Pixie’s Prisoner (4 page)

At the moment, Nathan didn’t know which fate was worse.

An unexpected flicker of light made him turn his head to the right. He squinted into the darkness, his body tightening like a rubber ball. Adrenaline flooded his veins. He clenched his hands at his sides, ready to take on whatever threat came his way.

When nothing appeared out of the shadows, he allowed himself to relax just enough to slacken his jaw.

That’s when he saw it. Another disturbance in the still air. One more flicker, this one brighter and even closer to where he stood.

The bright spot of light floated in on a trail of golden sparkles, lighting up the night like a firefly. Nathan had to squint against the harsh light beaming through his infrared glasses.

His muscles tensed as his body went into complete battle mode. In the span of a frenzied heartbeat, he’d ripped off the glasses, letting them hang from the leather cord around his neck.

If he’d thought his imagination was playing tricks on him before taking off the glasses, things were infinitely worse now that he could see clearly. His firefly wasn’t a firefly at all.
She
was a tiny woman — about the size of his thumb. She wore a low-cut pink top that showcased her full breasts to perfection, and a tiny skirt no bigger than his thumbnail.

When she gazed in his direction, recognition slammed hard into his gut.

Oh, God. He was going insane, pinning the face of the woman who’d haunted his dreams for eighteen months on… what? A butterfly? He had no idea what he was looking at, but the gauzy fluorescent blue wings and the sexy clothes certainly didn’t help him figure it out.

He rubbed his eyes with bunched fists. When he blinked and opened them again, she was still there, pirouetting around him, seemingly oblivious to the security system and the armed guard patrolling nearby.

Fuck!
Whatever Zone 99’s scientists had done to him during his long months in captivity, when they’d poked and prodded him in order to harness his ability and shape it into a weapon, had finally caught up to him. His mind was failing him. Now, when he needed it most.

Panic flooded his core, quickening his pulse. He was determined to ignore the hallucination, but he didn’t dare move. Even without the infrared glasses, he knew the first of the laser beams darted in a new formation only inches away from his toes.

“Nathaniel!” she hissed out his name in a whisper, but her voice was much louder than he’d expected from such a tiny creature. “Are you here?”

The guard, who’d marched within twenty feet of where Nathan stood, stopped in mid-stride, rifle at the ready.

Nathan froze. There was no way the man could have heard his hallucination speak. But if he could hear her, that meant he could also see her. And if he could see her… God, could the man see
him
, too?

“Nath —”

He clapped his hands around her shapely little figure before she could complete the word. The last thing he needed was even a hint of his name blown on the breeze to the guard’s ears. The compound was on high alert, ever-vigilant for his return.

Rays of light peeked out from between his fingertips and a muffled cry echoed from inside. He prayed he could camouflage her the way he hid everything else about him. Whatever magical power made him the way he was also extended to inanimate objects. And although he’d never tested his abilities on fantasy women, he could only hope it extended to them, too.

To his relief, the light blinked out of existence. The guard stared in Nathan’s direction for another moment before apparently deciding whatever he’d heard had been a false alarm and turning around to march in the opposite direction.

The relief that skidded along Nathan’s rigid body was short lived. No sooner had the guard turned around than the butterfly woman began to
grow
. What had begun as an almost insignificant weight in the palm of his hand and the slightly ticklish sensation of wings fluttering against his fingers quickly expanded to unexpected proportions.

He could no longer contain her. His hand span widened. He lost his hold on her and watched in sheer fascination as his small hallucination became
real
.

Fury seemed to roll off her slim shoulders. The stiffness of her spine told him she wasn’t pleased with the way he’d handled the situation back there, but apologizing was suddenly the furthest thing from his mind.

He
knew
her. The woman who’d haunted his dreams for the past eighteen months was suddenly standing before him. She was so close, he could smell the sweet, intoxicating scent rolling off her. It drifted through the air, seeped into his bloodstream, hardened his rapidly awakening cock. He could even hear her small breaths as she narrowed her eyes in his direction.

