Rylan's Heart

by Serena Simpson

  He turned and walked out. Gabe met him at the door.

  It was like looking into a mirror. Gabe looked just like him minus the attitude. But then Gabe hadn’t gone through the hell he went through.

  “Where are you going?” his brother asked him.

  “Out.”

  “Out is my favorite place to go.”

  Rylan ignored him and exited the house. Gabe wouldn’t stay inside just because he told him to. No, his brother always seemed to know where he was now a days. A talent he developed as a child.

  “Was that Aviana in the kitchen?”

  “Why do you want to know?”

  “I’m not trespassing on your mate, Rylan. I just wanted to know if she was ok.”

  “She’s not my mate and no she’s not all right. She went job hunting and ran into a Sudir at the new hotel in town.”

  Gabe popped a claw on his finger.

  “You’re not invited to the fight.”

  “Since when has the lack of an invitation ever stopped me?”

  They walked in silence until the new building came into view.

  “He has a receptionist in there and maybe other employees. All we can do right now is issue a warning.”

  Gabe nodded and followed Rylan into the hotel.

  Rylan took a deep breath letting all the different scents come to him. He wanted to fight. Sudir’s were the hardest enemy to kill. Having killed one, he knew. Getting into a fight with one when you weren’t ready was a death sentence. He didn’t plan to kill this one, not yet, he had too many levels of protection around him. But he did want to test him out to see who was stronger—this new Sudir or Zuhun, because those two would fight for territory and only one would win.

  “Welcome back, I’ve been waiting for you,” the Sudir said.

  “How remiss of me to keep you waiting.”

  “Don’t worry about it. You are here now and you brought me extra dessert. How can I be mad at you? In case you are wondering, I sent the staff home for the day. I wanted to entertain alone, you understand.”

  Rylan felt Peter’s power crawl up his skin like a million ants. The creepy feeling wrapped around him holding him in place. He cut his eyes to Gabe to see the same happening to him.

  “Two for the price of one; how delightful.”

  “Don’t get too greedy, we may give you indigestion.” Gabe’s voice came out thick.

  Rylan let Peter’s power sink into him feeling the sting and the bite. He wasn’t as strong as Zuhun. He sighed; his true enemy would take care of this pretender, but not without a parting gift from him and Gabe.

  “Now!” Rylan commanded.

  He built a white light within his body. At first it was just a flicker. It sat in his heart like a small flame. With concentration, he blew on it encouraging the light to grow. It separated and became two flames, then three, multiplying until the flames were touching, they converged into one large flame.

  His body was consumed in fire; it danced through him and over him in a deadly rythm. He nodded his head to Gabe who was doing the same, then pushed. The flame shot away from his body like a huge boulder rolling down a hill picking up momentum as it went. His flame merged with Gabe’s before it hit the Sudir.

  There was a high pitched screeching from the Sudir as his body burned from the inside out. He was consumed in something he should have been able to stop. Rylan watched in satisfaction as a threat to Aviana died at his feet.

  Chapter Four

  The cleanup of the body had taken a while. Rylan and Gabe made a controlled fire with their hands using it to burn the body to a crisp on the outside like their flame, which had destroyed Peter on the inside. When done there was nothing left but ashes, a quick sweep of the floor disposed of any remaining bits.

  “What happens when Peter doesn’t show up tomorrow?” Gabe asked Rylan.

  “Zuhun sweeps in and takes over his operation.”

  “Out of the frying pan?”

  “It wouldn’t have mattered. Zuhun is the one in control here. Unfortunately, we just made Zuhun’s life easier by taking care of Peter. But we also saved Aviana the trouble of being scared to death by Peter.”

  “We also saved you from tapping into the dark side you carry,” Gabe said, following Rylan out the door. “What happens to the employees?”

  “They live. Zuhun will not mess with anyone working here. He’s a true hunter; he won’t hunt where he works or sleeps.”

