Chapter Eight
Isaac stood outside of his car, smiling like an idiot. Saige had just reached out to him, and he felt her remorse loud and clear. He understood why she’d reacted so badly—her life hadn’t exactly been filled with reliable men and normal relationships. “But maybe she’ll see that I’m nothing like her father. She just needs time,” he murmured as he slid into the driver’s side seat and started the engine. This is all new to her, and she’s very young, he reminded himself as he pulled out of his driveway and headed for Saige’s apartment. Greyson’s box of sensors wouldn’t do Saige any good on the front seat. He needed to get them deployed and set up.
An hour and a half later he straightened up from the nook beneath the stairwell of Saige’s apartment building and massaged his neck. Twisting around in small spaces did not do his spine any favors, but the momentary pain was worth it. Thank goodness for Sentry durability. He concentrated his energy, and the device sprang to life, silently coordinating with the Stronghold net. He pulled out his phone and dialed his brother Solomon. “I just deployed the final sensor. Are they working? Do you have any data?”
“Hello to you, too, brother,” Solomon said, a hint of amusement in his voice.
Isaac rolled his eyes. “Give me a break. I’m working, here.”
Solomon laughed. “So impatient. And to answer your question, yes. The sensors have integrated perfectly. You can rest easy.”
“Good,” Isaac said, relieved. “Thanks, Solomon. You’re my favorite brother.”
“I’m your favorite brother right now.” Solomon laughed. “Tomorrow it’ll be Bruno, or Greyson.”
“Exactly.” Isaac smiled as he headed for the front door, then eased out into the deepening twilight. He stopped just outside to scan for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing pinged his senses other than his increasing headache, so he tilted his head to check the rippling green of the Sentry’s camouflage net high in the atmosphere. It looked fine. He rubbed his eyes. Something had him feeling off balance, but he couldn’t pinpoint the origin of his unease.
“When are we going to meet your paired mate?” Solomon asked unexpectedly.
Nosy bastard. Isaac scowled and headed across front of the apartment building. He’d check the perimeter and then head out to Saige’s workplace. He wanted to see her and reassure himself that she was okay. “Did Lucy make you ask me that?”
“Nope,” Solomon said. “I came up with it all on my own. So, when do we get to meet her?”
Isaac rolled his eyes. “Not today.”
“Interesting. Touchy much, hmm?” Solomon pointed out, still with the amusement in his voice.
“No, just focused on dealing with some unanticipated challenges,” Isaac replied, edging around the corner of the building. “She thinks someone is following her, and given her father’s history of being an abusive stalker, she’s probably right. I just want to keep her safe, and what with the new Spider incursions we’ve been having recently…” He broke off, frowning. Hundreds of years and the planet is mostly quiet, but now we’re suddenly dealing with Spiders and hackers. We live in interesting times. He wondered if it had anything to do with them all meeting their paired mates. The increased energy load on the Stronghold net had been considerable, even before he’d made love to Saige.
“I understand.” Solomon’s tone was sympathetic. “That sucks, but like you said, she has good cause to worry.”
Isaac’s shoulders knotted up. This conversation was making him paranoid. Or maybe it’s this damn headache. He rubbed his temples, hard.
“You know we’ve got your back, right?”
Isaac grimaced, forcing himself to pay attention. “Yeah, sorry, I can’t get into it further.” He loved his brother, but his relationship with Saige was too new for him to feel comfortable talking about it.
“The sensors are picking something up,” Solomon said, unexpectedly.
Isaac stopped walking and frowned. He knew he’d felt something, but thought maybe it was the strain of his new pairing with Saige. “What is it? An energy signature?” He stepped into the shadow of the building’s east side and leaned against the warm brick. “I thought I was hallucinating things. I’ve had a shitty headache for the past few hours.”
“That’s because you separated from your paired mate too soon,” Solomon pointed out.
Isaac exhaled, frustrated. “Tell me something I don’t know. There was nothing I could do about it.”
“I know.”
“What do the sensor readings say?” Isaac loosened his control on his empathic ability, spreading his senses out like a blanket across the landscape. He winced as he encountered the minds of the people around him, but he gritted his teeth and forced himself to focus. His headache strengthened, but then he picked up the distinctive metallic implacability of Spiders nearby. “Shit! Never mind. I think I know what you’re seeing,” he said to Solomon. “Feels like maybe a few hundred Spiders.” He took off at a lope toward the incursion. He crossed the empty courtyard and headed to the next building on the lot.
