Taken by Force

by Anna Argent

  She glared at the glass, squared her shoulders and lifted her hands to try again. Her body trembled. Sweat beaded up along her hairline.

  There should have been a buildup of heat beneath her hands, but her body temperature remained about the same.

  “I did it before. Why the hell can’t I do it now?” she asked.

  “You were afraid for your life before. This is a far less stressful situation. Our ability to burn has always been tied to our emotions. We have to practice to be able to do it on demand.”

  “Not a lot of time to practice right now. How about you just do it?”

  He turned her around to face him. “Quitting already? That surprises me.”

  “I’m not quitting, I’m just thinking outside of the box, using this big ol’ strategic mind you all claim I have.”

  “And what does that big ol’ strategic mind say?” he asked.

  “Bash open the window with a rock. We’re going to set off the alarms anyway.”

  He wasn’t letting her give up. They still had time before the window opened, and he was really hoping that security alarms weren’t going to summon the authorities if they went in this way.

  Radek positioned her body in front of his, took one wrist in each hand, and pressed her hands against the glass. “Close your eyes and focus.”

  She did as he asked, with only a little sigh of exasperation. “Okay. I’m focusing.”

  “Feel how cool the glass is under your fingertips?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay. Your fingertips are warmer than the glass, right?”

  “A little.”

  “Heat them up.”

  “How?”

  “There’s heat inside the core of your body just waiting to be set free. Let a little of that out, let it flow through your blood and release it when it gets where you want it to go. Just like you did when you were being strangled.”

  Radek’s chest was bare, allowing him to feel the currents of heat flowing just below her skin. He could sense a shift in those currents as she tapped into her internal heat stores.

  “That’s it, sweetheart. Just like that.”

  Beneath his fingers, her wrists began to warm. Heat waves shimmered above her fingertips. As he watched, the glass began to ooze downward as it liquefied.

  Her body shook against his. Her breathing sped, and sweat trickled over her temple.

  “You’re almost there. Just a little more.”

  The press of her body against his was like a drug. He knew he was supposed to stay alert and focused, but all he could think about was how good she felt plastered up against him, how he loved the delicate strength of her wrists inside his grip. His pride in her success only added fuel to his untimely lust.

  It was in that moment that he realized that it didn’t matter how often he had her, or how many times, Ava was the kind of woman a man never tired of. He never grew bored with her. With Ava, a man always wanted more.

  “I did it,” she said, panting between words. “I melted all the way through the metal too.”

  He’d been so distracted by the feel of her against him that he hadn’t realized that she’d gone that far—proof he really wasn’t doing a good job of protecting her.

  “Excellent,” he said. “How do you feel?”

  “Like a human blowtorch.” She beamed, her smile wide and proud.

  He lifted her hands to inspect them. There was a grid-work of red lines across her palms, but no lasting damage. As he watched, even those marks were fading.

  Because he couldn’t seem to stop himself, he pressed a kiss in the center of each hand.

  “Kissing it better?” she asked, her grin turning from proud to playful.

  “Did it work?”

  She slid her fingers through his hair and pulled herself up onto her tiptoes.

  The press of her hard nipples against his chest set him on fire. As close to him as she was right now, there was no way she could miss his erection.

  Her gaze went to his mouth. “I could think of other places I’d enjoy your mouth more.”

  He closed his eyes to block out the sight of her lovely face. “Maybe when we’re not about to break into a mall and collect a weapon that could mean life or death for the human race.”

  She stepped back. “Spoilsport. Another time, then.”

  “Definitely,” he agreed, even though he knew it wasn’t going to happen. There was no more time for them. They had to rescue her family, kill Dimas and Korlayan, and then send her on her way back to Loriah, all before Radek ran out of blockers.

  He shoved his lust in a box and reached through the hole she’d melted in the window. The door was equipped with a panic bar that unlocked it whenever it was pushed. Within a few seconds, they were both inside the vacant mall.

  They’d just shut the door behind them when a wailing sound poured out of overhead speakers.

  They’d tripped the alarm.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Radek jerked Ava’s arm, forcing her to run along behind him.

  “Find the control room,” he shouted over the noise.

  They were in a hallway lined with doors. Several of them were marked with the names of people she presumed managed the mall. Toward the end of the hall was a larger space labeled SECURITY.

  “Here!” she yelled at him. “It’s got to be in here.”

  Radek didn’t bother to pick the lock on the door or even melt the handle. He just grabbed the knob and ripped it off in a display of strength that left her stunned.

  How did a man that strong manage to touch her so gently?

  He rushed into the room, looking around.

  “How do we shut it off?” she asked.

  He didn’t answer. Instead, he rolled a chair under a thick bundle of wires running along the ceiling, and jumped up into the seat. His big hand wrapped around the wires, and within seconds, plastic insulation and melted copper were raining down onto the concrete floor.

  The obnoxious sirens came to a blissful stop, bathing them in silence.

  Ava felt her blood pressure drop several points and let out a relieved breath. “Do you think the cops will come?”

