Splintered Energy (The Colors Book 1) (23 page)

Damon pulled Jaylynn into his arms. “I’ll try harder to understand when you’re being unreasonable. Stop crying, it hurts my heart. Caream, turn around. I need to find that policeman and return these handcuffs. Down his throat.”

Jaylynn couldn’t believe her ears. “Are you totally insane?”

Caream slowed and stopped the patrol car on the shoulder. The surprise on Damon’s face turned to anger.

“You mustn’t harm that man.” Jaylynn didn’t mean to sound so shrill, but Jesus. “He didn’t know my arm’s injured.”

“Jaylynn, shut up please.” Caream shifted into park and jumped out. She scrambled over the hood of the red and white patrol car, without touching any white, and opened the passenger door. “You think they’ll come from the sky? But we have time, right? I don’t care. I’m looking at your shoulder.”

Red sparks clashed into orange. “No. Get in back, and I’ll tie that blanket around your mouth.”

Jaylynn slid into the driver seat. “Damon, please, I’m begging you.” She tugged at him and…hallelujah he cooperated? If only she’d known groveling would work a few major felonies ago.

He grimaced, sprawled back, and settled his head into Jaylynn’s lap. “Hurry. If I wait forever to…talk with police, I want out of this light.”

Jaylynn’s turn to brush her ordinary fingers on his lips. Tangled hair, flames of silk, clung to her as she soothed the strands from his face. Damon sighed, stretched long legs over the seat, and tension ebbed.

She removed the demolished sunglasses, lowered her hands to his temples, and her heart lifted as contentment flooded his fiery eyes. That inability to hide his emotions was adorable. He not only heard tones of rage and hate, he must feel the concern in her fingers luxuriating in the firm texture of his skin, and he shone his affection right back at her.

Maybe this tactile communication could bond him to her tighter than maternal imprinting, stronger than a need for help in a strange world. Perhaps it wasn’t only her thumbs dancing along the veins in his temples that pleased. Her “oh, oh he’s gorgeous when he’s not growling” smile, also said that she yearned to placate him. She swallowed hard. Could her lust be the catalyst for his? If she had any experience with dangerous eyes, that darkening color said he
really
liked her touching him. Damon didn’t even glance at the little imp crawling onto his stomach to examine his shoulder.

Caream flinched at the bullet wound and sighed. “This doesn’t fit right anymore. Sorry. It’ll hurt.” Caream leaned her knee into Damon’s chest, and wrenched his shoulder back into the socket.

Pacification and desire incinerated. Jaylynn’s hands fell from his face as Damon sat up. Caream scurried to get off him, unable to avoid his lunge. Damon shifted back into Jaylynn’s lap. He locked Caream against his chest and grumbled, “Thank you. Shoulder feels much better.”

His brow furrowed with impatience, his hand still stroking Caream, and Jaylynn began talking as fast as she could. “One of you can drive and avoid them, but now police will come in helicopters from all directions. They won’t hesitate to shoot on sight, and there’ll be very many with guns that fire multiple bullets. You’ll run faster without me. Eventually, they’ll let me go.”

Her lap emptied. Damon bounded up and out the door, Caream clamped in his arms. He dropped her and stuck his aggressive head back in the car. “Get out here. They take no one.”

Jaylynn hurried. Being a mere human, she ran around the car. “I won’t let you get killed because you’re so damn stubborn.”

“Do you both want to see something awful?” Caream leaned in the driver door.

The flashers lit the afternoon sky, and Damon’s jaw dropped. He stared into the red lights and bounced on his toes. An explosion of happiness ignited the air around him. His toe bounce turned into an ecstatic, childish, one minute dance in place. One minute for Jaylynn to lose all cognitive function.

“I’ll take another.” Damon skipped to the car. “A solid-pretty one. This car has too much dead-color, but we need to keep the lights. Can you make them not flash? Will they break when I pull them off?”

Caream smiled. She shook her head, grabbed sunglasses from the dash, and switched the lights off. Jaylynn braced for a tirade.

Damon sighed. “Get her bag and that purse.”

Jaylynn startled as a powerful hand covered her mouth and electricity enclosed her. Damon slung her into his arms and ran, Caream a step behind him. From the shelter of the trees, they watched a police van do a U-turn and head for the abandoned patrol car.

She squirmed, the battle against him futile, but at least he’d know she wasn’t happy.

Her feet hit the ground, and Damon growled in her face. “Many—a stupid word that explains nothing. If I handcuff that man’s broken arms, maybe he’ll tell me numbers. So please, yell at me so pooolice can hear you.” He removed his hand from her mouth, stepped back, and scowled.

