The Protected

him?”

Then he pressed his lips to her neck. “As much as I’d like to think you can help me protect the boy from his father, it cannot be done. We have to run.”

He pulled back, and the second he wasn’t pressed to her, she felt cold. It wasn’t just from the temperature in the room, though. It went so much deeper than that.

He paused by the bed, staring down at the sleeping boy.

“There’s another option,” she said, barely aware of what she was going to say.

Gus looked up at her. “As long as Reyes lives, there is no other option for us. We run.”

What are you doing? She stared at him, hardly able to believe she was saying this. If she took this step, she might as well be swimming into shark-infested waters while bleeding. It was so damned dangerous, it wasn’t even funny. She might not make it out, and if she did, she could end up living out the rest of her life in jail.

“There is always another option,” she said, forcing the words out through a throat gone tight with nerves.

“I’m done discussing this.” He turned away. “We run.”

“Which were you, military or mercenary?” she asked. If she was serious about this, she needed to know what she was dealing with—whom she was dealing with, although whether or not he’d answer, she didn’t know. Still, it mattered. Military, mercenary, each one came with certain benefits, but one would have better contacts than the other.

He glanced back at her, one brow lifted. Then he surprised her with something she’d never expected. An actual answer. He shrugged. “If you really want to know . . . my government trained me to be an assassin. But they’d never recognize me if I was caught or captured. I’d be on my own.”

Okay. Not what she’d imagined. But . . . that was even better.

“Being an assassin, you’d think you’d have already figured out that third option. You take Reyes out. Once he’s gone, your nephew should be safe.”

A soft sigh escaped him and he turned back to face her. “Do you think I haven’t thought of that? A hundred times? A thousand? But I haven’t the resources to pay somebody to do it—I have to use everything I have to make sure he is taken care of. Taking Reyes out is a job that would require a substantial amount of money. I can’t call in a favor for this—nobody is going to take that man out over a favor, and even if somebody owed me such a debt, I used up any favors I had coming my way just to get out of Mexico. I can’t do it because I have to stay with Alex and keep him safe. I’m all he has, and if I go after his father alone, it’s entirely likely I’ll end up dead. Somebody has to care for him.”

“I’ll go with you.”

He gave her a scathing once-over. “An FBI agent isn’t precisely the sort of person I’d need at my back.”

“Could you do it alone?”

“If I had to, and if I wasn’t worried about coming back? Yes.” He bit the word off as if it had a bitter, ugly taste. “And if it wasn’t for the boy, I’d do it in a heartbeat. But I have to take care of him.”

“Let Jones take him.”

Gus stilled.

Then he shook his head. “No.”

“Hear me out.” She held up a hand. “If Jones takes him, he’s protected. Better than you can imagine. Take me with you. Maybe I’m just an FBI agent and that’s not much in your eyes, but I’m a little more equipped than the typical agent and I’ve got . . . well, abilities that others wouldn’t have. Trust me, I’m useful. One person at your back is better than nobody.”

He shook his head.

“Why not? You won’t be alone, and you’d have somebody protecting that boy. Reyes wouldn’t stand a chance at getting to him once he’s under Jones’s care.”

His eyes narrowed and he took one step toward her. “We’re done discussing this, Vaughnne,” he said softly.

She folded her arms over her chest, resisting the urge to flinch away from the look that had crossed his face. For a split second, she’d been scared. Absolutely terrified of the man in front of her.

“Nobody, and I mean, nobody in the damn country can keep him as safe as Jones can, next to you,” she said, closing the distance between them. “He can put the kid up at HQ, surrounded by a shitload of psychics who would feel any threat coming before it even breached the horizon. You want him safe? Surround him with the kind of people who are hunting him—there are psychics who can passively shield him and keep anybody from even sensing him. He’d be safe there and he could get trained. So he’s not making himself a walking target. Until you do that? Even if you take Reyes out, he’s still not safe. Somebody else will figure out what he is and try to grab him, or he’ll hurt somebody. He’s a danger until he gets that gift under control.”

“No,” Gus said again, shaking his head.

He turned back to the bed.

And then, Alex startled them both by turning his head and looking up at them.

He’d been awake, Vaughnne realized. The entire time.

Guilt grabbed her by the throat, but as she watched the boy, she realized she hadn’t said anything Alex didn’t already know.

He was staring at his uncle with dark, unhappy eyes.

“Do it, Tio,” he said softly as he sat up and faced his uncle.

“We’re not discussing this, m’hijo,” Gus said, his voice flat and cold.

“I’m tired of being afraid.” Alex drew his knees to his chest and gazed at Gus, his face miserable.

“Let’s go.”

Alex hugged his knees to his chest, staring up at his uncle with defiance written all over his face. “I’m tired of running.”

Gus went to pull the sheets back.

And Vaughnne felt it coming—it was too late to react, though. Far too late.

Alex had already reached, slamming into Gus with that massive, untrained power of his. Gus made a sharp, startled sound, and before she could reach him, he hit the ground.

SIXTEEN

“YOU want me to do what?” Jones said again, his voice patient and level.

“Take the kid.” Vaughnne eyed Alex and hoped that the boy knew what he was doing, because if he didn’t, she just might be dead in a few hours. Gus hadn’t been issuing empty threats. She already knew that. “He needs to be someplace safe, he needs to be trained, and he can’t get any of that if he’s constantly being dragged around the country.”

“You want me to take a boy away from his legal guardian,” Jones said slowly. “That’s kidnapping, Vaughnne. Never mind that it can cost me my job and what it will do to the unit. It can get me arrested. It can land me in jail.”

“He’s not my legal guardian,” Alex said quietly. “I don’t think. I think my guardian would be my father.”

Jones spun away, scrubbing his hands over his face. “And where is your father?”

Vaughnne lifted a hand, silencing Alex. With a sweet smile, she met Jones’s look directly and answered, “His father is a drug dealer in Mexico. A pretty infamous one. The kid is in danger from him. These are extenuating circumstances if ever they existed. Gus kidnapped him to keep him safe, but the kid’s gift is raging out of control and Gus isn’t going to let him get trained . . . what do you want him to do? Hurt somebody by accident before we step in and help?”

Jones turned away and stared out the window. He was so quiet, standing there calm as could be like he was