by Lynsay Sands
“So you’re saying the nanos would flee from the needle like fish would flee a net or a hole in a dam?” Holly asked slowly. When he nodded, she said, “And opening the floodgates is like biting into your wrist?”
He nodded again.
“What about slicing your wrist open?”
“That would work, but only if the wound is deep and severs the vein entirely. Otherwise the nanos would repair and stop the bleeding too quickly.”
“We’re here.”
Holly glanced forward at that announcement and noted that they were at a California Pizza Kitchen. That was when her stomach gave a loud rumble. It seemed she was hungry after all, Holly acknowledged with a grimace and reached for the door handle.
She was halfway across the parking lot, Decker and Anders on either side of her, and Justin behind when she suddenly came to an abrupt halt. “Wait a minute!”
All three men stopped, concern on their faces. At least they all three looked concerned for all of a heartbeat and then Decker and Anders relaxed. She guessed they’d read her thoughts. Of course, Justin couldn’t and it was him she turned to, to say, “Gia said she was eight hundred, and you guys are over one hundred, two hundred and six hundred. Right?”
“Yeah,” Justin nodded with confusion, unsure where this was leading.
“Well, there is no way this kind of technology was around eight hundred or even one hundred years ago. Just no way,” Holly said with certainty.
Justin relaxed and smiled faintly as he agreed, “No, it definitely wasn’t around eight hundred or even one hundred years ago.”
“Then . . . oh, hell,” she breathed suddenly, taking a step back from them before accusing, “You’re aliens, aren’t you?”
Justin blinked. “What?”
“That’s the only explanation,” she said with certainty. “You’re aliens from another planet.”
“No, we’re not from another planet,” Justin assured her, and then glanced nervously around at the passing people coming and going from the restaurant. Holly hadn’t been whispering. If anything, she was speaking in a louder than normal voice.
“Yes, you are,” she exclaimed, sure she was right.
Justin winced. “Holly, honey, you maybe want to keep your voice down. We’re in public and—”
“You’re from a more advanced planet,” she accused. “And you crash-landed here or came here to study us and— Cripes, we’re like cows to you!”
“Honey,” he began, and then glanced to Decker and Anders. “A little help here guys?”
“Nah,” Decker said with amusement. “This is too interesting.”
Anders nodded. “I want to hear more of her theories.”
“I want to see how he explains away her theories,” Decker countered.
“You’re going to farm us,” Holly accused. “You’re going to get the extra blood you need for your people by using us as cows and milking us by the millions. You’ll lock us up on farms and bleed us daily.”
Justin cringed. Her voice was getting louder with every word and they were definitely garnering attention. “Holly, honey. You need to calm down. We aren’t aliens. Our ancestors come from Atlantis, not space.”
“Atlantis?” She stared at him as if he was crazy.
“Yes. Surely you’ve heard of it?” He barely waited for her to nod before rushing on, “Well, it did exist, and as the myths claim, it was much more evolved scientifically than the rest of the planet and that is where the nanos were developed. They were created as a medical aid, to help cure the sick or seriously injured. And when Atlantis fell, the only survivors were those who had been treated with nanos.”
He paused briefly to see how she was taking this. Noting the frown on her face and uncertainty, he added, “We aren’t going to hurt you, Holly. I made you one of us, remember, honey? I saved your life. I’m the good guy.”
She frowned harder at those words, which was at least better than the screeching she’d been doing a minute ago, he thought, and then Holly asked, “Why did you save my life?”
“What?” Justin asked, caught by surprise.
“In the hotel you said something about turning me because I was your life mate or something. What is that?”
Justin hesitated, his gaze sliding to Decker and Anders. There was no help there, of course, the two men were watching the entire exchange with amused interest and offering little assistance. Scowling at them for it, he turned back to Holly. “Do you think we could take this conversation inside? I really would rather not hold it in a parking lot.”
Holly looked like she was about to say no, but then nodded abruptly and turned to stride inside. Decker and Anders immediately chased after her, trying to maintain their positions at her side, but Justin watched her go with a frown. He had absolutely no idea how he was going to explain the life mate business to her. He didn’t even know if he could. Would it be interfering to tell her that she was his? He didn’t know. The council might consider that undue influence, or tantamount to bribery. After all, he could promise her the best sex of her life: mind-blowing, lose-your-head—not to mention consciousness—sex. Who wouldn’t jump at that?
Maybe he should just call Lucian and ask if he could explain it or not, Justin thought, and reached a hand into his jacket pocket for his cell phone.
“Hey!”
He glanced around to see that Holly was standing in the open door of the restaurant, scowling at him. Decker and Anders were behind her, amusement on their faces. It was an expression that they couldn’t seem to get rid of, Justin noted grimly. The bastards were enjoying this.
“Are you coming, or what?” Holly called impatiently.
