Runner's Moon Trilogy Megabook Series (24 page)

In fact, the place seemed unusually barren of personal effects.

"Roni!" he suddenly bellowed. Pivoting on his heel, DeGrassi strode out into the living room and barreled into the kitchen. Just as he had suspected, the sink was gleaming white. There weren't even any dishes drying on the countertop. He jerked open the refrigerator door to see all 326

sorts of vegetables and salad stuff sitting on the shelves. A half-bottle of orange juice was the only drinkable thing he could see. Angrily, he closed the fridge and walked back into the living room.

After another quick glance around, he reentered the bedroom, grabbed the wrapped brush, and exited the cottage the same way he had come in, through the window. However, he pulled down the sash until it was nearly closed. She might have left it up for a reason, but he would feel better knowing it wasn't so blatantly open and inviting.

Roni wasn't here, but the voice still screaming inside his head told him the Cutter's latest victim wasn't her. The brush would provide the evidence needed to prove it. He would take it over to the lab tonight, and later today they would run their tests on it.

Giving the house one last look, DeGrassi pulled the car out of the driveway and headed downtown. Soon. He would find out where she was, and soon. Or else he would come back and sit down on that big comfy couch and wait for her if he had to. He didn't care how long it took.

Strangely, the idea seemed very appealing.

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The ground was firm and dry. The grass was high and fragrant. And the moon was a giant orange disk, like a dark gold coin, so close she felt she could reach out and pluck it from the sky.

Tiron had run the perimeter of the woods twice. It had taken her more than an hour to circumnavigate the outskirts each time, while keeping herself hidden from any outside eyes. It was easy to do, though, with her natural coloring.

She could feel her blood coursing through her body as her lungs pumped it full of oxygen. Running was her escape. Her freedom. Somewhere in the distance, a dog barked. She ignored it. Dogs didn't bother her once they caught a whiff of her.

And just like that, her thoughts went back to the tall, icy-eyed lieutenant. As if they ever had been far from him since the beginning of her run. She paused in a patch of lacy-leafed fronds and opened her senses to the forest around her.

Something was wrong, but the sensation wasn't enough to alarm her. But something was happening. Tiron wondered if he was worrying about her. He probably was, and the mere thought brought a smile to her face.

The smile suddenly vanished as the muscles inside her chest contracted. Hot, fierce pain robbed her of breath, making her gasp. Tears swelled in her eyes as she stumbled slightly in the aftermath.

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Why don't you admit it, Tiron? Why not admit that you will never become the man's life partner no matter what you wish?

Memory of the Arra ordering her scraped through her brain. You will breed for us.

No. Never, she had told them. Even if I find my blood mate, I will never give you the satisfaction of taking away our child. Never.

'You cannot hide the bonding if it is true.'

They had been right. If, by some miracle, she and one of the hundreds of males they had thrown into her cage to join with her were ordained to be life partners, there would have been no way she could have concealed it from the Arra. There was no way she could have disguised or hidden her body's reaction. They would have known when the acceptance took place. And after that, they would have begun their unceasing barrage of torture to force her to propagate. She had seen it happen time and again to other joined couples. The torment would have been relentless, which was why so many couples eventually gave in, bearing children who were taken away from them immediately upon birth, never to be seen again.

Many already-bonded couples who had already birthed children were forced to reproduce again. Some did, but many more refused. Like Simolif and Jebaral's parents. Soon after the Arra had sold their sons to the mines, Gitall and Morr had been beaten and starved to force them into bearing more children. There had been six other pairs of life partners in that same section of the ship. Tiron had watched as the seven couples refused, which brought more misery upon them.

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Separated, they were tortured. Then they were tortured in front of their life partners. Blood slicked the ship's floors for days. Two couples finally relented. The other five, including Gitall and Morr, died under the cruel administration of the adjac.

Sometimes memories of the screams and crying of the condemned couples woke her up at night. And there was no way she could stop quaking whenever she heard a similar sound come from out of nowhere.

But Tiron had been one of the few who had not found a blood mate. There had been a couple of times when she had been forced to join with a male and she had prayed for the joining to become a true bonding. Like when she had joined with Jebaral.

But the bonding didn't happen. They both had known it from the moment they came together, and afterwards they had wept, knowing the outcome. He so desperately wanted to protect her from the Arra. To keep her safe from the beatings and emotional torture. And to give her comfort. At the same time, she had been needing someone with his compassion and warmth to make her feel as if the struggle to survive day after day was worth it.

