Mimics of Rune 02- Surrender (38 page)

“We need Leigh!” Cael firmed his stance.

Maggie ran a hand through her hair. “If I’m not back in ten minutes, go without us. Promise me you’ll just go, Cael.”

“Ten minutes. No more.”

Maggie transitioned to the white Maltese and ran out toward the ocean.

Once James made his change into Kevin’s form, Cael stripped from Kevin’s clothes and handed them over.

“I need to get Lily out of her clothes so Maggie can have them.” Cael thumbed over his shoulder.

James patted Cael on the shoulder and went to his chair. “You’ve seen her naked, so I’ll leave that to you.”

A small laugh drifted from Cael’s lips. Only James could bring out that emotion with the level of built up stress Cael had accumulated.

Unbuttoning Lily’s shirt brought with it a mixed sensation of pleasure and pain. Sliding her arms from within did the same. He wanted to lift her and shake her awake, to have her jolt up and say ‘I’m okay!’ and their saga to be over.

None of those wishes came true as he redressed her and walked back into the living room to wait for five more minutes.

None of them.

• • •

Sixty seconds remained before Cael would walk out with Lily in his arms. He stared at the clock on the wall, wishing the long hand would slow down.

A small knock on the door made Cael and James jump.

“Come in,” James said in Kevin’s voice.

The swish followed with a yip, and Cael slid out of his hiding spot. A few seconds later, Leigh made her appearance. The moment the dog stopped, she rematerialized into Maggie form and wobbled.

James caught her before she fell. “What the hell?”

“Um …” Leigh bit at her lip. “She changed form like four times after that girl asked where I was going.”

James lifted Maggie into his arms. That she didn’t fight him suggested even she’d exceeded her bodily change maximum. Cael could only hope she had enough energy left to take on and hold Lily’s form.

Leigh squished her lips to the side. “Um … what’s going on?”

“We’re going home, Leigh, and you need to come with us,” Cael said.

“Oh.” Her chin fell to her chest. “I was thinkin’ a lot about what Lily said about my family, so, okay.” She toed the floor. “I want to go home.”

A smile built in Cael’s cheeks. “Smart girl.”

“But what about Luke?”

“Who’s Luke?” Cael asked.

“He’s kinda like my little brother. You know … ‘cause he came with me on the plane. He can’t even do the stuff I can. And he’s only four. He misses his mom.”

“Shit—excuse me.” Cael ran a hand over his head as he headed toward the back room, an eye on the clock and the time they’d already wasted. “James.” He marched into the bedroom where both Lily and Lily lay side by side. “We got a problem, and please tell me who is who.”

“Maggie changed into Lily’s clothes, but she’s exhausted so I—”

“Told me to rest.” Maggie popped one lid open, blinked and closed it again.

“Yeah, so Leigh’s little buddy from the lab—remember I told you about him? He’s not a Mimic. He’s probably one of Kevin’s snatched kids.”

“I can’t leave him!” Leigh said.

Cael and James both turned to her.

“It’s not right. He gets sad sometimes ‘cause he misses his mom. She died.”

Cael looked to James, who shrugged. “We don’t have time for this.”

James moved to Leigh, lowered to her eye level. “You’re going to have to trust me to take care of him. Okay?”

The side of Leigh’s lips stayed tucked under her teeth. “But—”

“Go with Cael, and help him with Lily. I’ll make sure Luke gets home.”

Leigh stretched out a small hand. “But—”

“Sometimes, it’s important to listen to adults. Other times, it’s good to make your own decisions.” James took her hand in his. “Right now, you have to trust me. Lily’s sick, and she has to get away. You understand that?”

At her small nod, James rose. “Go. Now. The three of you.”

Cael lifted Lily into his arms and jerked his head to the side. “We’ll see you both at home. You have forty-eight hours, or I’m sending Wyatt and Stuart to find you.” He stepped outside as the evening sun began its descent and toasted the sky a deep orange.

In his wake, tiny footsteps followed.

31

Lily blinked heavy lids. She stretched above herself as she focused on the space around her.

“Wha—” A single push had her sitting upright. “My room?” A swivel from right to left confirmed everything.

Her bed.

Her blanket.

Her home.

Lily twisted as a smile curved her lips up. “Oh, man, I’m home! It was all a dream.”

