6. Vander

Chapter 6

Vander

L ast night my female enticed me into sleeping next to her.

I was weak. I should have held out, but that was where I wanted to be, too. Katie is preternaturally sexy and enticing. The thought of my body next to hers all night long was alluring.

And she wasn't tricking me. She was truly frightened.

She has been strong for so long and does an amazing job of acting like the death threats almost didn’t happen. But I saw all of them and I know that she heard them and got them too. She would pick up her cell phone because they had her number and hear are these threats. They sent her disgusting packages in the mail. It was bad.

But Katie doesn't talk about it much. She's been carrying on, and has such a positive attitude, I tend to forget that it's still affecting her.

I was in that large bed all night long.

And I must admit, it was probably the best sleep of my life. My body fit and my feet weren’t falling off the end. The only thing that would make it better is if I had been able to hold her in my arms. But having her scent beside me helped me too, because for the last two weeks I've been next door, anxious.

She is indeed my mate, the feelings I have for her, I've never felt before.

I’m possibly falling in love with my client.

But I must clamp down these tender emotions and shut them behind a lock box.

I've heard of this that when you found your true mate, this is how the possession locks in. But I thought it was being exaggerated. It couldn't be true, because I’d never felt it before. I am next to her and don't have her in my arms, but my nose is in her hair. I take one, last, deep inhale and then quietly get out of bed first, because I always wake up before her.

I take a quick shower and I do what I need in the bathroom. Then I change and do my perimeter checks, because this is a weekday, a court day, and everything is the same. We have our routine.

I make her coffee while I hear her in the shower. Katie steps out, and I walk over and hand it to her, and she beams up at me with a large smile. Heat rushes through my veins and my heart immediately beats faster. My cock thickens in my trousers.

She has no idea how she affects me.

Katie has the most charming smile. This female is adorable and sexy at the same time. I want to take her into my arms and kiss her hard and taste her. I want to take her back to that bed and strip her bare and push her thighs wide and lick her until she screams with pleasure.

But I cannot.

These foolish, unprofessional needs must end. I have a job to do here. Katie isn’t only a job to me, but the fact remains that she is my client and I need to remain focused in order to keep her fully protected.

“I slept better than maybe ever. What about you?”

I take a deep breath. I look away, and I admit, “I did sleep well.”

“Okay, well, we're still acting just like normal. See, I didn't touch you. I kept my word. And now we can do this every night.”

I groan.

She smiles again, and then takes the coffee and sips it. “Thank you.” And she's in the bedroom getting ready.

I go outside and check on the car again. It’s another glorious morning in the city of San Francisco. Exotic birds fly overhead and there’s a light amount of fog that is already receding. I enjoy the views of the bay, the odd orange bridge and the smell of the ocean breeze.

I wave back at the few humans out in front of their homes or doing morning walks. I’ve allowed them this freedom because they are fully vetted. I’ve learned that humans always feel the need to greet other humans they pass by. It’s odd, but I try to follow local customs.

Soon, my female is ready and I guide her to the car and close the door behind her. This is when I discover, as I'm rechecking the schedule, that something has changed at the last minute, a protest crowd has been organized around the courthouse, and there are going to be lots of beings out there in support of this celebrity. I confer as I drive with my team at Spartan Shield and we all agree that I'm going to have to unfortunately drive through crowds to access the underground parking. There is no alternate route.

“What is that? Who are all these people?” Katie exclaims as we arrive.

“Bad news,” I tell her. “The defendant is having another news conference. This time, some of his political friends are here to make speeches to the journalists. A large crowd has arrived. I would have gotten rid of them, but I didn't find out about it until we were already driving.”

“It's not your fault.”

I growl again because I feel it is. Maybe I didn't know about this because I've gotten too close to her without that professional detachment. My thoughts about her are taking up too much of my mind. My jaw clenches and my grip tightens on the steering wheel. The female I want so much, the one who I should protect above all others—and I'm not giving her my best. I could lose the one I want above all others. “I have often left while you get ready and take a reconnaissance trip to the courthouse. But I didn’t do that this morning, because I was in your bed.”

“Are you saying this is my fault?”

“No, it is my fault.”

We enter an immediate traffic jam. I take the road into underground parking.

Our windows are tinted, but someone screams out, “That's her car. That's her, can't you see? It’s Katie Ross, the corrupt juror, the one that’s been planted and paid.”

Then we are stuck because I can't move forward or back. There are cars in front of me and behind, and they have stopped. The crowd surges forward. Katie screams with fear as fists hit against the windows and faces press against the glass.

“We are safe. They can't get in.” But I tense because I smell her fear.

Hunters are useful because now that I have locked on to her scent, I not only see dangers to me, but I see dangers to her as if it were happening to me, and my senses are heightened about danger in the vicinity. My hunter lock allows me to see heat signatures and movements that a normal Zagwe or a human would not.

And that's when I catch a movement in the periphery of my vision. I turn my head and I can see clearly that someone is trying to toss something that I calculate is a crude, handheld bomb.

The car is heavily shielded, but I still can’t hold back. I must quickly eliminate this threat and unclog the crowd of beings that frightens my female.

A snarl bursts from my lips.

“Vander, what are you doing?”

I burst out of the door and close it behind me.

And then I shove aside annoying humans and zero in on my target. His arm is now raised. I leap high over the heads of the humans who shriek and gasp. I jump onto him and knock him to the ground and take the object from his hand.

