Mandy M. Roth

by The Zodiac Gatekeeper Collection One (BOX SET)

  Clearing her mind of thoughts of her sister, Sidney sank to the floor and landed with a thump on her bottom. She sat, staring around the room, still sensing the man near. A smile played at the edges of her lips. “It’s been a long time since I felt safe. Thank you for that.”

  She ran her fingers over the edging on the floor as she hummed softly. She hugged her legs to her with her other arm and began to count the number of times she tapped the floor. The habit was a hard one to break and had developed soon after her arrival at the hospital.

  Some time passed before Sidney sensed the male presence sitting next to her. She didn’t need to see him to know he was big and strong. They all were. She also guessed he was handsome. The race of men seemed to lack anything even close to substandard as far as looks went.

  “If you’re thinking of showing yourself, don’t,” she said, continuing to tap lightly. “It’s enough I’m letting you this close to me.”

  Cool breath skated over her cheek. “It’s enough for now, Sidney.”

  A smiled danced on her lips. She hummed the same hymn Barry had sung to her and tapped until her eyelids grew too heavy to keep open. Giving in to sleep, she leaned against a warm, strong shoulder and sighed.

  * * * * *

  Aland lifted Sidney’s sleeping form and laid her in her bed. It broke his heart, knowing his kind had instilled that amount of fear in her. He slid in behind her, somehow managing to get his large frame on the tiny bed as well. Spooning her, he held her close, drawing in the scent of her hair. He wanted to whisk her away, then and there, but it would raise too many suspicions. It wouldn’t do to have the human authorities on a manhunt for his mate. It wasn’t as though humans allowed their escaped mental patients to roam freely. Already he’d have enough to do keeping her safe from his kind. Having to hide from her people too would never do. He had to get her released even if it meant manipulating the minds of the people holding her. If she was officially free of the hospital, she wouldn’t have to live in fear of being discovered and taken back. Though, he got the distinct feeling she actually kind of liked being tucked away from the world. He hoped he was wrong.

  He put his lips to her ear and whispered softly to her, “You can trust me, Sidney. I’ll get you out of here and protect you.”

  She wiggled against him, her hand finding his. She laced their fingers together. “I know,” she said, her voice so low it was barely there. Her rhythmic breathing signified she was still asleep and it warmed him to know she responded to him. The truth of her words did something to him as well.

  He could only guess the horrors his kind had filled her with. For her to admit to trusting him was a huge step. More than he’d dreamed possible.

  Time ticked by slowly as Aland held her, cradling her in a protective manner, all the while keeping his power up and at the ready to avoid being seen. Sidney moaned and twisted in her sleep. She rolled over, nearly falling from the bed but he caught her to him. Her breasts pressed to his chest and she exhaled softly, her hand finding his hip.

  He gritted his teeth, tipping his head back, willing himself to keep from touching her. It would be wrong and he knew it. Still, the desire to taste her mouth on his, to dip a finger into her cunt was all consuming. He’d pleasured her with his power before and each lick of it drove him madder with need. She’d come with a passion that both shocked and pleased him.

  “Sidney,” he whispered, unsure why.

  Her pink tongue darted out and over her lower lip before she nuzzled her head to his neck. Their bodies seemed to conform to one another as though they were longtime lovers, used to sharing tight sleeping quarters. It was strange. He’d never before been as at ease with a woman or felt the need to provide comfort in such a way. He wondered what it was about her that broke him so easily.

  Because she’s made for you, jackass.

  He ran his fingers through her silky black hair, loving the feel of it. Her lips pressed tiny kisses to his collarbone and he stilled, wondering if she was awake. She caressed his chest. “Don’t let them take me,” she pleaded, her voice sounding sleep-heavy.

  “He’s dead now. He can’t hurt you again.” Aland wanted to hit something as thoughts of the renegade coming for her came to him. It took him a moment to realize he was still holding her hair, almost yanking on it now. Releasing it, he kissed her forehead and she lifted her head, her lids fluttering open momentarily before her lips met his.

