by Fiona Roarke
“He cannot be your mate! I am Anya, high priestess of the Georgia Woods Druids. He’s mine.”
“Well, I am Elise, recovery expert of the Big Bang Truck Stop in Alienn, Arkansas. And he’s not yours. He is my mate. Get over yourself and release him to me. Now!”
“No. You’ll have to prove it.”
“What?” Elise—a beautiful name, in his opinion—looked a bit perplexed.
Anya frowned. “Prove to me that he is your mate.”
“Why should I? He’s my mate and I want him back. It’s so easy. Just let him go.”
“His arrival is part of the prophecy that we’ve long waited to happen, as it was foretold.”
The others echoed, “As it was foretold.”
“Be that as it may, you’ve got the wrong guy. He’s mine and I want him.” I want you, too. The surprise that came with that mental declaration was only that it was completely true. Had Elise kissed him earlier? Had he merely seen her and only dreamed she kissed him because he’d ached to kiss her long ago?
As much as he wanted to, Riker couldn’t look in her direction. He’d obviously been bewitched by Anya’s pink powder, though its hold on him seemed tenuous—like if he tried, perhaps he could break the spell and move of his own volition. He was able to move a bit, seeing Elise a little better.
“I believe we are at an impasse,” Anya said.
“No. We are not. You let him go or I blast you with my Defender.”
Anya sounded unimpressed. “That simply means you are unable to prove he’s your mate. I’ll take my chances.”
The redhead dropped the Defender to her side and came further into the room where he could see her better. Closer to where he stood, frustratingly unable to talk to or look her in the eyes. Still, she looked amazing. “All right. Fine. My mate has a scar shaped like a lightning bolt on his shoulder.” She pointed to his arm.
Anya eyed the ripped shoulder of his uniform. From the corner of his eye, Riker could see the scar was exposed. “You can already see that,” Anya said dismissively.
“Okay. How about this? His name is Riker Phoenix and he’s a Royal Magistrate Guard from Alpha-Prime in the Caldera Forte Galaxy.”
Riker was shocked. What had she done? They weren’t supposed to reveal the existence of Alpha-Prime to the humans. Then his gaze went to the Defender at her side. The Earther invention had made a big splash at a recent annual technology convention he’d attended on Alpha-Prime. He relaxed. One blast from it and his robed captors would forget this whole conversation.
Anya looked at Riker. He was able, barely, to nod his confirmation of Elise’s words.
“Not good enough,” the woman proclaimed, crossing her arms like a spoiled child determined to have her own way.
The redhead scowled. “What’s it going to take?”
Anya shrugged. Riker forced his head to turn toward her, which gave him a better view of Elise. “Reveal something on his body that we can’t see and I’ll reconsider your claim.”
Riker mentally rolled his eyes. He did have a hidden mark, but it was doubtful a fallen space alien recovery expert on this planet would know about it. Concentrating hard, Riker was able to move his head more and more.
Elise’s beautiful eyes narrowed. “Okay. He’s got a tattoo that you can’t see unless he undresses.” Her gaze darted to him once, then away.
With effort, Riker tilted his head to one side as he stared fully at the beautiful redhead. How did she know about that? He wanted to grin.
“What?” Anya perked up and looked over her shoulder at him.
Riker didn’t know how Elise knew about his hidden tattoo, very few people did, but he was extremely grateful.
“What is it? What does it look like?” Anya asked.
“It’s private.” Elise moved into Riker’s view and gave him an intimate smile, like the two of them shared a secret. The effects of the pink powder must be wearing off again, because he was able to slowly return her smile. Anya glared at them.
“Tell me what it is!” she demanded.
“Okay, since you commanded so nicely, it’s in the shape of a small blue shield outlined in black, pierced by a silver dagger.”
Anya eyed Riker from chest to knees in a way that made him feel very exposed. “Where is it, this shield and dagger tattoo?” she said, as if relishing the idea of stripping him naked to discover it for herself.
