The Gunslinger's Gift (2 page)

Chapter
One

Two
weeks after returning to The Mountain, James saw her again. Sophia Ann Duffy.

Pausing
in the corridor, he watched her walking and talking with her sister. They were
such opposites. Vivian was a bold woman, not just with her red hair and
take-charge attitude, but she had a presence about her that said she wouldn’t
take crap from anyone. She’d bonded with one of the oldest, yet still
functioning, Guardians, Jason.

When
they had found Vivian, she’d been on a story that had quickly led them to
hunting down Vivian’s sister on the job. The monsters had targeted Sophia
because she was one of the thirteen rarest women alive, a Vestal Virgin,
destined to bond with a Guardian.

There
was something about the dark haired beauty that called to him. Unfortunately,
if he focused on her too long, he ended up with a headache. One the medics were
stumped by, since there was absolutely no medical evidence to support it.

The
doctors might be clueless, but the other Guardians knew something. At least
that was his guess, given the looks he’d been getting from Gaius, Hector,
Jason, and Mercury. Even Alexander, who pretty much hated James’ guts, was
giving him that same knowing stare. They knew something, and they weren’t
telling him, which was seriously pissing him off.

Sighing,
he watched as Sophia disappeared around the corner of a corridor intersection,
and his headache let up. “What the fuck is going on?” he muttered to himself.

Giving
his head a shake, he continued on his way to the base’s main hub. He couldn’t
keep thinking about Sophia, no matter how often his mind went to her. She
didn’t seem to want to see him, so it really didn’t matter if he wanted to talk
to her. She avoided him all too well in a place he knew better than she ever
could.

“James,
about time,” Mercury said.

Acknowledging
their leader, James then nodded to Helen, their tech guru, and took a chair
near her. “So, what’s the news?”

“Eric
updated me early this morning. He’s found our guy again and is tracking him
now. He needs backup out there,” Mercury answered.

“So,
you’re shipping me back out to Miami?”

“No,
Alexander’s already departed to assist him. Gaius is having fits again,
understandable of course, but still, we need to keep an eye on him. He wants to
go out there, but we all know how that would end up.”

Yeah,
Gaius on a rampage to get the man responsible for Emily, his soul mate, being
hurt wouldn’t go well. Godzilla had nothing on Gaius when he got his back up
about something and went looking to kill someone.

“So,
I’m here why?” James asked. He didn’t get why he’d been summoned, especially
since he’d been off training. Mercury didn’t interrupt training for any reason.

“You
and I need to talk.” Mercury moved to the door and shot James an expectant
look.

Groaning
softly, James rolled his eyes and followed the man. They went through the halls
to Mercury’s office, where James took the chair he was pointed to. “What do we
need to talk about?”

“About
you getting your head out of your ass and seeing what’s right in front of you.”

“Huh?”

“It’s
been two weeks since you got back, and while I agreed at the time with the
others to keep my nose out of it, enough is enough.”

“Again,
I’m going to have to go with ‘huh’?”

“You
and Sophia. Deal with it, sooner rather than later,” Mercury said.

“There’s
nothing to deal with, Merc. She’s a great girl and all, but she wants nothing
to do with me. Which, given how my head practically explodes with pain any time
I’m near her, it’s probably a good thing she’s avoiding me like she is.”

Mercury
shot James a look and scraped a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe you
have no clue,” he muttered. “Do you remember what I told you about the
medallion when I brought you back?”

“Yeah,
don’t let anyone shatter it, as it’s as effective as having my head removed.
Which, in my case, is pretty much the same thing.” James was obviously missing
a key point, though, because Mercury was giving him a look that called him an
idiot nine ways of Sunday.

“There
was more to it than that. It wasn’t that long ago, and even with the brain
damage you suffered, you should remember it.”

Frowning,
James thought back. The medallion would give him life as long as it wasn’t
shattered, or he didn’t lose his head. It would help to guide him to stay in
the light, but couldn’t override his own needs and wants. If he gave into the
darkness that surrounded them then he’d become one of the Evil Ones.

Then,
it hit him. It would direct him to the one woman in all the world that was
his—his heart, his light, his soul mate. “Shit,” he breathed out. Sophia Duffy
was his soul mate.

And
he’d pretty much done everything in his power to drive her away because of the
headaches.
The headaches!
He let out
a groan and pressed a hand to his eyes. No other Guardian had a medallion in
their head. It made sense all of a sudden. He was getting the headaches because
the medallion was trying to draw him to her.

“There
we go,” Mercury said. “I knew all you’d need was a nudge.”

“Fucking
hell, Merc. Why didn’t someone point it out sooner? She hates my guts right
now. I did everything I could to push her away, and I succeeded. She won’t get
within more than thirty feet of me anymore.”

“Well,
then, you have a hell of a lot of work to do. I’d watch out for Vivian, though.
She’s a very protective older sister, and Jason’s been teaching her
hand-to-hand combat tactics. While you might beat her on the draw, I figure
she’ll take you down out of sheer determination and whatever women have that
makes them stronger than we men could ever hope to be.”

Mercury
got to his feet and came around the desk. “Now, get out of my office and figure
out how to win your woman back. Soon, too, or she might just be handed off to
another Guardian by whatever power lays within the medallion.”

“Can
that happen?” James asked, in sudden horror.

“Hell
if I know, but it’s a power beyond anything I understand. It might just decide
you’re not worthy of her and give her to someone that will actually treasure
her for the gift she is. And that may very well mean you’re out of luck,
permanently.”

“Shit,”
James whispered. Popping up to his feet, he got out of there quickly.
No way in hell am I losing my only hope at
staying in the light to another Guardian.
The mere thought of Sophia being
touched by another man made his stomach turn. She was his.