It was impossible. Unthinkable. She was… a fantasy come to life. Here, of all places. In front of the compound that had been his prison for six long months. What were the odds that the woman whose memory had seen him through the ordeal was truly flesh and blood?

Before he could give that question another moment’s thought, she took out a small velvet pouch that had been tied to her waist, sprinkled some golden powder in the palm of her outstretched hand, and blew it in his direction.

Metallic dust floated through the air, coating Nathan in a fine layer of the stuff. When he lifted his hand to protect his eyes, he could see the glow of the powder clinging to him, revealing every ridge in his camouflaged silhouette.

His fantasy woman obviously had no intention of giving him time to adapt to this new set of circumstances. As soon as she could make him out, she shoved a finger in his chest. “Now listen here —”

Apparently, she’d forgotten the need for caution. The guard turned around. After that, instinct kicked in, full force. Nathan’s hands found the slight dip in the woman’s trim waist and yanked her off her feet. She cried out another protest that died when a gunshot rang out. The thundering boom was followed a split-second later by a piercing whoosh that echoed much too close to Nathan’s ear.

Suddenly, she no longer seemed interested in screaming, or telling him what she thought of him. She didn’t even put up a fight when Nathan pressed her against his side, crouched low to the ground and shoved them both through the hole he’d cut in the wire fence surrounding the place. Normally, electric current ran through the wires but he’d shut off the powerful charge before breaking his way through. When a jagged edge scraped his shoulder, it tore his shirt, but at least it didn’t fry them both where they stood.

The high-pitched shrill of the alarm being triggered followed them out into the night.

Nathan didn’t know how long they ran. His training and the survival instinct he’d had plenty of opportunity to hone during the last few months kept them hovering near trees, rocks, and other large items they could use as cover. It wasn’t easy to hide a sexy woman and a glowing man in plain sight, but somehow they managed.

Nathan didn’t pay much attention to
how
they did it. He couldn’t have, even if he’d wanted to. It was as though his entire being had become closely attuned to the woman at his side. In the span of a minute, she’d gone from being an undesirable nuisance to someone he had to touch, to protect, to be close to — at any cost.

So they continued to sprint, clinging to one another’s hand, until the sound of waves breaking against the seashore drowned out the noise from the compound. At the base of the surf, Nathan veered sharply to the right, heading for a small cave he knew to be nearby.

Once they were safely inside, he had no time to catch his breath. Without warning, his fantasy woman dove into his arms. The sneak attack surprised him even more than her initial appearance had, and he didn’t think it was possible to be more surprised than
that
.

His back hit the wall as she pressed up against him. So did his head, with a loud crack. Pain shot through his skull. He didn’t care.

The intoxicating scent streaming off her messed with his senses. It scrambled every bit of logic he possessed. Even though he knew he should grab her by the shoulders and shake her until she realized how close she’d come to being responsible for ending both their lives, the only thing he wanted to do was bury his head in the crook of her neck and inhale deeply until he imprinted her incredible aroma on every part of him.

Until he imprinted
her
on every part of him.

“Nathaniel,” she whispered. His name floated through the cave, echoing as the sound of her voice hit the damp walls.

“It’s Nathan.” He took a deep breath, willing his heartbeat to return to normal. They couldn’t stay here long. Even though they’d managed to avoid the compound’s guards, a team would soon search every inch of the beach. “And you are?”

Her chuckle was soft, incredibly feminine. Just like the rest of her. “Laela.”

Nathan swallowed hard. Desire clawed at him, sharp and hard and fast. “Laela. You’ve got me on my knees, Laela.”

Her face lit up in a confused frown through the golden light she emitted combined with the luminescent sparkles that covered him from head to toe. She looked like an angel, all wrapped up in gold. A gift… for him. One he couldn’t wait to unwrap.

He pressed a soft kiss just beneath her earlobe. Laela rewarded him with a low shiver. “The song… Eric Clapton,” he said when she gave no sign she understood. “Your song.”

She laughed again, sending a thrill through him. “Right. It’s been so long since I’ve heard it, I forgot the lyrics. It’s beautiful.”

