She’d discovered a new determination to live, and it had spurred her to make Domino bite her any way she could. She’d thought he’d be a gentleman and leave it at that. Had she really been so naïve? Even after he’d warned her, she still hadn’t believed him.
Apparently Domino didn’t make empty promises.
Okay, her mistake. Now it was time to fix it. The moment his back was turned, she’d slip out the door and arrange for a bank draft to his account to cover her and Icki’s medical expenses. He’d probably rip it up if she left one on the table on her way out, with or without a note.
She got out of the tub and dried off, feeling slightly less tender. Once dressed she raised her hairbrush to her hair and froze as the long length tumbled into view. It was turning black.
Horrified that her genes were mutating her into something hideous, she frantically rubbed the fog off the mirror. Two golden eyes stared back.
Chapter 16
Domino and Icki broke off their conversation as she burst into Icki’s room.
"What did you do to me?" she demanded of Domino.
His eyes traveled slowly over her body, then lingered on her neck. His smile was pure satisfaction. "Looks like I left a love mark. Sorry about that."
Icki’s lips twitched suspiciously.
She flushed. He’d left a huge mark on the side of her neck, but he knew that wasn’t what she meant. She pointed two fingers at her eyes. "My eyes! My hair. What did you do to me?"
He leaned casually on Icki’s footboard. "What did you think the adaptogen would do? It changes our mates to be receptive to our own DNA. It’s a mating adaptation. Every woman experiences it."
Mortified by his casual reference to intimacy, she turned her eyes on Icki. "You knew."
He rubbed his ear. "Well, you weren’t exactly quiet earlier. It was hard not to."
Fury brought heat to her face. "You knew what the adaptogen would do! You knew that..." Shame choked her off.
His face softened. "Yes, I knew. Just as I knew who I would send you to. Left to yourself, you would have let the mutation kill you." At her silence, he said, "I’m well enough to leave this bed. Let’s go find a lab. I’m sure you’re going to be pleasantly surprised by the changes."
As a distraction, it was sublime. As a temptation, it was irresistible. Even the thought of leaving Domino behind couldn’t compare. "Fine. We’ll run a check," she said tersely. "Then I’ll kill you."
It was hard to maintain her ire in the face of Icki’s weakness, though. He insisted on walking to Domino’s private transport, though he leaned against the wall of the elevator on the way down. Once seated in the rear of the anonymous vehicle, he leaned back and closed his eyes, pretending to nap. Domino slid behind the wheel in front of them and eased them out into the light evening traffic.
Bali eyed him, then looked straight ahead, her lips compressed in a tight line. She was wicked to punish him like this. She could have waited for a diagnosis, or gone to the Draconian doctor who’d worked on them. Icki was the best, however, and he knew her inside and out. If things were changing for the better, she trusted him to see it. If not, she knew he would be honest with her.
Pensively, she raised her hand, stared broodingly at the spread fingers. The tremor was gone. While she didn’t miss it, the absence was unsettling. She thought she’d known where her life was going: straight into the toilet. Instead, an unknown future had opened before her, a life of promise and obligation.
She snorted softly to herself and settled back against the plush synth-leather seat. She didn’t recognize Draconian custom or law, except where it meshed with the laws of her own world. She was no more his wife than Icki was, regardless of any intimacies between them. Should his adaptogen work, she would owe him a debt, one she would repay. Should it not.... Well, it had been honorable of him to try.
Eyes closed, she shunted aside the memories of their mating and concentrated on business. First she would confirm her health status, then she would hire a bodyguard, move out, and move on. Domino would be free of her, and she.... Well, she’d figure out what to do from there. She had the wealth to accomplish whatever she wished and there were still many mutants who needed her help. Perhaps she would hire someone--maybe Icki--to study Draconian adaptogen with the hopes of synthesizing it. Of course, it would leave potential patients with a whole new set of problems, but some might consider it a small price to pay. At least they wouldn’t have to suffer the emotional difficulties she was now experiencing.
