Guardian Of Fate (Fate Series) (11 page)

CHAPTER TWELVE

The city was a blur as I raced through it, pushing Hunter's Mustang hard, but nowhere near its limits. I strained to still my trembling arms in order to steer. My adrenaline was on overdrive, trying to keep up with all of the emotions struggling for control. Nora was my main concern, but I couldn't stop the images of Hunter and Caleb from sneaking up on me. What I had witnessed was so far beyond unreal that I was starting to question my sanity, or at least my reality. Was it possible that the whole surreal scene had really been some kind of crazy vision and I would be waking up soon?

I told myself that I would have to try and sort it all out later. I had no choice but to listen to Hunter and check on Nora, even though I had no reason to trust him. It felt like he'd been pushing himself into my life from the very first time I dreamt of him. Ever since, my life had slowly chipped away into pieces that didn't seem to fit together anymore. I was afraid that if they ever came together, it would be far from the life I hoped it would be.

I breathed a small sigh of relief when I saw Nora's car in the lot. At least, I knew she made it home. I raced up the stairs and pushed open our apartment door anxiously. The living room was empty, but there was an empty wine glass on the table by the couch.

Calling her name, I ran to her bedroom. The door was closed and I could hear her muffled crying beyond it. So as not to scare her, I opened the door slowly and hesitantly called to her. She was lying on her bed, still in the dress she had on before she left earlier. Her face was half-buried into the white pillow, now stained with patterns of color from the makeup that ran off her face with her tears.

"Oh, Nora!" I ran and sat on the bed next to her, rubbing her back with my hand. "Honey, what happened? Are you okay?"

She took a minute to gather herself together. I reached for the box of tissues by her nightstand and handed her a few. Sitting up, she wiped at her sad eyes. She looked devastated. There seemed to be an internal battle she was fighting as she looked into my eyes. I was so afraid of what may have happened to her, knowing what I had just witnessed at the restaurant, and fearing that it had something to do with Caleb and Hunter.

"It's okay, Nora, you can tell me anything."

"I shouldn't, I'm not supposed to tell anyone," she said quietly.

"Well, I'm not just
anyone
. There's nothing you can't tell me." I wondered what was so bad that she wasn't allowed to tell anyone. For the first time since I've known her, she seemed scared. I waited while she debated with herself on whether to tell me.

"Cassie, I know what you are." She looked me straight in the eyes, gauging my reaction. Did she mean... No, she couldn't know I was a Guardian! Unless...

I couldn't take the chance that this was about something completely different from what I was thinking it might be. I had to hear her say it. "I'm not sure what you mean, Nora."

"I know what you are, because I'm a Guardian too. I've known you were for a while now."

My eyes grew wide; my first reaction was complete surprise, hearing the words said out loud. In a small way, I felt a little bit of anger over it. Why didn't she tell me before? Things could have been so much different between us. We could have helped each other.

"But, how? Why didn't you say anything if you knew? I've never known any other Guardians, except for my mom. I... we wouldn't have had to feel so alone. We could have helped one another. Or, wait, do you know others?" I always figured there were others, but never thought they'd be as close as living in the same apartment as I. Maybe there was a whole network of Guardians that I had no clue about.

Nora put her head down and shook it slightly, as if in shame. "There are others, but I don't keep in constant contact with them. I'm sorry, Cassie. I couldn't tell you. I was told never to tell anyone, and I never have, for any reason. Usually it's easy to keep inside, I just think of it as a job that I do and continue on with my life. But tonight..." she choked up, "... tonight was different. Tonight someone died."

She looked completely dejected and I felt bad for unleashing my injured feelings onto her. I gave her a minute to let it all out again, just being there for her. When she started to settle down, I asked softly, "Can you tell me what happened?" I hated putting her through this, but I had to find out how Caleb and Hunter fit into all of it. There had to be something linking all of them together.

