Chapter 13

Petey barged into his bedroom and walked to the closet door. Well, Bryony thought it was a closet but when he opened it, it was a high tech computer room. Upon entry he swept his hand across the three computers on the wall and they all turned on together.

"You know how to use a computer, right?" he asked as he sat down at one of the desktops.

She cast him a droll look. "Really?"

He nodded. "Right. Archivist. I got it. The password's my last name plus thirteen. I've already programmed it for your use. Just let your fingers fly. Whatever you come up with the system will do."

Bryony did as he said. She felt the weight of the knife at her side. It was a big responsibility that she had been given by five men she had come to respect in the last few days, two of which she had literally just met.

She glanced to her left. She could see the handgun sticking out of its holster at Petey's back. So they made no habit of trying to hide their weapons while at home. In public she had no idea how all those weapons were hidden from view. Not that it mattered because they were more lethal with their bare hands anyway. The weapons were just a cover.

"Oh, no you don't. There's no way you're going to get through my system," Petey mumbled to himself as his fingers flew over the keyboard. The screen above him finally flashed as a guy's face come on the screen. "About damn time you showed up. We're in real trouble."

The man on the screen was black headed with silver and green streaks through his bangs. His green eyes were fixated on the screen before him but he glanced up every now and then.

"I had to hack your system to get in. What the hell have you done?" he asked.

"I had to tweak it from when we were nearly found the first time. It was near impenetrable; well, except by you because you're simply a freak of nature when it comes to things like this. Who's on their side that can do this?"

"I'm hacking into the software feed right now. I'll let you know once I'm done. If we know anything, it's probably one of us." He was silent for a moment then his eyes came up. "You must be Bryony."

She lifted her head to look at him and nodded. "Yeah, I am. Hey, Tyler."

He smiled sweetly at that then looked back down. "You remember me."

"Not at first but then Austin showed me your picture in his office. It was like the floodgates opened."

"You might want to cover your shoulder. If anyone besides us sees that bolt right now, you will be a target even more than you are right now."

Doing as he suggested, Bryony pulled the shoulder of her shirt up to cover the silver lightning bolt that was dully aching. "Tyler, what was it like when Tallyn died?"

He didn't even pause as he answered. "It felt like I lost a part of me. Essentially I did because as you may know by now, we're telepaths. When one of us has twins, the bond formed between them in the womb is unbreakable. So when my brother died, I lost the warmth that I had felt all my life."

"I'm sorry."

He shook his head but didn't look up. "Don't be. That was three years ago. Since then, I've gotten a beautiful nephew and Aiden will be having another baby in the next few hours. Once this is over, we all plan to head to New Orleans to see them."

The thought of new life coming at the same time a life had been snuffed out was enchanting. She was excited and they weren't her family yet. But she could see the child with bouncing curls and big golden eyes that match its mother's.

"Can I come?" She looked between the two as the only sound was incessant clicking of their keyboards.

Petey snorted beside her. "Do you think Austin will leave you here on your own now that he's found you? I don't think so."

Tyler nodded absently. "He's pined for you since we left school. I doubt he'd have let you go period if the house hadn't been attacked."

Bryony let that sink in. Her instincts were correct. Austin had liked her in high school, but he had respected her boyfriend at the time not to make a move on her. That made something inside her grow even fonder for him.

They were silent for a few moments. The only noises between them were the constant clicking of the keyboards and their breathing. Petey and Tyler were working hard to keep this little family alive while Bryony was trying to wrap her head about these last three days.

When Austin had stepped into that office, she thought her life at the company would be a little easier. Then she had found out he had gone to high school with him and his friends and that they were something other than normal humans. They were naturally enhanced and it showed by the way they carried themselves. Now she was right in the middle of it.

Who knew vampires, werewolves, and Elves were real? Granted they went by different names but they were still the same legends of old. But the kicker was she was the mate of a very powerful electrokinetic and she didn't care. In fact, as she sat at the computer reading over facts and seeing schematics, it became clear to her.

In three days, whether it was by nature or by the power she had stolen from him, Bryony had fallen in love with him wholeheartedly. Maybe a piece of her had always liked him to a certain degree, but knowing everything now it had developed into more. Would it last? She wasn't certain, but she would give it a shot to see where it went.

This was the thing of dreams. Women wanted to find their knight in shining armor. Hers just happened to crackle every time he was in a building or it started to storm but he was hers and she wasn't going to share.

"Shit!' Petey mumbled heatedly.

"What is it?" she asked.

"They've broken through the front door. The other three are doing their best, but something is wrong."

"What should we do?"

"Stay in this room, Bryony. Petey, go help the boys. I can keep her safe from here," Tyler ordered. Being the senior fighter in the group, Petey immediately bowed out to him and left the room. Tyler looked at her. "Are you ready to help me?"

She nodded. "I'll do anything."

He smiled. "Good. Get on Petey's computer and do exactly as I say."

In the other room Austin was locked in battle with a short Asian woman who was one of their own. He had figured out that the only way the mob had gotten into his house was to have one of their own hack into the system. That meant they had been told and the only one who could have done that was Jacq.

His lip curled as he gripped the woman's forearms and slung her across the room. She went through the window and didn't get back up. Austin figured he must have accidentally electrocuted her when his anger got the best of him.

'We've been ousted,' he said hotly through the bond he shared with his teammates.

Knowing better than to look at him and give them away, Paycen kicked one of the bulky men with a semiautomatic as his meaty fist connected with another's chin. 'Jacq?'

'He's the only one who could have done it. Once we deal with this, we'll deal with him.'

'Wait, Aussie. We have to get permission first and Aiden's in labor,' Carter said as he brought his straightened hands down on the man's neck. He dropped in a heap to the floor.

'Call Mikey,' Emery suggested. 'He knows Jacq. If he knows Jacq's giving our secrets out to the public, that's a security risk. We have to exterminate him.'

'Get on that, Em, but make sure Mikey knows that I'm the one to deliver the killing blow.'

'You got it, boss.'

They were all in sync. Paycen didn't fight unless someone came at him. The others converged on him to protect the middle door, Petey's room. Emery, who looked like a laid-back young man, was a fighting machine once unleashed. He was nowhere near Paycen's intensity but he was their second best.

Austin turned around just as another guy came at his back. His eyes widened in slight panic then shock when the man dropped to the floor. Their and final member slid in to fill in the gap.

"What the hell, Petey? I thought I told you to stay with Bryony," he hissed at the youngest member of their team.

Petey's face was alight with the fun of battle. "She's fine. Tyler's walking her through the system. She's the one helping us. Besides if I hadn't come out, you would have been hit."

Austin ruffled his golden head. "Go."

The numbers slowly dwindled. Brad and his godfather must have sent every able bodied man they had at their disposal to this fight in the hopes that the woman would have taken them out. Obviously they had no idea how a team worked.

As he was lifting his hand from the man he had just knocked out, there was a scream. His head snapped to Petey's door. There were too many people between him and her. His heart started pounding, his skin crackling.

"Boss!" Paycen yelled.

Austin looked at him. "Do it, Payce."

Once unleashed, Paycen didn't stop. He sliced through anyone in his way. Austin needed that right now because he needed to get to Bryony now! He turned and ran to his room, disappearing into the shadows.