Whispers of the Diamond: A Romance of Memory and Desire

Chapter 17 - Alex

My heart raced against my chest; I could feel it hammering against my ribs. The twitch of my cock sent those last drops deep into Terra's pussy. Her head rested on my shoulder, her body shuddering from the force of her orgasm. We both came hard, and in that moment, I knew I needed her back at my side. I'd do whatever I had to to make that happen now.

I kissed the top of her head, gently trailing my nails down her back. My body pressed tightly into hers as we came down from our collective orgasm.

"What now?" she asked.

"What do you want?" I replied softly, the emotion clear in my voice as I kept her close.

"I want us, but that's not possible while you're on their side, Alex. They're monsters," she said. I could hear the pain in her voice. The truth was, I no longer cared; being a Hunter was pointless without love.

She was right; we couldn't be together, but all that mattered now to me was her, and I'd do whatever was needed to protect her. I sighed and nodded.

"You should go," I said softly as we began to get dressed. I was going to let her run, and she knew it. The truth was, I hadn't intended to capture her; I wanted this moment. I needed to see if that feeling was still there—it was. Now I would do what was right by her. She'd been at the centre of who I was from the moment we'd met.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked softly.

I bit back the wave of emotion that tore at me and smiled. Fake it till you make it—that was my golden rule in this world: act okay even when you're falling apart so badly that it's almost impossible to get up again. But I did. I got up and did what was needed.

"I'll be fine, so make it look good." I'd barely finished when her foot connected with my jaw, sending me back into the door with so much force it actually caught me off guard. Even in the confined space, Terra moved with grace, turning to drive her body into me, opening the door and spilling us onto the concrete. With a well-practiced roll, she was on her feet. I crawled forward and grabbed the frame of the car to drag myself up. Probably a bad idea, as Terra caught the back of my head and slammed me into the car. The world went black after that.

"Sir!" A voice echoed from what felt like a thousand miles away. I could feel something; my head was killing me as I slowly began to regain consciousness. "Sir!" Something was shaking me. My hand snapped up and forced it away.

"Get off me!" I growled as the fuzzy outline of a soldier came into view. I groaned and raised my hand to the lump on my head. Fuck, she was good—convincing, for sure.

"I'm sorry, Sir. Are you okay?" the soldier asked.

"Report!" I snapped, deflecting the question. I was far from okay. The woman I loved had done exactly what she asked, and I was a little pissed about that fact. She had a way of causing conflict I didn't even know I had.

"Sir! The building is secure. All hostiles have been neutralised or fled the scene. Explosives are being removed, sir."

Right. I reached into my pocket and handed him the detonator. I wouldn't want to accidentally trigger them. Terra's plan to ensure focus remained on them had worked. We had intervened and stopped them from destroying the place. As a result, the focus would stay on the resistance and not the general populace. That heart of hers was, in truth, amazing; she had always cared about people, which worked because I only cared for her.

As my brain began to clear, the thud in my skill did not. Perhaps making it look convincing was a bad idea, after all. I rubbed the lump and immediately regretted my choices.

"We have a medic, sir," the soldier stated. Of course, I waved him off. I wasn't about to risk them figuring out that I let her go; a lack of defensive wounds would be a dead giveaway that I didn't bother to fight.

"I'm fine. She attacked from behind, and I collided with the car," I shrugged. It was a bit of truth. And it was easier telling a lie based on truth than a lie that was just a lie. No doubt Abigail would take strips off me for letting her evade me again. She might grow wise to my tactics, but none of that mattered for now, Terra was safe.

"Finish securing the area, and send a full damage report to North. Let's try to clean this up quickly," I stated before limping into my car. My head was pounding with anger as I started the vehicle.

"Yes, Sir!" snapped the soldier in response before heading off. I finally pulled away, heading for London North. I needed a new plan to make it at least look like I was doing my job.

As I climbed from the car, Abigail was waiting.

"Well done, Alexander," she said. I hated the formality, but I suspected she was just messing with me. She kept me off balance, so I never knew if she was pleased with me or angry.

"We were lucky," I replied.

"More theirs than ours, I'd say you did your job well," she stated in reply. I didn't really care for these pleasantries, but unfortunately, I had no choice. She was, after all, my handler and that made her my boss.

"We should figure out who is talking to them," I replied quickly now trying to divert her attention from my lack of a plus one int he car.

We walked through the building and into the offices. As I sat on the edge of the desk, we began to pour through personnel files and various communication logs. This was going to be a long and slow process, but I had to protect Terra, especially with the kill order on her now.