Her face grew distant as she relived the events that happened in the last few hours. "I had a vision while getting ready earlier. There was a guy walking on a pier down at the marina. He got pushed into the lake, hit his head on one of the docked boats, and drowned. When I got there, I spotted him walking down the pier from the parking lot, and I called out to him to try to get his attention. He wouldn't look up, and then I noticed he was wearing headphones, so I started running to him, but the gate was locked to get down to the piers!"

Nora started to get emotional again, talking faster, her voice rising. "I struggled with the lock and was about to jump the gate, when I saw him fall into the water. I couldn't get to him, Cassie." She covered her face with her hands and her sobs grew louder.

I grabbed more tissues and put my arms around her. "It's okay, sweetie, you couldn't have known there'd be a lock on that gate. It's not your fault."

I wondered then if this were the reason Hunter pushed me to find Nora. I couldn't see him caring if I were here to comfort her. Did he think something worse had happened to her? How would he know? I had to find out. I knew the only way for me to really know what was going on around me was to sit down and talk to him, no matter what torture he put me through. Thinking of how he and Caleb faced off in the restaurant, I was terrified I might not ever have that chance. And, for reasons I couldn't explain, I didn't want Hunter out of my life, not just because I sought answers to my questions.

"I haven't lost someone in a long time. I forgot how much it hurts," Nora said into my shoulder.

"I know, Nora," I whispered. "It will always hurt, but you'll move on and save so many more. Now all you can do is get some rest. Unfortunately, the visions might not wait for you to get over this and you need to be ready."

She extricated herself from my arms and took the tissues I offered her once again to clean herself up. Resting back against her pillow, she said, "Thank you, Cassie. I know I wasn't supposed to tell you, but I'm glad I did. I don't know how I could have kept this all in."

"I'm happy you told me. It's nice to know there is someone else I can talk to about this now. And I don't have to think of some lame excuse every time I have to book out of here," I joked, trying to bring her spirits up, if only a little.

I did get a small giggle from it, but then her face turned serious. "Oh my God, Cassie! What happened at Celestino's? You still went right? Wait! It's only nine o'clock! What the hell are you doing home already? Oh no, don't tell me Caleb turned out to be some schmuck?!"

I wanted to tell her everything that happened tonight; hoping somehow to find some sanity in it all by spewing everything out to someone. But I knew I couldn't share it with her. Not tonight. Not when she was as vulnerable as now. She needed to rest and let her heavy heart ease up before I burdened her with any of this.

"Let's just say he's not the same person he led me to believe he was," I told her, playing with the truth.

She sat up straighter, concerned. "Really? From everything you told me, he seemed like such a sweetheart! What happened?"

"We'll talk about all of this tomorrow. Right now, you just need to rest. You've had a really hard night and I am not going to burden you with my love life right now. No arguments..." I stood up, pulling her comforter up, and pointed at her, "Sleep."

"Yes, Mom," she said with a smile. "Hey, speaking of which, have you heard from your mom? Wasn't she supposed to be back from her trip soon?"

"You know, you're right. I haven't heard from her. I'm going to call her right now." I turned to leave.

"Oh my God! I completely forgot about Hunter!" I stopped in my tracks at the mention of his name. "I never called him! Did he end up showing up? He must think I'm a complete jerk-off!"

I turned back around and she was back to looking worried. I had no idea what to tell her about him. I didn't know what to think of him. One minute, I thought he was the Devil himself and the next minute, he seemed to be guarding me from...
What? What was he protecting me from? Caleb? But what if I were wrong? What if it were really Hunter whom I needed protection from?
I needed answers, but I didn't know whom to trust to get them. I desperately needed to talk to my mom. Maybe she'd have the answers I needed.

"Cassie?" Nora's voice broke through my thoughts.

"You know," I turned back to face her. "I figured you must have told him you weren't going to make it because he never showed up." I wasn't sure why I felt the need to lie to her about Hunter. Maybe I just wanted her to forget about him; at least, until I found out what his real motives were with us... with me. I just knew I didn't want either of these men around her, or anyone close to me, until I figured everything out.

