by S. E. Smith
*.*.*
Razor’s mind caught her accusing words even as he moved forward to capture her waist when she turned to climb higher on the bent framing of the sign. His hands wrapped around her, almost touching as he pulled her back against him. He ignored the short, frightened cry she emitted as he wound his arms around her to prevent her from escaping into the darkness.
“Calm,” he murmured in her ear as she struggled against him. “Be still, Kali Parks. I mean you no harm.”
Kali froze in his arms. “Then let me go,” she whispered throatily. “You owe me that. I saved your life. Let me go.”
Razor moaned softly and rubbed his nose along her neck. A low rumble escaped him, surprising him as he caught the faint scent of another male on her. He stroked his nose along her jaw as she tilted her head so she could look up at him.
“Another male has been near you,” he growled in a dark voice. “Who is he to you?”
Kali jerked in surprise and tried to move away from him when he rubbed his nose along her jaw again. A shiver ran through her, startling her. She didn’t know what in the hell he was doing, but it felt… right.
“Let me go,” she demanded.
She turned her face away from him, ashamed that what she really wanted to do was relax back into his arms. She pushed back against him. This wasn’t what she wanted, she told herself fiercely. She had come here to resolve her confusing feelings, not create more.
“Who is he, Kali?” Razor demanded.
“I don’t know what you are talking about!” She snapped.
Kali wiggled against the hot body holding her, trying to work her arms loose from where he had them trapped by her side. She froze when a soft purring suddenly filled the air. If that wasn’t enough to make her realize the potential danger she was in, the feel of a very aroused male pressed against her backside was enough to set off every built-in set of survival alarms that she had cultivated over the past six years.
“Who is he, Kali?” The husky voice asked again.
“I… I… It must be Des… Destin you… smell,” she stammered. “I… I gave him a hug. Or it might be…”
“Who?” He growled in a deep voice that sent shivers racing through her. “Or it might be… who, Kali?”
“Jason,” she choked out as he ran his nose along the side of her neck again. “It could be Jason. He… he grabbed me and…”
Razor spun her around in his arms. His hands wrapped around her wrists even as he pressed her back against the metal upright support. He pulled her arms up above her head, forcing her to look into his glittering eyes.
“And,” he pressed in a low menacing voice.
“He kissed me,” she whispered, staring up into his eyes wondering how they could glow like that. “Did you know your eyes glow when you are mad?”
Razor closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, fighting to calm the primitive rage that swept through him at the thought of another male touching his female. It took a moment for her words to sink in, when they did an unfamiliar sound escaped him - laughter. It started out as a low, rusty sound before turning to a deep, mellow chuckle. He opened his eyes to stare down at her upturned face.
“You do not belong to him,” he stated firmly.
“Who? Jason?” She muttered in surprise. “Of course not! I told you before that…”
Razor leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers. “…even if you did belong to a male, he would not have much say about what you do.”
“You remember that?” She asked in surprise.
“I remember everything about you,” he admitted with a sigh, releasing her arms so he could slide his hands down to her waist. “I do not understand the effect you have on me. No female has ever caused me to feel this way before,” he confessed reluctantly.
“Feel what?” She asked in curiosity before she shook her head fiercely from side to side. “No, don’t answer that! I don’t want to know. I came here tonight because I had a feeling that you would be here. I just wanted to find out if you were watching me and to tell you to stop. I don’t like it. It… it is distracting me, which is dangerous,” she finished in a faint voice. “What are you doing?”
“Mm?” He hummed in a low, distracted voice. “I’m marking you.”
“Marking me!” She squeaked as he ran the bridge of his nose up along her left cheek. “What on Earth for? You aren’t like giving me some weird alien disease thingy, are you? I swear if you are, I’ll chuck your ass over the side of the build…”
Her voice died as his lips brushed against hers. “What is this thing? You did it when you pulled the shard from my leg. I like it,” he murmured, touching his lips against hers again.
Kali pulled back to stare up at him in disbelief before a mischievous glimmer darkened her eyes. She gazed at him for several long seconds trying to decide if he was serious. When she noticed the slight crease between his eyes and his intent gaze, she shook her head in amazement.
“Are you telling me you don’t know what a kiss is?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Of course I do. I studied your language on the way here. A human kiss is when you press your skin to another. It is the same as on our world. We brush against a female to show affection and to mark her,” he growled. “I am marking you as mine, so other males will know my intentions.”
“You know what?” Kali said, tilting her head to the side and staring up at him in amusement. “You may have studied the language, but you don’t have a clue about the meanings.”
“Then tell me,” he demanded.
*.*.*
Razor’s eyes narrowed in frustration as he tried to understand what was going on. Since he first met this human female his mind and body had been acting illogically. He couldn’t focus and just the thought of her lips against his were enough to send his body spiraling out of control.