Jaylynn drew an angry breath. Strong arms wrapped around her waist, and the air swooshed right back out as Caream burrowed under her breasts.

“Don’t fight with him,” Caream pleaded. “Promise you won’t ever leave us.”

“Please, not so tight.” Jaylynn brushed her fingers through delightful, carrot colored hair. “I’ll slow you down. They’ll kill you.”

“The only way you delay is by wanting to hug.” Damon yanked Caream from Jaylynn and shoved her aside.

“Why can’t I hold her?” Caream stomped. “You get to carry Jaylynn all the time. Not fair.”

“She wants my hands. You make her waste water. I hate it when she cries.”

“Stop talking like I’m not—” Goddamn, grabbed, and once again, he’d covered Jaylynn’s mouth. Arrogant, condescending, irresistible bastard.

Caream gasped. “I make her cry? I hurt her?”

“Shut up about it. You hold her too tight.”

“Okay, but there’s easier ways. I’ll be careful. Your shoulder won’t hurt as much. Take your hand off her, you big fool. Jaylynn, be reasonable. Maybe don’t talk if you can’t.”

Caream lifted Jaylynn onto Damon’s back like she was two ounces of porcelain doll. He clasped her legs round his waist. She moved her face into soft, bright hair, breathed deep that wonderful scent, and clung to him.

With inhuman coordination and animal agility, Damon began loping through the trees, Caream by his side.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Aaron’s heartbeat stuttered. He stood beside David seated at the computer and watched as Malcolm strode toward them. The savant fresh from the sapphire skies of Mount Olympus appeared so calm and together compared to Jade. The dynamics of this saga had changed. Kindred being to a distressed angel, a dynamic god lightened the responsibility on Aaron’s shoulders.

Malcolm’s patient gaze rested on him, and Aaron got on with his need for reassurance. “I should call Evan. There’s 24-hour places to get ice on every corner. The kid needs medical care. His ribs are broken, not cracked.”

“It’s more difficult for Jade to heal humans.” Malcolm loomed over David. “You don’t have the current we possess that hastens re-bonding bones. Being alone with Evan forced her to deal with him. I’m sorry to relate that my unwanted helper didn’t kiss her and get fried, nor did he go home. The truck approaches, moving slow, thus Evan’s driving. The engine has a peculiar skip.”

David startled as he was seized and lifted. Malcolm tossed David onto his feet and slid into the chair. “Make yourself useful,” Malcolm told him. “Retrieve the laptop from the bedroom. Help me track the others.”

A grin erased the tremble in David’s lip. He ran, while Aaron started breathing again.

Malcolm manipulated the computer like he was a machine himself. The click of changing screens made Aaron dizzy, and he couldn’t hear any truck. Exactly how super was this hearing? He’d better quit stalling and spit out that crucial question. “Kiss her and get fried?”

“Aaron, about David. I have photographic memory. I could never forget a promise.” Malcolm kept his attention on the screen. “I touched him with hopes of lowering his fear. With increased confidence, he should recover from meeting me. David’s less trusting than another adolescent you worry about.”

He glanced at Aaron. “And yes—electrocuted. I’m ninety-two percent positive, if there’s no injury on which to concentrate current, Jade would bleed voltage, her light-fluid, through mouth to mouth…Oh, oh my. Why won’t they blend in? How damn stupid can the lower frequencies be?” Malcolm’s lips pressed tightly together, and the screen blur became even faster.

If Sarah could materialize back into flesh, she’d kill Aaron. Not only did her idiotic husband lust for an alien goddess, the deity preoccupied with the computer showed more concern over their child’s welfare than his color blinded parent.

The front door pushed open. Evan floated in, looking barely grounded, four bags of ice in his arms. The teen stumbled over his feet, twisting to keep his eyes on Jade behind him carrying six more bags. “My hand feels better than it ever did before, you know. A nightmare if I think about Jane, but with you, it’s the most wonderful dream ever. Want to go out again sometime? You drive beyond cool.”

Jade set the ice down on the counter. “He sure talks a lot,” she whispered to Aaron’s smile. Her huge eyes grew anxious. Her attention settled on Malcolm’s back, and her soft voice thickened with sarcasm. “Would it harm Aaron if I ask him to put the ice on that Jane?”

Malcolm hopped to his feet. He glanced at the teen throwing ice bags into the freezer. “His aura of pain’s gone. Thank you, sweetheart. It’s my fault Evan was injured. Your first experiences in Cleveland have been horrible. Once again, my doing.”

A polite distance in front of Jade, Malcolm rubbed his hand against his thigh. “No need for that sulky tone. Now that we’re together in harmony, you can lean on me.” He gestured down the hall. “Tolerate the colors in the master bedroom. Aaron’s fatigued. Rest beside him for a few hours.”

