The Alien Huntress Series

by Gena Showalter

  After I dressed, I lay back atop the yellow sheets and closed my eyes. A deliciously naked, but awake Lucius rested beside me. Not even his sultry scent could distract me from my unease.

  I was nervous about doing this in front of him. The fact that I felt his intense blue stare boring into me didn’t help. Just do it.

  Deep breath in, deep breath out—more of Lucius’s scent. Concentrate. Another deep breath gradually released. Save the girl. That’s what mattered. Very slowly, my mind faded to black. My body relaxed into the mattress. My energy centered inside my stomach, swirling and pushing for release. My spirit began to rise up, up, and then I was standing beside the bed, looking at myself. And Lucius.

  His bare skin glowed in the moonlight. My hair draped over him like a blanket, playing peekaboo with his nipples. The golden hue of my skin complemented the bronze of his. As he lay beside me, his big, hard body could have completely engulfed and overshadowed my smaller, seemingly delicate one. But it didn’t. I looked protected by him. Even…loved?

  I shied away from that thought, though a sense of rightness lingered.

  He fingered several strands of my hair between his fingers. “Be careful,” he whispered.

  The huskiness of his voice sent a shiver through me. I shouldn’t have, but I did relish his concern for me. Unbidden, I reached out for him, for his heat. I allowed my fingers to caress his chest. Sometimes, with intense concentration, I could actually bring an object into this enigmatic realm with me. Now, however, my fingers simply coasted through him.

  He sucked in a breath, and his muscles jerked under my touch.

  I forced myself to step away, to leave the house altogether. I had a job to do.

  Because I was not bonded to Jonathan in any way, I had to find him on my own, without any invisible tug. When I spied a sedan on the side of a dim road, I slipped inside. The driver, an older male human, tapped his foot impatiently against the floorboards as he waited for the car to finish changing its own flat tire. Soon we were flying down the highway, listening to songs about beer and nasty women and pickup trucks.

  When the man swerved down a different exit than I needed, I simply propelled myself through the car door, like mist leaving at morning’s first light. I floated to the ground and treaded over two miles through forest before finally reaching my destination. Most of the inside lights were out, making the home appear dark and littered with shadows. Anticipatory, I slipped over the bridge and past the front door. That anticipation dimmed after a thorough search of every room.

  Jonathan was not home, nor were any servants up and around, but I did catch a glimpse of his wife. She lay on a lacy bed better suited for a fairy princess, and I watched as the shell of a woman sucked back a mutated form of Onadyn as if it were her favorite candy. As the drug worked its way through her body, her mind flew higher and higher, as if she were being asphyxiated. A few days of that, and she’d be dead.

  Shaking my head, I caught a ride to one of the other places Lucius had mentioned, a dim, smoky private bar. Gyrating music blared from every corner. There were about thirty occupants, a dozen or so men interspersed with naked, dancing women. Some of the women were other-worlders. A Mec, like EenLi, with glowing greenish skin that proclaimed her arousal, slid provocatively up and down a pole. She had no breasts, only a flat chest that appeared softer than silk. Strangely enough, the human men couldn’t get enough of her. They constantly petted her skin as if they were addicted to her touch.

  But I’d finally found my man.

  Jonathan sat alone, drinking golden liquid from a crystal glass. He watched the dancing women silently, his expression pensive and drawn. One woman, a Delensean with blue hair, azure skin, and four arms, approached him, a seductive pout to her cerulean lips. He growled and shooed her away with a stiff wave of his hand.

  I claimed the seat in front of him and studied him, this enemy of mine. His clothes were wrinkled, and lines of tension bracketed his mouth. Here, he wasn’t the smooth, stylish man he’d been at the party.

  He remained where he was for the next hour. Why was he here? Was he waiting for someone? He never spoke to anyone, only raised his index finger every so often to signal his need for another drink. After he finished his fourth glass, the wall clock flashed five A.M. A look of determination settled over his features, and he very calmly stood and strode from the building.

  I blinked in surprise, but followed him. A car and driver waited for him out front.

  “Home,” he told the driver, his first word of the night.

