bouncers? Did he use an assistant or was he a control freak?
A midwife had arrived yesterday. She wasn’t what Sierra had expected. Sierra had been briefed to tell the blissfully demon-free woman that Andy was her brother and that she’d fled a bad relationship. Other than that, the midwife asked for a pee sample and asked her the same questions the nurse had asked what felt like months ago. She’d also wanted to draw a vial of blood, but Sierra had refused. Her deal with Andy was that he had to uphold his side of the bargain before anything sharp came close to her skin.
She hadn’t specified a time. To her surprise, he hadn’t either. Was he busy moving his own chess pieces into place?
Sierra had also asked for things to do. Reading, coloring, movies, she didn’t care. The days were boring. Other than surreptitiously searching the quarters for cameras and listening devices, she didn’t have a thing to do.
She’d gotten ten coloring books, five boxes of various pens and markers, three boxes of thrift store novels in all genres, a box of DVDs, also all genres, and an old TV and DVD player. Andy didn’t trust her with streaming.
It’d been a week. Time to see how far her leash extended.
She pushed her hair behind her ears and rose. The clothing Andy had ordered for her was nicer than the ones her teammates had set her up with. The closet was now full of maternity pants in all sizes and fabrics. A few robes too—sky blue, ruby red, and soft brown. She didn’t know if Andy realized they wore robes in Numen, pristine white ones. If he did, he was probably rubbing it in that she wasn’t in Numen. She wasn’t touching the robes.
She’d received a pair of athletic shoes that were half a size too big, a pair of black canvas shoes like the ones she’d arrived in, and fluffy white slippers.
Stuffing her feet into the slippers, she went to the door. The bouncers who had walled her off when she first arrived took rotations as her guard. The one whose junk she’d punched hadn’t been put on the rotation. Andy must not trust him.
She opened the door, and her guard jumped. Had he fallen asleep standing up?
“I’m going stir-crazy.”
His mouth pursed. “You can’t leave.”
“I just want to wander out here.”
“Fallen,” he barked and blocked her. He towered over her, his shoulders eclipsing her view. His eyes were bloodshot like he’d been on a bender the night before, and his ink-black hair was shaved close. Except for the bleary eyes, there wasn’t a part of him that didn’t look like a bodyguard.
“I can look out the window, can’t I?”
“Get inside, fallen.”
That wasn’t the insult he thought it was. She’d heard it so much in the last two and a half weeks that it was now tied to her identity. Yes, she was fallen. She’d dealt with it. Everyone else needed to as well.
“Wouldn’t the clientele like to see Jameson’s knocked-up side piece wandering around? Give them a little hope?”
“Andy’s charged with your care.”
The bodyguards didn’t even know Jameson was dead. “Then ask him if I can look out the damn window and listen to the music.” A steady beat reverberated through her feet. She could feel it inside as well as out here, but she needed every advantage she could get.
The guard bristled, but put his hand to his ear and half turned his back. She looked to the ceiling and sighed. He’d realized this wasn’t the big time of bodyguard work, hadn’t he?
He twisted around. “Why?”
“Because I’m fucking bored!” she yelled, hoping that if Andy was down the hall in the conference room, he’d hear.
It must’ve worked. The guard removed his finger from the bud in his ear. “You have five minutes.
“So generous,” she said sarcastically, but inside she was grinning. Andy was in his office. That was her cue.
She’d be patient. The time alone to reflect on Andy’s delight over her baby had solidified her intentions.
She’d been right to leave the ultrasound picture with Boone. Holding back her disgust wouldn’t be possible if she had to watch Andy’s eyes glow if he found it. There was no way Andy was getting his hands on this baby.
As a warrior, she could do humans no harm. It would be the same for her team. As a fallen, she had no such restraints, and if Andy was the first and last human she killed, so be it.
The shiny, black metal