Chasing Fate (Sentinel & Guide)

Chapter 17

  Fate woke to the smell of eggs and bacon wafting from her kitchen. She sat up and stretched luxuriously. Sleep after detox was always the best. She didn't have the lingering grogginess caused by the dampeners, and sleeping at home meant she was safe from stray emotions. But, that didn't explain why she felt she'd been run over by a freight train.

...Or how she smelled eggs and bacon when she lived alone. She ripped open the curtain of her bed to see what could only be a mountain giant piddling around in her kitchen.

He was eye level with her fridge, needing to lean down to properly stir the eggs. A grey shirt clung to the defined muscles of his back and his shoulders were broad enough to build a shelf on. Was this the sentinel that had pinned her down yesterday? No wonder he had overpowered her. She was a well-built woman but she couldn't fight a freight train.

Now he was here, in her house like he owned the place, cooking breakfast like he belonged there. Beau was unperturbed, waiting at the edge of the kitchen for scraps like he always did. It was the picture of domesticity.

Fate felt the bile rising in her throat as panic took over. She had slept deeply last night after blacking out. She had no memory after Breton had been pulled off of her by the unknown sentinel. There were dreams, snippets...a call to read him.

Oh no.

Fate clutched her chest and concentrated. She could feel the tug towards this sentinel like a nagging feeling in the back of her mind, telling her to go be closer to this stranger. Whatever had happened last night, it had ended in a bond.

Blindly she reached out ot her night stand, looking for the innocuous case of pills she opened every morning without fail. A large, warm hand stopped her, gently entwining his fingers with her own. Despite her initial panic she felt waves of calm soothing over her. He was projecting.

Even worse, it was working.

The giant knelt at her bedside, still eye-to-eye with her due to his obscene height. Bright green eyes and a honey-colored beard decorated a strong chiseled face. His rather long sun-bleached hair was pulled up in a topknot. Fate would consider him quite handsome if she wasn't absolutely pissed.

At least this wasn't Breton, unless sentinels grew full beards over the course of one night.

Seeing that she had calmed enough, the sentinel loosened his grip on her hand, but did not let go, his thumb stroked soothingly over hers.

"You're awake," Jack breathed happily. His face lit up around an ugly shiner.

Jack was elated. His senses had been humming quietly since he'd woken up an hour ago. Not to mention after he'd confirmed that the intruders had pulled back he had some of the best sleep he'd had in years. Only her rising heartbeat signaling that she was waking brought him out of it. He felt refreshed like he could go a hundred rounds in the ring.

The rational part of him figured that the real fight would be convincing her. Food was as good an icebreaker as any, and he wasn't entirely sure she wouldn't smack him out of shock if she saw his bruised face on her pillows.

Her sullen stare at him from as far back as she could get indicated he wasn't out of the smack zone quite yet.

"Who the hell are you?" she growled, shrinking into her blankets and subtly trying to reclaim her hand. Reluctantly, Jack let go.

"Sigfried James Hammond the fourth," he answered his full given name instead of his stage call, hoping she'd recognize the name from the NOGS events that his group had been entertwined in longer than the NOGS has even existed. He wasn't above nepotism in this case.

He felt the flash of recognition in his own mind though her face retained its unimpressed expression. He guessed the wives tales were true. He could feel her mind through the bond almost as it if were his own. Right now she was calm on the surface level, but her emotions were roiling as she calculated her options.

Her eyes darted to the table again, staring at the empty space where her dampeners -max dosage- once stood. Jack sighed and stood, walking over to the kitchen bar and held them up, "I'm sorry, but I...I can't let you take these. They're killing you and-"

"So now you own me?"

Jack ground his teeth, trying to calm his own emotions as her rage tickled at his own.

He took a deep breath, trying toproject calm like his mother taught him. "I understand you're upset, but it's not just about you anymore. You take these? You break our bond? We BOTH die."

"That's a lie." Her emotions rang with truth that came from experience.

"Centuries of medical studies show otherwise."

"Centuries of medical studies don't account for ME," she shot right back, leaping out of bed to stand to her full height.

Unlike most people, she came up to his chest, able to look him straight in the eye without craning her neck. Yes, she was trying to stare him down but he couldn't help thinking she looked cute in her oversized hoodie and tie-dye leggings, with a shiny satin scarf taut around her hair. There was a slight darkness to her brown cheeks as her face reddened. She reminded him of an angry kitten. He worked very hard to hold back his smile at the thought.

Projecting calm and good intentions, he held up his hands placatingly, "I'd rather wait until NOGS gets here, alright? Come on. We can be civil, can't we?"

The mention of NOGS seemed to calm her down, "Bess is coming?"

Jack nodded, "Yes, in about half an hour. We can iron this all out with the professionals, ok?"

Fate weighed her options. He'd hidden her dampeners and the longer this bond stabilized, the stronger dosage she'd need to reverse it. Bess had the emergency dosage. If that didn't work, nothing would.

Her brown eyes locked on his green and Jack felt a chill run down his spine.

"Okay."

With a turn of her heel she went into the bathroom and locked the door. Moments later the sound of a shower kicked on. Jack sighed and turned back to the eggs. It was going to be a long day.