Page 3 of Warrior Unraveled

She noticed how Hamish pulled his human charge closer.

“Starting with the human.” Virginia pointed at Tessa. She’d read her file, too. A talented politician, a public servant who hadn’t forgotten what it meant to serve the public. A rarity. Nevertheless, rules were rules.

“She has no right to be here. You’ve compromised the security of this compound by having brought her here. We’ll have to abandon this place and relocate everybody. You’ll answer for this before the Council of Nine.”

“He didn’t do anything wrong!” Tessa blurted.

How dare the human raise her voice to her? “What did you say?”

“I have the same right to be here as Leila, Aiden’s wife.” A stubborn lift of her chin.

Virginia tilted her head to the side, suspicion rising like dense fog in the Outer Hebrides. “Are you telling me that you’re Hamish’s mate?”

“Yes.”

This changed everything. As his mate, she had every right to be here—if it was true. “And why has the council not been informed of this?”

Anybody else would have missed the quick but silent exchange between Tessa and Hamish, and the slight hesitation before Hamish replied. But Virginia didn’t. She was trained to notice.

“It only just happened. I was about to inform the council but we had to deal with a demon attack instead,” Hamish claimed. “I apologize for my tardiness.”

For now, Virginia couldn’t refute the statement. It was rare that she was wrong. And something was definitely wrong. She could smell it. It stank like the rotting corpse of a demon.

“Very well. I suppose congratulations are in order,” she ground out through clenched teeth.

If it turned out the two weren’t bonded—something she could ascertain at a later time—she would haul Hamish before the council and let him have it. Nobody pulled the wool over her eyes.

“Thank you,” Hamish said, his voice icy. “If you don’t mind then, my mate and I would like to retire. It’s been a long night.”

“Not so fast!” Virginia snapped. “There’s still the matter of the witch.”

“Name’s Wesley.” The witch grinned and walked toward her.

Did he think his charming smile would stop her from doing her job? Apparently, the cocky bastard thought she’d come to chat as if they were old friends. Never mind that the way he looked at her with his baby-blue eyes shaved off a few layers of her protective armor. Never mind that sweat was collecting on her palms. And never fucking mind that low in her groin, a second beat mirrored her heart, pounding an urgent rhythm of desire and need against a drum that only she could hear.

Fuck! She was well past rasen, well past the period in a Stealth Guardian’s life when the call of mating season clouded a warrior’s judgment. She’d never mated, and instead chosen to serve her race in other ways. She couldn’t allow rasen to catch up with her now.

“Stay where you are!”

To underscore her demand, Virginia placed her hand on her dagger, letting the cool obsidian handle calm her.

The witch stopped walking. “Whatever you want. Anything, really.”

She tried to ignore his eyes running over her body as if he were a sculptor taking measurements. Instead, she noticed his lips parting in appreciation. She didn’t dare look at the other Stealth Guardians. Would they notice what was going on between her and the witch? She had to stop this now, or everything she’d built for herself, her reputation, her iron will, would wash away just like the green blood of the last demon she’d killed had washed down a storm drain.

“You’ll be interrogated. In the meantime, you’ll be locked up.”

“Wesley helped us with our mission,” Hamish said from behind her. “Without him, we might have never been able to thwart the demons’ plans to destroy Tessa’s political future. He’s no danger to any of us.”

Virginia tossed a dismissive look over her shoulder, glad to have a genuine reason to tear her gaze from the witch. “That remains to be seen. Anybody breaching our defenses is a danger.” She turned fully, scorching the guardians with her glare. “And you and your compound mates should have notified the Council of Nine immediately when the breach occurred. We had to find out from a guardian at another compound. This has not gone unnoticed. Together with the previous infractions of your motley crew, you’ve exhausted the council’s patience.”

Behind her she heard a sigh coming from the witch. “Oh, listen, Virginia, I—”

She spun around and glared at him. “That’s Ms. Robson to you!” Because if she allowed him to address her in any other fashion, a familiarity could develop between them—one she couldn’t allow. If that happened, she might as well stab herself with her own dagger and twist the blade for good measure.

“Ms. Robson then.” He shrugged as if he didn’t care what he called her. “Listen, it’s really not their fault. Don’t punish them for what I did.”

Before she realized it, she was nose to nose with him. “You, witch, listen to me. I’m the one giving the orders. If you think you can wrap me around your little finger like you’ve clearly done with these dimwits, you’re wrong. I’m your worst nightmare.”

The warning didn’t have the desired effect.

The witch grinned.