Fire's Touch (The Enlightened Species Book Three)

by Hales, Wendy S.

  “I can’t tell you why, Mattie. All I can say is Mother had her reasons. I behaved selfishly, and luckily Mother saved me from making a huge mistake. She did the right thing to exile me. But I need you to know that I never meant to hide from you. When you didn’t contact me, I assumed you were angry. You’re my sister, Mattie—”

  “What about Hans? Why didn’t you contact him? You couldn’t have possibly thought he was angry with you. That guy couldn’t be mad at you if you rib-boned him open with a knife. He practically …” Her voice trailed off and a peach flush colored her cheeks.

  Shit. She didn’t want Mattie to know. It would just make mating Hans more difficult on her sister. Obviously something in Cassie’s expression had given her away.

  “Does this have to do with Hans?” Mattie’s voice whispered.

  Trapped, knowing there was no way she could bullshit her way out of this, Cassie nodded. “Mother caught me attempting to sneak into his room. My intent to seduce him was obvious, based on my attire.”

  Mattie’s eyes widened and her nose crinkled distastefully. “Seduce Hans? Why?”

  Poor Hans. Mattie had never been attracted to him, probably never would be. At the time Cassie had tried to justify her intent with that knowledge. “Because I …” Don’t admit the love part. Spare Mattie at least that much. Cassie let out a long sigh. “Maybe all the years of being high-strung, Type-A, fix-everything-for-everyone, dependable girl caught up with me, and the rebel inside broke loose. I’ve always thought Hans was kind of cute.” She shrugged dismissively. Downplaying how important Hansi was to her twisted like a knife in her gut.

  Mattie’s mouth gaped open in shock. The realization of what Cassie had said sunk in with a dawning expression, and Mattie started laughing. Not a happy “hehe” kind of laugh, but a sad, stuck-between-a-rock-and-a-hard-spot, utterly despondent laugh. Cassie’s heart broke for her, and for herself too. Maybe she should have taken off before Mattie had come to talk.

  “Mattie.” She pulled her sister into a hug. “We both know your duty. What I almost did would have been treason … against you. Mother did the right thing casting me out. I’m sorry I hurt you.”

  The tormented look in her sister’s eyes far exceeded the situation. Mattie shook her head as tears of misery rolled down her face. “You don’t know the half of it, Cassie. We both know you should become queen, not me.”

  Now it was Cassie’s turn to gape. “You are first-born, Mattie. You will be a wonderful queen. Mother has been preparing you for centuries.”

  Mattie pursed her lips—something she always did when annoyed or thinking about something difficult. Cassie had to smile at the expression she’d missed seeing on her sister’s face. “Can you believe when I confronted mother yesterday, she actually almost cried. Yes, that’s right, our mother. The formidable Queen Della Aleen had tears in her eyes.”

  Of all the things Mattie had just told her, that tidbit shocked her the most. “Not possible. If you had seen her face that night … I thought she was going to kill me, Mattie, I honestly did.”

  Mattie shrugged, flipping her phone open. “I know what I saw.” She dialed the keypad, hitting speakerphone so Cassie could hear the sound of the line ringing.

  “Who are you calling? Please tell me it’s not Mother.” Cassie felt panic till the line picked up and a familiar male voice answered.

  “Mattie. Where the hell are you? Have you talked to Cassiopeia?” His voice instantly changed her panicked sensation to longing. Mattie lifted a brow at her with a smirk.

  “Why do you care, Hans?” Mattie demanded in her snapping, annoyed voice. The grin on her lips didn’t reach her eyes.

  Cassie’s emotions clashed in her. Dread, hope, fear, and love all battled for supremacy while she held her breath and awaited his response. “What the hell, Mattie! What kind of question is that?” he deflected, and Cassie felt her shoulders sag in disappointment.

  Mattie pursed her lips again. “I am going to ask you one question, Prince Hansi Alba, and if you don’t tell me the truth, I swear to the Fates I will insist we mate tonight. This is a yes or no. Are you hot for Cassiopeia?”

  The silence stretched out for what felt like years then Hansi sighed softly into the phone. “Yes. I’m in love with her. Happy? Now tell me what’s going on or I swear to the Fates I’m going to strangle you.”