She trotted from bed to bathroom, bath to hallway. Voices rose from downstairs, enticing her to follow the path—the way—to them. She stepped onto the first floor landing, her bare foot hitting the hardwoods.

Chase’s face popped out from around the corner, his latest game in his hands. “Lily!” Eyes wide, he ran toward her.

The sounds from the room ceased as a rushing rumble carried her way.

With Chase wrapped around her, she shuffled forward until Cael filled the frame of the door.

Cael
.

In his birthday form.

It’s Thursday?

Shorter than her. Hair a rumpled mess. Eyes a light lavender. Three days worth of stubble upon his cheeks. He, too, wore his birthday clothes, his once-a-year attire meant only for the one day.

Lily giggled as confusion muddled her thoughts. She held out her hand, found it pale, her nails brittle and unpainted. “It’s Thursday?”

Cael stepped toward her. “Yes.”

“Did we go … somewhere? My Mom—”

He nodded even as Chase continued his squeezy hug of her waist.

“Not a dream?”

He shook his head, though the tremble at his lips suggested he held back some unsaid emotion.

For Chase’s benefit?
“Hey, Chasey … do you think you could get me a glass of water?”

He let go and romped off.

In two steps Cael met her toes. His arms wrapped around her as his chest heaved against hers. “Oh, god, Lil.”

She rubbed up and down his back as bits and pieces of what she thought to be a dream played back.
What exactly happened in the last few days?

His head nudged against her shoulder.

“Lily?”

Angela.
Lily leaned to Cael’s ear. “Did we find—”

“Yes,” he said, still wrapped around her.

“I just wanted to say thank you,” Angela said.

Lily offered Angela a smile. “You’re welcome.”

“Upstairs.” Cael’s hand slipped against Lily’s.

She followed him back up the steps she’d so happily descended moments before. He headed straight for her room, right to her balcony where the night atmosphere cooled with a crisp but humid air. A tug brought her down to his lap, and his hands slipped into her hair, pulling her forward until their lips merged.

“How long was I asleep?”

“It’s nearly nine thirty now, so, about thirty hours.”

Lily slid her hands behind the nape of his neck. “Cael?” Her voice came out barely above a whisper.

“Yeah?” His tone vibrated against her chest.

Rather than answer, she connected with him again, merging their lips like long lost lovers reunited.

He tilted his head.

She went the opposite, releasing her anxiety. Spears of pleasure raced through Lily as his tongue darted out, spreading her lips and shooting longing to her core.

“Lily, I’m sorry.” Forehead to forehead they rested against each other, Cael’s hands still around her.

“Why?”

“What do you remember of the last few days?”

She stared into his eyes, seeing his need to know. The recitation took a few minutes as the fog of her memory cleared a little. What she didn’t know, Cael filled in the blanks, punctuating each more painful episode with a kiss to her hand, lips, cheek or head.

Tears fell with free abandon down Lily’s cheeks.

“And then yesterday,” he said.

She shook her head as her memories ended with her desire to find Roy, to seek him out and determine what he’d planned to do. Everything else Cael told her came without the associated mental movie.

The hitch in Cael’s breath broke Lily’s heart. She’d seen him tear up only one other time in so many years.

Her breath constricted. Sharp, stabbing pains wracked her as he explained what she’d agreed to do, even though she didn’t know she’d only had to stay away from Roy to alter the entire course of history.

“So … I might be pregnant?” Her head dipped low. “By …
him
? But what about—I can’t be, Cael!”

A sheen coated Cael’s eyes. “We just don’t … I don’t … we don’t know.”

“There’s one way to find out, right? Maggie said I couldn’t shift when pregnant.”

He offered a small shrug. “There are so many unknowns. No one knows what you’re really capable of. That you’re even alive after everything you went through is …” His hands ran up and down her arms. “But not today, Lily. Tomorrow. When it’s safe, and you won’t have any … side effects from it.”

She slid her fingers into her hair and twisted the straight tresses around a finger. “Cael?”

The tilt of his head and the set of his eyes told Lily he’d listen.

“Do you love me?”

His lids fell, a single tear falling from beneath one. “Like the world loves a rainbow on a rainy day. God, yes, I love you, Lily.”

