“You can open your eyes now, beautiful,” Cooper whispers with an amused chuckle. I’ve no idea how I’ll cope with teleporting once I’m able to do it myself.
If I’m ever able to do it.
“Where are we?” I ask, opening my eyes and surveying the vast empty barn. I step out of Coop’s embrace and turn around, noticing the guys talking in hushed voices over in the corner. I shiver in the chilly air, and Cooper hauls me back into his warm body, circling his arms around me.
“This is one of the farther outbuildings,” he confirms.
“We’re still on our property?”
He nips at my earlobe. “Yep, and I love how it’s our property. I love having you here, Alinthia.”
“I love being here,” I truthfully reply.
Dane beckons us to him with a flick of his fingers, and Coop shuffles us to the back of the barn. “Stay back,” Dane cautions.
Beck grins at me. “You ready for this?”
“For what?” My forehead puckers as I look from one to the other.
“Prepare to have your mind blown, princess,” Maddox says with a wink.
Dane watches me as he removes a small square black object from his jeans pocket. Cooper repositions us, so I’m facing the giant empty space. Pinning me with a cocky expression, Dane presses the button, and my mouth drops open as a mammoth, sleek silver spaceship shimmers into existence in front of us. I try to speak, but no words form, and my mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water. It’s an appropriate analogy, because I’m way out of my comfort zone here.
The guys chuckle. Maddox takes one of my hands, while Cooper takes the other, and they steer me toward the craft. My heart is fluttering in my chest, and adrenaline is gushing through my veins like a junkie on a high. Dane presses the button again, and a subtle whirring sound reverberates around the barn as the back of the craft opens and a metallic walkaway appears.
“This isn’t real,” I whisper to no one in particular.
“You should see your face,” Coop says, his tone clearly amused. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”
“As good as.”
“Here.” Dane reaches out, taking my wrist. Pulling me away from the guys, he ushers us to the side of the ship, where he places my hand against the cool exterior. “Feel that? I can assure you it’s real.”
I slide my hand up and down the side of the ship, my eyes following the guys as they ascend the walkway. “It’s magnificent.”
“It’s a Pulsar 20345,” Dane confirms with a note of pride, as if I’ve any idea what that means. “Only the latest and greatest for our eminent savior.” I can’t decide if that’s a dig or not, but I’m too awestruck to retaliate so I let his comment go.
“Come on.” He takes my wrist again, as if my hand offends him or something, leading me up the walkway and into the underbelly of the ship. We’re in some kind of cargo hold, and long, narrow silver trunks occupy the space on both sides. Square white boxes are adhered to the walls, and weird silver tubing crisscrosses the ceiling overhead. A dull red light bathes the space in an eerie glow, giving the place a distinctly seedy feel. A set of stairs lies in front of us, and Dane releases my wrist as he advances toward it. I follow him up the steps and out into a slim passageway. We pass a few sealed doors, only stopping when we can go no farther. Dane presses his hand to the set of double doors in front of us, and they glide apart, granting us entry. He steps aside to allow me to enter first.
It’s a large cabin of sorts with rows of seating off to one side at the front of the space. More square white boxes are secured to the area above our heads. A sleek, seamless silver panel covers the wall on the opposite side. Twisting around, I notice Coop crouched over a rectangular box at the rear of the cabin. Dane stalks toward the open door at the very top of the room, disappearing through it as Coop locks the box and turns to face me.
“Where’d he go?” I ask, my gaze bouncing between Beck and Coop. “And where’s Maddox?”
Beck is rummaging in his backpack, so Coop steps forward, lacing his fingers in mine. “Come with me. You’re going to want to see this.”
CHAPTER 11
I stand behind the control panel as Dane straps himself into the pilot’s seat. Coop has just explained that Dane and Maddox will be piloting the ship, and I’m sure my face was an absolute picture. Is there no end to these guys’ talents? Maddox is already buckled in, wearing a transparent helmet of some sort which makes his facial features appear all squished. A giggle erupts from my mouth before I can stop it. “You look freaking weird with that on,” I admit, running my palm lightly over the surface. It’s smooth and cool to the touch.
