Defender (Battle Born Book 4) Page 5

  No one came for her. No one rescued her from the nightmare. She sobbed, her fingers clutching his shirt. Raylon understood and yet he didn’t. He’d glimpsed her misery, while he’d been spared the degradation, the hopelessness.

  He rocked her, whispering words of comfort as he stroked her hair. She released her pent-up emotions while her tears wet his chest. She wasn’t sure how long she cried. It might have been minutes or hours. All she knew was she felt empty and sleepy by the time she was done.

  He gently touched her cheek, sliding his fingers down to her chin. “Look at me.”

  She shook her head.

  “All right, then listen. It wasn’t your fault.”

  She’d spent endless hours trying to convince herself of that concept. But doubt remained. She had to have done something, or failed to do something, that brought out their darker impulses. If she’d been less argumentative or more accommodating, maybe they wouldn’t have been so cruel.

  Raylon bent, his breath teasing her ear. “You did nothing wrong.”

  She shifted in his arms, pressing herself into his chest as she buried her face in the bend of his neck. “I’m glad Garin saved you.” And she meant it. No one should have to suffer through the things she’d endured.

  “And I wish to all the gods we’d been able to save you sooner.” He slipped his free arm under her knees and held her firmly as he stood.

  Raising her face from the warmth of his neck, she looked around. He was headed toward the main door to his suite. “Please. I can’t go back there.”

  He tensed then took a deep breath and nodded. “All right.” He turned and started to set her back on the sofa.

  She tightened her arms around his neck. “If we lie down together, I think I can sleep.” When he still didn’t move, she added, “I promise I won’t take advantage of you.”

  His chuckle was warm and unexpected. “I’m not sure I can make the same promise.”

  Their gazes locked and awareness crackled around them, tingly and electric. She moved her hand to the nape of his neck and sifted his hair through her fingers. “You won’t hurt me. I know you won’t.”

  He closed his eyes and made a sound of frustration. “You’re too damn trusting.”

  Despite the warning, he carried her into his bedroom and placed her on his bed. Each move was deliberate, careful. She crossed her arms over her chest and realized the throw had fallen off somewhere between the couch and his bed. He hadn’t activated the lights, so details were lost in shadow, but she could see enough to fuel her imagination.

  He shrugged off his shirt but left the pants then crawled onto the bed and motioned her toward him. Face him or away? Which would be less provocative? Or which would be more? She wasn’t sure if she was trying to put him at ease or snap his stubborn control. Opting to face him, she lay on her side and rested her head on his shoulder as he loosely encircled her shoulders. One of her arms folded between them, providing a small measure of separation. He pulled the covers up to their shoulders then closed his eyes.

  She listened to his steady breathing and watched the rise and fall of his chest. This was where she wanted to be, but not what she wanted to be doing. He was too honorable to make the first move and she wasn’t yet confident enough to make her desires clear. So she closed her eyes, filled her nose with his scent, and willed herself to sleep.

  * * * * *

  “Did you get any sleep last night?” Garin asked. “You look like shit.”

  Raylon shook his head as he glanced at the control panel. The Phantom shuttles were even more automated than their predecessors, so there wasn’t much to do but monitor the computer. “Fallout from Chandar’s vision.” He glanced at his friend then rubbed the back of his neck. He’d updated Garin last night after round one with Chandar. But worry and frustration kept him awake and restless, so he’d activated the security feed and found Chandar wide awake and equally restless, which resulted in round two. “It was a really long night.”

  Speculation narrowed Garin’s eyes, but he didn’t ask the questions clearly written on his face. “Kotto confirmed what she told you. Vinton Tandori is dead.”

  “Does Tandori Tribe know how he died or are they blaming the explosion?”

  Garin shrugged. “Don’t know. We haven’t spoken to anyone from Tandori Tribe. Kotto combined newscasts with public records to confirm that there was an explosion and who owned the property. That’s as far as he’d gotten before I had to leave.”

  “If the shifter was Vinton’s daughter, it’s likely they know.”

