Untamed Hawaiian Heat (Rift Hunters) (17 page)

When he encountered nothing out of the ordinary—well, as far as he could tell, anyway—he decided to go back to the Com Center and grab a tablet to take back to his quarters. Maybe he could find out what he needed to know in the archives he’d given the Resistance on the Rift Hunters. There had to be something in all those files about what the soul bond entailed.

Tiaki glanced up as he approached the Com Center and stopped when he saw Mateo exit the building. He studied the other man a moment. Something had upset him…something that didn’t sit well. What, Tiaki couldn’t be certain, but he had known instinctively it probably had to do with Kiana. He’d heard her ask him to stay and talk after the conference meeting. If the look on Mateo’s face was anything to judge by, it hadn’t gone the way he’d wanted it to.

And if he was just now coming out of the conference room, Kiana was probably still there. He fought the urge to go to either of them. No good could come from a confrontation with their emotions so heightened right now.

Deciding it best to wait until Kiana left the building, he headed to the Med Center instead. Maybe Ash would have some information he could impart on the soul bond. The gods knew Ash seemed to know a hell of a lot that he hadn’t imparted to his commanders. He would access the files on the soul bond later.

* * * *

One week later

Mateo leaned against the corrugated steel wall of the training room, careful to remain hidden in the shadows the unused mats and equipment afforded. His mind vaguely noted how warm the metal had become already, thanks to the oppressive heat they’d been experiencing. And the day had barely begun. Sweat beaded on his temple, but he didn’t pay it any heed. His attention was centered on the Hunter. The man was definitely in his element when it came to guiding those he’d deemed the easiest to train.

He let his eyes drift over his mate. No. He shook his head. He was just a man.
You know that’s not true
, his magic whispered. He ignored it.

Tiaki stood at one end of the room, his lithe legs once again encased in the black formfitting pants he’d arrived in, but that was where his normal attire ended. He’d forgone the skintight, long-sleeved shirt he favored for one of the loose-fitting, short-sleeved black T-shirts the Resistance preferred. His biceps strained against the material.

From where he stood, Mateo could see the small tattoo on Tiaki’s neck. It was a tiny replica of the Rift Hunter crest. He knew what it was from the picture he’d seen in the files Tiaki had uploaded to their computer.

Three inches long and two and a half inches wide, it glinted with a golden light whenever Tiaki used his magic. Absently Mateo realized it was the mark Kiana had been about to touch the day the Hunter regained consciousness. Mateo had the strongest urge to pin Tiaki to the floor and run his tongue over the spot. Somehow, he just knew that the Hunter’s magic would respond instantly to his touch. He forced the thought away and concentrated on what Tiaki was saying.

He’d been waiting for the right time to confront Tiaki to find out more about Eris. There was more to the story than the little bit he’d told them. He’d gotten the feeling Tiaki knew more about how the OS had gotten to Earth than he’d let on. He had a hunch Eris had something to do with it. He’d tried to find a reference to her in the files they’d been given, but it had yielded nothing. Once he’d exhausted all avenues of research available to him, he’d finally admitted to himself that he’d have to talk to the Hunter. Though he preferred to have as little contact with the man as possible. He glanced around the room, wondering where Kiana was.

Mateo frowned when he didn’t see her. It wasn’t like her to miss any of the lessons the Hunter gave on how to control the power they possessed. He searched for her with his sensors, and found her at the small inlet at the entrance of the valley with her dad. Mateo relaxed. He recalled her mentioning something about needing to talk to her dad. He focused his attention back to the training session when Tiaki blocked a fire bolt Monte threw at him. Something in him tensed, not liking someone firing any type of weapon at the Hunter. Even if it was during training.

His magic stirred, burning with an intense demand to be joined with the other man’s. He pushed it aside and concentrated on what was being said. He’d wait until they broke for lunch to talk to Tiaki. Then he’d get the hell away from him as quickly as he could. There was no way he’d be allowing his magic to join with the Hunter’s. At least, not any more than it already has, he added when the memory of the afternoon he’d spent with Tiaki and Kiana threatened to surface. He forced it back into the box of things he didn’t want to think about and slammed the lid shut.

