by S. E. Smith
Paul and Kelan waited until the door closed behind Trisha before they turned to grin at each other. Mason and Chad looked at them and shook their heads. Mason had a grin on his face while Chad had a worried look. Both men had taken the news of Kelan and aliens better than he expected. Oh, they had been shocked and maybe a little scared at first but after Kelan swore that he and his people meant no harm to anyone on their planet and had no desire to invade it or anything else, they had relaxed – a little. Kelan even went so far as to take Paul, Mason, and Chad up to the warship for a tour before returning them safely back to the ranch.
It had taken two long days to finally get through most of their questions and rest their doubts. Paul had to admit it had been the human women who had finally set the men’s minds to rest. They had talked to Abby, Cara, Ariel, and even Carmen before sitting down to a long dinner with Trisha. She had been honest, answering all their questions. The fact that both men had known Trisha for years helped as she didn’t act any differently than she always had. Well, except for one big difference that Paul could see - she was happier than he had ever seen her. Paul came back to the present when he heard Chad’s deep voice asking him a question.
“You two aren’t going to need legal counsel for whatever you are about to do, are you?” Chad asked drily. “If so, I don’t want to know about it ahead of time. I think ignorance as your attorney is going to be best.”
Paul laughed and slapped Chad on the shoulder. “Ignorance is definitely going to be best in this case. We aren’t going to kill anyone but that doesn’t mean the person we are going to see will know that.”
“No, but it will be very tempting,” Kelan said, letting his hand shift slightly to reveal his dragon’s claw.
“Oh shit!” Chad whispered hoarsely while the other two men stared wide-eyed at the jade and silver claw.
*.*.*
Paul leaned forward looking down as Kelan’s symbiot glided over the tall buildings of Seattle, Washington. He had been fascinated as he watched the golden creature shift and expand until it became a sleek spaceship. He had been a little apprehensive when the side had opened up and Kelan had walked in. He had followed, motivated more by curiosity than desire. As soon as he was inside, the door disappeared and a gold chair formed. He sat gingerly on the edge until they lifted off the ground.
“This thing is incredible,” Paul said glancing sideways at Kelan. His eyes narrowed on the twin golden bands that were wrapped around Kelan’s wrist and melded into the chair as well. “Are you sure no one can see this thing?”
Kelan looked at Paul with a look of amusement. “I’m sure. My symbiot knows we must remain unseen. It has the ability to let its body reflect the environment around it. Almost like a three dimensional reflection. Because of that, it appears invisible to the eye. It is pure energy. It uses that energy as a propulsion system so it is silent as well.”
“How are you controlling it?” Paul asked curiously.
Kelan laughed. “I simply let it know what I want and it takes me there. I have never really thought about it much. Our symbiot and dragon are an extension of ourselves,” he admitted humorously. “I don’t distinguish it as being a separate part of me. The gold bands know what I think or feel and in return do as I ask.”
Paul nodded, not sure he understood. He ran the palms of his hands over the smooth, silky surface and was surprised when he felt a wave of warmth and an image of enjoyment from it. He looked up at Kelan who just glanced at him with a small smile.
“There!” Paul said, pointing to a small, suburban area on the outskirts of the city. “Do you think you can land us in the backyard? His house is the one on the end of the cul-de-sac.”
“Do you think he is home?” Kelan asked, feeling the anger beginning to burn deep inside him at the male who thought to take advantage of his mate, even in the case of her death.
Burn him, his dragon snarled, pacing deep inside him. Gut him first and let me cook his entrails as he dies.
You are feeling even more bloodthirsty than I am, Kelan chuckled. I promised our mate I would not kill him. I did not promise not to make him wish he was dead.
She not know what he did, his dragon snapped back impatiently. He want her dead!
Patience, my friend, Kelan said tightly. He will not wish it ever again by the time we are done with him. Even our mate’s father is in agreement with this.
Kelan grimaced as his dragon raked at him again in frustration. He would have to be very, very careful to keep his dragon under control or Peter Mullins could very well end up dead. He ignored his dragon’s grunt of glee at the thought.