He hadn’t had to seek relief by his own hand since he was an adolescent. Three times! Three times in the past week since he was healed, he had found the need to relieve the pressure from his loins. He thought seeing her, confronting her, would help him control his raging desires. Instead, he was more perplexed now. His frustration grew when she muttered under her breath before stepping closer to him.
“Oh hell, I have totally lost my frigging mind.” Her softly spoken words echoed in his ears.
He was about to ask her what she meant before he became lost in the rush of heat sweeping through him as she ran her hands over his shoulders and rose on her toes to press her lips firmly against his. His lips parted as she moved her mouth against his at the same time as she touched her tongue to them. The moment he opened for her, she pressed forward winding her arms tightly around his neck.
A deep moan escaped him as she splayed her hands through his short hair and pulled him closer. His arms tightened around her as he pressed her body along the length of his larger form. He needed to get closer to her. He needed to feel her under him. He needed to be in her.
A shudder escaped him when she changed the kiss to a slower more exploratory one. If he thought he understood humans based on the documentation that had been recorded over the past six years, he realized he was sadly misinformed. Nothing she was doing had been in the recordings. Nothing that he was feeling when they touched made sense to him.
He started to protest when she slowly pulled back. His hands slid down to her ass and lifted her up against him. He buried his face in the curve of her neck as she wrapped her legs around him. Taking a step forward, he pressed her back against the metal upright beam again.
Raising his head so he could look into her eyes, he lifted one trembling hand to thread his fingers into her short straight hair. Never before had he felt such an explosive reaction to a female. The primitive feelings of possessiveness, the need to mark, his need to claim her burned like the hottest star inside him.
“You are mine, Kali Parks. I claim you as my Amate,” he growled in a voice laden with desire and need before he captured her lips again.
&nbs
p; Chapter 10
“Let her go,” a low, furious voice snarled from out of the darkness.
Razor stiffened as he partially turned. He kept one arm wrapped protectively around Kali as he glared over his shoulder at the male who stood in the doorway of the roof access. His eyes narrowed on the weapon in the male’s hand. He released a dark growl of warning and flashed his sharp teeth.
“Jason! What are you doing here?” Kali hissed in surprise as she looked over Razor’s shoulder.
“Trying to keep you from making the biggest mistake of your life,” he snapped. He jerked his head at the huge Trivator that still held her. “I told you to let her go.”
“He’s right. You’d better let me go,” Kali whispered with a chagrined sigh. Razor’s head snapped around so fast that she jerked back in surprise, hitting the back of her head on the metal beam. “Ouch! Damn it.”
“Kali,” Jason started to say, taking a step forward.
“Stay back, human,” Razor snarled in a menacing voice. “You are the one who dared touch my female. For that alone I should kill you.”
“Your… who the fuck is this guy, Kali, and what the hell were you doing kissing him?” Jason demanded angrily.
“He’s….” Kali paused as a look of dismay crossed her face. She looked at Razor and grimaced. “What’s your name?” She muttered under her breath.
“You don’t even know his name yet you’re wrapped around him like some bitc….”
Kali stumbled and would have fallen if not for the beam at her back as she was suddenly released. She blinked in surprise several times as she stared at the back of the man she had just been kissing. One second he was holding her in his arms, the next he had Jason by the neck. Jason’s feet dangled almost three inches off the roof. He had one hand wrapped around the wrist of the Trivator warrior while his other hand, the one holding the weapon, was being held in a crushing grip.
It took several seconds for it to dawn on Kali that Jason wasn’t struggling as much as he had been and his eyes were beginning to roll back in his head. She rushed forward and grabbed the arm holding Jason. She turned her head, about to order the male to release Jason but the words died on her lips at the cold, ruthless look in the Trivator’s eyes.
She drew in another breath before forcing the words past her lips. Her eyes went back to Jason’s face even as she pulled fruitlessly on the arm holding him by his neck. She had never seen anyone so strong before. A silent curse flowed through her mind as she realized just how stupid she had been to forget that he was an alien.
“Please,” she whispered, tugging on his arm. “Please, let him go.”
“He touched you. He pressed his lips to yours,” Razor snarled.
“Listen… what is your name?” Kali asked in desperation as Jason’s head fell forward as he lost consciousness. “Please don’t kill him. He’s my friend. We need him. I need him. There aren’t enough of us as it is to defend the northern half of the city. Please, I’m begging you. Please let him go.”
Razor glared down at Kali for a moment before he dropped the male in disgust. He reached down and pulled the weapon from Jason’s limp fingers. Turning, he tossed the gun across the roof where it skittered into the dark shadows. A dark foreign curse, at least that was what it sounded like to Kali, echoed in the air. Strong fingers wrapped around her arm and pulled her away from Jason when she bent to check on him.
“I am Razor. I am the Chancellor for the Alliance’s Defenses and Commander over the Trivator Forces,” he informed her in a cold, furious voice.
Kali jerked away from him in shock and fear. She slowly backed away from him, shaking her head in disbelief. She had heard of him. Talk spread fast around the world thanks to the large number of Ham Radio operators who shared what was going on.
