PHENOMENAL GIRL 5 (32 page)

I got out my spell-book, ready to put my time to good use. I practiced shields on myself and on various inanimate objects around the room. Getting bored with that, I gave up and decided to surf the Internet for any new mentions of the Dragon.

I had just clicked on yet another Web page that looked harmless enough but led to porn, when I heard the door whisper open behind me. I quickly clicked off the Internet and spun around.

“Wow, you guys are back early…” I trailed off, not believing my eyes.

“So, this is what saving the world looks like. Funny, it looks a bit like monitor duty.”

It was Wesley!

He was giving me a teasing smile. Maybe it was because I hadn’t seen him for a month, and had barely talked to him since I left, but my skin suddenly felt hyper-sensitive.

“Wes.” I found I could speak. “What are you doing here?”

“We’re down to the wire. The Dragon’s plan has to go into effect before the next full moon or not at all. I decided it was safer for you to have me here. And being surrounded by other heroes couldn’t hurt.”

“Why haven’t you come to see me? Why did you barely talk to me?” I moved around the table.

“Apocalypse, remember? Besides, I was giving you some
space,” he said, and the space between us took on new meaning. “I thought that’s what you wanted.”

“I did.” I moved to stand right in front of him, so close I could reach out and touch him. But I didn’t, not yet.

“And now?”

“You’re too far away.”

“I’m right here.”

“It’s still too far.” I leaned in.

He met me, tangling one hand in my loose hair, the other going to my back as he pulled me in for a mind-altering kiss. I clutched at his shirt, keeping him close. Our bodies pressed together and I found him as turned on as I was.

“I lied,” he said against my mouth. “The Dragon’s apocalypse does have to happen soon, but that’s not why I came here. I missed you too much.”

“Show me.” I kissed him harder and he reversed positions, backing me up against the wall, pinning me against it while still kissing me. I practically tried to climb him, angling our bodies for a better fit. His hands were going places that were setting me on fire.

He groaned into my mouth and took a step back, grabbing my hand in his. “Which way is your room?”

We made it there just in time.

“You must have really missed me,” I giggled.

“I could say the same thing,” Wesley replied with a smile, running a hand over my hip. “Maybe there is something to that ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ saying.”

I felt my heart flutter. “I like it better when you’re with me.”

“Me too. And not just for the obvious reasons.” His hand traveled lower, and I giggled again.

“I see how it is. You’re going to show up anytime you feel like…meditating.”

He smiled at the old joke. “No, I thought I’d stay here, actually. Unless you don’t want me to,” he said quickly, reacting
to the shock on my face. “If you think I’d be too much of a distraction…”

I shut him up with a big kiss.

We were just warming up when I heard raised voices in the hallway, followed by a loud pounding on the door.

“It isn’t your place to say!” That was Toby.

“Lainey!” I heard Simon’s wrathful voice, and then, “Open up!”

“What the hell is going on?” Wesley asked.

“I don’t know. I’ll take care of it.” I got up and slipped a robe over myself.

“That sounds like Simon, and it had better not be him.”

I gave Wesley a warning look and opened the door a crack. “Hello?”

Simon tried to shove the door open but I caught it and held it firm.

“Why the hell are you in here?” Simon’s blue eyes were flames of anger. “You’re supposed to be watching the monitors!”

“Simon, it’s…” I leaned back to look at the clock. “Three in the morning?” Wow. Time really does fly when you’re having fun. A lot of fun. “Why are you pounding on my door at three in the morning?” Now I was angry.

“We got back an hour ago,” Toby said. “It was a mess we straightened out pretty fast, but there was all of this red tape to sort through.”

“Literally?”

“No, not literally,” Simon growled. “We just got back and found you not at your post.”

“You are not team leader, and this isn’t for you to say, Simon,” Toby said. “And everyone knows monitor duty is a busywork exercise. You once blew it off to go to a movie premiere, for God’s sake!”

“We may have needed her!” Simon said.

“I was tired,” I lied. Not too much of a lie; it was three in the morning and now I
was
tired. “I was falling asleep at the
desk. If it had been something serious, all the alarms would have gone off and woken me up. I set them up to alert me in here if I was needed.” My excuse sounded weak, even to my ears.