  Fire exploded within him. His hand returned to her hair, this time curling in it, assuring she remained close to him. Her kisses continued and his power flared as it had earlier when he’d sat next to her by the door. His magik seeped out and over her, caressing her body with its mystical tendrils.

  “Une zeena,” he hissed, wanting her spread out before him, ready and willing to truly accept him—all of him. Because of who she was to him, he already knew her body would want him. It was natural. He wanted the woman to want him as well. But the woman wasn’t ready for that just yet. Maybe she never would be at a point he could perform the ritual necessary to tie them together for all time. Aland couldn’t worry about that now. His only concern was Sidney’s well-being and giving her some portion of pleasure. Thankfully, his centuries had taught him patience.

  His flesh felt every caress of his power on her skin. It was as if he were truly touching her. Her nipples tightened as her breasts swelled. Her breathing grew shallow and she whimpered, nipping at his collarbone more.

  Grudgingly, Aland was about to pull back and flash away, hating himself for his weakness, when a power separate from his own appeared, radiating from Sidney. It latched onto his, combining forces. Suddenly, it was his body being caressed by power. His cock responded, hardening to the brink of explosion. It felt as though he were buried in a tight, hot pussy. One that molded like a glove to his dick.

  “Fuck,” he whispered, pushing his head back onto the bed.

  The feeling increased and Sidney cried out next to him, finding release with his power. Hers stroked him, pulled him to the edge, and then sent him crashing over the edge into the oblivion. With a shout, he came, his cock erupting in his jeans.

  Never had anything remotely close to that happened to him before. His friend Sirius had spoken of bonding with his mate prior to actually meeting her in the flesh. He talked of feeling as if he were with her, their bodies one when they were really nowhere near one another. He’d always thought Sirius was making more out of the bond than truly was.

  Clearly, he was wrong. The load of come in his jeans proved as much. If she could drive him to that point without even really meaning to, he was a goner.

  Chapter Two

  Sidney sat in the gathering room, tapping her fingers on the table while she looked out the window. She’d long since worn her nails down to nothing out of nervous habit. Thoughts of Phoebe and her cousin Heather filled her head. She worried often if they were safe, hidden from the men from the stars. It hadn’t taken long for Sidney to understand they were targets for the magik men. Her father had been instrumental in educating them to just how dangerous the men could be. Then again, her father also seemed to think each of his girls was destined to wed one of them so she wasn’t positive what to believe.

  “Sidney?”

  She turned to find a pair of cobalt-blue eyes staring down at her from the face of an incredibly handsome man. Blond hair, cut close to his head, skin that looked to be permanently kissed by the sun, not to mention the stubble-covered, squared jawline just enhanced the intense masculinity oozing from him. All the makings of Mr. Right.

  The white, long-sleeved pullover shirt he wore drew attention to his broad shoulders and conformed to his well-defined muscles. Dark blue jeans, snug in all the right places, left little to Sidney’s imagination. And while she had never considered herself short, next to his six-foot four-inch frame, her five foot nine felt positively petite.

  The man was a ten in her book.

  Pushing her hair behind her ears, Sidney tried to hide the fluttering feeling tha
t generated from the pit of her stomach as she looked up at the man.

  He smiled, his lips full and oh-so kissable. He touched the back of the chair across from hers. “This seat taken?”

  “Yes,” she said, her lips twitching as a smile tried and failed to form. “By my invisible friend. You’ll have to find another.”

  The man arched a brow. His blue eyes crinkled with mirth. “Oh really? Invisible, huh?”

  “That’s right.” She licked her lower lip, waiting for his response.

  “So, how do I stack up against your invisible buddy?” he asked, making desire pool low in her belly. “Think I have a chance in hell at getting you to ask him to move?”

  Sidney beamed. It wasn’t often someone played along with her. Most let her be, assuming she was telling the truth—that she firmly believed an invisible friend sat with her. After all, she was locked away in a mental ward. It would stand to reason she’d have invisible friends who not only paid her late night erotic visits, but who also came during visiting hours.