“You will not hurt my female,” I growl in his shocked face.

And then I stand and toss him aside towards the law enforcement that has finally shown up. And then I leap back. I kick aside one or two humans again and get back in the car and shut the door again.

The line is moving. I go forward and get underneath the parking structure and stop in the normal space. I step out again and open the back door.

Katie looks up at me with wide eyes as I take her hand and pull her to standing.

“Are you okay?” I question.

“Yes. I can't believe what did out there. You're like… you're like the superhero or something.”

I shrug. “I am the best.”

She chuckles. “You are.”

And then I can't stop myself. I need a moment myself to calm down. I pull her around to the back of the vehicle I lean forward, and I bury my nose and her hair, and I inhale.

“Oh, Vander.” Katie wraps her arms around me and pulls me in close.

“Well, that settles the bet,” a familiar voice remarks. “I won. I said they’d only hold out two weeks. Give me the money.”

“Dammit, I said three weeks.”

“Well, I said never so I lost the most.”

I take another deep breath, and then back away from Katie’s embrace. I look up and see the female named Alisha and a few other jurors watching us. They walk away, still discussing who won the bet they’d placed on whether we were pleasure mates or not.

Heat forms in my neck, chest and face. “I must stay focused,” I tell my female. “I only needed to know that you were safe.” And then I growl. “This happened because of me, because I was not focused.”

“But that's not true. You saved me. And Vander, I don’t care what they think and you shouldn’t either.”

“This danger should not have occurred in the first place,” I say, furious with myself. “It's because of how I feel about you. I took my eye off your safety; I must behave even more professional now.”

Her features soften. “It wasn't your fault,” she repeats.

“It was my fault.”

And then I take her inside.

At the end of the day, I discover that the way I leaped and protected my female was caught on vid, and the part where I snarled in that human’s face are now all over the internets, even in the four sectors, because they find it humorous too.

My parents have seen it.

My siblings are laughing at me.

My Spartan Shield teammates chuckle and send humorous memes of me leaping on the male.

All of this doesn’t bother me that much, except for the part where they zoom in and show me snarling with spittle flying out of my mouth, my fangs exposed. Like a mate, tackling an opponent, telling him to not mess with my female. They even clearly have my words on audio.

The newest discussion all over social media and the news is whether Vander Best is more than Katie Ross's bodyguard? Is he her boyfriend? Are these two having an affair?

And then on top of this, they zoom in on me and my physique. I was wearing my armor. They hadn't gotten a full picture of me before, because everywhere I've gone, I've managed to keep that safe perimeter, or we stay in the house. We drive around in the dark, armored vehicle and we go underground into the courthouse. And there is no vid recordings of the trial proceedings.

I’ve followed what is being said about me, because I need to check on that for Katie’s safety. But all that was said in the past is that she has a bodyguard who is an alien with blue skin from the planet Zagway. Nothing more. They've tried to interview me, but I tell them my name, what agency I work for, and that's it, and that the rest is confidential.

This is the first time humans have seen one of my species perform as a hunter, and it's all over the internets.

Human females say they are “swooning over my blue, muscular skin.”

Others like my “thick beard.”

I even have a hashtag. Sexy alien bodyguard is trending. Xander Best plus Katie Ross is also trending. Videos are being made showing me leaping and are spliced with humans calling it a “thirst trap” and making jokes and dances. There's a song that's been made that is becoming highly popular. This has all happened in the space of one day.

I show Katie this nonsense when I arrive in the juror room. She isn't upset about it and only laughs, thinking it’s funny.

I find it horrifying. Again, I am shown being entirely unprofessional. Now my family knows that this female is my future name, but I've been outed as being unprofessional towards her until my assignment is over. I am highly embarrassed and angry at myself.

As I guide her out, despite my best efforts, somehow the journalists slip past my perimeter in the courthouse in the hallways and rush towards us.

I'm very angry, because I need to know how they got here, and how I can make sure it never happens again. I glance over and see Nelson looking away. I have a feeling I know my leak. I will watch him more carefully in the future.

Cameras are in my face. “Vander Best, is it true that you and Katie Ross are having an affair?”

“Is your client your girlfriend?”

“Are you two getting married?”

“Is Katie pregnant with your alien baby?”

I hear a commotion and glance over and see the human juror, Alisha, pushing aside journalists, yelling at them.

One particular female, who I’ve seen on the human news programs often, blocks my way. “Vander Best, are you taking advantage of your client while on an assignment?”

My jaw clenches. “Nothing is happening between us. This is strictly professional.”

“I’ve learned through a confidential source that the two of you are living together in her home. Are you having sex with Katie Ross?”

Katie winces and turns away.

“I am not in a sexual relationship with my client,” I growl. “This would never occur.” A snarl rumbles in my chest and I stop to respond to this wild accusation. “I need to make this clear to the public, to my family back home—I would never behave inappropriately with a client during an operation. Katie Ross is nothing to me except the client at this point, she is nothing but a job.”

The journalist smirks and steps aside.

I turn toward Katie, whose face has crumbled.

Now the cameras are in her face. “Is that true Miss Ross? Vander isn’t your boyfriend, even though he called you ‘my female’ when he came to your rescue?”

She bites her lip, looks at me and looks back at the camera. “Whatever Vander said is how it is.”