by Anna Argent
The urge to rush after her and reassure her pounded on him, but he knew better. If he got anywhere near a bed with her right now, he’d have her naked again in seconds. Only this time he’d take her so that he could look into her eyes when he made her come.
His cock twitched at the idea, urging him to pursue this line of action.
He shut it down hard and fast. What he’d shared with Zoe was the last time. No more. It was over.
It had to be, for his sake as much as hers.
Chapter Twenty-six
Zoe slept. In her dreams, she and Talan were together, living in a little cottage in a meadow filled with wildflowers. There was no war, no fear, no death. Only the two of them living together in love.
She didn’t know him well enough to fall in love with him, but apparently her subconscious had other ideas.
There was no cottage for her and Talan. No meadow, no wildflowers. They both had jobs to do that would keep them worlds apart. Even if she did let herself fall for him, it wouldn’t matter.
Love didn’t change reality. It didn’t make people’s problems miraculously disappear, and it didn’t bring anyone back from the dead. Love was simply something that made the inevitability of death harder.
Zoe wasn’t interested.
She shoved the blankets off and went to the door. As her hand grasped the handle, she remembered that Talan wanted her to stay here until he came for her.
So what if he did? He wasn’t her father. He didn’t get to ground her to her room. She was a fully-grown woman who made her own decisions.
And just to prove it, she opened the door with a flourish and went to find him.
He was peeking out through the curtains, watching outside. As soon as he heard her approach, he let the curtain fall back in place. “It’s not time to leave yet. You were supposed to be resting.”
“I slept as long as I’m going to. It’s time to get back to work.”
He stared at her for so long she started to squirm.
“Next time I’ll tie you up,” he said.
She wasn’t sure if he meant the next time he fucked her or the next time he told her to sleep. And while her curiosity screamed at her to ask the question, she was afraid of the answer and how much she might enjoy it.
She still remembered what it was like to let go and let him take the wheel—put her brain in park for a while and simply feel. It wasn’t something she was usually able to accomplish.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
“I could use a little coffee, but I’m good to go. Anything happen while I was asleep?”
He lifted the edge of the curtain again to peer outside. “Radek has been gone a long time.”
“You’re worried about him,” she realized.
“He’s perfectly capable of taking care of himself,” he said, though his tone begged to differ.
“Why don’t you call him?”
“And let him know I worry? I don’t think so. He’d never let me live it down.”
“You worry about everyone, don’t you?” she asked.
He looked at her, his pale green eyes filled with indignation. “It’s my job to worry about people.”
She crossed to him because there was no other choice. She couldn’t stand to think that she’d hurt his feelings. She put her hand on his arm. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way. It’s good that you look after the people you’re hired to find.”
His full mouth flattened as if he was about to say something and stopped himself. Instead, he turned back to the window and said, “We can’t stay here long. If Radek isn’t back soon, we’ll have to leave without him.”
Zoe lifted the curtain to see what was holding his attention so completely.
There wasn’t much out here. Plenty of snow and pastures. There were two houses within sight, but they were so distant all she could see was the dim glow of the safety lights coming on as darkness fell.
The beacon to end all fun.
That was it.
She swayed on her feet as the answer to the riddle hit her. Talan grabbed her by the arms and settled her in a nearby chair.
“What is it?” he asked, his face pinched with worry. “What did you see?”
“The beacon to end all fun.”
“What?”
“The streetlights. Whenever the street lights came on, I was supposed to be home or I got in trouble.”
He shook his tattooed head and rubbed her arms like she had experienced some kind of nervous breakdown. “I still don’t understand.”
“I’d be out playing with my friends when I was little. Dad told me that the fun was over when the lights came on—it was time to go home. The streetlights are the beacons to end all fun.”
A feeling of euphoria set in as she realized she’d finally solved the riddle—something only her and her father would have known. He was so clever making sure that no one else could figure out where he’d hidden his precious treasure.
“Okay, Zoe. I’m sure you’re right, but how does that help us?” Talan asked. “There are millions of streetlights in the world.”
“But only one on my father’s property. There’s an easement that runs across the back of the lot for electrical lines. The neighborhood paid to have lights put up along the alley back there so it wasn’t so dark. One of the poles is on the corner of the property, right outside of the fence line. I remember because Dad threw a fit when the electric company wanted to tear down his fence to do some work. He fought it and won. His fence was six inches away from the easement boundaries.”
“You think he buried the other half of the sphere under the streetlight pole?”
“More likely he hid it just beside the pole, where the light spills over the fence. That’s what I would have done. I bet if we go look, we’ll see some kind of marker he left behind—something unobtrusive.”
Talan nodded and reached for his phone. “I’ll call Radek. You gather your things. I’m taking you home.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
The whole trip back to Zoe’s house, Talan was hoping there were no enemies waiting for them. Not only would that put her in danger, it was also going to be incredibly hard to wage war when there were neighbors only a few yards away in all directions.
