by Claudy Conn
Open your eyes, Jacie, she tried to snap herself out of the sludge in her mind.
She did, she opened her eyes and found herself in a warm and glitter filled dark sky. Retaal was kissing her as though she were the only woman in the world. He was kissing her as though he would starve without the taste of her…
Stop! She couldn’t mouth the word even as it rose up in her throat. She didn’t really want him to stop.
Lust filled her groins, which was so new…so primal and exciting. What was happening? This couldn’t be happening.
All she wanted to do was match his kiss, entwine her tongue with his in a waltz that would never end. She was filled with an eagerness for more. She wanted the pleasure to continue. She wanted his kiss to become another and yet another.
All at once, a shaft of cold air blew in, hitting her right in the face.
What happened?
She realized that Ret had not only stopped kissing her, but he had pulled away from her.
He had her shoulders in his hands, holding her at arm’s length.
He whispered, “Steady.”
What the hell? Steady? I’ll give him steady!
She wrenched herself out of his hold and punched his chest with her fist.
His eyebrows went up.
She was in trouble and it was all his fault. She had wanted the kissing to continue. Instead, he effectively splashed her face with frigid water.
“Forgive me, Jacie…I…I had no right.”
No, he had no right, he hadn’t permission or invitation and yet, if she was truthful with herself, she had been thrilled to finally experience his kiss. All her teens she had daydreamed about what it would be like to kiss Retaal, and hot damn, it had exceeded all expectations.
His kiss, that kiss had taken her to another world and one, she realized, she had been missing. So, that was a kiss!
However, she must not allow him to wield and break her heart. She had to retain control over this situation.
She got up as she pulled herself together and said, “I take it that was to instruct me on how it is done. Thank you.”
His face looked shocked at first and then he burst out laughing. The sound ridiculously filled her with pleasure. He shook his head appreciatively and said, “Jacie, there is no one like you.”
“I know. Now you need to remember that and be careful what you do—it might come right back at ya,” she said, and grinned before she moved towards her bedroom. In the frame of her doorway, she turned and looked at him before she said, “Pillows, blankets, and sheets are in the linen closet near the pantry. The couch pulls out into a sleeper. Night-night.” She closed her bedroom door and leaned back against it.
Holy good gosh, all she wanted to do now was get into bed and relive that kiss.
~ Six ~
JACIE SET AN EMPTY PLATE down on the kitchen island, wondering where Retaal had gone off to and whether he would return any time soon. Wasn’t that just like him? Why should she have expected to awake and find him still in her living room?
Her phone vibrated in her jeans’ back pocket and she took it out. “Hi, Dog, what’s up?”
“Jacie, you and me,” Dog said.
You and me meant Dog wanted her to use magic to eliminate any chance their call could be overheard.
“Yup, she reassured him, you and me. Now I know something is wrong. What is it?”
“The colonel called and said he wants the team to lay low today and stay away from the Lower Planet, no matter what scuttlebutt we hear. He said we will not be on call and we should just relax because tomorrow will be rough. I met Shark for coffee a little while ago and he said that he was with the colonel when The Big Man called and told him to get over to his place. Shark said The Big Man was in a rage and he could hear him shouting over the phone about yesterday’s fiasco inside the Dank.”
“Whoa. And this means…what? I can tell it has you worried, so don’t sugar coat it for me,” Jacie said.
“Look, all this…everything that happened yesterday, can’t be good. Everything we have on this Big Man tells us that with him not only being one of the richest men on the planet, he is also a sadistic, self-serving sociopath. Whatever he will require of this team…well, it won’t be pretty.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, we lay low and watch each other’s backs, kid. I’m beginning to think we…meaning you, Reena, and I need an escape plan. Those rebels didn’t do us any good yesterday. It was as if they knew things they couldn’t have known without a mole in ACE’s team. We are the newest, so all eyes will be on us. I have already sent my pack out of the city.”
Dog sounded frazzled to Jacie’s ears. “Are you saying we are under suspicion?”
