by Amy Ruttan
Her ass was pressed against his groin.
Great.
That’s just what he needed, a raging hard-on in the morning. Especially when he couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
As if sensing what he was thinking about, Lexie rolled over and looked at him. Those blue eyes of hers were so intense, her lips were parted, and her red hair was fanned out behind her. Just like that night five years ago, when she gave herself to him. He’d been so worried about hurting her. It was her first time, but the chemistry had been explosive and he never felt pure bliss like that before.
It was the night that had changed them forever.
His pulse began to race. Their gazes locked, and his body burned with need.
He sat up.
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“I’m putting some distance between us.”
“You’re afraid I’ll hurt you,” she said with resignation. “I worry about that too.”
“No!” He turned back around. “No, I don’t think you’ll hurt me. It’s just… God, Lexie I want you. You left me and I was pissed, hurt when you left me like that, but I still want you. There has never been anyone else. You’re in my blood.”
Burned into my soul.
“I want you as well,” she whispered, then she looked away. “I can’t though. I don’t have control. I don’t want to hurt you again.”
“I don’t care about getting hurt.” And he really didn’t care.
He hadn’t cared then and he didn’t care now. All he could think about was her.
The way she made him feel, and how long he’d been denied her. How long he’d been searching for her, dreaming of her and of being in her arms again.
Pink bloomed in her cheeks, as she bit her lip. When she opened her eyes again, he could see the faint glimmer of her power shimmering below the surface, and it crackled through the air. She was aroused.
He could never forget the way she looked that night they were together.
It made him want her all the more.
What’re you doing?
He didn’t know, but he wanted to find out.
Even if it was just for this moment, this one moment in time before they escaped into the wilds of Wood Buffalo, he was going to enjoy it. Even if it killed him. He reached out and touched her face, cradling it. She moved away and he was worried he’d pushed her too far.
“Do you have anything to tie my hands?” Her voice hitched in her throat as she asked that, and he could see her nipples, hard under his tee shirt she’d fallen asleep in.
“What?” he asked, because he wasn’t completely sure that he heard her right.
“Handcuffs? Chain? I’d burn through rope, so it has to be metal.”
“I can’t tie you down.” Although a part of him wanted to.
“Tie me down, Bryant.” She was begging him. It was a plea, urgent and primal. He was feeling it too, feeling her need, her desire. “Tie me down, and then I know I can’t hurt you. Please. I want you. I need you.”
He wanted her.
He wanted to be buried deep inside her.
“I’ll be back.” He had chain in his front closet, left by the previous owner, that he’d never bothered to get rid of.
When he came back into the room, she had removed his shirt. All that remained on her was her pink lace underwear.
Holy Fuck.
When she said she wanted him just as much as he wanted her, his need to claim her drowned out everything else. His hunger for her fire was intense; he wanted her that badly.
It possessed him.
Lexie’s body glowed in the shadows of the dimly lit room.
She held out her hands and his shook, as he wrapped the chain around her wrists. Heat emanated from her skin, with the fire coursing through her veins.
He was going to get burned, but he didn’t care. His need was so great. This is what he’d dreamt about, this moment.
After he fastened the chains to the bed posts, he shimmied out of his boxer briefs and parted her legs, running his hand down over her stomach to the juncture of her thighs. His hand slipped into her underwear.
Oh Fuck.
She was so soft, warm, and wet. His cock twitched in anticipating of being buried deep in her.
“I want you,” he whispered.
“Yes,” she murmured, thrusting her hips up, silently begging him to take her.
He pulled her underwear off. Bryant leaned down and pressed his mouth against the center of her heat. She cried out, straining against the chains as he licked her.
She was wet and ready for him. He settled between her legs, pressing his erection against her, stroking her with the tip of his cock.
It was torture.
He thrust forward, sliding into her slick heat. She was so tight and slick.
It had been too damn long. She rolled her hips again, moving her pelvis against him, but he controlled her movements. He pushed his hips against her, sliding in and out of her with ease. A flush spread over her creamy skin and bloomed in her cheeks as he rode her hard and fast. She met each one of his thrusts until her body stilled and she cried out as she came around him.
He followed her quickly, his orgasm a tight ball of fire in the pit of his belly. Sweat beaded on his forehead, as he slid out of her and collapsed beside her.
They lay there and he listened to her breathing. It was deep at first and then it softened, and when he glanced at her, her body was slack. She’d fallen asleep, still chained up.
He was drained too.
The sex was hot, but he wanted her to touch him. He wanted her arms around him again, her nails digging into his skin.
Bryant went to remove the chains, but they glowed. They were hot as if they were being forged in a fire. He’d have to wait until they cooled down. The flames never burned her at least. So he’d let her be. He rolled on his side and drifted off into an uneasy sleep.
***
The phone ringing incessantly woke Bryant out his slumber. Smoke, or at least the smell of it, lingered in the air. And, for one moment, he thought the smoke from the forest fires were reaching Fort Smith, and then he recalled, in exquisite detail, what had just happened.
