Page 14 of The Bodyguard and the Alpha
All my adult life I’d been perfect. Never made a mistake. Always the top of my class. Always the best.
Until I wasn’t.
Dimly, I knew Bastien was talking, telling me it wasn’t my fault. I knew he didn’t blame me. And some part of me knew that. I heard his words. The attack had been part of a careful plan. But it was like the words were bouncing off my skin, unable to pierce the darkness that surrounded me. The dark cloud of guilt that was crushing my chest. The man I loved had been kidnapped—was tortured— because of me. Because I had failed to protect him.
Panic rose up. Rational thought disappeared. I had to get away.
But when I stepped back, Bastien followed me, his large body looming over mine, as if he could keep me safe from the rest of the world.
“No baby. Don’t blame yourself.”
Those words penetrated the panic, like arrows hitting a target. And I felt it in my heart. He called mebaby.What was happening right now? The President. My boss. Asking me to call him by his first name. Calling me baby. The man who called me ‘Ice Queen’ because I turned him down. Maybe I was finally losing it completely. Having a psychotic break. That made more sense than this being real. Bastien’s head dipped, his cheek brushing mine. I inhaled my first long breath. His scent entered my lungs. I’d shut my eyes when I panicked, but even without looking I knew our bodies were close enough to touch. I could feel his hot breath against my cheek. The very air around us seemed charged with his nearness. Another inch and his mouth would be on mine. His chest would press against my aching breasts. My insides quivered and my body flushed with heat.
For a psychotic break, it was a very enjoyable one.
“Electra, look at me,” he said. His voice vibrated with intensity, and it had dropped into a register so deep that it was almost unrecognisable as him. Startled, I lifted my face, opening my eyes.
His eyes were blue. Blue eyes focused on me. So intense, it was like nothing existed but him and me. So close, I could count each one of his disgustingly long lashes.
I had to be losing it. It was the only explanation for why Bastien was losing control. Bastien, the man who never let strong emotions out to play. The perfect politician. Always so contained. But not now. His eyes were wild, full of unrestrained hunger. His Shifter was close to the surface, and he was… magnificent. I was looking at a hunter. And the hunter wanted me.
I gave myself up to the fantasy.
And he kissed me. He kissed me like he couldn’t breathe without me. I opened my mouth and hedevouredme. My knees sagged from the intensity, only the wall holding me up. My brain went offline. I kissed him back with everything I had, letting my kiss convey every bit of the longing I felt for him. I kissed him until I was conscious of nothing but the warmth of his body against mine, the clash of our tongues and teeth. With one kiss he completely undid me.
***
“They’re almost here.” Growled words seeped into my consciousness. “Stay back.” Dazed, I slumped against the wall. I was still in the cell. We were still kidnapped. And Humans First goons were still coming. I licked my swollen lips. My brain was thoroughly scrambled, full of lust soup, my legs like jelly. This wasn’t a fantasy or a psychotic break. The President, Bastien,had kissed me. Kissed me after his eyes turned blue. Kissed me like he wanted to fuck me into tomorrow. I’d been ready to believe I was going nuts, but this was my reality. Right now.
Bastien moved away, putting himself between me and the door. I wanted to move, to say, “What the fuck? That’s my job.” But down here I wasn’t a Witch. I had no power and no role. We were already in our worst-case scenario. Here, I was just a woman and Bastien was just a Shifter who wouldn’t shift. But he was still an Alpha and an Alpha’s role was to protect.
In this place our normal rules didn’t apply. We’d thrown the rule book out completely. Nothing here was ‘normal’ by our standards. Not the way he looked at me. The way he spoke to me, giving me pet names. And definitely not the way he curved his body close to mine last night or the way he kissed me.
What was real? The ‘normal’ way we behaved in the Palace? When he was the President and I was the Witch bodyguard. Or this? Where he was the protective Alpha and I was the human woman.
Could they both be real? If I was playing a role, was Bastien doing so too? How much of his behaviour over the last five years was real and how much was part of a persona? And to what end? I thought my head was going to explode with the implications of what had just happened, but I didn’t have time to think about it. I had to get with the program. Right fucking now.
I forced myself to stand upright, swaying slightly on still-wobbly legs.
The door opened and I heard Stick-guy’s nasal drone. “Feeling a bit feisty this morning are ya mutt?”
In the light from the doorway, I watched Bastien’s body language. Clamped in spelled manacles behind his back, his hands were relaxed and open. His shoulders were hunchedand unthreatening. Feisty? Nothing about his posture said he wanted to fight. Stick-guy was manufacturing a reason to hurt him.
“Move over to the corner like a good dog and I won’t hurt you.” Bastien didn’t flinch, just complied wordlessly, moving as far as his chains would allow. He stood with his back to the room, posture relaxed as if Stick-guy and the two buddies who’d crowded in behind him were no threat.
That left Stick-guy in front of me. A perfect target.
I shook with the desire to blast this motherfucker into tomorrow. Desperate, I reached for my power well, hoping that the warded manacles on my wrists had suddenly stopped working. My teeth sank into my lip, drawing blood when I failed. Again. I could sense that my power was still there, but when I tried to access it, it slipped through my fingers. Since I had been eleven years old, my power had been a part of me. Being without it was strange. On the one hand it was like I was missing a limb. I knew it should be there. But there was a part of me that was glad it was gone. The part of me that had resented how my power took away my choices. When I’d become a pre-cog, there was no path for me that didn’t involve personal protection. Without it, I felt… free.
Scared as fuck. But free.
Stick-guy’s voice returned me to awareness. “Get him ready boys.” I turned my head to watch as two other men moved towards Bastien. One had his own shock-stick held ready. The other reached for Bastien’s chains.
“I’ll be having some fun with you today too, sugar.” I’d been so focused on the guards converging on Bastien that I hadn’t noticed Stick-guy swagger right up to me. His hot onion-scented breath fanned across my face and I almost gagged. I snapped my head back, giving him my best death glare.
“And we’ll let your boyfriend decide. If he gives us what we want, we’ll be nice. But if he keeps up with the shit he gave us yesterday, we’ll have to be a bit more... persuasive.”
Oh hell no. I didn’t have power, but I could still kill him. And if he laid a hand on me, I would. Even with my hands bound behind my back. But I didn’t want him to know that. I dropped my gaze, hunching my shoulders, pretending to shake with fear. If he underestimated me and unlocked my chains from where they were attached to the wall, I’d have more chance to get us free.
