Alpha One (Shadow Agents #1)(15)
Author: Cynthia Eden

Until you’re dead.

“So you see now why you must have protection,” Sydney said with a firm nod. “Until we can recover the information we need, you’ve got a target on your back.”

A giant one. Yes, she got that. “And what happens to my life?”

“With Guerrero out there, you don’t have a life.” Blunt. Cold. Sydney could have an edge just as hard as Gunner’s—or Jasper’s.

“We’re going to get him,” Logan promised her.

She wanted to believe him. But then, she’d gone for his lies before. Juliana wet her lips. Lifted her chin. “This protection…what does it mean?”

Sydney cast a quick look at Logan before her attention returned to Juliana, then she explained, “It means an EOD agent is assigned to stay with you 24/7. You’ll be watched, monitored and kept alive,” Sydney told her. “What more could you want?”

Now Juliana’s eyes were on Logan. He seemed even bigger to her in that moment. More dangerous. So far removed from the boy she’d known. Maybe she’d never really known him at all. “Which agent?”

The faint lines around Logan’s eyes deepened.

“Which agent?” Juliana demanded again.

A beat of silence, then Sydney said, “Given your…history with Logan…”

Did everyone know that she’d given the man her virginity? Had the team been briefed about that? Her breath heaved in her chest, but Juliana managed to speak from between her clenched teeth. “There’s a thing about history. It’s in the past.”

Logan’s expression didn’t change.

“If I’m giving up my life…” For how long? Until they caught Guerrero? Until the magical evidence turned up? “Then I want a say on my guard choice.”

But Logan was already shaking his head. “No, it’s—”

Not wanting anyone else to overhear, she closed in on him. “We’re done, Logan.” A whisper that she knew he’d heard, but hopefully the others hadn’t. Juliana turned away from him. Pointed to the man that Logan had shoved up against the wall moments before. Gunner. Then, raising her voice once more, she said, “I’ll take him.”

“Hell.” Gunner’s shoulders dropped. “I knew this wouldn’t be easy.”

Juliana stepped toward him. “Actually, all things considered, I think I’m being pretty agreeable.” Another step. “If this is going to work, then—”

Logan’s hand wrapped around her shoulder, stilling her. “We’re not done.”

She saw Gunner’s gaze dart from Logan’s hand back to her face. Juliana wondered just what he saw, because Gunner gave a little whistle.

“No, I don’t think you are,” Gunner said.

But then Logan was spinning her back around. He leaned in close, and she could feel the force of his fury surrounding her. “Time to get some things clear.”

Oh, what, now was the time for that?

“I’m lead on this team.” Each word was bitten off.

“That’s why he’s Alpha One,” Gunner said from behind her. The guy was so not very helpful.

“You don’t give the orders,” Logan snapped at her. “I do. When it comes to keeping you alive, I’m the one in charge. I’m the one who is going to stand between you and whatever hell might come.” His gaze searched hers. “You might not like me. Hell, you might hate me, but too bad. This isn’t about emotion. It’s about getting a job done.”

Her chest hurt. Juliana forced herself to breathe. “And nobody else here can—”

“I’m your guard. Day and night. Get used to it.”

Her jaw clenched. She didn’t want to get used to any of this, and Logan was stripping away all of her choices.

“Unless you don’t think you can…trust yourself around me…” This line Logan spoke with a slow, sexy grin.

It took a stunned instant for his words to register with Juliana. “What?” She almost had to pick her jaw off the floor. There was no way he’d just said that.

“Maybe the old feelings are still there.” Now he was barely whispering, talking for her alone. Closing in on her just as she’d done with him moments ago. “Is that what scares you? That when we’re alone, you might want…more?”

Yes. “No,” Juliana denied immediately.

His gaze called her a liar, but he just said, “Then we’re set. I’m point. I’ll be with you, making sure you’re safe. We’ll keep you alive.”

Promises, promises…

* * *

JULIANA STOOD IN THE HALLWAY while Logan and Gunner huddled over a computer screen. They’d called their boss, some guy named Mercer, then they’d gotten busy with their plans.

Plans about her life.

“You’re going to be all right.”

She jumped a little bit at Sydney’s voice. She hadn’t even heard the other woman approach, but Sydney was there, watching her with a light green stare.

“Logan’s good at his job,” Sydney continued, giving a nod toward the men. “The best I’ve ever seen in the field.”

She didn’t doubt that.

“He’s always cool under fire,” Sydney said as she crept closer. “The only time I’ve ever saw his control crack…it was when we were in Mexico, waiting to get you out.” A faint smile curved her lips. “The man wanted to race in, guns blazing, when he knew that wasn’t protocol.”

Juliana’s back was pressed to the wall. Her gaze swept over the other woman. She wasn’t sure what to make of Sydney. On the outside, Sydney looked petite, almost breakable, but…but then Juliana looked into her eyes, and she could see the power there.

Sydney was a woman who’d seen dark things, done dark things. It was all there, the memories, the pain, in her eyes.

“I thought he did come in with guns blazing,” Juliana said, forcing herself to speak. She remembered him rushing into that room, nearly ripping the door away. Clad in the black ski mask with the big gun in his hands, he’d looked so deadly.

She hadn’t known who she should fear more. The man with the knife at her throat or the masked man who promised hell.

“Does he scare you?”

Juliana’s lashes flickered. She’d have to remember just how observant Sydney could be. Nothing seemed to slip past the woman. “No.” And it was the truth, mostly. No matter how deadly Logan was, she never thought he would physically hurt her.