Merry & Seduced (18 page)

“That feels so good.” Her cybertronics jumped and gamboled like a playful puppy.

He teased one nipple, alternatively plucking and pinching until enjoyment radiated from each point of contact.

“We’re turning into prunes,” Marcus said.

An unfamiliar term. She opened her mouth then clamped it shut. It couldn’t be life-threatening since there was no panic in his voice.

“We should get out before your beautiful skin goes permanently wrinkled. Out you get. I’ll take care of things in here. You keep warm.” Marcus gave her a gentle push and she rose to her feet and stepped from the bath.

She lifted her hand and saw her normal smooth skin, yet prunes related to wrinkling in some way. She made a mental note to ask Camryn about this phenomenon.

Marcus grabbed a handful of soap and washed himself briskly.

She stared for an instant, the towel she was drying herself with stilling. A cool shiver went over her, pebbling her skin with tiny chill bumps. She cocked her head, listening closely, frowned. She dropped the towel and smoothed on a black lacy gown.

“You look beautiful,” Marcus whispered. “Don’t get cold. Go and climb in bed.”

His heated look warmed her through and she nodded. “Don’t be long.”

“With you waiting for me? Not a chance.”

Amme padded through to the bedroom, and another chill swept over her. Autumn. Something wasn’t right. Instinct had her moving before the thoughts formed into solid commands to act. She burst into Autumn’s room and discovered an empty bed.

“Autumn?”

“Amme!” Panic filled the child’s voice.

Amme charged in the direction of the stairs. Three-quarters of the way down Autumn struggled with a strange woman. “What are you doing? Autumn, come to me.”

“Stay away from me,” the woman screeched, her eyes wild, her blonde hair unkempt. The chipped scarlet fingernails of her right hand dug into Autumn’s upper arm. The blade of a knife glinted in the other. “Stay away or…or I’ll hurt her.”

The knife wavered in her trembling hand, and a bead of blood formed on Autumn’s cheek.

Amme froze, her mind fumbling for English. “A-Autumn is an innocent. Please, please let her come to me.”

“Get back!”

Amme summed up with cyberspeed. If she got close enough, she’d grab Autumn. Her strength and speed would aid her.

“Amme.” Autumn wriggled. “I want Daddy.”

“It’s all right, sweetheart,” Amme said, not taking her attention from the woman. “I’ve seen you before. In the mall. Have you been following us?”

“S-stay where you are. I’ll use my knife. Cut her pretty face. Marcus won’t want her anymore.”

“Marcus loves her,” Amme said. “He’d love her no matter what.”

“Marcus loves me.” The woman’s voice wavered, and her gaze bounced from Amme to the landing above and back.

“What do you want?”

The woman cleared her throat, hesitated before bursting into speech. “M-Marcus is mine. Tell him I’m taking his daughter. He can come for her. W-we’re gonna be happy. I love him.”

Amme gathered herself. She could do this, move before the woman reacted.

Autumn snapped her teeth, diverting the woman’s attention. Amme leaped, struck the woman’s hand. The knife flew over the banister. But the woman reacted quickly. She shoved Autumn against the wall and sprang at Amme, fingers outstretched. Pain receptors registered the gouge, the damage to her chin.

“You can’t have him,” the woman snarled, and she grabbed Autumn and pushed her down the stairs.

“Autumn!” Amme shrieked.

Autumn screamed, legs and arms flailing as she toppled backward. Amme practically flew after Autumn, grabbing her, using every bit of her strength to save the girl from harm.

She managed to grip the banister and halt their downward roll. She dug in, taking their combined weight on her legs. Exhaling a shaky breath, she set Autumn down, made sure the child had her balance.

Marcus appeared at the top of the stairs. “What the fuck? Sophie?”

“She can’t have you,” the woman shrieked and she jostled Amme, elbowed her then rammed her hard.

Amme went airborne. She tumbled backward and hit the bottom stair with a thump that reverberated inside her skull.

Pain struck her like a blow—a blast of agony doubled by her receptors and echoing through her blood network. Move. She had to move. A groan escaped as she ordered her body to move. Her leg.
Grata
, her leg. It bent at an impossible angle. She gasped, tried to propel herself forward with her arms. Her right arm crumpled, and she realized she was broken.

Summoning every bit of energy, she forced her head to move and glanced at her arm. The skin covering her arm circuitry had split and some of her cybertronics were visible.