  He settled in the plush back seat, and I slipped in beside him—just as the door closed on half of my ghostly form. A slight tingle worked through me, my spirit’s only reaction.

  The car eased into motion. Jonathan stared out the window the entire drive, and the closer he came to his estate, the deeper the lines of anxiety around his mouth became. What the hell was wrong with him? Damn it, I wanted inside his head.

  Once he reached his home, I followed him as he pounded up the stairs and into a bedroom. Not his wife’s, I noticed, but his own, a room with masculine decor in dark shades of greens and blues. I hadn’t had time to study it last time I’d been here. The large four-poster bed had blood red silk sheets, and there were mirrors on the ceiling. A harness hung in the far right corner, and a clear plastic carpet covered the floor below it—to prevent any bodily fluids from staining his pristine floor.

  So he liked harsh sexual games. How surprising.

  He didn’t change clothes, but remained in his striped slacks, tie, and jacket. He strode straight to the phone beside the bed, lifted the receiver, and said, “Wayne.”

  My heart galloping in my chest, I hurried to his side. “Wayne” was a human name EenLi often used.

  I didn’t hear the person on the other end answer, but in the next instant Jonathan said, “I changed my mind. Forget the woman you told me about earlier. She won’t work.”

  Silence. I cursed under my breath because I couldn’t hear the other voice.

  “Just get the Raka.” A pause. Then, “Hunter is willing to pay whatever it costs. Get it done. Soon.”

  I rubbed my hands together and grinned. He didn’t want the other girl. Good. They were planning my abduction for Lucius. Even better. Everything was falling into place.

  EenLi said something that made Jonathan chuckle, made his shoulders relax. “No,” he said. “Make sure she’s unharmed. For every bruise your men put on her, for every tiny scratch, the price for her dwindles.”

  I didn’t doubt that the “no harm” came straight from Lucius.

  The men disconnected, but I waited for something more to happen. I watched as Jonathan stripped naked, humming happily under his breath. He wore a smug smile as he climbed into his bed. I hoped the phone would ring, but it didn’t. A few minutes later, Jonathan began snoring. I walked to the edge of the bed and gazed down at him. His features were completely relaxed in sleep, giving him a boyish, innocent quality.

  How deceptive.

  How easy to kill just then.

  Unfortunately, we still needed him. I made my way outside. The moon had already begun its descent, giving way to the sun. I quickened my step, focusing my mind’s eye on Lucius and my own body. Very soon, I felt my spirit being sucked back, closer and closer. I lost my foundation, saw sparkling white lights.

  Soon I caught a quick glimpse of the ambassador’s house, an even quicker glance of my bedroom and Lucius pacing around the bed, Luc trailing his every step, before my body and soul collided. Click. For a moment, I saw only darkness. Then my eyelids popped open.

  Lucius must have sensed my presence because he was suddenly right beside me, glaring down at me. Luc jumped up and propped herself at the foot of the bed, watching our interaction.

  “Where. The hell. Have you been?” Lucius gritted out softly, menacingly. “What took you so goddamn long?”

  “He wasn’t at home. I had to search for him.”

  His eyes flashed with furious fire as he lowered his
head closer to me, so close our noses touched. “Do you have any idea—any fucking idea—what I’ve been imagining?”

  I returned his glare with one of my own.

  “That I was doing the job I told you I’d do?”

  “Not quite,” he grumbled.

  “That I’m a capable woman?”

  “Damn it, Eden.” His warm breath whipped over my face. “This isn’t about your silly need to prove you’re as strong and capable as I am.”

  “Silly!” was all I could get out. “Silly?”

  “In case you didn’t notice, it’s dawn. I expected you an hour ago. At least. You would have worried had I been gone so long, and don’t try to deny it.” When I remained stubbornly silent, he added, “Wouldn’t you?”

  “Yes. Are you happy?” I shoved him off and jolted up. “Yes, I would have worried about you.”

  Satisfied with that, he dropped beside me and pulled me down. “Tell me everything that happened.”

