Amy was silent for a long moment. At last, a strange, strangled sound escaped her.
He stared at her, trying to reason what had sent her so late in the night and in clothing that was so inappropriate to the situation and the weather.
Her hand moved in aimless little fluttering motions that drew his gaze. It took a moment for him to focus on what had changed since that morning.
“The ring,” he breathed. “The joining ring.” She wasn’t wearing it. His understanding of the tradition was somewhat lacking, but as he understood it, once a man placed his ring, a woman rarely removed it.
“I never take it off.”
A female journalist with a similar ring had told him that. Sakkra didn’t doubt Amy was the same with hers.
Amy focused on him. “It’s called an engagement ring,” she corrected him.
Sakkra nodded. “Did your...?” What did one call a human intended? “Did he remove the ring?”
Did he do it because she’d tested as a match? Had he seen it as an insult that she’d tested? Had he rejected Amy in the belief that she couldn’t provide him with children?
“Jason? My ex-fiancé?” She laughed harshly. “Yes, he took his ring back. He said he didn’t want to marry a fucking alien.” She put up a hand to still his protest. “His words, I assure you. Not mine.”
“I am sorry. If I could undo this, I would.”
She nodded, making the attempt to smile. It was short-lived, and her throat bobbed in half-swallowed sobs.
His mind whirled. Sakkra searched frantically for anything he could do to make this right, but there was likely nothing. Even if Jason had enough Sakk in him to have children with Amy—unlikely as that was—it was nearly a given that he wouldn’t allow the testing to establish it.
****
The stresses of the last day crashed down on her, and Amy started sobbing. She tried to stop it, but once the tears were loosed, the dam broke, and they kept coming.
The room went still, and she realized she was alone, even among those who claimed they wanted to welcome her. That made her cry harder. She buried her face in her hands and gave up all attempts at propriety.
Sakk moved around her, but she didn’t look up at them.
“Here. Drink this.” A hand touched her wrist lightly.
Her throat raw and dry from crying, she attempted to do so, but her stomach balked at the concept.
Sakkra started to move away, and she closed her hand in his Sakk outfit. He seemed stunned by the move, but he opened his wings and arms, his expression questioning.
Amy didn’t consider it for more than a moment. She needed companionship, even if it wasn’t romantic companionship. If her mother was here, she would hug Amy, soothe her. I need that right now. She pressed to his chest, sniffing and swallowing, feeling wholly miserable.
Wings closed around her, and Sakkra wrapped an arm loosely around her waist. His humming calmed her hitching breaths.
Amy closed her abused eyes, exhausted, comforted by Sakkra’s attentions. Her circling thoughts slowed, and darkness closed in.
****
“Sakkra, should we—”
He shushed Brak. The fool.
Even in sleep, Amy Davidson was far from calm. She trembled and sniffed. Low moans of protest escaped her throat. The grip on his cuzta made it clear she was not prepared to abandon the pitiful comfort he offered in her traumatized state.
No one will force her to. Sakkra laid his opposite hand on her shoulder, talking himself out of rubbing at her back in what might be misinterpreted as a sexual move.
Protective instincts reared up in him. In the last day, he’d seen Amy’s panic, her determination, her uncertainty, and her heartbreak. Whatever discomfort or longing it cost him, he would offer what peace he could for her.
General Lea leaned close to whisper to Sakkra, in an attempt not to disturb Amy, no doubt. “Should I call the healers?”
His meaning was clear. A traumatized match was often sedated to avoid psychological or physical damage.
“No. She has already refused sedation once today. I will not presume to take her choices from her, in any way. How can she trust us, if we do?”
Lea’s nod said he understood perfectly. “What will we do?”
“Only this. As long as she requests it.” If it meant holding her while she slept all night, Sakkra would gladly give her comfort. Since he couldn’t make her human, it was all he had to offer.
“As you wish, Sakkra.”
****
Amy drifted in a semi-conscious state, warm and comfortable. There was a chest under her cheek, and the tang of musk made her mouth water.
She tried to work her way to an explanation for it. Jason liked space in bed. Have sex, roll over, and go to sleep.
Jason! Jason was gone. He’d taken the ring back and called off the wedding.
Then who am I sleeping with? She snapped awake and pushed away from her living pillow with a gasp, coming up against a semi-rigid wall.
“Shhh. You are safe.”
I know that voice. She looked up in shock. Sakkra?
His wings retracted slowly, and she looked around in a panic, breathing a sigh of relief that they were still on the couch and not in a bed somewhere.
And there’s not a chain on my wrist, either. Thank goodness!
The two Sakk warriors from the previous night were still there, though they were lounging in chairs instead of standing.
“You will always be safe here,” Sakkra reminded her.
Amy wasn’t sure how to answer that. She rubbed her eyes, then patted at her jacket pocket.
No phone. “What time is it?”
Sakkra looked toward the warrior who’d given her his cloak.
The other man leaned back and looked at something she couldn’t see. “A quarter before five of the clock.”
“Early,” Sakkra assured her.
She pushed to her feet and slipped the cloak off her shoulders. Amy handed it to the warrior who’d lent it to her with a word of thanks.