  Gabe nodded and kept walking. “What will you do about Aviana?”

  This was the reason he liked to spend time apart from Gabe. He was like a dog digging up a bone; nothing stopped him until he was done.

  “Gabe.” The warning tone in his voice should have been enough.

  “I was just wondering if you were planning on leaving her.”

  Leave Aviana? His heart hurt at the thought. Her brown eyes swam before him and her mouth so soft with her slightly thicker bottom lip he wanted to nibble on. The soft red lipstick she wore enticed him to taste.

  He wasn’t leaving. His Matra would shred him from the inside out if he tried, but there was more. She calmed his dark side, the side of him that suffered torment from the years at Xolon’s hands and it made him think it was ok to interact, to feel. You’ll never be good enough for her. He knew it, but around her it didn’t matter what he knew, just what he felt.

  “Go away, Gabe,” he said as the bed and breakfast finally came into view. His long legs ate up the rest of the distance.

  Gabe followed, and once inside, Rylan watched as Gabe took the steps upstairs two at a time. Rylan went back to the living room where he sat with Aviana earlier. Zuhun needed to die, it was the only way he could leave her and he needed to leave her before his heart was compromised.

  *~*~*~*

  “Mommy!” Mckayla broke away from her friends to throw herself into her mother’s arm.

  “Baby, how was your day?”

  “It was ok; Mrs. Jenner said we could make hearts for Valentine’s day. I’m going to make you the biggest heart ever, Mommy.”

  “I can’t wait to see it. I know it will be perfect.”

  Mckayla nodded and held on tight to her mother.

  “Honey, were you scared in school today?” Mckayla bobbed her head. “Tell me what happened, Love.”

  “I thought the bad man would get you.”

  “What bad man?” Aviana kept her voice upbeat. There was no way her daughter could know about that thing—Sudir, that she saw today.

  “That thing, Mommy. I just got a glimpse of it, but it scared me and it looked at you all hungry.” A few wet tears tracked down her face as she tried to be brave for her mother.

  “I’m fine. Nothing’s going to get me, don’t worry.” Aviana pulled her closer and looked over to Selma who was picking up Vick. The frown on Selma’s face worried her.

  She mopped up Mckayla’s face, put a big smile on hers, and directed her to the car. Aviana rode over with Selma every day to pick up their children. It was the only way to make them feel safe about letting them go to school.

  With a sigh she slumped into the front seat of the car. There was no fighting it; she would have to work with Rylan. Work, but nothing else. No touching his tight abs or the pecs she knew would be perfect for tracing with her lips. No trying to get a good look at that bulge he seemed to have under his relaxed jeans that hung perfectly from his lean waist.

  Nope, she wasn’t interested in any of that. Life was so unfair to her. When she had been in school, she really wasn’t interested in men. Her mind was on the pursuit of her next ‘A’ and how proud her parents would be. She never once wondered if they were proud of what she did or if they saw her as a woman and not just their daughter until the incident.

  Now, when her body finally stood up and noticed she was all female and there was a male it would like to climb, that man had to be Rylan. Maybe it was just that sexy darkness that made her legs squish with wetness when she woke. How many pairs of panties could she ruin in one day?
r />   “Mom?” Mckayla extended her small hand.

  “I’m here, Baby, I was just thinking.” Aviana turned around in the seat and took her hand squeezing it. Mckayla leaned her head against her mother’s hand and smiled.

  “I was thinking, too.” Mckayla’s eyes twinkled making Aviana feel lighter.

  “I get nervous when you start a sentence like that, Baby doll. Tell me what’s on your mind.”

  “If I had a daddy, that would mean you had a husband, and he would protect us.”

  She had seen the look of longing in Mckayla’s eyes when she watched Victor with Vick. Mckayla wanted a father too—someone who would pick her up and throw her to the heavens and catch her when she came back down. Her baby wanted the one thing she couldn’t give her.

