CHAPTER
THIRTY
Ghost
Muted ringing echoed through the loft, but it might as well have been a bomb.
My body moved before my eyes even opened, jackknifing up and leaping to my feet while reaching for the gun attached to my side of the headboard.
I turned the safety off as I melted into the shadows, fully dilated pupils sweeping the room with laser-like focus. Adrenaline—a potent cocktail—flooded my body so aggressively that I might have been dizzy if I wasn’t familiar with the sensation.
Instead of fighting against it, I let it wake every nerve inside me, sharpening the world until everything was crystal clear and in complete control.
That’s what made me so good at what I do.
Because I used the body’s natural responses to enhance the ones I’d trained it to have.
After a full sweep of the room, I glanced at the bed where Pip was still sleeping. The control I was so proud of harnessingslipped a little, making my heart skip when I didn’t see him at first. Light on my feet, I shifted closer, finding his small form beneath the blankets, the pillow on his opposite side making more of a lump than he did.
The muted ringing continued from somewhere inside the apartment, and I moved toward the door. Before moving forward, I paused, glancing back at the bed as an uneasy feeling uncoiled inside me.
It never mattered before. The danger. Knowing, at any moment, I could be targeted and attacked—hell, even killed. I was born to die, after all.
Except now I had to live.
And keep him alive too.
I couldn’t just turn my back and sweep the apartment because I also needed eyes on him. At all times.If anyone comes for you, they’ll find me blocking their path.
The ringing stopped, turning the silence into noise, but still, my guard remained. After confirming the hallway was empty, I moved backward while keeping my attention ahead. The second my leg bumped the mattress, I leveled the gun at the door while the rest of me turned to the side.
“Pip.” I nudged him.
He made a little sound, but now was not the time to be cute as hell.
“Pip.”
He jolted, blond bedhead popping up from the blankets. “Hiro?”
“Shh,” I shushed, and the ringing started up again.
Rett sat up, the blankets falling to his waist as he rubbedhis eye. “What is that?
“Get up,” I said quietly. “Stay behind me.”
His eyes rounded, the whites like little spotlights in the dark. Palpable fear wafted off him, and, you know, it pissed me the hell off.
Whoever was doing this was going to eat a bullet for their last meal.
Blankets ruffled when he rose on the mattress.
“Stay down,” I demanded, and he dropped back down.
Keeping my weapon aimed, I crouched low, showing him my back. He climbed on immediately, wrapping his arms and legs around me.
I stood, noting how pale his skin looked in the dark, how the white bands of his arms around my shoulders were basically glowing targets.
Wrapping my free arm over his to conceal as much of him as possible, I went to the door, moving faster this time.