  Right?

  The man nodded before bending and pretending to whisper in her invisible friend’s ear. He winked at her before sitting down. “He says I can sit here.”

  “Then, by all means,” she motioned to the chair, “sit.”

  Walter, a man who was admitted to the facility a week or so after her, wandered toward her table. He bent and looked beneath the table before standing quickly. “Oh dear. Oh dear. Oh…”

  The sexy man across from her simply stared at Walter. Sidney smiled and stood, putting her hand on Walter’s shoulder. “It’s okay. I put Rainbow in her cave this morning when I found her running in the hallway.”

  Rainbow was Walter’s name for his pet dragon. The dragon only Walter could see and hear. He lost her often and it never ended well for him. Sidney learned long ago to ease his tired old mind or risk watching the orderlies hold him down to sedate him.

  Walter looked up with his pale grey eyes and blinked back tears. His wiry white hair stuck out in all directions. “Rainbow’s safe?”

  “Oh, she’s more than safe, Walter.” Sidney smoothed his hair down and straightened his bathrobe. There was nothing she could do about his mismatched slippers. One a bunny, the other a duck. “She’s eaten two cows and a sheep already. Then I took her to the waterfall and gave her a bath. You know how messy she can get after eating. Last time I checked, she was taking a nap.”

  Walter pulled on her and she bent so he could hug her. Patting her back, he nodded, his face full of emotion. “You’re a good girl, Sidney. A real good girl.” He turned and faced the rest of the room. “Sidney found Rainbow!”

  A round of applause broke out from the residents, each one expressing their gratitude. In their own strange way, they were a family of sorts. Taking care of one another was what helped Sidney get through the days. She watched Walter head off toward the other side of the room, mumbling all the way about Rainbow and how good a girl Sidney was. When she sat back down, she found the sexy man staring at her with a smile on his face.

  “Yes?”

  “You gave a dragon a bath?”

  She stilled, not remembering having addressed Rainbow as anything other than Rainbow. The topic of her being a dragon had not come up. “I’m sorry but I didn’t catch your name or,” she narrowed her gaze on him, “the reason you’re sitting with me instead of a family member.”

  Ralph, who lived under the illusion he was a superhero trapped in the body of a middle-aged man, put an arm in the air and did his battle cry. He wasn’t going to harm anyone but he liked doing it every hour on the hour. You could set your watch by him.

  The sexy man across from her glanced at Ralph. “What is he doing?”

  “He’s Super Ralph. Haven’t you heard of him?”

  The man snickered. “Can’t say as I have.”

  “You will,” she said, smiling coquettishly. “He’ll be famous.”

  “Oh, I’m sure.”

  Ralph hopped off a chair and proclaimed himself hero to all. The orderlies were used to him and knew his antics would end soon. He used to wear a bed sheet tied around his neck to act as a cape, but after getting caught in a shut door and nearly strangling himself by accident, the staff took his sheets away. The funniest part of it all was what Ralph used to use as his sword. They actually had to put him in a one-piece outfit for over a month to keep him from whipping it out to rid the world of the enemy.

  “There certainly are some colorful people here,” the man said, his smile warm, inviting.

  “Did you expect anything less?”

  “Ah, Detective Werner, did you find who you were looking for?” Dr. Sander Marmora asked, his lab coat hastily thrown over his light blue dress shirt. While he was always in dress attire, it was often rumpled. She knew he started his day out fresh and tidy, but by mid shift his tie was normally long gone, at least one button was undone and his lab coat was all but forgotten. He smiled and extended his hand to the man across from Sidney.

  A detective? Wonderful. They were her least favorite type of police.

  She lifted her legs and put her bare feet onto the seat with her, hugging her long legs close as she stared at him.

  “Call me Aland,” the detective said, glancing toward Sidney. “And yes. I found who I was looking for.”

