Sienna, page 8
Her stomach gurgled as she set stepped into the interconnecting dining room and set the table with cutlery, a jug of water and glasses.
She glanced at him in the kitchen, where he’d placed the tray onto the sink before he began dividing their cheesy dinner in half, then placed the two large chunks onto their respective plates. The cheesy, meaty pasta all but hung over the edges of the plates, and she couldn’t help but smile at their portion sizes. “That is a family sized meal.”
He stalked to the dining table with a plate in each hand. “We need the calories.”
“Then I guess your starvation technique didn’t work on me.”
He ignored her saccharine sweet voice and set their plates down before he pulled a chair out for her. “I guess not,” he replied, waiting for her to sit before he pushed her chair back into position.
When he took his chair opposite she’d already piled a gooey forkful of cheese, meat and pasta into her mouth. She was too hungry to be polite. Her eyes slid closed for a moment as she savored the taste sensation. “This is so good,” she muttered incoherently. Her mouth was too full to talk delicately. She was nothing short of a bulldozer shoving food into her mouth.
Gray chuckled, his yellow eyes alight with amusement. “Are you sure you don’t want my half of the family sized meal?”
She was too famished to blush. Eating her fill was serious business, one she wasn’t going to treat lightly. She scooped up another big mouthful and chewed. “It is delicious.”
“You don’t say,” he said in a teasing note, before he slid his plate her way. She stopped chewing, then she swallowed and said, “I don’t want your share.”
“Are you sure about that?” he asked, his smile infectious and bringing out a dimple on one side of his cheek she’d never noticed before. “It seems like you need it a whole lot more than me.”
She shook her head, her mouth drying. She could so easily fall for his charms. And she’d bet that was exactly what he’d been working toward. “Thanks, but no thanks. You eat it.”
He dragged his plate back. “Have it your way then.”
When he ate just as ravenously as she did, she decided he had been testing her, seeing if his generosity would make her soften toward him. That his charm and his looks were slowly eroding away at her wasn’t something she was willing to admit.
A bounty hunter wouldn’t have a conscience. The moment she told him everything she knew, he’d dispose of her. She’d become excess baggage, an unnecessary burden.
No, she wasn’t falling for his charms.
Gray had scraped up the last of his meal when she still had a few mouthfuls left. He sat back, his hands clasping his stomach and his stare lingering on her. “I won’t need to eat for a week.”
She ate slowly, too full now to appreciate the food, but also aware Gray might decide not to feed her again after this. After all, she had no intention of telling him anything. She’d eat all her dinner even if it half-killed her.
He leaned forward. “What did you mean earlier, about why the Dronians had brought the mothership back into Earth’s atmosphere?”
She put her fork down on her plate, the food now a lump in her stomach. She shrugged, her mind whirling with a hundred different lies. She settled on a half-truth. “Didn’t you notice how quickly the mothership leaves after it drops off the soldiers? It went straight up, presumably outside of Earth’s atmosphere. Probably somewhere no human can spy on them.”
“I don’t believe it,” he said softly. “You answered a question without me having to beg or forcibly get it out of you.”
Her lips tightened even as her pulse fluttered. “Don’t go getting too excited. I’m not going to spill the beans about anything else.” She snorted. “Not that I have the information you need anyway.”
“And yet you’ve given me intel I knew nothing about.”
“I have?”
He nodded. “You’ve all but admitted the mothership rarely enters Earth’s atmosphere. The question is—why?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” She managed one last mouthful of the lasagna before she pushed it away. She’d be sick if she wasn’t careful, and it wasn’t just overeating making her feel that way. She wasn’t used to this...subterfuge.
Gray stood and cleared away their dishes, giving the leftovers to Bongo who wolfed down the food like he was still an opportunistic street dog.
She pushed to her feet, her chair scraping back. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
He was rinsing off their plates, his back to her, when his whole body froze at her question, probably in disbelief. She was, after all, his prisoner. Then he turned to her, his voice non-committal. “Thanks for the offer but there isn’t anything you need to do. I’ll leave the cutlery and plates to dry on the sink.”
Bongo flopped onto his doggy mattress against the far wall of the dining room, and Sienna was almost resentful of his freedom to do what he wanted when he wanted. She bit her bottom lip. “In that case, I might try and get some sleep.”
Gray wiped his hands. “Good idea. We could both use some.”
She gave him a tentative smile. “Well then...goodnight. I’ll see you in the morning.”
He stepped toward her. “You will. And all night as well.”
She frowned, her pulse surging. “What?”
He clasped her forearm and ushered her out of the kitchen and down the hallway. “We’ll be sharing a bed tonight.” At her gasped outrage, he added, “Not for sex, though I won’t say no if that’s what you want. I need to know where you are at all times. I don’t trust that you won’t try and escape again.”
“I can assure you I’m not going to leave,” she said hoarsely, hating the intimate mental pictures filling her head at their coming, forced proximity. “I give you my word.”
He opened the bedroom door. “I wish I could say I believed you.”