  Unbidden, a picture of Rylan came to mind. He was opening her Christmas present. The look of utter shock and complete joy on his face when he took it out enraptured her. She would never forget that look or the longing she felt in that minute to walk up to him and lay a possessive kiss on his lips.

  “I can’t just approach a stranger and ask him to be my husband and your father.”

  “Uncle Rylan isn’t a stranger.” He and the rest of the males in the family had given Mckayla permission to call them uncle before they proceeded to tell her she was now family and they would always protect her.

  Aviana’s eyes misted but she blinked them rapidly staving off the tears. She would be strong for both Mckayla and herself.

  Selma tried to keep her smile hidden as she pulled up in front of the bed and breakfast. Mckayla unbuckled her seat belt and jumped out the car with Vick running into the large house. Laughter was in the air.

  Aviana was slower to exit the car. Her life was about to change and she wasn’t sure she was ready for what would happen when it did. Aliens, or whatever that thing was, were real. She sighed and shook her head. Of course they were; she was living in a house with a family of them.

  It was just a thought. She knew Selma and Victor were aliens as well as the rest of them, but they treated her and Mckayla well.

  “Selma, can I ask you a question? I don’t want to be rude or offensive but I don’t really want to ask Rylan.” Selma had lingered in the car with her.

  Selma laughed, the tinkling filling the car with mirth. “Ask whatever you want, that’s why I am here.”

  “What planet are you from?”

  Selma’s laughter became more infectious as tears rolled from her eyes. “I’m from Earth.”

  “No I mean before you got here.”

  “Aviana. I’m just as human as you are.”

  “Don’t play, Selma. That’s not funny.”

  “Paige didn’t take it well either,” Selma told her. “I’m human, just more advanced, able to do things other humans can’t. There’s a lot of us out there. You’re one of us. I think of us as others. Maybe not the most accurate term but at least it’s something I can wrap my head around.”

  “Rylan?”

  “He’s definitely alien. I will let him tell you his story.”

  “The Sudir,” her tongue tripped over the unfamiliar word. “How do I kill it?”

  “Killing a Sudir takes time and patience. I killed one once. It took me half a century. They both want me and hate me because of my strength.”

  Aviana laughed this time. “Run that past me again because you don’t look older than twenty-nine, and I am pushing the age up because you have Vick.”

  “Your eyes can deceive you. I assure you I am much older than that. I’ve been around a long time. Can you really say you don’t know you’re different?”

  Images of Mckayla in a crib at one of their many apartments flashed before her eyes. Something ugly reaching for her when she ran into the room to check on her baby. A burst of light, something bright coming from her and an inhuman howl of pain.

  How many times had she shoved that night to the back of her mind insisting it was a nightmare? If she were honest with herself, she would say she knew she was different. Why should she start being honest now? Thoughts of her childhood followed her before she pushed them back, too.

  She opened the door and exited the SUV. She wanted to talk to Selma some more but it was opening wounds and memories best left in the closet.

  “Soon Aviana, you won’t be able to run.”

  She walked into the house, Selma’s words echoing in her ear. She would have to make a choice soon, or had she already made the choice when she told Rylan she wouldn’t run? Yes, the choice was made; she simply wasn’t ready to face up to it.

  She stopped to pick up Mckayla’s book bag that was hanging off a peg near the front door. Rifling through it, she picked up her homework sheets. Spelling words, trace her letters and a few math questions.

  “Kayla, you have homework.”

  “Aww Mom, can’t I watch cartoons first?”

  Aviana peeked her head into the large living room to find Mckayla and Vick sitting in front of the television watching their favorite superhero cartoon. It helped that the cartoon was all about a superhero youth just about their age.

  “You have until the cartoon goes off then homework.”

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  Aviana hid her grin as she walked up the stairs. She made a promise to herself when she held her daughter for the first time. She wouldn’t push her to achieve to the point where life passed her by because all she could see were her grades. Everyone, even a genius, needed to take a break and live life.

