MeteorOnAMoonlessNight: Devil Incarnate Chapter Ten

When Bella opened her eyes in the morning, she found she was wrapped up in Edward’s arms. All she wanted with every fiber of her being was to remain in bed with him, to love away the day. To pretend nothing was wrong. The warmth of his skin invited her to touch him, but she settled for kissing his brow.

“Good morning, go hálainn.”

“Morning.” Stretching, she rolled to her back and stared at the white ceiling. “We have to get to breakfast, don’t we?”

“I imagine everyone is eager to get a move on.”

She was eager, but she was certain it wasn’t over meeting with the agency representative again. Sensing Edward’s movement, she chuckled when he suddenly hovered over her prone form.

“If it weren't for all of them, I’d try for a second round of last night’s service.” He leaned down, kissing behind her ear and trailing his lips lower.

“Service?” she repeated on a hitching breath.

“It felt a lot like a hallelujah church service to me.”

That made her giggle, smacking her palms on his naked chest. “You just like it when I sing your praises.”

“Precisely.” Dipping his head, he sucked one rosy nipple into his mouth. She squirmed, trying not to moan. “But we have to meet with everyone.”

As his eyes locked on hers, she saw the uncertainty hiding behind his playful demeanor. He tried to be the strong one, to pretend everything was fine while the world around them burned. She appreciated his efforts, despite wishing he’d break down occasionally the way she did. Then she wouldn't feel so alone in her anxiety.

Touching her hand to his face, she smiled up at him. Jade melted into emerald, and she felt the swiftness of her heartbeat. “I love you and everything you do for me.”

Slanting his mouth over hers, he took her lips in a soft kiss. “Tá mo chroí istigh ionat.”

There wasn't much she enjoyed hearing more than declarations of love in his native language. “Let’s get ready,” she said reluctantly.

Thirty seconds after they sat with plates from the breakfast buffet, Operative James Holden arrived with a man in tow. “O’Byrne, the Cullens. Cullens, this is your new cousin, Kiernan.”

“Have you been waiting outside the hotel for the first signs of us moving around?” Rose asked.

“Of course not.” Holden sat, taking a strip of bacon from Ben’s plate. “Sit, O’Byrne.”

“You’ll have to stop calling me that,” the short redhead said mildly. “It’s Kiernan Cullen now.”

Holden grinned and crunched on the bacon.

“You’ll not blend in as well as you think, mate,” Seamus said. “A certain accent and red hair isn't what it takes to be a Cullen.”

Emmett returned with a plate loaded down with food. “Who’s this scrawny shit?”

“Kiernan Cullen, this is Emmett Cullen; Emmett, this is Kiernan, your cousin.”

“Ah . . . hope you’ve got guns hidden somewhere, ‘cuz you sure don't look buff enough to track down terrorists.”

Kiernan sat back, stretching his arm over Rose’s chair. “Don’t worry, I’m set.”

“You’ll be having that arm set in a cast if you don’t get it the fuck off my chair,” Rose snapped. “You’re pulling my hair.”

Casually, Kiernan rested his arms at his sides, folding his hands in his lap. “I can see it’ll take some time before you trust me. That’s fine, but you better start treating me like family sooner than later.”

Seamus lifted a coffee cup and filled it from the urn on the table. “How much time did they give you to prepare, Agent O’Byrne? It sure as fook don’t seem long enough.”

Kiernan answered, “First, it’s not agent anything. Second, pretend from this second forward that I am just another Cullen from Ireland. The faster you welcome me into the fold, the easier we fool the others.”

“Others aren't watching us right this minute,” Ben argued.

Reaching for Bella’s plate, Holden said, “Au contraire.” He snatched his hand back after she slapped it. Undeterred, he reached back to Ben’s plate.

“The buffet is right there,” Ben snarled. “Stop touching my food.”

“Zion monitors your every move. Don’t you think they saw me follow you into the lab? Then they watched us crash our cars and meet together in a drug house.”

Freezing in place, Rose darted panicked eyes to Emmett.

“Don't worry about the family back at the house. I told you we’re protecting them. Not to mention the ones you left behind to defend the house to begin with.”