“Boo!” He lunges at me, and I shriek as my heart rate spikes.
“Mad Dog.” Dane’s voice holds considerable warning.
“Chill the fuck out,” Maddox replies before winking at me. At least, I think it’s a wink. It’s hard to tell under that thing.
“What’s it for?” I run my fingers across it again.
“It’s an advanced headset of sorts,” Dane explains. “And you need to take your seat for departure.”
“Aye, aye, Captain!” I say with a salute. Maddox barks out a laugh, while Dane predictably scowls. I know we’re not going on an adventure or vacation or anything, but I’m excited. Screw him if he doesn’t like my enthusiasm.
“Saved you a seat, beautiful,” Coop says, patting the rigid-looking chair beside him, when I reenter the cabin.
“How thoughtful,” I murmur with a grin, purposefully skimming my gaze over the ten other vacant seats. He smirks, and I drop into the seat in between Cooper and Beck. Coop starts buckling me in like I’m a two-year-old and incapable of harnessing myself. I roll my eyes at Beck, and he chuckles. He has a tablet on his lap. I swear the guy has a technical device glued to some part of his person whenever I see him.
Coop’s elegant fingers brush strategically against certain parts of my body as he secures my harness in place, and I narrow my eyes at him. “What?” He feigns innocence, and I can’t help grinning.
Leaning into him, I kiss him softly. “I know all your dirty tricks, mister,” I whisper over his mouth. “You’re fooling no one.”
“Well, darn. There goes all my devious plans.”
I elbow him in the ribs, and he laughs. I whip my cell out and send a quick text to Mom letting her know I’m away and not to worry. My phone pings with an immediate reply. “How long will we be gone?” I ask them.
“We should be back by tomorrow evening,” Beck confirms without lifting his head from his tablet.
“Why? Is there a problem?” Coop tucks my hair behind my ears.
“Nope. Mom just invited us to dinner on Sunday, and I wanted to make sure we’d be back.”
“Tell her we’re in,” Coop confirms, rubbing his belly. “I’m already hungry at the thought. Your mom’s an excellent cook.”
“That she is.” My smile is sad. Although I’ve only been gone from the farmhouse a few days, it already feels like ages since I’ve seen her. The multitude of daily texts helps keep me informed of things going on with her, but it’s not the same as seeing her in the flesh every day. I’m so busy with school and alien stuff, and the guys help keep me distracted in the house so that I don’t have too much time to miss her or Jensen, but, at quiet times like this, I realize how much has changed and how badly I miss both of them.
I tap a message to Kylie next, rescheduling our planned shopping trip to Sunday instead. She’d agreed to help me find another dress to wear to the Winter Formal next weekend. It doesn’t feel right to wear the dress I had picked out when I’m going with a different date. Silly, really, but it’s going to be awkward enough as it is without being uncomfortable with what I’m wearing.
I slip my cell back into my purse as a subtle vibration rocks the ship. “Watch,” Coop says, tapping a key panel overhead.
The silver paneling on the opposite wall recedes, and a window opens up, granting full view of what’s happening outside the
confines of the cabin. The barn doors are fully retracted, and the ship glides smoothly forward, hovering just a little bit off the ground. Nighttime has encroached, and it’s pitch-black as we emerge outside. “What if someone sees us?” I ask. “Aren’t you worried about those alien fanatics?” I’m thinking of the alien fanatic who lives with Kylie. It’s not unthinkable that he watches the skies over Eaton Lake.
“Dane will have activated the invisibility shield,” Beck says, as if it’s common knowledge. “So no one will see us. Even if someone is watching on radar, all they’ll notice is a slight distortion. We’ll be in space before they have a chance to investigate.”
Coop takes my hand. “Brace yourself. This will be fast.”
The words have only just left his mouth when the craft tilts upward at the front and shoots straight up through the dark sky. The scream leaves my mouth of its own volition. It’s like being on a one-way roller coaster to outer space. My stomach dips and lurches, and I worry I’m about to spew the contents of my stomach. The vibrating noise grows louder the faster we go, and my entire body shakes. I grip Coop’s hand tighter, trying to hold my nervousness at bay.