He glanced back at Lexie, naked, sleeping, her hands still chained.
That had been a first for him and, though he hadn’t wanted to do it, he was glad.
He’d forgotten how much he missed being with her.
The phone stopped ringing, but it started up again.
He got up and grabbed it. It was an unknown number. Usually he’d ignore it because it was probably a telemarketer, but something deep down inside told him to answer this call.
He said nothing when he hit the button to answer it.
“Bryant?” asked a deep British voice.
He let out a sigh of relief when he recognized the voice on the other end. “Mike, it’s good to hear your voice.”
“Same.”
“What’s up?”
“The man you brought in last night to the Fort Smith hospital is dead.”
“Dead?”
“Some cyanide pill or something he managed to take. We’ve hushed up the matter with the RCMP and they aren’t going to investigate any time soon. It’s deemed a suicide, like the body found near the Deh Cho bridge. Know anything about that?”
“Affirmative.”
“And?” Mike asked on the other end.
“No Lotus Circle. No Phoenix. It’s not welcome at the moment. I’ll work on it.” He glanced at Lexie again, lying there so peaceful.
And so naked.
Get a grip. Pay attention.
“It would be in the best interest…”
“I’ll work on it. I promise,” Bryant said. And he meant it. The Lotus Circle could help Lexie and the Phoenix Agency probably could protect her so much better than he could. He didn’t understand why she was so afraid of help.
“Good.” There was hesitation in Mike’s voice.
“What?” Bryant asked, steeling himself
against possible bad news.
“There’s more.”
HIs stomach dropped to the soles of his feet. “More?”
“The terrorist group is known as General Knight’s Army. We’ve been doing surveillance on them and they’re in Isachsen, Nunavut.”
“I’ve never heard of them.”
“Well, informally they’re known as the GKA,” Mike said. “They’ve been building quite an army for the past year. Phoenix Agency has been monitoring them, but until recently they’ve done nothing really. Just spread propaganda about the end of the world.”
“End of the world?”
“General Knight, who is the de facto leader, states aliens are buried in the ice caps and if recovered will purge the earth of the quote normals.”
“He sounds like a whack job,” Bryant mused.
“Yes, but…”
“But?”
“We learned from surveillance they have Mason LaCroix from 62 Degrees North Bush Planes as hostage.”
Bryant’s stomach twisted.
No.
Bryant cursed under his breath.
Mason was like a brother to him.
“I know this hard for you,” Mike said.
“I don’t think you know how hard,” Bryant growled.
“Of course I do. I have many brothers-in-arms. Men I would gladly lay my life down for. I get it and, I think you need to go north with Lexie.”
Bryant got up and walked out of the bedroom, shutting the door quietly behind him. “Are you insane? I can’t take her north if Isachsen is crawling with these fuckers. And I won’t hand her over to the GKA.”
“No, don’t hand her over, but her presence would help us flush them out.”
Bryant scrubbed a hand over his face. “What’re you talking about?”
“I know that Lexie wants nothing to do with us or the Lotus Circle, but maybe if she helps us flush out the GKA and what they’re after, I can promise her asylum. She wouldn’t be bothered by us again. We were only trying to warn her. We can put her into a protection program and she wouldn’t be bothered again.”
Lexie would probably like that.
That’s all she ever wanted. How many times, in the past, did she tell him that all she ever wanted was to be left alone?
“Why does the GKA want Lexie?” Bryant asked.
“Because she’s a telekinetic. A chosen one, according to General Knight’s propaganda. That’s all we can figure out.”
“Isachsen is an old weather station. The Canadian government is not going to just let anyone up there without obtaining permission first. I’d have to file flight plans…”
“I can get you permission. We need to know what the GKA is after. Why they have holed up in the Arctic. I’m sure that you’ll receive instructions from GKA soon regarding Mason. Talk it over with Lexie.”
“Mason won’t like this either. He’d rather die than have me serve Lexie up on a platter.”
“I know, but the GKA are after something out there. Something that’s buried under the permafrost and we need to know what. It’s something that threatens us all.”
“Okay. Lexie thinks it’s some kind of alien thing too.”
“She has good insight. She’s very powerful.”
“I’m aware,” Bryant said.
“I will have a team from the Phoenix Agency up near Isachsen. I have a group already in Grise Fiord and they’re waiting. They’ll make a move in five days. We’ll get you all out of there alive.”
“Sure.” Bryant disconnected the call. As much as Mike was promising that he had a team willing and waiting for them in Grise Fiord, he honestly doubted they would come out of this situation alive.
Even if Lexie didn’t want to go, he’d make sure that she was safe somewhere and he would head up to Isachsen and save Mason himself.
He wasn’t going to leave Mason high and dry.
“Bryant?” she called out from the other room.
He left his phone on the table and headed back into the bedroom. She had shimmied up, but her hands were still tied.
“Could you untie me?” she asked, teasing him with a secret smile.
“Sorry.” He undid the bindings and she rubbed her wrists. “Who called?”
