by E. A. James
One of the manacles broke. The creature, realizing was getting somewhere, starting fighting with renewed vigor. Hannah realized she was in trouble. Fear rippled through her. She packed up her sample kit as fast as she could. This would have to wait. She would rather face her father than die – although which one was worse was debatable.
Hannah turned for the door. Before she reached it the other manacle broke and the monster was free. She ran for the door and tried to close it, throwing her weight against it.
The creature was much stronger. It shoved open the door with no effort at all and bellowed a roar that echoed through the lab and came back at Hannah threefold. She started running but the creature caught up to her and hit her on the neck with a clawed hand. She fell and tried to scramble away but her vision was starting to blur.
This was the end. She knew it. She looked into the red eyes, now fiery and blazing, and in it, she saw her death. It was going to be painful. Hopefully, it would be quick.
Her vision went black. The hit on the back of her neck had done more damage than she’d thought. With her vision gone she focused on what she could hear. A terrible noise like the creature was destroying the lab, squealing and shouting and crying in way that wasn’t human. And then another hit on her body, her legs this time. Hannah wasn’t going to make it. Her head already felt like it was full of air. She was floating. The pain was lessening. She was drifting away.
She heard another crash, the sound of metal ripping. It sounded far away like she was removed from it all. A roar that didn’t sound like the creature that had attacked her. They were all escaping. Hannah had really messed up.
Good thing she wouldn’t be around for her father to be upset about the destroyed lab.
Heat on her skin snapped her out of the sinking pit. Fire?
CHAPTER SIX
The alarms were an incessant whining in Bane’s ears. He wished he knew where to switch them off, but Hannah was on the floor in his cell and there was too much blood everywhere. His head swam.
When the creature had broken free and attacked Hannah, Bane had lost it. He’d barely made it through the human-sized cell door – which he’d torn off without thinking twice – before his dragon had broken free. He’d run into the labs breathing fire and fury and killing that creature.
He’d had to shift back into human form to make sure she was okay, and the shift had been too quick – he’d forced the change and it had taken its toll on his body. He wasn’t as strong now. But she was safe.
He was possessive over Hannah. He would kill for her, no matter what or who it was. The thought struck him only as he was staring at her, unconscious and drenched in blood. He hadn’t felt like that about someone in a while. In fact, he couldn’t remember feeling that strongly about anyone, ever.
Her eyes fluttered and he felt her come round before her eyes opened. She looked confused for a moment, her eyes flitting around, not settling on anything. Then they settled on Bane. The blue was dimmer, a summer sky instead of cerulean as they’d been before.
Beautiful as ever. Bane sat back on his legs. She was alive.
“Where is it?” she asked, terror tackling her. The creature. She remembered.
“You’re safe.”
“You killed it?”
Bane swallowed hard and nodded. Her body sagged with relief, then, and he knew he’d done the right thing saving her. She was someone worth saving. She was a human worth his time. Her face twisted in pain and she reached for her shoulder where the blood seemed to be coming from.
The smell of blood was thick in the air – not only hers but what remained of the creature he’d killed as well. The metallic smell was thick in his nostrils. Hannah tried to sit up. She groaned.
“Don’t, you’re hurt,” Bane said, leaning forward and easing her down again. His face was only inches from hers, and when he was this close he could see the outline of her irises. Dark. Midnight.
Her eyes slid down to his lips and her emotions spiked again, attraction rather than agony or fear. Bane’s body responded, something inside him lurching. This woman would be his end.
As if she knew what he was thinking – which was impossible for a human – she blushed. Her cheeks had that color that made her look like a vision. He let himself look at her lips, too. Plump. Kissable. He shouldn’t be doing this.
Bane lowered his lips onto hers. Her eyes were open for a moment, surprise traveling through her body, but then she gave over and closed her eyes. Bane relaxed when he felt her letting go of the idea that it might not be the right thing to do either. Her reserve was pushed aside but passion that surged through her. Bane stifled a growl that started low in his throat, a guttural sign of possession. He had to keep himself in check around her – he didn’t want to look like a monster.
Her hands lifted and her slim fingers pushed in his hair. The feeling on his scalp made his skin tingle down his neck and his and his spine.
When he finally broke the kiss her eyelids were half drooped. Her face had a soft glow. If it weren’t for the blood on her ripped lab coat or the squealing alarms that created the wrong backdrop for this scene it would have been perfect.
A crashing sound came from the lab. Bane snapped his head up and listened. Footsteps. Dozens of them.
“They’re coming,” he said, but it was too late. Suddenly there were humans in his cell, streaming in with fire arms pointed at him. Someone had shut of the damn alarm, finally.