She stamped inside and whirled around as he shut the door behind him, then leaned his long body against it. Hands on her hips, she said, “You forced me here against my will. Don’t make out like you’re the saint in this relationship!”
“Relationship?” he repeated smugly. “Is that what we have?”
“You’re impossible!”
“You just hate that you’re attracted to me.”
She dragged the bedcovers down and climbed under with stiff, jerky movements, facing on her side away from him. “Ha. In your dreams!” She sent him one last scathing look. “Have fun guarding the door all night.”
At least she’d get some sleep.
What she didn’t expect was for her head to hit the pillow, then seconds later, the bedroom light flicking off before the mattress depressed with his weight. Her heart thumped unsteadily in her chest when she asked tightly, “What are you doing?”
“Sleeping, hopefully. What are you doing?”
She snorted. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll sneak off while you’re snoring your head off?”
“I don’t snore,” he said in an amused voice. He shuffled close to her before one of his arms curled around her waist. “And you won’t be going anywhere without me knowing about it.”
“You’re sleeping with me?” she asked in a squeaky, high-pitched voice.
His warm breath caressed her ear. “I do like to sleep on a bed when I can.”
When he drew her closer, his erection pushing against the small of her back, she snapped, “Don’t touch me!”
His dark chuckle filled her ear, making her want things she most definitely shouldn’t want. “Are you going to pretend you don’t like my body pressing against yours?”
“I’m. Not. Pretending.”
“Liar,” he said. “Get some sleep. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow.”
She scowled into the darkness. What did he have planned? Had he decided to drag the truth from out of her using whatever was needed to make her talk? She’d bet torture wasn’t beneath him, he’d all but admitted as much.
A soft snore escaped his relaxed body. The bastard was already asleep! She scowled even harder. So much for him not snoring!
She wanted to shake off his grip and escape from his hold over her. Except suddenly the mattress was too soft, too warm and comfortable, Gray’s arms around her making her feel safe and snug for the first time in too long.
Her eyelids fluttered closed and sleep came to her...along with the dreams.
Dead bodies littered the floor, all of them Strazanians, many of them rares who’d been guarding the palace and protecting the royals.
She willed her five star fliers back to her, forcing them to work their way out of the flesh of the deceased Dronians bodies. She caught each star as they whirled toward her, tucking them back into her robe again to be deployed when needed.
She wouldn’t think about the blood and gore covering them. It took everything she had just to focus on the task ahead. She’d save her powerful ability for when it was needed most. Once she found the royals, she’d implode the Dronians trying to get to them.
She only hoped the royal family had been warned with enough time to be ushered into one of their antechamber safe rooms. At least then the king and queen, along with their precious children, had a fighting chance to stay alive and safe until help arrived.
Her thoughts scattered as she slipped on some blood and fell heavily to the floor, but not before feeling the whoosh of air as one of her unseen enemies tried to take her out. Shit. If it hadn’t been for her inadvertent tumble, she’d likely be dead now.
She stayed low as she called her star fliers free, unleashing them once again. While one pinged against what sounded unmistakably like armor, the rest thudded into flesh.
Three Dronians shimmered into sight, their defenses diminishing as they died. Though she couldn’t see them when they were at full health, or conversely when they were dead, when they were dying their shields appeared to drop momentarily, all their energy diverted into just surviving.
One Dronian gargled as two stars worked their way through his skull. Only once the stars jagged his brain did he drop dead to the floor, his image disappearing along with his life-force. Another Dronian pulled at the star in his throat, but it was too little, too late.
She recalled the star that had pinged against armor. Catching it in her hand, she released it back out again with just a thought. It thudded into flesh this time, and she grimaced at the Dronian who appeared in front of her, the star flier embedded deep in the hole for its ear. Blood poured free and it clawed at the side of its head, digging its talon in after the star, but there was nothing it could do.
She straightened, her nose wrinkling at the scent of blood and decay, and at the grisly scene in front of her. The Dronians she’d killed had probably been nothing more than some stragglers, soldiers that had been bringing up the rear to ensure no victims lived.
Her comrades had all been hacked and slashed to ribbons, while others had been drained of their blood thanks to deep gashes on their throats from one of the many Dronians with their wicked talons. Her stomach clenched and bile rose up her throat. She swallowed it back. She didn’t have time to be sick. She needed to get to the royals.
She staggered forward, sending the star fliers spinning through the air every few minutes just to be safe. She was blind to her enemy, as helpless as a babe in the woods. She’d been lucky so far.
Haste would get her killed.
It wasn’t until she rounded a corner of the building, which led into the great hall and then a set of huge double doors with their intricate carvings that sealed off the royal antechamber safe room, that she stopped and bent over double, a keening cry leaving her lips.
The antechamber safe room doors were wide open, a pool of blood congealing on the floor inside like a red carpet. Even more horrifying was the fact the room was empty, devoid of any bodies.
She’d failed the royal family. She’d failed her people.