  “Jonathan called EenLi,” I said, relaxing into the curve of his side. “They’ve set up the abduction for me, and Jonathan canceled the order for the other girl. I don’t know why. He just said she wouldn’t work.”

  “When?” His tone became hard as granite. “Where?”

  “They didn’t discuss details. It was apparent they had spoken about me before.”

  Lucius rubbed his neck, his expression darkening. “I don’t like this.”

  “Like what? This is what we’ve been waiting for.”

  “I don’t like the plan. Letting them take you.”

  “Why the hell not? It’s a good plan. And right now it’s the only way to save the other slaves EenLi has taken. It’s the only way to find out how he’s using solar flares as portals.”

  “You could get hurt.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Aren’t you the man who told me he’d kill me if I got in his way? Aren’t you the man who cares about no one and nothing?”

  “That was before,” he mumbled, looking away from me.

  I knew the feeling. I shouldn’t have had sex with him the first time, and damn well shouldn’t have again. But I had, and there was no going back. I couldn’t pretend to dislike him anymore. I liked him. Too much.

  “Damn it.” He jumped to his feet. “We should never have gotten involved, because I can’t stop worrying about you. I won’t return here,” he said. “It’s too dangerous.” He reached inside his pants pocket and withdrew a small syringe. Sparkling red liquid swirled inside. He handed it to me. “We don’t know when they’ll strike, and I can’t be with you when they do.”

  “Is this the isotope?”

  “Yes. Inject it into your leg. I’d do it, but…”

  He didn’t want to hurt me. I tried not to soften toward him yet another degree. I wrapped my fingers around the vial, jabbed the needle into my thigh—suppressing a wince at the sharp sting—and pushed. Burning warmth spread from my leg, branching throughout the rest of me. I glared up at Lucius as I shoved the empty syringe into his palm. “Done.”

  “Thank you.”

  I dropped my head in my hands. “This has all happened much faster than I imagined,” I said, and we both knew I meant more than the case. I didn’t know how to deal with Lucius right now, though. With us.

  “Too fast?” He chuckled, but the sound lacked any hint of humor. “Maybe. But from now on, we think about the case. Nothing else. Your life could depend on it.”

  Chapter

  19

  Two days passed without a single abduction attempt. Two angst-filled days.

  I spent them accompanying the ambassador on her rounds, translating idle chatter and more in-depth conversations about discrimination, while projecting a carefree facade. I’d seen Lucius only once, at a party hosted by one of the ambassador’s friends of a friend. He’d remained a safe distance from me but had watched me the whole evening.

  His gaze had been a living entity, reminding me of the way he’d kissed and caressed me, the way he’d brought me to climax so many times. I’d forced myself to ignore him, to think only of the case.

  The following day, I received another message from Colin and used the cell unit Lucius brought me to read it to him. The conversation was short and sweet.

  “I have a friend working on solar flares, and he told me he’s begun experimenting with small, inanimate objects to find out just what type of magnetic device would be most conducive to molecular transference within a solar flare. So far he’s had no luck.”

  His frustration crackled over the line. “I was hoping for more by now.”

  “I know. But he did mention that a small, molecule-based magnet would work best. It offers photomodulated magnetization, can store data, and offers magnetic shielding and induction. And, unlike metal-based magnets, it can be deposited as a thin, transparent film or even inserted within another object.”

  “Yeah, but can something so small generate enough power to transport a body astronomically?”

  “I’ll ask.”

  “Let me know if you learn anything else.”

  And that was it, the end of our conversation.

  I disconnected and lay in bed, moonlight bathing me. Agent Luc was already asleep in the bathroom. I didn’t want to take a chance that she’d be hurt when I was taken. When would I be taken? I hated waiting.

  A cricket hummed a lazy tune, and a cool, dew-scented breeze wafted through the open windows. I was making it easy for my abductors. I was also prepared. I wore silver sleep pants and a clinging silver top. They allowed easy movement, but were difficult to pull off. Of course, I had two knives strapped to me—one at the small of my back, the other on the inside of my thigh. My hair clips were too aberrant for bed, as was the anklet. Part of me expected Lucius to arrive at any moment, but he stayed true to his word and didn’t visit.