“Oh, you were falling asleep, huh? You were surfing online!”

“Simon, you know Rath’s not going to care. Why are you making such a big deal out of this?”

“Yeah, Rath’s not going to care. He doesn’t dare say anything because she’s screwing his old man!” Simon snarled. I cringed, hearing movement behind me.

“You’re just pissed because I’m not screwing you!” I retorted, waving behind the door for Wesley to stay put. If he hadn’t been ready to kill Simon before, he sure would be now. “And Toby’s right, it’s not your place to be lecturing me because you’re not the boss and you never will be!”

“You’re wrong about that,” Simon said, getting too close for my taste. “I will be team leader one day, when Rath retires, and then what I say goes. And letting some washed up has-been use you won’t carry clout anymore. And for the record, I’m not like the Reincarnist; I don’t like fat girls, so get over yourself.”

The door was yanked open behind me, causing me to stumble, and Wesley punched Simon. As Toby and I stared, Simon dropped like a sack of potatoes, unconscious.

“Damn!” Toby breathed.

“Oh, my God, Wes, you knocked him out with one punch!” I said. “That is so freaking cool!”

“He needed to be taught manners long ago,” Wesley said, leaning against the doorframe. He’d never looked hotter to me than he did just then. The thoughts I was having would guarantee that I’d never sleep that night.

“How have you been, Toby?” Wesley asked, as if we weren’t standing in the hallway after a fight. Or a knockout, really. It hadn’t been much of a fight.

“Great, sir. Good to see you again. Did you come to visit Lainey, or are you staying?”

“I’m staying, but let’s not say anything to anyone to night,” Wesley said. “I want to talk to Ben about it in the morning. And about Simon’s attitude problem.”

“Sure. No problem. Lainey, I’ll take care of the coffee orders in the morning
—
don’t worry about it,” Toby said, giving me a wink. “Have a nice night, you two.” He slung Simon over his shoulder and carried him off.

Wesley shut the door. “Coffee orders?”

I blushed. “I get coffee from downstairs for everyone in the mornings.”

“I see. So, what is it you do around here? You do correspondence, get coffee, and watch monitors that are set to alarm everyone if something happens, and never do any investigations. Yes, I can see how that is a much better use of your time than staying with me where you went on patrol and actually
did
things to help the world.”

“Don’t go mentioning the correspondence,” I said, stripping off my robe and getting back into bed. “Because you made me do that, too.”

He got in with me, moving so I could cuddle up next to him, his flesh warm against mine. “I give better benefits, though.”

“Mmm, is that what you call this?”

“You need more incentives?”

“Maybe.”

He kissed me. “I guess I’ll just have to give you some, then.”

I woke up with the smug satisfaction you feel when everything is right in the world. The warm male body next to me was a reminder of why life was good. I rolled over to kiss Wes good morning.

And came face to face with the blood-red eyes of the Dragon.

I screamed, horror and revulsion filling me. I stumbled out of bed, backing against a wall, my fear crippling me further. The Dragon lay languidly in my bed, one pale limb propping up his head, long red hair cascading down his shoulders, a taunting smile playing at his lips. If it wasn’t for the aura of evil surrounding him, he would have looked like the cover of a romance novel.

“What’s done is done,” he said with a slight Irish accent. “I offered you up to the Ancient Ones as a sacrifice and they were pleased. You will help me summon the Darklight that will bring their release.”

I looked down at my rounded belly. I was obscenely pregnant.

He laughed as I screamed, and I felt the monster inside me stir…

I was still screaming when I awoke, for real this time. Wesley was sitting up in bed next to me, reaching for me, trying to calm me down.

“Lainey,
shhh
…it’s okay. It’s me. It was just a dream.”

I was shaking uncontrollably. “D-did you dream it, too?”

He nodded. “The Dragon.”

“That’s not what’s going to happen, is it? If the prophecy is correct? The Dragon will impregnate me with some demon seed?”

Wesley looked away. “That’s one translation, yes, that the Darklight will be a child. An extremely powerful child that will one day be able to either release the Ancient Ones or destroy them forever.”