Rosalie nodded, but she didn't look mollified. “I trust Jasper to protect my children, but I don't like the idea that you and Zion now watch every move we make.”

“Don't worry, we turn off the audio when you do the boom boom.”

Bella dropped her hands to the table, clattering silverware and juice glasses. “Oh, my God, I hate your guts.”

“I don't care if you love me or hate me. I’m the guy who’s saving your asses, remember?”

“Could you at least pretend to have one ounce of normalcy in that peabrain of yours?”

“Nope.” James sat back, wiping his hands on a cloth napkin. “The point is, we’re working together now. You’ll hear a lot more from me than what you’d apparently like, but Kiernan is now the go-between. He and I will make contact daily, and he’ll relay vital information.”

“I won’t even bother to pretend that means you’ll stop listening in on us,” Rose said with disgust. “How did you bug the hotel before we even got here?”

“Who said anything about bugging the hotel? I have microdrones with magnified audio/visual capabilities. The second you close the curtains, I’m left with sound. Which is why we turn that off when it seems as though you’re having an intimate moment.”

“Such a magnanimous effort,” Seamus muttered. “Too bad there’s no Irish whiskey for this coffee.”

“As much as it pains me to agree,” Edward intervened, “we do have to cooperate.”

Bella had begun to wonder what Edward thought since he’d been silent until that moment. “He has to cooperate too, which means not making crude jokes when we’re focusing on saving the world.”

“We’re not discussing this while we’re sitting in the open at the hotel restaurant.” Kiernan rose, making his way to the buffet.

“Kid’s got a point.”

Brow raised, Edward asked James, “Isn't he about your age?”

“So?”

Edward shook his head. Bella knew she’d be relieved to have Kiernan act as the middleman. She could barely stand the thought of spending another minute in James Holden’s presence.

“So we’re enjoying a family breakfast after being unsuccessful at stealing the bomb, and then we’re going back home with one extra member to lick our wounds?”

Holden looked over at Ben. “Who said anything about the theft being unsuccessful?”

Ben rubbed his temples. “Do you ever speak frankly?”

“Rarely.”

“Are you FedExing it to us? Will it be on the doorstep when we arrive home?” Edward’s snarky tone made Bella smile. “Is it going to drop from one of your microdrones into my garden?”

“It’s resting comfortably in one of your newly fixed SUVs.”

“Isn't that a risky move with Zion watching so closely?” Seamus frowned at Kiernan when he returned with a ton of food.

James answered, “It’s heavily surveilled, promise.”

“The current plan is to head back to your home after breakfast and fill in the rest of the group.” Kiernan poured syrup over his mile-high stack of pancakes. “Then we can decide which one of the lucky low-tier employees gets to go in and steal the bomb back from the Russian terrorists.”

“Okay, first off, it’s a family.” Bella pointed at Kiernan. “We may not all be related by blood, but by God, we’re family. Second, if we are so heavily monitored, why do you keep saying things like that out loud?”

“We have blockers.” Kiernan swallowed his mouthful of food. “They can’t hear this conversation, but they can still see us.”

“Through the windows?” Rose asked.

Ben shook his head. “It’s likely they hacked the security feed.”

“Fook me.”

“See, I have to learn to say things like that,” Kiernan mumbled around his pancakes. “Fook me. I need to sound more like you.”

“There’s nobody else like me,” Seamus retorted, throwing his napkin on the table and rising to stride toward the restrooms.

“This won’t work,” Bella whispered.

Edward rubbed her arm. “Give it time.”

“We don't have time! Time is the one thing they have made abundantly clear we don’t have.”

“Mrs. Cullen, it really will work. I’ve been at this job long enough to know that all you have to do is follow instructions. Let Kiernan do his job, and I’ll do mine.”

“Forgive me if I don't trust Mo and Curly to know their asses from a hole in the ground.”

Heart pounding painfully in her ears, she stood, too, heading for the elevators. Time was running out, and the fate of the world rested on their shoulders. They had what felt like the equivalent of two kids playing Starsky and Hutch helping them stop a terrorist attack. Her vision narrowed as her breathing became sharp.

“Bella.” When she would have expected Edward, it was Rose who stepped up to her.

