by Carven, Anna
His entire demeanor was… protective.
Amidst the endless stream of traffic, several passersby had stopped to witness the brewing confrontation.
“Leave,” he said again, his tone icy cold. Sienna had never heard him sound like that before. “Unless you want to draw unnecessary attention to your activities here.”
“Are you fucking threatening me?”
Ikriss moved closer. He was half a head taller than Connor, and he didn’t have to do much to appear intimidating.
He just was.
“You have no inkling of who I know. Perhaps next morning you will find your face all over your infernal Networks.”
Ikriss might look half human and he might speak almost flawless English, but he still spoke like a Kordolian.
Connor looked to one side then the other, scanning the streetscape with wary grey eyes. His lips curved into a cold smile. “We’re going. But don’t think it’s because of you. I just don’t have time to deal with this shit right now. Don’t get too sure of yourself, boss and apprentice.”
Ikriss didn’t say a word. He just stared at Connor with icy, implacable eyes.
“Bye, Sienna,” Connor said slowly, deliberately, raising his hand in an insolent half-wave.
Then he and his goons walked away, disappearing into a sleek black hover-car that was illegally parked on the sidewalk.
The engine revved loudly, and moments later the hover-car rose and sped off into the slipstream of traffic, its darkly tinted windows reflecting the bright city lights.
The snow was falling harder now, forming a thin blanket of white on the sidewalk. Sienna looked up at Ikriss, who was standing with his head slightly cocked, his arms at his sides, his strange green gaze softening as the snow fell all around him, dusting his pale hair and his broad shoulders, making the moment feel all the more surreal, like a scene out of some crazy holo-movie.
A sliver of early morning light broke through the clouds, softening the harsh electric glow from the street signs and holos.
“It’s you,” she said softly.
“Yes, Sienna.” The hardness melted from Ikriss’s face.
Her heart flipped. A starburst of warmth blossomed in her chest and spread down through her belly and right into her core, snaking between her legs.
That feeling.
It made her tremble, ever so slightly.
When she’d first caught sight of him, she’d found his appearance striking, but now, upon seeing him again in the flesh, she had to admit that he was a fucking beautiful specimen of a man, even with the weird disguise.
“Why?” The world around them faded into nothingness. The memory of her unsetting encounter with Connor became little more than an insignificant afterthought, soon to be forgotten. “Why are you here?”
He leaned in, and his presence engulfed hers, sending a delicious shiver down her spine. She caught a tendril of his scent; crisp, fragrant woodiness entwined with a hint of smoke and male musk.
It was utterly intoxicating.
And that scared her.
Part of her felt compelled to ignore him; to turn to Emmett and Cleo and say something rational, to take charge of the situation, but she couldn’t.
“Sometimes, things that appear so simple on the surface can become complicated,” he murmured in Universal, too quietly for Cleo or Emmett to be able to hear. “I am here to protect you. And to know you.” Ikriss raised one snowy eyebrow. “You appear to be acquainted with some interesting characters, Sienna. The one called Connor is just fortunate that I am not interested in revealing myself right now.”
Before she had a chance to ask what the fuck he meant by that, Emmett swooped in, putting a protective arm around her shoulders. “I’m sorry, Si. This guy… I tried to stop him, but he told me that if any harm came to you because of me getting in his way, he’d seriously kill me. Naturally, I didn’t listen to him. I did what I always do and tried to deck him, but the bastard threw me down. Like, really fucking threw me down.” His eyes narrowed. “What are you, ex-military or something?”
“Something like that,” Ikriss replied frostily, his jaw hardening as he looked Emmett up and down.
In the face of a cold alien death-glare, Emmett stayed true to form and tightened his arm around Sienna’s shoulders. He returned the Kordolian’s glare with a scowl of his own.
Sienna could almost feel the air crackle with tension. Why did Ikriss look so angry all of a sudden? It was almost as if he didn’t like Emmett touching her.
Why?
