Liquid Lies (46 page)

He looked beautifully alien. He
was Mendacia
.

And through it all, he smiled. His luminous silver eyes drifted far away, staring someplace beyond the illusion. Beyond Earth.

She finally understood what he meant to do. “Oh, God, Xavier.”

“This is how I can help them,” he said. “I can help them get away safely and they can have true lives, the lives I gave them.”

Stars’ blessings upon them—the women he’d been forced to impregnate and the children he’d never know, who should wear their resemblance to him with pride.

Griffin pulled up in the boat, maneuvering it sidelong against the dock. “Xavier,” he called. “Come on.”

Xavier sighed. “Tell the ship to go, Gwen. I’ve got it.” When she hesitated, he barked, “Do it.”

There had to be another way. Xavier hated Earth, hated Ofarians. He deserved his place on that ship.

“
Now,
Gwen.”

She pushed to her feet, her body heavy. Yet she managed to stand on her tiptoes, wave her arms toward the unseen ghost of Genesai’s ship, and shout, “Go! Go now!”

Below her on the ladder, Xavier pushed his metallic body completely from the water. No more
Mendacia
floated in the lake. Now it sheathed him in magically metallic armor.

Griffin appeared at her side. “What’s happening? Why is he still here?”

Fingers to her mouth and throat, she murmured, “He has his reasons.”

Xavier gasped. Tears leaked from his silver eyes, but this time they came from unmistakable joy.

“The ship…it’s moving…it’s lifting. Ah!”

Minutes swept by. The tint of his skin started to fade as he channeled all the stored power of his people. Though she wished there had been another way, Xavier was the rightful wielder of this magic. For anyone to touch it other than a Tedran, it would have been nothing short of sacrilege.

Gwen turned her eyes to the open water. She yearned to see Genesai’s love in motion, hear her sounds. The only thing Gwen heard, however, was the boat knocking against the dock and the early autumn wind tangling in tree branches. The only movement came from the far side of the lake, where a single car’s headlights made a slow turn on the road.

Yet she felt something. An
absence
.

When she’d feared Reed was dead, his absence had filled her with awful hate and deep despair. There, standing on the quiet dock watching absolutely nothing, this new absence brought her a sincere happiness she’d never be able to quantify.

She stood there forever, watching. She could have stood through ten more forevers.

Xavier’s hand flailed on the ladder. The top of his head appeared. Shaking arms tried to pull his body onto the dock. Gwen dove and grabbed one side of him, Griffin the other. Xavier’s skin had returned to its regular pale color, and it was ice cold to touch. Reed whipped off his fleece and draped it over Xavier’s convulsing body.

All the
Mendacia
in the world as assistance, and it still wiped him out. She wondered how many years he’d shaved off his life.

“It’s done.” Xavier’s teeth chattered so hard she could barely understand him. He struggled to keep his eyelids open. “The ship’s gone. Away. You saved my people.”

She took his hand in one of hers, and touched his face with the other. His eyes rolled up to hers, briefly flashing pure white. “And then you saved mine,” she told him. “Thank you.”

Unconsciousness was winning the battle. He tried to speak but no sound came out.

No
, he mouthed.
Thank you
.

FORTY-TWO

For the second time that night, Reed stepped away from the
scene. Primaries definitely weren’t meant to be here, to witness this.

But he was strangely glad he had.

Xavier shuddered and passed out. Griffin hauled the taller man over his shoulder in a skillful fireman’s lift and started for the SUV littered with empty
Mendacia
boxes and vials.

Gwen still stared out at the water, arms around her waist. When she finally turned, she looked strangely shocked to see Reed still standing on the dock. The hesitation in her body, the fear in her eyes, made his stomach churn. Did she honestly think he’d leave because of what she was, or because of what he’d seen? Maybe he’d thought of leaving that night in the lake house when she’d started it all, but not now. Never again.

“Say something.” The wind nearly stole her voice.

Ear to shoulder, hands on hips, he said, “Come here.”

She lurched forward as though he’d pulled on her leash. But she stopped two feet away, looked up at him with those giant, reflective brown eyes. With her gold hair swirling around her face and courage shining through her skin like what had just happened with Xavier, she had never, ever looked more stunning.

