The Falcon Prince (4 page)

“Yes!” Kristor jerked his shirt open, buttons flying, material ripping, growling from the energy that burst from him. “Fight, kill, destroy!” He threw his shirt on the floor, raising his fists in the air and shaking them.

The men stilled.

It got deathly quiet.

“Can I put my shirt back on?” a scrawny man squeaked.

“Good Lord, man. I ain’t never seen muscles like that. What do you lift?”

“Lift?” Kristor thought for a moment. “Anything I want.”

The room exploded into laughter. Heath clapped him on the back. “I would imagine so.”

Heath quickly explained the rules of football. Kristor was disappointed to hear they couldn’t do anything more than steal a flag. A game of wits and speed. His brothers had often engaged in such sports.

This would at least pass the hours until he could convince Rianna it was time to go home to New Symtaria. The Queen Mother would be proud that he wasn’t using force—yet.

T
here were already a few spectators sitting in the bleachers when Ria made her way to the sidelines. She noticed several women in the stands were talking on their cell phones: hands waving in the air, eyes twinkling, laughter erupting. She knew the symptoms well. They must have something new to gossip about. That was fine with her as long as she was off the top of their lists.

Then again, they could still be talking about her. Nah, the Miller Bend grapevine moved faster than the speed of sound—meaning they only heard what they wanted to hear. That was life in a small town. On the other hand, people were quick to help when someone needed a hand. She figured you had to take the good with the bad.

She tugged on the hem of her short skirt, feeling ridiculous wearing the blue-and-white cheerleading uniform. One of the women in the Women’s League had delivered it to her earlier in the week. As soon as she’d taken the skimpy, midriff-showing top out of the box, her heart sank.

It wasn’t that she was a prude. She had a dozen or more thongs and a couple of bikinis in her dresser drawer. For some strange reason wearing the cheerleading outfit made her think about strippers, poles, and men shoving money into the waistband of her skirt.

Her eyes strayed to the field. Some of her tension eased. She looked a hell of a lot better than the no-shirts team. Neil wasn’t bad. She could certainly tell he owned a set of weights and used them.

And for an older guy, Heath looked in pretty good shape. Some of the others should’ve left their shirts on, though. The next time Ben Dansworth made a smart-assed remark about her seeing an alien, she was going to mention his beer gut. That should shut him up.

Her gaze skidded to a stop when it landed on Kristor. No shirt. Bulging muscles as he stretched and turned. God, he was tanned and delicious.

Oh, baby, stretch a little more to the right.

He did.

Her mouth watered.

Get a grip!
He could quite possibly be a serial killer. Just because he’d gotten Fluffy out of a tree, and had helped a little old lady up a small hill, didn’t mean he wasn’t a murderer. That could be a cover.

But it was difficult for her to believe that when she was staring at hard…sweaty…sinewy muscles. Her breath caught in her throat. “Now more to the left,” she murmured. “That’s it. Right there. Yum.”

So maybe he wasn’t a serial killer. Just crazy. Was it horribly wrong to lust after a guy if he was just a little off kilter?

Kristor suddenly stopped stretching as though he sensed someone watching him.
Pffttt,
as if everyone wasn’t. The guy had some seriously sexy moves.

Kristor scanned the area until his gaze stopped on her. He stared, apparently not caring that he was being rude. Yeah, right, why should someone who thought he was an alien care if he was being rude or not?

Turn away from him,
she told herself. But it wasn’t so easy when he looked at her as if she was an earthly body he wanted to explore and conquer. That wasn’t going to happen.

His brain had probably been fried by too many
Star Wars
movies, and she was not about to play close encounters of the sexy kind with him. She didn’t want him pulling her against his strong chest, and she most certainly didn’t want to run her hands over all those muscles or…God, she couldn’t stop staring at him! He was like a freakin’ drug and she an addict looking for her next fix.

Heath pulled Kristor’s attention away, and she could finally take a deep breath. What had just passed between them? A blast of electricity?

No, she’d only reacted to a gorgeous body. The guy was built, she wouldn’t deny that.

