Untamed Hawaiian Heat (Rift Hunters) (10 page)

“We’ll talk later, mi corazón,”
Mateo whispered through their link.

They both looked down to see Tiaki’s hands burning with a brilliant golden light. He breathed deeply until he seemed to be in a trance. A pulse of energy trembled through the ground and encompassed the entire area where Kiana and her team were scattered. Small puffs of dirt, rocks, and twigs shot up across the forest floor wherever the energy encountered a mine.

Tiaki opened his eyes. They had gone back to their natural state, but dark circles shadowed them, making him look like he hadn’t slept in days. “It’s safe for your team to go, Kiana, but we’ll have to try something else to disable the mine you’re standing on.”

“Cy, get Gem out of here.” Mateo took a step toward Tiaki. “What the fuck? You said you could disarm them the way Ash did.” He gestured to the valley behind them. “You deactivated the rest of them. Why not this one?”

Tiaki looked at the scattered debris left by the mines he’d disabled. “Those hadn’t been triggered. Helping Kiana is going to be trickier to accomplish, because she activated the one she’s standing on.” He stood and swayed.

Kiana gasped and would have moved to catch him if Mateo hadn’t squeezed her hand in warning before dropping it.

Mateo steadied Tiaki before he fell flat on his face.

As soon as Tiaki regained his balance, Mateo let go and stepped back. There was no mistake this time. Kiana felt the heated desire that sizzled along their link from the physical contact between Mateo and Tiaki.

“What do we do, then?” Mateo asked.

Tiaki was quiet for so long, Kiana feared there wasn’t a way to get off the mine without detonating it. Lord knew she couldn’t think of a way to get off the damn thing. She was pretty sure Mateo couldn’t either, or he would have spoken up.

“An energy field,” Tiaki finally said.

“A what?” Kiana and Mateo both asked.

“I’ll create an energy field around the three of us, and Mateo and I will help you jump away from the blast.” Tiaki moved toward Kiana but only made it a couple of steps before he stumbled. He caught himself, braced his hands on his knees, and took several deep breaths before looking up at Kiana and Mateo. “I’m going to need both of your assistance. For me to channel your powers or call to the core magic, we’ll need to be physically linked.” He reached out his hands to them.

Kiana grasped it without hesitation. Warmth spread along the nerve endings in her hand at the contact.

Mateo frowned, glancing at the outstretched hand, then back at Tiaki. “Why can’t you just do what you did to disable the other mines?”

Tiaki met his eyes. “If my energy levels weren’t almost depleted from disarming the other mines and healing you, I might be able to, but I don’t trust that I’d be able to maintain a shield even while pulling from the core. If I do it on my own, I can’t guarantee the outcome. If I help the two of you to focus your energy, even as untried as it is, we’ll have a better chance for all of us to come out of this with minimal injuries.”

Mateo turned his gaze to Kiana.

“I can feel your inner turmoil, Mateo. I don’t understand it, but I feel it. Put it aside until we aren’t in a life-or-death situation,” she said, the slight quiver in her voice betraying the fear grasping her heart.

Mateo continued to look at Kiana. “Are you sure this will work?” he asked Tiaki.

“It’s the best chance we have,” Tiaki replied.

Mateo grasped Tiaki’s proffered hand. Kiana felt a burst of energy rise up from the ground. It transferred savagely through the ring they created.

Kiana gasped at the tingle the loop their combined hands created. Something clicked inside her soul as though a broken link was finally connected, even if just tenuously. She glanced up to find the men staring at each other, though she couldn’t read the emotions in their eyes.

Tiaki took a shuddering breath. “Close your eyes and reach inside yourself. Find the center where your magic resides. Now call the energy to you. When it responds to your request, direct it with your thoughts to where your hands intertwine with mine. From there, I’ll guide it to the form we want it to take; then I’ll call to Earth’s core magic and use it to help enlarge the shield until it surrounds us. Once the shield is strong enough, I’ll count to three, and we’ll jump in the opposite direction of where the blast is likely to go. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Kiana replied; Mateo’s voice echoed the same.

Kiana closed her eyes and called to the energy inside her. It came forth faster than she expected, threatening to overwhelm her.