He reached out, slid a hand around her neck, and pulled her mouth to his. Her kiss…if there was ever a drug as powerful as it, he’d never want out of addiction. Wrapping an arm around her hips, he heaved her against him, forcing her arms around his head and neck.

They kissed hard. Greedy. The first meal after famine. Different, now that they were away from Nora and that house. Better.

She tasted of cool, crisp, sweet water. Water…hell, she
was
water. He’d seen it with his own eyes.

When he finally forced himself away, her eyes had gone all dreamy, like he’d once told her. If he wasn’t holding her up, she’d melt again into a puddle. And wasn’t that the best compliment you could give a man? To see how you affected a woman like her?

“Oh, I’m sorry.” He grinned, loving the way her gaze traveled to his cheek with the dimple. “You wanted me to say something, didn’t you?”

She laughed. He framed her face in his hands, his fingers sinking into the softest part of her hair. “Holy shit, that was
you
? You…
melted
.”

She blew out a shaky breath. “Yeah. I did.”

“How come you didn’t tell me about that before?”

“Figured I’d reached my quota of weird shit to throw at you.”

“Is it like the Translator thing? Or can all of you do it?”

She searched his eyes. “It’s us. It’s what makes us special. Ofarians.”

Suddenly everything calmed between them. The swirl of storms made up of questions and secrets, hidden layers and deception, just blew apart. The atoms of doubt scattered in the wind, flying up to the atmosphere like the spaceship he never saw but completely and totally believed in.

It was just them now. Gwen and Reed. Not the Retriever and the Translator. Not captor and captive. Not user and used.

The realization drew his mouth to hers, and he slanted across her lips with unquenchable fervor. They kissed as if they were alone. They kissed like they didn’t care they weren’t. She fed him her drug through her lips. Three or four days ago it might have gone solely to his dick. Now it swelled his heart.

In the next two seconds, he remembered every word they’d ever said to each other. Every heated glance of longing across the DMZ. Every stroke of his hand across her bare back. Every thrust inside her. Every withheld sound as she came…It all slammed together, transforming his body into a tempest of
need
and
want
.

He pulled back for breath, his lungs sawing. If he didn’t stop now, there’d be no stopping until he was inside her.

Their foreheads came together. No, every part of their bodies came together, ankles to chests.

“You did it,” he whispered.

“Not without you.” She inhaled and slid her hands up his arms. Even without his fleece he didn’t feel a single degree of cold.

She blinked long, shook her head, and turned serious. “What Griffin did…he said he took you to avoid suspicion. He was thinking about what would be best for me.”

Reed kept his smirk to himself. “And maybe he didn’t like what I told him about us.”

One corner of her full mouth ticked up. She turned her head, smooth skin sliding under his hands, and kissed the center of his palm. “He didn’t like it. Can you blame him?”

Not at all. Look who was at stake.

He scrolled back to the scene in the Plant, when he’d tried to get the Ofarian guard to let him out by dropping Gwen’s name. His face must have changed—man, he really was slipping around her—because she asked, “What?”

“Did you know where I was? After they jumped me?”

Her throat moved. “Yes. What happened in there?”

“I tried to drop your name, tell them they’d made a mistake. They said they called you and that you told them I was where I needed to be. Was that true?”

“Yes.” Her warm hands went flat on his chest. “And I’m sorry. It was for the same reasons Griffin had you captured in the first place, to protect your involvement from the Board. It killed me to lie.”

“Doesn’t matter anymore anyway.”

She smiled. “Oh, thank God.”

Over her shoulder, Reed noticed Griffin approaching.

Reed smoothed Gwen’s hair away from her face. Kissed her once again.
Yeah, Griffin, she’s mine
. Childish? Absolutely. He really didn’t care.

Griffin stopped halfway between them and the SUV. Even decked out in his soldier gear, he was one of those pretty men. He looked from Gwen to Reed, his injured stare hardening.

Gwen jumped in front of Reed. “No, Griffin.”

No what? Oh. That. What Xavier had told him about Ofarians taking out Primaries who found out about them. Griffin looked like a model, but it also looked like he could hold his own. It would be a good fight, but Griffin would still lose.

