Rylan's Heart (4 page)

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“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?

“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.

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.

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.”

Pain tore through her at the thought of him with other women. Why did she care? She’d been with other men. The lie tasted biter on her tongue. She had only been with one and it was against her will. After that she was too busy raising Mckayla to take time to date, much less try to sneak someone into her small apartment and have copious amounts of sex.

That drew a smile to her face. When she dreamed of sex with Mr. Right, it was always in copious amounts. In fact, she was beginning to believe that dreaming about it was as close as she would get to it. At least she knew how to take care of herself.

“I don’t care how many women you’ve had. Maybe you should go and find one of them now. That receptionist looked willing.”

She looked willing to do anything, including sleep with that monster, Peter. Aviana tried to feel bad for thinking that about the receptionist but just couldn’t. So what if Rylan slept with the receptionist. He wasn’t hers, good riddance.

“Lie. I can see it on your face. Your face tells all your secrets, Angel.”

“I’ll have to work harder at having a poker face, and I’m not your angel.”

“Lie. Try another one. Tell me that you don’t go up in flames when I’m around. Tell me that you don’t dream of me and the thought of my name on someone else’s lips doesn’t upset you.”

The darkness inside of him lashed out, causing sounds of thunder in the room. Her eyes widened as he strode towards her on his muscular legs.

“I’m not scared of you.”

“You should be. I should make you shake in your boots. If you had any common sense, you would be diving for the door instead of sitting there like the defiant goddess of the storm.

“Run Aviana, prove to both of us you’re the highly intelligent female I pegged you to be. I won’t chase you if you run now.”

He stood in front of her his arms over his chest his mouth in a cruel slash across his face.

She should run. What idiot took a look at him, heard that darn thunder in their room, and stayed? How was she expected to brave a storm she knew nothing about? Searching inside her, she looked for her survival instincts that kept her alive all these years, but they went missing. Instead, she stood tall inside herself daring him to do his worst.