Page 24 of The Incubus and the Bodyguard

One-night stands were not really her thing.

She’d even debated whether to leave Vlad her phone number that morning, a thought that would normally never have crossed her mind in a million years. One look at his arresting face, his broad back, and the alluring lines of his ass under the black silk sheets was all it had taken for desire to sing through her blood once more.

Sex with Vlad was something she could easily get addicted to.

She’d grabbed her clothes and left before she did something she would come to regret. Their encounter would remain just that. A one-night stand.

Her belly clenched.

Let’s face it, it was the best night of my life.

Her existence as a super soldier rarely afforded the luxury of a relationship. Nothing had made this clearer than Gideon Morgan’s phone call yesterday morning, just as she was finishing her workout in her DC apartment.

“I need you in New York,” the super soldier who led the mercenary corps she belonged to had said without preamble.

“I thought that was Serena’s territory now.” Delphine had continued her cool-down stretches, phone on speaker.

Serena Blake was a member of their brethren and a close friend. Though a mere handful of years separated them, Serena still remembered when she and Nate Conway, their brother-in-arms, were rescued by the Immortals in Greenland when they were still children. Delphine had still been an infant at the time and had no memories of the gruesome experiments a group of Immortals backed by a rogue group of the US government had performed on them from their inception.

“That was a temporary arrangement,” Gideon had said. “I need you to protect someone and assist with an investigation.”

Delphine had paused mid-stretch, her brow wrinkling. “That’s not usually my thing.”

“It is now.”

Something in his tone had made her pay attention. Gideon didn’t get rattled easily.

“What’s the catch?”

“The client will brief you,” Gideon had said, neatly sidestepping the question. He’d given her an address. “Be there tomorrow at ten. And Del?”

“Yeah?”

“Watch yourself on this one.”

It wasn’t like Gideon to be so cryptic. Which meant this assignment was like few she’d ever handled before.

Delphine had memorized the address. Particulars about the actual mission remained conspicuously absent, however. No briefing package or dossier followed, even after she reached New York.

I guess he was right about the client briefing me directly.

Searching for the address in the super soldier database she had access to had brought up nothing. Even the Immortals’ sophisticated satellite network had drawn a blank, the area she was interested in examining made to look like empty marshland.

The tinted windows of the vehicle offered her a measure of privacy as she approached the meeting place. She studied her surroundings curiously.

The road ended at a pair of metal gates set in a steel-reinforced concrete wall encircling an estate. Trees lined both sides of the drive, their branches forming a natural barrier between the property and the rest of Brooklyn.

A metal post rose from the ground as she pulled to a stop in front of the entrance. It flipped open to reveal a small black cube. A red-light grid scanned her face.

“Please identify yourself.”

“Delphine Dubois.” Her tone matched the AI’s cool efficiency. “I have a ten a.m. appointment.”

The computer processed this for a couple of seconds before the post and the black cube retracted into the ground. The gates rolled open on well-oiled hinges.

She followed a cream-colored concrete driveway as it wound through the grounds, her eye noting the security measures she could see. Dozens of cameras tracked her progress. Guards patrolled the grounds. Someone had even positioned the ornamental trees to eliminate blind spots.

Delphine pursed her lips.

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