Stalking His Assassin

Chapter 11

eleven

GRACE

I can practically hear the seconds tick down to when I must leave. After Christos spanked me, made me confess my feelings, and then fucked me to within an inch of my life, he carried me into the bathroom and ran us a bath. I should be focused on my job, but I can only think about what happens when I leave and Christos is free to go.

I hate that I’m so insecure. I’ve never felt insecure like this before. It’s uncomfortable, and I hate it. I guess that’s part of loving someone so damn much. Christos has the power to crush me in a way I don’t think I’d ever recover from. Losing Harper would break my heart because she’s the sister I never had… the family I didn’t realize I needed, but I would survive. I’d be sad, and there’d be a hole in my heart, but I could keep going.

If I lose Christos?

It would ruin me. I wouldn’t just have a hole in my heart; there would be a void in my chest where my heart once lived. My soul would shrivel to nothing. My will to live would cease. I can’t even think about what I would do without him. I can imagine any number of ways I would go about ending my misery.

“I’ve decided on a solution to our problem,” Christos says, breaking through my morose thoughts.

“What’s that?”

“I come with you. I don’t like the thought of you leaving me behind while you rush off into danger, and you don’t like the unknown about whether I’ll still be here when you return. This solves both issues.”

I roll his words around in my head for a moment. My first instinct is anger that he’s insinuating I can’t do my job properly when I’ve more than proven myself to be the best over the years. The other part sounds reasonable. If he’s with me, I can keep an eye on him, and if he tries to run, I can sedate him and lock him up again until he changes his mind about leaving.

“I don’t need a keeper.”

“Didn’t say that you did, love. I know you’re capable. You’re the Ghost. The assassin that other assassins fear. You’re their boogeyman. I merely want to watch your back. Support you. Be there if some asshole stabs you,” he growls the last bit, not hiding his anger at my being hurt.

“I’ve never worked with anyone before,” I admit.

“Me either, but I want us to be partners in all things. You’re mine, and I’m yours.”

“Okay… We can be partners, but I’m in charge.”

He chuckles. “Of course. Eris can be the badass that bosses her Hades around if I get to be in charge at other times.”

He dips his fingers between my legs, teasing a finger along my slit. “I can agree to that.”

“Good girl,” he growls, sending a shiver of excitement through me.

He spends the next hour showing me what a good girl I am and it’s perfect.

“You don’t need to come inside with me,” I argue.

Christos was supposed to wait at the hotel but didn’t like that he would be miles away from where I would be. I agreed that he could watch from where I’m surveilling the building, but now that it’s time for me to go in, he’s decided he needs to come with me. Probably has something to do with the ten guards patrolling the parameters of the property and the six people I’ve been able to count with infrared on the inside.

“Let me help,” he says, almost pleading.

I blow out a breath. “This wasn’t the plan.”

He pulls me against his strong body and kisses me breathless. “Maybe not, but we’re partners now. You don’t have to do it all alone anymore.”

I lick my lips and nod in agreement. Harper would one hundred percent tell me I’ve been dickmatized. I never understood what that meant until now. Apparently, a bunch of earth-shattering orgasms is enough to have me relenting on everything I said I wouldn’t budge on.

“Good girl. Now let’s go fuck some shit up,” he says with a feral grin. A grin that tells me that Hades has come out to play.

“Quietly fuck shit up, please. I’m still the Ghost, and this is my job.”

“As long as I get to be messy when it’s my turn.”

I press a quick kiss to his lips before pulling my mask down over my face. “Whatever you want. Hades has his own reputation to uphold.”

He playfully spanks my ass as I walk away. Assassin work isn’t going to be the same going forward, that’s for sure.

True to his word, Hades moves silently as we take out the guards one by one. I quickly disable the security system—one of Shield’s high-end systems.

“That’s handy,” Hades whispers.

