Hero Unmasked: 3 (Heroes of Saturn)

by Anna Alexander

  The chaos surrounding the scene was movie-quality surreal. It appeared that the logging truck tried to take the corner too sharply, tipping enough to throw off its balance. The resulting shift in weight broke the bindings on the multiton load. The spill of logs caught two cars, crushing them against the side of the nearby building.

  “Geez Louise.” Fiona whistled and kept her gaze off the worst of the wreckage. “Is anyone hurt?”

  Mags shrugged. “Haven’t heard. The police arrived just as you did, but Officer Dhavin has been trying to get to the drivers.”

  Fiona followed the direction Mags pointed in and saw Officer Dhavin searching for a way to relieve the pressure and get the occupants out of their smashed vehicles. Meanwhile, more officers set up barricades and were trying their best to push the onlookers back.

  Suddenly a ripple of energy ran up her spine and the crowd began to vibrate as they all felt the surge.

  “I see him,” someone shouted and all attention was shifted to a black blur and a swirl of mist barreling down the street.

  The whirling mass stopped and there he was. The Chameleon.

  No one knew who he was or where he came from, only that he definitely wasn’t local. And by local, that meant of the entire planet Earth. He swooped in when people had need and left just as fast, never asking for anything in return. He was Superman and Spiderman rolled into one delicious hunk of man.

  Fiona had only seen him from afar on a few occasions, and he wore a cowl that covered his head, so she didn’t know what he looked like, or even what color his eyes were. But he had one of those chiseled, manly chins, and lips that looked as if one kiss would be so powerful, it could straighten her hair.

  And that body…my oh my. Tightly muscled with lightning-quick reflexes, he was strong enough to bench-press a car. And he had too. He once pulled a school bus to safety that had slid off the end of a bridge during a flash flood.

  Besides his incredible strength, he also had super speed, which made her wonder if he was super everywhere. Man, there were parts of him she wanted to dip in chocolate and lick clean.

  Stretched across his broad chest was a tunic made from some type of mystical fabric that shimmered silver one moment then blended in with the environment the next, hence the nickname, the Chameleon.

  Fiona sucked on her bottom lip as she watched him speak with Sheriff Briggs and Officer Dhavin. What did his voice sound like? Was it deep and raspy? Did he have an accent? Was he as quiet as he was humble, or were there moments he revealed a playful side? Did he have a family, friends? A girlfriend?

  So much about him was a mystery, which was part of his appeal. In Fiona’s mind, he was the perfect fantasy lover, kind of like crushing on a famous actor. He’d treat her like a princess and never give her cause to cry.

  The roar of fire engines sent heat streaking across her cheeks. She pressed her frozen fingers to her face and mentally groaned.

  What was she doing? Lives were in danger and here she was mentally undressing a stranger and indulging in wicked thoughts. She was so going to burn in hell for this.

  Dhavin tried to shake off the wave of lust that slipped down his spine and grabbed him by the balls, but the ache wouldn’t ease. People’s lives were at stake, yet he couldn’t think beyond the sweet throb that made his cock as hard as the baton at his hip.

  “Officer Kilsgaard, are you listening?” Sheriff Brett Briggs asked. The stern snap in her voice broke through his haze.

  He sucked in a bracing breath and turned toward the sheriff. “Ya. You said the tow trucks will be here in ten minutes.”

  She frowned, obviously not believing his lie for a second. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.” He pulled the wide strap of his gun belt down to cover his erection.

  His cousin Kristos, aka the Chameleon, chuckled and leaned close to whisper in their native language, “It’s a good thing she can’t sense emotions like we can. She’d make you be the Chameleon all the time if she knew how some of these women felt about her husband.”

  Brett clicked her tongue at them. “You do know Amaryllis is teaching me Skandavian? Soon you won’t be able to talk around me.” She smiled sweetly. “Now, if we can get back to the task at hand.”

