by Ravyn Wilde
And for some reason...just a little familiar. No. Not familiar. She didn’t remember seeing anything like him before. But his silver body and his presence made her feel... What? What the hell did she feel?
Not afraid.
In fact, she’d been comforted for about five seconds that god, he was finally here. Everything would be okay now. Which didn’t make sense? And yet, she had been expecting someone, something to come for her. Now she knew she’d been waiting for him.
It helped that he didn’t have four arms and red skin.
It certainly didn’t help her state of mind that he had been completely naked. She could clearly see that he had all the parts and pieces, and except for his strange coloring everything looked human. Well, bigger than she was used to. But still human.
She was dying to run her hands through all that glorious bright red hair and to stroke her hands over every inch of his shimmering silver skin. It all looked so very soft and pet-able. Every inch. It couldn’t be as silky as it looked, could it?
Hello, momma! When she said she wanted proof she wasn’t expecting to see a naked man, alien. Whatever. He had the equipment, so he was definitely male.
Too bad she didn’t have time to play with him now.
The comfort in having him here had quickly morphed to an aching need to not only touch but claim. But she wasn’t going to think about it. That line of thinking wouldn’t get her into space, and she didn’t have time.
She had her proof. If she’d thought about it before mouthing off, she would have realized when he shazamed his way into her house it was already proof. But the naked silver man with red neon hair and freaky green eyes...was clear evidence that if he didn’t have a spaceship, he probably knew where to get one.
She took a deep breath. Unable to resist one last dirty thought...the man had a lot of evidence. She bit her lips to keep from grinning. It was time for her to quit playing possum. She was awake and they needed to go after the girls.
If he had a ship, she needed to be on it. Makayla was coming to the rescue with...shit, she forgot his name.
She opened her eyes and looked at the man who was dressed and back in his human form. “What did you say your name was?”
He smiled at her. “Falcon. Do you need more proof, my Keeper?”
She frowned. She remembered he said he would take her to his spaceship if she would be his keeper. Whatever the hell that was. And did it matter? He said he had a flying saucer and could get her into space. That was what she wanted, and she would take it at any cost. “You did turn silver right? With freaky bright red hair?”
He held out his hand and she watched as his fingers turned silver and grew in length an inch or two. “Yes,” he offered simply.
“Okay. If you’ve got a flying saucer, I need a ride.”
FALCON STRUGGLED TO control the expression on his face. He didn’t know what he felt. Happy that she would go with him but confused as to the reason.
He thought about being honest with her. Should he tell her that this would be more than just a ride into space? He looked at her eager expression and remembered the Guardian Hawken’s advice.
Hawke cautioned, Don’t argue, don’t offer an explanation when she hasn’t asked for one. Just go where she wants you to go and do what she wants you to do if it meets the goal of having her beside you. Time and the Binding Pollen will take care of the rest.
He smiled and nodded before she would question him. “I have a ship.”
She grinned. “Great. Let’s go. I’ve already packed a few things we need to take with us.”
Less than an hour later Falcon slid into the pilot’s seat on the small spacecraft and blinked. It couldn’t be this easy.
He looked over at his Keeper. She was sitting in the navigator’s seat of his ship. His entire body radiated with excitement and deep-seated awe. He was so lucky to have her there.
His Makayla was so amazing. Her skin was so soft. He knew because when he carried her to the couch and covered her up, he stole a moment and ran his fingers down one arm. The thought of that moment made him shudder.
He loved her crazy hair. So curly and unruly. She had it done up in a bun, but strands kept escaping to drive her insane. When she took it down, only to wind it all back up and fasten on the top of her head, he could tell that the hair went to the middle of her back. He couldn’t wait to play with it. To braid it for her so it would stay in place and out of her face since she constantly complained about it.
He took a deep breath and looked down at the controls. Frowned. He should have asked her about this before agreeing to take her with him. He still had a job to do. Looking over at his wide-eyed Keeper, he asked, “Where do you want to go?”
“Oh. I have no idea. But I have this,” she said and dug through the large bag she kept beside her.
As opposed to the dozens of bags and boxes that they’d loaded on the ship and put in a back storeroom, this bag she didn’t want to give up. Falcon hadn’t said a word as they transferred the things she had packed and ready to his ship. He didn’t ask her why she had packed guns and ammunition, several boxes of clothing and foods she’d dried, along with several bottles of vodka and multiple bags of coffee.
He simply loaded everything in one of the spare rooms.
Hawken would be proud of his restraint.
He didn’t ask her why she wanted to go into space. He was following Hawken’s advice. He clamped his mouth shut and just took heart in the fact that she was moving in the right direction. He didn’t want to screw it up, so he acted as if this was normal.
She sighed when she found what she was looking for and handed him a picture. “They were kind of burgundy red and pretty tall. The ones I saw were thin. I noticed that their hands had four long fingers and a face that was kind of smooshed flat. In all the craziness I couldn’t tell if the red was skin or fur, or a combination of both.”