Lit with relief, Jade smiled and closed in.

Malcolm reversed steps away from her. “Oh my, when I say lean, I don’t mean literally. Respect the only thing I’ve asked of you, pathetic clinger, other than healing Evan.”

Backed into the couch, Malcolm fell, and Jade sat on his stomach. She pulled his broken arm onto her lap, massaging as he howled, “That hurts. Leave me alone. Jade, please. You let Aaron pilot the entire distance, making you the selfish reason he’s exhausted.”

“You made a mistake showing me who was stronger.”

“Horrid beast. I washed you off, and now you’re all over me again.”

Jade dropped Malcolm’s arm and removed his snarl with a brush of her lips. “Stop whining or I’ll really kiss you.”

“Let me move,” Malcolm snapped and sat up.

Jade pressed into his chest and started rubbing his arm again. “The light’s coming back. It’s so ugly blue in here. How can you stand it?”

“You’re draining yourself. Aaron, I beg you. Throw ice on Jane Doe before she rots, and then get this cruel monster off me. Please?”

Aaron laughed. “Come on, Evan, grab a bag.”

Evan tore his gaze from the couple on the couch to search the kitchen counter. “I’m not going in there without the taser.”

“It’s in the bedroom,” Malcolm said. “You’re safe, unless you re-stun her with our weapon or stupidly throw a live appliance in with her like I did. Need me to spell it out further?”

“No, I got it.” Evan grinned at Jade. “Thanks again. I can’t believe how wonderful I feel.” He grabbed ice and followed Aaron down the hall. Fast as two men could, they dumped cubes over the dead woman and fled the yellow room.

Malcolm, Jade in his arms, entered the master bedroom. He put her down in the middle of the room and stepped to the bed, while Aaron and Evan came to a halt in the doorway. “Physical pain is gone, sweetheart, but you must stop adding to my mental agony before we’re all doomed.” Exaggerated horror on his face, Malcolm flipped the navy comforter to reveal a deep cool green. “Leave Aaron alone and rest on this awful shade.”

Jade clapped her hands, twirled, and dove onto the bed.

“My speech patterns are somewhat repetitive, and here I blither again,” Malcolm told Aaron. “I apologize for my earlier lack of control. I’ll send David to join you, as you wish. Just tell me. I can hear you anywhere in this house.”

Aaron nodded, and Malcolm hastened to exit, his grumble directed at Evan. “The plan was to get ice, then go home. What happened to the latter?”

The exuberant teen ran down the hall after the blue man. The pair burst with health, not a hint of a bruise left on either. Jade had forced their very bones to mend, and she’d replenished the energy violence had taken. What was this dazzling creature pressed into the bedspread, her hands curled into the fabric?

Jade peered up at him. “I shouldn’t have been so afraid. Malcolm’s right. I made you tired. Your face has fresh lines and funny new hair.”

“I’m fine. I just need to shave. I’ll join you after a fast shower.” One concrete foot in front of the other moved him to the bathroom. The lull from high drama had sapped the adrenalin out of him. He tugged off his shirt, jeans, and paused. He’d best leave his black boxers on.
Kiss her and get fried?

Lovely, hot water drummed on his back. Concern over David splattered down the drain. He’d trust his instincts. Malcolm was, as Evan said, very cool.

Aaron couldn’t believe the white bar still sat in the holder. He grabbed the soap, turned—oh Lord. A nude beauty hovered behind him. He hadn’t heard or felt Jade enter the shower stall. Suddenly, he wasn’t tired in the least and hurray for him, his legs worked. He stepped aside to share the stream.

Those emerald eyes closed, while Jade’s mouth softly hung open, and her ethereal form sparkled with droplets. The air sang round her, charged with that glimmering energy. Living light, so seductive, in a sweet woman’s body.

He swallowed hard.
I don’t have to kiss her
.

There was nothing to save her from him, other than…a bar of soap. She wouldn’t let him closer if he held such a deadly object.

Goddamn, his worthless eyes listened to his brain and clamped closed. He washed his hair with his weapon. Soapsuds rinsed from his face, and finally, lower parts overruled. He gulped a mouthful of emerald sparkles and snapped open his eyes.

Her eyes were still closed. Her scent, invigorating purity, sent his blood rushing, and yep, he ached right off the hardness scale, his drenched boxers tented. Between soap and dick, primed and drooling, he’d frighten her worse than riding a bolt of light into a strange world.

He angled his hip to avoid contact, and reached over Jade’s head to set the soap on the ledge out of her sight. Every detail of her exquisite body imprinted in his memory, he allowed himself to stroke her face before exiting.