  Dhavin nodded but his attention drifted back to the sea of emotions rising from the gathering crowd. The appearance of the Chameleon always inspired a mixture of reactions from awe to curiosity, as well as admiration and a high level of desire from the female population.

  But today there was a headier sensation in the air. A sense of longing that was dark and rich, like a chocolate from his favorite sweet shop, and the sensation thickened his blood. He looked over his shoulder and spotted the source of the sweetness standing on the top of a child’s play structure.

  Fiona Corrione.

  Owner of the Sugared Thistle Candy and Bakery, and from the moment he first saw her two months ago, the star of his wickedest fantasies.

  He couldn’t name exactly what it was about her that fascinated him, but all he wanted to do was scoop her up and carry her away to where he could caress every inch of her soft skin and make her cry out his name as he gave her orgasm after crashing orgasm.

  And she hated him.

  Well, maybe hate was too strong a word, but she definitely didn’t like him. His knowledge of American slang was feeble at best, but the conversation he overheard her have with her aunt earlier did not sound encouraging. And he’d be damned if he knew why she felt that way.

  He was always friendly to her, gave her lots of compliments, and spent a good chunk of his paycheck at her store. He had so many of her confections, he had to tack twenty miles to his morning run to burn the extra calories. Yet nothing he did eased the wariness he sensed coming from her whenever he approached. On the outside she’d smile and be the epitome of politeness, but she’d watch him like one does a cat that allows you to pet them yet has a history of rearing back and biting at a moment’s provocation.

  What did he have to do to have her look at him the way she was looking at his cousin right now? Standing on that structure, she was like a character out of one of the epic human novels he read on his journey to Earth. The wind played with the loose curls that escaped her bun, and her cheeks and nose were the most charming shade of pink. The soft pad of her lower lip was trapped between her white teeth and those chocolate eyes shimmered with heated thoughts he’d give his trusted sword to know.

  “Are you coming or not?”

  He jerked at the shout. “What?”

  The cutouts in Kristos’ mask highlighted his narrowed stare and downturned mouth. “What is wrong with you? There are people we need to save, or is there somewhere more important you need to be at this time, botjka?”

  “Fuck off, Chameleon. I’m right behind you.” He didn’t need his cousin calling him an inept, untried virgin warrior to add to the injury he nursed from Fiona’s coldness.

  He joined Kristos at the front of the big rig and pointed to a cross-section of logs. “That area right there concerns me the most. If we lift the logs in the wrong order, the rest will come crashing down. Can you move fast enough and not be crushed into the side of the building?”

  “I guess we’ll find out.” Kristos placed his foot on the grill, ready to climb.

  Dhavin stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “Careful.”

  “Thank you,” Kristos said with a grin. They may cut each other down on occasion, but blood was blood and family meant everything.

  The Chameleon scaled up the side of the trailer and began to carefully pluck the thousand-pound-a-piece logs as if they were kindling and dropped them to the asphalt below. Each resulting boom as wood smacked into ground made Dhavin flinch and emphasized the seriousness of the situation.

  Two tow trucks arrived and Dhavin waved one to the front of the accident where he stood and the second around the back to where Officer Reutgers hung half in and half out of the broken back window of an SUV, tending to a victim.

  Dhavi
n waved to the woman huddled in the driver’s seat of the car on his end. “Hang tight, Ms. Shurgard. We’ll have you out soon.”

  She gave him a weak nod and sank farther into her seat, curling into a tight ball and warily watching the roof above her creak and moan as the weight crushing the car was lessened.

  He accepted a hook from the tow truck driver and crawled under the vehicle and attached it to the front axle. The sound of shifting timber encouraged him to work quickly and shimmy out to a safer location. He climbed back to his feet and reached for his radio. “Ready. Reutgers, you secure?”

  “We have a go. In three. Three. Two. One.”

  Dhavin waved the go-ahead for the driver to start pulling, and he heard the wrecker on the other side begin to drag its load. The scrape of wood on metal made his teeth ache. As the cars began to move, the blockage of logs shuddered.