“Ms. Davidson?” Sakkra inquired. “What are you doing?”
“I have to get ready for work. I’ll be late.”
He pushed to his feet, his wings stretching wide.
A morning stretch? It seemed intimate to watch him do that.
“Do you have a vehicle with you?” he asked.
“Yes. It’s in the parking garage one block over.”
“It is still dark. Please allow my men to walk you to it. For your safety.” It was closer than she’d ever thought she’d hear a prince come to pleading.
The other two took to their feet, towering over her.
“Okay. Sure.” In all honesty, she wasn’t happy about the idea of walking to her car in the dark in this neighborhood, so the escort was something of a relief.
Amy headed for the door, but a niggling of regret stopped her just shy of touching the handle. She half-turned to Sakkra. “I’m sorry about...about last night. It...it won’t happen again. Thank you for trying to help.”
He seemed pained by the pronouncement. Sakkra tipped his head smoothly. “We are at your service, Ms. Davidson. You are welcome here at any time.”
Answering that was impossible. She tipped her head in return and rushed out the door, stopping cold again in the hallway.
The one who’d given her his cloak motioned to her right. “This way, Ms. Davidson.”
“Thank you.” She let him walk beside her, lost to find her way out of the maze alone.
Just as I can’t find my way out of the mess I’m in alone.
There was little question that she would have to leave her job. Working with Lucy would become impossible within hours or days.
Then why am I hurrying to it?
Realization made her quicken her step. Amy wasn’t hurrying to the job. She was speeding away from Sakkra. Waking up in his arms had been far too appealing. Falling asleep there had been far too easy.
I really don’t need this in my life right now.
It is just one too many complications in an already complex situation.
Chapter Ten
“I don’t understand why you want to do this?” her boss repeated. Gary stood with his legs spread and his arms crossed over his chest, looking down at her while Amy packed her desk.
Defensive much, Gary? She sighed. “I don’t want to do this, but for my sake and the company’s, I don’t see another choice.” Amy wracked her sleep-deprived brains, wishing she did see another option, but worrying half the morning hadn’t dredged up more of them.
As it was, her only reprieve from Lucy’s full steam fit was the fact that the woman in question had called off sick today. Tomorrow, she would return in a snit, looking for trouble.
“If Lucy can’t act professionally, we’ll just —”
“Fire her?” Amy finished for him.
He grunted his agreement.
“And she’ll sue. Even if you win in court and prove you had just cause, Lucy will cost you and the company a fortune to prove it.”
Gary shifted as if in discomfort. Amy’s heart sank a notch. She’d known he wouldn’t be able to argue that.
He sighed. “I’ll move her to another office.”
You would have to transfer her to the moon. Or to Sakk. Why couldn’t Gary understand? If Lucy went as far as calling Jason, she was intent. Amy knew from experience that Lucy was a bulldog. When someone crossed her, she didn’t let go until the body stopped moving or the other person withdrew entirely from the situation.
He shook his head. “I could transfer you to another office.” The resignation in his expression said he’d already anticipated her answer.
“There is no office that doesn’t interact with payroll.” And payroll was where Lucy hung her hat. Damn the luck!
“I can’t convince you to stay? Can I?”
“I wish you had something I hadn’t already thought of,” she admitted. “Anything that would make this unnecessary.”
His expression said Gary would rather risk a lawsuit than let Amy walk out the door, but in this lousy economy, he couldn’t risk his own job that way. “Good luck, Amy. It’s going to be hard to replace you.”
“And you.”
He offered his hand. “You’ve got a glowing reference, when you need it. I’ll say...I’ll say we’re reorganizing, and your job is moving to another office.”
She took it and shook his hand, appreciation for the lie nearly choking her. “Thanks a lot, Gary.”
****
Her parents’ house loomed over her. Strange how it had never felt that way before.
I’ve never had to tell them we’re not human before. Amy wasn’t looking forward to that. In the least.
I’m wasting time. Putting this off won’t help, and it won’t make it disappear.
As if confirming that, the drape in the front window moved. Her mother appeared, smiled, waved, and disappeared from view.
She’s heading to the door. There’s no putting this off.
Amy pushed the car door closed and started toward the door. Her mother beat her to the front porch, but only by a few heartbeats.
Diane looked as young as she’d looked when Amy was in high school. As young as she looked when I was in second grade. Her blond hair showed not even a hint of gray, and her lavender eyes crinkled and creased a little at the edges.
Lavender eyes... Amy had read that Sakk-descended often had oddly-colored eyes. Someone could easily guess her mother was Sakk-descended, though there was no hint in Amy’s appearance. Amy looked much more like her father than her mother.
Diane pressed a hand to Amy’s forehead, no doubt gauging her temperature as she had when Amy had been a child. “Good. You’re not sick.”
Amy managed a weak smile. “Why would you think that?”
“You’ve never been one for playing hooky. Naturally, I assumed you must be sick. I’m glad I was wrong.”
“Are you?” Amy certainly didn’t feel well. She was scattered, unbalanced—
“Of course I am. No mother wants to see her child sick or injured. It’s the worst. There’s nothing you can do about it but wait it out and treat it as best you can.” She waved it off, seemingly weary at the very thought of it.