The drawing was beautifully done and left him no question as to the species of the four-armed red aliens.
He looked up and met her gaze. “It’s definitely fur. Why have you drawn a very detailed picture of the Siloth? When did you see them?” He reached down and turned on the spaceship, making sure the security systems were on. He would be alerted if anyone broke through the shield that kept him from being seen by human or alien eyes.
Before she even started talking, Falcon readied his ship for flight. He couldn’t fight on Earth’s soil but he sure as hell could in space. He wanted to be ready to sift to a point away from Earth satellites if he needed to protect his mate.
Makayla leaned forward to watch what he did on the flight console before telling him, “Five nights ago a group of ten of these creatures surrounded my home and kidnapped my sister and my cousin. I killed three of them and have no idea how many were on the spaceship. But they are about three days in front of us.”
“You killed three of them?” his voice was amazed. Probably too amazed as she glared at his reaction. He held up his hand and said, “No offense. They are extremely hard to kill. You either need to separate their head from their body or...”
“Or shoot double-aught buckshot through their hearts,” she finished for him. It wasn’t a question.
“Yeah. That will do it.” He nodded. Pleased that his Keeper was so strong and smart.
He didn’t delay their departure. She needed to go into space, and he needed to get her alone, up where he could use the ship’s weapons if he needed too.
Falcon couldn’t help but show off a bit with the takeoff. He’d wanted to take the look of irritation off her face and it had worked.
Her eyes widened when they left the earth’s atmosphere and shot out into space. She took a few minutes to catch her breath. The whites of her eyes were showing, and her mouth was open while she panted.
As he shot them into space, she relaxed a bit. “So how will we find them and get the girls back?” she asked. Her big dark brown eyes locked on him. He knew she was waiting for his answer.
He resist
ed the urge to warn her that he wasn’t doing this from the goodness of his heart, but because he wanted her to be his Keeper. And, he had another job to do that might interfere. Plus, he was a little sad that she wasn’t just waiting for him. And yet that was ridiculous.
He must not have kept the disappointment off his face.
Makayla looked really worried. She reached out and touched his arm. “What is it? What are you thinking of? You look so sad. Is it the girls? Do you know something I don’t?” She was practically bouncing in her seat she was so worried. He couldn’t add to her stress.
Falcon shook his head. “I was just processing. I came to find you, not looking for the Jumpers in this area, but because I knew you were my Keeper. I am not sure what the protocol is for leaving your home without finishing that bond. But I know we need to go search for your family. There just hasn’t been enough time to explain who I am and what I want from you. Or tell you what a Keeper is.”
He knew better. Makayla would be focused on her sister and cousin. Ant that is the way it should be. But the waiting and not knowing if she would accept him or not—bothered him. It hurt. Yet she promised him anything if he would take her into space. He took a deep breath and sat up straight. There could be no other outcome. She was his.
He had allowed his dreams to be pushed into orbit with the stories from the other Guardians. He hadn’t believed that anyone could get their keeper this easy. After centuries of being turned down, now he had to believe.
Makayla grinned. “Don’t worry about that Falcon. If you take me into space and help me look for the girls, then whatever you need me to be...I’ll do it. That Keeper thing is fine. Just, can we go now? It’s been days since the girls were taken and I’m getting worried.”
He started to say no, that they had to talk. He wanted to explain everything that could happen before she agreed to go with him. But then he remembered waking to Hawken’s advice on this new world. The Guardian had almost lost his Keeper because he kept trying to slow her down and make her think. Hawke definitely believed it was better to let the Keeper take the lead for as long as possible.
He thought that the Guardian should only answer questions, not volunteer extra information. He said to follow what the woman wanted. If they said, “Let’s do it.” Hawke said not to argue. But he also advised that the newly awakened Guardian record their Keeper’s request if that was at all possible.
Falcon leaned forward and pressed a button on the navigation panel. Then he turned and looked into Makayla’s big brown eyes and asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to know more about me before we go into space.”
She looked at him for just a few seconds and shook her head. “No. No, whatever you need from me, you’ve got it if you help me find the girls.”
His biggest worry was that he had been awakened for a breach in the universes and needed to track the Jumpers they sent him after. What would he do? Would he go after the ones he’d been awakened to find, or change course and follow the Jumpers who dared to kidnap two Earth women?
Falcon started. Wait. This was almost too much of a coincidence. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Feeling for any disruption in the universe and beyond. He adjusted his inner being to the dimensional vibrations that spread throughout the galaxies.
When he had first awakened there had been a general feeling of unease. With no real direction to the threat. Now, as he concentrated on Earth, he realized the threat was no longer here.
He felt subtle currents that weren’t focused on this planet. Or at least they weren’t anymore. But they had been here. He then turned his mind into space and wasn’t surprised to find that the Jumpers weren’t in one place, they were traveling. And he was pleased to discover they were within just a few days of Earth. There weren’t any habitable planets that close to this planet.