“I don’t see his car yet but he should be here soon,” Paul replied as the golden symbiot spaceship landed deftly in the backyard behind Peter’s small, brick home. “Let’s go make ourselves at home.”
Kelan sent a message to his symbiot to remain invisible at all times and to be prepared to leave immediately in case of an emergency. He stood up and followed Paul out the door the symbiot created. Paul moved silently over the thin spread of grass. Kelan couldn’t help but take a moment to observe the huge man as he moved. He could appreciate how Trisha’s father carried himself. From everything he had heard and seen so far, he could imagine the male would be a fierce warrior. He had already seen how protective he was of Trisha and his friends. Kelan’s eyes glimmered with a hint of amusement as he wondered how Paul would fit in on Valdier. He also couldn’t help but wonder if the other male would find his mother attractive.
Where in the hell did that thought come from? He wondered vaguely as he watched Paul slide a tool into the lock of the back door and open it.
*.*.*
Paul looked around the kitchen as he stepped in. He had scanned the house just a few days before Trisha's return and noticed that while Peter had a sign in his yard stating he had a security system, he really didn’t. Paul moved silently from room to room. His face twisted with disgust when he saw the paperwork lying on a desk in the back bedroom along with news articles of Trisha and the other women’s disappearance and rumors they had been murdered by a serial killer. He gently picked up the life insurance policy, noting that it was worth over half a million dollars. He laid it down and picked up the yellow legal sized notepad that Peter was using to take notes. Peter had listed several questions on it placing an asterisk by several. The first question was how long it took to have someone declared dead. The list continued with his wanting to know how long would it take for him to receive the money from the policy, did he have to supply the death certificate or could the insurance company request one, so on.
“What is that?” Kelan asked nodding to the yellow legal pad that Paul was clutching tightly in his hand.
Paul glanced up at Kelan with a grim expression. “It's Peter's death sentence. The bastard thinks he is going to profit off of my daughter's supposed death,” he growled out in a low voice. “I warned him about ever trying to use Trisha again. I don't give second warnings.”
Both men turned when they heard the sound of a car door slamming. They moved down the hallway and into the living room where Peter would have to enter to go to any other part of the small two-bedroom house. Kelan nodded and took up a position near the living room windows. The room was cast in shadows due to the late afternoon cloud cover that had moved in and the fact that Peter kept the blinds drawn. Paul leaned casually up against the doorframe leading between the living room and the kitchen. Once Peter came in, he would be trapped between the two men.
*.*.*
The front door opened and closed and the echo of a heavy case being dropped on the tile sounded loud in the quiet house. Peter pulled his tie loose with a muttered oath and dropped his car keys in the dish on the small foyer table. He was tired of working in a dead-end job for little pay and even less gratification.
“Why can't they just declare the bitch dead,” he muttered under his breath. “At least then I could get out of this shithole and live a decent life.”
He walked into the living room
, switching on one of the small table lamps with one hand while he unbuttoned the top buttons on his shirt with the other. All he wanted was a stiff drink and to see if anything new had been discovered in the last forty-five minutes since he checked the Internet for updates on the case. A strangled oath escaped him when he saw the huge shadow leading into the kitchen straighten.
“Hello Peter,” Paul said with a sardonic twist of his lips. “I got your messages asking about Trisha.”
“P.... Paul,” Peter stuttered jerking to a stop and looking wildly at him. “I.... What are you doing here? How did you get into my house?”
Paul stared intently at Peter. “If you want to advertise you have a security system, I suggest you really have one,” Paul replied, pulling his hands out of his pockets and spreading them wide. “You might want to think about getting better locks for the back door as well,” he added with a jerk of his head to the door behind him. “Very flimsy.”
Peter nodded his head nervously. “Thanks for the advice. I'll be sure and take care of that tomorrow,” Peter breathed out. “You know it is against the law to just break into someone's house. You could get into a lot of trouble.”
