Gideon's Promise (Sons of Judgment Book 2) (28 page)

Gideon knew he would do the same. There was very little he wouldn’t do for his family. Sacrificing a few humans, as terrible as that may have seemed, was not beneath him if it meant Riley would be okay.

“You’re going to try and sneak up on us,” Magnus was saying when Gideon focused on the conversation. “You’re going to do it without making a sound.”

Riley squinted at him. “You mean like the stealth thing I use for animals?”

Magnus nodded. “Exactly. That is the first step. Your prey can’t know—”

“Can we not call them prey?”

A muscle flexed in Magnus’ jaw, the only sign that he was beginning to lose his patience. “The
meal
...” he ignored Riley’s grimace, “can’t know you’re coming up on them. You’ve been doing very well with animals and they’re harder to trick than humans so you’re already ahead of the game.”

Riley nibbled on her lip. “But you already know I’m coming.”

“Which is the challenge,” Magnus said. “If you can get past us when we’re already prepared, you’re ready for the field.”

With deep exasperation, Riley sucked in a breath that she really didn’t need and let it out slowly. “I’m not sure how I’m going to sneak up on a trio of immortal warriors, but okay. What do I do first?”

Magnus shrugged. “Whatever you think you should do.”

Scowling at his zen approach, Riley turned and hurried deeper into the woods until they lost sight of her. Gideon had a feeling she was circling around, hoping to come up from behind. Magnus was thinking the same because, while he didn’t say it, he kept watching the direction she’d gone, giving her a fair shot.

“So does anyone know where Reggie is?” Gideon asked, breaking the silence. “I haven’t seen him since Dad’s lecture about family and teamwork.”

“He’s with Daphne,” Magnus said evenly. “He’s become her personal stalker, parking outside her house, and watching her through the windows.”

“How do you know?” Octavian wondered.

Magnus shrugged. “Because he’s not as stealthy as he likes to pretend. Also, because I followed him a few times.”

Octavian and Gideon exchanged baffled glances.

“Uh, why?” Gideon asked.

“Because if Reggie’s right and Daphne becomes the next target, he’s going to need backup.”

Inwardly, Gideon grinned at the response. His brother may have been a tough ass, cold and callus at the best of times, but there was a soft, gooey center that reared its head when no one was expecting it.

“Well, you have to give the guy credit.” Gideon folded his arms and dropped a shoulder against the trunk of the tree. “He certainly cares about her.”

Octavian tilted his head in Gideon’s direction. “Wouldn’t you for Valkyrie?”

Gideon twisted his face in a grimace. “Have you met Valkyrie? She ever finds out I was following her around for her own protection, she’d probably stick those heels of hers up into places that I personally wouldn’t enjoy.”

Magnus raised a brow. “You? Not enjoy a kinky twist? I don’t believe that.”

Gideon sighed. “Shocking, I know, but there it is. I like my exit hole to remain an exit hole.”

Octavian burst out laughing. Magnus shook his head and gave a chuckle.

“I will never understand how we ever shared a womb.” He muttered. With a final shake of his head, he turned to scan the surrounding area, eyes narrowing. “Where is she?”

Gideon pushed away from the tree to do his own survey. “Maybe she went back to the manor.”

“No, she wouldn’t—”

No sooner had Octavian spoken, when a figure dropped from the branches above with a war cry and tackled Magnus to the forest ground. There was a flash of steel and two angelic blades were pressed into his windpipe. Octavian and Gideon both patted their pockets and found them empty. It was a tossup who was more stunned.

Riley smirked. “I win!”

“Did that count?” Gideon wondered as they clambered their way back to the manor. “I mean, she caught us when we were distracted.”

“That’s your problem,” Riley said, smirking so widely, he feared her face would rip in two. “I was told to sneak up on you three and I did.”

“I still can’t figure out how you got our blades without us noticing,” Octavian said.

Riley shrugged. “You guys were talking about exit holes.”