  Garin’s penetrating gaze landed on Raylon again. He was clearly skimming the surface of his curiosity, which wasn’t like Garin. They never played games with each other and Garin was seldom subtle. “The other aspects of Chandar’s vision were accurate. Is there reason to doubt that detail?”

  “No. I just prefer cold, hard facts to mystic revelations.” Raylon tried to minimize his interest in the exasperating harbinger with a casual tone.

  “Is something going on between you and Chandar?” That was more like it. Garin was too busy most of the time to bother being polite.

  Raylon leaned his head against the seat back and groaned. “She’s driving me crazy.”

  “In what way?” Already amusement rippled through Garin’s tone, though his expression remained composed.

  Raylon had never been one to kiss and tell, but last night was different. He needed to figure out what Chandar really wanted before he could give it to her. “I understood what she needed in the beginning. She was terrified and I made her feel safe. I have no idea why, but I wasn’t about to fight it. Now she’s been working with Indigo and it’s made her seem less…childlike.”

  Garin’s brow creased and his lips pressed together as he considered the possibilities. “Are you attracted to her?”

  “Gods yes. But she’s so fragile, so helpless. If I even kissed her, really kissed her, she’d be terrified.”

  “Really kissed her? Why did you make that stipulation?”

  As usual Garin absorbed every subtlety without even trying. He just seemed to see things everyone else missed. It was one of the things that made him such a good leader. It was also inconvenient as hells rings when Raylon was trying to keep things generalized. “The trance wouldn’t release when the vision finished. It’s happened before, but last night was really bad. Nothing worked, so Danvier told me to kiss her.”

  “Her brother told you to kiss her? That’s not like Danvier at all. He’s been ridiculously overprotective since her rescue.”

  Raylon hadn’t meant to review the entire situation move by move. It wasn’t really Garin’s business. There had been a small audience when Raylon kissed her so it wasn’t a secret. Still, he avoided the more intimate details.

  “Nothing else worked,” Raylon evaded. She’d caressed his chest like they were lovers and brushed her tongue over his skin. The memory set his heart racing all over again.

  “Did the kiss work?”

  “Yeah. I don’t know if she was shocked or—whatever. It brought her out of the trance.”

  “Did you do more than kiss her?”

  Raylon glared at Garin. Even his eyes reflected his amusement now. “Danvier was standing right there.”

  “Why do I get the impression that’s not where it ended?”

  “Because you’re too damn perceptive for your own good,” Raylon grumbled. Part of him wanted to tell Garin everything in minute detail. Maybe an objective bystander would be able to see things more clearly. But, even as close as the years had made them, Raylon wasn’t one to talk about his problems. Sharing made him feel vulnerable and needy. An emotional warrior was as good as dead.

  After a tense silence, Garin said, “I can keep pestering you with questions or you can just tell me what’s bothering you.”

  “She was still really upset after everyone went to bed, so I put her in bed with me.” The confession spilled out before Raylon could stop it.

  Garin’s brows arched and he gave
in to the smile he’d been fighting. “You ‘put her in bed’ with you?”

  “It was her idea, not mine.”

  After an abrupt laugh, Garin asked, “You couldn’t just tell her no? Sleep in a chair by her bedside or guard her from the couch?”

  “She wanted to be held, not claimed.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Raylon threw up his hands in exasperation. “No. That’s the problem. I’m not sure. I don’t know what in hells rings she wants or how to give it to her.”

  Garin laughed again, a low rumbling sound this time. “You’ve never had that problem before. It’s been much too long for both of us, but you’ve had many satisfied lovers in years past.”

  “Chandar can’t possibly want sex after what they did to her.” Raylon wouldn’t even allow himself to consider the possibility.

  “As I understand it, she doesn’t remember much of what happened to her. She’s a healthy female in the prime of life. Why shouldn’t she want to share pleasure with you?” Garin paused and looked at Raylon, gaze intense and knowing. “Or is it more than sex? Are you feeling the mating pull?”

