Tempt Me Eternally (8 page)

“You mentioned my greatest enemy.” He saw no
reason to lie. Not when he might gain information. “My men needed to know what they will soon be up against.”

“Oh. So you really do hate the Schön?”

“Yes.” Guess they would talk, after all. “Does AIR have any idea what those bastards can do? I know you told me some were killed, but I just want to make sure you understand the danger.”

“Yes. They are infected with a disease that turns people into cannibals.”

“That disease destroyed my planet. That disease is the reason we are here.”

“Oh,” she said again. “I'm—I'm sorry. You aren't . . . infected, are you? I mean, I know we've had this conversation and I know I bit you and tasted your blood and I haven't experienced any unusual symptoms, but you've got me worried.”

“No, I'm not infected. You would be able to tell if I were. The skin turns gray, the eyes sink into the skull.
I
would have been the one to bite
you
that night in the forest.”

She gulped, but that was her only response.

“How did your people defeat them?” he asked.

“I don't know. I wasn't working for them at the time.”

He was glad. Though he wanted the information, badly, he didn't like the thought of Aleaha engaging such fierce creatures. At least there was hope, a way to win. He would like to work with AIR and increase the chance for victory, but he didn't think they'd welcome him.

“All I know,” she continued, “is what I've already told you. Several warriors came here. They were crushed, and now their queen, the most powerful of them, is on her way.”

Oh, yes. The queen was indeed the most powerful. She was also heartless, selfish, determined, and irresistible.

“Come,” he said again. For the moment, there was nothing else to say on the subject.

“Are you taking me to my friends?”

Rather than start a debate—because no, he wasn't taking her to her friends—he remained silent as he escorted her out of the home and into the backyard, keeping her beside him with an arm draped around the feminine dip of her waist. She didn't try to escape. Perhaps she'd realized there was no place to go, nothing around them. Perhaps, as concerned as she was about her fellow agents, she didn't want to leave without them.

Or perhaps he wasn't giving her enough credit. Maybe she meant to bide her time and kill him while he slept. If he was lucky, she stayed because she wanted another kiss. Had she thought of him at all while inside that room? Dreamed of him the way he'd dreamed of her?

“The air,” she said, nose wrinkling in distaste as her eyes scanned the darkness.

“Cold?” He removed his jacket and placed it around her shoulders.

“Yes, but also pungent.”

“You become used to it.” He peered down at her,
hungry. “Change for me. Please. No one will see.” There were no trees offering solace, but there was a tall iron fence surrounding the barren yard. Plus, there were no other homes nearby. They'd all collapsed.

She didn't pretend to misunderstand. “I will if you'll tell me where the agents are. I never heard them, and I'm trying not to go crazy, imagining them d-dead.” There at the end, her voice shook.

“They were underground, in a cell not far from where we are standing.” Truth. He didn't mind telling her since they had already been moved to the new home. “I swear to you, they are alive and well and will remain so. They are also angry as hell that you are not with them.”

“I-I believe you. That sounds like them. Thank you.” Her relief was palpable. “And now for my part of the bargain.” Again, she glanced around. When she saw that they were alone, she began to grow several inches, becoming leaner. Her long dark hair fell over his wrist, and he basked in the silkiness of it. Her eyes were so deep a green he would have sworn he was standing in a lush, dewy meadow every time he peered into them. Her skin was translucent, smooth, and, as easily as she'd responded to him, probably sensitive. She might be able to come with only a caress.

A man could hope, anyway.

Actually, a man could hope for a lot more. Even now, he could taste her in his mouth, rainstorms and passion. So much passion he'd nearly drowned in it. Had
wanted
to drown in it. No matter which guise
she'd worn, even as the male—surprising, but something he wasn't going to question—she'd tasted the same. And he'd loved it. She could have eaten him alive with those sharp little teeth, and he would have died with a smile on his face.

“Beautiful,” he said. The clothes were a bit too short for her now, though they bagged over her smaller chest and leaner waist, but, oh, did the sight of her like this please him.