Of course it all would have been futile. There was no way Jebaral could have protected her, even if they had bonded. In fact, bonding with him would have probably ensured their deaths.

But their caring for each other never ceased. Which was why she hadn't been surprised when, during the uprising on the Arran ship, Jebaral had sought her out to be on his 330

escape pod when they fled into space. The tiny pod would only hold a maximum of thirty within the cramped quarters, but he had told her he wouldn't leave without knowing she was finally free of the enemy as well. Thus the thirty became thirty-one. Thirty-one fearful souls on the hunt for a place to live. Any planet would be suitable if they could at least find food, and drink, and breathable air. The rest they could learn to adapt to.

Yes, the accommodations were cramped and crowded, but after years spent inside a cell, the simple freedom to move about the ship without punishment had been a joy. A few months after their escape, Jebaral had sought her out again to talk. They knew they were not to be blood mates, but something else bonded them. Their experiences, and what they had endured as fellow Ruinos and sentient creatures, had forged a deep friendship they knew they would never lose. Deep in her heart, Tiron wished for Jebaral to find his life mate as sincerely as she knew he wished the same for her. They both needed the healing and happiness only a true bonding could form.

As she had countless times before, she wondered how he was doing. Wondered if the past five years had been good to him. If he had found the woman who completed his soul. If she had met a man of this world who could warm her, she knew now that it was possible the other unbonded Ruinos males could find a female of this species.

Jebaral, how I wish you were here for me to talk to. I want you to meet Thomas. I want you to meet the man who I know 331

with everything inside me is my life partner. But we cannot be joined. It's an impossibility neither you nor I can change.

But I will always remain near him. I have no other choice.

He fills the blood in my body with life. The merest scent of him makes my pores open up and drink. I will do whatever it takes to keep Thomas close by, because without him, I am empty. Without his touch, I will starve. Without the sound of his voice, I am deaf.

A trembling overtook her. Tiron spread her fingers and glanced upward, up through the thick branches at the night sky peeking down at her. A huge tree stood a few feet away.

It reached up a good forty or more feet, taller than most of the trees in this part of the woods. It beckoned to her, drawing her to it.

Digging her bladelike talons into the rough bark, she climbed the enormous oak. She shimmied past branches that grew smaller the higher she got. Ruinos were an arboreal species. On their homeworld they lived in dense forests much like this one. They planted and cultivated vegetation. The males had thick, enormous talons on their hands and feet for digging and scraping. They worked the ground, raising and harvesting food and other plant life they needed to survive.

The females, however, worked the air, the tops of the trees.

With their lithe figures and sharp, thin claws, they could scamper up vines and branches to gather the fruit or whichever part of the plant they used as food.

Tiron took a deep breath as she broke out into the open air above the treetops. The night sky glittered with promise. The 332

moon washed the landscape in light the color of pale milk. In the distance, she could see the glare of city lights.

Somewhere between here and there was Lieutenant Thomas DeGrassi. Close by. She had found him, and she had every reason to cry out in happiness. He existed, her life mate. Her only purpose for living. Throwing back her head, Tiron let out a scream of pure joy. She had found him!

And if one miracle was possible ... why not two?

Did she even dare to dream of a true joining?

The little cottage she had taken for her home lay about a mile in the distance. Tiron checked the breeze. It was constant and sufficient.

Climbing a few feet further so that she had good clearance, she lifted her arms. The thin, almost transparent webbing of skin fanned out from her wrists down to her ankles. With a quick shove of her powerful thighs, Tiron Fesell Tarakon sailed into the air. Like a living kite, she caught the wind and glided over the forest effortlessly as she headed back to the house.

With no unnatural light to give her away, she undulated under the stars as invisibly as the other night creatures using the sky. Between her freedom and the happiness of her discovery this past day, there was no way she could contain the brightness bubbling inside her.

As she grew closer to her destination, she angled her arms to begin dropping, when a pair of headlights came on beside the cottage. Instantly she dropped down into the safety of the trees bordering her property and waited to see what would happen. In the next second she recognized the car, throwing a smile back onto her face.

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Thomas had come back ... but why? She frowned. It was late. Very late. She remembered that niggling she had felt earlier that something was wrong, but there was no way she could run up to him and ask. Not while she was Ruinos. Even if she changed, she would be as naked as she was now, and on this world nudity out in the open was not acceptable.

Even so, running up to Thomas without wearing any clothing was a desire she dearly would love to explore. The thought of succumbing to her life mate sent alternating currents of cold and heat running through her body.

A true joining. Oh, by all the stars in the heavens ... would it ever be?