  His declaration made her feel faint. He loves me. She clung to the fresh bloom of happiness that lit Mattie’s expression, using her sister’s smiling face to center her spinning universe. Her mouth opened, to say what, she had no idea. Mattie held a finger to her lip, shushing her.

  Mattie kept her bitchy tone. “We’re in Mesa.”

  Hans’ voice was hushed. “She’s sitting there with you, isn’t she?”

  “Bye.”

  “Wait—” Mattie snapped the phone shut on his next words.

  Cassie’s emotions went from high to low in an instant. She had to nip this in the bud before it got out of hand. “I wish you hadn’t done that.”

  Mattie pouted slightly and folded her arms defiantly across her chest. “Well, I’m glad I did.”

  Cassie took a page from Stacey’s handbook and tried to keep her expression perfectly blank. “He’s my friend, Mattie. That’s it … I don’t love him. You’ve just set him up to be hurt.” Her throat filled with bile as the biggest, most difficult lie ever, breached her lips.

  Shame flooded Mattie face. “Oh, man … why don’t I ever think before I do stuff?”

  ****

  Conlon was impressed. By the time Stacey wrapped up her meeting, her people were motivated and driven to enact her directives. She inspired and rejuvenated them even after the disgrace of a man they had considered one of them. Pushing back from the table as the screens went black one by one, she thanked Michael as he left the room and Jack entered.

  “Mark, I want you to take the plane to Mesa, Arizona. Jack will travel with you for protection. I will meet you there.” Stacey included Jack in her conversation. Jack opened his mouth to argue, then met Conlon’s face and snapped his lips together, nodding. “Take care of Alto. See to it that the house is safe and increase the guards before you head to the airport.”

  Mark finally asked, “Where are you going?”

  Stacey sighed. “I’m porting ahead to my son.”

  “What’s … porting?” Mark lifted his brows with interest. Stacey finger-waved and Mark sulked out of the room.

  Jack’s eyes snapped to Conlon’s face in question. “I’ll have the full report waiting for you when you get there,” Conlon answered his unasked question. Jack bowed slightly and left.

  Conlon stepped behind Stacey, wrapping his arms around her waist. She stiffened and then relaxed against him. Placing her arms over his, she released a deep sigh. “Thank you for being here.” Her whispered confession, heartfelt and honest, gave him hope. In this relaxed pose, she felt slightly fevered rather than a raging inferno. He could not decide which he liked more.

  This was his moment. “Stacey, I’m not—” “The greatest communicator” was what he’d intended to say, until eight people shimmered into view. Eros, Victor, Greycia, and Greyton had been joined by two more Sicarius males, Brock and Baden, who held leashes attached to Conlon’s brother Shane and Shane’s mate Jess. His brother pulled his mate into his arms the minute they were visible.

  “Brother of mine.” Shane grinned knowingly at him. Conlon flipped him off and began introductions for Stacey, explaining that Shane was the commandant of the Human Integration Campus where Johnny and Cassie had been relocated.

  Conlon pointed at Jess. “Why the heavy artillery?” His sister-in-law snorted. He could see Stacey taking in the physical presence of pint=size Jess. Conlon liked to tease Jess about being able to fit in Shane’s pocket. Truth was, she might not be the experienced warrior his brother had grown to be, but the female made “deadly” an understatement. Like a pyrokinesis was rumored to do.

  “Is my son in danger?” Stacey’s voice tremb
led, though Conlon doubted anyone else could detect it. As usual she appeared calm and in control. Her body against his heated a notch.

  “He is well protected,” Shane assured her. “We moved Johnny, Cassie, and a human nanny named Meg into your house, Conlon. Hope you don’t mind.”

  Stacey tapped her foot. “Don’t you think they could have asked me first? Isn’t commandeering someone’s life … like rogue behavior?” Conlon heard the bite in her voice; he recognized it now as a deflection mechanism she used to hide behind.

  The warriors all looked at one another in stunned silence. Conlon turned Stacey to face him. “My home is plenty big enough for you, Johnny, Meg, and Cassie to stay. I would be honored if you will stay with me …” Forever. The word caught in his throat. Wow.

  Her back to the others, she let her fear show in her eyes while they filled with tears. She nodded. He pulled her into a hug to give her a minute to collect herself without the other’s seeing what she considered weakness from her. Perspiration saturated him instantly.