With a laugh, Octavian hooked an arm around her shoulders and drew her into his side. He kissed her temple and murmured something that made her chuckle.

Gideon just shook his head. “I still think she cheated.”

Imogen and his mom were in the diner when they stumbled their way in. Valkyrie was there as well, away from the two women, leaning against the register, twirling a blade between her long fingers. She was staring at the window, seemingly deep in thought. She blinked when they entered. Her gaze went to Gideon before quickly turning away.

Things had always been tense between them. Gideon was all too familiar with her cold shoulder, her annoyance, and her anger, but this was a side he didn’t know what to do with. It was none of those things. What was worse was the fact that the more he tried to keep away from her, the more he needed her. Granted, he had always needed her, had always felt that hot bloom of desire when she was too close, but this was different. Since the incident in the parlor with them both getting stabbed, it was sharper. The pang was stronger. There were times when he could have sworn he could feel her heart inside his chest, like how he could feel the hard kick when their gazes met. And while she showed no outer reaction, he knew it was her he was feeling. He just couldn’t understand how that was possible and he was too afraid to ask anyone what it meant. He knew his parents would automatically think imprint. But they hadn’t. Gideon had checked, and rechecked. There were no marks on him and yet every second they spent in the same room was unbearable torture.

“Where are you four headed?” his mother asked, distracting him from the dark haired beauty an exact fifteen feet and a full counter way; she smelled unlike anything his system had ever inhaled.

“I was being taught how to act stealthy,” Riley proclaimed as she made her way over to the table and pulled out a seat next to Imogen. She dropped into it, looking pale and exhausted. “I think I may have passed with flying colors.”

“Don’t get cocky,” Magnus muttered, but there was an almost amused note in his tone. “You still need to feed.”

“Do you have a plan?” their mother asked.

“We’re still working on it,” Magnus replied. “It’s our job to keep her kind from harming humans, not encouraging her to do it.”

Their mother sighed. “I can understand how that would be a problem. Perhaps—”

“I have a way.”

All heads turned in Valkyrie’s direction.

“But you will have to trust me.” She hesitated. “A lot.”

M
agnus remained behind with Reggie, who materialized ten minutes before dinner, said absolutely nothing to anyone, and then vanished the moment supper was over. No one pressed him when he left. Gideon, Octavian, Riley, and Valkyrie piled into Gideon’s
Rolls-Royce
. Gideon drove with Valkyrie in the seat next to him and the other two in the back. Riley’s tension was a suffocating force wrapping around their throats. She remained rigid despite Octavian’s arms around her, or his quiet murmurs of reassurance. Gideon would have said something, if his own tormentor hadn’t been sitting two feet away from him, giving him directions.

She hadn’t told them where they were going, or what the plan was exactly. But Gideon recognized the route to the university and wondered if Valkyrie planned to unleash Riley on a sorority house.

They parked a block from the park and hiked the rest of the way. It wasn’t a place Gideon had frequented very often, but he knew the familiar path students took from their dorms to the university and frowned. It was dark and deserted now.

“What are we doing here?” he wondered.

Valkyrie motioned them behind a clump of shrubbery. The shadows from the trees and the bushes concealed them.

“Do you see that path?” she asked Riley instead, motioning to the streak of white curving through the dark and out of sight.

Riley nodded.

“Walk down it,” Valkyrie said. “Slowly. Make lots of shuffling noises.”

Riley shot a glance from Octavian to Gideon, her confusion knitting her brows together. “I don’t—”

“Do you want to feed?” Valkyrie snapped.

“Yes, but I don’t understand what we’re doing here.”

For a moment, Valkyrie looked like she regretted her decision. But she gave a reluctant sigh and squared her shoulders.

“For the last four weeks, six girls have been taken from this spot,” she said at last with hatred that crackled like livewires. “They were raped, beaten nearly to death, and then dumped by the lake.” She gestured with a nod of her chin towards the west side of the campus. “I’ve been patrolling this path nearly every night, waiting for those assholes to show up...”