Panic roared through her mind, her thoughts tangling as she attempted to pick herself up again.

Camryn.
Camryn would help. She had to…to com Camryn.

“Amme,” Marcus shouted.

Amme managed to croak a garbled message via her earpiece before blackness clouded her mind. “Emergency. Code blue. Code blue!”

M
arcus shoved past Sophie, ignoring her shrieks to get to Autumn and Amme.

“Marcus, I love you,” Sophie sobbed.

“Get the fuck out of my way.” He reached Autumn, her small face pale and tear-streaked, a little bloody. The red brushed away with his thumb. Superficial. Thank God. “Autumn, are you all right? Do you hurt anywhere?”

“She…she…is Amme dead like Mummy?”

“No, of course not.” He picked up Autumn and continued down the stairs, hoping like hell he wasn’t lying to his daughter. “Stand over there, sweetheart, while I check Amme.”

“Marcus, you’re mine,” Sophie screamed. She wrapped her arms around herself and curled into a weeping ball on the landing. “It’s not fair. You belong to me.”

He ignored her to crouch beside Amme. Her eyes were wide open, blank and staring. Grief and pain struck him as he fumbled to check her pulse. His fingers touched cool, clammy skin at her throat.

No pulse.

He reached for her wrist and— “What the fuck?” Those were wires. Some kind of circuits. “Autumn, I want you to run and get my phone. It’s on the kitchen counter.”

Without warning a window smashed. Marcus whirled around in time to see a huge black leopard leap into his house. Seconds later another one followed. Marcus blinked and blinked again when the biggest leopard suddenly morphed in a man.

Ry.

The second leopard transformed into a topless Camryn. Ry let out a snarl and Camryn immediately crossed her arms over her bare breasts.

“Is she all right?” Camryn demanded. “What happened? Where’s Autumn?” She paused to listen. “The others are almost here.”

“What the fuck?” Marcus said. “You…you…”

“Broken arm. Broken leg. Must be shock. She’s gone offline. We need Mogens and Nanu,” Ry said in a terse voice. “Shut up,” he snarled at Sophie.

“Daddy, here’s the phone,” Autumn said. “Where are your clothes?”

“I was in a hurry,” Camryn said. “Marcus, what happened?”

“I don’t know. I was in the bathroom. I heard a scream and came out in time to see Amme hit the ground.”

“The lady tried to steal me,” Autumn said.

“Look after your daughter,” Ry ordered. “We’ll take care of Amme.”

“What do you mean she’s offline? I couldn’t find a pulse.” Anguish wrapped around him. Shock. He shook his head, trying to reorder his thoughts. “I couldn’t find a pulse. I think she’s dead.”

His front door flew open, Jannike and Kaya leading the rush, weapons in hand, their faces hard and determined.

“Amme!” Gweneth cried.

“Gweneth.” Camryn grabbed her before she could reach Amme. “We think she’s okay. I need you to find me a T-shirt. Can you do that?”

“Yes,” Gweneth said. “You promise she’s all right?”

“I think so. Mogens will tell us.”

“Where is Mogens?” Ry demanded.

Marcus sank onto the floor, fear and disbelief stealing his ability to stand. Autumn went to him, pressed against him and he wrapped his arms around her quivering body.

“Mogens stopped to get his satchel,” Nanu said. “
Kuf
!
I can see her circuitry. Kaya, I need my kit too.”

“On it,” Kaya said.

Olivia sidled up to him, her features pale as she dropped onto the floor beside him. “What the fuck is going on? We were dancing in the nightclub, having fun then all of a sudden, they sprinted from the club. They were muttering code blue.” Olivia paused to smooth some hair from her cheek. “I have never travelled so fast in all my life. Jannike…my god! I can’t believe we made it here in one piece. Marcus, they aren’t speaking English. I think…I think they’re aliens,” she finished in a whisper.

“Shut her up,” Ry said. “She’s getting on my nerves.”

“On it,” Jannike said and stalked up the stairs. She yanked Sophie to her feet and manhandled her to the ground floor. Jannike came to a halt beside Marcus. “What do you want me to do with her?”

“I’ll call the cops. Look after Autumn for me,” he said to Olivia.

“We’ll take Amme back to the cottage,” Ry said. “Mogens, will that work?”

“Yes, I can fix her.”

Ry picked up Amme and strode to the front door.

“Wait, you can’t just take Amme,” Marcus objected.

“You can’t help her,” Ry said.

