Madness Unmasked

by ML Guida

  “Well, that’s not happening.” She furiously put on her bra.

  “If this doesn’t happen, another mate won’t be revealed and we’ll die as a race.”

  She walked over to him and shoved him back hard on the bed. He fell backward and his eyes widened. She shook her finger at him. “I don’t give a damn about your planet. And if you ever touch me again, I’ll kill you.”

  The hurt in his eyes immediately made her regret her threat, but she bit back an apology. She’d never forgive him for keeping this secret from her. The same ball of overwhelming grief and guilt roosted in her stomach. She’d betrayed Lisa again––this time, sleeping with the enemy.

  She quickly gathered her clothes and dressed in the bathroom where she could quietly shed her tears. When she opened the door, Ysam was gone.

  The smell of their lovemaking made her stomach clench. She couldn’t stay here. She wanted to go back home, go back to her practice, go back to ordinary.

  The door opened and she was relieved the corridor was empty. She didn’t know where Ysam went and didn’t care. She got into the elevator and pushed the buttons like Walfea had.

  She hurried through the spaceship, needing to gasp fresh air. When she stepped outside, men and women were holding the thick vines, but she didn’t see Ysam.

  Tash was inspecting the vines. She hurried over to him.

  He glanced at her and frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  She braced her shoulders and met his hard stare. “Tash, when this is over, will you take me back to Earth?”

  “What happened? Where’s Ysam?”

  “I don’t know and I don’t care.”

  He lifted his eyebrow as if he didn’t believe her. She knew he must have suspected what she and Ysam had been doing with her disheveled hair, bruised lips, and scratched skin, but she wanted to go home, even if she had to steal a shuttle craft.

  “I helped save your people. You owe me this. Will you take me home?”

  “Is that what you really want?” he asked softly.

  “Yes.” Her voice sounded like her old attorney tone, but her heart was breaking.

  “You’re right and if this is what you really want, I give you my word that I’ll return you to Earth.”

  “Thank you.”

  Chills scurried down her back. She glanced over her shoulder. Ysam was watching her with a possessive gaze, but she wasn’t his––not anymore. She headed over to the women with her back straight and her head held up high. If she felt so strongly, then why did an empty pit form in her gut of never seeing him again or feeling his touch?

  She blocked out those thoughts as she approached the women who held the vines. Her muscles bunched into heavy knots. Ollae watched her warily. Kathy wasn’t sure what to say to her or even if she knew that Kathy had killed her mate. Her aura beamed orange and she didn’t detect any malice. Kathy’s muscles slackened. Maybe Ollae was in the dark as everyone else.

  She gripped a slippery vine and realized it wasn’t just one. Six vines had been wound around each into a thick chain, but even with this, she wasn’t sure it was strong enough to pull up a starship. Men were on the other two vines.

  Ysam headed toward her, and she lowered her gaze. She held on tightly to the vine, afraid of what she might do if he spoke or touched her.

  But he brushed past her without a word. At the back of the men’s line, he transformed into a dragon. Walfea draped a thick vine over his stocky neck.

  “Ready!” Tash yelled. His telicator beeped. He answered, his face paled, and he stared at them grimly. “A Kamtrinian ship is approaching. We have to get the Intrepid off her side or we’ll never make it out of here alive.”

  Kathy bit her lip, her arms and legs shaking. Her palms turned clammy, and she tightened her grip on the thick vine. She refused to die on this damn planet.

  “Pull!” Tash ordered.

  Kathy yanked with all of her strength, her muscles bulging and straining, her shoes digging into the wet dirt. She skidded and fell on to her buttocks, but clamored back on to her feet.

  The Intrepid stubbornly refused to move as if frozen in cement.

  Moans and groans echoed around her.

  “Come on,” someone growled. “Put your backs into it.”

  Kathy gritted her teeth and pulled harder, pain seizing her arms, but she refused to give up.

  “We can do this,” a woman gasped.

  Kathy recognized Ollae’s voice and pulled, her feet slowly inching backward and arching her back.