Cursing under his breath, Justin released his phone and headed for the door. He just wouldn’t tell her, he decided. He’d say, “I’m sorry, I can’t explain that at this time. Perhaps later though,” and then change the subject. It would be easier that way anyway, he thought grimly. He really didn’t want to even think about how hot the sex with her could be, let alone put it into words. Just sitting beside her in the car had been a trial. He’d been trapped in the backseat with her scent, feeling the heat coming off her body and washing over him in a heady wave of Hollyness. Justin had actually considered sitting on his hands to keep from touching her. Fortunately, he’d managed to make it all the way here without doing either.
“Really? And what does he do?” Decker was asking when Justin caught up to them at the table where they’d been seated. At first, Justin didn’t know who they were talking about, but Holly’s answer quickly got him up to speed.
“He works for a company that designs and manufactures photonic-integrated circuit-based components,” Holly explained, and then smiled at their blank expressions and admitted, “Yeah, I don’t really know what the heck that means either.”
Decker and Anders chuckled, but all Justin could work up was a forced smile. He really didn’t want to even think of her husband, let alone discuss how brilliant she thought he was.
“Basically, James is really smart,” Holly said. “He has a degree in applied science and he works in the company’s repair department. He does warranty work as well as repairing the components the manufacturing department messes up.”
“I see,” Anders murmured and Justin glanced to him sharply. There was something fishy about his tone of voice. It was distracted, and Justin understood why the minute he looked at him. The other man was staring at Holly’s forehead as she talked, concentrating on it.
Anders was reading Holly’s thoughts about her husband, Justin realized. The inner, subconscious thoughts that she was unknowingly exposing in thinking of him. Thoughts Justin would have liked to read, but couldn’t. It was damned annoying that the other two men could . . . and were, he thought, noting that Decker had the same expression on his face.
“It’s a starting position,” Holly went on. �
��But if he proves himself, they’ve promised him a promotion, and I have no doubt James will prove himself. He’s brilliant and he loves what he does.” She smiled at the thought and then suddenly turned to Justin and said, “Anyway, you were going to explain this life mate business to me.”
Justin froze, holding his breath briefly as he fought the terrible temptation to just tell her. How could he not be tempted? The minute he explained about life mate sex, she’d probably jump his bones on the spot. However, Justin still wasn’t sure that wouldn’t get him into trouble. If the council considered it unfair or tampering, they might wipe her memory and insist he stay away from her until she was either divorced or widowed. Justin couldn’t bear the thought of that, so he let his breath out slowly and then forced himself to say, “I’m sorry. I’m afraid I cannot explain about life mates to you until I’ve spoken to Lucian and found out if it is all right to explain. It might be considered undue influence or something.”
“Undue influence how? And to do what?” she asked with obvious confusion and then narrowed her eyes. “Is this just your way of avoiding explaining?”
“No. Justin is right to refuse. He could be punished for telling you about life mates,” Decker said solemnly.
Holly scowled at this news, but then heaved a sigh, glanced around and then stood. “I’m going to the ladies’ room. If the waitress comes before I get back, could you please order me a California club sandwich?”
“Of course,” Decker agreed.
Justin was still watching her walk away when Decker turned to him and said, “You were smart to refuse to tell her. It could be seen as interfering.”
Justin nodded unhappily and then glanced sharply to Anders when he added, “But our telling her would not be.”
Decker raised his eyebrows. “Do you think we should?”
“Definitely,” Anders said solemnly. “We should really help Justin with this.”
“Seriously? You’ll explain for me?” he asked with disbelief.
“If Anders is willing, so am I,” Decker said with a smile. “We did say we’d help after all.”
“Damn,” Justin breathed, hardly able to believe his luck. The minute they explained, Holly would be all over him. They really were trying to help him. It made him kind of feel bad for giving them such a hard time when they’d met their life mates. Yeah, they’d been pathetic, but they’d done their best and he could have been a little more sympathetic. Really, this wasn’t as easy as he’d thought. Even for him.
“Why don’t you go take a little walk around the parking lot,” Anders suggested.
When Justin glanced to him with surprise, it was Decker who pointed out, “That way you can’t be accused of being at all involved in the explanations.”
“Oh, right. Good thinking.” Justin stood at once, nodded in thanks to them, and said, “Tell Holly I’ll be waiting for her outside when you’re done, so we can have a private little talk of our own.” Grinning happily, he started away and then paused to add, “And order me the carnitas tacos when the girl comes to take orders, will you?”
He didn’t wait for them to agree, but hurried away whistling a snappy tune. This was going to change everything, he thought as he headed back out to the parking lot. His life was about to change.
Justin started out pacing in the parking lot. However, after twenty minutes of that he was bored and impatient enough to get in the car to wait there. He started the engine, put some tunes on loud, and watched the entrance of the restaurant, waiting for someone to come tell him they were done. Probably Holly, and then she’d kiss him and whisper that she wanted to experience the incredible, mind-blowing life mate sex, and they’d do it right there in the car like a couple of animals, uncaring who heard or saw.