I shrug. Tech is a specialty of mine. I guess it’s one thing to know that in theory and another to see how quickly I can disable something that should be next to impenetrable.

The door swings open on quiet hinges. The entryway is dark and empty. I can hear male laughter coming from the back of the house. We silently make our way towards the voices. Halfway down the hallway, a toilet flushes, and a big man exits the bathroom. His eyes widen at the sight of me. Before he can make a sound, my knife is buried in the side of his neck, his blood coating my gloved hand.

I use the momentum of his jerking away from my blade to push him back into the bathroom. I pull my knife free with a twist of the handle. Blood burbles from the man’s mouth as he takes his final breath. Only seconds have passed when I shut his cooling body in the bathroom.

Hades is two steps behind me, eyes alert for danger. I feel security and warmth, knowing he’s got my back. It’s weird, but not unwelcome. I wouldn’t trust anyone else to have my back. With that thought, my fear of Christos walking away from me eases some. His being here tells me more than any words ever could about his intentions.

We make quick work of the rest of the men on the bottom level. Two more upstairs, and one of those is my mark; the other is likely a girlfriend or prostitute. It’s dark in the bedroom, but the moonlight is bright enough to see the two bodies in bed, one much smaller than the other. I make my way to the side of the bed where my mark is lying sprawled on his back naked.

I want to cringe away from his embarrassingly small dick. Touching him in any way makes me feel dirty. Hades is looming over the woman in case she causes a problem. I don’t plan to wake her up. She’s innocent as far as I’m concerned. Wrong choice of bedmates, but innocent to his crimes. She looks sweet, and briefly, I wonder how she got wrapped up with a man like him. I’m honestly hopeful that she’s an escort and that he’s just a job for her. I feel a slight pang of guilt that she’s going to have a dreadful morning when she wakes up to a dead body.

I push that guilt away because it has no room in my head. Eris is unfeeling and does the job without prejudice. I make quick work of slitting his throat. His eyes shoot open, and he clutches at his neck, but it’s over in moments. It’s a quiet and almost disappointing end for someone who deserved a much more painful death.

We retrace our steps through the house and out the door, pausing only to remove our masks and tuck our weapons away. We’re dressed in head-to-toe black, so even though I can feel the stickiness of drying blood on my clothes, it’s not visible to the naked eye. Hades pulls me in for a kiss, then throws his arm over my shoulders.

“Eight minutes,” I murmur.

“What’s that?”

“It took eight minutes to complete the job. I planned for twelve.”

He smirks down at me. “Two assassins are faster than one, little wolf.”

“You weren’t a distraction.”

He chuckles. “Did you expect me to be?”

“Yes,” I say frankly.

“I told you I’d be a good partner. We’re a team. We’re better together.”

“It was rather nice having someone watching my back. Even if I was worried about you getting hurt.” I frown at the thought. Working together was nice in many ways, but it opened up the worry that he would get hurt on my watch.

“I’ve been doing this longer than you have, love. You may be the great Eris… the mysterious, untouchable Ghost, but I’m Hades and can take care of myself… and you.”

“You’re right. It’s just weird to worry about someone else. Being responsible for someone’s safety during a job is different. I’ll get used to it.”

He kisses the top of my head. “It’s going to be great. Us working together as Hades and Eris will make an unstoppable pair. Now let’s get back to the hotel and wash this blood off so I can lick your sweet pussy.”

My core clenches in excitement as the adrenaline from the job transforms into desire. I pick up the pace towards where we left our vehicle.

“In a hurry, love?”

“Absolutely.”

He laughs at my enthusiasm. Before I know what’s happening, he has me over his shoulder, and his longer strides are eating up the space between us and the car. I should probably protest because Eris shouldn’t allow such indignity, but all I can think of is how much faster I’ll have his mouth on me because of his long legs.

Yep, totally not complaining about being hauled around like a sack of potatoes. Even badass assassins know when to let their man carry them off like a caveman at the promise of a good pussy licking.