“Orion. I’m set.”
He started down the stairs immediately, and I turned my head toward the wall so he couldn’t see how ashamed I felt. I tried not to tense up as Orion started on my calves. His touch alone sent a jolt through my body. This was going to be torture.
True to his word, Orion kept things professional, his palms and fingertips working methodically over my back and shoulders. But those hands. Callused yet gentle, he found every knot and tight muscle with unfailing accuracy. I bit my lip, but it didn’t stop the small groans of pleasure.
By the time he finally stopped, I felt utterly boneless, my body a puddle of relaxed contentment. Orion stepped back, dropping a chaste pat on my shoulder.
“Better?” he asked.
I turned because I owed him the respect of looking him in the eye. “That doesn’t begin to describe how much that helped. Thank you so much. I owe you.”
“That was the point,” he said with a smile. “And you don’t owe me. Dinner was wonderful, but I should have realized you’d be sore and stopped you from cooking.”
He needed to go back to being a jerk. “It didn’t hurt until I sat on the floor. I?—”
The light flickered and the odd tingling sensation of alien energy fluttered across my skin. I sat up as a second flicker disrupted the house. An old incandescent bulb popped and didn’t come back on. I looked at Orion and his expression matched mine. Shit just got real in a hurry.
“Get dressed and meet me back in the living room when you’re ready,” he said. “We’ve got work to do.”
He didn’t wait for me to answer before he bounded up the stairs. All the inappropriate thoughts of Orion vanished in a whisper of Drevlin energy brushing our skin.
Until that moment, everything was abstract. Words on a page, something that would happen in the future. No more.
I quickly got dressed, happy in a way for the distraction of hidden danger. I had a feeling things were about to accelerate rapidly toward a climax. Time to get serious.
Orion
After the first two surges, we experienced three more overnight. It was all over the news. The FBI, the military, the state and local police, as well as scientists from the University of Minnesota were all investigating. The arrival of so many new people altered our tactics dramatically.
Zeke’s idea to set up sensors was still the go-to plan, but we had to evade the swarm of humans to reach the desired locations. I cancelled morning training because the five hours allotted for deployment was increased to ten. The hope was to do it in less, but Zeke had to recalibrate the devices to avoid all the other entities searching for the source. I didn’t understand the science, but Zeke said the location had to be included in the calculations.
The amount of research was impressive. He left no detail unexamined. Yet despite all his preparation, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Zeke was holding something back. It wasn’t an accusation, just an observation. We all kept secrets, even from those closest to us.
With incredibly long lives spanning centuries and millennia, it was simply impractical to bare every aspect of our existence. I had secrets of my own, dark corners of my past I preferred toleave unilluminated. I didn’t press Zeke on whatever he might be concealing because he deserved his privacy as much as I did.
As we drove from one remote location to another, I studied him from the corner of my eye. His handsome face was a mask of concentration. His brown eyes—Ruth’s eyes—narrowed slightly in thought. Every time I looked at Zeke, I saw echoes of the woman who had been like a second mother to me. His strength, courage, and kindness—he embodied all the qualities she’d tried to instill in me over the years.
Zeke also had an intensity Ruth never possessed. A simmering determination that reminded me of Ares. Combining the best of both parents made him an enigma I struggled to understand. I felt a strange sense of pride watching Zeke work, carefully setting up each sensor to ensure optimal coverage and still avoid being found. He was becoming the angel Michael hoped he’d be, capable and unflappable even in the face of such an ominous threat.
“That’s the last one,” Zeke said. He straightened and brushed his hands together. “Assuming our long-range intel is correct, the source should be inside the coverage area.”
Our timeline had been conservative, and we finished in six hours and fifteen minutes. We’d gotten lucky and didn’t encounter a lot of people around our designated locations. “What now?”
“We wait and hope we get lucky.”
I didn’t believe in battle plans that relied on luck. It could just as easily go against you as for you. “I thought you said the sensors would work.”
“Sorry, I misspoke. It will work. I just meant maybe we’ll get our hit sooner than later. Unfortunately, I don’t think that will happen. Whoever is doing this will probably need time to adjust for all the new people searching the area.”
I didn’t fully understand how he could adapt so quickly, yet he didn’t think our adversary could do it as fast. At that moment, however, I didn’t need to know all the details. “Since we’re finished with this task, how would you feel about changing up our practice routine?”
“At the risk of coming off as a smart-ass, we’ve had one session. That’s hardly a routine.”
It wasn’t a no, so I took it as a win. “Total smart-ass answer. If you find yourself in a fight, it won’t be in a flat, controlled setting. I’d like to have our session today outside.”
“Outside?” He looked around. “As in right here?”
He still didn’t object. “Not here. I don’t want to draw attention to any place where we hid a sensor. There are plenty of places between here and the house we can use that will be free of distractions.”
