I scoured the apartment complex schematic one last time before folding it up and slipping it into my pocket. I’d already memorized the fastest route to apartment 121-A, the abode of Jade Thanos, daughter of the late Alexander Thanos. It would be an in and out operation. Hopefully done while she was out of the house.

“Hurry your slow ass up!” Tobin grumbled from the front of the car. He was point on this mission. He was always point, and for some reason he was acting weird.

“What’s got your panties in a wad?” I quipped. His whole body was tense. “Dude, settle down. It’s an in and out operation.” I pointed towards the apartment complex. Tobin nodded tersely, and started walking in that direction.

I had to jog to keep up with him. “Dude!” I whispered harshly.

We made it to the building in record time. Tobin was already kneeling down at the door, a pin stuck in the lock to pick it, when I rounded the corner.

“All clear.”

I took a deep breath and leaned my hand against the door.

“What the fuck!” Tobin growled. Metal tools clattered against the concrete. I watched in amazement as the door swung open on it’s hinges. We both looked at each other.

“Did you?”

“No.” Tobin hissed. A soft mewling sound came from inside and we both froze.

“I thought you said she was out!” Tobin growled

“She’s twenty-four. Of course she would be out.”

“Would be? Are you fucking kidding me?”

Another low moan crossed the threshold, halting any argument I might have conjured. Tobin was through the door and charging the building before I could say “She’s hurt.”

Soft light filtered in from an open laptop sitting on the coffee table. It Illuminated just enough that I could make out the shape of a woman reclining on the couch. Her eyes were closed and no injuries were apparent. She was dreaming.

“Are you sure it’s her?” I asked.

Tobin leaned casually against the wall, his eyes drinking in the luscious brunette. She had both arms thrown above her head, and the most adorable smile graced her plump lips. A soft moan escaped her lips, and she brought her right arm down to the green blanket at her waist.

Staring intently, I barely heard him whisper “it’s her.”

She moaned louder, and her arm disappeared below the blanket. I watched it travel between her legs, fascinated. Blood pounded in my cock when she started to move under the blanket, letting out a series of moans.

“Argh!” I quickly looked away, exhausting the last shred of self control. “Should we wake her up?”

“Nah, let her finish,” Tobin replied with hooded eyes, “I like watching her.”

Damn, if that wasn’t the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.

At least, it would have been if the blanket slid a little lower exposing what her hand was doing. The sounds she made while her curvy body writhed under the blanket was too much for me. I moved closer, crouched down by her head, and gently shook her shoulders.

“Jade. Jade, wake up,” I said loudly.

“Ugh!” Tobin let out a frustrated groan.

“Couldn’t help it buddy.” I confessed, “Had to stop her before I lost my mind.”

I glanced down at her face. The most startling green eyes stared back at me. I watched fear, then anger, flash in Jade’s eyes before her fist connected with the side of my head. Stunned from the impact, I tried to step back, but she was too fast. Before I could defend myself, Jade lept from the couch and encircled my shoulders, pinning my arms down. I was impressed. She was stronger and faster than I expected. I thought about kicking and escaping her hold, but hesitated to hurt her. Besides, I was pretty sure if I hurt her, Tobin would slit my throat. I attempted a reverse maneuver, and she moved with me, tightening her arms even further.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

Silently, Tobin walked up behind her. His arms encircled her in the same hold she had me in.

“We aren’t going to hurt you, sweetheart.” He whispered in her ear. “Let him go, and we’ll answer your questions.”

Anger coursed through her when she realized she would have to release me to continue her struggle. I felt her body tense. With a deep sigh, she released her hold.

“Calm down. It’s okay. We knew your father. We’re here to help you.” I raised my hands in surrender.

She went feral at the mention of her father, gnashing her teeth at anything within reach, including Tobin’s arm.

“Dammit! Owen can’t you talk some sense into her? She just bit me.” Tobin yelled, maneuvering his arm away from her mouth.

“I’m trying. She won’t listen,” I yelled back, anxious to end the scuffle.

Tobin squeezed her harder, crushing her arms to her sides, and she stopped thrashing. Wide eyed and scared, she didn’t say a word.

“Stop fighting us! We just want to help you,” I tried to explain.

“I don’t need help,” she growled through gritted teeth.

“Are you going to behave, and hear us out?” Tobin snarled.