“Mike from the Phoenix Agency.”
Her face went pale and she didn’t look up at him. “What’s wrong?”
“The guy we brought in last night had some sort of cyanide pill. He’s dead. And that terrorist group that he was a part of is the General Knight’s Army. The GKA.”
She winced. “General Knight?”
“You know him?”
“I’ve heard of him and his crazy rants.”
“Well, they’ve taken Mason, a friend of mine, hostage. They know that I’m involved. They know that you’re with me.”
Lexie sighed. “I’m sorry for your friend.”
“Me too.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “We’ll be receiving instructions soon about what GKA want in exchange for Mason’s life. I won’t hand you over Lexie, but I have to go. I have to try and save Mason and see what the GKA is after.”
“What?” she asked. “What do you mean you have to go?”
“You can stay here in Fort Smith. I’ll find somewhere else to hide you and then I’m going to Isachsen, which is where Mike says GKA is holed up. I’m going to save Mason’s life.”
“No, I meant why do you have to go alone? I’m going to come with you.”
“Lexie, you’ve been running from the GKA, the Phoenix Agency and the Lotus Circle. Why do you want to help now? Besides, for whatever reason, General Knight wants you. I won’t put you in danger.”
“Mason is innocent in all of this.” She sighed. “I don’t like that another innocent person has been dragged into this situation.”
“Oh and who’s the other innocent person?”
“You,” she whispered, tears in her eyes. “You didn’t have to get involved in this. You could’ve left me on that bridge.”
“In the state you were in? I don’t think so. You would’ve brought down the whole infrastructure of the area.” He touched her face so she looked up at him. “I know that you don’t like the Phoenix Agency and you want nothing to do with the Lotus Circle because, for some strange reason, you think your power is a curse, so I won’t ask you to get involved if you don’t want to.”
“I want to, but when this is all over, if I help the Phoenix Agency just this one time, they have to let me be. They can’t help me. The fire inside me is cursed. No one can control it.”
He nodded and, though it killed him to offer it to her, he had no choice but to tell her, “They promised you all their resources so you can go into hiding on the east coast of the US.”
“Good. Then I’ll come and I’ll help get Mason out of there.” She stood up and started pulling on her clothes. He watched her, on one hand relieved she was coming to help him but, on the other hand, annoyed that she was coming, because it meant when this was all over, if they were successful, she was going to leave him again.
She was always leaving him.
And he didn’t like it at all.
It killed him.
Chapter Six
As was the plan, they got her a change of clothes at the store in town and the rest of the day was spent waiting for word from the GKA.
Lexie was worried the Phoenix Agency, since they already had the info, would interfere or spook the GKA. Then again, General Knight wanted her badly. Or so Bryant had told her. So maybe spook wasn’t the right word. She just hoped the Phoenix Agency didn’t interfere, because she had a plan that even Bryant didn’t know about.
She was going to help save Mason and stop the GKA from getting whatever they were after, which was apparently buried under the permafrost, and, once Mason and Bryant were safe, she was going to put an end to it all.
She could tell that Bryant was worried about Mason. He told her they were close, but it was obvious he cared a great deal for his former brother-in-arms. He was worrie
d. When Bryant went quiet he was fretting about something.
And right now Bryant was really, really quiet.
And he wasn’t the only one worried. Lexie was worried she wouldn’t be able to control her powers and not only cause harm to Bryant and Mason, but put the entire world at risk if she failed to implement her plan.
Turn. Run.
Only she couldn’t. She was now past the point of no return. Mason meant a lot to Bryant and she could do this for Bryant.
She’d destroy the GKA, the thing they were after, and herself.
That way no one would ever bug Bryant again.
Her mother always told her it would’ve been better if she’d died at birth, instead of surviving. Now, her mother’s wish to see her gone would come true. The sound distortion was loud and she rubbed her temples.
“You’re awfully quiet,” Bryant said, finally breaking the silence.
“I could say the same about you.”
He nodded and then stared at her with an intensity that made her shudder. It was as if he knew her plan about ending it all. He always seemed to know what she was thinking, what her next steps were.
It’s what drew her to him in the first place.
“I was thinking about the first time we met,” she said, looking away, unable to handle his fierce gaze.
“I seem to recall you falling into my arms.” There was fondness in his voice, the warmth that she craved from him.
She smiled. “I did. I was pushed by someone and fell right into your arms. Well, actually, I fell into your lap and knocked over your drink.”
“Right and I got into a brawl with that drunk guy who pushed you.”
“Yes and I tended your wounds after.” Warmth spread through her cheeks as she thought of cleaning his cuts and how she’d been totally snared by his rugged handsomeness. She tried to stay away, but couldn’t.
She was a moth to his flame.
Isn’t that the other way around?
“Lexie.” There was hesitation in his voice.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t…” He scrubbed a hand over his face. His blue eyes were still intense and he pursed his lips together, as if trying to keep back what he really wanted to say. “Don’t do anything to risk your life.”
