Hitting the Target

by Evangeline Anderson

  “You are?” Her eyes widened. “We don’t do that in the People’s Republic.”

  “Well, we do it here,” Trey said firmly. “You’ll feel more comfortable if there’s another female in the room and you won’t have to worry that I’ll take advantage of you in any way.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you so much for understanding, Healer Treygar.”

  “Of course. And I told you—you can call me Trey.” He nodded and left the room, looking for a healer’s aide to be in the room with them as he cleaned and bandaged her cuts.

  But why can’t we heal her? his beast asked plaintively, and sent him a picture of Trey licking her wounds gently and watching as they sealed themselves seamlessly, leaving not even a scar to show she had ever been hurt.

  A deep longing filled him at the image—Lei’on Kindred needed to heal their mates the same way they needed to taste them. It was an inherent part of his heritage and he had to hold himself back sternly.

  You know we can’t do that yet, he told his beast. I just got finished telling her I would never touch her inappropriately and I’m certain she would think that me licking her all over her back would be completely inappropriate.

  His beast protested that it didn’t have to be sexual.

  She will be our mate—Lei’ons heal their mates of any hurts or cuts. It is a kindness—healing your female. It helps to deepen the bond between you, but it doesn’t have to lead to actual mating.

  Trey finally managed to convince his beast that was exactly what Mia would think it was leading to if he went back into the room and asked to lick her back instead of bandaging it the normal way.

  The “normal” way is ineffective and messy, his beast grumbled but agreed to put off the more intimate kind of healing for when Mia knew them better.

  Trey was relieved—his beast could be surprisingly stubborn at times but there was no way he could heal Mia the way they both wanted to without making her fearful and upset. He remembered the tears in her eyes when she admitted that someone had tried to rape her. He was glad they had been stopped at the last moment but the look of fear and violation in her lovely eyes was still enough to make him want to hunt the bastard down and kill him for her.

  But first he had to heal her. He sighed.

  The normal way.

  Chapter Seven

  Mia wondered if she could really believe all the things the big Kindred was telling her. Did he honestly only want to protect her and heal her? Was he truly just helping her because he believed it was right, and not for any personal gain or payback? Could she trust him not to hurt her or try to take advantage of her the way the Commandant had?

  But he has to take advantage of me—I’m supposed to seduce him! she reminded herself.

  It was all very confusing to say the least. Despite Treygar’s kind words and actions, she wasn’t sure if she could trust him. In fact, she had to hope she couldn’t trust him because her orders were to get him into bed. How was she going to manage that if he really was as honorable and upright as he appeared to be?

  I don’t know but you’d better figure it out soon, whispered a little voice in her head. You heard what the imaging tech said about him—that all the women in the Care Center are after him.

  And she could see why they would be, too. Treygar—or Trey as he’d asked her to call him—was so big and tall and muscular and he smelled so good. Also, his hair was amazing!

  She’d never thought much about men’s hair before—probably because all the men in the Republic wore their hair slicked straight back with greasy styling balm. If you accidentally touched it, your fingertips felt oily for hours afterwards, even if you washed your hands.

  But Trey’s hair was different. It was shiny and silky and obviously squeaky clean. It was almost like a mane around his face—like a targen’s mane, she decided, thinking of the huge, carnivorous felinis that lived in the wilds of Ormyu Five.

  The thought made her remember the way his eyes had turned from clear green to gold when he’d gotten upset. For just a moment, it had almost been like someone else was staring out from those golden eyes, she thought. Someone other than Trey.

  Mia pushed the thought away uneasily. It was just a Kindred trait—like the desire to protect women. He had told her so and she chose to believe it—at least for now.

  But strange eyes aside, he was gorgeous. Definitely the ideal for a man, which made her wonder all over again how she was going to manage to seduce him since she was the opposite of every standard of beauty she’d ever been taught to internalize.

  I don’t know either but you’d better make your move soon before you lose his attention, whispered the little voice. You probably should have told him you’d be fine letting him examine you alone and tried something then. After all, your ankle is better now. You have no excuse not to.

  But the thought of that—of stripping in front of him and then letting him touch her body—brought back the memory of the Commandant doing that exact thing to her that morning. A shiver of revulsion ran down her spine. God, had it only been that morning? The memory was fresh and raw and yet it felt unreal too. The Commandant was hundreds of miles away and the Great Barrier was between her and him. It almost felt as though he couldn’t reach her—couldn’t touch her.

  But he can touch Neemah, pointed out the little voice in her head. He can hurt her if he’s not happy with you. And don’t forget what he said—"The EYE is always watching.”

  Mia shuddered and began to strip carefully out of the ripped and dirty dress. It had been ruined by the fall onto the sharp gravel around the transport tracks, but she didn’t care. It was the garment that had made the Commandant want to touch her and she hated it. She wished she could throw it away, but she really had nothing else to wear and no money to buy anything else—or even to rent a flat or a hotel room. God, what was she going to do when she left the Care Center? Where would she go?

  She had no idea but getting rid of the ruined dress didn’t seem to be an option. She folded it carefully so that the Mercy Star pin was out and had a good view of the room—but only after she’d put on the gown Trey had given her to wear. She’d be damned if she would give the Commandant another look at her body, no matter what her orders were.

