Lover Uncloaked (Stealth Guardians #1) - By Unknown Page 0,14

“I’m afraid, son, that’s not possible. You’re needed elsewhere. We have an assignment for you.”

FIVE

In his cloaked state, Aiden paced outside of Inter Pharma’s facility. After leaving the council chambers, he’d looked at the manila folder containing the details of his assignment and read it cover to cover. He’d formed his opinion on this case by the time he reached the last page, secretly questioning the council’s decision. Given the details laid out in the report, he would have decided on eliminating the human in question. It would be the safest and only reliable way of ensuring that the demons wouldn’t gain access to this dangerous drug.

However, when he’d pulled out Dr. Cruickshank’s picture, which had been tucked into an envelope and placed in the back of the file, his gut had instantly made a curious flip. He’d expected her to be different . . . older . . . and not so . . . beautiful. But it wasn’t only her beauty that created such a physical reaction in him. It was the determined look in her eyes that the camera had captured. What he read in them attracted him most of all: strength. A human woman who was strong and determined, not weak and impressionable, not easily seduced. Would she be strong enough to resist the demons once they found her?

He turned, annoyed at himself for letting a picture sway him in his conviction. What she looked like didn’t matter. It would not influence at all how he treated her: with utter professionalism. Just as he treated all the others. And should it become necessary to kill her, he wouldn’t hesitate.

Aiden’s gaze drifted down the street. The area was a mix of residential and commercial buildings. The shops had long closed, but a couple of the restaurants farther down the street were still open. Some of the windows in the nearby office buildings were illuminated, and in the apartment buildings he saw people go about their lives, cooking dinner, watching TV. He always felt like a thief when he watched others like this. Yet it had become second nature. All Stealth Guardians did it.

Curiosity had always been one of his traits. Even early in his training, he’d liked to watch humans, observe how they lived. In many ways it was so different from his own life of duty and service. Inside those apartments he gazed up at, people loved and lived. They raised children, had careers, shared laughter and tears. And one day, they died. A strange yearning came over him each time he thought of their lives.

While his life at the compound afforded him the same comforts humans lived with, life was very different there. For starters, he spent very little time at the compound, and it was rare that all inhabitants were there at the same time. One or the other was always on assignment. Birthdays weren’t celebrated, neither was Christmas, Easter, or any other holiday. Every day was the same. There was no weekend where people relaxed and unwound. Demons didn’t rest on Saturday or Sunday, and neither did Stealth Guardians. Danger was always awake. It never slept.

Aiden tore his gaze from the apartment building and continued surveying the area. Few cars passed. A bus stopped on the next block, dropping off a woman with a small child. In the distance, a door closed and another opened. Normal sounds of a neighborhood.

But his senses were only partially engaged, his thoughts going back to his new charge, Leila. He would follow her home tonight and assess where she was most vulnerable to an attack by the demons. Not that he believed that they would mount an outright attack: they wanted what she had, the drug. They were more likely to find something in her life to make a bargain with.

The sound of distant footsteps and voices, carried to him by his preternatural senses, made him turn his head back to the building Inter Pharma occupied. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows that encased the lobby, he saw Leila crossing to the door, exchanging a few kind words with the night watchman. The photo he’d been given didn’t do her justice. In reality she looked even more enchanting than on the black and white picture. His stomach tensed at the sight, giving him a visceral reaction he was unaccustomed to when dealing with a charge. She was so unlike anybody else he’d ever had to protect.

Aiden attributed his reaction to the fact that this woman was extremely dangerous: if

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