Parallel Seduction

by Deidre Knight

  He'd begun falling in love with her then, and that was before the dreams had even hit overdrive. Hope ran her fingers through her hair, a faraway look in her pale gray eyes.

  "You're thinking something," he observed, wondering why she didn't just say whatever it was she had in mind.

  She nodded, looking toward him but not quite focusing on his face. "You're a military guy. You of all people know the importance of careful timing." Her blond eyebrows drew together, a line of worry furrowing them. "You have to go slow with your recovery."

  "I also push things to the edge; it's what makes me so damned good."

  An adorable smile turned up the edges of her mouth. "You sound more than a little bit satisfied with yourself."

  He shrugged. "When you've got the goods .…" He loved sparring with her—that she talked to him as an equal and a friend, not like a superior officer, or worse still, a one-night stand. If only he could get closer to her physically. Not later, but right now.

  He had an idea, and leaned back into his pillows. "Come here; I want to see something."

  She stood, appearing uncertain. He grabbed hold of her hand, tugging her right beside his bed. "Come just a little closer than that and let me get a better look at you." He pulled her right up beside his bed, until her delicate body was within easy reach. Then, hooking his forearm behind her head, he brought her down for a kiss. The bed rail kept them mostly apart, but it wasn't a total chaperone; he managed to cover her lips with his own, to feel the heat of her breath, and slowly, ever so slowly, she opened her mouth to him. He plunged his tongue deep inside her wet slickness, hardly able to think at all—not with the urgent need just this subtle kiss unleashed in him. There'd never been a woman who had set him on fire so completely.

  She stroked his hair, running her hands through it, as back and forth their tongues thrust and moved together. Finally, when he swore he couldn't breathe at all, she pulled away, gasping. Slowly he wiped his mouth with the back of one hand.

  "This was to show you"—he cupped her heart-shaped face, making his final point—"that there's only one good reason I should ever be in bed."

  Jake Tierny hid just south of the main cabin, surveying the compound as a whole. That the compound was even here—like the pristine safe haven they had all believed it to be back in this time—caused his eyes to water unexpectedly. They'd lost everything since these days. Correction, he thought, hunkering low on his belly and lifting his field glasses to his eyes: This was the present, not a long ago time. Only for him was this moment the past; to everyone else he cared about inside this compound, it was the only world they knew.

  Darkness. He would have to wait until then before slipping inside. His one chance of making this mission work was to accost Jared. Surely his king would believe him; he just had to lay out all the facts. In the meantime, he would scout the perimeter and be certain that Marco McKinley hadn't already stepped into this time. If they'd set the mitres correctly, Jake was arriving a few days ahead of the bastard. One thing was certain; Jake wouldn't let that devil's spawn hurt any of the people he cared about, not ever again.

  He would bide his time and wait, and then stop the rogue protector from destroying their future any more than he already had.

  "We have to decide what to do with Hope Harper, my lord."

  Jared stared through the windows of the meeting room at the leaden gray sky, considering this advice from his chief security adviser.

  "We both know that any operative of the FBI can't remain here, no matter what she's done to assist our cause," Lieutenant Nevin Daniels continued. "And we must also consider how best to capitalize on our victory at Warren. We have an open line of communication with Colonel Peters, sir, and I think we should take this opportunity to begin a dialogue. It's time for a summit; if not with the president, then with the colonel and others within the USAF hierarchy."

  Nevin stated more opinions on the matter, and although Jared registered some of the adviser's counsel, his thoughts were mostly directed elsewhere: toward his new wife and queen. Kelsey had been behaving oddly over the past two days, ever since receiving his ancestor's journal, which laid out explicit details about the Refarian mating cycle. Ever since reading the diary, she'd become convinced that they would achieve the heat together, even though blood fever was entirely alien to his very human wife.

  "Sir? What is your decision?" Nevin prompted, speaking to Jared's back.

  My decision is to make love to my wife for as many hours as possible and forget that I'm a king, he thought dreamily, a strange hunger for his mate pulsing all through his body. Tensing it, teasing it. He spun to face Nevin. The silver-haired adviser's expectant, focused expression was a strange match for Jared's aroused mood.