Not a towel in sight.
Down, you bastard
. Aaron went to the bed, and threw himself onto his back. Deep breaths, and his angry dick flopped in defeat, grumbling and restless against his thigh. He’d close his eyes for a sec, and then check on David. Better yet, forget the kid and make sure the angel in the shower didn’t need…something. Surely, he could cram one more emerald image in his head.

* * *

The taunting computer image of the hourglass danced in Malcolm’s head. Aaron’s breathing had settled in sleep for two hours, six minutes, thirty seconds. He’d spare the man up to twelve additional minutes.

One glance from him, Evan had scrambled away with the laptop to the kitchen counter. He’d shown the cheerful youth how to access medical records. Malcolm didn’t explain his reasons to his anxious-to-please liability. To his relief, the young man struggled not to annoy. Or maybe Malcolm suffered from optimism, and
Evan the curious
took a breather.

In the kitchen, David created the odor of scrambled eggs. While Evan shoveled in the food mess, Malcolm took one more internal step in perfecting his control. Easy—the problem of unpleasant scents—solved. He stopped breathing.

Cool—breathe or not—up to him. If he did a jig of joy, he’d freak out the adolescents behind him. Could Jade accomplish such a feat? High probability, seventy-three percent, she’d be afraid to try. It’d also be difficult for those with a higher wavelength than his.

Air blew from Malcolm’s lips, and he skimmed his fingers over the keyboard. Oh my. He sighed again as he understood, he’d drawn breath to create both sighs. Internal control slipped when he allowed sadness to take over. Where, oh where, was his support? They’d have astonishing control. How could 445 nanometer have been destroyed without a trace?

David hunted something. An appliance to cook the bread in his hand? The toaster Malcolm had thrown in the closet. The child was too intimidated to ask. Unfortunately, Evan, his body refueled and with a fresh batch of courage, couldn’t tolerate the quiet. The youth swallowed eggs and spoke.

“That guy, Richard Morrison, is still in intensive care. The next forty-eight hours will tell if he’ll survive with some brain activity and not, um, a vegetable. Guess someone clocked him good. Did I mention his daughter’s scheduled to have her feet amputated? Couple specialists flying in on Monday to assist. Malcolm, why do you want to know about this?”

Malcolm didn’t answer. He listened to David gulp a deep breath. “There’s more eggs, Malcolm, but Evan’s hogging them. Want some?”

It shouldn’t take that much effort for David to ask a courteous question. Because he chose to do so, Malcolm vented a soft sigh. He’d spare precious time and build that foundation of trust. It’d be difficult for a sensitive child to penetrate the walls of an autistic non-human who’d thrown his parent across a room.

“Why would I want eggs? My body no longer needs to be maintained like yours does.” His focus on the screen, Malcolm left his voice pitched so the boys could hear. “Jade, don’t wake Aaron and come join me. This finding obsesses me, despite how difficult to make it right.”

“Should I dress?” Her soft words reached his ears only.

“Stupid question. Of course. Cover as much of that horrid mass as possible.”

As usual the males, himself excluded, lost heart rhythm when Jade entered the room. That long hair floated, curling to cover her hips. She’d redressed in the same clothes. He’d arrange for more attire shortly.

Jade stared at the screen over Malcolm’s shoulder, and he felt her worry escalating. The news clip terrified her, and
Evan the annoying
confused her with his whispers to David. The fool kept forgetting they could hear him.

“Your dad gets all the luck. God, I’m jealous. I’d give anything to, you know.”

“Do you think my dad and her? What if—”

“Evan, you told your mother you’d be home today,” Malcolm said.

“You need my help,”
Evan the adolescent
whined. “It’s 6:30 AM. She’ll think something’s wrong if she learns I’m up this early.” Evan turned back to David. “What about your mom? She know you guys are here? They divorced?”

“She had cancer. I don’t want to talk about it.”

The use of past tense aside, David’s flat tone confirmed Malcolm’s suspicions. The death of a mother would explain the heightened anxiety over the father’s well-being.

Evan the sweet
filled the silence. “Sorry. If you ever do want to talk, I’m here for you. You know what? We’ve some serious spying to do. Help me network our laptop to the main computer.”

“You want me to go this hospital, don’t you?” Jade shivered into Malcolm’s back.

Idiot. She understood exactly what he asked of her. “Yes.” Was he a total bastard to maneuver her into this? He tells Jade to lean on him, that he’d keep her safe, and now he manipulates her to travel so far from his side. “Morrison will survive without the cognitive skills to make life worth living or, if he’s lucky, he’ll be allowed to die. The child will have pain the rest of her life without her natural feet. It’s illogical, but I feel Jane Doe’s actions are our responsibility.”