Once the car had backed out and left, Tiron dropped out of the trees and walked around to where her bedroom was located. Whenever she wanted to leave the safety of the cottage while in her true form, she would leave the window unlocked so she could get in and out without being noticed, just in case anyone was walking by.

Rounding the corner, she stopped in surprise to see the window closed. No, not closed. Pulled down until the sash almost touched the sill. Reaching up, Tiron slid the window open with ease, and the faint scent of baby powder drifted to her. He had come in and exited her home this way, just like she did.

Why?

A quick leap, and she was inside. This time she closed and locked the window behind her. Her Ruinos vision was exceptional in the darkness, unlike the blindness the human species on this planet suffered in the absence of light.

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The baby powder smell was stronger here, which meant he had spent a large amount of time in this room. She noticed her closet was open, and she walked over to it. Leaning down, she sniffed at the garments hanging inside. There. He had touched the bright things. The colorful blouses and shirts.

The other things, the black ones, were bare of his scent.

Walking around, she followed the delicate trail into the living room, then into the kitchen. She discovered he had opened the refrigerator but had touched nothing inside. Then he had gone back through the living room and returned to the bedroom without touching anything else before exiting out the window. There was even a hint of him in the bathroom.

Again, why?

She paused. Was he looking for her? Was he worried about her? Or for her?

What would bring him here at this time of the night?

Hopefully tomorrow she would be able to ask him—if he didn't bring it up first. But right now she was exhausted. Yet it was a good exhausted.

Thomas had come back to see her. For whatever reason, he had felt it was important enough to seek her out at this time of night. Happiness was a tiny flickering candle lighting the dark loneliness inside her.

Tiron took a quick shower and climbed under the covers of her bed. Running a hand over the soft quilt, she smiled and buried her face against the pillow.

He had come back to see her. He cared.

For the first time in many long years, Tiron had happy dreams.

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DeGrassi rolled over with a loud groan. A stream of sunlight had managed to find its way through the mini blinds and settle across his pillow less than an inch away from his eyes. Holding his arm up in front of his face, he had to blink several times before he could focus on his wristwatch.

Eight forty-eight.

He was late getting to work. Like that hasn't happened before. He snorted sarcastically.

A quick duck into the shower didn't help much, but the styrofoam cup of java he picked up on the way to the station did manage to perk him up a little.

He waved back at the officers who greeted him as he made his way to his desk. There were already three emails on his computer and a lab report sitting on the seat of his chair.

DeGrassi snatched it up to read, but it was only the receipt for the hairbrush he'd brought in, letting him know how and where it had been tagged in case he needed it.

Retrieving his email, he quickly scanned the headers. The third one caught his eye, and he opened it.

Subject: Roni Tarakon

Time: 08:48

Message: Subject phoned to find out if you were planning on picking her up this morning, or if she needs to find other transportation to the employment agency. Call her back at 337

555-7787. If she doesn't hear back from you by ten, she will take the bus.

DeGrassi was reaching for his phone when it rang underneath his hand. "Vice. Lieutenant DeGrassi."

"Lieutenant? This is Roni Tarakon."

Her voice flowed over him like life-giving water. The last shreds of sleep melted away, and DeGrassi growled at her before he could think. "Dammit, Roni, where the hell were you at three o'clock this morning?"

The silence lasted so long he began to wonder whether he had actually heard her on the other end of the line or if it had been his imagination.

"I sometimes have insomnia," she finally answered softly.

"When I can't sleep, I go for a walk in the woods behind the house. Why do you want to know? Did you try to reach me last night?"

He dragged his fingers through his hair. The act reminded him he was way past due for a haircut.

"Look, I'm coming over right now to get you. I'll tell you what happened then."

"Does it have anything to do with the prostitute who was murdered last night?"

All right. Damn. The woman isn't stupid, you know. "Yeah, it does. I'll explain more when I get there. See you in a few minutes." He hung up, then dialed Tayson's cell. The man answered on the second ring.

"Hey, Evan? Thom DeGrassi. Your victim last night wasn't the girl I processed."

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"Hey, Thom. Yeah, we know. We just got a hit off AFIS.

The prints belong to a Janice Warringfeld. Address over on the north side of town. I've already had her stats emailed to you. I was just about to call you."

"Anything further?"

"Naw. Wade and I are getting ready to head over to her place now. If we need you, we'll give you a ring."

"Not a problem. Good luck," DeGrassi told him and hung up. He rechecked his email and downloaded the file. The photo that popped up revealed a woman with jet-black hair and a washed-out complexion. A bell suddenly went off in his head.