“Not nearly as beautiful as you.” Nathan ground against her, his cock rubbing against her stomach. His head swam, making it impossible to think. He should have been infiltrating Zone 99’s compound by now, breaking in to the computer system, getting his life back. Instead, he was hiding out in a cave with a woman who shouldn’t exist.

Something… something wasn’t right.

He sucked a deep breath between his teeth. “You’re not really here, are you, Laela? This is just another test. Another way to mess with my mind. Another experiment.”

He felt her stiffen a moment before she stood on her tiptoes and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “Does that feel like make-believe to you?”

He groaned and clung desperately to her. His mouth lowered the extra fraction of an inch until it met hers again. This time, there was nothing soft or slow about the kiss. His tongue swept in between the seam of her lips, tasting the sweetness that mirrored her scent. She opened to him, her tongue meeting his halfway, brushing against it, licking and exploring in a sensual journey of discovery all her own.

The first time they’d been together had been hard and fast. They’d had no time to learn each other’s bodies. Tonight, he’d be damned if he’d let that happen again. As soon as they got away from this place, he’d take her back to his hotel and make love to her for hours on end.

Whether she knew it or not, she’d saved his life. He never would have made it through all those months of endless tests, of being poked and prodded like a lab animal, if not for the memory of her legs wrapped around his waist, of her voice crying her pleasure out into the night.

Tonight, he intended to repay her using every naughty trick he knew — and others he was just going to have to make up as he went along.

Breaking off the kiss was the toughest thing he remembered doing in a long time. He reached for her hand. “Come. We have to get out of here.”

“Wait.” She dug her heels into the floor. “You have to come with
me
.”

He raised an eyebrow as he tried to make sense of her words. Her face was mostly hidden in shadow, but the golden light glinted off her shimmering grayish-blue eyes.

“Where?”

“It’s not important.” She grabbed her lower lip between her teeth. It didn’t take a genius — or a man with all his reasoning abilities intact — to figure out she was nervous. “I need you.”

He hooked an arm around her waist, drawing her close again. “I need you, too.”
So much. You have no idea
. “But there are things about me you don’t know. We can’t go…” He hesitated, trying to figure out how to say he was a wanted man without scaring the living daylights out of her. “Well, there are many places we can’t go. I can’t risk it, but there’s a hotel not far from here. I know the owner. We’ll be safe for now.”

She stepped away, putting distance between them. Nathan’s first instinct was to reach out to her, to pull her back to him. But before he could, she grabbed for the hem of her absurd pink shirt and yanked it over her head in a move he’d only seen executed so flawlessly in movies. The kind he didn’t watch in theaters.

Her firm breasts jutted out, dark nipples pebbling against the slight breeze. She tossed the shirt to the side and darted out of the cave.

He followed, mesmerized. Moonlight glinted off her body, shimmering along the edges of the golden glow that emanated from her flawless skin. Why hadn’t he noticed that glow the first time they were together? It was ethereal, hypnotic.

The sway of her hips called to him. He couldn’t have stayed where he was if he’d tried.

As she walked backward, she rocked her hips in a gesture that had his cock pulsing against the seam of his pants. He’d worn tight black jeans tonight though he hadn’t needed the dark attire to camouflage himself. Still, he preferred dark clothes. They made him feel even more invisible than usual.

Laela beckoned to him. He stole a glance down the length of the beach, but there was no one out this time of night. Even the compound’s guards hadn’t made it out this far yet. They were alone. Well, mostly. A ship docked off to the side of a long pier about thirty feet away could be harboring curious eyes. A flash of jealousy wiggled its way into Nathan’s gut, but he pushed it away.

She wanted him to follow her. That much was clear. And it was important enough to her that she was willing to use her feminine wiles to ensure he’d come along willingly.

The Marine in him knew he was being played like a fiddle. The man in him didn’t give a fuck.

Skimming a hand across her nipples, Laela tweaked one between thumb and forefinger. Her other hand joined in the fun and she cupped both breasts, lifting them, placing them on an invisible shelf before pinching and rolling her nipples again.