Lover Uncloaked (Stealth Guardians #1) - By Unknown Page 0,58
. It’s not like that. When I need sleep, I call my second, Manus or one of the others, so he can take over while I catch a few hours of sleep.”
He sought her eyes. “I don’t . . . touch my charges when I can avoid it. But you . . . ” He dropped his head. “I’m sorry. It was wrong of me.”
When she didn’t immediately answer, he motioned his head toward the coffee table. “Coralee brought us some food. You must be hungry.”
She nodded and rose from the bed.
When she sat down on the couch and reached for one of the plates, he let himself sink into the armchair. At least he’d said his peace; he only hoped that eventually she would understand and forgive his transgressions.
“How long do we have to stay here?” she asked.
Aiden grabbed a plate. “Maybe two or three days. By then Manus should have initiated everything to stage your death.”
He noticed a shudder going through her at his last word.
“You say that as if that happens all the time.”
“It doesn’t. But occasionally, we have no choice in order to get the demons off our charges’ tails. They’ll only give up once they think they’ve lost. And in your case, simply making sure that they can’t get to your research isn’t enough. If they get to you, they can get you to reproduce it for them.” He shoved a fork full of Pad Thai into his mouth.
She shook her head. “I wouldn’t do that. I’d never work for the demons.” Her body tensed visibly. “Not after all that’s happened to me because of them.”
Aiden put his fork down and chewed, contemplating his next words. How should he explain to her that just like other humans before her, she would succumb to them? “It’s not that easy to resist them when they are trying to seduce you to their side.”
“I don’t see why. Now that I know what they are and what their agenda is, I think they’ve lost that mental power over me. There isn’t anything with which they could seduce me to their side.” Leila thrust up her chin in a determined gesture, indicating that she was prepared to fight.
“Trust me, they’ll find something even you won’t be able to resist. They’ll look long enough to find your weak point, find something you really want, and then promise you that you’ll get it if you work for them. I’ve seen it before.”
His last charge had succumbed. The demons only had to find the right trigger. They would find Leila’s too. Nobody could hide their deepest desires for long, least of all a human. And lately he wondered if even he as a Stealth Guardian could hide his desires any longer.
“I’ve not gotten to where I am right now by being weak,” Leila claimed.
“I’m not suggesting that,” Aiden denied, trying to remain calm. “I’m simply explaining what their modus operandi is. They are very resourceful. And they won’t stop until they know that their dream of possessing this drug won’t come true.”
“You can’t just expect me to live in hiding forever. I can’t do that. My parents . . . my work, I have to go on.”
Aiden set his nearly empty plate onto the tray. “That’s exactly what you’ll have to do if you want to live.”
Her eyes narrowed. “But you said the demons don’t want to kill me, because they want what I can give them.”
He stared at her, warring with himself whether to spell it out once more: if she worked for the demons, he or one of his fellow Stealth Guardians would have to eliminate her. Yet looking into her eyes now, he realized that he wouldn’t be capable of it. Would he go so far as to defend her even against his own brothers should they try to harm her?
Suddenly her eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open. “Oh, my God, you do mean it, don’t you? You would kill me without as much as blinking.”
“By the looks of it, he wouldn’t enjoy it though.”
At the sound of the familiar male voice in the room, Aiden snapped his gaze to the door, jumping up from his chair simultaneously.
Shit!
The tall rugged stranger who had appeared out of nowhere and now stood near the door was none other than Hamish.
“You guys have to stop doing this. There’s only so much I can take,” Leila snapped and slammed her plate onto the coffee table.