“Yes, I can confirm that from the sensor readings. Looks like a minor swarm, but you should be careful,” Solomon said. The change in his tone from teasing to grim broadcast his worry to Isaac loud and clear. “Do you want help?”
“I’ll call if I can’t handle it.” Isaac ducked around the southeast corner of the neighboring building and then stopped, appalled. The Spiders had massed in the empty lot half a block from Saige’s apartment building. Was it coincidence? Or was his brothers’ suspicion about someone controlling the non-sentient Spiders correct? He hated to think that he’d missed an important piece of the puzzle behind these new incursions. He hadn’t found anything when he’d patrolled the solar system several months ago, and he hadn’t discovered any evidence of the mass of Spiders near Alpha Centauri expanding to the point where they needed to travel to Earth. That particular cluster of the alien bugs had been dormant six months ago. He edged closer to the Spiders in the field, careful to keep his senses open. He didn’t want any of them getting away.
“I’ll be monitoring,” Solomon said. “Happy hunting.”
“Thanks,” Isaac replied absently. He disconnected the call and slipped his phone into his pocket. I don’t like that they’re so close to Saige’s apartment, he thought, concentrating on pulling in energy. He’d have to take them all down in one go. The exposure here meant that they’d scatter easily, and he couldn’t hunt down more than a few escapees by himself. And I want to go check on Saige. He could sense her closer to the center of town, and that meant she was far enough away from this swarm that she should be safe, but he couldn’t help but worry.
He gathered his energy, then opened his arms swiftly, releasing a directed wave of power. It swept forward from his position like a tsunami. When it hit the boiling mass of Spiders, sand blasted outward like a bomb in the desert. He winced as the particles scoured the skin on his face, but he didn’t turn away. He needed to make sure none of the Spiders escaped. He headed forward, frowning when three surviving silicate bugs skittered in opposite directions.
“Of course. Run away in the most annoying possible way,” he muttered to the tiny aliens. “Wish I’d had an energy grenade.” He sent out another wave of power, but focused it more tightly, trying to conserve his strength. He’d need to hunt down each of these Spiders separately. One of them exploded into dust, and he turned to destroy the other two. Another burst of energy disintegrated the second Spider, but he lost track of the third one.
“Fuck.” He looked around, then shook his head. He had to open up his empathic senses again. His head still hurt like hell, but he had no choice. He eased down his mental walls, then partially snapped them back up again as soon as he focused in on the missing Spider. He couldn’t muffle himself completely, much as he’d like to, because then he’d lose the Spider.
He walked through the center of the blast zone, scuffing through the sand left behind, but nothing out of the ordinary explained why they’d come down in this particular place. “Random bad luck, maybe?” He sighed, then rubbed his eyes. It didn’t help with the pain. Best thing to do was locate and eradicate the remaining bug, and then hurry off to see Saige. Her head had to be hurting, too. He squinted. A hint of light flashed on the side of Saige’s building as the sun sank below the horizon.
“There you are,” he breathed, still trying to get a handle on the pain from his monster headache. Exposing his empathy to the thousands of humans in the middle of a city wasn’t the smartest thing he’d ever done, but he’d had little choice. He hurried to the apartment building, gaze focused on the missing Spider. When he reached the back entrance, his arm shot out, crushing the last bug against the brick above the door. It shattered.
Isaac immediately pulled his senses back in, wincing. His skull felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. A weak burst threaded through with pain told him Saige was hurting, too. “Enough,” he said, grimacing. He refused to put them both through this when simply staying close to each other would alleviate the agony. He shook the residual sand off his hands and headed to his car.
Ten minutes later, he stood outside a home goods store, sunglasses in hand. He could see Saige inside, stacking what looked like colorful tablecloths along the edge of a display. The pinched look on her face told him her headache hadn’t eased up at all. A girl with short blonde hair waved her arms at Saige, grinning animatedly. Saige glared at her friend, but Isaac could tell by her expression that she wasn’t angry, just teasing. Isaac could feel her headache in his bones, though. The pain was just now starting to fade. They’d need to stay close, at least for a little while, until their pairing matured. He kept his empathy as tightly controlled as he could manage. After dealing with the Spiders, he didn’t have the willpower to handle random emotional outbursts scraping against his mind, and in a city, there was always someone upset somewhere.