“Easy. Send it to me, Kiana. You can already feel how my magic is calling to yours. All you have to do is nudge it in that direction, and it will do the rest.”

Kiana’s heart pounded at the sound of Tiaki’s voice in her mind. She shuddered at the way it caressed her senses. At the same time, she felt a wave of anger burst through her link with Mateo. Taking a deep breath, she ignored Mateo’s fury and focused on sending her magic toward Tiaki. It didn’t escape her notice that Mateo’s energy didn’t seem to need as much direction as hers. It rushed straight to Tiaki’s and hers as though it knew exactly where it belonged.

Kiana inhaled sharply when she felt the three separate threads of energy coil around each other before they merged within Tiaki. The power became an almost tangible force when they called to Earth’s core magic.

Kiana opened her eyes and had to stifle the cry of awe threatening to escape, for fear of breaking Tiaki’s concentration. His eyes were full black, swirls of gold, silver, and sapphire dancing wildly in their fathomless depths.

She watched as a wall of their combined magic shot through the circle created by their clasped hands and arced over their heads, then down into the ground at their feet until the gentle vibration of the energy shield hummed protectively around them.

“On my count of three, Mateo, you and I will pull Kiana toward us as she jumps away from the mine.”
Tiaki’s command pressed into her mind even though he addressed Mateo.

Kiana didn’t have to look at Mateo to see the irritation she knew would be written all over his face. It coursed through her like a shock wave.

“One, two, three… NOW!”
Tiaki’s voice sounded in her mind again as he squeezed her hand tight.

She pushed off with the foot not resting above the mine and launched herself as far forward as she could while Mateo and Tiaki jerked her toward them.

She landed with a soft
thud
on top of the men as the mine exploded behind them, sending a wall of heat washing over them. It seared Kiana’s skin briefly before she felt the sharp sting of shrapnel piercing her leg. Pain sliced through the momentary relief she’d experienced mere seconds ago.

Dirt, rocks, and sticks forced up from the blast rained down, pelting them like little missiles. It was several long, tense moments before everything finally stilled.

Kiana cautiously opened her eyes. She was lying on top of Tiaki, with Mateo next to her covering him on the other side. She pushed away, trying to sit up. A stinging sensation pierced her leg. She cried out.

Mateo released her hand and sat up. “What’s wrong, Kiana?”

She sucked in a breath. “My leg.” It was all she could manage to say through the pain slowly spreading through her limb. Her skin was on fire from the inside. She tried to scan with her sensors only to find them offline. Probably because of the blast. It would be a little while before they would reboot. She tried to sit up to see what had happened to her leg, but Mateo’s dark head blocked the wound from her sight.

She wished she could see it even though doing so would probably make it worse. She gasped for breath. It fucking hurt like hell. Her panic rose to fever pitch when her leg started to go numb.

Chapter Eight

“What do you mean, you ran into a Rift Hunter?”

Thanos flinched at the calculated fury he heard in Mordred’s voice. “During the battle, the Resistance team called for reinforcements. I was shocked to come face-to-face with my brother, Tiaki.”

Mordred cursed.

Thanos turned at the sound of throaty feminine laughter erupting from the doorway behind him. He inhaled sharply at the sight of the two women, who were as different as night and day, entering the room. “You honestly thought they wouldn’t make it here eventually, Mordred?” the blonde one asked.

“Mother warned you, dearest,” the black-haired one replied.

“Proioxis. Palioxis.” Mordred nodded to each of them in turn. “To what do I owe this honor?”

Thanos backed away as the two women approached Mordred where he sat and observed them silently.

The dark-haired one sat down on Mordred’s lap. “Now is that any way to greet Proioxis and me? You’ll hurt my sister’s feelings, love.” She traced her fingertip down the side of his cheek.

Proioxis had hair as golden as the sun, eyes as green as new-sprung grass on the mountains of Mākutu, and lips red and ripe for the taking. There was a black coldness in the depths of her eyes. Thanos feared no amount of time spent in the sun could ever warm someone who spent any time looking into them.

Palioxis was as dark as Proioxis was light. Pitch-black hair so dark it gleamed blue in the dim light of what Mordred called his throne room. Her eyes were gunmetal gray, the color only adding to the ice Thanos could feel emanating from within her. Her lips, as dark a red as her sister’s, made him shiver at the thought of attempting to taste them. No doubt she would freeze a man with the barest touch.

