by Anna Argent
Mom grinned. The microwave beeped. Ava sat the mug of steaming water on the kitchen table and went to the canister holding the tea bags. “What’s your poison?”
“Peppermint.”
To calm her nausea, no doubt.
Bright sunshine flowed through the windows as a reminder that spring would be here soon. Things would begin to grow again. Emily would graduate. Mom would go back to the doctors and try something else, because she refused to give up and leave her daughters alone.
Ava would keep waiting tables to make ends meet, and try not to dream about a different life. A future.
Once again Radek’s face popped in her head, his dark, broad chest gleaming almost as much as his bronze eyes.
“Something happened last night, didn’t it?” Mom asked.
She always knew. Neither Ava nor Emily got away with anything.
“It’s nothing,” said Ava.
“Bull. You know you’re going to tell me, so why not save me the effort of prying it out of you.”
Effort which Mom could scarcely spare.
Ava sighed. She had to give up something, and her options were either tell Mom about what Beau had done, which would scare her to death, or tell her about Radek.
“I met a man.”
Mom’s drawn-on brows went up. “Really? Who?”
“He’s not from around here. In fact, he’s really not from around here, if you know what I mean.”
Mom frowned for a second before her eyes went wide. She pointed upward and whispered, “You mean… from up there?”
Mom knew that Ava wasn’t from this world—her birth mother had told her right before she’d died. It was one of the reasons Ava couldn’t go into the foster system, the reason she never went to doctors now. What if she was different on the inside? It was bad enough that she didn’t fit in. To be found out as a refugee from another world would have turned her into some kind of science experiment. With no living parents around to protect her, Ava’s birth mother had done the only thing she could—confided in a sweet neighbor whose daughter had been Ava’s only childhood friend.
Alice had kept Ava safe. Treated her like her own daughter. Protected her.
It was Ava’s turn to repay the favor.
She nodded at Mom. “Yeah. I think he wants to take me back.”
Tears shimmered just inside Mom’s eyelids.
Ava covered her hand. “I’m not going. You’re my family now. This is my home. I’m staying.”
Mom swallowed and squared her shoulders. “You’ll do what’s right. You deserve to be happy, Ava. Gloriously, deliriously happy.”
“I am.”
“You always have been a bad liar.”
“Those other people sent me away. They don’t get to come here and take me back when it suits them.”
“You don’t know all the details. You were too little when your mother brought you here. And by the time she knew she was dying, there was no time for questions.”
“I know she ran away because my life was in danger. Why in the world would I go back to a place like that?”
“It’s been a long time. Things could have changed. The least you can do is listen to what this man has to say.”
“It doesn’t matter. There’s nothing he could do or say to sway me. You need me here. So does Emily.” She almost mentioned that Beau was pissed enough to be a threat, but couldn’t put that kind of worry on Mom’s frail shoulders.
“And what about what you need?”
“I need to know that my family is safe and healthy. That’s all that matters.”
Mom cupped Ava’s cheek. “Oh, honey. There’s so much more to life than that. I hope that one day you realize it.”
“Realize what?” asked Emily on a yawn as she walked into the kitchen. Her short dark hair was standing on end, and there was an imprint of rumpled sheets across one cheek.
She didn’t know about Ava—about what she really was. Emily had been so young at the time Ava had joined the family that everyone agreed she should be kept in the dark. One wrong word from a child, and Ava was in grave danger.
To this day, Emily had accepted Ava as her weird, socially awkward, but completely human, sister.
“That I’m late for work,” Mom said as she stood from the table. “I’ll pick you up by the statue on the east side of campus at 5:30, okay?”
Emily nodded and kissed Mom on the cheek. “I’ll be waiting. Bye.”
Ava slid a cup of creamy coffee in front of Emily’s nose as she sat down. “I have crammed as much in my head about probability and statistics as is humanly possible. Don’t bump me or some random distribution will come flying out of my ears and bludgeon you.”
“Drink,” Ava urged. “It will all be better after coffee.”
Emily sipped and groaned. “I love you, sis. For your coffee alone, I love you.”
Ava grinned. “Not as much as Andy is going to love me when I deliver you to his garage where he can swoop in, fix your beater and save his favorite damsel in distress.”
Emily sagged in her seat and rested her head on her hand. “Ugh. Do not speak about that skeevy perv before coffee. It’s too cruel.”
“Wear something short and you might get a discount.”
“Eww. Never. I take it back. All of it. I don’t love you anymore.”
Ava laughed. “There are so few opportunities for amusement in this town, I have to take them where I can find them.”
Emily shuddered and started out of the kitchen, taking her coffee with her. “One of these days some unstoppable man you want to avoid is going to come around on the wings of karma, and I’m going to laugh my ass off as you try to avoid him.”
*****
Dimas, Head of House Dimas, First Battle Lord of His Name, had lost two sons on this backward planet, Earth. That was not the kind of insult that could go unpunished.
He stood atop a communications tower—no more than a mere skeleton of metal. It was unguarded. Unprotected, as if humans feared nothing.
