Chasing Fate (Sentinel & Guide)

Chapter 16

  It would take a herd of elephants to pull Jack out of the cozy nook that his guide had for a bed. The thick curtain blocked out the last remnants of cold and light from the room and secluded them in a nest of kitschy pillows and hand-woven blankets. The dog was napping atop her feet while she lay tucked into the crook of his arm.

His senses mildly noted the rather large group of vehicles and heartbeats thrumming outside, but it had been an hour and no one had tried approaching just yet.

For now he could just lie still and luxuriate in the presence of his guide. She was sleeping soundly, her heartbeat low and steady, her breaths even. The fear scent from earlier had mostly evaporated, as had the dull synthetic scent of dampeners. Now under the layers of scent from her bodywash and theoils in her hair was something that was distinctly her. He felt he could find her in a crowd of thousands if he had to, it was so thoroughly ingrained in his mind.

He looked over her face for the thousandth time that night, taking in the exact length of her lashes and every wrinkle in her lips as though it was bright daylight. The tip of a shiny curl peeked from the satin scarf she apparently hid her hair in. He couldn't wait to see the coils spring free. He couldn't wait for her to open her brown eyes so he could see how daylight played on the iris. He couldn't wait to-

An incessant buzzing interrupted his reverie, startling him out of his intense focus on the crisscrossing of hairs on her brow. His guide didn't even budge, she was too deeply asleep to be bothered by a phone on vibrate.

Jack prodded around in the blankets until he found it, tucked into the kangaroo pocket of the college hoodie she was wearing. The incoming call showed a very goofy picture of a very familiar blonde woman labeled 'KareBear"

Hunter's guide...and apparently his guide's best friend. He debatedignoring it, but stretching out his senses, he could hear the pounding of a small heartbeat a few meters outside the door.

"Hello," he answered lowly, keeping an eye on his guide to make sure he didn't wake her.

"Mr. Hammond, This is Karen, I-I'm the guide you met at the orientation-"

"I know who you are, but what do you want?" Jack's voice hardened into steel.

On the other side, Hunter grabbed the phone at the first sign of threat, "Stand down sentinel. We're trying to get a status on the ....bond," the young sentinel ground out the last word with much difficulty, "We did not get a radio in at 000 hours, and per the specifications-"

"She's fine"

"I apologize sentinel, but we have a grown man beaten to a pulp en route to county. You understand we can't take your word for it."

Jack let out a subvocal growl at the mention of Breton, "He tried to KILL my guide. I should have ended him right there!"

A soft sound of distress immediately broke through Jack's anger and he forced himself to calm before his rage hurt his guide. He took a deep breath, "I said, she's fine."

"I understand that, but we need confirmation. We just need to log her vitals...There are doctors here. Your guide will be-"

"I'm not giving her to you" Jack snapped, unable to tamp down his rage at the thought, "She's safe here, with me!"

The phone was passed again as the tension rose. Bess forced her voice to neutrality as she answered the line, "Of course sentinel, your guide is safe and protected."

"Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Elizabeth ________, the NOGS department head for Bent Valley. Allow me to make a deal," she barrelled on, "If you cooperate, I will tell you more about your guide. She's a very special case, but you already knew that, didn't you?"

The silence on the other side of the line dragged on for what felt like hours before Jack responded, "Her heart rate is _____, blood pressure ____/____, body temperature is _______ and stable. Circulationis good and she has no signs of frost bite or hypothermia."

Bess scrambled to input the vitals. He was correct, Fate was well within normal ranges for a comfortably sleeping guide. There was no question of whether his reading was accurate. Touch-sensitive sentinels were trained to interpret vitals starting in highschool. Their sensitivity had outpaced medicine until recently. A trained sentinel could still outpace an EMT in assessing those basic factors.

Accuracy wasn't the problem. Beneath all the neat tricks, sentinels were still human. They could lie like anyone else.

"Thank you sentinel, Now all we need is visual confirmation that she's okay, and we can back off and leave you to your bond."

Bess' voice was neutral but she couldn't help the feeling that she was leaving Fate to the proverbial wolf. Yes, she had hoped the young woman would find a suitable bondmate to help her flourish, but not like this. She wouldn't wish this mess on anyone.

"I want your word. Back off and I'll send you visual confirmation." Jack shifed uncomfortably. This was a massive invasion of privacy they were asking for. Bonds were secluded, private acts and they wanted to see her while she was sleeping? Rationally he understood, but selfishly he didn't want to give in.

"Of course, sentinel. We will pull back beyond the cordon and check in personally at 0800 hours. Just me and the NOGS team, like any other registration."

"No police, no cameras," Jack growled.

"No police, no cameras," Bess confirmed, sweat beading on her forehead despite the icy weather.

There was a shuffling sound as the sentinel fiddled with the phone. Moments later there was a buzz as the photo was received followed by the tone signaling that Jack Hammond hung up the phone.

Bess let out a deep sigh as she handed the phone to Harley for processing. The sentinel hadn't deigned to turn on the flash. She could only barely make out the image of Fate sleeping pressed against a massive arm.

It would have to do. They had 8 hours before they'd really know.