“Are you going to come in, or are you going to stare at my employee through the glass all night like a creepy nutcase?”
Startled, Isaac put his glasses on and turned to the older woman standing in the doorway. Wary, he eased down his mental walls slightly, and relaxed as he sensed her amusement. She didn’t mean him any harm. “I’m going to come in. I’m sorry if I creeped you out.”
“It’s fine. At my age, I can tell the difference between creepy and lovesick.” She smiled at him. “And you have ‘lovesick’ written all over your face.” She air-quoted the word, eyes bright with humor.
“Lovesick?” Isaac made a face. “I hope I don’t look that lame.”
The woman laughed. “Don’t sweat it. I think it’s cute.”
“That’s even worse,” Isaac said. He was over two hundred years old, for God’s sake. Cute wasn’t one of the descriptions most people used for him. This is Saige’s fault. He decided he’d make her pay with kisses for tarnishing his reputation. If my brothers hear about this, I’ll never live it down.
“Saige isn’t feeling well tonight, and she needs to go home and sleep off that migraine of hers. I assume you’re the new boyfriend?” the woman asked, surprising him.
Isaac raised his eyebrows. “Saige mentioned me?” He hadn’t expected that.
The woman shrugged. “Not in so many words, but her friend Amy has been pestering Saige for details all night. It’s impossible not to overhear.” She glanced back inside. “Fortunately, foot traffic has slowed down considerably in the last few hours. I hated calling her in to work on her night off. The least I can do is let her go a little early.”
Isaac nodded. “Yeah. She had that headache all day.” He didn’t explain why she had the headache. Mortals did not need to know the nitty-gritty details of the Sentries’ powers.
“If she’d told me she had a migraine, I wouldn’t have called her in tonight,” the woman said, holding the door open for him. “I try not to be that much of a jerk boss.”
“Saige has a mind of her own. She’d never tell you she felt sick unless she was literally strapped to a bed in the hospital and unable to walk,” Isaac said.
The woman laughed. “You know her quite well, I see.”
“I do.” Isaac took the handle from her, smiling. “Ladies first.”
“Oh, wow. A gentleman.” She grinned, and preceded him into the store. “Saige, you’ve got a visitor,” she called out, then glanced back at Isaac. “And he’s just like an old-fashioned gentleman, despite the scruffy hipster thing all you young people seem to be doing these days.” She made a motion toward her chin, miming the scruff on his face.
Isaac snorted. Young people … if she only knew. I could be her great-grandfather. He ran a hand over the beard he hadn’t had time to trim down. And what is with the women hating on my facial hair? I thought long beards were in style right now. He shook his head.
“Oh. My. God,” Saige’s friend said, staring at him. Isaac could sense her awe loud and clear. The girl knew precisely what he was. He quirked a questioning eyebrow at Saige, who scowled back at him. Looks like she told her friend who I am. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
“Isaac, I didn’t expect you to show up here,” Saige said, hands full of colorful cloth. He sensed her confusion as his empathic walls abruptly loosened with proximity to his paired mate, and he sent a wave of reassurance to her. He didn’t want her to think he was still angry. He’d learned a long time ago not to let his emotions control him. He handled too much power, literally, to go off half-cocked just because someone upset him. And, too, he understood why she’d been so distressed.
“I caught him loitering outside the store,” the older woman who’d ushered him into the store said, eyes twinkling. “I told him to come inside before he scared off our non-existent customers.”
Saige flushed slightly as she looked at her boss. “Oh, um. Thanks, Marsha.” She turned back to Isaac. “Let me just finish up here. I can take a short break.”
The older woman shook her head. “No, you’re going home, Saige. Now that the after-dinner browsers cleared out, it looks like it’s going to be slow for the rest of the night, and I know you’ve got a headache. And since you have a very concerned boyfriend here to give you a ride back to your place…” She trailed off suggestively, head tilted toward Isaac.
“My head actually feels a little better,” Saige said, frowning at Isaac.
He nodded at her. She had to know it was because he’d come to see her. Their bond couldn’t handle them being too far apart yet. I should have anticipated something like this happening, he thought, feeling guilty. He was the Sentry. He should’ve been more careful with her. She deserves to have someone looking out for her after everything she’s been through.
Marsha smiled. “Good, I’m glad it’s eased up. You can still head out, though. It really is slow in here tonight. Just finish with those tablecloths, and you can go home, Saige.” She nodded at Isaac. “Nice meeting you, Saige’s boyfriend.”