“It’s on the back of his thigh, almost on his butt cheek,” Elise said without hesitation. Color came up in her cheeks.
Riker stared at her. Had someone told this woman about his tattoo? Who? Then he remembered who’d been on the ill-fated flight with him: Draeken, his brother, with Riker’s good friend Holden in the pilot’s chair. Draeken obviously told this redhead about him, right? How else could she know? Riker knew Draeken took vicarious pride in the tattoo, since he’d played a central role in getting his brother drunk enough to procure it one night after too much time spent…partying. That was the Earther term, wasn’t it?
He was afraid crazy Anya was about to force him to strip naked and bend over the table so everyone could see the tattoo his brother had convinced him he must have to foster a more wicked reputation shortly after he’d been nicknamed The Calderian, and appointed to the position of top lawman on their planet.
“Are you about to strip him naked so you can look at his butt? Because that’s not going to happen,” Elise said. “I forbid it.”
“You forbid it?” Anya screeched.
Elise strode over to Riker, lowered Defender at her side, until she was right in his personal space. She looked into his eyes, threw an arm around his neck and kissed him like she’d just changed her job from recovery expert to professional kisser.
The moment her lips touched his, he could move and think without permission from his captor. Riker wrapped his arms around the redhead’s torso and returned her kiss with as much passion as she had initiated. He could practically feel Anya about to blow her top beside them.
“You shouldn’t be able to move,” she whined. “The spell can only be broken by—” she stopped talking.
Elise leaned away from their amazing kiss and said, “Let me guess. The spell can only be broken by his true mate. Right? Well, that’s me and I’ve proven it. We’re leaving.”
“No!”
Anya stopped screaming only long enough to inhale again, raising both arms as if to manhandle them apart. Elise lifted the Defender behind her back and squeezed the trigger.
And nothing happened.
Riker’s heart dropped.
Chapter Five
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Elise turned, ready to enjoy the sight of Anya falling to the floor in an unconscious heap. But the Druid priestess didn’t move. Space potatoes! She pulled the trigger and fired another shot into the room. No one fell down. Not a single one of them.
Anya stood as if frozen in place, mouth wide open about to scream, arms half lifted toward them. Elise glanced at the other robed figures. They’d been swaying back and forth, chanting, “As it was foretold,” every time Anya delivered the line. Now they also stood stock still, each half tilted to one side or the other.
“Aren’t humans supposed to faint or fall down or something when you shoot them with the Defender?” Riker asked in a low tone. The breath from his words brushed along her jaw line, making her very aware of their intimate embrace. She didn’t plan to be the one to move away first.
“Yes. However, they registered only as humanoid on my Alpha range finder, not human.”
“Interesting. Do you think it’s another breed of alien living on this planet?”
There wasn’t supposed to be, but it was certainly possible. Elise shrugged. “I don’t know and I don’t have time to care right now. My mission is to get you to safety. Let’s get out of here. I have wheels not far away.”
“Wheels?” he said with a gorgeous grin. Seriously, this man makes me weak all over and stupid when I think.
“Earther expression. It’s a mot
orcycle, actually.”
He nodded his approval. “Excellent. I’ve read about those. They look very exciting to ride.”
Riker took a step and winced. They were still arm in arm, pressed together like mates with intimate knowledge of each other. I can dream. She held onto his good side.
“Can you walk or do I need to build a litter to drag you out of here?”
“I’m going to have to go slow, but if you move to the other side of me, so I can use you as a crutch, I’ll be fine. Trust me when I tell you that I want to get out of here as quickly as possible.”
I do trust you. Elise switched sides and wrapped one arm around his waist. He put an arm around her shoulders. She held onto his biceps and they carefully exited the log cabin and walked into the clearing.
He looked up at the tall trees. “I’ve read about Earth’s tall trees, but they really are quite magnificent, aren’t they?”
Elise directed him quickly around the side of the cabin toward where she’d hidden the motorcycle. “Yes. Earth has many beautiful places.”
“Thanks for getting me out of there. I did not want to be a part of her prophecy plans.”