Griffin held up his hands. “I hated killing for the Board. I won’t do it on my own. Not ever again, even if you order it, Gwen.”

Gwen exhaled forcefully. “Thank you. Thank you.”

“It’s a new world.” Griffin’s voice sounded drowsy and loose. “New players. New rules.”

“Everything will be different now.” Her voice, in contrast, sounded hopeful.

“Everything,” he echoed.

“Better,” she asserted.

Griffin cleared his throat and came forward, extending a hand toward Reed. “Sorry for what happened. The ambush…”

Reed gently moved Gwen aside and stretched for Griffin’s hand. Shook it. Griffin squeezed a bit too hard, but Reed got it. It was all good.

“Thank you,” Griffin said, looking Reed squarely in the eye. Then he glanced at Gwen. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to thank you enough. For our people. For her.”

Why was Griffin thanking him? Reed had made a phone call to get Gwen out of a dangerous situation. He’d aimed a gun at the asshole who’d put a knife to her throat. It was a no-brainer.

Griffin withdrew his hand first.

Reed nodded. “You would have done the same.”

“Yes, I would have.”

Gwen went to Griffin then, pulled him into a big hug that tugged a bit at Reed’s jealousy. He heard her murmur something to Griffin about the Board. He nodded into her shoulder and patted her back.

“Yes, sir,” he said. “Right away, sir.”

She stepped back. “Oh, so you’re going to listen to me now?”

“Hey,” Griffin said, “if I hadn’t’ve saved your ass at the fountain, none of this would’ve happened in the first place.”

Reed had no idea what that meant, but he watched Gwen’s eyes cloud over and a deep crease etch itself between her eyebrows.

“You know?” she said. “You’re absolutely right.”

“I’ll call for someone to come get that pickup.” Griffin turned to Reed. “Can you drive the semi to the city?” Reed nodded. “We have a secure location. Follow me.”

Gwen’s fingers pressed against her lips in surprise. Not only did Reed know about Ofarians now, but apparently they were letting him into their secret lair. He wondered if there was a magic handshake or something.

Gwen slid her hand into Reed’s, their fingers intertwining. “I’m going with him in the semi,” she told Griffin. And this time, she wouldn’t ride in back.

Griffin nodded, climbed behind the SUV’s wheel, and started the engine. He sat with his hands at ten and two, staring at the dashboard.

She was looking at Griffin when she said to Reed, “He thinks you’re in love with me.”

Reed paled; he actually physically felt the blood drain from his face and land heavily in his boots. Vertigo swooped in, almost knocked him on his ass.

Her face reddened as she slowly turned to Reed. “Oh, God, that was out loud, wasn’t it?” She waved a dramatic hand and barreled through her next words. “Don’t respond to that. Really.”

Reed glared at Griffin’s profile. The Ofarian man now sat with his elbow against the window, head in his hand.
Not
looking at the woman he was supposed to marry and the guy who was supposedly in love with her.

Jesus. Was he? Was that even possible in a week? And during all the whacked-out crap that happened to them during that time?

“Come on.” She tugged him toward the semi, unsuccessfully trying to keep her blushing cheeks averted. “Show me how you drive that big rig.”

FORTY-THREE

“The Board.” Griffin snapped his cell phone shut. “We got ’em
all. Just found Elaine Montag in Cabo.”

Gwen sat across from Griffin, Reed to her left, at the breakfast bar in Griffin’s Telegraph Hill apartment. She’d forgotten how nice his place was—how nice
all
their places were. Since returning from the land of the dead, she couldn’t even cross the threshold to her own apartment. The whole thing smelled of death and deceit. She and Reed had taken a room at the Four Seasons. Seemed appropriate to come full circle.

The manhunt for the Board and anyone who’d ever worked at the Plant had taken three days. Anyone who knew about the slaves and said nothing was in the crosshairs. Many Ofarians volunteered to help, and Gwen wasn’t remotely surprised at the majority of her people’s resolve to right what had been done wrong. She’d clung to that belief in captivity and it had been proven true.

Against all odds, they’d succeeded in keeping the strange happenings in bumfuck Nevada and in the middle of Lake Tahoe under wraps. Xavier had used the last of the Tedrans’ magic well. And now
he
was the last.