  Marmora’s gaze snapped to Sidney. He was young for a doctor and not bad on the eyes. His features were darker than Aland’s, which she normally preferred in a man, but he lacked that certain something that left her stomach feeling as if butterflies had taken up residency in it.

  “Sidney, are you okay, hon?”

  “Hon?” Aland echoed, and if Sidney didn’t know better she’d have said he sounded jealous.

  Marmora stiffened as he shook Aland’s hand. “Yes, sorry. Sidney and I share a special bond. She was my first patient and I was her first—”

  Sidney tipped her head and stared up from beneath hooded lashes. “He was my first shrink. My first head doctor. My first—”

  “You with the endless line of things to refer to me as.” Marmora snickered. “How are you feeling today?”

  She pinched her pinky toe as she shrugged. “Fine. Only six other voices are in my head today. I think it’s progress. Don’t you?”

  Aland lifted a brow. “You hear voices?”

  “No.” Marmora drew up a chair and sat next to Aland. “Sidney rather enjoys keeping me on my toes. She tests the waters as often as she can.”

  “Well, in my defense, they are such lovely,” she lifted her leg and skimmed her foot seductively over the edge of the table, making sure to lick her lip in the process for effect as her foot finally moved over his, “toes, Doctor.”

  Marmora loosened his tie and cleared his throat. She enjoyed pushing the limits with him. Always had and more than likely always would. Aland didn’t appear to be as amused with her behavior. He looked pissed.

  She laughed wickedly and raked her hand down her face lightly. “What? The nice detective doesn’t like to play the ‘hearing voices’ game? But he’ll play with my invisible friend? Sad. Very sad.”

  Drawing up her power, she let it trickle out and over the table, toward Aland. The minute it touched his hand, he jerked it back. Odd. Humans normally had no idea she was manipulating things around them. She pressed on and Aland locked gazes with her.

  Detective.

  She pushed the thought at him, knowing he’d hear it, as they always did. Humans tended to register what she said as their own thoughts, not hers.

  Aland remained poker-faced.

  Detective. Detective. Are you drawn to the crazy girl?

  No response.

  Do you want to touch her?

  A light sheen of sweat broke out on his brow. Sidney hid her amusement.

  You do. Don’t you? You want to explore her and have her do the same to you. You want to taste her. Taste her cunt. Lick her before you fuck her.

  Aland swallowed loud enough to hear from across the table.

  Ho
w bad do you want to fuck her, Detective?

  He cracked his knuckles as his breathing increased.

  “Sidney?” Marmora leaned forward and touched her shoulder gently.

  Aland’s gaze locked on the doctor’s hand and Sidney knew then just how jealous of the doctor he was. Suppressing a grin, she put her hand over the doctor’s and placed her cheek upon the top of her hand. She let out a breathy sigh. “Mmm, yes, Doctor? You want me?”

  Her gifts allowed Sidney to pick up on just how much the good doctor did want her. He’d spent the greater part of ten years doing his best to ignore his desire for her. She gave his hand a tiny squeeze and pushed her power over him.

  Send the detective away.

  He can try but it won’t work.

  Sidney drew in a sharp breath as a deep male voice sounded in her head. She glanced at Aland, positive she’d imagined him speaking telepathically with her as she could do with others.

  Marmora stood and removed his tiny wire-framed glasses. He set about cleaning them on the end of his lab coat, something he did whenever he was nervous around Sidney. He seemed far away for a moment and Sidney watched him closely. The look on his face was one often worn by others when she was manipulating them with her mind. The problem was, she wasn’t doing anything to the doctor at the moment. But someone was. “Uh, Detective, I’ll join you in announcing the good news. Release day is always a case for celebration. Mary Sue didn’t give me the name of the—”

  “Sidney Fisher is the patient I came to speak with, Doctor.” Aland’s blue eyes flashed with what appeared to be water so quickly that Sidney was sure she had hallucinated it.

  Release day?

  “I have nothing to discuss with you,” she said, standing quickly.

  “Sidney,” Marmora stressed, his tone patronizing. “Hear him out.”