“What? The Calderian doesn’t want to be a lifelong thrall to a high priestess after being unmanned? Hard to imagine not wanting all that job security.”
He laughed. “Good thing I already have job security. But again, thank you for coming to my rescue.”
She looked into his face and smiled, feeling heat come up in her cheeks. “No problem. It’s my job.”
Returning her thoughts to the task at hand, she hurried him toward the appropriated motorcycle, fearful the Druid high priestess would wake up and come after them or, worse, that he might ask her how she knew about the tattoo on his butt.
Together they made fast progress, so it didn’t take long to reach the glade.
Elise disengaged from Riker and immediately missed his body warmth. Ignoring the sense of loss, she pulled the metallic-black Harley-Davidson Softail out of hiding and pointed it in the direction of the trail she’d used to get back here.
“I have a question for you.”
Here it came. He wanted to know how she had intimate knowledge of his body. She tried out the Earther word for space potatoes, liking the way it sounded in her mind. Crap. The word “crap” was shorter, harsher sounding and more to the point. Maybe that would be her shiny new expletive.
“What’s that?” she asked, playing along.
“We know each other, don’t we? We’ve met. I’m certain of it.”
Elise flashed back to the moment at her RMG prep school graduation. Grateful to be spared an interrogation about her knowledge of his butt, she said, “I can’t believe you remember, but a few years ago we shook hands at the RMG right after I graduated from academy training.”
He snapped his fingers. “That’s right. The graduation.” His gaze drilled through to her soul. “I knew we’d met before. I do remember you.” And I remember you, too, Riker Phoenix. Vividly. You helped change my life’s direction.
Elise helped him swing his splinted leg over the bike and then carefully climbed onto the seat in front of him. This also helped waylay any further questions about her past, her inappropriate lust for him or the question she feared the most about his tattoo. She didn’t particularly want to reveal how she knew firsthand that he had one.
He snuggled up to her, wrapping both arms around her middle. Before she even started the motor, Elise heard a dog, maybe even two of them, barking nearby. It sounded like they were running through the woods. She fired up the Softail and revved the awesome motor, worried some human was about to discover them here. The power of the motor rumbled through the seat to her legs.
Over one shoulder, she saw Riker smile. He buried his face into the back of her neck. Elise almost lost complete control of her limbs and dropped the bike. How embarrassing.
Then he whispered something. She closed her eyes to listen to the sound of his voice. That combined with the vibration of the bike between her legs added a thrill. Then she realized what he had said. She pretended the bike was too loud to hear, and revved the motor to cover the riotous visions in her head.
Before he could repeat himself, she set her eyes forward, ready to focus on getting them away from here. A wolf pup scampered into the glade. The moment the black and silver pup saw them, he lifted his little furry head and howled as if signaling all the other wolves in the area. Crap.
Moments later, his mama burst through the forest wall into the glade with what Elise might have called a very determined expression, if wolves could even express human sentiments.
Elise had never seen a more beautiful wolf and the black and silver pup was super cute. The wolf pup ran toward them partway and then scampered back to his mother as if asking permission to ride along with them.
The mother seated herself with surprising daintiness and stared as if considering whether she wanted to eat Elise and Riker alive. Another look at the mother and Elise noticed she had a little potbelly. In Arkansas, one of her neighbors had a fairly controversial potbellied pig as a pet. Did they have potbellied wolves in Georgia or had the wolf already eaten someone? Farfetched.
In an overloud incredulous voice Riker asked, “Are those wolves?”
Elise nodded. She decided to drive off and hope the two wolves didn’t follow. She wanted to get the motorcycle back to Charlie and his mother quickly. It would be foolish to believe his mother hadn’t found out by now, but Elise hoped she’d be forgiving of both Charlie and Elise.
She breathed a sigh of relief as the figure of the adult wolf, potbelly and all, became smaller in the side-view mirror. They left the trail and were zooming down asphalt in short order.