I saw her face drop a little in disappointment over what she thought was Hunter standing her up. I hated causing her to feel that way, but it was for her own good.
I was doing what was best for her, right?
"Now sleep. That's an order. We'll talk about everything tomorrow. Promise."

I got to the door when I heard her say quietly, "Thank you, Cassie. You don't know how much it means to me to have you here. You're... you're like a sister to me and I love ya." I turned just as she quickly put her head into her pillow in what seemed to be embarrassment over her words of affection. We usually didn't voice our love for one another; we both just knew it was always there.

Smiling, I said to her, "I love you too, Nora," and closed the door softly.

My purse was on the breakfast bar where I had thrown it in my rush to find Nora when I came in. I went over and started going through it in search of my phone. Not feeling it in my blind grope, I dumped everything out on the counter. No phone. I looked around, thinking it might have fallen out in the reckless toss of my purse, but it was nowhere.

Hoping that it fell out in Hunter's car on the way over, I ran to the door, yanked it open, and crashed... right into Hunter.

His strong arms wrapped around my body as he held me to his chest. My palms rested against him and I could feel the solid muscle beneath the black T-shirt he wore. I pulled back slightly, but seemed unable to remove my hands. I felt his breath on the top of my head, watching my movements. My hands seemed to slide down his chest of their own accord, as if making sure he was really here, while feeling every ripple along the way to his taut stomach.

The heavy pulsing of his chest caused my hands to follow along with its rhythmic beat, waking me up to the reality of what I was subconsciously doing. I tried to pull back, but his arms tightened around me. "Hunter!" It came out more like a passionate sigh, than the scolding I'd intended.

I dared a look up only to see the familiar smirk he usually wore as he looked down at me. His hips moved against me, forcing me to realize what my petting had done to him. He wasn't the only one reacting to our contact. Everything sexual in my body seemed to be straining for him.

My eyes widened, causing him to smile even more.

"Hello, Cassandra. Miss me?" he purred.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Hunter's arrogance broke my erotic trance; however, my body defied my brain's commands, by continuing to quiver from the residual sensations of lust. I felt blood rush to my cheeks, staining them red from embarrassment. Ashamed of my lack of self-discipline, I pushed against him with all of my strength, and he let go of me, laughing.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I demanded. I realized my mistake right after the words left my lips. I knew exactly what he was doing there – I had his car. "I mean..."

"You left this at the restaurant." He held up my phone. I went to grab it from him, but he held onto it. I looked at him, confused, and his expression became devoid of any of the amusement it held a minute before. He let go of the phone and started to walk around me in the doorway. "We have to talk, Cassandra."

I quickly stepped back to block his path, pushing at him, "No, not here. Nora's trying to rest. I don't want her to hear you."

He stopped, "So she's okay?"

"Well, she's shaken up, but she'll be okay. She just needs to rest. It's been a very emotional night for her." I grabbed his arm, pulling him out in the hallway, "C'mon." He let me lead him out and I closed the door behind me. With my hand still on the doorknob, I realized that Hunter never buzzed to be let in the main door. "How did you get up here anyway?"

He reached into the pocket of his pants and produced a set of keys, jingling them at me.

"You stole the keys?" I asked, incredulous. Where would he have stolen them from? I used mine to get in earlier, so I knew he didn't swipe them from me.

"No, I have a set of keys now because I'm moving in," he said, seemingly annoyed with my accusation. "As a matter of fact, let's go there to talk instead of entertaining the neighbors here in the hallway." He started to walk towards the apartment next to ours, but I froze as the reality set in that he would be living right next door to us.

"Cassandra," I heard him say, "if you stand there any longer with your mouth hanging open, I may give the neighbors more of a show than they can handle."

I gave him one of the dirtiest looks I could muster up before following him. "I can't believe you're moving in here," I mumbled, making sure my dissatisfaction was not lost on it.

He unlocked the door and held it open for me. As I walked through, his hand rested on my back. "I can't believe you won't admit you want me to."

I quickly turned on him. With a loud groan and a pointed finger, I said, "That is it, Hunter! What is with you? Let's just have this out, once and for all! Why are you here? What do you want from me? And what the
hell
was that at the restaurant?"