When he had first spotted Roni after they had busted her, he had erroneously thought he'd seen her before. The Warringfeld woman was one of their regulars. At least once every couple of months, she'd have her ass hauled in. He understood now why he'd made that mistake. From her looks, she could have been Roni's older sister, except that her hair was longer and stringier, and her features were more pinched. The victim's pale skin was a reflection of her drug usage, not like the healthier, china-white glow of Roni's.

Just to be sure he had covered all his bases, DeGrassi gave Tayson a call back.

"Me again, Evan. Did Warringfeld have a sister? A younger sister?"

"You're thinking that woman you processed is related?

Already ahead of you, Thom. No relation. Warringfeld has two brothers and that's all."

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Thanking the detective, DeGrassi hung up and gave himself a moment to get his thoughts in order. His eyes settled on the sheet of paper on his desk. He needed to call the lab and tell them to hold off processing the hairbrush, that it wasn't necessary now. Screw it. Roni had already been waiting for him to come get her for nearly an hour now. He could call them while on the way over there.

He took the loop rather than trying to drive straight through town. The distance was longer, but faster, and he could shave off a good ten minutes by taking it. Once he got onto the four-lane highway, he phoned the lab. Unfortunately, they had already begun DNA analysis from the strands of hair on the brush he had taken from Roni's bedroom. And once the tests were cooking, he might as well let them finish.

DeGrassi gave a mental shrug. The DNA might come in handy one day when he really needed it for a comparison.

The implication of what he was thinking hit him like a blow in the stomach. With his next breath, he swore to himself that day would never come. Roni was going to find a decent job.

Maybe not one that paid what she wanted it to pay, but enough so she could keep up the rent on that safe little cottage. Hell, if he had to throw in a couple hundred every month as insurance, he had no problem with it. As long as he knew she stayed off the streets and stopped letting every Tom, Dick, and Harry have a five-minute go at her.

It was time Roni wore some of those brightly colored clothes she had in her closet. It was time she started living life like other women. And it was time she and he—

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She was standing in the faux driveway waiting for him. It took him a couple of seconds to recognize her. This wasn't the hooker Roni he was staring at. This was a different woman. She was fresh and radiant. She was ... stunning.

Gone was the dark, brooding woman. Instead she literally glowed in bright colors and a timid smile.

He unlocked the door for her, but she climbed in beside him before he could get out to open it for her. As she clicked on her seatbelt, a wave of warm syrup scent filled the interior. DeGrassi felt his mouth water, and the stirring in his groin got his attention. Driving would be the only thing that would keep him from reaching over and dragging her into his lap. He might not be able to physically make love to her, but he damn well could try to see if other parts of her smelled as delicious. Or tasted that way.

He tried to keep his eyes on the road ahead. However, his peripheral vision noticed the pale green skirt she was wearing, as well as the pale yellow top with its darker green leaf print. She looked like she had just stepped out of a department store ad. Even her hair was pinned up on the sides, making her look years younger.

"Where are we going?"

Her unexpected question broke his concentration. Or rather, the lack of it. He chanced a glance in her direction to find her intently eyeing him. "Have you had breakfast?"

His hunch proved correct. That shadowy, pinched look on her face was hunger. But recalling the food she had in her refrigerator made him wonder why she hadn't eaten.

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Roni shook her head once. "I thought you were going to show up early, so I skipped breakfast," she admitted.

"Well, I overslept and didn't get to eat, so that makes two of us," he replied, exiting the loop before he pulled into a well-known pancake house. He liked the wide-eyed look she gave him.

"I thought you wanted me to report to the employment agency first thing."

"First things first. Put something in your stomach before you tackle the day."

A tiny smile tilted one corner of her mouth. He got the overwhelming urge to lean across the seat and kiss it. "Just like you were already tackling your day?" she admonished.

Touché. "All right. Guilty as charged. Now I propose a truce so we can enjoy our breakfast." DeGrassi grinned back.

He kept one hand at the small of her back as he opened the restaurant door for her and led her inside. She was just the right height, he noticed. He liked it if the top of his date's head brushed underneath his chin. Made for some nice, cozy cuddling.

As they stood momentarily and waited for the hostess to lead them to their booth, he could feel her warm presence along his chest and thighs. A quick glance down past her shoulders gave him a brief glimpse inside her blouse at the tops of her breasts, and the realization that she wasn't wearing a bra nearly knocked him on his keister.

No bra? Christ, is she wearing any underwear then? Oh, Thom, don't go there! No, no, no! Don't try to think of what 342

little bit of thong or panties she might be wearing underneath that flowy skirt. That is, if she's wearing anything.