They parked at the laboratories Domino had arranged for, then she and Domino flanked Icki, who seemed rather pale.
He slanted Domino a jaded look. "I can’t look that bad."
Domino just raised a weary brow and opened the door for him. "Just try to faint in my direction, if you can. You’ll flatten Bali."
She shot him a look, but couldn’t argue the case.
To her surprise, the Draconian doctor, Skye, was waiting for them in the lab. He glowered at Icki, who immediately dropped into a chair and leaned back, lids drooping. "What is he doing here?"
Domino shrugged. "He would have followed us in a cab and fainted on the way here. He thinks he’s well enough to follow her around."
Startled by the Draconian doctor’s presence, Bali demanded, "What is he doing here?"
Skye ignored her and used his medical scanner on Icki. "Stay in the chair until we’re finished. That bullet nicked your heart, and it’s not appreciating the abuse."
Bali glanced at Icki with concern, then jumped back when Skye pointed the scanner her way. "What are you doing? Icki was going to run the tests." Fear pounded in her chest, both familiar and powerful. Strange doctors with medical equipment freaked her out. It had taken her long enough to get used to Icki, and he’d been a friend first.
"He’s in no shape to do more than hand holding today, and I’m not going to hurt you." Skye looked at her steadily, then glanced at Domino. "If it helps any, you might want to know that I’m Domino’s brother."
Surprised, Bali glanced between them, distracted enough to let Skye run a quick scan. "I didn’t know."
He set down the scanner and reached for a syringe. "We’re private about family ties. Arm." He reached for hers, and she leapt on top of the table, ready to take his head off if he got any closer. "Stay back!" Blind panic bolted through her, and she had a flashback to the last time her father had taken a blood sample. She’d been stronger then, more fearful, and he’d had to clean the blood from the table, walls and floor when he’d accidentally torn her vein in the attempt.
Pain. She remembered the pain and her father’s soft, coaxing voice. Coaxing, soothing, then the hard hands grabbing her and strapping her to the table for another swim in the pool of horrors. Green fluid choking her, closing over her eyes, her face....
"Bali." Domino’s snapped command made her look his way. Her gaze landed on Icki’s familiar, strained face before Domino blocked her view.
"Get down, Bali. He’s not going to hurt you." His golden eyes locked with hers and wouldn’t let go. "Get down," he said, softer.
A cold sweat dampened her face, trickled down the side of her face. Every scrap of martial training she possessed ran through her head as she assessed the Draconian’s soft targets. If they rushed her, she’d kick for the throat, then grab the syringe and toss it. A haze clouded her vision, and she shivered. She couldn’t go into the pool again!
"Bali."
Bali looked over at the quiet voice and saw understanding in Domino’s eyes. The moment shifted, became incredibly surreal.
Slowly, Domino reached for her cold, damp hand. "Come down, little one. I won’t let him hurt you."
She blinked hard. Nobody protected her. Her father had always done whatever he wanted to her, and nobody had ever stopped him. "You can’t," she said simply, stating a truth she’d learned with painful repetition.
"I can. I will," he said harshly, his grip firming. "He won’t hurt you. I won’t let him."
The moment stre
tched out, unreal, uncertain, but somehow his offer raised a fragile trust in her. She remembered the boy in the lab who had carried her to the couch, who’d spoken such intense, alien words to her. It was that boy who eased her to her knees, who helped her to sit stiffly on the examining table, and it was a mixture of that boy and this man who cupped her cheek, then slid a slow kiss from the crest of her cheek to the corner of her mouth. "Let me help you, little love."
What was he doing to her? Calm radiated from his touch, slowly seeped into her blood. He soothed her, enspelled her with his compassion. How could he be patient with her now? Slowly her wits returned to her. She glanced at Skye, still unhappy with his presence.
Domino’s thumb stroked her cheek. "We don’t have to do this now. Why don’t we wait? I can take you home right now if you wish."