When the ship starts tilting forward a few minutes later, the vibration settles down until it’s barely more than a soft hum. Once we’re vertical, and the craft is moving forward in a straight line, I release the breath I’d been holding. “Holy crapola. That was something else.”
Coop unclips his harness and stands up, stretching his arms up over his head. I’m too freaked out to grab the opportunity to ogle him. “Come here. I want to show you something.” He extends his hand in my direction.
I shake my head. “Nuh-uh. I’m not moving my ass from this seat.”
He bursts out laughing. “This is priceless. Our esteemed princess, our future leader, the savior of the entire galaxy, is terrified of space travel.” His tone is playful, and I’m left in no doubt that he’s joking.
Funny, if Dane said the same thing to me, I’d probably want to gouge his eyeballs out.
I stick my tongue out at Cooper, but I unbuckle my seat belt and stand. I’m not one to let a challenge go unanswered.
“That’s my brave girl.” He smirks, and I poke my tongue at him again.
He reels me into his arms, pressing his delectable mouth to my ear. “Keep doing that and I’m taking you somewhere private, so you can do what I really want you to do with that gorgeous tongue of yours.”
I shove at his chest. “You have a one-track mind.”
“When it comes to you?” He lifts a brow. “One hundred fucking percent. Now, come on, stop distracting me with that wicked tongue of yours.” I glance over my shoulder at Beck as Coop starts hauling me forward, and his cheeks are flushed red.
They are like night and day, those two. Beck would never flirt with me in such a blatant manner, even if his life depended on it.
Coop leads me to the back of the cabin, pressing his hand to the paneled wall, and my jaw slackens as the wall retracts exposing a floor-to-ceiling window and the most spectacular view I’ve seen in my entire life.
We are orbiting Earth, and it looms large underneath us, like a giant blue ball. I press my nose to the glass, inspecting the contrasting white and greenish-blue distortions of the planet, quickly figuring out they are cloud formations and water landmarks. I’m not sure what I was expecting, or if I was expecting anything at all, but I didn’t anticipate actually seeing landmass and oceans and clouds. I stare at it with my mouth hanging open, committing all the tiny details to memory.
Talk about mind blown.
Dragging my gaze away, I stare straight out the window. Up ahead, a gazillion tiny bright lights twinkle against the inky-black backdrop of outer space. It stretches on and on, a vast dark pool of unfathomable depth and reach, and I’m in that shocked-awed place again. “Wow, that is something else.”
“I know, right?” He runs a hand through his blond hair, resting his forehead against the glass. “If I could choose what I wanted to do with my life, I’d become a traveler, moving from planet to planet, exploring the different environments and cultures. The universe is so vast, and there are so many places to visit. It’d never get boring.”
“I can totally see you as an explorer,” I admit, angling my body so I’m facing him. My lips twitch. “Or a rock star, if the exploring thing doesn’t work out for you.”
“Oh, yeah?” His answering smile is expansive. “I like that idea, but only if you agree to be my groupie.”
I nudge him with my shoulder. “You’re relentless. Do you think of anything but sex?”
“I’m a male. We’ve sex on the brain twenty-four seven.”
His words bring a memory to the surface. It wasn’t that long ago that Jensen said something similar to me. My smile falters, and I turn away, looking out the window again.
“Hey. Did I say something wrong?”
A shuddering sigh rips from my chest. “No, Coop.” I creep under his arm, draping myself around him. “It’s nothing you’ve done.”
He hugs me close, and we stay like that for a bit, both lost in thought as we stare at the incredible view outside.
A clanging sound rouses us from our trance-like state, and I follow Coop back over to the seated area. A flash of steel captures my attention as Beck bends down to retrieve something from the floor.
“What’s that?” I inquire, sinking into my seat. Beck is holding a small silver dagger in his gloved hand.
“Don’t touch it,” he cautions, carefully placing it in a clear bag. “While it’s desensitized, I don’t like taking any risks.”
“Desensitized?” I query.
“It means the Tianore embedded in the weapon has been neutralized so it can’t hurt us, but we keep it covered just in case,” Coop explains.
