Page 41 of Vengeful

"Hunter and Parker will get to the bottom of it," Slade assured me.

"I don't like the idea of them going to see him," I admitted. "I'd prefer they were here with us." Where I could see them and know they were safe and alive.

They'd left soon after we returned to the Academy. Not until they made sure I was all right. Both of them smiled and insisted they were fine and wouldn't kill Caleb unless they had to.

Behind their expressions was the acceptance that he may not return the favour. If their brotherdidkill them, that would destroy any chance of ever having peace between us. I'd have no choice but to go after Caleb. That would force Reuben's hand. The retaliation would go on until most of us were dead. I had to trust the fact Caleb knew that too. So far, we avoided full-blown war. How much longer could that last?

"I'd prefer that too." Slade started up the stairs, gently drawing me behind him. "They'll be okay. If Caleb wanted them dead, they'd be dead."

We walked in silence for a few steps, each contemplating the situation and the long day behind us. Finally, I turned to Slade and managed a smile.

"I'm surprised you're letting me walk on my own two feet," I teased. "I’d have thought you'd throw me over your shoulder and carry me up the stairs."

"I would, but you’d fight me. I'd probably get a knee to the groin. We'd both end up in a pile at the bottom of the stairs," he said. "Trudging up slowly seems safer to me."

"I am not trudging," I protested. I didn't argue with his assumption he'd get kicked in the cock. It was a distinct possibility. "I'm walking carefully in case a hole opens up in front of me. Can you guarantee it won't?"

"Actually, no, I can't." He eyed the staircase doubtfully. "It doesn'tlooklike anyone's tampered with it, but we have some of the smartest minds in the country studying here. If anyone was going to come up with an invisible booby-trap, it would be a Brutham Academy student."

"Or graduate." I nodded towards him.

"Or that," he agreed. "I can one hundred percent guarantee you I didn't tamper with the stairs." After a moment he added, "Yet."

I laughed and bumped my shoulder against his arm. "What does a business law professor know about booby-traps anyway?"

"Not much." He bumped me back. "Assassins on the other hand know quite a bit about them. They can be a useful distraction at times."

I grabbed onto the banister and pulled myself up the last couple of steps. "Why assassin?"

He shrugged and followed me to my door. "Whynotassassin? It pays well. Better than teaching here. When my victim is an asshole, I get the satisfaction of dispensing with them."

I pulled my key out of my pocket and inserted it into the lock. "And when they're not assholes?" I turned the key and opened the door.

"I don't know, it's never happened." He grabbed my shoulders to stop me, before stepping past and into my room first. He turned on the light and looked around carefully. "No new teddy bears. Nothing seems out of place to me."

I peered past him. "It looks just how we left it." I walked inside, taking in every surface, even glancing under the bed.

"Stay here." He left me near the door and went to inspect the bathroom. "It looks all right in here too."

I exhaled and relaxed my shoulders before closing and locking the door behind us.

"Thank you." I walked up behind him and took a moment to scan the bathroom. I trusted him implicitly, but wouldn't relax until I'd seen for myself.

"What for?" He turned around and cupped my cheeks with his hands.

I looked up into his blue-green eyes. They mirrored my emotions. Relief, tiredness and love.

"For being you. For pulling me out of that hole. For killing people for me. For not walking away from me when most guys would have." Most guys would run at the first sniff of my crazy life. Hell, I probably should too.

"Any guy who walked away from you is an idiot," he told me. "And someone who doesn't know how amazing you are." He leaned in to kiss my mouth.

"How amazing am I?" I teased.

He slid his hands down my shoulders, over my shoulder blades and gripped my ass.

"Very amazing. Beautiful, smart and capable. If I hadn't pulled you out of that hole, you would have found a way. Then you would have killed all of those guys, single-handedly."

I choked out a laugh. "There you go, exaggerating again. I might have managed five or six of them. But not getting out of that hole by myself." He was right though, I would have found a way eventually. Or died trying.

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