A tremor slid the length of her spine, brushing her shoulder against his chest. “Thank you.”

Renewed desire pounded through him, hot, readying his body for her. If he wasn't careful, his resolve to wait until she begged would snap and he'd try to seduce her. Here and now. No matter who watched. Even now that honey scent was wafting from him. . . .

“What are you going to do to me?” she asked, her voice raspy. Did she smell it? Yearn for him? “What are you going to do to the other agents?”

The doorway to the underground tunnel was thrown open, Talon climbing the makeshift steps, a metal box in his hands, barking orders in the Rakan language to the others, who were carrying large boxes of their own.

Aleaha gasped at the wide, dark pit now revealed. “Is the cell down there?” she asked, her previous questions forgotten. Then, she must have realized that someone else was seeing her true form, because the black locks began to lighten.

“Don't change. Please. I did not expect him to
appear so soon, but hiding now will do no good. Besides, he will not betray you.”

A moment passed, but then her hair returned to its full, dark glory. He offered her a grateful smile and was rewarded with a hesitant twitch of her lips. One day he would make her laugh. One day he would—

Forget his purpose if he didn't look away. “Do you need more men?” he asked Talon in Rakan. There was no reason for Aleaha to have this information, and every reason for her
not
to have it. “I want us out of here as quickly as possible.”

Talon's golden braids slapped his temples as he faced Breean. “No,” he said. “Cain and Syler just arrived. Said they couldn't listen to the AIR agents any longer. I've got them carrying the last of the weapons.”

“Were the agents still demanding their release?”

“Yes. But they also want to know what we did with their dead.” Disgust dripped from Talon's voice when he uttered the word
dead
.

“When Cain and Syler return, they may explain that we buried them.” It was the truth. But Breean was as disgusted as his friend that humans had died. Killing the agents so viciously and so violently had been unnecessary. They'd had things under control—a few of their own men had been stunned, yes, but no one had been injured—so there'd been no need to resort to bloodshed.

Because of that bloodshed, he'd had to command everyone to burn their clothes and bathe the moment
they'd reached this dilapidated, forgotten house. No exceptions. Not even for the prisoners.

“Speaking of AIR,” Talon said, “neither Cain nor Syler saw any sign of them, here or there, during their journey. You were right. There is no better time to finish our switch.”

“Good.”

“What shall I do with Marleon? Leave him,” which meant,
kill him here,
“or take him with me?” Which meant,
kill him there
. “I didn't know what to do with him, so I kept him locked up here.”

Marleon was the warrior, the traitor, who'd whisked inside several of the agents, taking over their bodies and forcing them to shoot themselves. He'd been sequestered this entire week while Breean considered his punishment. A punishment he didn't want to deliver, for he loved Marleon like a brother. But there was no way around this. He'd merely been putting off the inevitable.

“Take him. It's past time I made an example of him.”

“Consider it done.” Talon's gaze shifted momentarily to Aleaha. “I know that you wanted no reminder of her while she was locked away, so I didn't ask what I've been dying to ask. Now that you have her . . . did you learn how she was able to become you?”

He sighed. “Not yet, but I will find out.”

“The change was amazing. You are keeping her for yourself, I gather.” Talon switched to the Earth language on the last sentence, a hungry gleam in his golden eyes.

“Yes,” Breean answered, a little stiff.

“No sharing?”

His hands clenched at the thought, dark possessiveness clamoring through him. Aleaha stiffened as well. “No.”

“She—”

“Is mine.”

A nod and a grin from Talon; a growl from Aleaha.

“I thought as much. Very well,” Talon said. “We have been monitoring the headsets from the agents as you told us to do, but the female voice has stopped talking in them. And this morning, Torrence found and destroyed the cameras they used to watch.”

“Oh, God.” Aleaha groaned, paling. “The cameras. I had forgotten about them. They must have seen me . . . what I . . . oh, God.”