  Gasps grew louder. Something creaked. Kathy’s chest tightened. The side of the Intrepid cricked and creaked and groaned, lowering painfully slow as if it had all the time in the world.

  Tash ran in front of the women’s vine and clasped it. “Now, pull!”

  Kathy panted hard and yanked, her muscles straining. The pointy leaves on the vine dug into her palms. She grunted and edged back like the others. Their vine seemed to move some easier because of Tash’s amazing strength.

  She looked over her shoulder. Ysam had crept deeper into the jungle, his wide girth knocking down trees and trampling brushes. His power and tenacity never failed to amaze her, but he’d lied to her, destroying any trust budding between them.

  Tears built up on the back of her eyelids. She blinked and the vine slipped through her palms, tearing into her flesh. She bit back a cry and rubbed her throbbing palms onto her thighs. Her tender heart threatened to break, but she was strong. She was an attorney. She’d overcome his betrayal.

  Ryruc ran down the ramp, slipped, and fell. “Tash!” He pointed toward the sky. “The Kamtrinians are here.” He scrambled off the ground, leaves sticking in his hair and dirt smudging his face. He limped over to stand in front of Tash.

  Eruptors fired overhead and trees caught fire close to the Intrepid.

  “Pull!” Tash screamed.

  The vine moved easier, then the side of the Intrepid embedded in the ground scraped and lifted off the ground. Adrenaline spiked through Kathy. She gritted her teeth.

  One more good pull. That’s all they needed.

  Something green moved through the clouds. A long cigar-looking ship headed straight for them. She stopped and her mouth fell open. Goosebumps rolled up her arms. On one of those crazy science fiction shows, cigar-shape spaceships had been photographed.

  The ship’s eruptors opened fire. Red-hot beams hit the ground. Kathy shielded her eyes and turned away. She broke into a sweltering sweat and gasped to breathe. The beams left long blackened cracks in the soil. Smoke curled above the dark marks. If one hit her, she wouldn’t have a chance. Her legs trembled and she fought the thought of running to Ysam.

  She held her ground and dig her heels into the dirt, and crept backward, her muscles stretching to breaking point.

  “Come on…” She gritted her teeth. “Move.”

  The Kamtrinian ship made another turn around, their weapons aimed at them, ready to pluck them off like sitting ducks. Kathy closed her eyes, hyperventilating.

  Something crashed. The thick vines jerked. Kathy flew, landing flat on her back, slamming the breath out of her. A loud shriek stilled her heart. Ysam was next to her in dragon form, blocking her view of the spaceship, protecting her again. Panting hard, she stared at him. Even after her threat, he still wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

  She struggled to her feet and came alongside Ysam, who set back on his haunches, snarling. Kathy winced, shielding her eyes. He blew out a stream of fire that hit the green cigar full blast, slowing down its path. The ship veered and flew out of the flames, the outside red-hot.

  “Everyone inside!” Tash yelled, moving his arm frantically.

  Another phaser beam hit the ground. Dirt and debris flew into the air, tossing Tash as if he were a teddy bear.

  “No!” Kathy screamed.

  He laid motionless on the ground, the wind blowing his long hair over his face.

  She ran toward him, but Ysam blocked her with his large body. He tilted his head toward his bac
k. Tears blinding her, Kathy scrambled on top of Ysam’s back and hung on tight. He bounded into the trees.

  She held her breath, waiting for the defenseless Arian ship to explode. She held on to Ysam’s thick neck. His wings were out wide as if to protect the bears.

  The Arians suddenly cheered.

  “The Zalarians are here! The Zalarians are here!”

  A gigantic silver star ship burst out of the skies like a meteor, firing repeatedly at the Kamtrinian ship. The Kamtrinian ship spun around helplessly. Ysam jumped up, forcing her to fall off his back. He ran out of the trees and blasted another blaze of flames at the spinning, sparking Kamtrinian ship. The ship stalled and fell, whinnying, tumbling over and over and crashed onto the mountain.

  The force shook the ground, then the ship exploded. Kathy turned her head. Heat whooshed over the back of her. All that was left of the Kamtrinian ship was an angry fiery ball of green and yellow flames and twisted metals.

