Apple smiled, but then Rachel continued.
“It's been hard for Lynxar, who still feels responsible for the destruction of Bellaron's planet and for—”
“The... destruction of his planet?”
“Yes, Naith.” Rachel blinked owlishly at Apple. “He... he didn't tell you?
Apple shook her head slowly, and she felt even more at sea. “Rachel,” she said slowly, “I think I'm being left out of a pretty big loop here. I don't want you to betray confidences or anything like that, but if you meant what you said about helping me, I think I need to know what you think I know.”
Rachel nodded, and Apple listened with a mixture of fascination and growing horror that threatened to overwhelm her. Rachel told her about the destruction of Bellaron's planet, about the fact that Lynxar had been delayed in his ability to help them because of his crash landing on Earth, about the wife and child he had lost.
“He wants to help the city, and that makes him a hero as far as Lynxar and the others are concerned,” Rachel said finally, “but the fact that he's on his own, well…that always makes things complicated.”
Apple nodded mutely.
Rachel squeezed her hand. “It'll be okay,” she said. “Whatever you decide, it'll be okay. Just... remember what you want and what he means to you.”
Apple knew that there was a truth to Rachel's words, but the image of an entire planet destroyed, of a wife and a child that he had lost, the thought filled her with fear and pain. What was she supposed to do with that? What could she do?
She staggered to her feet, and when Rachel would have stood with her, she gestured her back. Her mind was whirling, and she could barely understand what was going on. She nearly ran face first into Bryan Hillman, the millionaire and superhero himself, and she barely managed to mutter an apology about feeling ill before sprinting for the door. She knew that she was running out on a man whose time was worth millions, but she couldn't care.
She heard Rachel calling after her, and Bryan's confused questions, but it didn't matter.
She needed to get to Bellaron.
Chapter Three
The Hunt was one of the most prestigious restaurants in the city, and she had only a vague hope that she would be allowed in. However, the moment she gave her name, the maître d’ was nothing but kind. Instead of showing her to a table, however, he took her to an office at the back of the restaurant, one that was sleek and bare except for a tablet on the desk. A part of her responded to the sleek and dark space as something that was very much a place that belonged to Bellaron.
She laid the book on the desk, and she turned to make her way out when she ran straight into the man himself. Instead of a tuxedo or the casual clothes he had worn earlier, he was dressed in chef's whites, as crisp as a leaf of lettuce and ready to begin the night.
“Apple, you came to see me,” he started, a smile on his face, but the smile faded when she shook her head.
“No,” she said, “no, I cannot do this.”
“What?” He frowned as if he couldn't understand her words. “I don't understand.”
“Your world is gone, Bellaron,” she said, looking up at him with eyes that swam with tears. “It's gone, and you didn't tell me? I know nothing about you!”
Bellaron looked down at her, eyes wide. He was no telepath, but you would have had to been a liar or a fool to miss the pain on her face and in her eyes. She was suffering, nearly shaking with it, and without thinking, he took her in his arms.
For a moment, she almost pulled away, but then she collapsed into his embrace.
“You never told me,” she said, her voice soft and strained. “You never told me at all... not any of it, not about your wife or your child...”
“Those things were painful to me,” he said softly. “They tore at me, they caused me pain, and Apple, I never wanted that pain to affect you.”
“It affects you,” she said passionately. “Of course that means that it would affect me! I talked to Rachel, and it seems that she knows more about you than I do.”
He didn't have a response to that, and when he began talking, she was startled by what he had to say.
“You're afraid of policemen,” he said finally. “You ran when you heard sirens. Bryan Hillman told me that when he investigated you for the exhibition, he found that you had dropped out of the art college here. You've had a number of jobs, none of which you were able to keep for very long, and you've been living hand to mouth for some months. If not for the gallery show, you might have become homeless.”
He looked right into her eyes, and she gasped ant the intensity she saw there. There was something bright and burning in their green depths, the soul of a hunter who would not rest until he had what was his.
“You are not telling me everything either.”
She started to deny it, she began to pull away, but his arms were tight around her. She could feel the warmth of his body, its hard length pressed up against her, and she caught her breath.
“It's... it's nothing, it's not important.”
“I think that's wrong,” he said intently. “There something there, something that you are keeping from me...”
“Dreams!” she cried, tearing herself away. To her fury and her frustration, her face was awash with tears, and when he saw them, to his credit, Bellaron subsided in shock.
“I was fine, I was in school, I was getting good marks, I was doing wonderfully! Then… then came a night when I woke up from a terrible dream of fire, of evil things that fell from the sky. It was so terrifying, so awful, that I woke up screaming! I couldn't do anything to help myself, I only screamed and screamed and finally they had to sedate me. I lost six months of my life in a mental hospital, Bellaron, is that what you wanted to hear?”
Bellaron started to speak, but she cut him off, fury and heartbreak surging up in her in equal measure.
“My life crumbled in front of me. I lost my scholarship, I lost everyone and everything. Days would go by, and I would be fine, and then suddenly, there would be a moment where all I could smell were flowers that had a scent like honey and roses combined, and I knew they were gone forever, and it broke me.”