Leaning against the breakfast bar, (which happened to be in the same exact spot as ours, along with the rest of the apartment fixtures), I folded my arms against my chest as I watched him close the door. I took the time to rein in my breath, along with my temper.

"Hell is exactly what that was at the restaurant."

"What are you talking about?"

He came over to stand next to me, leaning his elbow on the counter as he faced me. His fingers lay on the counter, so close I felt goose bumps spread over my arm.

"All you need to know is that Caleb is not to be trusted. Never listen to him; and, if you do, never believe what he tells you."

I'd had enough of people holding out on me. What was it with everyone? I felt like they all had front row seats while I fumbled around in the dark, falling on my ass. Every time I walked into some door, it eventually only opened up into another long dark corridor. No way. Hunter had answers, and I'd be damned if he wasn't going to tell me every last one of them. Now.

I turned to face him and got real close, so that he could see how seriously angry I was. "That is
not
all I need to know, Hunter. I'm sick to death of no one telling me what is going on. This is my
life
! Tonight I saw things happen that made even
m
e think I had completely lost it; and that is a hard thing to do, because I've seen a lot. So, damn it, start giving me some answers. Why don't you start with why I should trust
you
? All I know about you is that you show up out of nowhere, tell me nothing but lies, push yourself on me, and tell me not to trust the one person that seemed to be the most genuine guy I've—"

Before I could even finish my rant, the counter was at my back and Hunter's hands gripped my arms so tight, I could almost feel the bruises forming underneath his fingertips. My heart was beating so fast that my chest pumped heavily against my dress. The motion drew Hunter's eyes to the exposed skin above the bodice again and I felt my body heat start to rise. Finally, he looked up and his icy blue eyes pierced mine.

"Caleb is
not
genuine, Cassandra. Do not let him fool you. If you don't believe anything I say to you tonight, believe that. Promise me you'll stay away from him," he said through clenched teeth, his expression intense.

His fingers tightened even more around my arms as he drew me in closer to him. I winced from the pain it caused, but I refused to show any more sign of weakness. I stiffened my body as much as his grip allowed, stuck my face close to his, and sneered, "Tell me what he
is
then, Hunter.
Make
me believe you, because right now, you are no different to me than he is."

He yanked me forward and I felt his hot breath on my ear as he whispered, "Ahhh, but there is one main difference between Caleb and me, Cassandra - I have you." His lips were suddenly on my neck, suckling it, while his tongue swirled over my sensitive areas, sending shivers down my entire body.

I knew it was wrong, that I shouldn't be letting this happen, but the pleasure he gave me overwhelmed my sense of morality. My eyes closed with a languid flutter as my head tilted back, giving him better access. I felt him moan against my skin and my body responded, pushing up against him, feeling his hardness pressing into me. His fingers relaxed their grip on my arm and one of his hands slid down the length of it. For an instant, it disappeared, only to materialize on my ass, where he began molding it through my dress. His other hand occupied the base of the back of my neck, holding it in place as his mouth trailed succulent kisses along my collarbone to find its destination at my bare shoulders.

I heard a soft cry of pleasure escape my lips, which seemed to ignite a new fire from him. His kisses became more fervent on my skin. My leg angled up and tangled itself around his hip, while his hand slid down the back of my thigh, stopping at the bend of my knee. He pulled at it gently, bringing our hips even closer together.

Cool air hit my shoulder as Hunter's lips moved back to my ear. His tongue teased my lobe for only a split second, but long enough to send another shiver down my body. Once again, I felt his breath heavy in my ear, his words barely registering through the haze brought on by the passion he was creating within me.

"Should I take this as your consent, Cassandra?" he murmured in my ear.

"What?" I sighed breathlessly.

"If you are not going to tell me to stop, than I will assume that you are giving me permission to continue." Before he finished, I felt his hand slowly slide back up my thigh, under my dress.

