Bloody prat. He was part of the reason this mission was going down the shite-twirler. Valin obviously had other plans than making contact. Or rather, he’d only planned to make contact with one person. The question was why?
Only one way to find out.
Bennett eased up on his shields, trying to pinpoint the exact emotions of the handful of guards who’d been left to monitor him. Most of them, along with their mix of curiosity and annoyance, were actually edging on bored after almost ten minutes of tense inaction. And Aaron, the bloke Jacob had left in charge, was distinctly distracted—had been since Valin left with the mysterious Gabriella, actually. Gabriella the vampire, who, oh, was part-succubus too. WTF?
“Mind if we take a gander? Find my mate?” Bennett asked.
Aaron drew his gaze away from the door, blinking at him. “What?”
“Valin, my mate. I’d like to try and find him if it’s not too much trouble.” You know, so I can wring the bastard’s neck. He didn’t add that. United we stand, divided we fall, and all that bloody crap.
Aaron hesitated, then meeting the gaze of an African American soldier, he jerked his head toward the door. “Keon, come with us. The rest of you, why don’t you go help my brother track down Annie?”
The other soldiers immediately took off, leaving Bennett reeling at the ease of getting rid of most of his guards. Aaron didn’t look old enough to elicit such obedience—early twenties maybe?—nor did he have the same calm confidence his older brother did. So either sharing DNA held a lot of weight here or this Aaron was simply off his stride today.
Probably the whole Gabriella bit. He definitely didn’t shine to the fact that she went off with Valin…alone.
At least Bennett knew why Jacob had gone running now. Bennett would pity the null, Annie, but he suspected the hard-ass warrior had a soft spot for family. And if he was any good judge of genetic expression, both Jacob and Aaron here were blood relations to the null. Tall as giants, whiskey-brown eyes, high cheekbones, stubborn jawlines and all.
Aaron turned to Keon. “Shoot him if he so much as twitches wrong.”
Keon nodded solemnly, then gestured with his rifle for Bennett to follow Aaron.
“Aren’t you buggers so bleeding sweet,” Bennett muttered and fell into line. What was it his mate Logan would say about this? Oh, right, what a major FUBAR: fucked up beyond all recognition. Or was that repair? He guessed it didn’t matter; it amounted to the same thing. Of course, it couldn’t be a total loss. So far they weren’t dead.
His hopes of staying that way ended, though, when they rounded the next corner. At the far end of the narrow hall, a naked Valin was facing off with the missing Annie. The look on Valin’s face did not bode well; neither did the redhead’s cocky pose.
“Get the fuck out of my way,” Valin warned.
She smiled, cracking her knuckles. “No.”
Bloody fucking hell. That wasn’t going to go over well, and sure enough, Valin decided to make her. Valin spun, sweeping out his leg, probably going on the assumption that the bigger they were the harder they fell. Only Annie didn’t fall; she jumped into the attack, tackling Valin. She threw a couple punches that Valin blocked. And then they both sprung back to their feet, same sides of the hall, only this time the face-off had been foregone for a good ole downright boxing session.
“Annie!” Aaron charged. Behind Bennett, he sensed Keon tense, his rifle rising to shoulder level.
“Shite.” There were things worse than a FUBAR. Things like this. Bennett crouched, swiping a leg out and grabbing for the rifle in Keon’s hands. Despite Keon’s quick initial reaction, the soldier must have been as shocked by what was occurring down the hall as Bennett was, because it was like filching candy from a babe. A split second was all it took for the man to go down, the rifle settling nicely into Bennett’s grip as he bolted after Aaron. Multitasking, he ejected the magazine, clearing the slug from the chamber as he ran. When he was close enough he chucked the whole thing and on a push of adrenaline leapt for Aaron’s legs. Aaron went sprawling and, jammy bastard that Valin was, didn’t shoot the naked Paladin or anyone else on his way to the linoleum.
Probably worried he’d hit Annie.
Scrambling over the pissed Aaron, Bennett stomped the handgun out of the soldier’s hand and kicked the Glock away, dashing for the two toddlers playing at war. And that’s all it really was—play—because even with the height advantage and the fact that she was actually pretty damn competent, Bennett knew from experience that Valin was a damn sight better. He was pissed. He wanted past. And Annie was stubborn enough not to let him. Thankfully the idiot was at least brilliant enough to know better than to actually harm a lady.
Didn’t change the fact that he’d initiated a fight with her.
“Valin, you right piece of shite. Give over, will ya?” Bennett yelled as he forced his way into the barrage of slap downs and blocks. Of course, in doing so he got a nice kick to the outer thigh from the redhead and a fucking fist to the face by Valin, but he figured it was worth it if they all got out of this without any holes.
That stated, the injuries pissed the crap out of him. Bennett smashed a left jab right back at Valin’s face. Bugger was too fast and tried to dodge, but Bennett had anticipated and caught him with his right forearm across the throat, driving him into the wall.
“Cor blimey, Valin! What is wrong with you?”
“She got in my way!”
“She’s a bloody girl!”
And those were two very pissed-off men who were up and collecting their weapons again. Could this mission get any worse?
Valin’s jaw worked, the muscle spasming along it as he drew in deep breaths through his nose.
“Well? What is it, mate? You got a good reason for this? ’Cause if not I might just go help Keon there put his rifle back together.”
Valin closed his eyes, rapping his head against the wall behind him. “Fuck.” When he opened his eyes again the anger had faded, and for the first time Bennett could sense the pulse of frustration and despair riding his fellow Paladin.
Annie had pulled back in her gift some. Enough for Valin to probably ghost if he wanted. The fact that he didn’t said the Paladin might have his head screwed on again.
“What is it?” he asked, easing off a bit. Valin shook his head, removing Bennett’s arm with his hand.
“I’m sorry.” Valin directed the apology over Bennett’s shoulder to Annie. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“As if,” Annie scoffed, folding her arms across her chest.
Aaron obviously didn’t give a shite about whether she was hurt or not. He’d retrieved his gun and had stepped forward, lifting it so it was uncomfortably close to Bennett’s face. “Get your fucking hands up, both of you, or I’m going to fucking blow a hole in both your heads.”
“Oh, chill, Aaron. He didn’t do anything other than stop us. And Valin and I were only sparring. He didn’t hurt me, and I learned a lot of cool moves in the process.”
“You are fucking warped, you know that?” The comment came from Keon, but when Bennett glanced over at him he saw that the soldier was actually smiling. Annie smiled right back, her wide mouth showing off a spectacular set of pearlies as she performed a little curtsey.
Warped for sure. Though she was also interesting. Bennett could sense nothing from her. No emotions. No nothing. And though that should probably have made him wary, it didn’t. It was a bloody relief is what it was. To be able to look at her and not know a damn thing about her or her feelings was a novelty he didn’t normally get. He had no idea what she felt or thought of him and all that was going on here. Other than that, she had attitude coming out the arse and a penchant for trouble, it seemed.