She shifted uncomfortably on her feet as strange possibilities flitted through her mind.
He couldn’t possibly be… jealous?
No… no way.
Well, he wouldn’t know that Emmett was gay now, would he?
“You know one another, don’t you?” And then Cleo stepped into the danger zone, her brown eyes wide with feigned innocence. “And you’re not just someone who’s looking to get a job as a kitchenhand or something, are you?”
“I am here to work. I will carry out whatever task I am assigned.” Abruptly, he turned to face Sienna again. His hand snaked out, and before she realized it, he was holding her hand between strong, warm fingers, pressing a neatly folded piece of paper into her palm. “My curriculum vitae, as you humans call it. For application purposes.” His expression softened, and his lips curved into a slight smile, but he was careful not to show his fangs. “So you can get to know me.”
“P-paper?” Dumbfounded, Sienna took Ikriss’s so-called CV between her fingers. Who the fuck used paper these days? Where had he even gotten this? And how had he known about the human process of applying for a job, which hadn’t really changed for the last few hundred years?
Only these days, it was all done digitally, and when you hired someone, you automatically got everything through the Network. Morality Quotient, biodata, past work record, criminal convictions, qualifications…
Nobody used paper anymore.
Was this alien actually mad?
“Paper,” said Cleo dryly, shaking her head in disbelief.
“Paper.” echoed Emmett.
Ikriss folded his arms impatiently. “So. Are you not going to interview me? That is the next step in this process, is it not?”
Sienna stared at him in disbelief. For someone who was trying to get hired, he sure liked to give out orders. “You know what? Actually, I’m going to interview you right now. Let’s go out back to the office and talk.”
“You sure about this, Sienna?” Emmett’s voice was filled with concern. “I mean, this guy just decked me with one ar—”
“Oh, I’ll be fine,” she said with a lot more confidence than she felt. “Thanks for holding the fort, Emmett.” Sienna gently disentangled from his heavy arm and gave Ikriss a sharp nod. “You. Inside, now. Quickly. I’ll have customers in a few minutes.” She took secret delight in the fact that right now, she could issue him—the dark, scary, alien commander-or-whatever-he-was—with orders.
Who the heck was he, anyway? Maybe it was right there in her hand, printed on that stiff piece of paper.
Maybe she didn’t really want to know.
Cleo and Emmett just stared at her as if she’d gone mad.
“Everything’s fine,” she said gently as she passed them. “Don’t worry about this guy. I’ll handle him. Just make sure everything’s ready for us to open up. Oh, look. There’s already a line forming.” She recognized a couple of the regulars, who were standing patiently on the sidewalk, just a little way off from the entrance. Hands in pockets, faces tucked into scarves, they braced against the cold.
Curious eyes couldn’t help but stare at the three of them, but mostly at strikingly handsome Ikriss, who could have been a freaking male model if not for the fact that his features were a little too hard.
“Let’s go inside,” she said softly, suddenly desperate to escape all the attention. She hastily folded the piece of paper and slipped it into the back pocket of her pants.
To her surprise, he followed her
without another word.
That was how Sienna Adamo, proprietor of the much-loved Whisk and Pin restaurant, found herself leading a weirdly disguised, hot-but-dangerous alien into the heart of her little empire.
And as he walked behind her, she could feel his molten gaze on the back of her neck. She hoped he couldn’t see the faint flush of heat that had seeped into her cheeks and down her neck and across the tips of her ears. She was probably red again. She always went red when she was embarrassed… or aroused.
Shit.
This was crazy.
Really fucking crazy.
It had only been three days since she’d returned to Earth, and now this?
Was her life ever going to be normal again?
Or was normal just an illusion?
Chapter Ten
“Have you got eyes on the target?” Ikriss murmured into his comm, speaking Kordolian as he followed Sienna through her little domain, which was filled with quaint wooden furniture and greenery and warm lighting and pictures of strange places that he presumed were on Earth.