His words brought a final draft of calm to her tortured mind. Drawing a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and shook her head. "No. I’m here now. I need to know...."
He stopped her from looking at Skye. "Then look at me for a moment. Talk to me. Did you know your eyes are turning gold? I will miss the blue. You have beautiful eyes."
She hissed at the bite of the needle, but he wouldn’t let her look. Trembling, she shook her head. "I’m not beautiful."
He grinned. "You’ve lost the case if you’re trying to convince me of that."
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Skye take the syringe and slowly fill several tiny dishes with it, which he then slid into a series of machines. She watched him broodingly, her vision dimming as she recalled the many times she’d watched her father do the same.
"What do you want for dinner?" Domino said casually, forcing her to return to the moment.
"I don’t know. I’m not hungry," she said irritably.
"I am. I’ll call the cook at the club and have him fix something savory. You’ve barely had a taste of Draconian cooking. I’ll enjoy spoiling you."
She frowned and would have answered, but Skye returned. Unperturbed by her glower, he canted his head. "We need to check your hearing. Listen and tell me if you hear this. His mouth moved, but she didn’t hear a thing. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Icki wince and rub his ear.
Skye smiled. "Draconians have sonic communication abilities. Your profile said you once had it, but if you don’t know, it’s an indication that your hearing has returned to normal human parameters."
For some reason, that made her frown. She’d come to take certain things for granted, and, useless as it had been, her hearing had been one of those things.
Skye canted his head and crossed his arms. "Have you noticed anything different about your vision?"
She frowned. It had been a minor thing, but now that he mentioned it.... "Things seem a little odd around the edges, like I’m seeing a fog of color...." She trailed off, trying to examine the effect. Her eyes had been darting around all day, chasing ghosts, but she’d been too harassed to really notice it.
"It’s a normal experience for a Draconian," Skye explained. "Our emotions color the edges of our vision, making them hard to ignore. On the bright side, we have better tolerance to bright light than humans." He took a small flashlight and shined it in her eyes. To her surprise, she didn’t flinch.
"It doesn’t hurt!"
A slight smile tilted his lips. "Congratulations." He felt her pulse, examined her color and checked the glands on her neck before consulting the computers that had been working on her blood samples. He looked thoughtfully at the results on the computer screen. "Looks good from here, though I’d recommend a regular dose of adaptogen over the next few months to make certain there’s no relapse."
Bali saw Icki’s head whip up, and he stared at the back of Skye’s head penetratingly.
As if sensing the stare, Skye turned and met his gaze. His voice was curiously neutral. "What do you think, Dr. Icki?"
Icki held his stare for long moments. "You might be right."
Bali’s gaze darted between the two of them. The looked like lawyers haggling over a tough case. Her heart sank as their diagnosis sank in. "You can’t be serious!"
They turned twin, unblinking gazes her way, but it was Skye who answered. "You don’t want to regress, do you? Give the adaptogen some time to take hold."
She couldn’t believe it. "Icki?"
"I think it might be best," he said slowly, looking grave.
She darted a wild look at Domino. "But he can’t! I was going to...."
Domino smiled and slouched against the examining table next to her. As blandly as if they were discussing the weather, he assured her, "I’m perfectly willing to oblige."
A new tension gripped her, one that had nothing to do with doctors. She’d planned to leave him and was fairly sure that everyone in the room knew it. Maybe they had a conspiracy going, but she didn’t dare go to another doctor. She was neatly trapped and resented it.
Icki rolled his head from side to side and groaned. "If you don’t mind, I’m ready to go back to Domino’s. My bed is calling." His color was bad, and Bali held her tongue as Domino gave him a hand up. She wanted to lash out, to go a little crazy, but now wasn’t the time.
By the time they got back to Domino’s suite, she was feeling unexpectedly tired as well. Anger and simmering resentment mixed with unease, even fear as she crossed the threshold. Happily, the smell of a feast also rose up to greet her, and she realized she was hungrier than she’d thought.
