Electric shocks jabbing through the bars of my cage. Heavy shackles pinning me down while they try to rip my wing from my body to convince me to talk-
“Ssh, it’s alright. I won’t touch you, don’t worry.” But she doesn’t understand. Idreamof the gentle glide of her fingers on my feathers. The press of her body against my side, tucked safely beneath my wing where she belongs.
But sphinxes that take up guardian positions don’t get mates; not unless they forsake their post to another. We’re bound by duty, devoting our lives to protecting what little true magic is left in the world. It would be an affront to the gods not to put a gift like a mate first in all ways. They’d be in greater danger if anyone decided to use them against us because any male would sacrifice every treasure under his care to protect his mate.
And now that I’ve met mine? I’m not honorable enough to walk away from her. Yet, I can’t stand by and lethimthreaten everything I vowed to protect. I… I don’t know what to do. How can I protect both my homeland and my mate when I can’t even save myself?
My ragged purr stutters and dies in my chest.
She wrinkles her nose at the gifts on her doorstep. “I appreciate the sentiment, but even I’m not desperate enough to go there yet.”
I scowl at myself. It’s a pitiful offering, especially to someone as lovely as her. I try to think back to what my sisters and mother preferred. I can faintly recall sitting gathered around a long table, all of us feasting together, laughing and sharing stories. Without a wing or tail in sight. That memory morphs into a more recent one of loading paper bags loaded with food into a truck, cursing at the flat tire and glancing anxiously at my watch, worried I was going to be late for my nightly rounds.
I never made it.
It hits me like a truck, and before I lose my train of thought again, I take off bounding into the woods behind her home, retracting my wings and shifting back before emerging from the other side.
People knowing I’m a sphinx puts my mate in danger.I repeat the mantra over and over again, hoping that when I’m dragged under again, a part of me will remember.
Shaking off the cold, I follow the scent of food until finding a building that looks vaguely familiar enough to risk stepping inside.
Blend in. Secure enough food for my mate and I to last the winter, then get out before anyone notices me.
Muscle memory kicks in and I grab a cart, biting back the urge to snarl at anyone that stares a second too long or gets within arm’s reach. I throw things in at random until it’soverflowing and start to stride out when shouting erupts behind me and I whirl on instinct, reaching for my hip, but there’s no weapon there. I can shift to tear them apart, but there are dozens of people openly staring now.
Knowing I’m a sphinx puts my mate in danger.I can snap the necks of a couple, but this many?
Too many hands to fight off. Brutal kicks to the ribs and a knife buried in my stomach, enough electricity coursing through my veins to knock me unconscious-
“Don’t call the cops, man, I’ll cover it. The guy clearly needs help, not a jail cell.” As the shouting turns into angry murmurs, I jump on the opportunity and escape with my bounty.
It’s the least I can offer my mate after she cared for me at my lowest. I may be a broken man, but with a treasure like her to protect now? I’ll scrape the jagged pieces back together into a guardian so fierce, no one will dare touch anything under my protection ever again.
Chapter 15
Stryker
My father steeples his fingers on top of his desk. “Sebastian, I’m impressed. Don’t let it go to your head and get back to work. Stryker, a word?”
Smirking, my brother discreetly flips me off on his way out of Dad’s office. Heart racing a mile a minute, my chest is still heaving as I catch my breath when the door slams shut behind his smug ass.
Today's test was a close one. A response time drill with full-on fake intruders that needed to be disarmed and secured, and a fake witness protection asset that had to be moved to a safe house before ‘police’ responded to the scene, then return to the office. I swear, my brother knew in advance which houses would be triggered and was on the way to his before the alert even came through the system. I made it to mine ninety seconds after him and nearly shorted out the system, but managed to hold it together and even get the asset to the safe house before frying my car and having to run the last five miles back.
Dad watches Sebastian leave then turns back to me, frowning. “You seem… off, lately. Anything you need to tell me, son?”
That my brother is a snake?But no, I know exactly how well that'll go over after he brushed me off the first time I approached him with my concerns. I need hard proof before I try again or it’ll backfire. Until then, the best I can do is fight like hell to keep the company out of his hands and fire Seb myself.
“No, everything’s fine. I’m going to get my car situation handled if you don’t need me for anything else today?”
Dad searches my face for a long minute before he finally nods with a small sigh and waves me off. “See that you do. Take the rest of the week off to work out whatever it is that has you so distracted lately, I need you at your best for the fundraiser. If you can impress the Sinclairs enough they sign with us,” he trails off with a whistle. “Maybe I should hold off on retiring for another few years.”
I roll my eyes and chuckle. He could spend the rest of his life traveling the world and not burn through his savings. “Only if you’re cool with the idea of Mom flitting around Europe on her own, because I doubt there’s a force on earth that could keep her from getting on that plane come May.”
As expected, he scowls and swats my shoulder when he sees my shit-eating grin. My father started this companybecauseof Mom. A bonded pair is definitely not the norm these days, and without bondmates to help keep her safe, he needed to get creative. Doesn’t help that people flirt with her everywhere she goes, hoping to convince her to take on more mates. Poor Dad would have an aneurysm if she left the country by herself.
Scratch that; he’d beat the shit out of every member of her security team for allowing it, then be on the next flight out.
After a quick stop into my brother’s office to downgrade only Dad’s ticket from first class in their booking from his computer, I head out, feeling lighter than I have in days. I’m not above a little sabotage if it means keeping the company out of that psycho’s hands. The greater good and all that.