  Conlon asked, “So what’s the plan?” Jess bit her bottom lip to stifle her giggle. Yeah, yeah, the male who’d sworn off Bloodmating was hooked … yuck it up, little sister, Conlon thought.

  “The Tellus have generated an electromagnetic field outside this building. It’s already stabilized by the Aquaties. We just need to fold it to travel from here to Mesa,” Eros answered.

  “Conlon … I can’t use chortals,” Stacey whispered against his chest.

  “Why?”

  Stacey shook her head. The heat from her fear made her image start to shimmer, and Conlon could feel his hands blistering against her shoulders. “The first and only time I traveled by chortal was after my rescue. There’s too much energy in them. I nearly burned my escort to death.” Stacey closed her eyes and released her breath, sending hot air across his face. Much as he hated to let her go he couldn’t continue touching her. Her eyes snapped open, looking him over, her hand came to her mouth when she saw his hands. “Damn it, Conlon. You are the most infuriating, stubborn …”

  Victor Sicarius lifted a glass from the table, bit into his wrist and held the wound over the cup, then handed it to Conlon with a single nod. Stacey looked at the blood filled cup with furled brows. Conlon grinned at her. “Bring it on, Winkel, you don’t scare me.” He downed the glass.

  “So is it pain you like? Are you a whips and chains junkie?” The stammer in her voice revealed her true feelings. She hated her lack of control.

  Jess stepped up to them. “Stacey, do you see energy?” Stacey’s gaze stayed riveted to Conlon’s healing, blistered hands, her expression full of remorse and shame. Jess reached out to grasp Stacey’s shoulder. She jumped away from Jess.

  “Don’t fucking touch me,” Stacey barked, glaring at Jess.

  Jess took another step toward Stacey. “Answer my question. Do you see energy? Do you see colors around enlightened people?”

  Stacey stepped back again. “Not unless I touch them. Then it’s like I steal or manipulate it. I don’t see colors. I see … like a fine-ground dust. I don’t know how to explain it.”

  “All the time? Do you see it around more than people?” Jess refused to step away from Stacey. Stacey’s desperate expression called to Conlon.

  He reached out, grasping Jess’s arm, halting her. “Jess.”

  Jess met his gaze, her eyes glowing slightly. Only then did Conlon realize Jess was helping Stacey, siphoning the excess energy her fear was generating. He looked over his shoulder out the lead-glass window. Dark storm clouds were gathering as his sister-in-law diverted Stacey’s energy into the atmosphere. He released Jess’s arm and gave her a nod of gratitude.

  Stacey had pressed against the far wall away from Jess. Jess covered the distance despite the frantic, peeved look on Stacey’s face. “Tell me exactly what you see.”

  Stacey towered over five-foot-two Jess, but she looked at Jess as if she were the devil. Her shirt clung to her, saturated with sweat. Her own emotional turmoil drove her ability to the brink. Stacey’s dentes erupted and her eyes glowed a sapphire blue, dueling with Jess’s glowing emerald green. Huge raindrops pelted the windows behind him.

  “I see it everywhere!” Stacey snapped with fury.

  “Conlon, move away from the window.” Jess ordered, never taking her gaze from Stacey. Conlon scooted next to Shane and the others against the wall. “Stacey, focus your heat at the water on the glass. Turn it to steam.”

  Conlon watched as Stacey shifted her eyes slowly from Jess toward the window. The air between her and the glass rippled like a hot asphalt mirage. Pane by pane, the rain turned to steam. When Stacey reached the last one her eyes shifted back to the first again and she started over. Each pane took longer to reach a boiling point than the last. Conlon’s gaze shifted from the glass panes back to his female.

  Stacey leaned heavily against the wall. Jess swayed, and Shane shot to his bloodmate like a rocket, swooping her into his arms before she could collapse.

  Conlon went to Stacey, brushing her cheek with the back of his knuckles. Her skin was cool to the touch. He brushed her damp hair from her face. “You okay?’

  Stacey gave him a weak smile. “I did it.” Conlon had no idea what she was talking about, but he nodded to her anyway. Whatever it was, he saw hope in her expression.

  Stacey’s knees trembled and Conlon set his hand at her back for support. To hell with her “Betty-Bad-Ass” reputation. “You want me to carry you?”