Paul chuckled and shook his head back and forth. “Peter..... Peter..... Peter.....,” Paul said in a low voice. “What did I tell you the last time you tried to use my daughter for your personal gain? Do you really have such a short memory?” He asked, tilting his head to the side and staring at Peter with cold brown eyes. “Or do you have a death wish?”
Peter gave a nervous laugh and backed up a few steps. “I was just worried about Trisha when I heard what happened,” he said licking his lips. “I mean.... I was her husband for four years. That has to count for something. Have.... Have they found her body yet?” He asked, unable to keep the note of hope out of his voice.
Paul looked over Peter's shoulder and smiled. That isn't a nice smile, Peter thought vaguely in the back of his mind. He glanced over his shoulder briefly but didn't see anything. He turned back and looked at his ex-father-in-law, feeling a little stronger at the thought that the man may not like him but surely he wouldn't really hurt or kill him.
“Yes, Trisha has been found,” Paul answered softly.
“She has?” Peter said in relief before he realized he needed to act the grieving ex. “I'm so sorry for your loss, Paul. I heard they knew who killed her. She was a very beautiful woman.”
“Yes,” Paul answered calmly, stepping so close to Peter that the man tripped on the corner of the coffee table and fell backwards onto the couch. “I didn't believe she could be any more beautiful than she already was but I have to say she positively glows now.”
Peter frowned. “What do you mean? She’s dead, isn’t she?”
“No,” Paul answered with a shake of his head. “In fact she is not only alive, she has remarried and is expecting her first child. So you see, you won’t be able to collect on that life insurance policy you took out on her – ever.”
Peter stared at Paul in disbelief before his face flushed with anger. He rolled off the couch, making sure he kept the coffee table between him and Paul’s larger frame. His mind was about to explode at the idea that all his hopes for the past six months were about to be swept away. He shook his head refusing to believe it.
“No, no, no, no, no!” Peter ground out not caring that Paul was seeing his rage. “She’s dead! That crazy sheriff killed her and those other two bitches. She has to be dead. She has to be!”
Paul’s eyes narrowed and his face twisted in disgust but that was not what had Peter turning around and almost shitting his pants. It was the dark, menacing growl that rumbled so low and long the walls of the small house actually shook. Peter tripped over his own feet, moving backwards and knocking into the end table near the chair causing the matching table lamp to topple to the floor.
“What the fuck….?” Peter breathed out.
“Not what the fuck,” Paul said, glancing over to where Kelan stepped out of the darkened shadows. “Peter, I’d like you to meet Trisha’s mate, Kelan. He is an alien from another world,” he added casually enjoying the expressions racing across Peter’s face. “By the way, those other two bitches you were talking about happen to be his brother’s mates – or wives if you please.”
Peter glanced at Paul briefly before his eyes swiveled back to the huge male who had stepped out from the corner of the living room. Peter almost shit his pants when he saw the dark dangerous flames burning in the guy’s gold eyes. His heart actually skipped a beat when he realized that Paul hadn't been joking about the guy being an alien. There was no way in hell eyes like that could be human.
“Gold,” he choked out hoarsely, turning pale.
Kelan smiled coldly, letting his face transform just enough that his teeth elongated and jade and silver scales rippled across his skin. He had enough of the other male thinking his mate was an easy target. He had also heard the male's comment when he walked in the door wishing Trisha was dead. The fact that this male had once meant something to her sent a wave of jealousy flooding through his body. It was almost impossible for him to control his dragon.
Peter scrambled back into the corner, pushing himself behind the overstuffed beige leather chair. His hand reached clumsily for the fire poker. He knocked the matching shovel and brush off the brass rack as he gripped the poker in front of him.
“Stay….stay back, damn you,” Peter screeched in a high pitched voice. “Paul, you have to help me!”