  "I need an hour to think on your counsel, Lieutenant," he answered with a noble tilt of his chin. "I shall return"— he paused, glancing at his comm for the correct time—"at thirteen thirty. Be sure to have Thea and Marco with you then, please."

  Nevin rose to his feet, giving a slight bow, and placed one fist over his heart. It was the deepest show of respect from a Refarian to their king, and Jared nodded in return, grumbling internally that Nevin always had to be so old-guard—especially for a relatively young man. The silver in the adviser's hair was simply a sign of his sexual maturity, not of great age. All Refarian males turned silver-headed once their fertile years ended; in Jared's case the first silvering had begun to appear in his naturally dark hair a few months earlier, the surest sign that his need to cycle with Kelsey was more than a casual matter. Within months it was nearly certain that he would pass out of his fertile years and into his own maturity, just as the man before him had recently done.

  "So I will return at that time," Jared added with a brisk nod toward the lieutenant.

  "Yes, my lord, and you will address the matter of the human?"

  Jared barely masked his annoyance. "Which human? Shall I remind you that your new queen is a human? So we now have two of the species in our midst, and I'd advise a bit more respect."

  Nevin's naturally dark face blanched. "I meant no contempt, my lord. Our queen is my own queen, as you are my sovereign." Again, he placed a fist over his heart, bowing much lower than befit his status as a top adviser. Some days Jared would swear that Nevin Daniels had Madjin blood in his veins, with his profound need to honor tradition. Most in their ranks only noticed his arrogant façade, but Jared knew the hidden humility in his adviser.

  "Nevin, please," Jared said softly, using the man's first name, even though he knew that Daniels eschewed such familiarity between them. "Your loyalty and respect are never in doubt. Please stand tall. I don't think I can bear this display another moment."

  "Thank you, my lord." Daniels slowly rose to full posture again, but his gaze was troubled; he wasn't a man who ever liked to misstep or falter, especially not when it came to traditional respect for his king. "When I said human, I was referring to Hope Harper," the adviser explained slowly. "Our need to determine her place here, or more to the point, how to return her to the FBI."

  "Make sure she's in the meeting, too." Jared gave Daniels a reassuring glance, then practically trotted toward the door. "After lunch, of course."

  "Yes, my lord."

  Jared trotted out of the room, sped his gate to double-time as he hit the stairs toward his chambers. After taking the steps practically three at a time, he arrived at the door and entered, albeit far too breathlessly.

  Tossing aside his uniform jacket, he kicked the chamber door shut with his booted foot. "Kelsey? I've returned." He scanned all about the semi-dark main room for his mate. "Love, I've come to you for lunch." He grinned hungrily as he considered just how he planned to pass the next hour. Eating and devouring for sure, he thought, striding toward their bathroom in search of her.

  At last he discovered his human mate standing in their closet on a step stool, totally naked, and he watched her for a moment through lust-filled, slanted eyes. She was searching for something at the top of a shelf, but h
adn't bothered dressing first. It placed her in the perfect position for some interesting bedroom play. Sneaking slyly behind her, he took hold of her bottom without a word, and she yelled in fright.

  "It's me." He held her fast about the hips. "I've taken a break to be with you." Pressing his lips against the base of her spine, he kissed and licked her there until she murmured a soft, kitten-like sound that made him utterly wild. His pulse did a frenzied dance; his heart slammed against his chest wall. Everything inside his Refarian body seemed calibrated for this one human woman, the welling need growing more unstoppable with every passing day. Slowly she pivoted in his embrace until his mouth was positioned only two inches away from her abdomen.

  "Hello, my king," she purred in a low, sultry voice.

  Palming her bare stomach he whispered, "Did you miss me?" and glanced up at her, feeling needy emotions that he didn't bother trying to mask. Nothing could be hidden between the two of them anyway.