After several minutes Jade slowly nodded. Tentatively, Tobin let her go.

Bam! She clocked him with a sucker punch to the side of the head.

“That’s for squeezing the shit out of me asshole.’” she yelled at Tobin. She wheeled around, and kicked me in the shin, “And that’s for waking me up from that sexy dream.”

I backed away from her, giving her the space to calm down. Tobin returned to his place against the wall.

“Who are you? How did you get in here? And why were you in my dream?” She barked in quick succession.

Shocked, Tobin coughed. “You were dreaming of us?”

“Both of us?” I asked, equally shocked.

“Yeah! But you were being a whole lot nicer to me,” she said, licking her lips. “And you,” She said, turning to Tobin, “weren’t being an asshole.” Her voice softened at the end, hinting at the non-asshole-ish things Tobin was doing in her dream.

I could only imagine eliciting sweet moans from those lips. I had to wake her up before there was a mess in my pants. Her hands moving under the blanket, rubbing herself… Mmm. Yeah, get it together man. She is not just a hot little number you want to fuck. She is Alexander Thanos’s daughter, and she was ours to protect.

Ours. I liked the thought of that. I knew Tobin had fallen head over heels in love with her years ago on assignment with her dad. I hadn’t gotten to know her very well, but I sure as hell wanted to. That innocent face, those deep green eye, I wanted to get to know her inside and out. If that meant sharing her attention with my best friend, then so be it. I just hoped Tobin climbed his grumpy ass out of the pit of despair before he scared her away. To think she was dreaming of us, together. This is going to be awesome in a complicated, crazy kind of way.

Jade settled herself on the end of the grey couch, putting as much distance as possible between us and herself. Tobin continued reclining calmly against the wall, his knee bent and his arms crossed across his chest. I looked around the room for a place to sit comfortably, and saw a coffee table situated close to the couch. Papers were strewn across the surface, covering everything but a small section occupied by the open laptop. Tentatively, I reached for the laptop to make a space for me to sit on the edge, but noticed the rickety secondhand look of the table. I reasoned that it would make a bad first impression to go crashing through her furniture. I’m pretty sure we already screwed that up. Breaking into her apartment and startling her from sleep ranked pretty high on the Worst First Impressions Possible list.

I glanced over to the couch, judging the physical distance from Jade. I wanted to be just out of striking distance, should she decide to revert back into her feral fighting form again. Green pillows were thrown all over the couch, and I spied the lucky fleece blanket. Man, would I have loved to have been that blanket only moments before. Hugging her tightly while her hands and body moved beneath it. I moved a few throw pillows to the side and settled onto the other end of the couch, rubbing my throbbing shin. She definitely could deliver one hell of a kick.

Stalling, I scanned the room, struggling with how to begin. How do you tell someone their whole life was a lie? A picture of a young Jade smiling at the camera and hugging Alexander caught my eye. The Jade that sat on the other side of the couch from me was not happy or smiling. She was pure unadulterated anger wrapped up in a big ball of distrust. I was thankful for the geographical barrier protecting me at the moment.

“My name is Owen, and the guy against the wall over there is Tobin. We are Eleusinian Guards, and we knew your father, Alexander Thanos.”

Jade’s face softened slightly when I mentioned her father, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I could see she was still apprehensive by the way she twirled the blanket fringe through her fingers.

“Eloo—what?”

“Didn’t your father tell you anything?” Tobin barked in frustration. He pushed himself away from the wall, tense and angry.

Fuck! Captain asshole makes his appearance.

“Calm down dude! I’ve got this.”

Jade glared at Tobin. Her anger seemed controlled, for the moment.

“My dad told me a lot. But he never told me he worked with assholes like you!”

“Really?” Tobin barked “Did he tell you to lock your fucking door?”

Wow, what the hell was with Tobin? He was definitely pissed off and making things more difficult by being his asshole self. Before another fight could start, I calmly explained.

“We are Guardians, charged with protecting Searchers and the artifacts they discover.” I could see by the confusion on her face, this was all new information to Jade.

“Your father was an Eleusinian Searcher, Jade. One of the best.” My voice cracked at that last bit. Alexander was so much more than that. He was a good friend. I inhaled deeply before adding, “He was tasked with finding and keeping certain artifacts safe.” Skating around the obvious, I conveniently left out that Tobin was the last guard assigned to protect him. It was obvious Tobin still felt guilty for Alexander’s death.