Icki went straight to his room, so she fixed him a plate, delivered it, then departed with a meat roll while he and Domino talked.
Domino’s room was open, so she slipped inside, wary of going to her own room. It would be the first place he looked. She wanted to be alone, preferably for hours, but knew it was unlikely. He was going to want to talk, and he wasn’t the kind to settle for a simple no.
His bed was large, mussed and otherwise unremarkable. He had a nightstand, and it was the only other furniture in the room. Weapons of all types, mostly guns, hung on his walls. His room looked like an arsenal. Frowning, she wandered closer, examining the medals in a glass case on the wall. He had quite an array.
"My sister’s gift. They have the mistaken idea that I need to display my accomplishments," Domino said dryly.
Bali spun around. He leaned against the doorframe, casually blocking the entrance.
"Aren’t you hungry?" he asked, raising a lazy brow. His eyes were beginning to glow. "I’m starving."
The purr warned her. "Go eat, then. Your cook sent up quite a feast."
He paced closer, his smile slow, seductive. "I hate to eat alone."
She backed along the wall, aware that she was nearing the bed, certain she could dart around it at the last minute. "I’m not going to sleep with you."
"Good. I wasn’t going to sleep." He kept coming.
She reached the bed and tried to bolt past him. He caught her easily, laughing as he held her to him, her back to his front. She should have attacked, but her mind froze as his hand slowly tracked over her belly, inching under her shirt. "This is crazy."
"What is?" he whispered in her ear, tracing the shell with his tongue.
She shuddered. "This. Us. This is never going to work. We don’t even know each other; not really. I’m completely wrong for you."
"But I’m right for you." His hands moved to her zipper, slowly eased it down. There was a sharp tug as he unbuttoned her pants. "This is right for you."
"Domino...."
He hooked his thumbs under her panties and slid those with her pants down her legs, then slid his hands up, raising her shirt above her breasts. Those wicked hands wandered from nipple to thatch, squeezing here, sliding down and barely in there. It was terrifyingly erotic, the power of his touch, the confidence of his lips on her neck, her ear.
He waited until she was shuddering, then he turned her around and bent her over his bed.
"Domino!"
"Easy, love. You’ll like this, too." His hands slipped between her legs, stroking and teasing un
til she was even wetter, squirming helplessly on the bed, abrading her tender nipples against the sheets. Only when she was pleading for it did he ease into her, mindful of her lingering tenderness.
She liked it. Needed it. Begged for it as he rode her slowly, forcing her to buck, to impale herself in a desperate search for release. With a growl, he leaned over her and gave her what she needed, driving into her so swiftly that she climaxed in tortured pleasure.
Curiously, when he climaxed this time, he didn’t bite her. Maybe that came later, after....
Minutes later, she was lying in his arms clad in only her panties. It was delicious, naughty, and lingering shyness kept her from meeting his eyes as he pulled her against his chest. Unfortunately, the contact made her squirm with renewed heat.
Common sense made one last gasp for speech. "I’m not your wife. I’m...."
He rolled her on top of him, raised her up so he could suckle her nipples. He let her squirm at bit, then pulled her down and kissed her with drugging intent. "Why do you say that? Haven’t you shared first rights with me? Don’t I pleasure you?" He moved against her, making her gasp. "Why should it be more complicated than that?"
His hardness against her damp panties was making her breathless with lust. "I can’t love you. I have to leave."
He laughed, oozing confidence. "You’ll love me. Until then, let me give you what you need." He gathered her panties in one hand, pulling it tight in the back until it pulled hard against her tender front parts. As she sat up, her eyes wide, he eased them aside just enough to slide inside.
She couldn’t get enough. It was too much. She begged him to stop but rode him with wild intensity. He’d proved his point, if he’d wanted to prove she was a slave to the feelings he inspired. The man had power, he was beautiful, and she was as helpless in his arms as a sultan’s favorite pet. She needed him.
Once Bitten Page 6