“Not yet, at least I don’t think so, but…well…I don’t see us lasting long.”
“Got it…so then what? We work to free the prisoners in the Dank on our own? No probs, I’m good with that. It is what I wanted from the start. Get in—free the prisoners—get out before anyone is the wiser,” Jacie answered. “I have been working on breaking Celine’s wards since early this morning. I think I am getting close.”
“Yeah, but close isn’t enough.” Dog clucked his tongue. “Get it done, Jacie…I smell trouble.”
“Have you messaged Apollo?”
“Well, sorta. Apollo keeps his own council and it is difficult to talk in ‘what ifs’ with him. He wants facts. I don’t have them to give. For now, Jacie, brace yourself. If the rebels don’t rescue the supernaturals from the Lower Planet, and if you don’t break the spell…we just might have a bloodbath on our hands.”
“Why? What are you saying?”
“Simple. Crawly will tell ACE to go after everyone and anyone they have been tracking. Whether they are supernatural or not, they won’t take the chance. They will shoot to kill—human or not. That is my take. And the colonel…he will enjoy that.”
Jacie gasped at this concept. “But…they would kill their own?”
“Yeah, they rationalize everything they do, so yeah, they would. Another thing you need to know that Apollo has refused to believe without proof. It has long been my suspicion that the Cumas that vanish from the Dank, and from time to time they do, are being used in illegal experimentations. Even most of the average humans are against that—in fact, they have an underground organization working to find out if it is happening and put a stop to it. They won’t—Crawly is too powerful. Shark once let something slip that made me almost certain that my suspicions are correct. I call it experimentation, but it is worse. I think this old guy…The Big Man, wants immortality. I think he has successfully prolonged his life with pure supernatural blood, but hasn’t achieved immortality. I think…he is using supernaturals—taking their organs and using them in experiments with human subjects…homeless people who won’t be missed.”
Jacie was momentarily shocked. Could anyone—even the worst of the humans, be that devious and wicked? At last she said, “Yes, it makes sense.”
Why had she ever thought she could rustle up some bacon and eggs and have a quiet morning?
“Better get some relaxation today, Jacie. Tomorrow will be ugly. Gotta go…want to get Reena out of the city and then I’ll be back,” Dog said quietly.
“Dog…wait, I almost forgot to tell you—Retaal and his cellmate escaped yesterday,” she said on a hushed note, even though she knew her and Dog’s conversation was encased in a magic no one, not even a Cuma could penetrate.
“HELL YES!” Dog said. “How?”
“You will laugh. It was so simple. I tweaked a group of termites and set them to work for me. Unseen and under the floorboards of Retaal’s bed. Well, the little buggers ate through the wood floor and gave Ret enough air to regain some strength. He knows Celine and she brought down the wards for a minute, only a minute, so he could get through. He rescued his cellmate and sent him to Devos. Apollo knows.”
“Where is Retaal now?”
“I don’t know, but that isn’t all. He had been captured but
only because he allowed it, wanted it. He thought he could get into the Dank and find an easy way to free everyone, but he didn’t know they were using oxygen to keep them all under control and using the witches to keep up a magical ward.”
“This is great news, Jacie. It doesn’t answer how the rebels got in, though. I didn’t know about the oxygen until yesterday either. Great news. We need him on the outside with us, and Retaal has a whole lotta power, and from what I hear, he is as good as his father is with opening long distance portals.”
“Yes,” Jacie said, though she wasn’t sure how she could get in touch with Retaal. He was gone when she woke up and had not even left her a note.
“Someone is at the door, kid…later.”
She clicked off her phone and the protective shield she had created and put what food she hadn’t burned onto her plate.
Sipping her coffee and picking at her bacon, she went into deep thought. During the night, a night where she tossed and turned, Retaal had come to her closed door and said, “Jacie, I know you are awake. Please listen to me…”
She got up and opened her door a crack. “What could you possibly want at two in the morning?”
