Quicksilver Dreams (Dreamwalkers) (23 page)

“What?”

“Radiation transfer, which means that your soft tissues are zapped with radiation and heat until they basically liquefy. We call them RT lasers for short. Taylor, he didn’t need to be right on you!”

I thought back to my dash out of Reggie’s house and pursed my lips. “I should probably warn Reggie. But what would I say? ‘Hey, Reg, you have a wanted alien criminal living in your house with you.’ He wouldn’t exactly take that well.”

Cynthia stopped her pacing on the next pass and glared at me. “You’re being very lighthearted about him because you don’t know what he’s done or what he’s capable of. You also haven’t seen the damage a digital laser can do.”

“I got a feel for how dangerous he was when I shook his hand. It was in his mind that he was going to kill me, and that’s when I realized that my first instincts about him were right on.”

“That’s right. You
touched
him.” She grimaced with truly frightened eyes before adding, “You’re also assuming Reggie isn’t part of his scheme. You might have a sense of Grayson, but you don’t truly understand the scope of what a monster he is. See, he’s charming and has many people willing to protect him—even people who you’d think would never do anything wrong. We’ve found factions of rebels sympathetic to him, even amongst our own people, which was absolutely heartbreaking for us.”

“Death sentence for traitors?” I repeated Ryder’s words.

“Yes,” she said softly, an air of sadness to her delicate features. Shaking it off, she asked, “How do you know Reggie’s not one of them?”

“Helping Frank, you mean?” I frowned, tightening the tie on the robe and turning away from the mirror to face Cynthia more fully. “I can’t imagine he would be. Reggie’s his own megalomaniac, but he’s not a criminal. I’d know. I’ve worked with him a long time. I handle all of his business calls, his personal calls, his errands. I could almost guarantee he knows nothing about who Frank is.”

“I need to give you some perspective here.” Cynthia shook her head. “Okay, Ranik? He’s worse than Charles Manson or the Nightstalker. He’s infamous for recruiting followers and causing gruesome deaths. Pure evil. But throw in fearmongering as well, because he’s been linked to at least one horrible act of terrorism.”

“Ryder told me you guys have been after him for a while.”

“We have. He’s ruthless, and...and...brilliant. He somehow knows how to embed himself in any area, anywhere, and not just remain hidden, but fit in.”

I stared at her quietly, processing the new information. I was luckier than I’d realized. How smart of me to have gone with my instincts and run from Reggie’s house when my mind had screamed at me to escape. That was definitely a plus to raising yourself. You learned early on that in order to survive, you had to listen to your instincts.

“Okay, Ranik is Frank. Frank is Reggie’s boyfriend, and he wants to kill you. Something is missing here. And this still doesn’t explain the scene we walked in on, where Ryder, one of our most respected senior officers and a man who is likely to take over the high court from his father in coming years, was pinning you to the floor. Care to share?”

There went my calm. Senior officer. Respected. Even revered. He would soon take over leadership among his people. His family was in a position of power. Boy, was I out of my league. I was just a little nobody in his world. No wonder he thought so little of me.

Tears pricked my eyes as I thought about the way he’d treated me. He saw me as his enemy and that just...hurt.

Cynthia was dismayed, seeing me turn emotional so immediately for the second time ever. “Oh, Taylor, honey. What’s going on?”

“I found mylunate at Reggie’s house. I didn’t know what it was.” I looked down at my toe, sort of lifted it, and showed her the shiny metal that was still there. Cynthia’s eyes widened perceptibly.

“That is mylunate, Tay.” Her voice was a whisper, quietly awed as she tentatively reached out to touch the metal. She drew back just short of grasping it. “It is highly restricted. It would be like...like...I don’t know. It would be like someone flashing crack cocaine or maybe something worse, because mylunate has been the root of our ongoing war with the Brausa. It’s definitely a controlled substance here. It’s hugely powerful. Of course Ryder would be suspicious. Getting your hands on some is next to impossible. Most people who live here don’t have any, have likely never seen any of it in its raw form and would be highly suspicious or disapproving to know an outsider had some.”

Oh. I considered this new information. I tried to imagine how I would feel if someone I knew, Cynthia, for example, had walked into the apartment with a baggie of meth or heroin.