  She smiled down at him, her face flushed as if she'd been working out, although clearly she hadn't. With a trembling hand, she stroked his cheek. "I've got something to tell you," she whispered as he bent forward to lick her navel with the tip of his tongue.

  "Umm," he said with a slight moan. "Does it involve taking you to bed?"

  "Yes, in a way."

  He glanced up at her, curious, and couldn't help noticing how radiant she appeared to be, almost as if he'd just caused a mating glow across her skin.

  "Let's make love," he half growled, reaching to unsnap his uniform pants, "and you shall tell me everything between our sheets."

  "Not here, actually—it's part of the surprise." She stroked the top of his head. "I have somewhere else in mind."

  He cocked an eyebrow, curiosity starting to overtake him. "I have an hour; then there's a meeting in chambers."

  "An hour will be plenty of time." She grabbed hold of his shoulders, sliding into his arms and to the floor. "Trust me."

  Chapter Four

  "So we're going to be roommates." Anna tossed Hope's small satchel of belongings onto the bottom bunk. "My sister has moved out—and in with Riley, her lifemate—so her half of the room is empty anyway."

  Hope stepped toward the bed, pushing her glasses up her nose in an effort to see some of the details of the room. With a glance around, she tried to size up the quarters, but her vision was too dark for her to determine much. The truth was, the glasses didn't do a thing to help her and, feeling suddenly angry, she jerked them off and tossed them onto her new bed.

  Anna launched herself at the bed frame, scrambling onto the top bunk. "I'll keep this top rack," she explained, "and you'll get the lower one. Does that work for you?"

  Hope nodded, feeling a strange lump lodge inside her throat. After several sleepless nights, and generally feeling like she had nowhere to go inside the compound, Hope felt total and unexpected relief at Anna's obvious decision to watch her back.

  "Thanks, Anna," she said softly. "I won't be a pain in the ass, promise."

  "Good. And now that we've got this out of the way, let's get to the heart of the matter."

  "Which is?"

  Anna's feet dangled off the top bunk, kicking at the wooden frame. "Lieutenant Dillon. I hear he's in need of some motivation, a real kick in the pants, as it were, if he's going to get well. I've decided that you are that kick—or something else—in the pants. So let's get going, Ms. Harper—"

  "Call me Hope."

  "Let's get going, Hope," she amended without missing a beat, "and pay a visit to our good lieutenant."

  "Actually, I was already down there this morning, so I don't know." She flashed on the kiss he'd stolen, and didn't want to seem too eager and available to him. "Maybe I'd better give him a little more time."

  "I heard that you visited him this morning, and that he perked up tremendously afterward." Anna swung off the upper bunk, giving her a chummy pat on the shoulder. "That is why you're going back with me again. So you can dispense further motivation, the kind that apparently only you can give." Anna made a loud smacking sound with her lips. "You know what I mean."

  Hope blushed, wrapping her arms about herself. "What exactly did you hear about my visit?"

  "Lots of good sound effects. The ooohs and the sighs—and pretty much a lot of smooching."

  "I don't understand." A terrible suspicion was beginning to grow in Hope's mind.

  Anna chuckled. "If you want to keep a secret in this army of ours, then make sure your comm isn't on." She opened the door and paused. "Or that the other party's isn't, since obviously you don't even have a comm."

  Hope covered her face with both hands, willing herself to disappear. "Oh, no, no, we didn't."

  "Oh, yes, yes, you certainly did. From what the rest of us could gather, our lieutenant jammed his comm somewhere between smoochy-smooching you and his announcement that"—Anna dropped her voice low, producing a striking imitation of Scott—"'this was to show you that there's only one good reason I should ever be in bed.' After that, radio silence."

  Hope buried her face deeper in her hands, wondering just how many Refarians were party to the comm link. "Does he make this kind of mistake often?" she squeaked.

  "Never, but we all figure he was off his game because of being in the hospital and the drugs … and especially because of you." Anna giggled, pulling at Hope's hands, working to pry them away from her eyes. "Come on out of there, Hope."

  Slowly, Hope did let her hands drop. "So when you said you'd 'heard' I'd been to see him, you really did mean just that." God, talk about feeling mortified.