“I want your promise to go home. I am free now, and there is no reason for you to stay,” he said.
She couldn’t believe his audacity, but calmed herself into saying simply, “No. Now go to sleep.”
“What I will be doing, in the near future, will put you and Dog at risk if you stay. If you accept to pull out…take Dog with you.”
She opened the door wider. “Go to sleep, Retaal. Dog and I can’t just pull out. What sort of cowards do you take us for?” She wagged a finger at him. “Look, your father sent me to free you. As it happens, that is done. However, he wants me here for more than that. You don’t seem to realize I am a trained and capable soldier. Apollo didn’t say I wasn’t supposed to stay and free the others in the Dank, and that is what Dog and I mean to do.”
Retaal had put a toe between the door and its frame, stepped into her bedroom and took both her arms in his big hands. “Jacie, truce? Please? I am sorry and you are correct. You are a soldier in my father’s army of peace and have every right to make your own decisions, make your own way, but…I just don’t want to see you hurt.”
She wanted to yell and tell him the only real hurt she had suffered since her parents’ loss was the hurt that had come from him. Instead, she nodded and said, “I know you don’t need much sleep…but I do.” She tried pushing him backwards and out of her room.
He put his hands up in surrender and grinned. “Okay then, dead subject. You are staying. Got it, but before you send me back to my bed, are you sure you don’t want another lesson in kissing?”
What? Who was this person? Was he flirting with her again? How could he pretend brotherly protection one minute and attempt seduction the next?
She raised her brow. “Careful, you might find your lessons lead you into a trouble you might regret.”
“I already have, baby, I already have.” His grin broadened. “But trouble…yes, regrets…none.”
Jacie pushed him backwards out of the room and closed her bedroom door. She was all too aware that the trouble she spoke of was exactly where she was headed if she continued finding herself in his company.
Morning had come and he was gone.
She stood up and shook off the huge image of him in her mind, feeling very irritated with her reaction to the memory of his silver eyes, and annoyed with the memory of her weak knees then and even now. You are going to get hurt again, Jacie, you are going to get hurt.
She rinsed the dishes and stuck them in the dishwasher when a shuffling outside her loft door made her stop short and listen more deeply.
Surprised, she wiped her hands down on a dish towel and whispered, “Now what?”
She went to the door and took a look through the peephole.
On the other side was a hunk of a guy with a thick shock of platinum blond hair. Her brow went up and she couldn’t help but notice that his layered waves of hair framed quite a remarkably handsome face. She opened her eyes wider and discovered dark sunglasses hid his eyes and black leathers fitted his fine torso and legs. Who the hell was he?
She was, for a moment, speechless, and continued to stare through the peephole.
He bent his head and said towards the peephole, “Hi…”
Whoa! His voice was soft and sexy. Where had he come from? What did he want from her? Why was he here?
“Yes?” she said.
“Yeah, sorry to bother you, I’m Niall McGowen…your upstairs neighbor,” he said in that dreamy voice of his.
Whoa, her mind repeated, my neighbor.
She opened the door wide and said, “Oh, hi…I am Jacie McGalie.”
“I hope I’m not interrupting…but I had a delivery dropped at my loft…” He pointed above to the apartment over hers. “I am sorry, I wasn’t home all day, got in too late to trouble you last night when I found it. Apparently my cleaning crew didn’t realize that it was addressed to you, and just accepted it.”
She realized then that a furniture box stood at his side. Oh! Yes, of course, the antique sofa table she had purchased a few days ago on her way home from ACE headquarters. She had totally forgotten about it.
“Oh, thanks so much. So sorry you had to go to the trouble of bringing it down.” She started to reach for it.
He said, “I’ll carry it in for you. It is awkward to lift and heavier than it looks.” He had the cardboard furniture container in hand and walked into her apartment with it like it was a featherweight.
He set it down near the sofa and said, “Shall I take it out of the box for you?”