She had to get Riker to the rendezvous point, but as they neared the neighborhood where she’d borrowed the bike, she spotted Charlie and a pregnant woman standing in the driveway of Charlie’s house. The woman looked worried. Great.
Elise pushed out a quiet sigh. She eased back on the throttle to pull the bike slowly alongside them, cut the engine and put the kickstand down. She got off, motioning for Riker to stay seated. He didn’t need to be standing around on his injured leg.
“Hi, Elise,” Charlie said brightly. “See, Mom? Elise brought your Harley back just like she promised.”
Elise pulled the key from the ignition and handed it to the other woman, who quickly folded the metal into her palm, making a fist around it.
“Uh-huh.” Charlie’s mother reserved any further comment, but if looks could smoke her where she stood, Elise would be ash blowing in the wind.
Charlie pointed to the splint on Riker’s leg. “And her friend is hurt just like she said he was.”
“I see that.” But she didn’t look at Riker’s leg. She kept staring at Elise. Resisting the urge to tug at her collar, which got warmer with each passing moment, Elise bent to Charlie’s level. “Thank you for letting me borrow your mom’s motorcycle. Why don’t you talk to my friend, Riker, for a minute? Then your mom and I can chat for a bit. I want to thank her properly.”
“Okay.” He turned to Riker. “Is that a lightning scar on your shoulder? How did you get it? Was it from a sword? Or was it magic, like Harry Potter with Voldemort? Did it hurt a lot when you got it?” he asked rapid-fire, not letting Riker answer any questions before the two women moved out of earshot.
“I’m really sorry,” Elise said just as Charlie’s mother said, “You took advantage of my son’s good nature.”
Elise’s eyes dipped to the woman’s rounded belly and she had a moment of envy, wishing she carried Riker’s baby. The heat that rose up fast in her cheeks hopefully would convince this woman not to press charges for grand theft motorcycle. “No. I mean, my intention wasn’t to take advantage of him. I just wanted to get my injured friend out of the woods.”
The woman’s lips were pressed flat, but after a few seconds of treating Elise to a rather intense stare, she softened. “Yes. Okay. I can see you didn’t lie to him at least.�
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Not much anyway. “No. I didn’t lie about my hurt friend or about needing transportation for him.”
Elise held out her hand as earthlings often did. Alphas also did especially in ceremonial and professional settings. “My name is Elise.” Charlie’s mother took her hand.
“I’m Ivy Merrow.”
“Again, I’m sorry.” She pulled some cash from her pocket. “Here, let me pay you for the gas I used.” She offered the money to Ivy.
The woman shook her head almost immediately. “I don’t need any money.”
Elise stuffed the cash back in her pocket. “Okay. Is there anything else I can do to repay you for your kindness?”
Ivy crossed her arms, fingers still wrapped tightly around the key. “How did your friend hurt his leg?”
“I’m not exactly sure.” Well, basically he’s an alien and he survived a UFO crash…um no. “We haven’t actually discussed it yet.”
Ivy looked back at Riker, Charlie and the bike. “Where was he, your friend, I mean?”
Elise straightened. “I found him in a cabin in a clearing, maybe a few miles from here.” She pointed in the direction of the cabin, not wanting to lie about it.
“The Druid cabin in the big clearing?” Ivy’s head swung back toward Elise, concern etched in her features.
Elise shrugged. She didn’t exactly know who they were. “I’m not sure. There was no one there besides Riker when I found him.” The mate-crazy Druid high priestess Anya and her four echoes showed up after that.
“The only cabin I know in the direction you just came from is the Druid cabin.”
“Druids?” Elise managed to sound interested, but not shocked. “What if they were Druids? Will they come after us once they find out my friend is gone?”
Ivy’s expression remained cool. “I can’t say. Lots of rumors about them, though. Mostly they keep to themselves and operate without any outside interference from anyone.”
“Operate? Like what? Are they witches?” Elise figured it didn’t hurt to fan the flames of paranormal paranoia when trying to avoid talking about aliens living in plain sight.