  "Yep. And you know what else?" Anna continued. "Not much longer after that, he started barking out orders over the comm, back to his usual ass-kicking self for a little bit. We all pretty much got the picture that you're the only one who can pull him out of this depression he's been in ever since he was shot."

  "Did anyone tell him what he'd done?"

  "Whoa! Hell, no. That man would be even crankier than usual. No way, no how—and don't you tell him either, okay?"

  "It's not like it's your fault or anyone else's but his own." Hope couldn't help beginning to laugh. "Plus, why should he be embarrassed? I mean, he's one of the top dogs and all, right?"

  "Ah, but he'd be protecting you, and that's the thing of it. It would all be about his feelings for you."

  "Why are you so convinced that he cares about me?" Hope shook her head. "I just don't get it."

  "You don't get it? Really, Hope?" Anna stopped at the doorway, slipping a hand on Hope's shoulder. "This base is our essence, our most guarded secret. That you're here at all right now proves everything about what Scott Dillon feels for you."

  Jared followed his wife down a path he knew all too well; she was guiding him toward the natural hot springs hidden at the end of a private trail. Before they'd even reached the clearing, Jared glimpsed steam rising off the springs, swirling into a ghostly spiral. Devil's Cauldron, that was the name for the naturally occurring bubbling waters. Watching Kelsey's swaying hips as he followed her on the trail made Jared think that whoever had named the place must have experienced a time or two in the waters themselves—and not just bathing, either.

  "Love, I think you have concocted a devilish plan." He stilled on the path, staring at the gurgling springs just ahead.

  Kelsey slipped both arms about him, pressing her face against his chest. "Umm, Jared, you know"—she rubbed one hand across the front of his pants—"I just wanted to get away from everything."

  His entire body flamed hot at her words, and the mating heat that had been overtaking him simmered wildly. "Kelsey, I'm due back—"

  "Plenty of time." She waved him off, taking the lead on the path again. For a moment he stared after his wife—his queen—and wondered what sort of plan she had in mind. Refarian men were madly aroused by water during their mating season. Not drinking water or anything basic, but hot water. Steaming water. Water lapping about their naked mate. Ah, these things had the power to provoke his lusts into a fre
nzy.

  No wonder he could only gape wordlessly as Kelsey's jacket dropped to the stone surface surrounding the misty pool, revealing the shape of her body. So beautiful and lusciously curving, that of a real woman.

  With her hand she beckoned him wordlessly. Swallowing hard, he followed, meeting her on the stone surface surrounding the pool of water. "Aren't you cold?" He let his gaze move up and down her supple body.

  "I'm burning up. Can't you tell by looking at me?" She blessed him with a giddy smile.

  Ah, wife, you think to enter the fever. He winced at the thought of how hurt she would be when that wish did not come true. "My ancestor's journal has misled you, love," he told her solemnly. "I fear that your expectations .…" He couldn't finish; not this, not when it meant hurting Kelsey so badly. "What began for us upon our first mating never came to life in me. I don't dare see you hope, not like this."

  She placed a palm to his chest. "It's already happening, Jared. Can't you feel it? Don't you see?" She gestured down the length of her body. "Look at me. Geez, I'm on fire. Your fire, your heat. It's all inside of me, changing me. It's alive in us both and you can't deny it any more."

  It was true; she glowed from the inside out, a warm, soft hue that definitely seemed … non-human. With a glance, he made certain they were truly alone.

  Steam rose off the hot spring pools, bathing them both in an otherworldly glow. His wife had done her homework, for certain. Soft music came from a mystery location: Duke Ellington, one of his favorites. How his mate had already memorized his tastes and tempers was beyond him.

  Without a word he stripped out of his uniform jacket, and next his T-shirt, exposing his bare chest; his nipples puckered from the frigid cold. Watching him, Kelsey licked her lips in anticipation, but remained silent. Next he unlaced his boots, jerked off his socks, then finally shrugged out of his uniform pants, so that he stood before her, lean and naked and shivering.