He chuckled. “Likewise, Saige’s boss.”
Marsha laughed, and then headed toward the center console.
Saige rubbed her eyes, obviously tired. “It has been a long day.” When her friend poked her, she scowled. “Ow, stop it, Amy. You’re killing me.”
Isaac suppressed a grin. “Your boss has graciously allowed you to leave early, and I happen to be in the area. Would you like a ride home?” He glanced at her friend. The girl’s stare hadn’t wavered. As he watched them, she poked Saige again.
“Oh my God, fine. I’ll introduce you,” Saige snarled. She put down the tablecloths, and then grabbed her friend’s elbow and hustled her closer to him. She nearly upended a display of ceramic blue jays on the way over.
Isaac watched the table wobble and then settle back down with no broken birds. Whew.
“Amy, this is Isaac,” Saige said, letting go of Amy’s arm.
Amy rubbed the spot and gave her friend a reproachful glance before facing Isaac with a tentative smile.
Saige made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat. “Isaac, this is my soon to be former best friend, Amy.” She gestured to her friend with a sharp flourish.
“Hey! Not cool,” Amy protested, but subsided when Saige shot her another glare.
Isaac nodded to the blonde girl. Saige’s irritation, even half-joking, grated along his empathic sense, and he fought to keep from frowning. He didn’t want to scare her friend. “Nice to meet you, Amy. Any friend of Saige’s is a friend of mine.”
Amy swallowed, flushing slightly. “Um, nice to meet you, too.” She glanced at Saige, and then squared her shoulders, looking back at Isaac determinedly. “You have brothers, right?”
Isaac laughed, not surprised. “Yes, but I think you already know that.” Saige’s frustration swelled, and he made a shushing motion with his hand when she opened her mouth. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, but she didn’t interrupt. He knew he’d pay for it later, but he didn’t let her annoyance distract him from her friend. “Why? Would you like an introduction to them?” he asked, amused. His brother Bruno needed someone to jar him out of his self-imposed penance up in his skyscraper. This girl would be perfect.
Amy flushed more deeply as her eyes went wide. “You’d do that?” She clasped her hands together, looking hopeful.
Isaac grinned, already imagining his older brother’s look of horror. I can hardly wait for them to meet, he thought, rubbing mental hands together. Bruno would be unfailingly polite to the girl, but he’d probably have a tantrum about it later. “Why not? Bruno is still single. And I can’t remember the last time he went on a date.”
“Oh my God, are you insane?” Saige hissed at him, clearly unable to keep quiet any longer. “Don’t feed her delusions!” Her pink face betrayed her embarrassment.
“Shut up, Saige,” Amy said, grinning now. “If he wants to set me up with his brother, who am I to refuse? It’s my duty to provide companionship to someone who sacrifices so much for our planet. Right?”
Isaac nodded solemnly, suppressing a smile. “Indeed.”
“You’re both crazy,” Saige said, exhaling noisily. A grin tugged at the corner of her mouth.
Isaac laughed. “No, we’re not. I think we should introduce your friend to Bruno. And I bet Solomon would agree with me.” He paused, as if thinking it over. “And probably Greyson, too.”
Saige glared at him, but Isaac couldn’t contain his mirth. He smiled.
“Oh, wow, that would be so cool,” Amy said, voice rising.
“Consider it done, then. Next time he comes to visit, you’re invited to hang out with us,” Isaac said, taking her hand and bowing over it.
Saige snatched his wrist away from her friend, then stood holding it awkwardly. Isaac made no move to pull away. He liked her touching him. Saige being feisty is better than seeing her in despair.
“He’s here to give me a ride home, not play matchmaker,” Saige said, digging her fingers into his arm. Amy gave her a dirty look, but she didn’t argue.
“We have a lot to talk about, and I hoped you’d be willing to spend some time with me tonight, Saige.” Isaac turned his hands palm up, capturing Saige before she pulled away. He lifted her hands to his lips and gave each a kiss before letting go.
Saige flushed as she twisted her hands together, and then Amy poked her again.
“You should apologize to him. You were a cranky bitch earlier,” Amy said, surprising Isaac.
Saige shook her head, but she wouldn’t meet her friend’s gaze. “I was getting to it without your prompting, Amy.”
“You’re taking too long,” Amy said.