  “Chameleon,” Dhavin shouted. “We have to move.”

  Kristos nodded and stepped up his movements.

  The SUV cleared the barricade sooner than the sedan, tipping the rest of the load in Dhavin’s direction. A log with the diameter of a big-wheel tire slid toward his head. With lightning-fast reflexes, he threw up his hand, stopping its momentum an inch from his nose.

  His arm trembled under the weight as he held the avalanche up so the sedan could continue its slow slide to safety. Sweat rolled down his face as his muscles spasmed with the exertion.

  “Come on. Come on,” he muttered through tightly clenched teeth.

  With a grunt, he kicked at the bumper, sending it skidding the last several feet before he dropped his hand and leapt to the side.

  The ground trembled and a tremendous dust cloud arose, obscuring all vision as timber crashed to the road.

  Dhavin swatted at the bits of flying wood splinters. “Is everyone all right?”

  Brett ran to his side. “Were you hit?”

  “No. I am good. Is everyone clear?”

  “Yeah. Barely. Smooth move there.” Her features tightened as her eyes widened and her pointed glare went to the car with the boot-sized dent in its bumper.

  “Just performing my duty, ma’am.”

  All around them the crowd cheered and waved their arms. Their elation raised the hair on his neck and made him feel like he was floating on air. He helped to save the day, yet no one was looking in his direction. Following their gaze, he spotted the Chameleon on the roof, one hand lifted in acknowledgment of their praise. Kristos nodded once then fled, skipping from rooftop to rooftop away from the scene.

  Disappointment settled on Dhavin’s shoulders. If this had been his day off, he’d be the one in the suit receiving all the accolades and being called hero instead of his cousin.

  Hell, he didn’t begrudge Kristos of the attention. When he wore the mask, his efforts were just as celebrated. But today the praise for his cousin bothered him. More specifically, the praise of one person.

  Fiona was jumping up and down, her hands cupped to her mouth, shouting her jubilation. Even at this distance he could see the sparkle in her eyes.

  That was what he wanted. He wanted her to look at him as if he were her hero.

  “Come on.” Brett slapped him on the back. “Let’s start directing the cleanup so we can head home.”

  Home.

  The word went right into his ear and struck a nerve that made the muscles in his jaw clench.

  Home for the time being was living in his cousin Lucian’s former room at the house of their adopted Earth-uncle. It was comfortable and Uncle Harlan was an easy man to live with, but it wasn’t really a home. Not like what Kristos had with Brett, or Lucian had with his wife Amaryllis. He was missing the hearth to his home.

  Ahh.

  The realization struck him dumb for a moment. So there was the cause of his discontent. He was lonely. Not in the physical sense, but emotionally. He wanted a woman of his own, and not just any woman, a true partner, his other half.

  As a Llanos warrior on his home planet of Skandavia, he hadn’t given much thought to having a family of his own. He had been the head of Princess Amaryllis’ guard and as such her safety and comfort had been his only priority. A wife and resulting offspring would have been left on their own, a price he could never ask a female to pay. The occasional affair sated his physical needs and they had been enough, for he had been resigned to his fate. It was a privilege, and one he had fought hard for, to be a member of the royal guard.

  Then the revolution happened. Amaryllis had been sent to Earth in exile and his world had been upended. The enemy would have been defeated if not for the compassionate heart of his queen. The concussive wave caused by her murder rippled out in a tsunami-like wave that destroyed the Llanos family.

  But with destruction came new and unexpected opportunities. Now his future was an open plane and fantasies he never entertained were a possibility, like a bonded mate.

  He looked in the direction of the dispersing crowd, a magnetic pull beckoned him to follow.

  Was his mate out there right now? Was she so close he could smell the sweetness of her skin if he inhaled hard enough?

  The scent of cooked sugar and chocolate filled his nose as he drew a deep breath. A few blocks away, he saw the back of Fiona’s head as she talked with Mags.