Built? More like sculpted from fine marble,
Shintara broke into her thoughts.

“Shut up!”

“Shut up is right,” Mary Ann said as she stopped beside Ria. Her hungry gaze latched on to Kristor like a starving cougar.

This was not the plan. Ria was supposed to make people question Kristor, not drool all over him. Not that any woman wouldn’t foam at the mouth. She sort of believed him about the warrior stuff. He had the broad shoulders of a man who would take command during a battle. But she refused to get the hots for a lunatic.

“I heard your mother rented your old room out to him.” She delicately dabbed the corners of her mouth. “Lucky you.”

Didn’t anyone get anything around here? She dragged her eyes away from Kristor. “The man is a stranger, Mary Ann. We know nothing about him. He could be an escapee from a mental institution for all we know.”

She was such a slut. When they were in high school, Mary Ann would go into heat every time a jock passed by. Nothing had changed.

Mary Ann turned, giving Ria the once-over. “I heard you saw an alien. They have great doctors in Dallas. One of them might be able to help you.”

“I didn’t see an alien.”

“That’s not what my sister told me. She heard from Tilly that you were all hysterical when you called the sheriff’s office saying you’d seen a naked alien with hawk wings in the woods behind your house.” Her gaze returned to Kristor as he did the warm-up exercises with the other men. “I wouldn’t mind seeing
him
naked.” Mary Ann raised her pom-poms and shook them.

Seeing Kristor that day in the woods was a vision Ria wouldn’t soon forget. She shook her head, then looked at Mary Ann. “You wouldn’t mind seeing any man naked.”

The other woman sighed. “True.”

Ria arched an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t let your husband hear you say that.”

“Oh, honey, Bobby Ray doesn’t care where I get my appetite as long as I come home to eat.”

She was probably right. Bobby Ray adored Mary Ann. She had him twisted around her little finger.

“Besides, I keep my man happy. Where do you think I came up with the design for these uniforms?” She gave a sly wink.

Eww.

“You comin’ to the Women’s League meeting Tuesday night?” Mary Ann asked. “We need to vote how we’re going to raise money for the new x-ray machine at the hospital.”

“Why not give blow jobs?” Ria smiled sweetly.

Mary Ann stooped to re-tie her tennis shoe. Her expression was thoughtful when she straightened. “That’s an idea. You think Bobby Ray would mind?”

“I doubt it. He hasn’t seemed to mind too much in the past.”

“Ohh, good one.” She chuckled. “You know, I’ve always liked you, even though we all know you’re crazy.” Her arm suddenly went up and she waved. “There’s Becky, and Laura.”

Bitch. Ria turned and smiled at the other two ladies. The last two arrived as the guys took the field.

“Wow, look at the crowd,” Laura said.

What had started out as a few loyal, bored relatives in the bleachers had grown to overwhelming proportions. Ria had a feeling Kristor was the reason for the rise in popularity of the game today.

The next hour was filled with cheers and jeers. For an alien, Kristor had picked up the game pretty fast. Let him explain that.

Hmm, it might not be as easy as she’d hoped to convince people he was one crayon short of having a full box. The way everyone clapped him on the back, he apparently was making friends.

Her plan had backfired. No one wanted to hear that he might be a serial killer or even crazy. They were more interested in watching his moves on the field. Not fair. Kristor looked like he belonged more than she did.

“I do like the way they huddle,” Mary Ann said.

Kristor’s butt faced them. So what if he had a hot butt? It didn’t make him any less mental.

Mary Ann’s eyes widened. “Surely they aren’t going to try for a field goal. It’s insane. That has to be at least sixty-five yards. The record is what? Sixty-three?” She chunked her pom-poms on the ground in front of her and slapped her hands on her hips.

Mary Ann always amazed Ria. As slutty as she acted, the woman still knew her football. Which was probably because she
had
slept with every football player in high school.

“He is,” Mary Ann said with disgust.