He breathed a soft sigh of relief. Falcon bet the threat he’d been awakened to follow was the Siloth. The ones who had taken her family members. The Silothian race didn’t do anything for themselves. They were basically muscle for hire. Bounty hunters or in this case, kidnappers. That meant his attentions would not be divided. He could commit wholeheartedly to her cause.
He couldn’t tell where they were going, not yet. But he’d soon be able to figure it out. The Siloths had to turn towards some sort of civilization. Their spaceship would eventually require fuel.
He took a deep breath. “I am a Guardian. I was specifically created to feel the effect of chaos and pain along the undulating currents of time and space and I can sense the passage of the ones who took your family. I can’t tell where they are going or where they are specifically, but I have a direction and while I can’t guarantee we will find them,” he said gently. “I can guarantee we will look throughout the universe for both girls.”
“And not give up,” she prodded.
“And not give up,” he promised. Then he leaned forward and switched off the record button and started the engines on his spaceship.
Chapter Four
“TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED that night. You wouldn’t have been able to understand them, but tell me what you saw the Siloths do,” Falcon prompted her.
Makayla tried not to be obvious. She was freaking out just a little bit. Sitting on what she thought was the bridge. In the co-pilot chair of a spaceship. Her mind was having a difficult time keeping her eyes in one place, so she didn’t look like she was a crazy person. She was trying to play it cool.
She worked on controlling her breathing and focused on one thing at a time. Counting to five before letting her eyes shift to the next thing.
“That is the weird part about that night. I could understand them. And at one point they were talking about how the communications device worked really well. That even though one of them knew the other was speaking their alien language, the sound coming from his mouth was Earth English.”
While Falcon thought about that, she studied the console in front of them. She didn’t think it was too complicated. She had flown an airplane before. Taken lessons when she had first joined the army. She glanced at Falcon and bit her lip, wondering if he’d teach her to fly this thing. Just in case she needed it to escape with the girls.
The huge screen in front showed the vastness of space surrounding them.
On Earth Falcon had hidden his ship in the middle of a national park that wasn’t too far from her home. It had a cloaking device that made it impossible to see until Falcon used a code. Now she wished she could see the outside of the ship as it slid through the stars. It had to be an incredible sight.
He finally stopped frowning and sighed. “The fact that they had translators to pick up people from this planet is troubling. That is not their typical protocol. What else did you hear them say?”
She crossed her arms in front of her and rocked back and forth a bit. This was hard on her. She was so worried about the girls and she didn’t want to admit that their words bothered her.
She looked at him.
Then she shifted her eyes to the monitor and studied the stars in front of her. And the passing moon. The incredible view relieved the pressure in her chest. She could do this. She was in space and it was only a measure of time before she got to the girls.
“They had targeted the girls for kidnapping. They wanted them for breeders. It was obvious that they knew about them before they got to the ranch and were specifically there for my sister, Kaitlyn and my cousin, Lauren. I was a surprise for them. They weren’t expecting me. But once they saw me, they weren’t interested because they said I was too old. My sister is twenty-two and my cousin Lauren will also be twenty-two in a couple of months.”
His eyebrows rose. “And how old are you?”
She laughed. “You aren’t supposed to ask a woman that, but I don’t care. I’m only thirty-one. I joined the army when I was eighteen and had been in it for almost seven years when our parents died. I was given the guardianship of the girls who were both sixteen and was granted an early discharge from the army.” She made
a face and hissed, “I don’t know why I am telling you all this. It doesn’t have anything to do with what the Siloth said.”
He shrugged. “But it helps me understand. More than you realize. The aliens were focused on finding Earth women who had many child-bearing years left to them. They didn’t just stumble on your home and the girls. It gives me a reason and points me in a few directions.”
Kayla relaxed her shoulders. Falcon not only believed her but what she’d said made sense to him. Blinking back tears, she leaned forward. Wanting to touch him, she kept her hands to herself. “I didn’t understand most of what they were talking about. Not because of translation issues, but because they mentioned people and places, I don’t have a point of reference for.”
“What do you mean?”
She thought for a moment and took him through that night. “Kaitlyn screamed once, and I went to her room. They had floated the girls outside from the window and they looked as if they were unconscious or drugged.”
Falcon nodded. “The Siloth have that ability. Go on.”
“One of them came in behind me and he shot at me with a long, cylinder weapon.” She held up her hands about twenty-four inches apart. “But I got him first with the rock salt from my shotgun. His shot went wild. I left him lying on the floor and slipped outside. I hid behind the hose when the one I shot came out. He was dressed differently than the others.”
Falcon reached out and put his hand on her arm. “What do you mean? How was he different?’
“The others all had on sort of beige one-piece coveralls. He was wearing a dark blue one.”
Falcon’s eyebrows went up. “That means he was the highest-ranking Siloth on the ship.”
Makayla mumbled, “Not anymore.”
She sighed and continued. “The one dressed in blue was being helped by one of the beige aliens. At some point, the beige one said something about the girls being taken for breeders or link-mates, and they mentioned someone called Brac. One talked about taking them all to Zy something.”