“No, don’t shoot!” Hannah cried out. It looked bad, Bane knew that. He was a specimen from a foreign country, a dragon that was deemed dangerous. Hannah was on the floor covered in blood. It definitely didn’t look good.
“He saved me,” Hannah said. That seemed to get their attention, but there was a lot of tension and nervousness in the air. It was so thick Bane could draw his fingers through it.
The guns were all trained on him. He could taste the gun powder on his tongue, a toxic mix with the smell of the anger and the fear and the shock in the room. Emotions were running high. Dangerous.
The soldiers moved slowly. They all wore protective gear and kept those guns trained on Bane. In the circle they were forming he couldn’t see all of them at the same time. The ones in front made a move to come closer. Bane took a step forward, but they jumped on him from behind. They’d tried to distract him and succeeded. He should have known better.
“Stop it!” Hannah’s voice rang through the cell but they weren’t listening to her. The butt of a gun came down on Bane’s head, sending him to his knees. They started hitting him with their guns, blows raining down on him. The anger pushed to the surface. If they didn’t stop soon he was going to lose it and a lot of them were going to die.
He didn’t want to kill in front of Hannah.
“Leave him alone!” Hannah was crying now and the sound of her distress pushed Bane so close to the edge he saw red. He was going to lose it in a second and then there would be chaos.
“That’s enough,” a deep voice boomed from the door behind the soldiers. The attack on Bane stopped abruptly. He curled into a ball on the floor, trying to cradle himself. He hurt everywhere.
“Mr. Stirling,” one of the soldiers said. There was reverence in his tone and a touch of fear, but it felt different from the fear that had ruled until this man had come in.
“Dad,” Hannah said in a thin voice. There were no more tears, but her fear was apparent, too. She feared this man that she called father.
“Have you all lost your minds? That thing,” he pointed at Bane, “has the ability to kill all of us. Secure him.”
“Daddy, no,” Hannah pleaded. She hoisted herself up even though it obviously caused her pain. “He saved me. He isn’t here to cause a war. They just want peace. The only reason he’s fighting is because we’re pushing him.”
“Be quiet, Hannah.”
His tone was dismissive. Bane got the feeling she usually complied. But something was resolute inside her now, something hard and icy in her gut.
“You can’t keep doing this,” she said. Her voice had taken on a stern quality of her own. Bane wondered if she knew how much she sounded like him. It was apparent she hated him, but they were similar in their stubbornness. “You’re not going to beat everything by acting like you rule the universe.”
Stirling looked at her. His face twisted in a snarl and for a moment it looked like he was going to agree. He lifted his hand and slapped her across the face instead. Her blond hair, tangled from the struggle, fell over her face.
Bane wanted to run to her but the soldiers grabbed him. He wanted to fight but the struggle with the creature had drained him and he wasn’t angry now. There was so much pain in the air – Hannah’s pain – and it drained him. They forced him to his knees.
Hannah wiped her hair out of her face. There were no tears. Her face was an expressionless mask. If only she knew what a clear map her emotions were to what was really going on inside her head. Pain, anguish, fear, fury. It was a dangerous mix. She looked at Bane with eyes that flashed with something – the fury? She walked out of the cell, following her father.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Hannah was a disappointment. Part of her had always known it – her father reminded her whenever he thought maybe she would be able to forget. But there were times when it was worse. She’d let the gorilla-creature escape and now it was destroyed.
Months of research – pointless. Money and time – gone. And it was all because of her. She wasn’t cut out for this job. She made him look bad. She did everything wrong. What would her mother say if she were alive?
Maybe her mother would have asked her if she was alright after she’d nearly been killed by an alien. Maybe her mother would have asked about the handsome man in cell four. Maybe her mother would have understood.
Hannah shook off the thoughts and focused on the microscope. She’d been assigned to testing only. Sampling had been taken away because it was obvious she’s been given too much responsibility too quickly. Not even Doyle had disagreed with Stirling. Whether that was because he agreed or because he was too scared to challenge the man was a different story. Either way, she was almost like an assistant now. Hannah wasn’t a true biologist.
The upside was that she could stay late now without there being any questions asked. Her work piled up during the day. She was expected to stay late most evenings, anyway. When the other employees left – some of them ignoring her, some shaking their head in pity, which was worse – Hannah had the lab to herself.
She didn’t take samples anymore which meant she didn’t have to hurt them anymore. And when she was the only one left she could spend time with Bane even if she didn’t go in there to take her samples. It was a win-win even if she’d lost her dignity.
“You’re late tonight,” he said when she opened the door to his cell with her keypad. He sat on his bed, blankets dragged over his lap to hide his nakedness. Hannah was relieved. He didn’t seem to think that being naked was a big deal, but it made her nervous around him and he seemed to understand that. Maybe he’d read her mind. With Bane, anything was possible.