Now maybe Ria could convince people that Kristor was crazy. If they were pissed at him because he’d lost the game for the team, it wouldn’t be that long of a stretch for them to believe the guy should be locked away. Texans took their football seriously.

Heath knelt, ready to catch the ball. Kristor walked back, knelt down, looked at the ball, and then the goalpost. Ria smiled. Victory was in the air, and it would soon be hers.

The ball was snapped. Heath caught it, and quickly placed it. Kristor was already running forward. When he was in back of the ball, he brought his right foot back and kicked. She watched the ball. It went higher and higher.

That wasn’t possible. Was it?

She glanced at Kristor. He’d knelt on one knee, his arms stretched toward the ball as if he were willing it to cross between the goalposts. Her eyes narrowed. There was something really strange going on. She looked at the football again just as it sailed between the two posts.

The crowd erupted with screams of amazement flowing down the bleachers and onto the field.

Kristor stood, chest puffed out, and gave a battle cry. The other men surrounded him, clapping him on the back, and attempting to copy his victory cry but sounding more like a bunch of mice escaped from the lab.

Kristor met her gaze again and grinned.

Now she was pissed.

She would have to think of something else before her parents’ party tonight. Something that would blackball Kristor. He was the crazy one, yet the town acted as if she was the mental case. Life was so not fair!

K
ristor eased his arm into the shirt, wincing as he dressed for Maggie and Ron’s party. One of the men had barreled into him, hitting Kristor just where it would hurt. If one of his brothers saw him right now, they would laugh themselves silly. The man had been scrawny, his bones poking out, which is probably what caught him in the ribs.

You’re out of shape,
Labrinon commented.

Kristor glared at his reflection, and for a moment saw the eyes of a hawk staring back at him.
I have no war to fight. It isn’t my fault.
It was actually. The borders of New Symtaria were secure. No one dared attack them.

Just don’t let your body grow weak. It would be embarrassing.

“Silence,” he growled.

You grow irritable. Maybe because you haven’t had sex in a while.

I mated only days before I left.

Then you had to find Rianna. That has taken many weeks. Maybe if you mate with her, she will go with you to New Symtaria.

Silence!
His guide made him weary.

But Labrinon was correct that Kristor grew irritable. The clothes he wore were uncomfortable. But it was what everyone in town chose to wear. Kristor had shifted into his animal guide, and Labrinon had flown over the town. Through the hawk’s eyes, Kristor had seen how people acted, and what they wore.

It was easy to insert the information into his database when he returned to his craft, then punch in what he needed, and have everything appear.

Driving had been a little more difficult. Earth crafts weren’t the same, very antiquated and cumbersome. He found he preferred the looks of the smaller craft so had searched until he found a picture of what the database called a motorcycle. He’d pushed another button and the motorcycle had appeared in front of him. He’d been right about it. Once he drove the machine, it reminded Kristor of when he flew with Labrinon.

Learning so many new things drained him. He would rather be home, protecting his planet. Sometimes, Kristor did not understand his father’s commands.

He flung open the bedroom door and stalked down the hall. Labrinon could also be quite infuriating at times. He turned the corner, and ran into a soft feminine form. There was an
oomph
from her as she landed against his chest. He grabbed her arms to steady her, and looked down into the warm brown eyes of Rianna.

“Rianna, I’m sorry.” But he didn’t let go. Her skin was as soft as a rabbit’s fur.

She quickly backed away, putting a few inches between them. “You’re still here.”

He grinned, liking the way her mouth turned down. She had fire burning inside her. Having spirit was always a good thing. Warriors had strong spirits; they would expect no less from the women they bedded.

And he was pleased with what she wore. The material of her black top hugged her body in a nice way, and dipped low enough in the front that he could see the roundness of her breasts. The snug-fitting pants, that he discovered were called jeans, rode her hips and fit close to her body. She stirred his blood like no other before her. Maybe she did have powers.

“Did you expect that I wouldn’t be here?” he asked.

“No, but I did hope.”

He held back his smile. Angry looked good on her. It made her eyes dance with a fire. “Are you upset with me?”