* * * *

Tiaki lowered the magic shield he’d formed. “Not bad, but you can do better than that, Monte. You’re still not trying to put as much power behind the blast as you could. Trust me when I tell you I trained with some of the best Rift Hunters in the Legion. I can guarantee Legatus Cacus, Arthur, Merlin, and the rest of the twelve never went easy on any of us when we were new recruits or tirones.” He smiled when the eyes of everyone in the room went wide at his mention of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. “Not even with my best friend, Leonidas, who is the crown prince of Asmerya.”

Monte approached him. “Arthur? Really?”

Tiaki grinned. “One and the same. I met him and Queen Guinevere when I went through my Genesis Ceremony. As a member of the Rift Hunter Council, which is one branch of the Ternion, the twelve are expected to attend.”

Niki sauntered up and put her arm around Monte. “Genesis Ceremony?”

“Yes. When a Rift Hunter has learned all he or she can, they reach a stage known as genesis. It’s when the magic within a planet’s core acknowledges the Hunter as worthy. It marks them, so that when they travel to other planets, the magic within that planet will grant leave to harness its energy to bolster his own when needed. The ceremony marks the beginning of a Rift Hunter’s career; thus, it was named genesis.”

Monte and Niki exchanged a look. Niki placed a lingering kiss on his lips, then moved off to the side of the training area.

Tiaki regarded the couple for a moment. Absently he wondered if they held each other’s soul bond. Or if, like Kiana and Mateo, there was someone else who might come between them. He shook himself mentally. It really didn’t matter. The love he saw pass between them spoke volumes. Nothing was going to break them apart.

He was still watching Niki when Monte’s fist connected with his jaw. He stumbled back several steps before regaining his balance. He faced his opponent and grinned. “Good use of distraction, Lieutenant, but in a real battle, you won’t be able to employ that particular tactic.”

A smile spread across Monte’s lips as he raised his fist engulfed in orange flames. “Oh, I know. I’m just tired of getting my ass handed to me because you say I’m not trying hard enough.” He threw the fireball he’d formed in his hand.

Tiaki laughed and gathered his magic with a flick of his wrist and extinguished the flaming projectile before it even got halfway to him.

Monte sputtered in surprise. “Hey…that’s cheating!”

Tiaki gathered his magic and ordered it to form another spell they hadn’t covered yet. “No, it’s not. It’s called you haven’t learned everything yet, fledgling, whereas I have been fully trained for nearly three hundred years.” He didn’t wait for his revelation to sink in before he wove the spell around himself.

The cavernous room was filled with sudden gasps when they noticed he’d disappeared. He smiled. This particular spell had gotten similar reactions out of him and the other Hunters he’d trained with. They had been even more ecstatic when they’d learned to do it themselves. Which most here were on the brink of being ready to do.

The memory of all the times he and his friend Leo had attempted to play tricks on one another while staying concealed floated to the surface of his mind. Absently he wondered if Leo had been able to stop Aizik before he’d used his transdimensional gate. He didn’t envy Leo, having to arrest his own cousin. A cousin he’d been friends with until recently. Much like his relationship with Thanos. He shook his head to clear away the disturbing thoughts.

The din of voices grew louder as they tried to figure out where he’d gone. He once again drew on the power he held within to become visible again, but just before he could call on it, his magic thrummed with sensual awareness at the approach of one of his mates. He turned around, expecting to find Kiana standing there. His gaze clashed with deep brown eyes.

Definitely not Kiana.

Mateo looked him up and down. “Like teasing the underlings with things they can’t do yet?” His tone dripped with sarcasm, though his eyes flashed with heated hunger before he could conceal it.

Tiaki stared at Mateo in surprise. There was no way Mateo should be able to see him with the invisibility spell humming gently around him. “How can you…”

Mateo moved a step closer. “Don’t know, don’t care. What I would like to know is what this could possibly be teaching them?”

Tiaki shuddered as his magic rippled in recognition of Mateo. It began to reach out to him. Before he knew it, the invisibility spell vanished without him commanding it to dissipate.

He heard a collective gasp and knew the recruits could see him again, but Tiaki couldn’t break eye contact with Mateo even if he wanted to. He forced his magic to stop reaching for the man he desperately desired. He had a harder time, though, pushing away the urge to shove him against the wall and claim his lips until he acknowledged what he really felt.