  More cheers broke out among the Arians.

  “Yes!”

  “We’re safe!”

  Vaughn and Ryruc were at Tash’s side. He had a gash on his forehead, but was sitting up.

  Ysam transformed and stood in front of her. Dirt and leaves cluttered his torn shirt that revealed his glistening chest. She was about to throw her arms around his neck for joy, but his stoney expression kept her arms close to her side.

  “You’re safe now. I’ll see that you go back to Earth and you’ll never have to see me again.”

  He walked away, his back stiff, his fists clenched. Kathy wrung her hands, emptiness spreading through her like the cold flu. She now fully understood the saying––be careful what you want, you might get it.

  Chapter 16

  One month later

  Kathy wiped the back of her shaking hand across her mouth, breathing hard, then flushed the toilet. This was twice in one day. She blinked her eyes, refusing to cry.

  “Ms. Strong, are you okay?” Jane Brown, the court reporter asked, her grandmotherly voice full of concern.

  Kathy straightened her jacket and tossed her head back. “Yes, I’m fine.”

  But she was far from fine. Ever since she’d been home, she’d gone back to ordinary and had been miserable. She missed Ysam, his smile, his possessiveness, his tiger-eyes. How could she have told the man she loved she’d kill him if he ever touched or spoke to her again?

  What a fool she’d been. Her hurt and anger had overcome her better judgment, but she couldn’t focus on the biggest mistake of her life, Kathy came out of the stall with her attorney face on. “It must have been something I ate.” Kathy bent over the sink and rinsed her mouth.

  Jane rubbed her back. “My dear, you’re talking to a woman who has had six children. How far along are you?”

  “I’m not pregnant,” she said sharply.

  Jane’s blue eyes twinkled. “I can see it in your eyes. A pregnant woman’s skin always glows. And yours is beaming.” She frowned. “If you don’t trust me, then you need to see a doctor. You need to start thinking about what’s best for the baby.”

  Kathy walked out in front of her. “I am not pregnant.” As if saying she wasn’t pregnant made it true.

  Jane clicked her tongue.

  Kathy returned to court and apologized, then continued defending her client, accused of stealing his girlfriend’s car. But her mind was elsewhere.

  Throughout the rest of the hearing, she’d had to endure Jane’s scowl and looking at her as if she was the evil incarnate. She couldn’t help but wonder what the silver-haired woman would think if she knew the father was an alien shape-shifter.

  She shut her briefcase then left the courtroom and went straight to the drug store to buy a pregnancy test. Her throat ran dry as she played the scene over and over in her head of telling him she’d never wanted to see or have him touch her again. She even promised to kill him. Unfortunately, Ysam had kept his word and stayed away from her.

  When she got home, she ripped open the pregnancy test. Her heart beating nervously, she paced back and forth, wearing a hole in her bathroom floor, waiting for the longest three minutes to end. She grabbed the stick and groaned.

  Positivepositivepositivepositive.

  She sat on the toilet seat and rested her hand on her elbows. Tears swelled in her eyes and fell on her knees. Not only was she not ready for a baby, but especially not a dragon baby.

  After her jaunt in outer-space, she’d engrossed herself in cases, working twelve to fourteen hour days. She’d shut out Agnes and Frank, blaming them for being co-conspirators.

  “I can’t do this alone.”

  Agnes had gone to Zalara and Kathy hadn’t even told her good-bye. But she’d left Frank a telicator.

  Kathy tossed her suit and blouse onto the floor then changed into her sweats. Swallowing back her pride, she called Frank.

  He answered immediately.

  “Kathy?”

  “Frank,” her voice choked.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m…I’m pregnant.”

  Silence answered her announcement.

  She gripped the phone tight. “Say something.”

  “Ysam’s?”

  “Yes. Frank, I’m so scared. I don’t know what to do. I didn’t know who else to call.”

  “How far along are you?”

  “A month. What if this pregnancy is different than for a human?” She put her hand on her stomach. “I…I…need help. Could…you…call Agnes?”

  “I could, but I’ve got a better idea.”

