Moon Sworn (Riley Jenson Guardian #9)(54)

That sick feeling in my stomach increased, rising up my throat and momentarily preventing me from breathing. It was all going to hell—all my hopes and dreams of walking away turning to ashes simply because I knew what he was saying was true. And yet, that stupid, stubborn part of me refused to give up. “But—”
“There are no buts on this,” he said heavily. “We have no idea what might happen, and it’s simply too dangerous for everyone around you to let you go unmonitored.”
“There has to be some sort of middle ground, Jack.” I said it softly, without the desperation burning through me. “I’ve given up so many of my hopes and dreams in the last few years that I really don’t want to give up any more. I want to live long enough to see my babies grow. And we both know that isn’t going to happen if I remain a guardian.”
“Riley,” he said, voice gentle, “you were growing weary of being my assistant when you actually were. Now that you’re a trained hunter, I very much doubt you could go back so easily to office work.”
Maybe. Maybe not. But he wasn’t saying no outright, so there was still some degree of hope left.
“Jack, I can’t continue like this. I won’t.”
“You know the choice, Riley. It’s us or the military.” 
So much for hope. I stared at him for a moment, mouth drier than the Simpson Desert. “Is that a threat?”
He returned my stare, his green eyes showing little in the way of compassion. Not giving in, not giving up. “No. I’m merely stating your options. They haven’t changed. They will never change.” He paused. “The military has been keeping an eye on you.”
I clenched my fists and battled to remain calm—battled not to show the fear clawing away at my insides. Which was useless, given that he was a vampire and would sense it regardless. He couldn’t help it when my pulse was racing at a million miles an hour.
“You can’t make me do either,” I said, an edge creeping into my voice was that was part fury, part fear. “I’ll fight you, I’ll fight the Directorate, I’ll even fight the entire Australian military if I have to.”
“Riley,” he said softly. “You may be a strong telepath, but so am I, and so is Director Hunter.”
“And so is Quinn,” I retorted. “Do not think I’ll be alone in any battle.” Because if he tried anything like that, he’d not only lose me, but Quinn, Rhoan, and Dia, as well.
And he knew it. The frustrated anger that just about fried my skin said as much.
“What about a compromise?” I said, desperately battling the urge to cross my fingers. To pray to the gods I didn’t believe in.
“What kind of compromise?”
“You have specialist consultants on the books. Dia’s one. Why can’t I be another?”
“Meaning,” he said slowly, “you’d be willing to come to murder scenes whenever required, to talk to souls?”
“Yes.” I wouldn’t like it, but I’d do it if it meant not having to risk life and limb every single day of my life as a guardian.
He studied me for a moment, as if judging my seriousness, then said, “That is a risk in itself. We both know that.”
Yes, talking to souls was a risk. They could drain me to the point that I might not be strong enough to get back from their realms. But the key here was finding a solution that suited us both—and offsetting a greater risk for a smaller one was one of those.
“It’s the lesser of two evils, Jack, and it gives us both something we want.” And it gave me the chance of an almost normal life. It gave me the ability to raise Liander and my babies and be a steady, regular influence in their lives.
He studied me for several more—very long—minutes, then a small smile touched his lips. “I knew this was coming. Especially given you’ve found your own replacement.”
Hope bubbled through me, but I stamped down on it. Hard. I knew fate well enough not to trust her so easily. “Is that a yes?”
“It’s more an ‘I could live with a deal like that.’” He hesitated and studied me grimly. “Which is not to say that Director Hunter will.”
“But you’ll support the idea in principle?”
“Riley, I am many things, but I am not stupid. And I do not want to destroy what is left of the daytime division.” He smiled grimly, then added, “Nor do I wish to go to war with a man who was the finest cazador the council ever produced.”
I let go a whoop they would surely have heard in Sydney, then leapt forward, throwing myself into Jack’s arms. He caught me with a grunt, but his laughter ran all around me.
“Don’t get your hopes too high. As I said, it’ll still have to go before Director Hunter for final approval.”