Mateo took another step forward and pushed him with one hand. “Well, I’m waiting. What good is it to show them something they can’t do? Might never be able to?”

At the touch of Mateo’s hand, Tiaki shook off the confusion from his spell’s failure. His magic quivered wildly at the unexpected contact, demanding to be allowed to join…to merge…to intertwine…to bond with Mateo’s magic, magic that would strengthen both of them in ways too numerous to count. By sheer force of will, he clamped a tight rein on his magic and pulled it back. Fighting the urge to reach out and touch Mateo, Tiaki circled him instead. “What would you know of what they’re capable of? You haven’t been to a single training session.”

Mateo followed his movements as though he didn’t trust having someone at his back. “Oh, I read through the files you uploaded to our system. There was one particular one detailing how a person uses their innate magic.”

“I know the file you’re referring to. While it’s useful for general information purposes, it doesn’t begin to go into the many subtle variations and intricate ways there are to tap into one’s magic.”

“Yes, well, it gives enough information to begin learning. The rest will come as I need it,” Mateo replied, arrogance dripping from his words.

Tiaki stopped in front of Mateo. Mere inches separated them. Tiaki met his gaze and laughed. “I didn’t have you pegged for a braggart, Mateo. You have no idea what the magic you possess is capable of. To believe that a fragment of information in a computer file is enough for you to learn how to control it is insane.”

“Believe what you will, Hunter. I’ve been doing just fine on my own all week. This isn’t what I came here to talk with you about today, though. I want to know more about Eris and what you know about how the OS came to Earth.”

The challenge Tiaki had been about to issue died in his throat at the mention of Eris. “Now isn’t the time or place for this discussion, Mateo.” He glanced at the group of recruits he’d been training. Niki and Monte were motioning for them to leave, as though they sensed Mateo wouldn’t be put off.

Mateo made a derisive sound in his throat. “Yes, but you also said you didn’t know how she or the OS had gotten here without a rift. Something tells me you didn’t tell us the whole truth. So what are you hiding?”

Tiaki stared at Mateo, his mind racing to connect the dots, trying to see if he had the information Mateo was accusing him of having. He traced back the links, from receiving his orders to close the rift in 2013, the condition of the rift he’d been closing… No! It couldn’t be, could it?

Leo had been sent to arrest Aizik before he’d had the chance to use his transdimensional gate. Had Aizik used it before to aid Eris? To his knowledge, Aizik didn’t have any connection to her, nor she to the Syndicate. What the fuck was going on? And, even more importantly, who the hell was behind all this? Tiaki cursed himself for not paying closer attention to the last report Legatus Cacus had given Leo. He’d never thought it might have something to do with his rift.

Mateo took a step back, as though needing some distance between them. “I can tell by the look on your face you know you didn’t disclose everything to Grant and Pearce.”

Tiaki advanced on Mateo, heedless of the others watching them. “I told them everything I thought was of import. Clearly, I was mistaken. I’ll go and remedy that right now. Let’s go. You will hear this straight from me. I want to make sure there’s no way you can claim I’ve been anything but forthcoming with you and everyone else.” He grabbed the back of Mateo’s neck as he passed and started to drag him toward the door.

Mateo struggled in his grasp. “Get your hands off me! I can walk on my own.”

Tiaki glanced over his shoulder at him. “Forgive me if I don’t believe you want to do anything to help clear me of these accusations. Clearly, you’ve decided I’m guilty of withholding information.” His magic vibrated beneath his skin. The physical contact with Mateo was driving him insane. He fought to keep tight control over his magic. “You haven’t exactly been welcoming. Even after all I’ve done for you since I arrived.”

Mateo stopped struggling in his hold, although Tiaki could still feel the tension thrumming through his body like a living, breathing entity.

Mateo glared at him. “Yes, well, under the circumstances, can you really blame me?”

Anger burned through him. Tiaki couldn’t believe it. After all they’d been through, Mateo was still refusing to acknowledge the connection between them and Kiana. “Fine. You want to know what I think might have happened?” Tiaki closed his eyes for a moment and called to his magic.