Then again, maybe that had been her father’s plan—stay in a populated area, hoping the Raide wouldn’t be brave enough to battle in public until they’d decided that Earth was ready for invasion.
That plan might have worked for a while, protecting Zoe while she grew up, but Krotian had recently proven that he no longer cared if humans saw his war slaves in public. There was no more protection in populated areas.
He approached her house slowly, searching for the hulking size of Dregorgs trying to hide, or the insectoid shape of a Cytur’s body. There were none in sight, but that didn’t mean they weren’t nearby. It was too dark to be sure—too many shadowy places where an enemy could hide.
There were several cars parked on the quiet street as there was before. A few houses down, a human sat behind the wheel, talking on his cell phone. He didn’t so much as glance at them—simply went on with his conversation.
“I’ll park in the alley behind the house,” Talan told her.
“There’s no way in back there. No gate, and the wooden fence is too tall to climb. Besides, if one of my neighbors see us scaling the fence, they’re going to call the police.”
“We certainly don’t want that attention.”
“Just pull in the driveway like a normal person,” she said. “Nothing to see here—just me coming home with a friend.”
While slinking around might draw more attention than he wanted, it was certainly a far more comfortable approach than simply walking out in the open where anyone could see them. “If that’s the way we’re going to play it, then we need to hurry in there like we can’t wait to get naked. I don’t want you vulnerable for a single second longer than necessary.”
He parked in the driveway.
She unbuckled her seatbelt and practica
lly crawled into his lap, giving him a hot, wet kiss filled with enough sexual need to make his cock stand up and beg. He returned the kiss without thought or worry. When her mouth was on his, the whole world dimmed and became uninteresting. Only her kiss mattered.
How the hell was he ever going to live without it?
Before she could make him completely forget where he was and that danger was all around, he held her head still so he could pull away. “We can’t. Not now.”
Her pupils were huge, and a pink flush of arousal had swept over her cheeks. “Just trying to sell the whole can’t-wait-to-get-in-the-house-and-get-naked plan.”
“You don’t have to sell a thing. Any man with a pulse would know why I’m in a hurry to get you alone.”
She smiled at that before slipping out of the truck, but the grin was far from friendly. It promised paradise. It made him wish he could wave his hand and change reality so she could stay in his life.
The two of them were good together. They deserved a chance to see where their feelings might lead.
Before he had time to recover from the fantasy and get out of the truck, the man who’d been talking on his cell phone approached Zoe.
“Are you Zoe Last?” he asked.
Talan rushed to her side, pulling a pair of sheengs from his vest as he went.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“I’m Officer Stevens. I’ve been sent to find you.” He flashed a badge that appeared official.
“Why?” she asked.
The cop eyed Talan and his tattoos, sizing him up in a heartbeat. It was clear from the look on his face that he’d placed Talan firmly in the THUG column.
“Can we speak inside. Privately?”
“No,” she answered too quickly. “I don’t think so.”
“We had a report from the bank today. The manager believed that you were there under duress.” Again the officer shot a pointed look at Talan. “I think you should come with me so we can clear up any misunderstandings.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Talan shifted a half-step closer to her. “He thinks that I made you go to the bank and take money out of your safe deposit box. He probably also thinks I’m holding you hostage. That’s why he wants to get you alone so that you can get away from me.”
She looked at Talan like he was telling some kind of joke. Then she gave Officer Stevens her full attention. “Really? You think he’s holding me against my will?”
“Is he?” asked Stevens, splitting his attention between the two of them.
“That’s ridiculous,” she answered.
“We have video of him forcibly escorting you from the bank. You were crying. There were reports that a second man drove you both away, breaking several traffic laws to get out of the area.”
Talan tensed. He didn’t know what else the officer had been told, or if any of the bystanders had seen the Dregorgs and Cyturs that had been on their trail as they fled the bank.
Zoe crossed her arms over her chest. “I was crying because my dead father left me a gift in that bank box. My boyfriend here took me there so I didn’t have to go alone.”
“And the man behind the wheel?”
“He’s our friend,” she said. “He does have a bit of a lead foot, but there’s nothing nefarious going on here. I promise.”
The officer didn’t seem to buy it. “I’d feel a lot better about the whole thing if you’d both come with me. It’s hard to believe anything you say with him standing beside you, glowering.”
“He’s not glowering,” Zoe said. “That’s just the way he looks.”
Talan could see that this man was about to escalate things, and they really didn’t have that kind of time. “She told you the truth. We’ve both had a long day, and I’d really like to get her into bed.”
“I bet you would,” Officer Stevens said.
Zoe turned to Talan. “Go on inside. Maybe if you’re not standing right here, he’ll believe me.”
He didn’t want to leave her alone—not when it was far too easy for Krotian to manipulate humans to do his bidding. “Remember Reece coming into your shop?”