Chapter Fourteen
Gray jerked awake as Sienna’s horrified cry filled his ears. He sat, his pupils automatically dilating to better filter in any natural light from the semi-darkness and give him clearer vision. But he didn’t need great sight to know she was dreaming about something bad.
He shook her awake. “Sienna, you’re dreaming. Wake up.”
She sat with a heavy exhale, her eyes flying open and her chest heaving in and out as she fought to regain her composure. Her iridescent green eyes brimmed with intelligence and then hostility. “You again,” she croaked.
He nodded. “I’ll take that as the insult it was meant to be.”
She closed her eyes, her breath shuddering. “I was dreaming, wasn’t I?”
“You were.” He cleared his throat, wanting to learn more about what made her tick as much as he wanted to learn anything he could about their common enemy. “Do you want to talk about it?”
She shook her head. “Thanks, but no thanks. I’d prefer not relive the death of my people again.”
Though an apology seemed inadequate at best, he couldn’t stay quiet. “I’m sorry, Sienna, I truly am.”
“Yeah, so am I.” She rubbed at her arms. “I-I shouldn’t be here.”
“You’ve got someplace else you’d rather be?”
She dug her fingertips into her brow, weariness etched deeply into her face. “I need to reconvene with the six other rares. If I don’t, I’m not sure we’ll survive.”
His pulse lurched. He couldn’t imagine that possibility, he refused to imagine it. Not only was Sienna vital to saving his world, he couldn’t lose her. Her death would be an injustice of the highest order, one that would likely kill him, too.
He shoved away the mess of his emotions. He clearly wasn’t thinking straight. He was getting too invested, and that made him weak. His voice came out harsh, accusatory. “Meeting up with any of your kind would be a mistake. It would be the perfect opportunity for the Dronians to annihilate you all at once.”
Followed by my world, my people.
“We don’t have a choice.” She shook her head, as though mentally berating herself for spilling her secrets to him. She blinked up at him, clearly deciding it was too late to stop now when she added, “The day you captured me I had five days before I was supposed to reunite with the other rares. You’ve kept me with you for—how many days now?”
“This will be day three,” he said neutrally, though guilt was a dull blade slicing inside his gut.
“Then I have two more days,” she said dully.
He had to draw on every bit of ruthlessness he had and then some and remind himself why she was his captive. He couldn’t let her go now. He needed to use her desperation to his advantage. If she was half as frantic to meet up with her rare comrades as he was to learn about their enemy and save his people, then there was hope yet.
She pushed back some loose strands of her hair behind her ear. “Looks like I failed before the meeting even eventuated.”
“What makes you say that?”
Her shoulders drooped. “Not all of us rares know about the meeting. It was my mission to find those still in hiding and let them know about our rendezvous.”
He frowned. He’d never heard such defeat in her voice. She hadn’t failed yet! “Why can’t you still find them?”
She glared at him, the smudge of light outside that heralded the start of a new day giving clear visual of her emotions. “Other than the fact you’re holding me hostage here?”
“Perhaps I can help?” he suggested, while every atom in his body berated his offer.
She blinked and a green light filled her eyes, an effervescent glow that made his breath catch and his senses reel. Gods, but she was beautiful. She held his stare. “Help me find them and I’ll tell you everything I know about the Dronians,” she promised huskily.
It was madness to even consider the idea. The moment she found one of her own kind they’d use their combined powers to get rid of him once and for all, and his opportunity would be gone right along with it. But it was the closest he’d come yet to getting information he could relay back to his world.
And besides...he wasn’t without his own demands. “I’ll do what you ask...on one condition.”
“One condition?” she repeated dully.
He nodded. “I am a bounty hunter. It’s in my nature to expect some kind of reward for helping you.”
“If it’s money you want, I don’t—“
“Kiss me,” he interjected throatily.
She licked her lips, her eyes glowing the brightest green. “One kiss,” she said softly, cautiously. “Then we leave this house immediately and we find my people.”
He nodded assent. Words weren’t particularly necessary at this point. All he cared about was pressing his mouth against hers. All he could focus on was her lush, full lips that were made for kissing.
He leaned closer, his mouth pressing against hers, gently at first as she stiffened a little, before she timidly kissed back. Not until she softened beneath him and began to respond, did his lips harden fractionally while passion took over like a tsunami rushing between them.
Holy smokes.
He hadn’t expected this all-consuming level of intensity and need. That she seemed as desperate to touch and taste his lips as he was as desperate to touch and taste hers only added fuel to the fire.
She was spiced vanilla with depths of aquatic sharpness and freshness that turned him on like nothing else. She was unique, an amazing woman he’d been drawn to from the very start. He could have gone after any one of the seven rares, yet he’d chosen her.
Best decision ever.
Kissing her was like visiting heaven, then falling through clouds and landing on a rainbow that was warmed through by the sun.
She moaned against his mouth, and it was nothing short of an alarm, a warning to stop while he was still able to. He drew back, though every cell screamed at him to kiss her again.
Her eyes shone like green jewels as she stared up at him, their shared lust making her as helpless as he’d been. “Is something wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” he admitted hoarsely. “Everything is right.”
