Lawked Flame (31 page)

“
So sometimes the power slips out? You’re not
doing it on purpose?”

Did she think he was foolish enough to deliberately
lose control around Benicke and Clotho? They understood the
tightrope he walked with the increased energy, and waited until he
pulled himself back together.

“
No, I do not. But, I will endeavor to buckle
down tighter.” He stopped when she touched his arm.

“
You don’t have to do that. I understand and
won’t take offense when it happens next time.”

His brow rose. “Next time?”

“
Of course. We’re two different people, bound
to disagree on some subjects. But, at the end of the day, I’m on
your side and I’ll back you. There’s a human phrase that’s often
overused to the point it’s becoming meaningless.” She stood on
tiptoes, placed her lips against his and whispered. “I love you
even when you’re getting on my last nerve.” She kissed him and
tried to move back. He held her close and took possession of her
mouth. His heart pounded, not so much at the words, he had read of
them in his studies and knew she was right about their overuse. But
he recognized and latched onto the depth of emotion behind the
word. Knowing his feelings were reciprocated filled him with
indescribable joy and righted his world.

He broke the kiss, happy when she swayed in his
embrace, her eyes at half-mast. His cock twitched, reminding him of
the aborted love-making session earlier. Looking at the clock, he
realized he needed to recall his people to finish gathering
information and to make some type of plan. He shook her shoulder
slightly, waiting until her eyes focused. “We need to finish the
discussion with Benicke and Clotho. Can we finish our discussion
later tonight?”

She nodded and stepped out of his arms,
straightening her clothes. “Although, I’m still going with you to
the hospital.” She turned and looked at him, her brows furrowed
deeply. “I can’t explain it to you. I just feel that I have to be
with you.” She looked at him as though he could explain what she
was trying to say. He was stumped and waited for her to convince
him to go against his gut feeling.

She waved her hand as though wiping through a layer
of fog. “I get this weird, heavy feeling in my stomach every time I
think about waiting for you here. It hurts. Then when I say I’m
going, it lifts. Does that make sense?”

For a moment, surprise held his tongue as he watched
various expressions chase across her face. Many times through the
centuries he had experienced exactly what she described, and every
time he heeded the notions, his missions were successful. He had
ignored the feeling once, and it had cost him the lives of two
Lawkmerians.

“
Yes, yes it makes sense, I have experienced
it myself.” He called in his two advisors and returned to his seat
behind his desk. He reached forward his hand, and Alayna reached
out and held it tight. Clotho and Benicke walked in, executed a
small bow, and waited for his instructions. He waved them to sit
down, and locked the door behind them, delving right back into
their previous discussion.

“
Here is my dilemma. For two centuries we have
not interfered with human problems or debates. There has never been
a need. Our Murlins offered assistance against the virus attacks
even before we knew the Geleets were involved. Now, the Good Mother
has sent us a Kee, for which we are eternally grateful.” He paused
and kissed the back of Alayna’s hand and she squeezed his in
return.

“
However, this has brought the humans into our
world. My Kee is a mixture of something none of us fully
understands, but that is why the Harven allows her entry. But her
family is human and is under attack from our enemies. I find it
difficult to believe the Good Mother was unaware of this, and yet
she has not released us from the restriction of no warfare.” He ran
his other hand through his hair as his frustration
mounted.

“
Perhaps she feels there is another way
without endangering so many human lives,” Alayna said. “I think a
small team can wipe out the Geleets in the hospital, and then
another group can enter afterwards to search for the portal. As
long as the battle is inside the building, Khayden can target the
Geleets.” He fought his instinctive denial of her inside the
building or near any type of fighting. The room had grown silent
and he realized they were waiting for a response from him. Stifling
his rage, he turned her idea over in his mind. It had
merit.

The Geleet would be overconfident and allow the two
of them inside the building. He could do a quick scan, lock on the
human heartbeats to shield them, and then release some of his
pent-up energy. It would incinerate every Geleet within the
building. The whole operation could be done in ten to fifteen
minutes top. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the
simplicity of it.

“
It is a good plan.” He felt her surprise and
smiled. “I will teach you a few things before we leave to pick up
your father.” He looked up. Her mouth was still agape, but she
snapped it shut as he continued. “I will need a Murlin to wipe his
memory of us until the Good Mother grants permission for Mistress
Kee’s father to know who we are.”

She nodded with a slight frown. “That’s better than
the alternative.”

He agreed, glad she was being reasonable. Clotho
nodded, her face relaxed. He and Benicke continued the discussion,
fine tuning their plans to destroy the Geleet.

Chapter 22

The ride to the hospital was silent. The atmosphere
tense. At least she was tense. No doubt, this wasn’t as big a
challenge for Khayden. Mentally, she slapped herself upside the
head. What the hell had she been thinking? She was no vigilante.
Her mind was plagued with doubts about the plan and yet she
couldn’t shake the firm belief she was supposed to be here.
Clasping her trembling hands tightly in her lap, she went over the
steps in her mind to create an indestructible bubble. Once they
entered the hospital, Khayden had been adamant she construct one
that would filter the air as it entered. Much to her surprise,
there were varieties of the opaque shelters, but he wanted her to
use one that would survive anything the Geleet threw at them,
including flying body parts. He wanted her safe and protected while
he destroyed the lizards.

If she could stop shaking long enough, she might be
able to look past the upcoming confrontation against the vile
creatures. Unfortunately, her mind was playing a continuous loop of
the creature splitting Rodney’s skin open and stepping out. It was
a sight she never wanted to see again. Even now, it made her
nauseous.

She inhaled deeply and released a large dose of
pent-up energy, wishing her uncertainty would ease up just as
simply. As they turned onto the road, she looked at the
three-storied brick building. Gazing at the nearly deserted parking
lot, she hoped she could face a gang of those lizard creatures
without becoming sick.