“Marcus, call the cops,” Camryn said, and she darted after her friends, leaving Marcus alone with his sister and daughter and a sobbing Sophie.

Autumn patted his bare leg, and he realized he was naked apart from his boxer-briefs. “Will they make Amme better?” she asked.

“I hope so,” he said.

He picked up his phone and dialed 1-1-1, the emergency number, and spoke to the dispatcher in a hard voice. He hung up. “The police are on their way.”

“You understood them,” Olivia said. “Autumn understands them too. How is that possible? All I could hear was clicks, interspersed with snaps and snarls. They really are aliens.”

“We’ll discuss it later,” Marcus said. Right now, he was having trouble wrapping his brain around Ry and Camryn. He’d heard Amme mumble something before he reached her but hadn’t realized she’d called for help.

“I wonder if Max knows,” Olivia said.

“We’ll discuss it later,” Marcus reiterated in a hard voice.

Sirens sounded in the distance, quickly becoming louder.

“Cops are here. Let me do the talking.”

“It’s not fair,” Sophie sobbed. “You’re mine.”

Marcus sent her a disgusted look and marched to the door. “In here, officers.”

“What’s the problem?” one of the policeman asked.

“This woman entered my home uninvited and tried to kidnap my daughter.”

“Do you know who she is?”

“An ex-girlfriend. I broke it off some time ago, but she refuses to take no for an answer. I want her charged.”

One of the policemen went to Sophie and helped her to her feet. “He belongs to me. He’s mine. Mine!” she shrieked. “You ask him. He’ll tell you. He belongs to me, not that other woman.”

“What other woman?”

Marcus shrugged. “I have no idea what she’s talking about. She’s obviously unbalanced.”

Marcus patiently answered their questions and finally they left, taking Sophie with them. When the door shut behind them, Marcus started to clean up the glass and found materials to board up the window while Olivia put Autumn back to bed. He was just finishing when Olivia came down the stairs.

“How is Autumn? No, don’t tell me. I’ll go and see for myself.” He strode up the stairs, only slowing when he entered her room.

He found her curled in a ball beneath the covers, the night light glowing. Her breaths were slow and even, indicating she’d fallen asleep, despite the traumatic evening. He crouched beside the bed and resettled the covers over her slight form. Thank god, she wasn’t injured.

If Amme hadn’t been there…

He shuddered and stood, leaving Autumn’s bedroom door open, so he’d hear her if she woke in distress.

“You want a cup of tea?” Olivia asked.

“I need something stronger.” Marcus stalked to the pantry and retrieved a bottle of whiskey. He found two glasses and poured a healthy measure into each one. “Hell of a night.” An understatement.

His mind kept shying from the vision of Amme lying at the bottom of the stairs.

“They’re aliens, I tell you,” Olivia said.

“Do you know Camryn’s cell phone number?”

“It’s on the bit of paper stuck to the fridge. Amme wrote it down for me the other day since she doesn’t have a phone.”

Marcus gulped down some whiskey and stood. He retrieved the number and dialed, his stomach bucking and hollowing while he waited for Camryn to answer.

“Yes.” Camryn sounded impatient.

“It’s Marcus. How is Amme?”

“She’s conscious now.”

“Is she going to be all right?”

“I think so,” Camryn said.

“Shouldn’t she go to a hospital?” He asked the question, knowing what Camryn’s answer would be.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Camryn said carefully. “What happened to the woman?”

“She’s in police custody. The consensus is she’s mentally unstable, and they’re going to get a psychiatric report. She told the police there were strange people and big cats and she thought they were aliens.”

“I see,” Camryn said after a pause. “What did you tell the police?”

“That she was stalking me, and it was a case of breaking and entering and attempted kidnapping.”

“You knew about her?” The sharp note from Camryn brought a wave of guilt.

“She’s been ringing and emailing me, but not to the point where I thought she was dangerous.”

“Jannike said she’s seen her around when we visited the mall.”

“God.” Marcus’s hand tightened around the phone. “I didn’t know.”

“No one is blaming you, Marcus.”

“I blame myself. I should’ve known she was unstable.” He paused, took a gulp of his drink, enjoying the burn as it slipped down his throat. “Can I come and see Amme?”

Camryn hesitated. “She doesn’t want to see you.”

“Why? None of this is her fault. I don’t blame her.”

“I know. Ring me again tomorrow. She might change her mind.” Camryn hung up abruptly, leaving him listening to dead air.