Amused, Isaac raised an eyebrow at Amy, who shrugged. “Yeah, she overreacted earlier. She does that sometimes,” she said.
“I know,” Isaac said, smiling at his paired mate. “It’s okay though. She has her reasons.”
Saige looked at Isaac, then squared her shoulders. “Amy’s right. I was a total bitch, and I’m really sorry. I think you know that, though.”
I’m not like those other men, Isaac thought, knowing she sensed his calm. He projected reassurance to her. I’m not an abusive asshole.
When his smile didn’t slip, Saige sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Shit. I am sorry. I really did overreact. I hate that I get like that, and I will try to do better. I promise.”
Isaac could feel her frustration and regret. He pulled her into a hug, letting out a long, slow, relieved breath when the last of his headache faded with the contact. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I understand why you felt so overwhelmed.”
“You’re too nice,” Saige mumbled into his shoulder. “You should be mad at me.”
“Not really,” Isaac muttered, thinking of all the terrible things he’d had to do in his life. The wars. The fighting. He suppressed a shudder.
“Hey, don’t ruin it,” Amy said, poking him this time. “She almost never apologizes for anything. You need to savor that confession, not pat her on the back. Focus, man.”
“Shut up, Amy.” Saige lifted her head. “I apologize. Sometimes.”
“Yeah, sure. Like, every ten years or so,” Amy said, hands on her hips. Her eyes grinned, somehow, even as she kept her face serious.
“Okay, let’s just agree that miracles happen, and leave it at that,” Isaac said, knowing neither girl was going to like his suggestion. He grinned when identical glares greeted him. “What?”
Saige snorted. “I need to grab my stuff before we leave. Wait here,” she said, then pulled away and headed for the back of the store.
Isaac watched her walk, pleased that her headache seemed to have dissipated. The guilt she felt about her behavior lingered, but it had lessened. He hoped he’d be able to show her that she didn’t need to protect herself from him.
“She really is sorry, you know,” Amy told him quietly.
He turned to the young woman. “I know. I wasn’t angry once I figured out why she lashed out.”
“Do you really understand why, though? I mean, you guys just met.” She waved her arms. “Even with all of the weird bonding stuff she told me about, you can’t read each other’s minds.”
Saige told her about that? Surprised, Isaac looked at her, eyebrow raised. “You think I don’t understand?” His empathy picked up on Amy’s worry. He waited for her to continue, not wanting to dismiss her thoughts before he heard what she had to say. She’s a good friend.
“I don’t know how things work for you guys, but she’s a good person who’s been through a lot of awful stuff. You can’t just pick her up and then toss her away like a used cup.” Amy had her arms crossed. “You just met, and it’s like you’ve gone from zero to sixty miles an hour in, literally, one day.”
Isaac shook his head, amazed by her vehemence. He could feel her sincerity. She meant what she said. “I have no intention of letting her go. Ever.” He paused, not sure how to explain their connection. “She’s special. There’s no one else like her in the world.” He took a deep breath. “All joking aside, that’s what bonding means. She’s my paired mate.”
Amy searched his face, then nodded. “Okay.”
“Okay? That’s it?” Isaac asked.
“Yeah.” She shrugged. “She helps me. I help her. That’s how it works.” She pointed at him again. “And if you hurt her, I’ll hunt you down and kick you in the balls.”
“Ouch.” Isaac exaggerated a wince, cupping his hands over his junk.
Amy narrowed her gaze at him.
“Okay, okay. I get it. You don’t have to worry.” Isaac held up his hands in surrender. “I have no intention of hurting her.” Isaac sensed Saige walking back over to them. Exhaustion dragged at her, and he knew she wanted nothing more than to go to bed and sleep.
“Did you really mean it?” Amy asked, her tone lighter.
“Mean what?” Were we still talking about not hurting Saige? Isaac studied Amy’s face. No. She’s let me off the hook, for now.
“You’ll introduce me to Sentry Day?” Amy asked, strangely hesitant after threatening to kick him.
Isaac suppressed a smile as he nodded. “Yes. I really meant it.”
“Because I’m no one special. Not like Saige.” She looked away, frowning. “And you guys, you’re Sentries. You’re important. He probably won’t want to meet me.”
“We’re not more important than anyone else here. We live to protect you,” Isaac explained, not quite sure how to explain how he and his brothers felt about keeping Earth safe. “Life is precious. All life.” He grinned. “Well, except for the Spiders. Those bugs are too creepy to live.”