  I glared up at the domed ceiling. Men! Who understood them? Not me, certainly. Well, that’s not true. I’d once thought I understood them. They needed sex, food, and water to survive, and their every action hinged on whichever need took prominence. Lucius was…different.

  He worked hard, kept his mind on the prize. He did what was necessary for success, despite his own needs and wants. I respected that. I respected him. He was the best agent I’d ever come across. A partner I hadn’t wanted, but couldn’t deny had been the best thing to happen to this case.

  Had I not been so lost in my thoughts, I never would have been caught so unaware. A hand whipped out from the darkness and pinched my nose closed. Panic rocked me at first, and I instinctively grasped at the hand to push it away. I even opened my mouth to suck in a breath. The man, whoever he was, dumped a tart liquid down my throat the moment I parted my lips. I tried to spit it out, but he smothered both my nose and mouth, forcing me to swallow.

  “There you go,” he said, his voice low and soothing. I didn’t recognize his voice. “Sleep now,” he added gently. “We won’t hurt you.”

  Finally, EenLi’s men had arrived.

  I almost laughed through my fading panic. “What did you give me? Poison?” I demanded of my attacker, as any sane woman would. I kicked at him and, like a scared little female, scooted toward the headboard.

  A black mask concealed his features, but he couldn’t hide the strength and size of his frame. Only slighter shorter than Lucius, he filled out his black military fatigues menacingly. “I gave you an opiate to help you sleep,” he said. “We don’t want to kill you, I promise.”

  That showed exactly what he knew about Rakas. Not a damn thing. I was impervious to opiates and most other human drugs. He would have had better luck with a nice aged Scotch or rich brandy.

  “I’ll scream,” I said, making my words slur.

  He chuckled. “Screaming won’t matter, little girl. We drugged everyone else inside the house, too. They’re sleeping the night away.”

  “You…bastard.” I pretended relaxation, however, and after a few seconds, gave a grade A performance of falling unconscious. Contrary to what Lucius said, my acting
did not suck, thank you very much.

  EenLi’s men agreed with me. “That was easy,” one of them said.

  If the man decided to rape me, I’d have a miraculous awakening, however, and show them just how sweet I could be. There were some things I would not do for my job.

  Shockingly, he softly kissed my forehead, a gentle, innocent pressing of lips against skin. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, Jonathan had made it very clear I wasn’t to be harmed in any way. EenLi had probably sent his sweetest abductors.

  What a lovely oxymoron.

  “Look at this gold,” he whispered.

  “Pretty,” another man said, awed. I didn’t recognize his voice, either. “Do you know how much money we’d make selling her skin?”

  “You won’t be hurting her. We’re to deliver her as we found her. We’ll be cut into tiny pieces and sold if we harm her.”

  “I know, I know.” He sighed. “But…maybe we could cut off some of her hair. Maybe a few strands,” he rushed on. “Nothing that would be noticed.”

  “No.”

  “Why not? We—”

  “No. Now shut up. We’re running out of time.”

  Strong arms slid under me and lifted. I let my head loll, but not before I caught a whiff of expensive, musky cologne. The scent could not have masked dirty flesh or rotting clothes. No, whoever carried me was clean and well groomed, obviously nicely paid and not the cheap labor EenLi usually used.

  Cologne pushed out a breath. “Let’s get out of here.”

  I was gently carried to the balcony, the same balcony Lucius had first used to enter my room. Of course, I’d removed the extra pins when I learned my abduction was being planned, making entry into my room easy.

  Being an agent, I’d stalked and hunted victims. I’d never been one myself. Letting these men cart me away warred against every instinct I possessed. My mind wanted me to fight, to prevent this from happening. To kill. How could I allow these men to make me a slave?

  There was no better way to find and destroy EenLi and save the others he had enslaved. I knew it, and took what comfort I could in the fact that these men hadn’t patted me down and didn’t know about my blades. Most likely, they hadn’t considered that an other-worlder interpreter—and a peace-loving Raka, at that—would be armed.