Embraced By Darkness (Riley Jenson Guardian 5)

And then I was on him, hitting him, knocking him backward. He grunted, the weapon flying from his grip. I hit the ground and tumbled to my feet, racing over to the gun.

I only barely beat Jorn there. I dropped beneath his blow, then swept low with my leg, sweeping him off his feet. He hit the ground back-first. I stepped on his left leg, flipped the gun around, and smashed the barrel down as hard as I could onto his knee. I had a whole lot of strength behind me thanks to my dual heritage, and his knee didn't stand a chance. Bone smashed and splinted under the force of the blow, and he screamed, his body crumbling as he tried to protect himself.

The sound of his pain echoed through the forest, and I had no doubt it would bring Yohan. It would have called me, had it been my brother laying there screaming.

Which meant I didn't have a whole lot of time to do what had to be done.

I hit his chin with the heel of my hand, forcing him backward, then straddled his belly and dropped down onto it, my knees pinning his arms and preventing him from moving. I didn't really have the time - or the strength - to waste cutting through his shields, but my guardian training under Jack had taught me some neat little tricks, and one of those was a means of preventing him from contacting his brother telepathically.

I reached out psychically, skimming his shielded thoughts, wrapping them in a field of power not unlike I was wrapping a gift. It wouldn't stop Yohan from knowing something was wrong, but it sure as hell would stop Jorn from telling him the details. My tired state meant I probably wouldn't be able to hold the shield for long, but it would be long enough to do what I had to do.

And Jorn hadn't yet seemed to realize what I'd done. "You will - "

"Yeah, yeah," I cut in. "I know the song, you'll make me pay for your pain, yadda, yadda, yadda. In the meantime, you're going to answer a few little questions."

He spat. Unpleasant fellow.

I wiped the spittle from my face, then hit him. Hard. "You want to do this the hard way, we will."

"My brother will fucking kill you."

"Your brother isn't here yet." He's coming.

Of that I had no doubt. Once I'd cut the telepathic link between them, Yohan would have immediately turned back to see what was going on. I would have, had it been Rhoan sitting here. I hit Jorn again, smashing his nose, and sending blood flying.

He swore and bucked hard, trying to dislodge me. "Your partner is so dead."

"You haven't got the controls, Jorn. Yohan has." It was a guess, nothing more. It was too dangerous to release him and pat him down.

"Yeah, and it's only going to take one little press - " As power surged across the shield I'd raised around his thoughts, he stopped, and frowned.

The realization that he had no telepathic link to his brother had hit. His gaze jumped back to mine. "What the fuck have you done?"

I smiled benignly. "Never underestimate the powers of a guardian. And if you want to live, you'd better tell me how to disconnect that bomb."

"It won't help you. You're dead, whether you kill me or not. Yohan will get you."

"So humor me anyway. What have you got to lose?"

He smiled. It was still an arrogant and confident thing. Not believing he would die, even now. And, for the moment, he was right. I couldn't kill him just yet - not until I'd ensured the bomb unit was out of Yohan's way, and my brother was safe.

"The unit is only dangerous when it's activated. Turn it off and it's as safe as can be."

"And Yohan has it?"

"Of course."

I saw the flick in his eyes. Tasted the lie.

Yohan wasn't running toward us as I'd presumed. He was running back to activate the unit.

I thrust a hand against his neck and began to squeeze, my fingers digging deep into his flesh, cutting off his breathing. Cutting off his blood supply.

"Where is the unit kept?"

"House. Safe," he gasped.

"Where in the house?"