I ignored the bait, retreating to the bathroom. In the mirror, the reflection staring back at me was a stranger. This wasn’t me, who I was. For the first time in my life, after becoming a mercenary, I didn’t have the urge to kill someone.
Chapter 3
Ryker
It’s been a week since I’ve been stalking… Did I say stalking? I meant… observing Lily. Tonight is an unseasonably cold night for Vancouver as I turn my ball cap backwards on my head, tugging it down to cover the back of my neck. Pulling the monocular from my belt, I steady my arms on the branch in front of me and peer through the glass. Having my night vision goggles would have been a thousand times easier, seeing how it was pitch dark, but the woman in 5a in the apartment building behind me had spotted me while looking through her telescope. She would have freaked if I had the goggles on. As it was, any minute now I was expecting the sound of sirens to pierce the night.
If that happened, combined with me almost blowing my cover a week ago at the coffee shop and again at the shelter, Royal would have my ass. He still doesn’t know I used his name instead of mine while introducing myself to her, and I think I’ll keep it that way.
But if he knew that I am currently perched in a maple tree at 2 AM, watching her apartment like some creep, he would shoot me himself. But I can’t help myself. Something about thisassignment feels off. When Declan said to "keep an eye on the kindergarten teacher," he didn’t say why. And my brother took it at face value. Sitting outside her building twice a day, note her comings and goings, standard procedure. I, on the other hand, am watching for someone to attack her. But that’s not the only reason.
She’s easy on the eyes and for some fucking reason I can't stop watching her.
The light in her bedroom flicks on, and I adjust the monocular’s focus. There she is. Her long blonde hair cascades over her shoulders as she moves about her apartment in flannel pajamas. She looks nothing like a person who needs round-the-clock surveillance. Just a normal woman who spends her days teaching five-year-olds their ABCs and finger painting.
Yet here I am, freezing my ass off in a maple tree, right outside her window for the third night in a row.
"Goddammit," I mutter as my phone vibrates. I wrap my arm around the tree limb and pull it from my pocket. Royal's name flashes on the screen.
"Where the hell are you?" he hisses when I answer.
"Working."
"You’re in that tree again, aren’t you? Jesus, Ryker, this isn't what MacGallan meant by keeping an eye on her."
I ignore him, focusing instead on Lily as she pads across the floor towards the kitchen.
"She's just a kindergarten teacher," Royal continues. "We're supposed to be keeping an eye out, not stalking. Get the fuck out of that tree before someone calls the cops."
"There's something about her," I insist, keeping my voice low. "Why would Declan want us watching a kindergarten teacher in the first place? Did he fill you in without you telling me?"
A sigh crackles through the phone. "No. If he wanted us to know, he would have told us. Our job is to follow orders without going overboard."
“This isn’t overboard. It’s efficient,” I mutter.
As if on cue, she turns to look out the window at the tree I’m currently perched in, and I swear she sees me. But it’s impossible, I’m dressed in black and in the heart of the tree.
“She’s up late,” I whisper, a hint of concern in my voice.
“Are you even fucking listening to me? Get the hell out of the tree and back to the hotel. We have trail cams up for a reason.”
She’s peering out the window now, and I hold still as can be. But then I have a brilliant thought and start hooting like an owl.
"Hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo," I call softly, trying to sound as owl-like as possible.
"Did you just... Are you making fucking bird noises?" Royal's voice cuts through the phone.
I quickly mute the call and continue my pathetic owl impression. Lily tilts her head, and for a moment, I think my brilliant plan might actually work. Then she reaches for something on her windowsill. Binoculars.
Shit.
She raises them to her eyes and scans the tree methodically. I press myself against the trunk, bark digging into my backthrough my jacket. My phone buzzes with angry texts from Royal, the screen lighting up like a beacon in the darkness.
"I know you're out there," Lily calls out, her voice carrying across the courtyard. "And you're a terrible owl."
Double shit.
She's still holding the binoculars, sweeping them back and forth across the maple's branches. "I've been watching you watch me for three nights now. It’s you, Royal, isn’t it?”