“Now, why should I be upset? The townspeople think you’re the best thing since sliced bread just because you won a stupid football game for them. On the other hand, you tell me you’re an alien. I tell the sheriff, and everyone thinks I’m the one who’s crazy. I don’t know. Should I be pissed? And why is it that I’m the only one you tell?”

“We need to protect who we are. It’s not wise to let others know where we actually come from.”

She nodded. “Oh, yeah, I forgot. We’re from New Symtaria. Another planet in another galaxy.”

“Yes. Are you ready to leave?” He would like to have her all to himself on his spacecraft. He could almost feel her soft body pressed against his.

She poked her finger against his chest. “I will never be ready to leave with you.”

Passion filled her eyes. He grabbed her hand and pulled her close, his lips descending to hers. She tasted sweet and sensuous. Her body molded to his when she fell against him. She didn’t resist his touch. A good sign.

Labrinon had been right. He would convince her to leave with him by kissing her into submission. But as she pressed closer, her sweet scent wrapped around his senses, filling him with a need to do more than kiss.

“Ria!” a man’s voice loudly intruded.

Rianna jerked away from him, and he was left with empty arms.

“What?” She smoothed a trembling hand through her hair, her eyes wide as she turned to the man. Then she visibly relaxed. “Oh, Donald, it’s just you.”

Kristor glared. It was the same man from the park. The one who had possessively put his arm across Rianna’s shoulders. He didn’t like him. And now, more so. A few seconds were all he would have needed to convince Rianna to leave with him.

“I really doubt your mother would approve of you making out in her hallway.”

This Donald person stood tall, but he was thin, and didn’t look as though he had any muscles. His clothes were crisp and he wore a jacket, even though the temperature was warm. He didn’t sweat, either, although he wore this extra layer of clothes. That was an oddity in itself. Kristor doubted the man knew the meaning of battle.

It was time for the other man to leave. “Go!” he commanded Donald.

The man took a step back. Kristor reached for Rianna, but she moved away, her cheeks bright red. “I was not making out. He kissed me.” She glared at Kristor as if it was all his fault.

“It didn’t look like you were fighting him off,” Donald said, but took another step back as he warily eyed Kristor, his hands curling into fists at his sides.

“Did you want something?” Rianna asked.

“Your mother was looking for you. Shall I tell her you were kissing the…What did you call him? Oh, yes, the certifiably crazy man that you hoped Heath would lock up in the state hospital.”

“Go suck an egg, Donald.” She turned on her heel, marching down the hall away from both of them.

“She’s out of your league,” Donald told him, his gaze disdainfully sweeping over Kristor. “She likes the intellectual type, rather than…overblown muscles.”

“Like you said, she wasn’t fighting to get away. Maybe she just likes more passion in her men.” Kristor walked past the other man, forcing Donald to press against the wall or get flattened.

This Donald was nothing. A mere annoyance, like a pesky insect flying around his face. If Donald bothered him again, he would crush him, but not until then. Kristor didn’t want to draw attention to himself.

At least now, he had found a way to get Rianna to go with him to New Symtaria.

I told you seducing her was the way to get her to leave.

So you did.

Ria hadn’t felt a thing when Kristor kissed her. Not a thing. He’d only taken her by surprise.

Boring. How many times are you going to repeat that mantra?

As many times as it took to make herself believe it. She grabbed a longneck out of the large tub of ice, twisted off the cap, and took a good long drink. The cold liquid slid down her throat. She could already feel herself begin to relax.

“Hey, Ria, heard you saw an alien flying around in the woods,” Jamie Wilks said, then eyed the beer she was holding. “Maybe you ought to lay off the booze.”

She bit her tongue before telling Jamie he could go screw himself. In a very calm—okay, irritated but calm—voice, she said, “I didn’t see an alien flying around in the woods.” She started to tell him it had been a naked guy claiming to be an alien, but decided against saying anything more. What good would it do? No one believed her. She was really close to throwing a pity party when Kristor stepped into the backyard.