  “I don’t know.” He looked away, afraid Garin would see the truth. Raylon knew he and Chandar were genetically compatible. He’d sensed it the first time he touched her. But her recovery was bound to be long and complicated. At some point she’d probably want to start over, relocate and leave the past behind. Which meant she’d leave him behind.

  “You’re full of shit and we both know it. Chandar clearly has you tied up in knots.”

  Raylon shook his head. “I am not what she needs.”

  “Shouldn’t that be her decision?”

  Thank the stars, Garin finally let the subject drop. Unfortunately, Raylon’s mind wasn’t so easily dissuaded. Chandar’s image lingered, taunting him, teasing him. He could still feel her warm body snuggled against his side and feel her breath wafting over his chest. He wanted to taste her mouth and feel her arch beneath him as he drove his aching cock deep into her core. Gods. He hadn’t been this obsessed with a female since puberty. He felt like a hormone-riddled lad, unable to keep his hands out of his pants.

  He pushed the images to the back of his mind through sheer force of will. Allowing himself to be this distracted was dangerous. This was basically a diplomatic mission. Still, he knew better than to underestimate humans.

  They arrived at the Bunker, a Top Secret facility in the Arizona desert half an hour later. Raylon signaled their arrival and a large section of the parking lot parted, allowing them to put down in the underground hanger. Except for a couple of maintenance buildings, the entire complex was underground.

  “Covert shields are more convenient, but that’s pretty slick.” Garin leaned forward so he could watch the parking lot close over their heads.

  “I thought you’d been here before.” Raylon powered down the engines and activated the security grid. They were here to form an alliance, but the humans were a long way from earning Raylon’s trust.

  “I met Morgan once, but Nazerel brought her to me.”

  Nazerel and Morgan were waiting for them in the hanger bay as Raylon and Garin climbed down from the Phantom One. Raylon clasped arms with Nazerel as he tried hard not to stare at Nazerel’s mate. Garin had told him that Morgan was director of the taskforce, so Raylon had expected someone more militant. She wore dress pants and a simple white blouse, but the body beneath was shaped for pleasure not combat. How did Nazerel keep his hands off her?

  “This is my mate, Morgan.” Nazerel stressed the word mate loud enough to snap Raylon out of his inappropriate thoughts.

  “It’s nice to meet you.” Raylon recovered enough to shake Morgan’s hand.

  She smiled at him, apparently used to similar reactions. “Your ship is amazing. Will we be allowed to see her in action?”

  “That’s up to General Nox.”

  “We have a lot to talk about,” Garin evaded. “Let’s see how the morning progresses.”

  Nazerel smiled. “Ever the negotiator.”

  Morgan led them into the complex and they took an elevator down two levels. Raylon tried to keep track of where they were, but the corridors were identical, gleaming tile and recessed lighting, very institutional. He hadn’t realized the Bunker was so large or that Morgan had so many people under her command.

  After arriving at a midsize conference room, they took their places around an oblong table. Morgan and Nazerel sat on one side, Garin and Raylon on the other. They were offered beverages and something called a “continental breakfast” but the arrangement still felt slightly adversarial.

  Garin accepted a mug of steaming coffee, so Raylon followed his example. After taking only one sip from his mug, however, Garin dove right in to his lengthy explanation of what brought them to Earth. “As you’re aware, the battle born have become a state-sanctioned underclass on Rodymia. They’re used for menial labor and forced to bleed and die in wars that only benefit their elite masters. This sort of injustice has become intolerable.”

  “At the risk of sounding like a callous bitch,” Morgan interjected. “That sort of thing has been going on for generations. Why now? What specifically made you throw down the gauntlet?”

  A muscle near Garin’s jaw twitched, a sure sign he was agitated. “We’ve had a breakthrough with the transformation protocol. It’s likely, even probable, that battle born males will have access to their magic in the very near future.”

  Raylon knew Garin had only intended to reveal that fact as a last resort. He’d counted on compassion and the human sense of justice to motivate Morgan’s involvement. Apparently, she was more interested in cold, hard facts.