Then again, they had no idea that he was here now, ready to inflict justice for the loss of his blood.
The inhabitants of this world were too dependent on technology. All he had to do was destroy a small portion of their infrastructure, and chaos would be born. Following that up with a few sightings of his war slaves, which would create panic, and the gears of destruction would begin to turn.
His Loriahan enemies hid here, walking in plain sight. Unlike him, they appeared human. Harmless.
No one would mistake the Head of House Dimas as harmless.
Three hundred of his troops were already here on Earth. Two hundred thousand more were on their way, scheduled to arrive within days. His elite guard of ten circled in the shadowy forest at the base of the tower, hidden.
He was also hidden—invisible in his battle suit and impervious to damage.
His Loriahan enemies didn’t know he was here. He would use that to his advantage, drawing them out until he’d killed them all.
His sons may have died here, but he was stronger. He would prevail. The creatures of this world would soon join the ranks of his war slaves and another victory would be added to his powerful and glorious name.
Chapter Eight
Radek waited until the window to his home world opened before he sent his report to Warden Trathen.
Target located. Refusing to return. Will pursue further.
The response came back too soon for comfort, almost as if the warden had already decided to summon him back, regardless of his progress. Failure unacceptable. Assignment terminated. Return home for review and reassignment.
Radek’s blood chilled. His palms broke out in a cold sweat. His stomach surged, threatening to empty itself, and it had nothing to do with the poison lying dormant in his system.
He couldn’t go back. All that waited for him there were four stone walls and suffocating isolation. Years and years of isolation.
His fingers trembled as he keyed in his response. Window too far f
or immediate transport. Target will be acquired and returned home as ordered.
The hope of impending success was the only thing he could think of that might change the warden’s mind.
Negative. Came Trathen’s response. Return now for reassignment.
There were no other assignments. The only reason he’d gotten this one was because no one else would take the job. The only life their people could stand to lose in a time of war was one they already deemed worthless.
He couldn’t go back to prison. He wouldn’t. If necessary, he’d stay here until he ran out of blockers and died before he’d go back.
This small taste of freedom had made it impossible for him to ever again live as a caged animal.
Radek had to convince them that his work here was valuable, that he was better here, risking his life on a world no one else wanted any part of, than rotting in some cell. And the only way to do that was to show the warden results.
Ava was going to cooperate—one way or another. She was his only shot at keeping his job here, finding people like her—the Taken. And if that meant stuffing her in a box and shoving her through the next available window, then so be it.
He’d given her the chance to play nice. He’d taken on Beau and his buddies for her. He’d offered protection. He would have eased her into her new life and answered all of her questions, but she hadn’t given him the chance.
She’d shoved him away with a clear dismissal.
But Radek wasn’t so easily dismissed—not when so many lives were at stake, including his own. He was done being nice.
The gloves were coming off.
*****
Emily waited on campus for Mom to pick her up after class. It was getting dark, and the security lights lining the quad began sparking to life.
Most of the students had cleared out for the day, leaving the sidewalks virtually empty.
Emily sat on a bench near the stone arch that had always been the designated meeting place. With a few minutes left to kill, she pulled out her phone to check Facebook.
She was halfway through a post about one of her friend’s upcoming wedding plans when she saw a shadow slide over her. When she looked up to see what had caused it, her whole body went on high alert.
Beau stood over her, his handsome face sporting two bruises and a rough cut stitched closed over one eye. Anger tightened his mouth and flared his nostrils.
“Did you send her after me?” he demanded.
Emily scrambled to her feet to back away, but Beau was faster. He shifted his stance so that she was pinned between the bench and the stone arch.
A familiar, helpless feeling of panic stole through her, threatening to rip her pounding heart out as it passed.
She closed her eyes, hoping this was all some kind of bad dream.
Beau grabbed her upper arms and shook her. “Answer me, damn it!”
The bruises he’d left on her last time she’d been near him hadn’t yet had time to heal. His fingers hit every one of them, sending a dull pain spiraling over her shoulders.
Her mouth was too dry to speak. There was no extra air in her lungs for the task. All she managed was a pitiful squeak of fear.
“Do you see what they did to me?” he asked, giving her another small, hard shake. “Your sister and that asshole friend of hers cut me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she finally managed.
Her denial only pissed him off more.
A red flush of anger spread across his face, marring his classic good looks. “You’re responsible for all of this. All I did was try to give you what you’ve wanted for years.”
“I didn’t want it. Not like that.”
His grip tightened and he lifted her up onto her tiptoes. “You tell that bitch sister of yours that if she or her boyfriend ever lay a hand on me again, it’ll be you who pays for her sins. Got it?”
Emily had no idea what to do or what to say. There was too much fear and panic flooding her nervous system for her to do more than nod. “I’ll tell her.”
Her agreement seemed to appease him. He set her back on her feet and loosened his hold.
Disgust soured his tone. “You were never good enough for me anyway. Too plain. Too mousy. I don’t know why I wasted my time on you.”