  There was a discrete knock on the door and Trey’s deep voice called, “Mia? Are you ready for us to come in?”

  “Oh!” The little gasp was startled out of her and her eyes flew involuntarily to the Mercy Star. Everything was in place—she was all right, she told herself.

  “Mia?” Trey sounded a little worried now.

  “Yes, come in. I’m ready,” she called, wrapping the gown a little more tightly around herself.

  The door opened and Trey came in followed by a woman with dark brown hair and a stern but kindly face.

  “Mia, this is Lydiah—the supervisor of healers’ aides I told you about,” Trey said. “She’s going to be with us while I treat your cuts and abrasions.”

  “Oh…hello.” Mia suddenly had her heart in her throat.

  “Hello, Mia. Healer Treygar tells me you were a healer’s aide in the Republic before you came to Bountiful and you’re interested in continuing your career here.”

  God, was she going to be interviewed right here and now for a position? Mia didn’t know what to do or say. She felt completely unprepared for any kind of questions, especially considering that the technology here was so much more advanced than what she’d worked with in her old Care Center.

  Her fear must have shown on her face because Lydiah burst out laughing.

  “Don’t worry, my dear—I’m not going to grill you right now. From what Healer Treygar says, you’d like a job sometime in the future, but you lost your certificate—is that right?”

  “Along with everything else,” Mia said in a small voice. “It was all in my bag. My identity papers, money, certificate…everything.” Just saying it made her want to cry again. She really had no idea where she was going to stay that night or how she was goi
ng to survive in the strange, crowded South without any money or any way to earn some.

  “Well don’t worry.” Lydiah patted her knee comfortingly. “There’s an exam you can take that covers basic healer’s aide principles. You can take a few days to study up and then if you pass, I’ll offer you a job here.” She raised a finger. “Mind you, you’ll be starting on the bottom rung of the ladder. But if I see you’re doing well and you have the necessary skills and attitude, I’ll move you up.”

  “Thank you,” Mia said. She was beginning to feel a little more hopeful. “Is there a place I can get the study materials?”

  “They’re free access on the Interweb,” Lydiah told her.

  “Oh…” Mia felt her face fall. She had heard whispers of the Interweb—a network of global information one could access on a special kind of communications box—but of course it was outlawed in the People’s Republic where all information was restricted.

  “What’s wrong, Mia?” Trey had come around behind her and was spreading open the back of her gown as he spoke. Feeling him at her back, in the same position the Commandant had been, made Mia stiffen in uncertainty. But his hands, when he touched her, were nothing but gentle and professional and they didn’t go anywhere they shouldn’t.

  “I just…I’ve never used the Interweb before,” she said, trying to relax as he treated the scrapes and cuts left by the gravel she’d fallen on. “We don’t have it in the People’s Republic.”

  “Oh, of course you don’t! Silly me!” Lydiah exclaimed. “I should have remembered that. My mate, Teela escaped from the PR just like you did, dearie. I know how restrictive they are there! Bastards won’t let you breathe without someone reporting you.”

  Mia felt like a cold hand was clutching her heart and for the first time she was glad that the recording device that sent back sound as well as audio had been stolen along with her bag. She was afraid that hearing the People’s Republic spoken of that way would make the Commandant very angry.

  “It’s all right, Mia—I’ll teach you how to use the Interweb,” Trey offered. “You’ll be up to speed in no time.”

  “Thank you.” Mia turned her head to look at him but when she caught the clear green eyes looking into hers, she looked away again quickly, feeling shy and guilty all at once. She’d thought she would have to work to seduce him and catch his interest, but he was making it so easy for her—paying her much more attention than any male ever had before.

  Well, any male but the Commandant, whispered a little voice in her head, but Mia tried to push it away.

  “Thank you,” she said softly. “I would appreciate that very much. You’re very kind—you saved my life and you’re helping me get a job…I…I just don’t know what to say.”

  “Just say thank you and accept the help, dearie. We all need a little help sometimes.” Lydiah rose from the chair where she’d been sitting while Trey worked on Mia’s back. “Well, Healer, are you almost finished?”

  “Finishing up…now,” Trey said as he taped a final bandage to Mia’s back. “Those will be sore for a little while, but I used some of the quick-heal gel my people brought to Ormyu Five. Probably by tonight the bandages will be ready to come off.” He stepped around the treatment table and smiled at her. “Well, I’ll leave you to get dressed. Then I’ll come back and we can talk about those Interweb lessons.”

  “Thank you,” Mia said again as he left. Lydiah lingered a little longer, a sharp, searching look on her face.

  “Let me tell you something, dearie, I’ve known Healer Treygar for as long as he’s been here and I’ve never seen him act like this with any girl before,” she told Mia at last.

  “You haven’t?” Mia didn’t know what to say.

  “No, I haven’t. And let me tell you, the women at this hospital are throwing themselves at his head night and day,” Lydiah said. “I consider Treygar a friend you know, so I want you to be aware of what’s going on. And if you don’t have any interest in him, I want you to let him down easy. He’s a good man—all the Kindred are. I don’t want to see him get hurt.”

