Runner's Moon Trilogy Megabook Series (46 page)

When she watched him drive away without wishing her goodnight, or even giving her a goodbye kiss, Sarah seriously believed it would be the last time she would ever see Simon Morr. At least in a dating capacity. The construction on the new wing would take several more months. So unless he transferred to a different site or job, they would inevitably see each other again until the job was finished.

But as lovers, she might as well blow him a farewell kiss.

The tightness of hot, biting tears squeezed her chest. A profanity-laced curse backed up behind her lips, but she refused to utter it.

Okay, Sarah. Who's the guilty party this time around, huh?

Who takes the blame for this one?

Both of us, she relented. Both of us. Not me. Not him.

Both of us.

She got into her car, clicking her seatbelt on before starting the engine.

Why was he so angry at you? a little voice whispered in her head.

"Because he wanted me to drop the presentation," Sarah whispered back in a heated tone. She backed the car out of the slot and hurried out of the lot, not caring if her tires squealed.

Did it ever occur to you that maybe he had a point?

"What point? The man thinks I'm delusional."

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Aren't you?

A humorless chuckle escaped her. "Me? Delusional? People have been trying for centuries to prove the existence of aliens on Earth. When I finally find the kind of proof people might believe in, I'm supposed to chuck it all because one man thinks I might be committing professional suicide?"

No one ever said you would be committing professional suicide.

She slammed on the brakes to take the slight dip in the road as she exited onto the parkway leading into town.

All right. Granted, no one ever mentioned those exact words. So why had she?

Sarah sniffed and tried to backhand away the tears that threatened to blur her vision, her mascara smearing. Damn stuff was supposed to be waterproof.

She had tried out her little announcement on him, and the whole thing had caved. Simon wasn't as concerned over what she had found as much as he was worried about her divulging it to a mass audience.

A tiny frown puckered between her eyes. Why was that?

Yeah. Come to think of it, his intent wasn't to stop her from working on her project. In fact he never once told her to cease what she was doing. His worry was how her superiors would take it. He wanted her to hold off telling them.

Why?

If she didn't tell them, she wouldn't get her tenure. She might as well drop the whole thing cold turkey and forget about retirement, much less holding down a teaching position 634

she dearly loved at a university branch she aspired to remain with.

The full impact of what she had lost didn't hit her until she watched the security gates at her complex begin to open.

Seconds passed as she clutched the steering wheel with trembling hands and tried to hold back the flood of tears that threatened to overwhelm her.

She had lost Simon. Lost his humorous smile. His beguiling green flecked eyes. His warmth and that mint-sweet scent that reminded her of early spring.

His arms. His passion. His hard, perfect body.

His love.

Sarah, I can't lose you.

She sobbed loudly. "Oh, God, what have I done?"

The gates began to roll shut. Quickly she drove into the parking lot and pulled around to her assigned slot. Once she turned off the engine, the trembling grew worse. Pressing her forehead against the steering wheel, she tried to ride out the alternating waves of cold and heat that flowed through her.

Her face felt like it was burning. Sharp knives were slicing into her heart, cutting it into shreds. No one had ever had an effect on her like this. But no one else had ever taken her to the edge of her dreams and shown her they were possible.

Not until Simon.

And now ... Simon was gone.

She screamed, beating her fists on the wheel. On the dashboard.

She had lost him, and all for what?

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Stop and think, Professor. What did he actually want you to do?

Give up. No, not give up. Not give up her attempt to make tenure. But to give up trying to prove that aliens had landed on Earth.

"It's not like people haven't been trying to prove the same thing for the past few hundred years," she protested aloud in a watery voice. God, it sounded so feeble. "I haven't done anything wrong!" she screamed inside the empty car.

I'm afraid that if you do find your aliens, I won't be able to save you, his sad voice whispered in her memory. I won't be able to save you.

From what? The aliens? Or the ridicule?

She hiccupped. Crap, she felt awful. Tired. The drying tears on her face made her skin feel stretched and sticky. Her nose was running.

Turning off the engine, she went inside her apartment and went straight to the bathroom to draw a hot shower. Once she got underneath the spray, the tears came again. Her head hurt. Her eyes were puffy. Her body was empty, devoid of the love and gentleness that Simon's presence had filled it with.

She reached a soapy hand between her legs and touched herself. She felt empty there, too. Empty and withered. She had finally discovered the woman inside herself and the splendor meant to exist between two people. He had given that to her when no one else had. And probably no one else ever would be able to again.

No more, Sarah Drumman. No more.

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"What did I do that was so wrong?" she whispered. "Why am I being punished? Simon..."

She was more tired than she'd realized. It was getting difficult to think. She was aching, but it wasn't from any sort of virus or disease. She ached for Simon. For his arms to hold her and give her comfort. For his kisses. For the sound of his voice saying her name as though she was the most precious thing in the world to him.