“That’s just great,” I said, feeling my adrenaline wearing off and the cool air on my sweaty skin. “Well, I’m not sleeping with the Dragon, and you are you, right?”

He smiled. “Last time I checked.”

Oh, God. Something hit me just then. Last night we had both been so wrapped up in the moment, out of our heads to the point I didn’t think we would make it my room, and we had forgotten something very important. I bit my lip, trying to run over my menstrual cycle in my mind to figure out if it was possible that I had dodged a bullet.

Wesley frowned. “What?”

“N-nothing. That dream was just damn creepy.” I wasn’t going to say anything to him until I knew for sure. There was nothing I could do now, anyway, and besides, we had bigger problems to worry about. I checked the clock and saw that the daily meeting would be starting soon. “Sorry for the rude awakening.”

“I was having the dream, too.”

“We’d better hurry if we’re going to make it to the morning meeting on time.”

“What are they going to do? Fire me?” he asked, a mischievous smirk on his face.

“Maybe you’re safe from the chopping block, but I’m not.”

“No one’s going to fire you while I’m around. If anyone gets fired, it’s going to be Simon.”

“Inferno, fired? Nice pun,” I laughed. “You ought to get to
the meeting before he does, or else he’ll be blabbing to everyone about your being here and picking on him.”

“He won’t mention getting punched out in one hit.” He frowned. “You’re right, though. We’d better be on time.”

I watched as he got out of bed.
Yowza
. “You know, there is something to be said for making an entrance,” I suggested.

He caught me staring, recognized my desire, and smiled. “There is, eh?”

“It makes a dramatic statement.”

“Got to love a sense of drama.”

“And I want to wipe away the memory of that dream,” I said softly.

A look of understanding crossed his face. “Me, too.”

We were late for the meeting.

“Nice of you to join us,” Rath said as we walked into the meeting room an hour later.

I slunk over to my seat like a scolded child. There was a now-cold caramel latte sitting on the desk in front of me. I noticed Mindy smiling at me from across the table. She mouthed, “Hell, yeah!” and winked.

Wesley, however, was not intimidated by Rath’s…well, wrath. I guess you can’t be intimidated by someone you have vague memories of diapering. “Good morning, Ben.”

“I know you have problems with the team, but you’re becoming a poor influence,” Rath said. “First you got Lainey to abandon her post and then you made her late to our meeting.”

Wesley snorted and repeated what Toby had said the night before. “Please. We both know monitor duty is busywork.”

“And I hear there was some kind of scuffle last night?”

Simon glared. “More than a scuffle
—
he punched me!”

“Knocked you out cold, you mean,” Toby chuckled.

“Shut up!” Simon turned his fury on him.

“That was a long time coming,” Wesley said to Rath. “I told you he had anger management problems.”

“You trying to get me fired?” Simon flew out of his seat.

“Simon, sit down,” Kate ordered.

“Stay out of this, Kate!” he snapped, moving toward Wesley. “The has-been is right, this was a long time coming. He’s always acted like he’s better than me, and he’s not! He thinks he’s too good for us!” He was in Wesley’s face, anger burning off of him, literally. Wesley just looked bored.

“Simon, power down now,” Rath said.

“Simon, you’re going to set off the fire alarms, and I just got them recalibrated,” Mindy complained.

“Just calm down,” Paul said.

“Simon,
stop it
.” Kate came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. “We both know the reason you act like this.”

Simon powered down and turned a dark look on her. “No, you don’t.”

“You have some issues and feelings you need to come to terms with.”

“Don’t use your psycho-babble on me! I’m so sick of this team holding me back.”

“We’re holding
you
back?” Paul looked incredulous.

“You never let me speak at the major press conferences. You’re keeping the spotlight on yourselves, on the good deeds you do! No one ever sees me except for at movie premieres. If I wanted to be famous like that, I would have been a damn actor
—
God knows I had offers. But I have these powers for a reason, and I wanted to show the world how good I was. I went through all that trouble with Jihad, and then
he
had to go and ruin it!” Simon pointed to Wesley.

Wesley stared back at him. “What trouble with Jihad?”

“Oh, my God.” I was on my feet in an instant. “It was you! You were the one that was working with the Dragon’s goons!”