  Once again Mia had the sensation of her heart pounding in her throat. Her palms felt damp and she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Could the healers’ aid supervisor tell she was here under false pretenses? Did she somehow know that Mia had been sent to spy on the big Kindred and send back as much information as she could—could she tell that Mia was here to seduce him, even though she hardly knew where to start or how to go about it?

  “I…I don’t want to hurt him,” she said at last, which was the truth. She didn’t want to do anything bad to the big Kindred who had been nothing but kind to her from the minute he’d saved her life at the transport station. “I…I’m just trying to find my way,” she added, which was also true. “I’ve never been past the Great Barrier. Everything is so…different here.”

  Lydiah sighed and the sharp look left her face.

  “That’s what Teela says too when she talks about coming over here from the PR. Well…” She patted Mia’s knee again. “You just go ahead and get dressed and then get ready for the exam. I’ll give Treygar the link to the questions you need to study—and then I’ll see you back here in a couple of days to take it. All right?”

  “All right.” Mia nodded. She still didn’t know where she was supposed to stay during the time it took her to study though. Maybe she could stay here in the Care Center and sleep on a cot? She would have to ask Trey about that. He was so nice about everything else—Mia was sure he’d let her stay as long as she promised to keep out of everyone’s way. As for how she would eat, well, maybe she could offer to help out in the Care Center’s cafeteria in exchange for meals.

  The more she thought of it, the simpler it sounded. She almost caught herself feeling like she really was here to start a whole new life and the pieces were falling into place to let her have one.

  Don’t fool yourself, sneered the little voice in her head. You’re only here until you get what the Commandant wants from Trey. After that, it’s straight back to the People’s Republic and your old life in the Care Center, working twelve hour shifts and walking to the tram station in the cold night and day.

  And of course, she couldn’t forget the Commandant’s words about their “unfinished business.” She had that to look forward to when she went back home too. The thought turned her stomach and she tried not to think about it. Best not to borrow trouble, as Neemah would say.

  “One day at a time, Mia child,” she would always tell Mia. “You got enough trouble for today—you don’t need to go borrowing any from the future.”

  Suddenly Mia’s throat felt tight and she wished more than anything that she could see her grandmother again. She wished she could hold Neemah in her arms and breathe in the aroma of her face powder and the sweet scent of the nettle steep she drank all day long.

  But if she ever wanted to see her grandmother again, she had a mission to complete, she reminded herself. And there was nothing else to do but complete it.

  I can’t ask to stay here in the Care Center, she realized. I have to find a way to get into his home somehow instead. That’s where I belong—it’s where I can get the most information about him to send back to the Commandant.

  And it’s also the best place to seduce him, whispered that same, cruel little voice.

  Mia bit her lip. She felt sick about it, but she knew the voice was right. Somehow she had to find a way into Trey’s home…and into his bed. But for now, he was probably outside, waiting for her to get dressed.

  Sighing, she reached for the hateful red-flowered dress and began to pull it on.

  What else could she do?

  Chapter Eight

  Trey gave her time to get dressed and then knocked again.

  Her soft voice, “Come in,” floated out to him and he went in at once, eager to see her lovely face though he had only left her ten minutes before.

  Oh, you’ve got it bad, whispered a little voice in his head. You’re completely gone
on her already.

  So what if he was, though? He’d been Dream Sharing with her for months and now the Goddess had answered his prayer and sent Mia right into his arms. Why shouldn’t he want her with everything that was in him?

  But I have to take it slow, he reminded himself. She’s been through a lot—I don’t want to scare her off.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked, smiling at her. “Cuts and bruises a little less painful?”

  She shifted her shoulders experimentally and gave him that shy smile he was beginning to love so much.

  “Yes, actually. Thank you, Trey.”

  Gods, he loved the sound of his name on her lips.

  “Well, then—I think it’s time we started thinking of accommodations for you. Of course, I’d offer to put you up in my own spare room, but I don’t know how comfortable you’d be staying with a strange male. There’s a rent by the week hotel not far from the Care Center so—”

  “You,” Mia said, interrupting his carefully prepared speech.

  “What?” Trey frowned.

  “I said, I’d rather stay with you. Just until I get on my feet—if you don’t mind.” Mia looked at him shyly. “Or is that asking too much? You’ve already done so much for me…”

  “No, no!” Trey said quickly, putting out a hand to stop her. “No, I’d love to have you as my guest. It’s just as I said, I’m not sure how you feel staying with a stranger.”

  “You’re not a stranger though.” She took a deep breath. “I know this probably sounds really weird but, well…I had a dream about you. Before we met, I mean.” Her voice dropped even lower. “Actually, more than one dream.”

  Trey felt a rush of relief.

  “I dreamed of you too,” he told her. “Many times.”

  “You did?” She looked up at him, her eyes wide. “Is…is that somehow a Kindred thing too?”

  “It is.” Going over to the treatment table, he took her small, slim hand in his. She bit her lip but didn’t try to pull away. “It’s called Dream Sharing, Mia,” he said quietly. “It…happens between a Kindred warrior and a female he is meant to meet.”