Guardian (5 page)

She phoned Mason from the car to let him know she was on her way. Then she cranked up the radio and tried not to think about Zach on the long drive. She was almost there when she glanced over at her phone on the passenger seat. She’d missed three calls and she had a good idea who they were from. A glance at the caller ID confirmed her suspicion, but instead of calling him back, she turned the phone off. She put it inside the center console as she pulled up to the guardhouse at the gate.
 

The guard checked her license against his clipboard, then lifted the bar and waved her through. She watched in her rearview mirror as it lowered behind her. The road to the hospital was heavily forested, but about half a mile later it opened up to a large parking lot in front of the building. She found the space number she’d been assigned, locked up and went in the front doors where she found an older man waiting for her.
 

“Ms. White. I’m Toby Evens. If you’ll follow me, we’ll get you started.”
 

“Of course.”
 

He held the door open and waited for her to enter first. It wasn’t anything close to what she’d expected. The entrance didn’t open into a sterile hospital lobby. It was large and open, with polished marble floors and thick ornate support columns. Chairs and sofas were grouped in small areas and there was a snack bar against the far wall. She followed Evens through the room to a door on the back wall where he swiped a white plastic card. The light on the mechanism flashed green and he pushed the door open.
 

He led her to a locker room first. The locker assigned to her was already labeled with her name. After he swung it open, he handed her a small plastic bin.
 

“Keys and jewelry go in here,” he said.
 

She lifted her hand to finger her necklace. “I can’t wear my cross?”

He shook his head. “Sorry. No personal items at all can pass this point.”

Now that was just strange. She dropped her keys in the bin, followed by the necklace. She imagined Mason swearing a blue streak back in his office. She didn’t even want to think about Zach’s reaction. She swung the locker door shut and turned back to Evens.
 

“What’s next?”

“This way.” He motioned her toward a door in the back of the room she hadn’t noticed. “We’ll get you set up with an ID and a keycard. And I’ll see if I can scare up a parking decal. We’re running low on them.”
 

An hour later she had an ID badge pinned to her shirt and a keycard in her pocket. He handed her over to a nurse who gave her the grand tour. Since she’d lost the cross with its mini-camera, she paid extra attention to the building’s security. After getting a handle on the layout, she went to her assigned floor and got to work. Several hours later she’d met her patients, studied their files and the floor routine. She knew when to administer meds, when lunch came and the daily rec room routine. When she finally clocked out, she felt relief weighing her down. She’d forgotten how exhausting even an average day on a hospital floor could be.

She turned her cell phone back on when she left. It rang immediately, Mason’s name filling the caller ID screen.
 

“I’m on the way,” she answered in lieu of hello.
 

“Okay. Did you get a good look around?”
 

“Yeah. I’ll fill you in when I get there.”

“Don’t waste time.” He lowered his voice. “And call your husband. He’s freaking out.”

She heard the man in question in the background. “Is that Mallory? Give me the phone.”

“Here he is,” Mason warned her.
 

“Are you all right, baby?”

She sighed. “Of course, I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because those people tried to kidnap Esme? They burned her house down and killed at least one man.” His voice rose at the end and she could hear his sharply indrawn breath. “You aren’t doing this anymore. I won’t let you.”
 

“Get over yourself, Zach. I don’t follow your orders.”

“Like hell you don’t,” he snapped.
 

She ground her teeth together, gripping her phone so hard she heard the plastic crack.
 

“Zach,” she said, forcing a calm into her tone she sure as hell didn’t feel. “I’m hanging up now.”
 

“No, Mallory—”

Whatever he would have said was cut off as she flipped the phone closed.
 

Zach paced the foyer and silently fumed. She’d actually hung up on him, after refusing to get out of the investigation into Stirling. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted to scream in frustration, but the urge was riding him hard now. She had no regard for her safety at all and refused to hear his concerns. Damn it, when she returned she was going to listen. She may not heed, but she’d at least hear how much the worry tore him up.

“She’s become one hell of a woman, hasn’t she?”
 

Zach spun around to face Brad White, Mallory’s oldest brother. He leaned one shoulder against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.
 

“No thanks to you,” Brad continued.
 

“Do you know what she’s doing?” It went against the grain to recruit her family’s help, but if that’s what it took to protect her, he would.
 

“I know.”
 

“Good. Make her see reason. She’s going to make herself a target.”

Brad laughed. “She’s a single, adult woman who is very capable and is making her own decisions. I’m proud of her. Why would I try to stop her?”

Zach wanted to hurt him. “One, she
isn’t
single,” he ground out. “Two, she’s human.” He held up his hand when Brad might have protested. “Her DNA is human. She has an incredible ability that a small percentage of humans share, which is probably a gift from her Elect father. But even if she was Elect, she’s female, she’s my wife and I won’t allow her to put herself into a vulnerable position.”
 

“No, she’s single. You gave her up. You didn’t fight for her and she made her own life. Leave her alone, Zach. Or accept who she is now.”

“And watch her put herself at risk?” Brad was certifiable. “Are you insane? What do your father and brothers say about that?”

“My parents are on a well-deserved tropical vacation. I’m not interrupting them for this and my brothers will follow my lead. Mallory can handle herself.”
 