  Radek shrugged. “No way to know. My guess is that they’re too busy to deal with it, but we should keep our eyes open, just in case.”

  “What now?”

  “Now we go find where the window is going to open and we wait.”

  “How long?”

  He pulled out his window detecting toy and stared at it. She still had no idea how he read the thing, but it was one more skill she’d have to learn.

  “Just over an hour. Let’s go scout out our spot. We may have to do a little more breaking and entering before we’re clear all the way to the window site.”

  He led her through the mall. It was eerie to be here when it was dark and empty. Only a few security lights were left on, casting advertisements and decorations into unsettling, jagged shadows. All the doors were closed and locked. Kiosks were covered. All of the usual bustle and life was just gone.

  “Why are you so tense?” Radek asked.

  “It’s like being in a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie. I’m waiting for the zombies to jump out and eat my face.”

  He grinned at her, making those bronze eyes of his sparkle. “I’ll protect you from every zombie we encounter, sweetheart. I swear it.”

  A giggle rose up from the floor below.

  Ava’s heart squeezed in her chest as if trying to escape through her ribs. A burst of adrenaline streaked through her system, sending prickles along in its wake.

  “What the hell was that?” she asked.

  His face lost all humor. The tip of his weapon sparked to life with a bright blue glow. “Stay close.”

  He didn’t have to tell her twice.

  She followed along behind him, practically stepping on his heels.

  He peered over the railing, down into the food court below.

  A whooshing, scraping sound filtered through the open space, echoi
ng off of high ceilings with odd angles. The effect was almost as eerie as the silent, vacant mall had been.

  Someone yelled, but it wasn’t a yell of fear or pain, it was excited. Happy.

  “Dude!” came a young man’s voice. “That was epic.”

  “Got it on camera. YouTube, here I come.”

  “Now aren’t you glad we didn’t leave when the alarm went off? I told you it was just a glitch. The cops are all hiding from the monsters like everyone else.”

  She leaned over the railing next to Radek to see what was going on.

  Two boys were on skateboards, doing tricks on the ramps and stairs leading down into the food court. They’d moved tables and chairs, creating a giant, chaotic mountain of furniture. As she watched, a teen in a blue hoodie zoomed down a mall ramp, up the pyramid of furniture, abandoned his board mid-air, landed with his ass on a rolling office chair, and rode that down Mount Formica Table.

  It was as impressive as it was stupid.

  “What do we do?” she whispered to Radek.

  “Nothing, as long as they stay out of our way. Let them have their fun. It may be the last chance they get for a long, long time.”

  “Only if we fail,” Ava said. “And I refuse to do that.”

  He took her hand in his. “Let’s go.”

  They ended up in the front of a store filled with sporting goods and camping equipment. “This is it. The window will open on the other side of the glass.”

  She inspected the inside edge of the doors, looking for where to melt the glass. “Can you see how it opens?”

  Blue light flared bright in the dim space. She heard a hissing, popping sound, and turned to see Radek cutting his way through with his maulst. The tip had reshaped itself into a long, thin knife, which was slicing through the metal joint connecting the glass panels as if it were tissue paper.

  “You couldn’t have done that to the outside door?” she asked.

  “I could have, but you needed practice.”

  “And now?”

  “Now I just want to get in there, out of range of those young men in case they decide to work their way up to this level.”

  He shoved the edge of the glass door panel to the right, and it moved easily on its track. Once they were inside, he slid it back. A cursory glance would sweep right past this place. Only someone who saw the scorch marks in the metal frame around the glass would realize that the store had been breached.

  One side of the store was dedicated to shoes, hiking boots and clothing. The other was filled with skis, kayaks, tents and camping equipment. Mannequins dressed in the latest outdoor fashions stood guard, creeping Ava out with their white, featureless faces. She’d never noticed before how eerie they were, but she was definitely noticing now.

  She took a step closer to Radek.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  She nodded and forced herself to study the features of a tent that was set up on display. The fake fire ring filled with fake fire made from wads of red and orange tissue paper was just corny enough to calm her nerves.

  “Where will the window open?” she asked.

  Radek consulted his device and laid out a line with a package of wool socks. “Here. Stay at least a few feet away from this area. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

  “What would happen?”

  “Part of you could be sent through while the rest of you stays here. I’ve seen it happen to rocks and trees, so don’t take chances.”

  “No, I don’t think I will, thanks.” She shuddered at the thought of what would happen to Mom and Emily if she didn’t make it out of here alive.

  As they entered the front of her thoughts again, a heavy weight of fear and responsibility bore down on her.

  “Whatever you’re thinking, Ava, stop it,” said Radek as he laid out a buffer zone around the window using an entire rack of dayglow pink windbreakers.

  “I’m not thinking anything.”

  “Yes, you are. I could feel your body temperature drop in your fingers and toes. You’re making yourself nervous or afraid or some other form of upset. All that’s going to do is slow you down.”