“But there’s nothing you can do,” Octavian said quietly. “We’re forbidden to harm humans, as much as they may deserve it.”

“I know!” she growled. “That’s why she’s here.” She jerked her head towards Riley. “She’s not forbidden.”

“Actually, she is,” Gideon said gingerly. “It’s our job to make sure she doesn’t kill.”

Valkyrie bared her teeth, her face a mask of rage unlike anything Gideon had ever seen, and he’d seen all her angry faces. “You haven’t seen what they’ve done. They will continue preying on innocent girls until they’re stopped. They deserve to die.”

“That isn’t our call,” Octavian said a little too sharply. “I won’t risk Riley like that.”

“Where would you rather take her? To a nursing home? A playground maybe? No matter where she goes, or who she feeds on, until she’s in control of her hunger, people will die. Why not them?”

Octavian’s eyes narrowed. “It was only six months ago you were going to turn her in for being human. Do you honestly think I trust you not to betray her?”

Valkyrie physically jerked back as though smacked. She sucked in a sharp breath and stiffened her shoulders.

“This was clearly a mistake on my part,” she decided evenly. “I will deal with the matter—”

A scuffle alerted them to the change a split second before they realized Riley was missing. They turned to find her on the path, a small, seemingly helpless figure, dragging her feet and humming quietly to herself. Gideon recognized the tune as
Over the Rainbow.
He thought it was funny her picking that particular melody. Octavian didn’t think so.

“Riley!” he hissed, careful to keep his voice down.

Either she didn’t hear him or, as Gideon suspected, she ignored him, but Riley kept moving slowly towards the university. They followed, keeping to the bushes and the shadows. Not a single soul came their way. News of the attacks must have spread through the university. Students would have been warned not to use the park at night. But maybe the people responsible were smart enough to realize their hunting ground was no longer safe. Perhaps they were even smart enough to find a new location. It certainly seemed that way when Riley reached the bridge separating the school from the park and still no sign of anyone else.

“Where are they?” Valkyrie muttered seemingly to herself.

“Maybe they’ve moved on,” Gideon guessed. “It would be stupid to stay here with all the attention this place is getting.”

Valkyrie shook her head. “They’re here. I can smell them.”

Gideon couldn’t smell anything, except pine, still waters from the lake, and something rotting in a nearby bush. Maybe a cat, or bird. Definitely not large enough to be human.

“Why is this so important?” Octavian asked. “Human brutality isn’t uncommon. We have all seen worse. What makes these assholes different, especially for a Harvester? It’s no secret you would break the law for no one.”

Valkyrie said nothing, but the muscles on her jaw were clenched so tight, Gideon feared she’d break her teeth.

Gideon looked to where Riley was standing beneath a pale splash of light from one of the six working lamps running along the path. Her face was set, her body a little too rigid, like she was braced for an attack.

“I don’t think anyone’s coming.” Riley had returned, moving without ever making a sound and appearing next to Gideon.

“They’ll be here,” Valkyrie insisted.

“Val...” Gideon started to reach for her, but stopped himself quickly and dropped his hand. “They’re not—”

The low clang of something metallic being kicked across gravel met their ears a moment before the laughter. It was loud and drawing closer. Riley was gone in a heartbeat and back on the path just as three men staggered their way into the clearing.

They had to have been in their thirties, much too old for university. All were rough around the edges, hard and unshaven. Two of them wore flannels over dirty t-shirts. One was bald and the other had tattoos on his face, neck, and arms.

They definitely aren’t students,
Gideon thought.

All three froze when they spotted Riley. Instincts that came with becoming a nocturnal hunter, she had deliberately kept out of the light, giving them just enough of her to get them moving into action. Even her posture was docile, shy and maybe a little afraid. Gideon wasn’t sure she even realized she had slipped into her true nature so seamlessly.