Before he could launch a counterargument with her brother, the front door opened and Mallory walked in. As usual, just the sight of her made his cock hard, but today a racing heart was thrown into the mix. He forced himself to stay still instead of rushing to her. Took his time looking her over. She was whole and uninjured. Safe. For now.
 

“You hung up on me,” he bit out between clenched teeth.
 

She shrugged one shoulder. “You were yelling at me. I don’t respond well to that.”
 

“I wasn’t yelling. I was trying to have a conversation.”
 

This time she rolled her eyes and while her defiance irritated him, he couldn’t deny he was also amused. Intrigued. He’d always feared hurting the girl he’d begun pursuing six years ago. But it appeared this woman could hold her own.
 

“You were trying to order me around,” she said, zero inflection in her voice, though her eyes blazed with anger she couldn’t hide.
 

“She really doesn’t like that,” her brother said helpfully. “Believe me. We’ve all given up.”

If that was true, why had she let Zach blackmail her into staying with her? Maybe she wasn’t as immune to him as she wanted him to believe.
 

“Is that right, baby?” he drawled. “You brothers have no influence over you anymore?”

She tilted her head to one side and narrowed her eyes. “What are you getting at? I live my own life and make my own decisions.”
 

“Yes.” He smiled. She might not want her family involved, but she’d deal with them on her terms if that became necessary. But she’d let Zach think it would matter. He’d threatened to contact her father and brothers if she didn’t comply with his safety measures, and she’d seemed to agree reluctantly. He suspected now that while she might not want to face them down, she would have, and they probably would have given her whatever she wanted. If she really didn’t want to deal with him, she would have dared him to drag her brothers into it. However, she’d allowed him to use that threat, to put her into a position where she had to deal with him. And she’d made that decision all on her own. She wasn’t in as big a hurry to get rid of him as she pretended. “I suppose you do.”
 

She looked suspicious now, but she didn’t question him. “Are we meeting in Brax’s office?” she asked.
 

He glanced at his watch. “In half an hour. There’s food in the kitchen if you want to eat first.”

She nodded and left. Brad caught his elbow before he could follow.
 

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Zach. If you hurt her again, we
will
kill you.”
 

“I won’t let her go a second time.”
 

“I don’t expect you to,” he said somberly. “I said if you hurt her. Don’t let your need for your mate’s submission crush her.”
 

He stood in the foyer several long seconds after Brad left, struggling against his instincts. The primitive part of him wanted to find her and hide her away, but the reasoned modern side knew that was impossible. Her brother was right. It would suffocate her. She’d be miserable and grow to hate him. He couldn’t live with that.
 

When he felt like he was back in control of his worry and frustration, he followed her into the kitchen. She was sitting on a stool at the high center island talking with Esme, Brax, Mason, Gabe, Carter and her brother. The bowl of stew in front of her appeared untouched, but she’d already finished half a beer. He took the empty stool to her left and nudged her elbow with his.
 

“What?” she asked softly, her expression guarded.
 

“Eat, baby.”

The others appeared to have already finished.
 

“What about you?” she asked.
 

“Already ate.”
 

He reached for her beer and took a long drink. She scowled, but she lifted the spoon. The small talk he’d interrupted resumed, but he paid it no attention. He finished her drink while she ate and got them two new ones as she pushed the bowl away.
 

“So?” Brax asked. “How did it go?”

“Weird. I recognized a couple famous patients, but that level of security is overkill to protect a couple of rock stars or actors, ya know? Everyone expects some of them to be messed up. It’s not news or shocking or whatever. You already know about the no phone or jewelry rules.” She pointedly did not look at Zach when she made that statement. “That rule includes patients, doctors, even security.”
 

“They use radios to communicate?” Carter asked.
 

“Yeah, but they aren’t like the ones we use at work. I couldn’t get a close enough look at one to see what they are. If there’s a code, the doctors are paged over the loud speakers.” She sounded disappointed she couldn’t tell them more.

“That’s good,” Mason encouraged. “What about building access?”

“If you make it past the gate, you can get in the building, but you can’t get off the first floor. Everything is controlled by keycards and they’re programmed individually. You swipe the card in the elevator, then enter your floor number. The computers work the same way.”
 

She paused for a drink. “I can’t get into the records room. That’s limited access. Strange, but not too far out there. But this is really weird. The seventh floor is off limits to everyone but a select few. I couldn’t find any patients in the computer listed on that floor.”

“Well, isn’t that interesting,” Carter said, exchanging a look with Mason.
 

Brax shook his head. “Interesting, but it doesn’t really tell us anything.” He looked at Mallory. “Are you sure there’s no way you can get into that records room?”

Zach stiffened. “Don’t ask her to do that, Brax. It’s dangerous enough her being in the building.”
 

“I’d have to steal a keycard,” she said reluctantly, and Zach exhaled a sigh of relief.
 

“Maybe we can get around that,” Gabe said. Zach wanted to strangle him. “You have yours with you?”

She reached into her pocket and handed it to him. “What are you thinking?”

“Well, first I’ll clone this one. Then we’ll see if there’s a way to change the permissions on it.”
 

“You think that’ll work?”

He snorted. “No, but it’s worth a try.” He stood and led the way to the security office. “What I really need is to get a camera in there.”

“I don’t see how,” Mallory said. “No jewelry. There’s no buttons on scrubs.”