Okay. I was beginning to understand the significance.

“Were you given some?” I asked.

“I’ve been given clearance to have a small amount on Earth. Those of us who are high-court employees are issued a small bit, but we go through training and have to sign our lives away, because there are a number of dangers surrounding the carrying of it, including but not limited to the possibility of discovery by Brausiian soldiers, who would be willing to kill for just that small amount on your toe.”

I hugged my arms in a protective gesture. “Ryder saw it and accused me of working for Frank, or Ranik, whatever his name is. I told him I didn’t know what he was talking about, but he didn’t believe me. I got pissed off because I...we...” What had we done, exactly? It would have been childish to itemize it, and it wouldn’t have sounded like much at the end of it all. How could I describe in words the compulsion I felt to be near him? I felt like we were being pushed together?

I couldn’t. So instead I said, “I thought there were more personal feelings on both sides, but I was wrong, obviously.”

“Why obviously?”

“He could just turn off. Eject me from here without a care. He cut me off cold, like I was some kind of criminal, and he said...he said...”

That’s when the tears spilled, as I thought of his threats.

“He said that he was going to take me to some court where they would make me talk. He even had handcuffs. He was going to take me in when I didn’t even know what he was talking about, and I tried to tell him, but he wouldn’t listen. He said that they could torture me to get me to talk. Can they do that?” I swiped at my drippy eyes again.

“Yeah, they can,” she admitted solemnly. “But you have to understand that we’ve all been living in the shadow of death for most of our existence. I almost lost my mother when she was trying to save my oldest brother in a surprise attack. She wasn’t successful.”

“Oh, Cyn, I didn’t know.”

“It was long ago, and it happened around the same period of time that Ryder’s sister was killed. There’d been a series of attacks.”

“His sister died?”

“His oldest. No one talks about it, but no one has forgotten. She was well-known, much loved, the daughter of our leader.” Cynthia shook her head sadly and closed her eyes. I could see she wasn’t going to say any more on this.

“Okay. I think I understand why Ryder would react the way he did after seeing the stuff on my toe.” I still felt all confused about how I should feel about it all and how to act around him. Was I supposed to bow and scrape too? Yeah, right.

“Well, there’s much more you don’t know. Ryder almost died in an act of domestic terrorism just a few months back—the one we think Ranik orchestrated. We learned that mylunate, when superheated, becomes a deadly explosive, and we learned that because someone detonated a mylunate bomb in our outdoor community garden. It was bad. Really bad. I was on Earth, so I don’t have the details other than that people he was with died and that it was bloody. I don’t know how he survived, having seen the pictures of it.”

“That’s horrible.” I thought of Ryder in a bomb explosion and cold fingers of fear trickled down my spine. I really couldn’t blame him for his reaction to me. More and more, my understanding of their situation here was finding its way through my layers of consciousness, and the overall image forming in my mind was frightening.

“Why is Frank—Ranik—trying to kill me?”

“You took his mylunate. It would be like taking someone’s gold nugget during the Gold Rush. He likely had to lie, cheat, steal and kill to get that amount.”

I appreciated the analogies. They were helping me understand the situation better. Pulling the towel off my head, I draped it across the rock ledge to dry.

“No wonder Ryder wouldn’t let me leave. This is all making a horrible kind of sense.” I covered my face tiredly, trying to keep the facts straight. So much to think about. So much to remember.

“You tried to leave? Where were you going to go?”

“I don’t even know.” I dropped my hands with a wry smile. “These last few days have not been shining moments in my life. In any case, Ryder physically stopped me, and it pissed me off, so we fought.”

“He hit you?”

“No!” I shook my head vehemently. “Not even close. He was trying to keep me contained.” Somewhat chagrined, I stuttered, “I m-might have h-hit him, though. Kicked him, actually.”

“You gave him that fat lip?” She arched an eyebrow in surprise.

“I felt like I was fighting for my life,” I said defensively.

With a look of sharp consideration crossing her face, she took a few quick steps and peeked out of the archway. Obviously, she wanted to share something privately. “Look, there’s more to this than you know. I wouldn’t normally give you classified information, but since Ryder brought you here, it could affect you. Dangerous things are happening.”