“I know, I know.” But if Jack approved it, that was three-quarters of the battle. The Directorate might be his sister’s, but the guardian division was his.“Then untangle your arms from around my neck and go help your brother clean up the house. Consider it your last official duty as a guardian.” He hesitated, green eyes suddenly serious. “Unless, of course, you want official status when you confront the bastard who kidnapped you.”
I stepped back, my joy suddenly tempered. “We’re going to do it on Jenson lands. Pack law will apply.”
He half nodded. “It still won’t hurt to have the Directorate behind you. After all, he kidnapped Evin and his mate, kidnapped and mind-washed you, and damn near killed Quinn. His death is slated. So, if you like, that can be your last official task.”
“And it doesn’t matter which way I choose to apply it?”
“I don’t give a damn, as long as the bastard dies.”
“He will. He has to.”
Jack nodded. “Then go help your brother, and I’ll get the paperwork started. For both things.”
“Thanks, Jack. You’re the best.”
I leaned forward and kissed his cheek, and damned if he didn’t blush. “Just go, and let me get some work done.”
I grinned and all but bounced out of the van.
One more thing to attend to, and then my life was finally mine.
If I survived the encounter with Blake, that was.
Chapter 16
As eager as we all were to confront Blake, getting rid of him wasn’t simply a matter of walking onto Jenson pack land and challenging him. We had to stop his whole damn family, because Blake was simply one poisonous head on the Medusa. Cut him off, and another would grow in his place.
And whoever replaced him would probably be even more hell-bent on revenge.
To end the cycle, we needed to bring down the whole lot of them. Maybe then those who didn’t quite fit into the Jenson pack ideal could live free of tyranny and fear.
So we spent precious time tracking down every one of his siblings and his get. Where possible, Jack sent out vampires to read their minds and gather information. It quickly became apparent that the Jenson pack’s change of fortune hadn’t come from good management but rather blackmail, robbery, and even murder. And as I’d suspected some time ago, Henry Bottchelli—the man who’d hired the red Mazda driver to follow me—was one of Blake’s aliases. He had several others, as did Tyson and most of his sons.
We worked practically nonstop. We gathered our evidence, we stuck our fingers into their bank accounts, and we raided their computer systems, and slowly but surely we got ready to snatch the whole damn lot of them.
When Jack wanted vengeance, he went all out. And with the force of the Directorate behind him, it was a pretty awesome sight to behold. 
In the end, it took us nearly three days to get to the Northern Territory. Quinn’s plane landed in Alice Springs at four forty-five, and by five, the three of us and our one bag had cleared security and we were heading out into the car park.
The air was clean and warm, and it smelled like home. I inhaled deeply, loving the crispness of it, the way the flavors and the scents suddenly seemed all that much sharper.
It would be nice to come back here occasionally. Maybe once Blake had been dealt with, we could. After all, we now had a reason. We now had family.
You always had family, Quinn commented. It’s just that it wasn’t by birth and blood.
He was right, of course.
When you hang around on this Earth as long as I have, you get to know a thing or two. He smiled, but his dark eyes were serious. Whatever happens after today, Liander and I will always be here.
I know. And it warmed the places deep inside that had been cold and empty for so long.
A large black SUV pulled up. Evin and Lyndal climbed out. Evin smiled when he saw us, but then surprise crossed his features.
“No guns?”
“We don’t need them,” Rhoan said, his voice calm. Yet an undercurrent of violence and excitement rode through every word and motion. The switch to guardian mode hadn’t been flicked yet, but he wasn’t far from it.
“But the minute we enter pack land, he’ll know,” Lyndal commented softly. “He’ll have shooters in place.”
“Which is why,” I said, opening the SUVs back door, “we asked you to rent this type of truck rather than just a car. You know all the locations of the border guards. You, Lyndal, and Quinn are going to go to each and every one of them and take them out as we stroll onto pack land.”
His frown increased. “But we don’t use SUVs to move from location to location. There’s no need to, when a good run is the best way to get anywhere or to finish a shift. They’ll know something is up the minute they spot it.”