  A heavy emptiness weighed heavily on her chest. She bit her lip. “What?”

  “How about if I call Ysam?”

  She swallowed, not able to speak. “I don’t know.” A tear slid down her cheek. “He probably never wants to see me again.”

  “He’s never left you.”

  Her breath bottled up in her chest. She frowned. “What?”

  “Taog offered him a position on the Orion, but he turned it down.”

  She sagged against the chair, her eyes unable to focus. “He did? But that was his dream. Why?”

  “Because he wanted to try the ordinary. He’s here on Earth.”

  Her pulse sped up and she sat straighter. “And he’s stayed away from me?”

  Frank laughed. “You were pretty clear that if you saw him again, he’d be a dead dragon.”

  “I know,” she said quietly. Heat flamed over her cheeks and her heart beat rapidly. “Where is he?”

  Frank blurted, “He’s working at O’Toole’s as a bartender.”

  Kathy touched her pulsing throat. “You’re kidding?”

  “No, I’m not,” he said in his best don’t-mess-with-me FBI voice.

  Kathy hesitated and twirled the string on her sweat pants tightly around her finger. ”Do you think he wants to see me?”

  “Kathy, a man wouldn’t give up his dreams for a woman unless he truly loved her.” His voice softened, reminding her of her father’s when he was trying to give her advice.

  “No, no, of course not.” Her voice faded as his words sunk into her stubborn brain.

  She put her cellular phone down and bit her thumb. Her stomach swirled uneasily, and she closed her eyes. Ysam had given up his dream for her. Who was she kidding? He’d given up his world for her. She’d never heard of any man who had done this. At least not in her world.

  He was extraordinary.

  She made a decision and jumped off the chair. Within minutes, she showered and was in her car driving to O’Toole’s. Should she apologize or plead or tell him about the baby? All of them seemed desperate and pathetic.

  She pulled into the crowded parking lot and rested her forehead on the steering wheel. She hadn’t even asked Frank when Ysam was working and was too chicken to call him, but here she was leaving her pride and hurt behind. This wasn’t just about her. She had a little life inside her, alien or human, the child was hers. And she didn’t want to do this alone.

  She threw open the double glass doo
r and quickly glanced at the bar. A small table was opened, and she slipped in the chair. Her stomach swirled again, and she licked the sweat off her trembling upper lip. God, she wished she could have a drink.

  A blond female bartender pulled levers to fill up pilsner glasses. Another man was pouring wine into glasses, but no sign of Ysam.

  A waiter strolled over. “Hi, can I get you something to drink?”

  “Just water. Ah, um, is…Ysam working tonight? He’s a bartender.”

  “No, Monday’s his day off. I’ll be back with your water.”

  She tilted her chin down and left. Her plan had been a dumb one. She headed for her car.

  “May I have this dance?”

  The familiar husky voice made her heart skip a beat. She whirled around to see Ysam with his arm stretched out. He watched warily with his tiger-eyes.

  “You’re here.”

  “I never left.” He took a step toward her. “I love you. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He hung his head. “I should have told you about Daidhl.” His voice cracked.

  He was so lost. He’d risked his life repeatedly on Sutois and then sacrificed everything for her. She was the selfish one, living in her grief. Lisa was gone. All her pent up anger dissipated and she let go. Her pulse raced, rising the her body temperature.

  “Stop. I know.” She ran into his arms and hugged him tightly, inhaling his spicy scent, never wanting to lose him. “I’ve missed you so much. I love you.”

  He held her and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll do ordinary. I’ll do anything. I just want to be with you.”

  She looked up at him and put her hands on his cheeks. “I don’t want normal. I want you.”

  He lowered his head, his lips captured hers, and she balled her fists in his shirt, never wanting to lose him again. Tears fell down on her face.

  “Why are you crying?” He brushed the wetness off her cheeks.

  “I’m…I’m pregnant.”

  “Frank told me.”

  She laughed. “I figured he would. Has any other Earth women became pregnant?”

  “No.” He kissed her wet cheeks. “You’re the first.”

  She pressed her lips together. “I’m scared. What if something goes wrong?”