His words finally penetrated my cloud of ecstasy, along with the realization of exactly where his hand was headed. I jumped, but he held me firm, his hand tightening around my upper thigh, refusing to let me lower it. I pushed against his chest, but it felt like pushing against a solid wall of concrete.

"Hunter, let me go."

"Now now, my temptress. A deal's, a deal," he said matter-of-factly, without loosening his hold.

"I did not give you permission, damn it! Now get off.. of.. me!" I yelled as I pushed him as hard as I could.

He slowly let me lower my leg, but not without sliding his hand further up, under my dress, and copping a feel of my ass, all while looking directly into my eyes with a cocky smile on his face. With both feet finally planted on the floor, I felt more stable and in control of my body. All I wanted at that moment was to get as far away from his seductive touch as possible, not knowing whether I'd be strong enough to fend off what he wanted the next time. I tried to move away from him, but he placed his hands on the counter behind me, jailing me between his arms.

"The next time you allow your body to give me permission, Cassandra, I will not stop until you finish what you started." With that, he grabbed my hand and placed it over the solid bulge in his pants, which was still feeling the effects of our passion.

I snatched my hand back and pushed away enough to take several steps from him.

"God, Hunter! Would you just stop?! I am not your plaything to be mauled by you. I'm here to get answers. Now are you going to give them to me or not? Because if you don't, then I guess I have no other choice but to find Caleb and ask him to explain who, or what, both of you are and what you want from me." My adrenaline was running so high from everything - the sexual contact with Hunter, my emotions, my confusion - that I couldn't seem to catch my breath, and I could feel myself on the verge of tears. I had already shown him too much weakness by letting him have liberty over my body. I refused to let him see me cry over it all.

I started towards the door, giving myself an objective in order to keep myself from crying, knowing damn well I didn't really want to walk out. But I had only gotten a few feet before I heard his command.

"Cassandra, do not walk out that door."

I stopped and turned towards him, determination evident in both my face and stance. "Are you going to give me answers?" I asked.

Hunter leaned against the counter and folded his arms across his chest, his face serious. "Yes, I will give you answers."

Not trusting him completely, I narrowed my eyes and asked, "Without physical contact?"

He laughed at me. "Only if you ask. And if you do, I will give your body all the answers it craves."

"Hopeless..." I murmured as I shook my head. I walked over to the breakfast bar, but went around to the other side of it, in order to avoid any contact between us. He went to the refrigerator, pulled out a bottle of wine, and set it on the counter. I watched in awe as he moved to one of the cupboards behind me and pulled out two wine glasses. Strangely enough, they seemed to be the only things in there.

"You just happened to have a bottle of wine and two wine glasses here?" I asked skeptically.

Hunter smiled conspiratorially and said, "It's a rule of mine to have it available in case of special occasions. You know, like a beautiful woman in my apartment with a desire for... answers." He opened the wine with an opener, which magically appeared as well, and poured each glass. I took it eagerly, craving the chance to ease my nerves.

I gulped down a fair amount before realizing he wasn't going to offer up anything on his own, so I took the lead. "Why don't you start by telling me how you and Caleb know each other?"

He looked at me, as if deliberating over what he was going to say. Finally he spoke, "You could say that Caleb and I grew up together, but then grew apart. We still tend to cross paths through our work, however."

"What kind of work?" I asked suspiciously.

He let out an impatient sigh, stared at me for a moment, and then seemed to come to some internal conclusion with a nod. His broad chest came over the counter, defining the muscles in his chest and arms as he balanced himself and leaned towards me. "Why don't we just cut to the chase, Cassandra? I'm not sure how much time we have before Caleb decides to come after you again and I need to make sure you know what side to be on when he does." His eyes remained intently on mine. "First and foremost, I am the only one that you can trust, because I am the only one that can save your life as you know it."

His blunt words sent shivers down my spine. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "But why would Caleb want to kill me? I'm nobody." My mind raced, searching through my life for any reason that he would want to go so far as to kill me.

Hunter grabbed my hands, holding them across the counter, as he said, "You're wrong Cassandra. You're a Guardian, and for that reason, Caleb wants to send you to Hell."