“You…,” she swallowed and stumbled backwards when he took a step toward her. “You ordered Mexico City and that other city destroyed.”
Razor’s eyes glittered as he took another step toward her. Fury built inside him as she stumbled away from him in fear. His nose flared and his mouth tightened when she glanced beyond him to the male lying unconscious behind him. She claimed she had affection for the male. That would end, along with her living in a constant state of danger. It was now his right to care for and protect her. She was his.
“Just as I will order Chicago leveled if the fighting does not stop. I will not allow any more Trivator warriors to be wounded or killed in the battle between your brother and Allen,” he stated ruthlessly.
Shock, then fury, combined with the bitter taste of fear, began to boil inside of Kali as she stared into the cold, ruthless eyes of the male standing in front of her. She swallowed and desperately pulled on the mask she used to hide behind when she was nervous or frightened. She was Destin’s protector, head of his security. She would do whatever she had to do to protect him and their people. She had to warn Destin who was coming.
“When do you plan on sending in the ships to destroy the city?” She asked in a voice that held a slight tremble in it.
“Now that I have you, I will give a twelve hour notification to lay down arms. Your brother and Allen will turn themselves in to the human leader of the area,” he stated, watching her reaction.
“And… and if they… don’t?” She asked in a husky voice.
“Then they and every other human who resists will die,” he replied softly.
“No!” She gasped.
She swayed as the faces of William, Mabel, Mary Clark, little Beth and the thousands of other residents in the northern half of the city that depended on them flashed through her mind. She stumbled over a small pile of rubble as she took another step backwards. She had to warn Destin. He had said something… now that he had her… her troubled eyes cleared. If he didn’t have her, maybe he wouldn’t attack. She shook her head in denial. He would never have her. She would stand by her brother’s side and fight, even if it meant giving her life for those she had sworn to protect.
“I will not allow you to put yourself in danger any longer, Kali. The fighting has gone on long enough. It is time for your world to begin the process of healing. Groups like your brother and Allen must be dealt with. I was brought in by the Alliance and given the authority to do whatever was necessary to end the conflicts so that your world could once again grow and prosper. Enough of my people have been wounded or killed over the past six years. I will not allow that to continue.”
The other alien had warned them that a Trivator warrior named Razor would come and destroy everyone, everything, if they did not lay down their arms. He said he could prevent it if Colbert was given control of the city. The strange light blue alien had made a deal with Colbert, weapons for women, an offer he had made to Destin first. According to many of the refugees who fled the area over the past two years, females fourteen to forty were being rounded up and taken away.
She remembered the sick feeling in her stomach when the male first approached Destin. He had demanded a private meeting with her brother. Her skin had crawled when he had run his gaze up and down her with a licentious appraisal. Destin had agreed, knowing that she would not be far from his side. She had hidden inside a small closet in his makeshift office and listened to the offer the horrid male had proposed. Destin not only turned the male down, he had Jason and Tim escort the male from the north side of the city with the promise that he would kill anyone, human or alien, that tried to harm one female under his protection.
“Leave,” she choked out as she shook her head again and pushed the memories away. “Leave our planet then. Leave us alone. We didn’t ask you to come here. We don’t need you. Your people have caused enough pain and death to us. Just… leave!”
“Your people did ask us to come. The messages were sent long ago, but your people reached out and we answered. It is too late to deny the existence of others outside of your world, Kali. Most of the death and destruction to your planet was caused by your species. Humans are in danger of dying out as a species if preventive measure
s are not immediately taken. Your people need the Alliance if you are to survive,” he added cruelly.
Kali’s hand went to her stomach as it rolled. She knew all about the talks of global warming before the Trivators came. She knew that the climate of the world was rapidly changing. She couldn’t do anything about that, but this… this was something that she could fight against.
I have to stop him somehow, she thought in despair. I can’t let him destroy everything I know and love!
She had to warn Destin! Pivoting on her heel, she refused to think of anything else but escaping back to her brother. She let instinct guide her when she heard the menacing snarl echo behind her as she darted for the edge of the building. She might not have a fancy transport like him to fly over the city, but she wasn’t above creating her own wings.
She felt her muscles tighten as she neared the edge. She sent a small prayer of thanks that her eyes were adjusted to the darkness. She jumped, stretching out for the tangle of metal cable hanging like ghostly vines in the night. The palms of her hands burned and she could feel the skin tear on the steely threads, but she ignored the pain as she let the momentum carry her across to the roof of the building next to the former Harrison Hotel.
A cry of frustration escaped her when she realized that she would not make it. The distance was too far for her to try to safely land. She twisted her body as the pendulum of momentum shifted and she found herself swinging back toward the building she was trying to escape.
She blinked as the dark shadow of a window caught her attention. She twisted as she made contact with the frame. A small scream of pain tore from her throat as a jagged piece of glass cut a long path along her shoulder before she released the metal cable and crashed to the hard floor of a former hotel room.