"S-Simon..."

Funny, but it felt as though she could hear him answer.

Distantly, but it was there.

I won't be able to save you.

The pain twisted in her gut. She sobbed again, gasping for breath. "Simon..."

Maybe if she adapted her presentation a bit. What if she shifted her focus? What if she used her evidence only to prove that alien spaceships had landed here? What if—

She was losing it. She could no longer think clearly. Before too long her whole body would refuse to cooperate.

Turning off the water, she got out of the shower and toweled dry. She ignored the cotton nightgown hanging on the hook behind the bathroom door and slowly walked back into her bedroom, crawling underneath the covers and shivering from the cold sheets.

Her body curled tightly into itself to save heat. Last night she had slept dreamlessly against Simon's strong chest. The rhythm of his heartbeat had lulled her into slumber. It was the first time in months that she had been able to rest without the need for a sleeping aid.

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Too late she was learning what it meant to love someone, with an honest love brimming with a diamond-bright future.

And laughter. Her chest hitched against the burning heat still eating away inside her.

"Simon ... how am I going to get through the night without you? How am I going to get through the rest of my life without you?"

In the far distance she heard her cell phone go off. She'd left her purse in the living room. Vaguely she remembered throwing it on the sofa when she headed for the back bedroom.

The phone ceased its programmed ring when her feet touched the floor. For a second she hesitated getting out of bed and going to fetch the thing to see who had called her.

Then, like a faint light glowing in the distance, she sensed an embrace surrounding her, followed by the gentlest of kisses on her mouth.

Do you believe in love at first sight?

The phone went off again, but this time she was halfway down the hallway when it did. She found her purse, snatching the phone from one of the inner pockets where she kept it.

She opened it without glancing at the display.

"Hello?"

"Open the gates, t'korra."

Sarah sobbed aloud at the sound of his voice. She could hear echoes of her own misery in each of his words, and she ran back to the bedroom to grab a robe from the closet.

Snatching her keys on her way out, she ran barefoot into the parking lot. The security gates were a little over sixty 638

yards away from where she parked her car, but she had an unobstructed shot straight to the controls.

She could see the motorcycle's headlight shining through the steel bars as he waited for her to open them. Aiming her clicker at the controls, she watched him drive through before they were fully retracted.

He pulled into the empty slot next to her, killing the engine and dragging off his helmet just as she threw herself into his embrace. She was barely aware of the sound of his helmet falling onto the pavement.

His lips were everywhere, driving her to near frenzy to taste him and hold him in return. His hands searched beneath her thin robe to touch her. Dimly she was aware of when he picked her up and carried her to the apartment, shutting the still-open door behind them with a shove of his foot.

There was no time to make it back to the bedroom. He shoved her against the door, hoisting her upward until her head bent downward to keep their lips and tongues locked.

Sarah wrapped her legs around his waist, unmindful of the hard panel at her back that held her pinned as he ground himself against her bare mound. The roughly covered zipper dragged dry and scorching over her nub until a high keening whine poured from her throat.

Gasping, Sarah broke away from his mouth. "Simon..."

She wanted to apologize. It didn't matter if she was in the wrong or the one who was right. It didn't matter. It never did.

All that mattered was that she hadn't lost him. She had one more chance to love him and to have him love her in return.

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She helped him to shed his clothing before he took her down onto the carpet, opening her robe as she opened her heart.

Simon took possession of her with his first hard thrust.

Sarah lifted her knees and placed her heels on his ribcage.

With every stroke the cold, tight places in her body grew warmer, then hotter. He spoke to her in soft, barely audible whispers. They were words in his native language that made no sense to her mentally, yet she could tell he was talking to her heart. Reassuring it of his love. Promising he would keep it forever filled with passion.

The storm overtook them unexpectedly. Searing pleasure scraped over heightened senses. This time Sarah heard Simon cry out, and a split second later she was totally overwhelmed by her own release.

He continued to pound inside her like a searing hot poker, pouring himself into her. A fleeting thought struck her, but it didn't matter. She wasn't protected. Neither was he using anything. She knew she should be frightened out of her mind, yet a tender presence told her those fears were groundless.

Before she could question it, Simon slowed his movements.

Incredibly, his still-engorged length continued to stretch her, sending shivers throughout her body. Another few languid plunges, and she heard him sigh contentedly. They lay still for a few moments, then he rolled onto his side and fit her against him like a puzzle piece.

"I'm sorry."

She hiccupped again from the tears she didn't know she had been shedding. The words had come from her mouth, but she hadn't meant to say them.

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He softly kissed her. "I can't lose you, Sarah."

Lose her? "I don't understand."

They were both sweaty from their exertions. The afterglow tingled under the skin, leaving her deliciously sated and sleepier than ever. She felt him kiss her moist forehead.