Jacie eyed him for a moment before answering. Something about him seemed familiar? Had she seen him before this moment? No, she couldn’t have because she would have remembered this guy. He was smokin’. Of course, she might have seen him in passing…maybe somewhere near the apartment building they seemed to share?
Perhaps that was it, but Jacie’s instincts were on the alert. Her witchiness was tingling her brain and her blood.
“Oh no, no, you don’t have to…” she started to object.
He had a box cutter out and Jacie said, “Wow, do you always carry that around with you?”
He chuckled. “I thought you might need me to help get it out of the cardboard.”
Before she could say anything else, the box was sliced open to display a cherry wood and lovely end table. He positioned it at one end of the couch.
She studied it and laughed. “Now, of course, it needs a lamp!”
“And a special floor electric outlet for the lamp,” he said, and grinned.
Jacie grimaced. “Right, didn’t think of that. I suppose I’ll need an electrician to come up and put an outlet in the floor,” she said more to herself than to him.
He laughed and said, “It never ends, does it?” All at once, she found him striding to stand over her. She reacted by moving away.
“Thank you, Niall,” she said, hoping he would leave. There was something about him that worried her, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
He took one more step closer to her and smiled warmly as he slid his dark sunglasses upwards and positioned them on top of his blond head.
Damn, his eyes were green! Like a still dark lake…mysterious and alluring.
“That is what neighbors are for,” he answered softly and then added, “I have a crew of carpenters and an electrician coming in a couple of days to do some work for me. I can send the electrician down to give you a quote.”
“Oh, that would be so nice,” Jacie said, though instinct told her, no, no, no. What was this guy up to?
He looked around and said, “I see you still have a whole lot of space to fill.”
“I know, right? I just don’t have the time to shop for furniture. Haven’t even had the time to think about what I want where,” Jacie said, smiled, and wished he would leave. He was very charming, but…and the
‘but’ concerned her. It wasn’t that she didn’t like him…she actually did, but even so, she wanted him to go.
Boom! It came at her in a wave of power as her witchy senses kicked in and screamed Cuma, Cuma, Cuma, full-blooded God, right here, right now. All at once she knew why she had been on edge in his company. He had disguised himself with Fae Glamour, as only an experienced and ancient Cuma could do. He had come to her under false pretenses, trying to hide what he was.
What the hell? Why? Did he know who she was? Did he know she was a witch—an immortal witch? Is that the real reason for his intrusion?
Jacie looked him over. Every inch of his hot body, and his deep green eyes, told her that she should put up a shield and get ready.
The pulse in the air between them was almost a tangible thing.
It wasn’t that he was threatening in any manner, yet her witchy senses could not help but be on high alert. After all, he had come in disguise. He hadn’t wanted her to know he was a Cuma. Why?
Everything about him was spelled out in capital letters, ALPHA MALE. It was like a sign he wore across his chest. He exuded self-assurance, and highly restrained power, but there was something else…something at the bottom of what she was feeling?
Holy crap! All at once it hit her between the eyes and called her stupid. Stupid for not having known immediately.
Jacie took a step backwards. Niall McGowen was not only a Cuma—he was the rebel leader she had encountered yesterday in the Dank!
He must have seen the flicker in her eyes. Retaal had been correct when he told her that her facial expressions gave her away.
“Ah, took you long enough, pretty witch. I would have thought an immortal witch with the kind of mana you possess would have immediately seen through the shield of Glamour I used to disguise myself. A gift from a Royal Fae prince, many centuries ago. Fae Glamour…very useful, as humans cannot see through it, and their blood work and medical tests cannot be penetrated,” Niall said easily as he put away distance between them once again.
“You are not just one of the rebels…!” Jacie accused on a hushed note. “I…I knew something was familiar about you. You were masked, but I recognized your voice, and yes, it did take me a bit to see through the Glamour you are using, but only because I have never come across it before. Even so, Fae Glamour is a rare skill.” Jacie tried to get control of the moment, cater to his obvious ego…stall for time while she figured out what to do next. “Not many Cumas have that skill.”