Furiously, she dashed tears from her eyes, and when Bellaron tried to reach for her, she pulled back again. She could feel the enormous bare desk at her back now and could retreat no further.
“I built my life back up,” she whispered. “I pulled it back together. I did some things that I am not proud of and will never speak of again, and today, well, maybe I still have some of those flashes, but I control them. They're a part of me, and they always will be. Is that what you want to know?
Bellaron's face was full of sorrow, and instead of saying anything, he stepped forward to take her in his arms. This time, she allowed him to do so, and for a long measureless, moment, she simply wept, releasing all of the stress and the fear and pain of the day.
“I can't do this,” she said softly, and when he started to look down to ask her what she meant, she simply cupped her hand over the back of his neck and drew him down for a kiss. He started to protest, but then, she could feel the same passion take him that was always simmering between them, and he returned her kiss fiercely.
She pushed away the pain and the fear because she could not deal with them at the moment, and instead she reached for something that it had felt like she had wanted for her entire life. Being with him soothed a part of her that was always jagged, always in pain, and now with him so close, she could no longer resist him.
“Please,” she said softly. “I want you. Give me this...”
His only response was a mute groan, and his tongue tangled with hers. She leaned back against his desk, spreading her feet slightly on the floor so that he could come even closer to her, and every part of her wanted him, wanted his hands, his mouth, and his body.
For his part, Bellaron's hands roamed her lush curves with something like desperation, and when he pressed hard against her, she could already feel how hard he was.
“I want you,” he responded, a deep yearning in his voice. “Apple, I don't care...”
She wasn't sure she trusted what he was going to say, so instead, she kissed him again. When she sank her teeth into his lower lip, he groaned, and she knew it was over for both of them. There was an animal passion that was a part of them both, and it found a mate, a partner, in the other. They needed each other, and no matter how disastrous that might have been outside of this moment, it was what they had now, and Apple was damned if she’d let it go by.
Behind the office door, she could hear the bustle of a kitchen getting ready for the early dinner crowd, but in this room, the only thing she cared about was his hands cupping her breasts, the way his mouth felt on hers, and how big and strong and solid he felt when she raked her nails over his clothed back.
With a wordless groan, he lifted her up to sit on his bare desk. She sat upright for a moment, but then he pushed against her shoulder until she was stretched on her back. Bellaron started to fumble with the buttons of her dress, but she pushed him away so that she could simply pull up the folds of her skirts. His breath caught at the sight of her bare legs, and then his hand was sliding up her pale thigh.
“You're so beautiful,” he growled. “This, all of this, is beautiful.”
She started to reply, but then his hand found her underwear. With a single vicious movement, he tore it from her body. The brief pinch of the fabric only heightened her pleasure, and then she was bare to his touch. He found her already wet and wanting, and he sank first one, then two fingers inside her, testing her readiness.
She watched as he pulled those two fingers from inside her and stuck them in his own mouth, sucking her wetness from them.
“You have no idea how you taste, how good you smell,” he growled, and he was fumbling with the closure on his trousers.
Instead of merely spreading her legs, he hoisted them up over her shoulders, and for a moment, he merely caressed the plump curve of her buttocks. She sighed when he stroked them gently, and then she gasped when he landed a soft spank on one and then the other. Her eyes flew up to his face, and his grin was pure mischief before he got back to the business of pleasuring her.
Her position of being flat on her back with her legs in the air left Apple feeling ridiculously exposed but that only added to the heat that she couldn't resist. She squirmed, falling just short of begging him for more, but then she could feel the head of his cock nudging against her sex.
“Oh please, please!” she whimpered, but he seemed intent on driving her crazy instead. He swept the head of his cock up and down her slit until she was dripping wet, both from the liquid from his cock and her own wetness.
When he started to push instead, she groaned at the perfection of it, of the way that he filled her completely. Bellaron growled his pleasure when he was seated in her fully, and he leaned forward so she was bent almost double, her legs thrown over his shoulders.
“Yes?” he breathed and in response, she nodded, biting her lip.
That was all the warning she got before he started to thrust deep inside her. With her legs up in the air, he was able to push in her so deeply that she moaned, and the way he held her, she could barely move at all. She loved the feeling of being held in place for his pleasure and for hers, and her heart started to beat faster and faster as her whole body tightened.
With a muffled curse, she reached down between her legs to stroke her own clit, and Bellaron's eyes darkened further as he watched.
“Oh yes, love, make yourself feel good for me...”
His husky words were all the encouragement she needed and with a soft wail, she orgasmed, her entire body tightening hard and leaving her feeling light and euphoric. In her exhausted state, she was blissfully aware of the way he pushed into her, the way that he groaned, and when he finally spilled inside her, she reached up to stroke his face, smiling when he finally met her eyes again.
“Apple, you have to—”
Whatever he wanted to say was lost, as a man's voice drifted through the locked door.
“Chef, Chef, we've got a problem...”
“One thing after another,” he growled quietly.