“I had to finish work. There’s a reason I stay late, you know.” She couldn’t help but smile. The sexy alien with his pitch black hair and diamond eyes uplifted her mood the moment she saw him, no matter how bad her day was.
Bane patted the bed next to him, invited her to sit down. When she did she pulled a cloth and disinfectant from her pocket. When they’d beat him they’d caused damage – his skin was split in various places. Hannah had been taking care of him.
She couldn’t bandage him, which would make it obvious that she’d been with him, but she could make sure that there were no infections.
At first, the open wound had fascinated her. It was like he had silver scales just under his skin. The dragon, he’d explained, but it didn’t make sense. Very little about him did. It was part of what she liked about him. He was unpredictable, a breath of fresh air.
“What are you working on?” he asked.
“You, actually. I have to study the samples. Your blood. You tissue. That kind of thing.”
“And what did you find?”
He didn’t sound upset. He sounded curious like maybe something interesting would come up.
“I found out that even if you look like us you’re not like us at all.”
“Does that scare you?”
She looked at him. His eyes were the color of ice and dead serious. She shook her head. She was sure he would be able to tell if something scared her – he always seemed to know what she was thinking or feeling. But he wanted her to say it.
“It doesn’t.” And it really didn’t. In fact, being with him was wonderful because he was nothing like anything she knew. Which meant the chances that he would be as horrible as the rest of her life was slim. “In fact, I like it.”
He looked at her for a moment and then nodded.
“Your dragon scares me, though,” she said, her mouth tugging into a smile. She was joking, but deep down a small part of it was true. She knew that Bane would never do anything to hurt her, but the dragon had a feeling of dread that surrounded it. Long teeth, scales, fire, and those diamond eyes that had no humanity in them when Bane shifted – it wasn’t a party.
“It’s supposed to be scary. I’m a warrior. It would do no good if I looked like your kittens.”
Hannah chuckled and finished with the wounds. They were healing. Slower than she would have liked, but healing.
“What does it feel like to fear nothing?” she asked.
Bane leaned back on the bed, stretching. The muscles in his arms and shoulders rippled under his skin. Hannah stared. Heat washed through her body. She couldn’t help it. When he looked at her she forced her eyes back to his and blushed, caught in the act.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” he said. His lips were slightly parted, eyes dilated, and he had a feeling he was thinking about something entirely different from what they were talking about. He breathed in as if he smelled something.
“I fear things, just as you do,” he said. His face still didn’t match the topic.
“Like what?”
“Losing loved ones. It’s a fear of anything with a life force.” He looked down at his lap, shifted the blankets. “And when they attack, I fear that I will lose you.”
Right. The pending war. Hannah still had made no progress warning her superiors about what Bane was telling her. She believed him with her heart and soul, but they all said that any prisoner would try to threaten to buy freedom. They weren’t falling for it. They told her it was her weak heart, her soft soul, which caused her downfall in the industry. More criticism.
“I try,” she said. “I’ll keep trying to warn them.”
“I know.”
His voice was husky when he said it. His mind was definitely not on the conversation. The blankets were bundled in his lap, hiding his body. The effort to conceal it made it that much more obvious.
Hannah felt more heat. It rushed through her body, pooled between her leg. She wanted Bane. She ached for Bane. She didn’t know why an alien was so attractive to her, but in the week after the attack, she’d come to feel that he was the only creature in the universe that understood her, the only one that actually cared.
Hannah swallowed. Her mouth was dry. Her breathing came in erratic bursts. She rubbed the palms of her hands on her jeans.
Bane looked at her and his eyes flashed. His eyes slid down to her lips. It made her look at his, too. Everything about him was strong and able. His face was masculine, a square jaw, a straight nose, and deep thoughtful eyes. He was a prime specimen for a GQ model.
He shifted closer to her so that they sat side by side. His shoulder lightly touched hers and a current flew through her body. Since he’d kissed her after the attack – almost a dream she’d been so out of it – they hadn’t touched again. She’d been scared he would regret it. She hadn’t known why he’d kept his distance.
He didn’t keep it now. He lifted
his hand, put it on her cheek and turned her head toward him. He lowered his mouth onto hers and this time, she gave herself over to him. His lips were soft and supple, and raw and powerful, all at the same time. He parted her lips with his and slid his tongue into her mouth. It was hot and slick and she moaned into his mouth.
Her body was flushed with heat. Her nipples tightened in her bra and she scissored her thighs together, drying to get rid of the energy build up that would be the end of her.
Instead of letting go of her, letting her deal with what she was feeling, Bane slid his hand onto her leg and moved upward. When he touched her sex she shuddered. He didn’t waste time making it clear what he wanted, and God, Hannah wanted to give it to him.