“Mother told Atê she sensed something wrong here. So she sent us to assess and report back.” Palioxis wrapped her arms around Mordred’s neck, leaned in, and nibbled his ear.

Mordred reached up and unwound her arms from his neck. He clenched his jaw. “Yes, well, you can go report to your sister that I have everything under control.”

Proioxis glided over to Thanos.

Thanos fought hard not to show how much her presence affected him. He shuddered with both desire and revulsion as she slid her hand up his chest.

“Now, now. We know that’s not going to happen, don’t we, Proioxis?” Palioxis purred.

Proioxis leaned in and whispered against his ear, “Of course we do. Now be a good little boy, Thanos, and tell us what you saw and heard tonight.”

* * * *

Mateo gritted his teeth as he led the prisoner into the interrogation room. It had taken his team an entire day to finally track down the stragglers from the party who’d laid the mines and another half day to make it back to camp.

He hadn’t wanted to trust the Hunter to take Kiana back to the medical center, but she’d been unconscious after he’d helped Tiaki eject the poison from her system. The shrapnel from the mine she’d triggered had been laced with it. Apparently, the poison had been a neurotoxin from the Hunter’s planet. He hadn’t been too happy about that. Tiaki had been too drained of his magic to be able to go with Mateo and the others after the OS soldiers who hadn’t escaped through the portals that had opened up around the battlefield.

He’d fought the urge to turn around and follow Tiaki and Kiana as soon as they’d gotten out of sight. The impulse had increased tenfold a few hours later when he’d felt Tiaki snuggle close to Kiana and fall asleep. How he knew they’d gone to sleep, he couldn’t say.

The only thing that had kept him from rushing back was the knowledge of Kiana’s anger if any of the OS forces managed to gain access to the base because of his jealousy. It hadn’t helped when their link had come back online full force with her exploring this magic stuff and hearing it growl
mine
in regard to Tiaki. The implication of that single word had almost made him falter as he’d captured this jerk.

As much as he’d like to hand this asshole over to Monte and Elias for questioning so he could rush to Kiana’s side, he needed to find out what the hell the OS was after. He hoped like hell the man—and he used the term lightly because of all the cybernetic parts covering him—would be able to shed some light on that mystery. Then he would let Ash take care of disabling his cybernetics before locking him in the holding cells. He just hoped maintenance had reinforced them. The last thing they needed was for an OS prisoner to escape as easily as Tiaki had.

He wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. Niki had told him both Kiana and Tiaki had been out ever since they’d reached his and Kiana’s hale noho. Why Tiaki hadn’t taken her to the Med Center as he’d been instructed, he didn’t want to think about. What he really wanted…no, needed…to do was go to Kiana. He needed to see with his own eyes that she was okay. It didn’t matter that his sensors told him she was.

And what about your other mate?
He heard the words whisper through his blood unheeded.

Mateo shoved the prisoner through the door of the detention center just as he felt Kiana beginning to stir through their link. He stumbled forward a couple of steps when he felt her snuggle deeper into Tiaki’s arms. Lust assailed his senses when she subconsciously sent it through the complex nexus linking them. He could feel the ridge of Tiaki’s cock harden against his ass as though it was him being held. He swallowed hard and attempted to stifle the raging desire exploding in his blood. Shaking off those disturbing thoughts, he entered the interrogation room behind Monte and the prisoner and closed the door.

Monte shoved the man into a chair.

When he started to resist, Mateo slammed his fist into the metal table to intimidate the prisoner. Instead, he was the one stunned to find his hand engulfed in sapphire flames. His eyes widened further when he realized the magical fire was melting the smooth steel of the table. He pulled his hand back and shook out the fire.

The flames died immediately.

He stared at his hand for a long moment before looking up to find Monte and the prisoner gaping at him. The expression in Monte’s eyes was stunned while the prisoner’s held nothing but fear.

“You’re one of them,” the man stammered, and cringed back in his chair as much as he could. “She said there weren’t any of you on this planet. And the commander confirmed it as soon as we arrived.”

Mateo narrowed his eyes.
Them… She… What the hell is this idiot talking about?
He opened his mouth to ask, but Monte beat him to it.