He pulled out of Apple's body slowly, making her hiss with the loss. He dropped a gentle kiss to her face even as he did up his pants.
“Don't go anywhere,” he said warningly. “We've got a lot to discuss.”
She only smiled, she didn't nod or agree, and that was why, when he was gone, she felt like she had not lied when she decided to slip out. She hesitated for a moment, but then she shook her head.
There was no place for a girl like her in his life. Too much grief, too much wealth... too much everything.
She placed the book on the desk, and she straightened her clothes. He had his life, and she had hers. She knew that there could be no other way about it, and taking a deep breath, she slipped out the door.
Chapter Four
Bellaron did not expect to have company when he stopped by the bar that night, and if he had expected anyone, it wouldn’t have been Lynxonna, the lavender-haired alien super heroine. A tank top and a pair of denim shorts revealed the muscles that lined her frame, and when two rough men whistled at her, it took only a single quelling look from the imposing Amazonian woman to make them look away.
Without a word, she swung up on the chair next to him and wrinkled her nose at the empty glasses in front of him.
“Do you really enjoy this pale excuse for alcohol?” she asked. “Where I come from, the drinks are much stronger.”
“I can't say I care much where you come from,” he said shortly. “I don't recall asking you to sit down.”
“What a shame. I suppose I will have to overlook your rudeness.” She smiled, turning to the bartender. “A glass of whiskey, please. And it is a glass, mind you.”
“What brings you here?” he said with a frustrated sigh. He didn't know what to make of the fact that Apple had run from him, all he knew was that he didn't want to think for a while, and this woman was making it very hard.
“You do,” she said bluntly, taking a gulp of her drink as easily as a human would drink water. Naith had had no alcohol at all, but he didn't feel like telling her that. It occurred to him that it no longer gave him quite the same pain to speak about his planet as it had before, and though there was a pang there, it was a more distant thing.
“I already told Lynxar that I didn't want to—”
“Oh, I don't care about that,” she said, and he stared at her.
Lynxonna grinned, showing off sharp white teeth. “I know you now by sight so that I shall not strike you down in the fray, and you can say the same. Truly, what else needs to be said? Lynxar thinks we should be in each other's pockets, but I don't. No, I wanted to ask you about Apple Muldoon.”
The name stung, like saltwater thrown into a wound.
“And if I don't feel like talking?”
“Then I will be very surprised.”
He glared at her. He was tempted to stay silent, but the truth was that he was tired of silence. He saw no judgment in her clear eyes, but still he balked.
“Does your husband know you're out?” he sniped, knowing it was a ridiculous retort even as he said it.
“He does not find me at home, so of course he does,” Lynxonna said, her eyes dancing. “Does your own woman know that you are drinking such weak swill?”
“My woman!”
“My nose is not as strong as yours, my friend, but I know our little artist's scent well, and well, you've been quite friendly with each other, I see.”
Bellaron cursed and to his disgust, he felt a hot blush rise up on his cheeks. “Yes, yes, goddamn you, we... we were intimate, is that what you wanted to hear?”
“I wouldn't mind hearing more, because you are both lovely to my eyes, but I came to find another thing. Are you bound yet?”
“She left,” he said with a shrug. “She kissed me, she left, and now I'm sitting in a bar drinking weak swill, as you put it, a
nd being mocked by an alien woman I don't know.”
“How disappointing,” Lynxonna said thoughtfully. “I had thought her made of sterner stuff than that.”
He pointed at her, scowling. “Don't say a word against her. She doesn't deserve it, and I don't know what your game is.”
Lynxonna called for another drink as if he hadn't spoken, and then she nodded at the book. “I think I know what that is.”
“The great treasure of my people, the Psalms of Istarte,” he said flatly. “It carries every single transformation that we are capable of, making us great in battle and terrible to behold.”
“It is famous even on my planet,” she said with respect. “It was a tragedy that it was lost, and yet here it is, and here you are.”
He laughed emptily, and for a mad moment, he thought he would simply throw it into the filthy trash container by the bar.
“It's useless to me,” he said, enunciating each word carefully. “I can't use it.”
“You can't?” Lynxonna blinked in shock.
“No, it can't be used by the person who is going to be transformed. It's never worked like that. It always had to be someone possessed of the light of Naith.”
“The light of Naith,” said Lynxonna slowly. “I've heard of it, but I know not what it is. Is it a jewel, or a priestess or some such?”
“No, it's... it's primordial force of Naith,” he said. “It was the life of the planet, and in some people, it shone through them and they acted as lanterns, magnifying its power and its grace. Now... well...”
“Naith is gone, and the book worthless,” Lynxonna finished, her voice sorrowful. “I am sorry for your loss.”
Bellaron's laugh was harsh, and it made some people leave the bar entirely, looking nervously behind them.
“No, that's the catch you see,” he said. “It's not. The light of Naith, it's here.”
Lynxonna stared. “What are you saying?” she asked, suddenly concerned that Bellaron had gone quite mad. “It is the life of your planet and your planet is gone...”
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