“Danger does seem to be following me lately,” I said with a hint of exasperation.

“Yeah, well, I’ve learned that the acts of aggression are ramping up on Earth as well as here.”

“On Earth?”

“There are a half-dozen confirmed cases of women from Earth who have gone missing. There are likely many more who have not yet been confirmed, and our intelligence tells us that Brausiian soldiers were spotted on Earth and likely had something to do with it. Also...”

Tall and imposing, Ryder suddenly filled the archway with his rugged visage, and my heart involuntarily sang. He was so damn hot. My inner sex kitten was purring, seeing him there with his black hair looking messed, like he’d run his fingers through it. The urge to run my own fingers through it made my palms itch.

I frowned to see that his eye really had a broken vessel in it, and remorse grew uneasily in me.

Cynthia stopped talking abruptly; I suddenly couldn’t remember what she’d been saying, anyway. A void of silence was created, but it didn’t seem to matter. It was like I got tunnel vision and could only see Ryder’s unwavering stare.

His eyes raked over me, though his expression was impassive, so I couldn’t read what he might be thinking. A tentative mental push to see if I could sense anything from him came up blank, which wasn’t surprising. His mind was always closed to me.

“We need a moment,” he said firmly to Cynthia, though his eyes never left my face. She looked at me hesitantly, torn. I was her friend, but I had sensed Ryder outranked her. I gave a small shake of my head to indicate I didn’t want her taking a stand now. I could handle this. At least I hoped.

“I’ll just be out in the other room,” she said quietly, and she exited.

Though emotionally confused, I definitely felt the need to see Ryder again, and my eyes soaked him up. His light eyes bore into mine. I could see the puffiness of his lip, as well as a dried fleck of blood. I’d done that? For a moment I stared at the evidence, in awe of myself. I truly was a badass. Then I confused myself because I also wanted to kiss it better.

I never said I was consistent.

In the few seconds that followed Cynthia’s departure, my brain whirred with questions and doubts.

Was he sorry? Did he care? Did he want to see me? Did he still think I was working for his enemy? The small, vulnerable voice in my head whispered those questions in a bubble of fragility that felt new and wholly uncomfortable, but I allowed the new feeling to sprinkle over me, even though it felt dangerous. Sometimes you need to turn on the heat to enjoy a good meal, right? Or so I’ve heard.

“There are reports of disturbances on the outer perimeters,” Ryder said in a quiet tone. “We’ve been advised to go on alert. Our defenses are being tested systematically. We’ve sent reinforcements to the borders.”

Yeah. None of this made sense to me. I folded my arms across my chest, very aware that I was naked under the robe, and waited for more information.

“I’m going to need to visit the posts to get a clear idea of what’s going on. I’ll be gone most of the day. You’re going to need to stay here. Cynthia will stay with you.”

“All right,” I replied evenly.

His face softened as he noted my stance and looked into my eyes. He stepped closer. His hands reached for my shoulders, and I couldn’t help feeling a jolt of excitement, wondering what he was about to do, but all he did was gently flatten the lapels of the robe by my collarbones. They’d been tucked in awkwardly, and I hadn’t noticed.

“Do you need anything?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Do you need ointment for any scratches? Ice for bruising? You’ve had a rough couple of days...”

“No.”

That’s when he dipped his head toward my neck. My hands flew to his thick shoulders, but I couldn’t quite work up the energy to push him away. Instead, my fingers flexed, holding on. Just that easily, he disarmed me. I felt his lips at my ear, his whiskers rubbing just below on my soft skin where he took a deep breath. Nerve endings flared to life, making my skin prickle and heat swirl around my womb. My breath caught with the suddenness of the sensation.

Who was this guy?

“Are you okay?” he asked softly. The vibrations against my lobe caused delicious tingles.

“I’m fine.” The words came out a little breathless sounding.

“It’s been a rough intro.” His lips brushed my ear again.

“Ryder! We’ve got to go,” Nick called from the main room.

“We need to talk. Later.” He straightened with a somber look and stared into my eyes. After a moment, he let go of my lapels and stepped away. It was only when he was out of the room that I was able to breathe normally again. Damn, that was intense.