Shades of Blood(Warriors of Ankh 3)

The laughing kisses they pressed to one another’s mouths grew quickly heated and Noah reached for the handle on the closet door. “Choose quickly. Please.”

“Your room.”

They made it upstairs to Noah’s room without meeting a soul, despite Eden mocking Noah’s determination to get her alone. Her hand was practically numb in his, he was gripping it so tight, and he’d nearly pulled her arm out of the socket twice, hurrying her along. His bedroom door slammed shut behind them, the key turning in the lock with blurry movement. And then he was kissing her roughly again, matching her need for need as they stumbled across the room onto his huge bed.

Determined to make sure she did things right with Noah, Eden had talked with him weeks ago about taking things slow. Not just emotionally but physically. He hadn’t been too happy with the emotional slowdown, and in fact had ignored that part of her concern completely because he said he was already in love with her… so how much could he really slow that down? But he’d been as much of a gentleman as he could be about the physical stuff. He’d been careful with her, and so far he hadn’t pressured her into having sex. But every time they made out it escalated quickly into more and Eden had to fight her way through the fog to put the brakes on. Noah had always stopped, frustrated physically, which she got. But she worried he was growing impatient. He never said he was, but she knew it must be hard for a guy who was used to getting laid all the time (randy little manwhore that he’d been) to have to temper his lust for her.

And, she gasped, as his body pressed her against the bed, he was definitely hot for her.

And she for him.

Like every other time, the fog descended over Eden, smothering her in Noah’s scent and heat. Her whole body was on fire as their kisses grew more frantic. She helped tug Noah’s shirt off, throwing it somewhere over his shoulder, his silken, tan skin hot and hard under her hands as she pulled him back down to her, her fingertips trailing shivers down his spine. He shuddered against her, murmuring love words in her ear that made her feel safe and so happy. She never thought she could be this happy. She smiled against his mouth, her breath hitching as his own hands trailed down her side and across her stomach, exposed by the shirt that was rucked up to just below her chest. She glanced down as Noah’s strong fingers stopped on the button above the zipper on her jeans. An excited flush swept up from her toes to the top of her head and her eyes flew up to meet Noah’s. They glittered down at her, asking the silent question.

It was so foggy. So so foggy.

She nodded and jerked involuntarily as his eyes darkened to smoldering amethyst.

God he was so hot.

How did she get so lucky to have someone like him want her?

Noah loved her.

Wow.

At the tug on her jeans, Eden’s eyes followed the feeling, watching as Noah popped the button off. Her chest rose and fell harder and Noah made a rough sound sensing her excitement. His fingers brushed her skin there and her lower belly trembled. He caught the zipper and began pulling it down-

BANG BANG BANG!

“Noah! Are you in there with Eden?” Cyrus yelled through the door after pounding it to hell.

They both froze against one another, the heat seeping out of Eden at the sound of her guardian only meters away behind a very breakable wooden door. Noah groaned, falling against her, his lips pressing against her shoulder where he buried his head. Eden choked on a sympathetic laugh, her fingers running comfortingly through his hair.

“Noah?!”

He lifted his head to glare at the door. “No!”

“Well, it is time for your patrol,” the Princeps voice lowered marginally.

“OK. Got it. I’ll be downstairs in a minute.”

“Eden, you too,” Cyrus growled unhappily, his footsteps fading down the hallway.

They were quiet and tense for a moment, realizing Cyrus knew exactly what they’d been up to.

A bubble of rare giggles erupted from Eden, and Noah pushed up away from her, shaking his head. He smiled lovingly down at her before pressing a frustrated kiss against her lips. “I guess the interruption was worth it just to hear that sound.”

Chapter Two

A Race to the Truth

The air of anticipation that met her as she joined Noah, Cyrus and Val in the entrance hall almost defused the glow across her skin from her and Noah’s make-out session. After Cyrus’ interruption she’d taken off for her own room to throw on black jeans and a black long-sleeved top. Her eyes met Noah’s. He grinned suggestively at her as she skipped down the stairs and she eyed him, flushing. He was wearing black too. Correction, he was wearing the tight black thermal top that accentuated his athletic build and made her mouth go dry.

“You ready?” Cyrus asked her quietly, the concern in his dark eyes drawing her thoughts away from happy Noah ones to real life. Cyrus allowed Eden to patrol because it was what she was born to do and because he knew she was capable of taking care of herself.

It didn’t mean he liked it.

His concern always warmed her.

She smiled, glad he hadn’t mentioned catching her in Noah’s room. “As always.” She grinned at Val who was busy strapping her favorite short sword – an acinaces - to her hip. She wore a long black coat made of the softest leather, the stylish and expensive outerwear hiding the acinaces from view. Noah smiled at Eden again before disappearing inside the weapons’ closet. Although Cyrus had a secure weapons’ room in the basement, they all kept their favorite weapons locked up in the entrance hall closet for easy access. To the casual observer the hall closet was a small space that housed their coats and other outer gear behind white, wooden, double doors. To those in the know, an electronic keypad on the left wall allowed those with the correct password to open the sliding steel wall to reveal a small-ish weapons’ room. Noah came out, his broadsword - a kaskara - already strapped across his back. He tugged on his leather jacket, frowning at her.

“Your katana isn’t in there.”

Confusion wrinkled the skin between her eyebrows just as a familiar voice called her name. She spun around, an automatic smirk turning up the right corner of her mouth as Jack, one of Cyrus’ security guys, strode towards her across the entrance hall, her katana in hand.

“You left it in the training room. Thought you might need it.” He smirked back at her, clearly remembering her kicking his ass too. God that had been fun.

“Thanks.” Eden grasped the hand guard, taking her ‘baby’ from him. She loved her katana, especially since Noah had had the words Blood Will Tell inscribed in the blade as a reminder of who she really was.

Her mother’s daughter.

Jack shook his head, laughing, a warm buttery sound that Eden liked immensely. “You should see how possessive you are about that thing.” He gestured to the sword.

She raised an eyebrow. “We’ve been over this. She’s my baby.”

“Well you certainly didn’t need ‘your baby’ the other night. That was quite the smackdown.”

She tilted her head, staring into space as if fondly remembering their training session in the gym. “Ahh, it was, wasn’t it.”

“I want a do-over.” Jack crossed his arms over his chest, pretending to look annoyed.

“A do-over smackdown?”

“We’ll see about that.”

She grinned again, comfortable in his company. Jack was one of the few - OK, who was she kidding? Only - member of Cyrus’ security team who talked to her as if she was a human being. The others went out of their way to avoid her and if they had to talk to her they were like frickin’ robots.

Jack had been different from the first moment they’d met and as they gradually grew to get to know one another over the last few weeks, Eden learned why.

Their training sessions started up fairly quickly. The first night Noah went out patrolling without her in fact. From then on, when Noah was out, Jack would come find her and they’d head down to the training rooms. Neither one went easy on the

other. It was a good time though. They had the same dark sense of humor and somewhat cynical outlook on life. Eden knew what made her that way but she was curious to know why Jack was the way that he was. When she’d asked, he’d ended their training session early. Cursing herself for irritating the one person outside her new family who actually liked hanging out with her, Eden hadn’t expected to see much of Jack again.

She’d been wrong.

The next day he’d come to her room and told her his story.

Jack’s father had been a killer.

A gun for hire.