  “By transformation protocol, do you mean the sort of thing Sevrin Keire was attempting?” Morgan’s features tensed and her voice grew cold as she waited for Garin’s answer.

  “The problem with Sevrin Keire was not her goals. It was the methods by which she was attempting to achieve them. She didn’t care who she hurt or whether or not each participant was willing. Those tactics are as intolerable on Rodymia as they are on Earth.”

  Morgan’s expression remained stern and distrustful. Clearly, she wasn’t pacified by Garin’s words. “We spent months chasing Sevrin and her ‘boys’ all over this area. I lost good men in the fight to find and ultimately stop her. What assurances do we have that the current team won’t cross the line again? When people want something as badly as the battle born want this, right and wrong tends to blur.”

  “Not this time,” Raylon insisted. “We’ve implemented checks and balances that prevent anyone from stepping outside of the approved procedures. No one will be forced to participate and everyone will undergo an extensive orientation before they’re allowed to give their consent. We’ll tolerate nothing less than full discourse.”

  “What led to this breakthrough?” Nazerel shot a meaningful look to his mate. “What, or should we say who, is involved in this transformation study?”

  Raylon watched the exchange closely, confused by their hostility. They were acting as if the transformation study was a personal slight. Nazerel had once been a Shadow Assassin, for gods’ sake. He’d been born into a society patterned after the battle born. Unnerved and not sure why, Raylon increased the sensitivity of his cybernetic eye until he could see the pulsing of blood in Nazerel’s neck. It wasn’t a foolproof way of detecting lies, but it allowed him to spot utter kaunashit.

  “The captive your team rescued had a protein marker in her blood,” Garin was saying. “My scientists were able to determine that the marker appears when human genetics is mixed with Rodyte. In other words, the female was a hybrid.”

  “So hybrid females are needed for the transformation to succeed?” A certain gleam in Morgan’s eyes, combined with her accelerated pulse, hinted that she knew the answer and a whole lot more. Was this some sort of test? Was she comparing what she knew against Garin’s claims?

  As usual, Garin picked up on the subtlety. He didn’t need a cybernetic lie detector to
see beneath a person’s façade. “Have you already been briefed on the specifics of the study? Your hostility is confusing.”

  The only way that was possible was if someone from the Intrepid had contacted Morgan or Nazerel, but the scientists and medical personnel gained nothing by such disloyalty. Unless…

  A door at the opposite end of the room flew open and an indignant Rodyte male strode into the room. Garin and Raylon shoved back from the table, but paused when neither Nazerel nor Morgan reacted to the interruption. Apparently, these guests weren’t unexpected. Following in the male’s wake was a tiny female with honey-blonde hair and strange golden eyes. They were both dressed in jeans and sweaters, but they were obviously not entirely human. The male pulled out a chair for his companion, but remained standing.

  Morgan stood and motioned toward the newcomers, her expression unreadable. “This is Ulrik Tandori and his niece Berlynn. They’re here as official representatives of Tandori Tribe.”

  Shit. Raylon looked at the male more closely. Kotto had memory shared with Raylon, so he knew what Vinton Tandori looked like, or had looked like before his death. Ulrik was clearly a close relative. His wavy dark hair wasn’t quite as long as Vinton’s had been, but the strong jaw and purple-ringed eyes were identical.

  The female, on the other hand, didn’t even look Rodyte. If she was Vinton’s daughter as the introduction implied, she was also the canine shifter from Chandar’s vision. Unless Vinton had more than one daughter.

  “How’d you get here ahead of us?” Garin asked Ulrik. “What made you contact humans rather than me?”

  “Morgan contacted me.” Ulrik finally pulled out his chair and sat next to his niece. He offered no other information as he stared down Garin in silent hostility.

  “It’s my job to track alien activity on Earth,” Morgan reminded as she returned to her seat as well. “When the residence of a well-known alien leader is blown to bits, it sets off certain alarms.”

  “If you’re harboring Milanni, I will show no mercy.” Ulrik’s purple phitons ignited, emphasizing the threat. “My brother was a pacifist, determined to maintain the ancient ways. I am more than ready for war.”