  “Don’t even think about it,” she answered without hesitation

  And she calls me stubborn. “What about the chortal?” He wanted Stacey safely in Mesa now.

  Jess answered, her words muffled against Shane’s shoulder. “She and I used up our excess energy by folding it. If anything, the energy will strengthen her, not overwhelm her.”

  They’d folded the chortal? Through a lead- and platinum-reinforced building a hundred yards away? By themselves? This wasn’t the time to ask questions. Conlon headed to the exit. “Let’s go.”

  Stacey didn’t fight his guiding her out of the building and into the chortal, and she remained passive while he strode across the campus, leaving the others to follow behind, past Mattie and Cassie sitting on his porch, and into his front door. Then a giggle floated from deeper in the house. Stacey jerked her head up when a child toddled into view. He had black soft curls and huge gray/blue eyes. His chubby arms extended toward Stacey.

  “Ma.” His limited vocabulary was put to use upon seeing his mother. Stacey snatched the boy into her arms, hugged him tightly, and twirled in a quick circle. Johnny squealed with laughter echoed by Stacey.

  Gone. That was it. Conlon’s heart no longer belonged to him. Stolen by the beautiful female who made his body burn and surely owned his very soul. That moment, with her clutching her child to her chest, would be the moment forever etched in his memory as the moment he’d fallen head over heels in love with her. His chest constricted and he swayed under the realization. So absorbed in her reunion with little Johnny, Stacey thankfully had not noticed Conlon’s reaction.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The female Stacey was becoming more interesting all the time. Initially Osiris had stumbled upon her records by following the trail of people that his traitorous son, Ten, had been in contact with the years before his defection. Her inheritance and inaccessibility had intrigued him further, so he’d ordered Nine to track her. Adding her name to the medical search Huey had done for him was an afterthought.

  Osiris downloaded the thumb-drive Huey had given him and sent each file to separate people for analysis. Now he just needed to sit back and wait for the results and reports. By far he was most interested in the files for “Mick Tenor.” The fact that Ten had adopted the alias Osiris had created for him galled him to no end. If he understood what the SOSC had done to block his paternal bond to Ten, he could figure out a way to get around it and kill him. Blood transfusions couldn’t be the only solution for Ten surviving the many compulsions
Osiris had instilled. By now Ten should have either gotten himself killed or committed suicide. The fact that he still lived and continued to betray Osiris was unacceptable. Osiris was tired of waiting for Ten to leave the protection of the pacific island; he needed to figure out a way to draw him out. With luck the medical reports would give him an idea.

  No doubt Ten had developed relationships with Uncle Eros and his Sicarius spawn, since they were all shadowers and technically kin. Unfortunately, Huey had found no records for Eros and his sons. Osiris would have to work with what he did have on Eros’s daughter Umbrae and her quadruplets.

  The sheer magnitude of the children’s existence made them enough of a curiosity that he would have wanted their records. That Umbrae was Eros’s daughter … icing on the cake. If Osiris could learn how the female had successfully conceived and delivered multiple births, he could increase the productivity of his remaining breeding sites exponentially.

  The information Ten had given the SOSC had taken a significant toll on Osiris’s operations. The boy had single-handedly knocked Osiris’s timeline back nearly a century. Multiple births would go far in rectifying that, as would killing him. Tens’ defection had shaken his remaining brothers. Osiris was still trying to shore up the minds of his other sons so that they would not be inclined to follow in Ten’s footsteps, and he’d fortified their compulsions to kill and die so much that one of them had to be put down because his psyche had snapped under the pressure.

  That left him with only four sons left, not including Ten. Much as he hated it, he needed to go into the breeding sites himself and procreate. The idea had his stomach churning. Females where not attractive, never had been. Their soft skin could never compare to the feel of firm, defined muscles in his hands. Not that he’d indulged in much of either in the last few centuries—might as well kill two birds with one stone and mix his work with pleasure. A click later and he stared into the screen, which showed the male leader of the Haitian data entry compound he’d recently been forced to convert to a breeding lab. Frank sat alone in his office, going over files. Truth be known, Osiris would someday have dozens of children … if his scientists could figure out a way for artificial insemination to work on Volaticus the way it did on humans, whereby saving him from having to perform the act itself.