“Excellent,” he told his second, ignoring her outburst for the moment. Otherwise he would have drawn her into his embrace and forgotten his purpose yet again. “How much do you lack before the tunnel is empty?”

“We're down to the last.”

“Finish up, then. I'll stop bothering you.”

Talon returned to directing the men, and Breean's attention returned to the woman as if pulled by an unbreakable cord. Finally. Her lips were puffy, as if she'd been chewing them, and a bright, vivid red. Like blood. He should have been repulsed.

He wasn't.

Moonlight bathed her, and he would have sworn stars twinkled around her, as drawn to her loveliness
as he was. Her eyes sparkled like emeralds, and strands of dark hair whipped around her face.

Obviously, her agent's mind had flipped on. She was studying the surrounding area with sharp precision, taking in every detail. He could not wait to have all that concentration directed at him.

As if sensing his perusal, she faced him. His desire must have been evident because she shivered, gulped, even inched backward, sinking deeper into night's shadows. But when she realized what she'd done, she straightened and reclaimed her position in the moon's amber rays. A true warrior, she was.

“What's inside the chests?” she asked, only the slightest catch in her voice.

He liked that voice, layered as it was with equal measures of fear, courage, and sexuality. “Weapons.”

Her attention whipped back to the boxes, as if she could burn a hole through the metal with her gaze. “What kind?”

“Does it matter? They all do the same thing.” Kill.

“We've got everything,” Talon called.

Good. Breean didn't remove his focus from Aleaha. “Close the pit and head out.” He wanted the girl to himself for a while longer. “We'll be along shortly.”

“As you wish.”

He couldn't stay long; in a few hours, the sun would rise. Only once had he made the mistake of coming to Earth during daybreak. The sun was simply too hot for a Rakan's golden skin, too blistering, something they weren't used to since Raka had three
alternating moons and a small, sun-like orb that produced only the barest hint of light.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Talon and a few others secure the tunnel doorway, then gather their supplies and stride away. He should be helping them—he never asked his men to do something he wouldn't do himself—but again, he couldn't force himself to walk away from this moment with Aleaha.

“I thought the agents were in there. Where are you moving them?” she demanded. “
When
are you moving them? What if they're injured and need medical attention. And why did you leave me in that room so long?”

He didn't have to answer, but he found that he wanted to alleviate her concerns. “They've already been moved to a house in the city. I moved them for safety reasons. They are uninjured.”

“Take me there.”

Soon. “Kiss me first.”

For a moment, only a moment, stark desire played over her delicate features. But it quickly disappeared, obliterated by fear. He sighed. Why did she continue to fear him? He had not hurt her, even though he'd had every opportunity.

Then that same intense look of concentration darkened her features, the one he'd seen that first night. She meant either to run or to challenge him. Sadly, there was no time to indulge her. “I would not do that, were I you. It . . . excites me.” Truth. “And I will catch you, you know I will.”

She scowled. But slowly, bit by bit, her body
slackened. “What I know is that you're a bastard.”

“How so? I did not force you to my bed. Did not starve you. Kept the others away from you.”

“Just . . . shut up. You're so annoying.”

His lips twitched in amusement and his scrutiny intensified, as if he could discern everything about her simply by looking. What did she like, what did she dislike? What foods did she favor? How many men had she had?

The last had him ready to commit murder. Didn't take much these days.

Relax. She's with you. That's all that matters
. Up close like this, he could see a scattering of freckles across her nose. Pretty. Unlike Rakan freckles, which were clear and sparkling like diamonds, these were tiny and brown, adorable. He reached out, intending to sift her hair through his fingers and trace the strands over those freckles.

She grabbed hold of his wrist to stop him. Where their skin met, he sizzled.

“No touching,” she rasped.

“Silly girl.” He increased the pressure, her strength no match for his, and tunneled his fingers to her scalp as he'd wished. The strands were thick and possessed a bit of curl. They were silky, like polished ebony. He reveled in the beauty, the luxury. “I can do anything I want.”