Free Tangled Redemption by Tina Christopher Page B

They weren’t aligned to perfectly hit the sore muscles in her
body, but then she was a few inches shorter than Miguel’s six foot three and
there were probably sixty to seventy pounds difference between her
one-thirty-two and what she estimated as his two-hundred-and-three pounds.
    “Here is your bubble bath.”
    Her eyes shot open and she cursed herself. This was the
second time in just a few minutes numbers had taken her away from the world
again. She couldn’t allow herself to drift like this. It was if her body knew
she was safe and allowed her brain to take a step away from reality to give her
time to process.
    But she wasn’t safe. Far from it.
    Miguel dumped a load of soap into the tub. It fizzed and
swirled around her body, the scent of lemon and orange circling around her.
He’d found the perfect combination. “Thank you.”
    Their gazes met and the darkness lifted the tiniest bit. He
nodded. “Is there anything else you require right now?”
    “Access to StarNet.”
    He raised his brow.
    Well, it had been worth a try. “If not access to StarNet I
need a comp stripped of its outside connectivity to access books and movies. I
am guessing I will be here for a while and I don’t like just sitting around.”
And the comp might give her opportunity to access her files. Communication
would be out of the question. He would watch her too closely. But she would
continue her work as long as she could.
    He nodded again. “Materials will be supplied.” With that he
turned around and walked away from her.
    Sydney stared at the closed door. She didn’t hear anything
else, but a moment later she knew he had left the suite, knew he was no longer
close.
    She had no idea how she knew. Groaning she rubbed her face.
Her two men confused the hell out of her. And what was she thinking, referring
to them as hers?
    She wondered if Miguel had seen the shimmering light between
them. The connection that faded in and out was only there for a few seconds.
But when it was there it connected the two of them like a rope. A beautiful
rope shining with every different red under the sun. A rope that reminded her
of her wings.
    One of the most beautiful things she had ever seen in her
life.
    And it linked her to a killer.
    A killer who sold people like meat. The killer who was about
to destroy the difficult peace between Humans and Vampires and push the
universe into a war it would probably never recover from.
    A killer who for some stupid and ridiculous reason had
settled in her heart in a way she grew more and more certain would require a
knife to cut him out.

Chapter Five
     
    A day and a half later Jayden sat in the now familiar chair
and watched as Miguel drove their woman to the edge and beyond. Yes, he
understood that this was supposed to be a competition, but in his mind the
three of them had become a triad. He couldn’t imagine this scene with either of
them missing.
    That would not be right.
    And he should not be sitting here thinking about this. He
should be coming up with plans to kill Nasir. This was the longest he had been
on base since joining Nasir’s band of freaks. Before now he’d been constantly
on the move. Removing obstacles and rearranging the playing field in Nasir’s
favor. Or so Nasir thought.
    Finally he was close to the monster, had the potential to
end it all and instead he sat here devouring both Miguel and Sydney with his
eyes, hands and lips. Or at least Sydney. Miguel had hinted, but they hadn’t
taken that next step.
    He hadn’t completely abandoned his duties. He’d found the
body of the human male Nasir had fed off and analyzed his blood. The results
were disturbing. The male had traces of a toxin in his system. It should have
killed Nasir after he’d finished drinking the male’s blood.
    Instead Nasir was still walking about as if nothing could
hurt him. And maybe nothing could.
    That was not a pleasant thought at all, but the evidence
appeared to be stacking up that way. There had been a few