“Why?” Paul snarled out, staring coldly at the man who had meant something to Trisha at one time. “You lousy piece of shit,” he growled out in a low, menacing voice. “You took a life insurance policy out on my daughter in the hope that she had been murdered. You made her life a living piece of hell when she needed you the most then you had the nerve to try and blackmail her when she asked for her freedom. I warned you then if you ever –ever – tried to use her in any way again you would rue the day you were ever born.”
Peter was shaking so bad the fire poker in his hand weaved back and forth. He swallowed over the lump in his throat trying to think of how he might get out of this situation alive. It had been stupid to call Paul and try and get information but he didn't know what else to do. None of Trisha's old friends or coworkers would give him the time of day much less any information they might have heard.
He was in debt up to his eyeballs and had taken out the life insurance policy on her less than a month before she disappeared with the help of his brother-in-law who had forged a few documents so he could get it. He had figured with her injuries she would more than likely die young, preferably very young, and he would collect on it. He could only afford the half a million dollar policy with the little extra his brother-in-law charged him to maintain it. He figured that would last until he could find another woman who was wealthy, or at least came from a wealthy family. That was why he had targeted Trisha in the first place. He liked having a certain standard of living, but since his divorce from Trisha that had been impossible. Now, it looked like he wouldn't live long enough to cash anything in.
“Paul, I'm sorry,” Peter began, looking back and forth between Paul and Kelan. “I didn't mean anything by it. Life has been hard since Trisha left me. I got demoted and ended up as a shitty ass inventory clerk after she kicked me out.”
Paul put his hand up to stop Kelan from reacting to Peter blaming Trisha for his life being miserable. “I don't give a damn about how miserable you have been. I warned you to never come into my daughter's life again. Now, you are going to learn what happens when you cross me. Kelan is very protective of Trisha. He is not very happy with you at all for the way you treated her then or now,” Paul said with a cruel grin. “As much as I would like to be the one to deal out justice, he has asked me for my permission to do it. I think it only fitting that he shows you what happens when you cross a Valdier warrior by trying to use his mate. Kelan, he is all yours.”
Peter was shaking his head back and forth and trembling uncontrollably as
Kelan’s face began to elongate and his body began to shift into the form of his dragon. He dropped the poker and slid down the wall, trying to curl into a little ball as he whimpered. Kelan reached out a long jade and silver claw and sunk his nails deep into the beige leather chair. With a flick of his wrist, the chair went flying across the room to crash next to the opening leading to the front door. Peter’s whimpers turned to sobs as he hid his face in his hands.
“Please, I swear I’ll never even think about her again,” Peter sobbed loudly. “I swear! I promise! Please don’t kill me, please don’t kill me,” he pleaded over and over.
*.*.*
Kelan turned his huge head and rolled his eyes at Paul who was fighting back his laughter. From the strong smell of urine, Peter had pissed his pants. Paul hoped to God he didn’t shit in them. If he did, he was leaving his sorry ass ex-son-in-law to Kelan.
Kelan turned his head back to look down on the shivering mass of wasted space. Even his dragon was having a hard time dealing with the blubbering human male. It was as disgusted by the human as he was. Kelan reached around with his tail and gingerly wrapped it around the male’s feet, dragging him out of the corner and holding him upside down where he screamed hoarsely. Inhaling a deep breath, he let a burst of hot air surround the male who screeched even louder, hurting Kelan’s ears.
“Kelan,” Paul choked out. “You’d better decide if you are going to eat him, burn him to ash, or drop him on his head because I have got to tell you, he is giving me a damn headache with all his whining, crying, and screeching.”
Kelan opened his mouth wide, showing off his razor-sharp teeth. Peter’s eyes widened before they rolled back in his head as he fainted. Kelan snapped his jaws shut in disgust and dropped the limp figure onto the floor before shifting back into his two-legged form.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Kelan said in disgust. “Please tell me what my mate ever saw in this spineless waste of living tissue?” He asked placing his hands on his hips and looking down in revulsion at the unconscious male. “I hope he is not the standard of your warriors. If he is, your planet is going to need help if it is ever invaded,” he added, looking over at Paul who was trying hard to contain his laughter.