  Her grin turned to a frown as she spotted Rylan leaning against the door to her room. “What do you want?”

  He promised her till tomorrow. Was he breaking that promise now?

  “I wanted to let you know that Peter will no longer be a problem.” He turned to walk away.

  Damn, he made her feel bad about her initial reaction.

  “Wait! Do you want to come in?” Her stomach flipped, and then it reversed its action and flopped. Why couldn’t she keep her cool around him?

  He turned and studied her like she was a bug under a microscope. Finally, he nodded his head yes and she opened the door. The door had keys so she could lock it, but she never did. She trusted the people in the house and trust was unheard of in her old life.

  Chapter Five

  Aviana waved him in before her. She closed the door and walked over to the side of the mantel, setting Mckayla’s book bag down. There was chaos in the room caused by raising a child. She cleaned it up, stacked a few papers neatly, and gestured for him to take a seat.

  He sat on the couch, so she perched on the other end giving her room to spring up if needed.

  The room was large. It had shifted to accommodate her and Mckayla. Selma had told her this and in the past she would have laughed, but she watched the kitchen change from an old fashioned kitchen at Christmas to a slick modern one at New Years. She should have run but something in this old house made her feel welcome, like this was where she belonged.

  Her living room had a comfy sofa in front of the mantel and to the right was a large floor area with two chairs, a small side table, and a closet. That’s where Mckayla and Vick liked to hang out when they were in here. The television was on the wall across from it.

  To the left of the main door, there were two other doors that led to their bedrooms. The first door led to Mckayla’s, the second to hers. Each bedroom came with an ensuite that was a nice little touch.

  “What happened to Peter?” The name tasted bitter on her tongue but she was living a different life now and needed to get used to it.

  “He left town permanently.”

  “Is he still breathing?”

  “Do you care?” His sky blues eyes darkened to a stormy blue.

  “No.” She shook her head with sadness. Death bothered her but something about that Sudir scared her. A fine sheen of sweat covered her. She was sure it was either the Sudir or her.

  “He is no longer breathing.” The darkness Rylan carried enveloped him, almost protecting him from her eyes.
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br />   She squinted not knowing how he could surround himself like that. It took a minute but she began to pierce the darkness until she could see him like he was standing in a beam of pure sunlight.

  “You shouldn’t be able to do that,” Rylan said.

  “I also shouldn’t be able to see beings with four legs and more eyes on their face than I want to count. But I can. So why should my being able to see you through whatever cloud you threw up surprises you?”

  “Because the only one who can find me when I am like that is my brother and he’s my twin.”

  “I know you’re twins.”

  “Do you find him attractive?” The darkness around him intensified trying to reach out to swallow her up.

  “Excuse me?” A look of disbelief crossed her face.

  “Don’t act shocked. We look alike. I want to know if you find him attractive. Do you fantasize about him? Maybe you wish he was here right now instead of me. Well, do you?”

  She jumped from the couch as his shoulders bulked up. Was he trying to intimidate her? He would have to work harder than that. Life had thrown her too many curve balls to be intimidated by a set of masculine shoulders no matter how well built they were.

  “No!” She spit out with anger. “I don’t find him attractive. I don’t fantasize about him and I don’t wish he was here right now. And it doesn’t matter to me that he looks just like you. He leaves my body cold.”

  She sank back against the mantel feeling Mckayla’s book bag against her leg. She took comfort from it.

  “Are you trying to say you don’t find me attractive?” He stood up looking like he might walk over to her.

  She decided that a small feminine retreat was in order and moved over to a single chair in the room and sank down into it. There were three avenues of escape from the chair. She comforted herself with that lie.

  “We weren’t talking about you.”

  “No, just my twin brother. How could you be hot for one and the other leave you cold? Women chase us like were the last males on Earth and they’re not picky about which one of us they catch.”