  A smile flirted with his lips. Perhaps another trip to the candy store was in order.

  Chapter Two

  Dhavin knocked on the door to Brett’s office. “If you no longer have need of me, I will be departing now.”

  “One second.” She finished typing the sentence she was working on then lifted her gaze from the monitor. “We’re covered, but thanks for asking. Good work today, by the way. You know, I wasn’t sure how you’d take to being a cop, if you’d find it challenging enough. Especially after you’ve guarded royalty and fought revolutionaries, but we do have our moments of excitement around here, and let me tell you, having you here has set the example to the others. For that alone, I owe you big.”

  “It’s my pleasure,” he said with a slight bow. “I live to serve the people, and you are a leader worth following.”

  The corner of her mouth quirked up. Brett knew she was the best sheriff Cedar ever had, but it had been a struggle to earn her men’s respect. Once she established she was a force to be reckoned with, no one questioned her abilities. However Dhavin sensed she was still hesitant to accept praise, even from family.

  “Have good night, Sheriff.”

  “You too.”

  He turned to leave but held back. His thoughts of the day came back to poke at his conscience. ”Brett, can I ask you a question?”

  “Sure.”

  “What does the word player mean?”

  She frowned. “Can you use it in a sentence?”

  He took a breath. “That man is a player.”

  The frown melted as her jade eyes sparkled with laughter. She tilted her head back and let loose with a big belly laugh.

  Now it was his turn to frown. He stepped deeper into the room and closed the door. Why did he think he didn’t want whatever she was about to say to be overheard. “What is so humorous?”

  She wiped at her eyes. “Let me guess. You’ve found the first woman who’s immune to your Llanos charm?”

  For a human, his cousin-in-law had a frighteningly high level of empathetic powers.

  “Then I am correct in thinking that it’s a negative term.”

  “A player is a person, usually a man, who treats dating like a game and moves from woman to woman in the pursuit of sex.”

  He sat heavily in the chair across from her desk. “That doesn’t describe me at all.”

  “Well…” She bit her lip. “I can see how you might be thought of that way.”

  “What are you talking about? Since I’ve come to Earth I’ve courted only one woman from this town.”

  She raised a blonde brow. “And what about the women at Amaryllis’ club?”

  Of course she’d bring that up. “I would be beyond stunned if the people of C
edar knew about The Cavern and the activities that transpire there. Besides, I haven’t been there in months. The novelty of sampling a variety of women at the snap of my fingers grew old very quickly. Regardless, I have done nothing to establish such a reputation.”

  “You are an outrageous flirt,” Brett shot back before he finished his sentence.

  “A what?”

  “Flirt. You’re extra nice to women. You give them lots of compliments and make them think they’re special.”

  What was she talking about? “And that’s a bad thing? I have noticed the women of this colony have very low opinions of themselves for no reason. By telling a woman she is beautiful, she will feel beautiful and therefore will become beautiful. How can that be wrong?”

  Her smile was genuine, but gave him the impression she was indulging him. “It’s not wrong, to a point. I don’t know how people behaved on your home planet, but on Earth, especially America, when a man compliments a woman it usually indicates that he is romantically interested in her. We don’t have the advantage of being able to use empathic abilities to differentiate between someone who is being polite and someone who is looking for a more intimate interaction.”

  “I still do not understand.”

  She chewed on her lip and held out her hands. “Okay, so you’re a military guy. When you were in training I’m sure everyone was treated the same. You all failed or succeeded as one unit, correct?”

  “Ya.”

  “But then you were promoted over all the others. You were singled out and acknowledged for your skills. How did that make you feel?”

  “I felt great. Accomplished.”

  “Now let’s equate this to women. You treat all women with the same courtesy, which is over and above what other men do on a normal basis. The one woman you are actually interested in isn’t going to notice you’re into her. How can she feel extra-special when you treat her the same as other women?”

  He sat back in his seat. “Ah, I think I see now. I need to turn down the compliments in casual conversation and turn them up when I’m with her.”