She nodded. “I’ll be careful.”
Talan didn’t see how he had much choice. His options were to either let this man do his job, knock him out, or kill him. With neighbors so close, and with the possibility of more police arriving to interfere in their hunt for the other half of the sphere, it was best to give the officer what he wanted so he’d leave them alone.
He squeezed her hand. “I’ll be right inside if you need me.”
Talan didn’t even shut the door. Instead he stood just inside the threshold, door open, so nothing was in his way in case he needed to take action. He had no intention of hurting this human, but if he made a move to take her away, Talan had no choice but to stop him.
To that end, he slid a small dart from his vest. It was laced with a powerful drug that caused the victim to fall unconscious instantaneously. While using alien drugs here was risky, it was a far better option than killing the man.
Talan watched her speak to the officer for a minute or two. He kept motioning toward his vehicle as if trying to convince her to leave, but she continued to shake her head. Finally, Stevens let out a heavy sigh and shrugged. He looked both ways as he crossed the street to go back to his car.
Zoe hurried toward the house, looking over her shoulder as she went. As soon as she saw the cop was out of earshot, she said, “Something isn’t right here.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t think he was a cop.”
Talan dragged her in and shut the door. “Why do you say that?”
“No gun. No pepper spray. No radio. No patrol car.”
“But he had a badge.”
“Which he flashed for all of a quarter-second.”
Talan peered outside, but the car was already gone. He could see the red glow of taillights at the stop sign, but the man was on his way out.
From the corner of his eye he saw Zoe take two steps and stop dead in her tracks.
He armed himself as he turned to face the threat, but there was no one there. He did, however, see what had stopped her cold.
Outside everything appeared normal, but inside her house had been destroyed.
*****
Stevens dialed the number the freak had given him.
“Yes,” answered the man who wasn’t really a man. He was something else—something Stevens didn’t want to think about too closely.
“She’s home. A tattooed man was with her.”
“Did they recognize you from the bank?”
“No. I told them I was a cop.” He was a security guard, but the badge looked real enough that they’d bought the lie.
“Is she with you?”
“No. She wouldn’t budge. And I think if she had, the dude with her would have tried to take me down.”
The line was quiet for long enough that Stevens’ hair started to lift on end. The freak had a way of inflicting pain that was unimaginable. Inhuman.
Then again, that was appropriate, all things considered.
“What did you find in her home?”
“Nothing like what you said. There were lots of mechanical parts in one room, but none of them were round like a ball.”
“I want you to stay there and call me when they leave.”
“You said that if I did this, you’d pay me.”
“And I will. Stay where you are. I’m on my way to do just that.”
Chapter Twenty-eight
Zoe’s shock was the only thing that kept her upright. As soon as she realized that she wasn’t in some kind of nightmare—that she was seeing the remains of what had once been her home—all her strength failed her.
Talan grabbed her around her waist and eased her to the floor.
The devastation was unimaginable, like some kind of bomb had gone off in her living room.
The furniture was slashed. Every drawer was dumped out. Every boo
k had been searched and cast aside in a pile or ripped pages and bent covers. Even the walls had been torn open.
“What happened?” she found enough air to ask.
“Someone was searching for the sphere. Thoroughly.”
“My home… it’s ruined.”
Talan’s face appeared close to hers, blocking out the sight of the devastation. “It’s going to be okay. You’re safe. The device is safe. All the rest of this is just stuff.”
But it was her stuff. Her father’s stuff. She was just starting to accept the fact that she would never see her home again once she left this world, but to see it like this… “I can’t.”
He took the sides of her face in his big hands and used his thumbs to close her eyes. “Don’t look at it. Remember the way it used to look. That’s the memory you need to take with you.”
She tried to recall the controlled chaos that had reigned here—the stacks of books, the old but comfortable furniture. Her dad’s art.
“Are the murals safe?” Zoe asked.
“Yes,” said Talan without hesitation. “They’re all untouched. Just like you remember them.”
He was lying. She could tell. But he was doing it to save her pain.
As much of that as she’d suffered lately, she had to thank him for the deception.
“We can’t stay here long. Krotian must know this is your house. He could come back, and we need to find the other half of the sphere before that happens.”
She nodded, but not enough to dislodge his thumbs. She really didn’t want to see the damage again.
“Keep your eyes closed. I’ll get you through the house and into the backyard where we can search under the streetlight, okay?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t look, honey. Promise me.”
“I promise.” She squeezed her eyelids shut as he lifted her into his arms and marched straight through the house to the back door in the kitchen. She heard the crunch of broken glass and trash under his feet, so she hummed to herself to ward that away too.
Her weight shifted as he unlocked the back door, then she felt the chill of the night air hit her cheeks. The scent of raised dust and destruction was gone. All she could smell now was snow and the heat of Talan’s skin.