“Even like this?” She ran her hands down her figure.

He opened again. “Always.”

“I don’t want to be this way anymore.”

“But—”

She touched his lips with her fingertip. “I don’t want to ever see this form again, but I don’t want you to blend with me, either. I want to live human. Just me. Lily Crane. Grow old, eventually die. I’m done not being able to be a Mimic but still being a pin cushion to those who want to know more.”

“I—”

Lily pressed harder to shut him up. “I want to blend with you, but I don’t want you to blend with me.”

“But we don’t know if it’ll work. Herri thinks—” His words came out mumbled.

He’d explained. Lily understood. “I know. I’ve always felt the pull, the tug, the inner alignment with you. I just never thought you deserved to be saddled with anyone less than perfect. Even our first time, remember? It’s always been there, hiding beneath some surface. I don’t want—”

“But—”

A smile broke as she forced him quiet with a finger to his lips. “Will you let me? If I can shift, we know I’m not pregnant. If my memories remain, I know I blended with you.”

“But what about—”

“And if it doesn’t work, will you just help me keep Roy away from the child if he somehow remembers, and help me through whatever comes? Because … Cael? I can’t do this anymore. I just … can’t. And waiting another year to have this same issue potentially pop up again is just going to tear me apart. Please, Cael?”

“Only if you agree to one thing. Gimme a sec.”

Cael jumped up, jostling her back on the chair. He disappeared into her room, returning no more than two minutes later. His readjustment on the chair put her in his lap, straddling him.

“This is an awfully intimate pose, Cael.” She wiggled her nose against his.

“It’s important.” His hand slid against hers and slipped the ring Roy had given her off her finger. He pinged it out into the forest. “Now that that’s gone …” In his hand, he held a box.

“Oh!”

“I said this before, and I meant it. I want it to be real. Lily Elizabeth Crane, will you marry me?”

Tears formed again as she took the box, its hinge creaking on opening. The diamond inside sparkled under the outside spotlights.

“But—”

“No buts, Lil. If you take your shape and remember me, you’ll remember this. If you take your shape and don’t remember, I’ll drop to your age and fake everything I know about you until you want to marry me a second time.”

She giggled. “But I didn’t say yes.”

Cael rolled his eyes. “And if you do remember and you ever want me to blend with you, just say the word. Otherwise, once you get to maybe fifty or sixty, I’m just going to do it. I’ll skip the whole mid-life crisis and whatever and just blend in a more mature state, as Charley likes to say. Let me do this for you.” He drew in a deep breath. “Please, Lily. Agree to marry me so I know, at least, that’s what you wanted.”

“But what about kids? You know human and Mimic can’t—don’t you want that chance?”

“We have Chase. We can keep up with Leigh and Max. We could … adopt. I want you, Lily.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck as the streams of tears flowed. He offered her everything she could ever want. “Yes. Always. Yes.” Her lips touched his neck, his flavor mixing with her tears. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

Cael gathered her close and covered her mouth in a fiery passion. “Before we forget, before … will you let me … just once more?”

• • •

Lily’s hands swept up Cael’s chest, pushing at his T-shirt, her nails tickling and making his abdominals twitch.

A growl rose in his throat as Lily giggled.

She nipped.

He kissed.

Despite his once-a-year shape, Cael still held a defined strength and lifted Lily with ease, carrying her toward the bed. They alternated their touches until Cael couldn’t take any more, and his hand cupped her butt cheeks, pulling her up higher against him. As Lily wrapped her legs around his waist, he leaned over and draped her across the bed so she rested on the edge, where he could take in the whole of her.

In less than a day, she would either start her life over or forget him forever.

No matter what,
he
would never forget Lily.

Her hair splayed out on the blanket, the white silk of her strands a stark contrast to the blue of the covers. She lifted her T-shirt over her head, and Cael ran his hands up her body, massaging her breasts, pinching and pulling at her flesh. Her back arched beneath him as she trailed her own hands up and down his arms.

If she remembered the torture from the day before, it didn’t show. If she felt any of the agony, she hid it well.

The boxers would give Cael instant and immediate access. A grunt escaped as his thoughts consumed him, adding further fire to what burned within—a desire that hadn’t been sated by their one night decades before or their latest touch.