Khayden squeezed her hand. “Alayna?”

She turned slowly in his direction with lowered
lids, unwilling for him to see her fear. “Yeah?”

“
We are here.” His statement of the obvious
brought a smile to her face.

“
I see.”

He squeezed her hand again. “We do not have to do
this today. We can return later.”

With slow deliberation, she searched his eyes and
found no mockery or contempt. Somehow, his confidence girded up her
courage. Straightening, she touched his cheek with her palm and
rubbed the light stubble of his beard. “I know. But we’ll kick
their asses today.” She kissed his lips quickly and opened the
door. Walking around to the front of the truck, she met him and
latched onto his hand. Together they strode toward the building,
and headed for the glass door with the large ENTER sign painted
above it in red letters.

Goosebumps covered her skin from the pulsating
energy leaking from Khayden. She glanced in his direction and
wasn’t surprised to see his tight jaw or the green glow behind his
sunglasses. Her man was cranked up, no doubt searching the building
for human heartbeats right now.

“
Found any?” she asked out the side of her
mouth.

“
Just two. They must have evacuated the rest.”
He looked at her as the door slid open.

A foul odor assaulted her nostrils the moment they
entered the building. No one sat at the front desk and the foyer
was conspicuously empty. A blast of air swept through the foyer,
knocking her back a little. A grunt to her left had her swinging
around just in time to see Khayden’s eyes roll to the back of his
head and him crumpling to the ground.

Her heart stopped and then kicked into a mad gallop
as she stared in horror at him lying unmoving on the floor. She ran
forward and fell to her knees as she placed two fingers on his
neck. His heartbeat was as strong as hers.

Confused, she tried to roll him over, but only
succeeded in rolling his upper body to the side. He lay twisted on
the hard tile floor. But at least he was breathing. She looked at
his eyes; the color was fine. Most importantly, he was alive. She
had no way to contact the extraction team and let them know what
was happening. She needed help to get Khayden out of here. She
pushed down the hysteria rising in her chest and tried to focus on
all the instructions he’d given her before they left to come here.
Of all the contingencies he’d prepared her for, him being down or
incapacitated wasn’t one of them.

The sound of footsteps reminded her of their
precarious position. Cursing herself for forgetting, she threw up
the bubble and waited. At first all she saw were brown loafers and
the hem of a pair of cuffed jeans coming down the hallway. Her
stomach pitched when she looked up.

The soft gray eyes of her brother, Johnny,
smiled down at her. She stared in amazement at how good he looked.
A smile eased across her face, she was glad to see him. Just as she
started to ask him for help, she looked behind him at the vacant
hall. Damn, that was foul. They had mirrored her brother and almost
tricked her. She stared at the clone again, shocked at how closely
he resembled her brother. This clone bore the crinkles in the
corner of his eyes and the small chip in his front tooth. His
brownish black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, one of his
favorite ways of wearing it at work. Scooting closer, her hand
wrapped around Khayden’s, she needed him like she needed her next
breath.
This is not my brother. This is
not my brother. This is not my brother
. She chanted
repeatedly, trying destroy the rabid desire pulsing inside her to
turn to her big brother for help.

“
Hi, Laynie.” The pitch of his voice was
slightly off, which gave her pause. “Dad said you were on your way.
Come with me, I’ll take you to him.” He turned and walked off as if
she would actually follow. “I told them you’d come to see about
Mom. You were always big on family.” She wasn’t sure, but it
sounded as though the last word ended as a sneer.

Her heart raced. What the hell was she going to do?
How could she get Khayden out of here?

The Johnny clone returned and stood in front of her.
He crossed his arms and stared down at her. “I thought you came to
see Mom.”

She ignored him and tried to think. The first thing
she needed to do was fortify the bubble, make sure the filter
system worked. After completing that chore, she looked at Khayden.
What had they done to him? She smiled wryly as she realized he was
going to be super-pissed about this.

“
I’m talking to you,” her brother’s clone
snapped, his tone petulant. She glanced up and noticed his
distorted red face. His veneer was fading under the force of his
anger. Good. She looked round the large room, trying to remember
what had happened when they entered the building. The wind had
blown hard or something. Had there been something in the air? She
couldn’t remember.

“
It won’t matter,” he said in a dry tone.
Yellow light bled through the gray of his eyes. She looked him or
it, hell, she didn’t know what it was, other than it wasn’t Johnny.
The last time she'd talked to her brother, he was still in Orlando.
She prayed they had mirrored him from one of the pictures in his
house. She raised her brow, deliberately mocking him, and continued
her slow perusal of the room.

“
You can’t save him. Well, maybe you can. He
needs to be taken to the portal, that’s the only way to get the
poison out of his system.”

A wave of dread swamped her so strongly, that she
inherently knew he would be lost to her forever if they were ever
to get him. She shook her head. She’d place her bet on Clotho or
the Murlin getting rid of the poison before she would hand him over
to his enemies. With a start, it hit her. Even if this thing in
front of her were her real brother, her answer would be the
same.

“
Pity, I thought you loved him. But then
again, you only love yourself. That’s the real reason your ex,
Ricardo, cheated on you. You are too selfish.”

Inwardly she flinched. Even though she knew the
freak who stood in front of her wasn’t really her brother, hearing
the words from a mouth that looked and sounded so much like his was
like lancing a boil. It hurt.

Then she smiled at him. A slow kiss-my-ass kind of
smile. His eyes widened before narrowing. He watched her carefully,
as though she were under his microscope. There may be some crazy
fools in this building, but she wasn’t one of them. Khayden had
told her no one and nothing could destroy this containment bubble.
Help would come. She just needed to wait it out.