I know something worse, and there’s nothing you can do about this, either. Not even wait it out.
Her mother cocked her head to one side and did a visual assessment of Amy. Then Diane hooked arms with her. “Come inside.” She sighed. “And then you can tell me what happened with Jason.”
Just the thought of him broke Amy’s resolve, and she sobbed. The newly-erected dam burst, and the tears started flowing again.
And Sakkra isn’t here this time.
That made her cry harder. Amy stumbled along blindly beside her mother, sinking to the couch gratefully when they reached it.
Diane disappeared, then returned with a box of tissues and a glass of juice. “Nothing in the world is worse than a child who is hurting,” she grumbled.
I will probably never know. Amy hiccupped and let loose a strained laugh.
Diane sank into the other end of the couch. “Tell me. What has that hotheaded boy done this time?”
Amy wanted to deny that it was Jason’s fault, but there was no other way to present it. I was willing to try. He wasn’t.
Her mother sighed again. “I swear. Men always lose their minds close to the wedding.”
“There isn’t going to be a wedding.”
She wrapped her arm around Amy’s shoulders and hugged her. “Oh, Amy. Most of these things are nothing more than cold feet.”
Amy shook her head, then blew her nose.
The pause was long enough that it could be nothing but an evaluation. “He didn’t cheat on you? Did he?”
Not that I know of.
Now I’m just being snippy. “No. Nothing like that.”
“Then whatever he’s done—”
“He left me. Jason took his grandmother’s ring back, and he left me. He’s not coming back, and good riddance to him!” But the truth still hurt. A lot. “There won’t be a wedding.”
“I don’t understand this.” Her mother’s exasperation was impossible to miss. “What is he thinking?”
Amy forced a calming breath, took a sip of the juice, and composed herself. “You know I went to the Sakk consulate with Lucy the other day.”
Diane nodded solemnly. “I’ll assume she isn’t Sakk.”
How well you know Lucy. “No. Of course she’s not. I was trying to calm her down, and Lucy pushed me. Not hard. She was horsing around, but she pushed me onto the testing pad.”
Her mother paled, and Amy hurried on.
“I’m Sakk. We are, I mean. I can only test positive if you and Dad do as well.”
There was a moment of potent silence. “They’re sure?”
“No false positives or negatives.”
“This is no reason to call things off with Jason,” she decided.
“I didn’t. He did. I wanted to have testing done. I wanted to ask questions of the Sakk. I wanted to find out if we’re compatible or not.”
She winced. “Jason doesn’t?”
“Not only doesn’t he want to be tested, he can’t stand the thought of me being Sakk-descended. He’s a bigot, Mom.”
“Oh... Oh my!” She hesitated. “What are you going to do now?”
“Cancel everything. Get as many deposits back as I can. Find a new job. Go on with my life...somehow.”
“Find a new job? What happened to your job?”
“Lucy?” Amy felt certain she didn’t need to say more.
“Oh. I take it you’ll need a new best friend, as well as a new fiancé.”
“I don’t need either of them,” she groused.
Her mother wisely changed the subject. “What about the Sakk?”
Memories of Sakkra holding her while she wept shook her with their intensity.
“Amy?”
“They aren’t asking for anything. Their prince apologized for the tro
uble they’ve caused me.”
“But what about them?” Diane asked softly.
“I’m not leaving Earth.”
“There’s no way for one of them to stay here?”
“I don’t know.” Is there a way? Mating with one of the Sakk warriors wouldn’t be a hardship if she didn’t have to leave Earth for him.
I don’t want another man. Certainly not yet. “I’m not ready to think about that yet.”
She sighed. “I suppose we should let your cousins know.”
Amy groaned. “Not today, please. I’m not ready to answer their questions.” And I seem to come up with more questions to ask every time I talk about this situation. “Give me a few days to get back on my feet. Okay?”
“Is this weekend long enough?”
I don’t think it will ever be long enough. “Sure. That would be fine.”
****
Amy tossed her heels on top of the box from her office and dragged it out of the car after her. She hip-bumped the door shut and let herself into the building through the security door. It was a three story climb to her apartment, and Amy was sure the soles of her feet would be black from going barefoot up the stairs, but it was better than carrying the box in her heels.
The key slid into the lock easily enough, but it stuck when Amy tried to turn it. Damn it! How many times had she mentioned the problem to the manager?
Jiggling the key didn’t work. Removing it and trying again didn’t, either.
“Not today,” she moaned. Did everything have to go wrong at once?
Amy shifted the box, trying to trap it between her waist and the door. With two hands free, maybe she could find the sweet—
The box overbalanced and toppled to the floor. Pens and papers skittered and shuffled around her feet. The coffee cup Lucy had given her for her last birthday shattered on the polished wood.
For a long moment, Amy stared at the destruction. Laughter bubbled up from inside her, and tears pooled in her eyes.
“Let me help you with that,” a familiar voice rumbled out.
Amy wiped her eyes on the cuff of her dress shirt and looked around at the new arrival. It was the man the Sakk had hired to protect her.
Unexpected Mates (Sons of Heaven) Page 11
