready for a prison break. It was a special kind of torture, remaining on bed rest when my body felt like it was on an energy high. And I couldn’t do anything about it, because after one failed escape attempt, I lost all privacy privilege—Cyrus and Ro kept watch over me in shifts, both of them hovering anxiously around my room like mother hens.

  I had a feeling it had more to do with the “what if’s” running through their minds, than the actual outcome of the attack. Not to mention they both kept shooting me furtive glances, eyes roving over the skin that no longer showed any evidence of housing vamp fangs. And according to Ro, the attack was all anyone could talk about.

  “You’re the talk of The Guild, Max. No one your age has ever lived to talk about a solo vamp win.” Ro grinned, his eyes following my expression with amusement. We both knew that the only reason I survived was because of Ralph. Outside of the Alpha Six team and us, no one was allowed to know about him or give him the credit. Apparently hellhounds were a big deal, and if everyone found out that one was being housed underground here, I wouldn’t be the only one breaking in to get a visit.

  Which left me restless in a bed and a celebrity under false pretenses.

  “Shut up. Did Cy go down to Ralph yet? Make sure he’s doing okay? I told him I’d try to visit again and you jerks haven’t given me the opportunity to.” Ro’s eyebrows turned in and his cheeks blushed. I frowned, guilt churning in my gut. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to take that out on you. I’m just getting restless and the more I sit here all day, the more I think about how ridiculous it is that The Guild is keeping the hero of the story locked up in a glorified prison next to a creepy vamp. It’s not exactly a great way to say thank you, is it? Can’t we at least find him a nicer neighbor?”

  Cyrus pushed through the door and entered my room. I’d conned Ro into letting me organize it a bit while I was ‘resting.’ Unlike Cyrus, Ro caved a little under pressure.

  “I saw your hellhound.” Cy’s voice was gruff, while his eyes took in the changes to my room. They were small—I’d repositioned the bed against the wall, moved the dresser a few inches to the left so that the window wasn’t blocked, and a few smaller things—but Cyrus noticed everything immediately, and I grinned when I saw his expression catalogue that the rug was moved over half an inch. Ro and I did that just to see if he’d notice. Both of our lips tightened in amusement, but neither of us was willing to mock Cyrus openly.

  “His name is Ralph, Cy. I keep telling you that.” At his answering eye roll, I jumped to the end of my bed, excited for news. “Well, did you talk to him? What did he say? Is he okay? They haven’t hurt him have they? I’ll kill anyone that tries. When can I go down there?”

  Cyrus shook his long mane of hair out in frustration. “You don’t name a hellhound, Max,” he said, pausing as his annoyance bled into amusement. “And if you do, you don’t name him Ralph.”

  “Hey, he chose it, not me. I thought it only fair that at least one of us got a choice in our names.”

  “First of all, your name is perfectly nice, Maxi—’

  I cut him off with a hiss, while he crossed over to sit on the small chair Ro had just abandoned.

  “Second, hellhounds don’t talk.”

  I looked up at him, smug. “Mine does.” Ro raised an eyebrow at me and I dropped my shoulders. “Okay, he doesn’t say, like, words or anything. But we have a system. And he can understand what I’m saying.”

  “Unlikely, I’ve never met any creature who understands what she’s saying,” Cyrus muttered not-so-covertly to Ro. The pair of them shared a chuckle at my expense. It was fine, I was used to it. And I secretly enjoyed being their source of amusement. Life got boring in the cabin if we didn’t do all we could to liven it up a bit. Family was a weird thing.

  “I know what I saw. Ralph chose Ralph and he understood what I said to him. But if you want to mock, fine. Moving on to the next question, then. How is he and have they done anything to him down there?”

  “He’s perfectly fine,” Cyrus answered before shooting an amused look over at Ro. “And apparently very pleased that Ro threatened one of the guards until they agreed to give him a couple of steaks last night.”

  I grinned proudly at Ro before turning back to Cyrus. We’d both bugged Cy for years to let us get a pet. This was the closest we’d ever come to actually having one. “What about the vamp, did they find anything weird in his venom or whatever? Because not only are my fang holes gone, but I feel absolutely great.”

  His dark brows furrowed and his usually tan skin paled a few shades. “No, nothing unusual in his venom or teeth—” he paused, shifting his focus between us, “Seamus and I were serious the other night, you can’t go telling people about the bite until we know more.”

  I had a feeling that Izzy would get me to spill as soon as she was granted visitation rights though. I’d known her for all of a day and she was already my favorite person after Ro and Cyrus.

  I let out a breath of air, puffing my hair to the side. “No kidding. I’m already going to be such a freak here now, I don’t need to go looking for more reasons. Was probably just a freak thing. Or maybe Ralph healed me somehow? He licked the wound after I killed the vamp.” I paused a moment, thinking. “Come to think of it, he slobbered on me after the wolf attack too. Maybe hellhound saliva has healing properties. The creepy vamp downstairs told me Ralph was connected to me some—”

  “I don’t want you speaking to that vampire again, Max. I’m neither naive nor obtuse enough to think you won’t be down there to visit that dog again, but you’re to ignore anything else you see down there. The beasts and demons downstairs are both intelligent and dangerous.”

  Demons? They had demons down there? Demons were real?