Page 20 of Virtually Guarded

“Yeah, yeah, I got it.” He walked away, taking long strides that even I had to move quickly to catch up with. I glanced over my shoulder at Ren as I left the room. He waved, which I took as a signal to go on and do my job.

Upstairs, Kyle went into the bedroom and shut the door in my face. That was okay. He was upset, understandably so, and I didn’t have to be in the room to guard him. He couldn’t leave without me seeing him unless he climbed out the window, and even though I’d seen that Kyle could be impulsive as hell sometimes, I didn’t think he would go to such an extreme.

Plus I would hear the window if it opened. And I could move faster than he could.

A couple of minutes passed, then the Anax ascended the stairs, followed closely by Seth. Without speaking, I nodded toward the bedroom door. The Anax entered the room, closing the door again behind him.

“You’ll stay with Kyle until after the fight,” Seth said. “I can tell Ren where you are if you want.”

“Thanks,” I said, surprised. “I don’t want anything to interfere with my work.”

“He’s your mate.” Seth folded his arms. “It’s obvious to all of us. You’re the first guard since I became one to find their mate. Strange as it might sound, we’re rooting for you.”

Bemused, I chuckled. “Um, okay. The mate thing is to be determined.” It wasn’t my place to talk about what Ren had been through or his resistance to accepting that we were mates. “It might be better if he stays with the Boston wolves for now, but yeah, please just let him know I’ll be sticking close to Kyle for the time being.”

“Done,” he said.

A little while later, the Anax emerged from the bedroom. He didn’t say a word to either of us, just headed for the stairs, and Seth followed. I went to the bedroom door, which the Anax had left open. “Kyle? Do you need anything?”

“For this fight to not happen.” He hesitated. “No, thanks, Xavier. You don’t have to stay up here. Tobias said you’re going to stick around and make sure…You’ll stick around until after the fight. You don’t have to be right outside the door.”

“I kind of do.” I didn’t want to get into a debate with him. I worked for the Anax and followed his orders, but Kyle also had authority over me. Mainly because the Anax had granted it. If Kyle ordered me away from the room, I would have to go.

For a second, I thought that was exactly what he would do. Then he sighed. “Tobias would say you should stay here in case someone decides to fuck around during the fight. Wouldn’t be the first time someone tried to use me to get to him. So you might as well come in and sit down instead of lurking out there. Tobias will let me know when the fight is over.”

If he can. I barely kept myself from saying it out loud. We both knew the possible outcome of the fight. There was no need to speak it into existence.

I’d grown up in a family that called itself Christian, though my parents embodied very little of Christ’s teachings. Since leaving home, I’d rarely prayed. But I prayed now for the Anax to survive this fight.

Chapter Five: Ren

I couldn’t sit still. Couldn’t relax. Just like Xavier had said might happen, someone had challenged the Anax for his rank. There would be a fight. And the Anax might lose.

I wanted to be with Xavier. Seth had spotted me as he guided the Anax outside for the fight and had told me that Xavier was up on the third floor. The way he’d said it, I couldn’t tell whether it would be all right for me to join Xavier up there, so I’d stayed put. But now I wished I hadn’t. I couldn’t be here.

I stood and paced around the room, as much as I could when there were other people crowding in. By now, everyone knew that the Southeast Region Arkhon had challenged the Anax, and they all wanted to talk about it. I even overheard a trio of guys I hadn’t met taking bets about who would win.

I wanted to scream at them. How could they act like this didn’t matter? Then again, from the way they were talking, they didn’t give a shit about the Anax. They would be happy if he lost.

“Ren, come with me.” Suzannah was behind me.

I managed not to jump. “Please don’t sneak up like that.”

“Sorry. I thought you heard me.” She moved up beside me. “Some people are jackasses. They always will be. Let’s get out of the middle of this, yeah? Emotions are going to ramp up, and that might not be great to be around.”

“Yeah.”

She led me out of the room. “Is there someplace you’d rather be? I can’t bring you outside, or I’d suggest we take a walk.”

“Upstairs, I guess.” I hesitated. “Xavier’s guarding Kyle. That means I should probably leave him alone, right?”

She smiled. “Come with me. There are perks to being an Alpha’s mate.”

Up on the third floor, we found Kyle and Xavier inside a large suite. Clearly the primary bedroom, given that it was bigger than the apartment I’d lived in with my parents. Kyle was sitting on the bed staring at the window. Xavier stood from a chair just inside the door when Suzannah and I walked in. “Suzannah.” He bowed his head for a second. “Ren.”

“Xavier.” Suzannah went over to the bed. “Kyle, how are you holding up?”

“Oh, same old, same old. Someone tries to kill my mate, my mate lets them try, and I sit here hoping that he survives.” He sounded bitter as fuck. “I’m shitty, Suz.”