Humans had an uncanny knack for being able to inject warmth into a place. To Ikriss, who was used to the dark, stark, utilitarian interiors of Kordolian ships, the wholesomeness of it all was so utterly alien.
Everything about this place was an expression of her.
He almost felt like an intruder here, invading her personal sanctuary.
But if he had to invade to get what he wanted, then so be it.
It was what he’d always done.
“I’ve got a lock on the vehicle,” said Lodan from the rooftop of the very same building. “I’m going after them.”
“Good. You know what to do.”
“Always.”
“The human’s name is Connor. Scare him a little, won’t you?” Ikriss terminated the comm, confident that Lodan would track down this Connor person, scare the fucking spirits out of him, and obtain the information they needed.
What information did that bastard know about the recent female abductions? If Ikriss got even the slightest hint that this Connor was involved in Sienna’s capture, he would eviscerate the cocky human himself.
As he followed Sienna through a food preparation room, with its gleaming metal surfaces and strange substances and smells—some of which overwhelmed his sensitive nose with sickly sweetness—he was treated to a tantalizing glimpse of her from behind.
Her soft golden hair was tied in a neat tail, but a few pale wisps had escaped here and there, curling around the exposed nape of her neck.
The faintest pink line was still visible there, just above the edge of her shirt.
It was the mark from where the Ephrenians had collared her.
Quietly, Ikriss seethed. How could they have done such a thing to this delicate creature, who was so brave and determined even when she was perfectly defenseless?
He drank in the stubborn set of her slender shoulders; the elegant curve of her back beneath her crisp white top. He delighted in the sway of her hips as she walked, seeking out the sumptuous curve of her ass, allowing himself to drown a little in her warm, spicy scent.
Now that he had decided to pursue her, he could no longer ignore those decadent little details.
Thank the goddess Zyara had injected him with a dose of relaxant medication before he came down to Earth. Ikriss didn’t like to rely on medications, but in this case, it was necessary. He had a job to do. The Mating Fever ebbed and surged, but it was still there, barely controlled beneath his calm exterior.
“This way.” She barely slowed as she stepped through a narrow doorway that led to a small, sparsely furnished room. Against a wall made from ancient looking brown bricks sat a tattered grey sofa. In the far corner, there was a small wooden desk upon which sat one of those archaic looking human machines—a computer—with its cube-shaped grey metal engine and thin display screen. A half empty cup of coffee rested alongside it, filling the room with the faint scent of aromatic bitterness.
As soon as Ikriss closed the door behind him, Sienna whirled to face him. “What are you doing here, Ikriss?” she demanded, and he couldn’t help but admire the subtle pink blush that had infused her cheeks.
What did it mean when humans turned pink? He would have to ask one of his brothers.
How curious.
How delightful.
What an exquisite thing she was.
But right now, she wasn’t happy with him. Ikriss was no expert at reading humans, but even he could tell that Sienna was displeased. It was telegraphed in the way she narrowed her eyes; in the stiff set of her jaw. There was fire in her gold-flecked eyes, but they also held echoes of pain and fear.
She was still a little afraid of him, even if she didn’t act like it.
He would have to do something about that.
“Why are you here?” she repeated, stepping into his radius. One of her hands was tucked into the front pocket of her garment—a rectangular piece of fabric that extended down to her knees. Two narrow ties secured it snugly around her waist, accentuating her curves.
She was holding something tightly. Ikriss could just make out the outline of a tiny blade.
Out of some deep-seated survival instinct, she felt the need to hold onto a weapon, no matter how useless it was.
Against him?
That wouldn’t do.
That wouldn’t do at all.
Ikriss moved forward until he was so close he could just lean in and taste her if he wanted. Her sweet scent made his heart pound like a war-drum.
His cock stirred.
Oh, he could so easily just take her right now. The temptation was almost unbearable.
No.
She was afraid… of him.