  “I was thinking about Mom and Emily.”

  “Dimas won’t kill them until he’s got what he wants.”

  “Me. Dead.”

  “Yes. But we’re not going to let it get that far. We’re going to outsmart him.”

  She wanted to believe him. She needed to believe him. But her thoughts kept spinning around in frantic circles, eating up her RAM and keeping her from thinking of anything useful to do to stop Dimas and his son.

  If she was ever going to be able to outsmart a creature who’d overthrown entire worlds—plural—she had to find a way to jump out of this self-destructive loop.

  A flash of motion caught her eye. She looked up just in time to see the tail end of one of the skateboarders pass. Close on his heels was the second.

  “The teens are up here,” she whispered to Radek.

  He looked up from the window detector and moved closer to the glass doors. After a second, he jerked back, grabbed her and shoved her inside the display tent.

  “What’s going on?” she asked.

  “I guess the police weren’t too busy to answer the alarm. They’re here.”

  It was dark inside the tent, with only the faintest glow coming from the tip of Radek’s weapon. She could smell his skin and feel the heat radiating from his body. As a wave of nervousness washed over her, all she wanted to do was snuggle against him and breathe him in.

  “What do we do?” she asked.

  He rubbed his hands over her upper arms as if sensing her distress. “We stay hidden. Stay quiet. They’re running after the two boys, so we’ll let them take the fall for breaking in. No one has to know we’re here.”

  “Isn’t that a little cold?”

  “They’ll be safer in jail or at home than they will be running wild. We’re doing them a favor.”

  The little twinge of guilt she felt faded quickly as she heard a pair of men come near the store. They were walking fast, their footsteps heavy.

  Ava held her breath. If they got hauled to jail now, she didn’t know what she’d do.

  She really didn’t want to hurt a policeman, but she would if that’s what it took to get her family back safely.

  “We don’t have time for this shit,” the first cop said. “There’s a fucking invasion going on.”

  The second man had a deeper voice and was a bit winded. “The military is on it. Our job is to make sure we protect what’s here from thieves and looters so that when they’ve finished kicking alien ass, we all still have something resembling a normal life to come back to.”

  Radek kept stroking her, petting her back, her hair. The soothing motion lulled her, giving her enough space to breathe.

  “I want to be out there, fighting,” the first cop said.

  “Too damn bad, rookie. Now run that skinny ass of yours up there and catch those punk kids.”

  They waited inside the tent, being still and quiet. After a couple of minutes, Radek moved away from her.

  She grabbed his thick wrist to stop him. “Where are you going?”

  He cupped the side of her face. “It’s okay. I’m just going to see if they’re gone.”

  She hated letting him leave, which was just silly. She wasn’t some teenage girl with a crush who was going to die if her boyfriend moved ten feet away. Hell, he wasn’t even her boyfriend. At least not in any sense of the word she knew. They’d had sex. He’d rocked her world, but that did not a relationship make.

  At least not a human one. For all she knew, wherever it was he came from, they were married.

  That idea didn’t bother her nearly as much as it should have.

  He came back into the tent, his naked torso all ripped and gleaming. It was almost enough to make a girl forget that her world was caving in around her. And for a split second, she felt… normal.

  The strange concept struck her so hard she barely noticed he wa
s upset until she heard it in his voice. “There’s still one officer outside of the store, catching his breath. We’ll sit tight for a while longer, okay?”

  “Just like camping,” she said, though being in a small space with a half-naked alien who made her burn was nothing like any camping trip or Girl Scout outing she’d ever had.

  That earned her a flicker of a grin.

  She loved his mouth, and not just because she remembered how it had made her writhe in pleasure. His bottom lip was fuller than his top, and he had a smile line on only one side. Right now that crease was showing. His lips were smooth, tempting her to touch.

  She saw her index finger glide along his mouth before she realized she’d reached for him.

  The instant she made contact, his eyes darkened, and all hints of amusement faded. “What are you doing, Ava?”

  “Distracting myself from the crapstorm my life has become. Forgetting that we’re hiding, and that people I love are in danger. Enjoying you before you’re gone.”

  “Busy girl.”

  “I like to multitask.”

  He took her wayward hand in his grip and leaned forward. “Let me help.”

  Radek kissed her.

  His lips were even warmer and more supple than she remembered. They moved over hers, teasing and making promises she desperately wanted him to keep.

  She opened up to his kiss, tasting the heat of his mouth, and nibbling the sweet laugh line that lay just beyond. His chest was a hot wall of flesh she claimed as her own, petting and stroking him until her fingers knew every hard curve and every deep valley. His nipples perked up as her palm swept over them. A little shiver shook his big frame.

  That she had the power to do that to him made her feel like a warrior goddess, strong and filled with ancient magic.

  He flattened her hand against his pecs and grabbed the hair at the nape of her neck. “If we’re not careful, this is going to become very not quiet.”

  She didn’t care. She needed this too much. She needed him—the man who made her feel, who made her melt and yearn and lust like a real girl should.