“I’m sorry, I can’t sit there any longer playing word games with those two. They stuff their faces and make idiotic jokes while we struggle—”

Cutting off anything else she would have said, Rose wrapped her arms around her and squeezed. “Honey, I get it. They’re imbeciles.”

“Fucking frat boys is what they are.”

“Harry and Lloyd.”

Bella snorted. “Dumb and Dumber. Nice.”

Rose sighed. “Look, do I think it’ll be easy? No, but I think it’ll be worth it.”

“And God knows nobody ever promised us this life would be easy.” What Holden had said about Gianna and her arranged marriage came to Bella’s mind. “We’re like lambs for the slaughter.”

“You taught me a long time ago, babe. We’ll rise, and rise again, until lambs become lions.”

Bella wiped her eyes. “Have I ever told you you’re crazy smart?”

“Maybe once or twice.”

“Love you.” Bella hugged Rose again.

“Love you, too, lioness.”

“Is it safe to approach now?” Emmett stood off to the side, hands in his pockets.

“Do you promise to bash their heads together before this mission is over?” Bella asked.

“Um, sure. After we sign on the dotted line for that immunity.”

Rose pulled away. “The man’s got a point.”

“I’d forgotten about the immunity.”

Did that mean the death toll had yet to rise? Would she go back to killer Bella, one-half of Seattle’s unstoppable power couple? Not by choice, she could say that with certainty. The only reason she’d picked up a gun after swearing she never would again was to protect those she loved. Edward feared their judgement for a former life was coming back to haunt them and, in a way, it was.

“Imagine the trouble we can get into with it sanctioned by the CIA.” Emmett rubbed his palms together in anticipation. “It’s been a long-ass time since I’ve blown anything up.”

“You blew up the toilet in the kids’ bathroom just last week.”

Tuning out their ribbing, Bella sought Edward. He would need to know she was okay for the time being. Crisis momentarily averted, or something like that. It was only a matter of time before she’d have another meltdown, she was positive.

“Hey, love.” Edward shoved his chair under the table and rested his chin on her head. “Everything okay?”

“Not by a long shot,” she answered truthfully, snaking her hands under his suit jacket and fisting the back of his shirt. “But it is what it is.”

“I keep hearing it’s okay to not be okay, or some shit like that.”

“I don't enjoy feeling this way.”

The susurrus around them faded when he cupped her face in his hands. “Do you remember when I said this life would turn you into a cold, hard bitch?”

“Is this supposed to be a pep talk?”

One corner of his mouth lifted. “Just answer me.”

“Okay. Yes.”

“And I thought it was a bad thing.” He kissed her forehead. “But I was so wrong.”

“I don't want to be a cold bitch, Edward.”

“No, but you can dial it up when you need it. Treat it like a persona. When you don't enjoy feeling out of control, put on the bitch mask. When you can let go, like at home with me, or alone . . .”

“That’s when I can put her away and be me again.”

“Yes.”

“Well, doesn't that sound fun? I guess you better get used to that side of me.”

“It’s been about seventeen years, but I think I can handle it.”

“Why seventeen years?”

Edward took a measured step away. “Because you have a certain quality about you when you’re pregnant.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Are you saying I was a bitch each time I carried one of our children?”

“It’s a hormonal thing, which I understand.”

“This persona I’m meant to take on, that’s when I’m trying to mask my true feelings? In other words, you want me to be that bitch right now?”

“Not, like, right now.”

She bit her lip in her effort not to grin. It wasn't often she could make Edward sweat. “It’s good for you and your balls that we have to load up.”

He swallowed. “Absolutely, we should go home now.”

Glancing around, she saw Kiernan and James talking by the elevator. Emmett and Rose had gone to retrieve their suitcases. She wasn't sure where Seamus or Ben were. “Maybe we have a minute.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“As much fun as it would be to continue this charade, I don’t have anything in mind.”

“I know.” He waltzed past her toward the lobby.

The man was smooth; she had to give him that. She thought he was worried about her having a screaming fit of rage in front of the others, but it turned out he wasn’t worried at all. “Did you just call my bluff?”

“Yep.”

Shaking her head, she stared at his ass as he walked, hands in his pockets as though he hadn't a care in the world. “Fuck.”