Emily should have been relieved by his insults, but something inside her was broken. As much as he scared her, as much as she wished he’d go away and never cross her path again, it still hurt to hear the truth spoken aloud.
She was plain. She was mousy. And look where it had gotten her.
Emily stood in silence, knowing that any comeback she might have would only make things worse. She wasn’t strong or brave or beautiful like Ava. She didn’t have some witty response or smartass comeback to send him packing. All she had was fear, regret and pain.
She should have known she had nothing to offer a guy like Beau. It was her fault that she’d fallen for his false charm.
As soon as tears started pooling in her eyes, he flinched in disgust and flung her back against the stone arch. “You and your sister stay out of my way, Emily. I mean it.”
With that, he was gone.
Emily stood there for a long time, shaking and cold. Only one student passed her by, and he was too busy talking on his phone to notice her distress.
But Mom would notice. She noticed everything.
Before Mom showed up, Emily had to pull her shit together. Between trying to deal with chemo and still going to work, Mom already had enough on her plate.
That’s why she could never know what Beau did. She’d make it her personal crusade to see him brought to justice, which would cost precious money and energy she didn’t have.
Ava was the only one who knew what had happened, and that was bad enough. Letting Mom in on the secret would kill her. Maybe literally.
Whatever Emily had to face, she’d find a way to do it without worrying Mom. No matter what.
*****
Ava’s dinner shift had been a nightmare. Everything that could have gone wrong had.
Rudy was off his game, burning almost as many steaks as he undercooked. Stacy had cut her hand badly enough that she needed a trip to the emergency room for stitches, leaving Ava to wait all the tables alone. Some kind of biker festival was going on two counties away, and every single table was stuffed full of hungry men with bottomless thirsts. To make matters worse, they’d run out of beer—something that had never happened before in the more than forty year history of the Billy Hill Grill.
Ava had called the owner, who was still snowbirding in Florida, for help, but the only other waitstaff they had were Mr. and Mrs. Greenbriar, and both of them had come down with strep throat. The owner was hoping that Ava could find some way to work the breakfast shift the rest of the week too.
By the time she was able to lock the door to bar new customers from entering, the entire restaurant was a complete wreck. In fact, based on the smell, she was pretty sure that some of the bikers had gotten tired of waiting for the bathroom and had watered the potted plant in the corner.
But all of that she could handle—even the toxic cleanup that awaited her. What she wasn’t equipped to handle was the man once again sitting at table thirteen.
“We’re closed,” she told Radek.
He was the last customer here, and had been haunting that same table for the past three hours. His stern stare had kept the bikers from rebelling when she’d announced there was no more beer. While she was grateful for his help, she couldn’t stay focused with his bronze eyes fixed on her, watching her every move. It was too distracting. Too… intimate. As it was, it would take her hours to repair the damage that had been done tonight. With Radek watching her, she’d still be here come morning, just in time for her breakfast shift.
He toyed with the overcooked remains of his steak. “I’m not done yet.”
“Too bad. You’ll have to take the rest to go.”
He was completely relaxed in his seat, unfazed by her anxiousness
to see him gone or the chaotic mess surrounding him. And as inconvenient as his presence now was, she had to admit that she enjoyed the view.
Broad shoulders, thick forearms, and big, manly hands that looked equally equipped to offer both pain and pleasure. More than one woman had visually feasted on him tonight, and Ava could hardly blame them. Radek was the stuff of hot, sweaty fantasies, daydreams and half-naked cologne ads.
His gaze slid over her weary form, making her squirm. She knew exactly how wilted and windblown she looked from rushing around tonight. There were enough curls in her peripheral vision for her to see just how fuzzy she’d become in her mad dash to serve so many hungry customers by herself.
His perusal was slow. Thorough. And if she hadn’t known better… hungry.
“I haven’t had dessert yet.”
Ava had to swallow twice to find her voice. The little shivers dancing up her spine had clogged her throat. “I’m sorry, but Rudy has already started cleaning the kitchen. You’ll have to deal with your sweet tooth later.”
Before he could rattle her further, she hurried off on tired feet and grabbed him a to-go box. She thrust it at him. “If you don’t box it up, I will.”
Radek ignored the box and grabbed her wrist instead. He was on his feet in the blink of an eye, looming over her. He kept a tight hold on her, pulling her so close that her ugly green apron mashed against his sinfully ripped chest.
A rush of awareness sped through her blood and settled in her head in a squirming pile of delight.
Being able to touch this much man was almost more than she could stand. It was like she’d been living in a desert her entire life, and here he’d come, her first drink of cold, clean water.
She couldn’t get enough.
His voice was a low, deep rumble that she felt as much as heard. “I’ve been patient with you, Ava. Helpful, even. But that’s over now. It’s time to go.”
“I can’t,” she said, more out of habit than conviction. “This place is a mess.”
“That’s not our problem.”
“The owners trusted me with their livelihood. I can’t go off and leave it like this.”