Amy chuckled, blushing, and Isaac smiled.
Saige joined him with her large bag thrown over her shoulder. “I’m ready.” She glanced at Amy, and her expression showed her confusion as she sensed her friend’s uncertainty.
“That was quick.” Isaac pulled Saige close. He tucked her into his side, pleased when she relaxed against him. “Amy.”
Saige’s friend looked up at him.
“I meant what I said. Each and every human on Earth is important to us. And my brother would never treat you badly, no matter how frightening and aloof he seems on television. He’s simply a good man who must handle a lot of responsibility. It wears at him.”
“You’re really going to introduce them?” Saige asked, sounding surprised.
“Yeah, definitely,” Isaac said, thinking about it some more. Bruno needs some joy in his life, he mused. He looked Amy over. She had a lightness of spirit that might do his brother some good. He could see why she and Saige were friends.
Saige looked at him skeptically.
He smiled. “Trust me. I know what I’m talking about.”
Saige snorted. “I trust you, but that doesn’t mean your brother will appreciate you setting him up on a blind date.”
“I would never be so obvious,” Isaac protested. “We’ll have dinner sometime. I’ll host it, and you can bring Amy. I’ll invite my brothers and their wives. It doesn’t have to be anything more than that.”
Amy’s eyes had gone wide. “Whoa. Dinner with all the Sentries?” She put a hand to her throat. “I don’t know about that.”
“I have to admit, I find that a little intimidating, too,” Saige said, making a face.
“They’re just people. Sometimes annoying, and sometimes not.” Isaac shrugged. “We don’t have to have them all over at once. I can invite them one at a time, if you’d prefer that. It’s really not a big deal. We’re a family, sort of like any other family.”
“Uh, yeah, no,” Saige said skeptically. “Not quite like any other. I don’t think most people have the President of the United States on their speed dial.”
“Well, true. Bruno’s job can be really annoying. And Greyson is often cranky. I don’t know how Eva puts up with him.” Isaac chuckled. “You know, I have the President on my speed dial, too.” He grinned at Saige’s appalled expression.
The President? Amy mouthed at Saige.
Isaac nodded solemnly. “Yup. The President.” Both girls gave him horrified stares. He smirked. This was the most fun he’d had in ages.
“Okay, fine, whatever you say,” Saige finally said, clearly making an effort to move on.
Amused, Isaac smiled down at her, then frowned when he realized her fingers were bare. “Where’s your ring?”
She frowned. “In my bag.”
“I’d hoped you’d wear it.” Isaac didn’t want to nag her, but with the latest Spider incursion not a hundred yards from her apartment, he couldn’t help but worry. Her Sentry energy would keep the Spiders from hurting her, but they could still overwhelm her physically, at least until she learned how to harness her new power.
“I feel weird wearing it.” Saige looked away, fidgeting.
“He gave you a ring?” Amy’s voice was shrill. “Oh. My. God. Didn’t you two only meet, like, an hour ago?”
“It’s not an engagement ring, Amy,” Saige said defensively.
“Where is it?” Isaac watched Saige’s hand cover the outer pocket of her bag. Pursing his lips, he brushed her fingers aside and drew it out. The tingle as the metal met his skin told him it was still active. “Here. Just put it on your thumb. It’ll help keep you safe.”
Saige let him slide the cool metal onto her thumb, then curled her hands into a fist. “It’s just a ring.”
“It’s a shield ring,” Isaac corrected gently.
“What’s a shield ring?” Amy asked.
“A device that can shield the wearer from the Spiders,” Isaac said.
Amy paled. “Are there Spiders around here?”
Fuck. I shouldn’t have pressed Saige into wearing it here. Isaac lifted a shoulder. “Not anymore,” he said, not wanting to lie, but not wanting to frighten the girl unnecessarily.
“Shit.” Amy wrapped her arms around herself.
“Here.” Saige pulled the ring off and grabbed her friend’s arm. “You should wear it.”
Amy tried to pull away, but Saige clearly had a grip like a vise. “No, he gave it to you, Saige,” she protested weakly, but Saige shoved the metal onto Amy’s index finger and then stepped back.
“Shut up. I’ll be with Isaac, so I don’t have to worry about Spiders. And you have those awful nightmares. Maybe it’ll help.” Saige turned to him. “It’ll work for her, right?”