“Well you didn’t do a very good job. Did you. He died!”

Tobin calmly absorbed her anger like a black hole. The only sign he was affected by her outburst was the twitching muscle in his cheek. If I didn’t know him so well, I wouldn’t have known the depth at which she just stabbed and twisted the dagger in his heart. Tobin wasn’t completely at fault for Alexander’s death, but he couldn’t prevent it, and blamed himself. He had looked up to Alexander, and his death nearly broke him. I winced at the insult.

“We’re here to retrieve the Eleusinian Stone. We’ll keep it safe, and you’ll never have to see us again,” Tobin growled, surveying the room. “Where did you hide it?”

I looked across the room to a pile of shopping bags, and wondered if maybe it was sitting in one, out in the open where anyone could just waltz in and take it. We need to get Jade and the stone to a more secure area, I thought, and clenched my fists. Somewhere we could defend, if needed, with a locked door and real security measures.

Why the hell did Tobin tell her she would never have to see us again? Dumbass! He knows we would have to stay with Jade, and protect her. Especially now that she knows about us. About The Guard. I wouldn’t mind protecting that hot little body with mine wrapped around her like her fleece blanket. Mmmmmm.

“The what?”Jade asked.

Her gaze followed mine to the shopping bags across the living room. I could tell she had no clue what we were talking about, or at least was good at bluffing. Maybe she didn’t know, or maybe she was playing us. I really hoped it was the former. I didn’t know, but what I did know is that only a searcher could activate the energy beacon of an artifact by touching it. And that was exactly what happened yesterday. If Jade didn’t know what we were talking about, then she might not know she was a Searcher. Maybe Alexander didn’t tell her who he worked for. Maybe he didn’t tell her what he was. Maybe she didn’t know anything.

I turned towards her and studied her face.

“Do you know the story of Persephone and Hades?”

She looked a bit confused at the question.

“Yeah. It’s a Greek myth I think. Persephone was kidnapped by Hades, and tricked into eating something so she couldn’t leave hell. But it's just a myth.”

“Oh, it was more than just a myth. So much more.”

Jade looked at me with disbelief dripping from her eyes. I would have given anything to wipe the disbelief away. I watched her expression play as I continued.

“Persephone’s mother Demeter, the goddess of Harvests, was so upset about losing her only daughter that she mourned, and sent the world into famine. Humans were dying left and right, and the other gods pleaded with Demeter. They gave her gifts to end her sorrow.”

I could tell she was being sucked into the story, even if she wasn’t sure how it pertained to her or her father.

“The four Eleusinian stones were a gift given to Demeter, from Hephaestus, the God of Fire and Forge, in the form of a jewelry set: a ring, a pair of earrings, and a necklace.”

“They were imbued with powerful, old world magic that could open portals. Demeter hoped Persephone could use them to open a portal and escape the underworld. But before Demeter could give the stones to her daughter, they were stolen. Eleusinian Searchers, like your father, have been searching for them ever since.”

I stopped and studied Jade, wondering how she was taking all this. Her expression was hard to read. It appeared like she had zoned out. A beautiful blank face stared back at me. I hoped she could handle everything I told her. It was a lot.

“No one has seen or felt the stones in hundreds of years. That is, until yesterday. Did you find something like that yesterday, Jade?”

“You think I have these stones, and you broke into my apartment for what? To take them from me?” Jade shot up, and planted her hands on her hips.

Tobin leaned forward drawing her attention.

“The door was unlocked, princess. An open invitation to take whatever we want.”

Jade swung her fist at Tobin. Pure hatred fueled her punch. Tobin side-stepped and grabbed her wrist, wrenching it behind her back. Fucking perfect. Couldn’t he just let me sweet talk her a little more?

“Where is it Jade? We’re not playing with you.” He growled in her ear.

“I don’t have anything like that,” she said, struggling in Tobins hold. “I don’t know what you're talking about.” Exasperated she sighed and whispered, “I don’t even know what the Eloo fucking stones look like.”

Jade stumbled when Tobin released her. Sadness replaced her anger, and she crumpled on the couch next to me. I wanted to believe her. To hold her, and sooth the confusion away. The feeling to protect and comfort her overrode my strong desire to make her moan my name. Damn it! She was going to make a fool out of me, and I was going to let her.