They were led to their booth and given their menus.

DeGrassi tried to keep from staring at the woman sitting across from him, now that the sunshine was streaming through the window and washing her with its glow.

"Why did you come back to my house this morning?" she inquired right off the bat. The question caught him off-guard.

Damn. "How did you know?"

"I saw you drive away. I also saw that you had lowered my window—"

"Best to keep that thing locked," he interrupted. "You never know what kind of pervert might be snooping around, see it open, and decide to climb in and surprise you."

A rather strange expression came across her face, then it was gone. "Don't worry, Lieutenant. I'll be more careful in the future."

The waitress came to take their order. Roni waited until she left before continuing. "You were also in my closet. Are you always so inquisitive?"

DeGrassi took a deep breath. Not only was she intelligent, she was also observant. The woman should have been a cop.

"You asked me if it had anything to do with the murder from last night. The answer is yes." He locked eyes with her, and once more he found himself irrevocably drawn inside their smoky depths. The tiny flecks of silver reflected the sunlight like mirrors. "The victim, or what was left of her, looked like you. The black hair, the black leather vest and pants. She was even your build and your height."

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Roni pressed her lips together. "I don't give my word lightly, Lieutenant. When I said I would stay off the streets, I meant it. But you thought I had gone against your orders anyway, and I had gotten myself killed?"

Her accusation was the truth, but it still managed to irritate. "Yeah, I did. I'm sorry, but that's exactly what I was thinking when I drove over to view the body and try to ID it as you. Go ahead and be upset with me, dammit, but I had to be sure. The Cutter is in my neighborhood now. He killed that woman over on Plymer. You know where Plymer is, don't you?"

By the paleness coming over her, he knew she did.

"You still haven't told me why you came to my house and climbed in through the window."

"Because I couldn't ID her." He paused as their coffee arrived. The momentary interruption gave him the chance to calm down. "The Cutter did his job too thoroughly. There just wasn't any way I could be certain unless we ran fingerprints and did a DNA analysis."

She tilted her head at him. "Why both?"

"It's SOP now. Standard operating procedure. That way, if we don't get an ID from the fingerprints, we might be able to match it with the DNA."

She licked her lips and nervously lifted the cup to take a sip. DeGrassi got the impression she was fearful about something. The Cutter? Surely she had to realize by now that as long as she stayed off the streets she would be safe.

"Let me see if I understand," Roni said. "If the victim's fingerprints don't match any you have on file, then how would 344

the DNA work? I thought only suspects gave DNA evidence.

Or people convicted of a serious crime."

"That's true at the moment. But if I had something of yours, the lab could test that DNA against the victim's to see if they matched. If they did, we would know it was you. If it didn't..."

She gave him a funny frown. "So you came to my house to take something of mine?"

"Not initially, no. I came to make sure you were at home and okay. I called out for you, but I never got an answer. I beat on the front door, then decided to see if I could wake you up if I tapped on the bedroom window. That's when I found it open, so I went in." He shrugged to make his point.

"You weren't there, which led me to believe there was the slight possibility it still could be you."

"Then you really didn't believe me when I told you I wouldn't go back on the street," she nearly hissed.

"Jesus, Roni! When you've been a cop as long as I have, you learn not to trust people! So I did the next best thing, and I took your hairbrush to the lab so they could test it for DNA."

Their food arrived. DeGrassi tore into his steak and eggs while Roni enjoyed her omelet. He watched as she took the two strips of bacon and dropped them on his plate. At his raised eyebrow she smiled apologetically. "I can't eat meat."

"You're a vegetarian?"

"No. I didn't say I won't or don't eat meat. I can't eat meat. It upsets my stomach. Throws my metabolism off-whack."

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"But you can have eggs?"

She made a little gesture with her fork. "Yeah. They don't seem to bother me."

He recalled the greens and vegetables in her fridge, which gave way to a different question.

"Why did you start hooking, Roni? What on earth made you get started in the first place?"

Her eyes remained focused on her plate. "Hunger."

"What?"

Their voices were low now. In their corner booth, DeGrassi knew they were safe from being overheard.

"I ... I wasn't in this country long. I had nowhere to go. No place to stay. No income. I was starving." She took a shuddering breath, then sipped her coffee again to help steady herself. The memories were still too fresh, DeGrassi realized.

"I stole some clothes. A guy saw me and threatened to turn me over to the police. I ... I begged him not to. So he took me to his car and told me to lie down in the back seat.