Isaac ran a hand down his face. He hadn’t anticipated this, but whatever. He’d learned to roll with the unexpected a century ago. “Yes. It’ll work.” He tilted his head. “Keep it on, Amy. Don’t take it off, not even for showering.”
Amy stepped back, fingers rubbing at the ring. “This is weird.” She glanced at her friend. “This is weird, right? It feels buzzy.”
It’s interesting that she can feel the energy. Isaac slipped a hand around Saige’s elbow. “It’s supposed to feel like that. It means it has stored energy and is functioning correctly.” He didn’t add that he’d have to ask Greyson to create another ring for Amy, or possibly convince Bruno to give Amy his. Bruno was the only brother with a spare, now that Isaac had paired with Saige. He’d meant this one for his mate, and seeing it on another woman’s finger made him feel uneasy. Amy is certainly right about it being weird.
“Come on. I want to get some sleep,” Saige said, tugging at his arm.
Isaac rolled his shoulders. “Take care, Amy.”
She nodded, still staring at the ring. “Yeah. You, too.”
“My headache is gone.” Saige led him out of the store.
Isaac guided her toward his car. “It’s supposed to be.”
“It’s because we’re close to each other, isn’t it?” Saige let go of him.
Isaac sensed her bemusement. “Yes,” he answered as he opened the passenger side door. He didn’t elaborate.
Saige ran a hand over her face. “We can’t live like this for the rest of our lives, can we?”
Oh, yes, we can. Isaac lifted a shoulder instead of saying the words out loud. “Why don’t we figure it out in the morning? It’s a lot to take in, for both of us, and I don’t know about you, but I’m tired.” He gestured to the car seat.
After a moment, Saige slid inside. “Stop pretending like there’s some easy answer.”
He sighed and closed her door, then walked around the car. He got in and started it up, and then pulled away from the curb. The clear sky twinkled moonlight down on them, and he concentrated on the silence in the vehicle. He wanted to be sure he didn’t say something that would send Saige running away again. He didn’t speak until they were almost all the way to her building. “It’s not easy, but it’s also not as difficult as it could be.” He pulled into a parking space and turned off the car. The quiet tick of the engine cooling down punctuated the dark. He turned to Saige. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.” He reached out and gently touched her cheek.
“I hope you’re right.” Saige let out a breath and got out of the car.
Isaac followed her to the front door. “Saige.” He could feel her emotions churning.
She turned to him. “I’m really sorry I treated you so badly earlier. This is really hard for me. I don’t know why.” She looked away. “You’re a good person. You deserve better than me.”
“You’re perfect for me.” Isaac cupped her face with both hands. “I know it’s difficult and weird. It’s okay that you’re not sure yet. We have all the time in the world. Just give us a chance.”
She pressed her lips together. Isaac wanted to kiss her until she eased up her stiff, stressed posture, but he knew that she would hate it if he tried.
“God. I want to sleep for a week,” she finally said, voice cracking.
Isaac exhaled. “I know. Let me walk you upstairs, and then you can rest.” He didn’t tell her he’d have to stay close if she wanted to get any shuteye. The moment they separated, the headache would return, and it would likely be a thousand times worse. He followed her to the stairs, and then froze, hand out to keep Saige from going any further. The sensor he’d placed near the door lay in pieces on the floor.
Why the hell didn’t the Stronghold net pick that up? he worried, staring at the fragments. He prodded at the device with his energy, but it had gone completely inert, as if someone had deactivated it before destroying it. No one but another Sentry can do that, and my brothers wouldn’t do that.
Saige pulled away from him and opened the metal door to the building. Isaac grabbed her arm and shoved her behind him, even as he cast his senses out. Saige froze, obviously sensing his consternation. “Isaac? What’s wrong?”
He didn’t answer. Every one of the sensors he’d activated in her building had been destroyed. His heart knocked against his chest. The Spiders wouldn’t have done this. They didn’t care about sensors or energy nets or anything like that. They descended in swarms and consumed things. That’s it.
This is the work of someone who knows what we are, he thought, worried. Who, though? Saige’s father, perhaps? Do the humans have the technology to do this? Or some other group?
“Isaac?” Saige asked, voice tentative. “Talk to me.”
He slowly turned to her, focusing on the delicate lines of her face. The silver shards in her eyes gleamed in the deepening dusk. “I’m sorry, Saige, but you’re coming home with me tonight.”