“What’s that symbol mean?” I ask, peering at the odd eight-pronged shape at the base of the handle. A fiery ball of flames rests in the center of the shape, holding me captive. The detail is exquisite, almost life-like.
“We don’t know.” Beck points at his tablet. “I’ve been scouring my mind and the old scrolls to see if I can find any mention of it, but so far I’m drawing a blank.”
I look at the weapon again, and realization dawns. “Is that the knife that infected me?”
Beck nods. “We don’t know where it came from, and no one has seen anything like it before. We thought if we could trace the origins of the weapon and the symbol that it might hold some clues to who sent the curse-infector to Earth. Whoever is behind this seems to have access to old, dark magic, and that’s very concerning.”
“Isn’t it General Arantu?”
Beck shrugs. “It’s not really his style, but who knows how far he’s prepared to go to find and claim you.”
An intense shiver rocks my body. I reach out. “Can I see?”
“Sure.” Beck places the clear bag in my hand, and the instant I feel the weight of the weapon against my skin, a black haze rips up my arm, spreading quickly throughout my limbs, until I’m consumed.
The last thing I hear before I drift into unconsciousness is Cooper shouting for Dane.
CHAPTER 12
I’m trying to wake up, but the layer of darkness invading my body is like a concrete wall between consciousness and unconsciousness keeping me locked in place. An image flashes in my mind’s eye, and then it’s gone. I attempt to move my limbs, but they refuse to cooperate—I’m trapped in my own body.
The image returns, surging to the forefront of my mind.
I’m back on that empty stretch of road with Kenzie’s SUV embedded in the trunk of a tree, smoke billowing out of the hood. I see myself, darting across the road with superhuman speed, snatching Kylie away from that nasty piece of Herassan shit.
The darkness encroaches again, pulling me away from the scene replaying in my mind. I struggle against the invisible binds holding me prisoner, but it’s completely futile. I have zero control over my body right now. The image plops into my mind again, as clear as if I�
��m a bystander watching from the side of the road.
A stinging pain rips across my shoulder, and I stagger to my feet, woozy and disorientated. The Herassan starts chanting in a foreign language, the words imprinting on my mind. He advances, still spouting gibberish, and I watch my eyes cloud over as I attempt to crawl away from him.
Something registers in my brain, and I’m yanked from the image, the encroaching darkness retreating into nothing.
“Aagghh!” I cry out as I bolt upright, jolted out of my paralysis, blinking my eyes open. I suck in large gulps of air, and a high-pitched screeching sound emits from the back of my throat. I’m struggling to breathe, shaking and shivering from the force of the silent assault. What the ever-loving crap was that?
“It’s okay, beautiful. Deep breaths, baby.” Cooper has his arm around my back while uttering reassurances.
Minutes tick by, and finally the frantic pounding of my heart quiets. The anguished, strangled sounds die in my throat. I look up and a new layer of panic seizes hold of my heart. “What are you doing?!” I scream at Dane and Maddox, both looming over me with concerned expressions. “Who the hell is flying the ship?” I can’t keep the hysteria from my voice.
Maddox busts out laughing, and I glare at him. Bending down, he kisses my forehead. “Relax, sweetheart. It’s on autopilot. We’re safe.”
I collapse against Cooper in grateful relief.
“I need to check your vitals, Alinthia.” Beck holds a silver medical patch in front of me, waiting for my permission. I nod, and he secures it to my temple, stabbing buttons on a little hand-held device. “Your heart rate is elevated, but apart from that, all looks fine.” He gently removes the patch.
“Can you tell us what happened?” Dane asks me, making an effort to soften his tone.
“Help me up.” I latch onto Cooper’s arm, endeavoring to climb to my feet. Without hesitation, he scoops me up as if I’m weightless, walking to the seated area and carefully sitting down with me in his lap. I wet my dry lips, and Maddox instantly thrusts a bottle of water in my face. “Thanks.” I offer him a weak smile before guzzling the entire bottle. The air is laced with tension as the boys wait for my explanation.
The Secret Heir (Alinthia Series Book 2) Page 8