Stopping,
he looked around. Now, he had one major problem and a minor obstacle, getting
Sophia to speak to him again so he could apologize and avoiding being gutted by
her sister. He’d seen the looks that Vivian had been shooting his way, and now,
he understood them.

* * *
*

It had
been two of the most miserable weeks of her life. Sophia was a consummate idiot
and found herself trying to get James to see her as his other half. It took her
two weeks to realize that perhaps the feelings she had for him were one sided.
It took her two weeks of seeing him calling other women or hearing him prattle
on about how he was going out with twins to realize that perhaps she had been
wrong.

She
sighed again and looked out over the vistas that the mountaintop offered. She
was alone on the small area that currently held a helicopter, as well as bolted
down tables for picnics. She couldn’t even paint. She finally embodied the very
word she had hated all her life. She finally embodied the word that the kids in
the foster homes had teased her with. Sophia was sad. Not just sad, but utterly
heartbroken.

She
refused to cry, though. She did enough of that at night, when she was by
herself in the darkness. She cried so much that she kept a near constant
headache from the waterworks.

Standing,
she walked to the edge of the protective area and gazed across the rugged
terrain at the slowly setting sun. She needed to leave. She knew it, Mercury
knew it, and now, so did Viv and Jason. She was going to go to Miami. One of
the Guardian’s that lived there was willing to put her up for a bit.

After
that, she wasn’t sure where she was going to go, but she knew she couldn’t
remain where she was, because seeing James go out and come back many hours
later smelling of women was something she couldn’t take any longer.

Not
that she blamed him, not really. After all, she knew now that he didn’t have a
clue who she was to him. She knew now that the feelings were all one sided and
that she had to get away and stop making an idiot of herself around this man.

She
didn’t want to go, but she had to go. She would become bitter and hateful,
otherwise, and she couldn’t do that to her sister and the inhabitants of the
Mountain.

No, it’s best for me to simply
get the hell out of Dodge, as the saying goes.
Leave her broken heart behind,
because that’s where it would remain, with James, even if he didn’t know it.

A small
noise behind her alerted her to the fact she was no longer alone. Not that she
turned. Maybe they’d get the hint and leave her be. The heat that scorched
along her back from a large, definitely male body, though, told her that
whoever it was hadn’t gone away.

“Can we
talk?” James’s voice asked, his breath brushing against her neck and ear,
causing the little hairs at her nape to move slightly.

Why does it have to be him?

Sophia
had to lock her knees to keep from swaying. She had to keep herself from
leaning back into the man that had held her close one night to stay warm.
“Sure,” she answered instead, without moving, without inflection. “However, I
had assumed that you said all that you wanted to the last time we spoke.
Something along the lines of you telling me to get the hell away from you and
let you live in peace?” In addition to making a date on the phone with a woman
for sex within Sophia’s earshot.

He let
out a sigh. “I was an idiot. I admit that freely. I was trying to push you
away. I’m sorry. I didn’t understand what was going on. All I knew was, every
time you got close, I’d get these brutal headaches trying to tear my skull
open, and it put me in a pissy mood. After getting shot in the head, you tend
to be a little annoyed about such things.”

He
paused, and she heard him shifting around behind her. “I should mention that I
haven’t been with anyone since I met you, Sophia. I may have said I was meeting
someone, or someone’s, but I never actually did. I couldn’t. Again, I didn’t
understand why, until just a few minutes ago. I know you likely don’t believe
me; I wouldn’t blame you, honestly, but it’s the truth.”

“Why?”
she asked, still without turning. She couldn’t let him see the tears trailing
down her cheeks. That would be mortifying. “Why haven’t you been with anyone
else?” She needed to know. “And I’m sorry you’ve had headaches. Are you blaming
those on me, as well?” He had blamed her for a number of things, so the
headaches would only be just a bit more that he could lay at her feet.

He
moved closer. She could feel the brush of his clothing to hers, his arms coming
around so he could brace his hands on the railing in front of her. Effectively
caging her, she noted. “Because they weren’t you, and the mere thought of being
with anyone else made me sick to my stomach.

“The
headaches are in part because of you, but mostly because I’m an idiot. It’s the
medallion telling me to come to you, to be close to you, to claim you as mine.
No one else has had this happen to them because no one other than me has taken
a fatal wound to the head and successfully been brought back.

“Mercury
told me then that he didn’t know what side effects I’d suffer. For months they
watched me, ran tests on me, put me through hours and hours of training, just
to ensure there were no lasting effects from the gunshot or the medallion
placement.”

Sophia
found herself leaning back against him and then turning. “I’ve dreamed of you
for years, since I was a child, and had no idea why. The ’scapes that I paint
have been from your past. For some reason, I’ve lived in your memories.” She
sighed, putting her head on his chest and her arms around him.

“You
broke my heart, you know.” She whispered her admission to him, hurt in her
voice. “How about now? Are you hurting now?” If so, she would have to stay on
the course that she had plotted and leave. She couldn’t remain, not if she
caused him pain.

A
shudder rippled through him before he pulled her closer. “No,” he said, softly.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Sophia. I’m so sorry, and I’ll keep saying that
each and every day for the rest of my life. I know you were going to leave.
Please don’t,” he breathed out, in a choked voice.

“Okay.
Unless I hurt you.” She moved her hands over his back, lightly caressing him.
“So, if I hurt you, tell me?” She pulled back and looked up into his face. She
knew he could see her tears, but she didn’t mind. “Can you—?” She chewed her
lip and felt him tighten his grip. “Can you kiss me?”