That was the first fantasy. More lurid ones followed. Sex on the car rather than in it, right on the hood while Decker and Anders had to control the minds of anyone passing to prevent their remembering seeing it. Then they passed out and Decker and Anders had to pile them in the car. But they regained consciousness halfway back to Jackie and Vincent’s and did it in the backseat, screaming their heads off down the freeway until they collapsed again.
Justin then began imagining all the places they could do it at Jackie and Vincent’s house. His room, her room, the kitchen, the living room, the office, the pool . . . The options were endless and the positions more and more impossible, well for mortals they would be, not for them. But eventually even that began to bore him, and he began to wonder what the hell was taking so long?
“So Justin is the only one of you who can’t read or control me and that is usually the sign of a life mate?” Holly said slowly, frowning at this news. She was a married woman and she loved James. Had grown up loving him. She wasn’t interested in being anyone’s life mate, she was already a wife.
“It is one sign of a possible life mate, yes,” Anders said calmly. “It does not always work that way though.”
“Sometimes it is just a symptom of someone who has spent a great deal of time around immortals,” Decker put in. “The mortal may have built up a natural resistance to being read and younger immortals can have trouble overcoming that subconscious barrier.”
“Yes, well, you guys are the first immortals I’ve met so that doesn’t—”
“You may not have known they were immortal,” Anders interrupted quietly. “We do not go about announcing ourselves to others. Had Justin not turned you to save your life, we would never have admitted what we are to you.”
“Oh, of course,” Holly murmured.
“The inability to be read can also be a result of madness or damage done to the mortal’s brain by injuries,” Decker added, filling the silence that had fallen. He then added pointedly, “Such as the blow you took to the head.”
Holly reached instinctively toward her head despite not having a clue where it had even been injured. Had she hit the front, the back, the side . . . ? She didn’t know, and there wasn’t even a faded bruise to tell her.
“There may have been some damage done that the nanos have yet to repair,” Decker said gently. “I understand you have some memory issues about the incident that led to your turning.”
“I did,” Holly agreed. “But I remember now.”
“However, you didn’t at first,” he pointed out.
“No, I didn’t,” Holly agreed with a frown and supposed if Justin had tried to read her then that she might have been harder to read and he might have thought he couldn’t read her and then not tried again.
“It’s sad really,” Decker said on a small sigh.
“What is?” Holly asked with uncertainty.
“Well, Bricker is desperate to find a life mate,” Decker told her with a little moue.
Anders nodded. “He’s seen so many of us find our life mates recently he’s suffering terrible envy.”
“We’ve pointed out that the rest of us have waited more than two hundred years for our mates. Some as many as two thousand or more and that he’s still young, but I imagine it’s hard to watch everyone else finding their life mate while he is alone.”
“So he’s desperate to believe you are his life mate,” Anders said with another sad shake of the head.
“But I’m married,” Holly pointed out. It was the only response she had to their suggestion that Justin might be crushing on her because he hoped she was his life mate. To her, it said everything. Life mate or not—which she highly doubted—she was married and therefore unavailable.
“Yes,” Decker nodded. “Still, he’s positive that you are his life mate, and that you won’t be able to resist him.”
“Is that why he keeps calling me honey and babe and stuff like that?” she asked with a scowl. She’d noted it, but had mostly ignored it because the circumstances were all so bizarre. Also because she’d assumed he was seeing her as a protégé to his mentor and the terms were meant with a
sort of avuncular affection. Apparently not.
“Exactly,” he assured her. “He’s fixated on you, and he’s quite sure that you will . . .”
“Will what?” Holly asked when he hesitated.
“Basically, that you will respond to his amorous attentions,” Anders finished with an apologetic expression.
“But I’m married,” Holly repeated. Justin was a good-looking man, and yes she had noticed that amongst the madness that had taken over her life, but she had a husband, a man she had loved since she was a child. She would never break her vows, and she would never hurt James.
“Yes, well, we didn’t say that his thinking was clear or sensible,” Decker pointed out solemnly. “In fact, that’s why we wanted to talk to you instead of letting him explain.”
“You probably would have thought he was mad,” Anders pointed out.
“And he’s not really,” Decker assured her. “He’s just a tad confused . . . and desperate. Think of him like a puppy at the pound, eagerly licking the hand of anyone who stops to pet them.”
“Why would I have thought he was mad?” Holly asked with uncertainty. “I mean if he just explained as you have . . .”
“Well, you have to understand, as far as he’s concerned it’s a fait accompli,” Decker said solemnly. “To his mind, you are just seconds away from throwing yourself at him and dragging him off to bed.”
“I would never!” Holly gasped with amazement. She’d never thrown herself at a man in her life . . . ever. Heck, the only experience she had in that area was James and even now, after almost four years of marriage, she had yet to initiate any sort of intimacy herself. He was always the aggressor. Of course, she kissed and hugged him, but not in the take-me-to-bed way. She just wouldn’t know how. But even if she did, she was married. She cared too much for James to hurt him that way.
“Right, well there you go,” Anders said with a nod. “That’s why we wanted to tell you. We wanted to explain it in such a way that you would understand without his accidentally insulting you.”