All eyes turned toward him. Why not? He wore snug-fitting jeans and a maroon, button-down shirt. And boots. If he was a friggin’ alien, where the hell did he get the boots?

“The hero,” Jamie called out, and everyone began to clap.

“Hero, my ass,” she muttered and took another long drink. “It was a stupid football game.”

Jamie took a step back, slapping his hand over his heart. “Wash your mouth out with soap, girl. You’re talking about football here.”

She snorted. “Yeah, right. A bunch of men, most of them retired, trying to run a ball to the other end of a field. I don’t know about you, but it sounds kind of silly to me.”

His eyebrows drew together. “You’re acting really strange. You know, they have doctors in Dallas who could probably help you.”

She opened her mouth to tell him what she thought about everyone and their Dallas doctors, but a strong arm slipped around her waist and pulled her close. Her face jerked up. How the hell had he moved across the yard without her seeing him?

Jamie nodded. “Ah, so that’s the way the wind blows.”

She tried to move away from Kristor, but his hand on her waist effectively kept her at his side. She glared at him.

“Y’all don’t do nothin’ I wouldn’t do.” Jamie grinned before he sauntered away.

Great, now what kind of gossip would be spread about her? She looked up again at Kristor. “Would you please remove your hand from my waist?”

He surprised her by doing as she requested. She only moved a few steps away from him, though. There was something about his body heat that soothed her. Oh, no, what did that mean? Suddenly nervous, she downed the rest of her beer, and went over to the tub and got another one, tossing her empty into the trash.

Kristor watched her. There was something in the way he watched her, though. It was as though he physically touched her: caressing her cheek, sliding down her neck, cupping her breasts, moving sensuously downward. Her stomach muscles tightened. A slow burn began to build inside her.

She brought the bottle to her lips and took a drink of the beer, grateful it had slivers of ice. It was all she could do to keep from running it over her face. When she met his gaze, there was a look in his eyes that said he knew the effect he had on her. Not that she cared.

And she was not returning to where he stood because she liked him or anything. No, she wanted answers. She gathered her courage, raised her chin, and joined him under the oak tree.

“How did you kick the football that far?” she asked.

He casually leaned against the tree. “I kicked, then I willed it to go between the poles. Isn’t that what I was supposed to do—make it go between them? It seemed to please everyone.”

“What do you mean, you willed it across?” The guy was getting stranger by the minute.

“I concentrated on the ball, and where I wanted it to go.”

“Like telekinesis? When someone moves an object with their mind.”

“Only small objects for short distances on New Symtaria. Rogar said the atmosphere is slightly different here and makes Symtarian men’s powers stronger. Unusual. It’s women who have stronger powers where I come from.”

She chugged another drink. It didn’t matter if he did move things with his mind, or that he was an alien, or that women had powers or not. No one would believe her. They only believed what they wanted.

“Leave with me and you may also find you have powers.” He frowned. “Although Callie doesn’t have any.”

“Who’s Callie?” She took another drink. She was starting to feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. And numb. She liked feeling numb.

“She’s another impure. My brother brought her back after he finally convinced her she was part Symtarian.”

Ria laughed. “Now I’m impure. Well, I never said I was a virgin, but that’s something you won’t be finding out for yourself.”

“An impure is the offspring of Symtarians and another species. We are trying to bring them home to protect them.”

“And I’m part Symtarian?”

He nodded.

She grinned. “And I need protecting?” If this was some kind of new pick up line, it was way over the top, and it was so not working.

“There are rogue Symtarians who would like to see all the impures dead.”

“And that’s what happened to my so-called father?”

“I don’t think you believe any of this.”

“You would be correct in your azz…azzumpshun….” Her tongue did not want to cooperate. “You’re right about that.” She finished off the beer.

“Does your animal guide not talk to you? Explain things?”

“Ruffles doesn’t do anything ’cept lay under the bed and sleep. Lazy cat.”

“The animal guide is inside you. She is a part of you. You would hear her voice.”

Told you so,
Shintara said.

The world around Ria began to spin out of control. How did he know about the voice inside her head?