"One day, perhaps you will. I pray that day will never come."

He shifted his weight. One warm hand cupped her buttocks and squeezed.

"You can't lose me. It tore me up to be away from you,"

she admitted.

His arms were two posts of steel, providing complete protection within their embrace. The most tender embrace, she realized. Within them nothing could touch her, nothing could harm her. Nothing bad would happen to her while she lay here with him. It was a certainty she couldn't explain but knew existed. Rock certain.

Simon nuzzled the baby-fine hairs at her temple.

"T'korra—"

"You want me to give up my research."

His body stilled. She had hit upon the truth. Now she sensed his reluctance.

"What if ... what if I shifted my focus a bit? What if I didn't try to prove the existence of aliens here on Earth, but just concentrated on the proof that they had landed here?"

He kissed her temple again, but his silence told her even that much compromise wasn't enough.

"Simon?"

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"Not now, Sarah. Please. Let's have this night together.

We're both tired and not thinking clearly."

His goodnight kiss melted the last reserves in her mind.

Resting her head along that perfect spot on his shoulder, Sarah sighed. "Boy, am I glad I had the carpets shampooed last week," she commented off-handedly.

Simon's loving laughter was the last thing she heard as she drifted into a sound sleep.

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Deep within sleep Simon heard the sound of his cell phone vibrating. Fewer than a half-dozen people had his number.

One was his employer, who would not be calling him at this time of night. The others were people he would give his life for.

He was instantly awake. A second later he tensed to realize he was no longer human. After the stress of their parting and coming back together, his body had lapsed into his Ruinos self to recuperate. Quickly, but reluctantly, Simon pulled away from Sarah's warm body and searched for his pants. Barely any light penetrated the darkness, but his alien eyes were able to see enough to find them. The phone was clipped to his belt. He glanced at the display to read the missed number, and his alarm rose several notches.

He hurried into the bathroom and shut the door so as not to awaken Sarah. His call was picked up on the first ring.

"Simon! Something's wrong!" Hannah gasped. She was distraught to the point of tears, to the point where she knew she had no other choice but to call him, and Simon felt his body tighten in response.

"What's happened to Jebaral?"

"I don't know!" She sobbed softly, fighting to regain control so she could tell him what she knew. Simon waited.

"Remember him telling you about the vandals hitting the mill?"

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"Yes."

"The destruction is getting worse. A couple of workers were seriously injured yesterday. So Sheriff Klotsky asked Jeb and Roni to help them watch the mill tonight. Oh, Simon!

Something's happened to Jeb! I—I don't know what. But I can feel it! A-and he doesn't answer his cell. Thom doesn't either!

Simon, I'm so scared!"

In the darkness of the bathroom, Simon stared at the two blood lines glowing on the inner side of his left arm, the two thin, iridescent threads running from his elbow to his wrist.

One was Hannah's, having appeared there after she and Jebaral had consummated their love when he was Ruinos. The other was his brother's.

Hannah's line was spiking, jerking wildly from her fear and agitation.

Jebaral's was flowing sluggishly, nearly white in color.

Razor-sharp fear sliced into him.

"Keep trying to reach Thomas," he ordered her. "I'm coming down."

She sniffed. "What do you see, Simon?"

There was no way he could lie to her. The connection between blood mates was almost like a separate path of communication, letting them know and share in their mutual emotions. It was a connection that he and Sarah now shared, although theirs was fragile and tenuous at this point. Only when he finally took her in his true form would it develop further, grow, and strengthen.

"He's injured, but he's alive. Keep me posted while I'm on the road. I'll let you know if his status changes."

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"Thank you, Simon. Be careful on the road."

She didn't argue his decision. In fact she knew when she called him it would be his first response. They had faced emergencies together in the past and survived. She trusted that with him there they would overcome this danger again.

Simon also trusted Thomas DeGrassi, Tiron's blood mate, and he knew Tiron would risk her own life to save Jebaral. But the addition of a third Ruinos could tip the balance in their favor.

Closing the phone, he emerged from the bathroom and went back to the living room, where Sarah remained asleep.

Grabbing the coverlet off the sofa, he smiled to realize this would be the second time he had covered her with it. Three times they had made love, and only once had they conventionally used the bed.

He wished he could stay the remainder of the night. They had much to discuss regarding her treatise. Unfortunately Jebaral's safety was paramount. There would be time later on to talk.

Placing a soft kiss to her cheek, Simon sent her a ribbon of love through their connection.

Soon, t'korra. Soon I will reveal my true self to you, and once you're able to accept me, we'll make love in a way you've never imagined. And afterwards you'll finally understand everything I've been reluctant to explain to you.

He quickly dressed and let himself out without making a sound. Sarah never stirred after his departure.

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