He remembered Tarak’s advice. He had to teach her otherwise. Kordolians like himself and the General and the other First Division guys…
They didn’t take their mates against their will. That would be too easy; too crude, too much like the old empire.
Too much against everything he’d fought so hard for.
Ikriss stared back at Sienna, observing how her lower lip trembled ever so slightly; how her nostrils flared and her pupils dilated infinitesimally, how the pink flush in her cheeks deepened.
He saw her pulse, fluttering rapidly in her neck.
She was reacting… to him.
Fear, or something else?
Something else…
There was a hint of it in her scent. He’d detected it before up on Silence, when he’d summoned her to his office.
It was as if her body knew what it wanted before her mind did.
A biological reaction. His Mating Fever. Her arousal. The latter was more subtle to detect, but it was still there.
Why?
Did it even matter?
All he needed to do was convince her…
Slowly, he raised his hand to his face and removed his false glasses, slipping them into his pocket, knowing his appearance would immediately change—from passably human to undeniably Kordolian.
Actually, he hated hiding what he was. When he’d worked mil-intel on distant planets where Kordolians were despised by all, he’d sometimes been able to ditch the helm and pass himself off as a defector; a rogue trader who had rebelled against the Empire.
Most citizens of the Universe generally respected that.
But now, upon seeing his true appearance, Sienna responded with a sharp intake of breath.
Like a small, defenseless creature caught in a hunter’s sights, she froze on the spot; nostrils flaring, eyes widening, a slight tremble coursing through her body.
She looked like she was about to flee or attack.
It wasn’t exactly the reaction he’d hoped for.
This won’t do.
Ikriss slipped his hand into the pocket of her garment, his long, callused fingers curling around her cold, trembling, delicate ones. “This is unnecessary,” he whispered as he teased the tiny blade out of her hand. It slipped into the bottom of her pocket, leaving h
er fingers free for the taking. He ran the tips of his fingers along hers, surprised to find that the pads of her fingers were actually hard and callused like his.
She was no stranger to hard work.
A fine tremor started in the lower part of her body, rippling up her spine and into her neck, and finally, her head.
Her jaw trembled.
Her lower lip trembled.
She took a deep breath and then let out a slow, shuddering sigh. The tension melted from her body, and for one sublime moment, she surrendered to him, closing her eyes and slumping forward ever so slightly. “I don’t know why I should fucking trust you.”
It was an admission, of sorts. There was fight in her words, but her body told him a different story.
“I could say something trite like ‘you have no choice,’ but then you would have even less reason to trust me.” Detecting a hint of an opening, Ikriss leaned in and inhaled her sweet musk. He was good at sensing when he had the upper hand. He was a hunter, after all. “When it comes to you, my intentions are nothing but honorable.” He tightened his grip on her hand and she didn’t fight it. Ikriss stared down into grey-green eyes that reminded him of the strange, sun-kissed, vegetation-dappled lands he’d seen from the skies when he’d first flown down to Earth.
“Intentions…” Pale golden eyelashes fluttered. The sight of her rapid, delicate pulse beating in her neck stirred something deep and primal within him.
All of a sudden, he wanted to devour her sweet little essence.
Well, perhaps his intentions weren’t so honorable after all, but she didn’t need to know that.
Not yet.
The time wasn’t right.
Not yet.
Sienna took a deep breath and shook herself, as if trying to snap out of a trance. Abruptly, she disengaged her fingers from Ikriss’s and stepped back.
“Fucking hell,” she muttered in perfectly crude English, and Ikriss only understood what she was saying because he’d allowed Zharek to do a neural rearrangement experiment—a patch—on his brain before he left Silence, giving him the ability to speak English.
He was one of the first to get this newly developed patch, and he surely wouldn’t be the last. Although the idea of having his brain rearranged filled him with disgust on some deep, primal level, he hadn’t hesitated much when Zharek had proposed the procedure, because he had faith in the medic’s abilities, and he’d already undergone hundreds of such procedures in the past.
