Joon began to sink into the pavement and Charlotte gasped. He looked as if he were melting. Quickly encircling his wrists with Joon’s white hair, Tal tugged him back to the surface.
A siren wailed in the distance but she couldn’t take her eyes off the men. Tal dragged Joon to his feet and spun a web around him, a transparent, gently fluxing grid. She watched Tal’s movements, spellbound by his grace and speed.
Joon struggled against the grid for a moment then stood perfectly still.
She had her first unobstructed view of Dez dar Joon. Like Tal, his skin was pale and smooth, but unlike Tal, hatred and malice twisted his angular features, making them appear sharp and harsh. Dirt and debris now decorated his long white hair. The color of his tunic and loose-legged trousers perfectly matched his turquoise eyes.
“If I did not know better, I would think you planned this, seyati,” Joon muttered, putting special emphasis on the word. Why hadn’t her mysterious auto-translator provided the English equivalent?
“You lost the right to speak that word when you were banished,” Tal panted. The bright winter sun harshly accented his ashen pallor.
Joon turned his turquoise gaze toward Charlotte and she felt a sharp stab in her brain. She yelped and staggered back, closing her eyes as his mocking laughter filled her head.
“Protect her if you can, seyati. You have won only this round.”
Even through her closed lids, she could see the fluctuating light. The ground beneath her trembled and the wind roared in her ears. A sharp crack of thunder swallowed Tal’s shout. She rubbed her eyes, trying to focus.
Dez dar Joon was gone.
She barely had time to register that fact when she noticed the squad car speeding toward them.
“Shit!” She ran for the opposite side of the road. The embankment was not as steep here. Hopefully, they could lose the cops in the trees. Glancing back, she skittered to a halt. Tal stood in the middle of the street, calmly watching the car approach.
“We have to go,” she called out. “There is no way I can explain you!”
“There is no need.”
“Why is that?”
“This code regulator is a member of Trey’s crew.”
She stayed at the edge of the pavement, ready to bolt if he was mistaken.
“Come on, you guys, get a move on,” the female driver called from the open window without bothering to get out of the car. “There’s big trouble brewing. We’ve got to get you out of here.”
She certainly didn’t sound Ontarian. The faux officer spoke English without a trace of Tal’s accent.
“Girls in front, boy in back,” she suggested cheerfully.
They piled into the vehicle and the driver took off at breakneck speed. She pulled the emergency brake and spun the car around before Charlotte could fasten her seat belt.
“Are you sure you’re Ontarian?” Charlotte cried.
“Dro Tar Nex. Glad to meet ya,” she introduced. “I love this planet!”
Dro Tar floored it, slamming Charlotte back in her seat.
“How long have you been on Earth? You sound like a native.” The woman looked entirely human, including her bright blue eyes.
“Contacts,” she explained, wiggling her highly arched brows. “My language infusion came directly from the Symposium so it was a little more in-depth than Master Aune’s. Besides, Vee infused him, and Vee likes to sound all staunch and ancient.”
“Is Vee your mentor also?” Charlotte asked, fascinated by the contrast between Dro Tar and Tal.
“I’m not a Mystic. I work with Commander Aune—that’s Tal’s brother. He even lets us call him Trey when no one else is around, but Mystics like to keep things formal. Don’t you, Master Aune?”
“You mentioned there being a problem, a need for our immediate departure,” he prompted.
Her demeanor changed immediately. She held the steering wheel with both hands and forced her mobile mouth into a stoic line. “Yes, sir. They found Rod Sanders’ body a couple hours ago. I just heard an air unit report the location of his truck so my fellow men in blue are going to be crawling all over this area in nothing flat.”
“Then there really was a Rod Sanders? I thought maybe Dez dar Joon just created an alter ego.” Charlotte glanced out the window. They were almost back to Highway 82.
“No such luck. One of his guys found his body in the Dumpster behind the station. Joon must not have expected to need the shape very long. He did little to cover his tracks.”
“Are we going into Aspen?” Charlotte asked.
“Yeah, but it would sure help if…” She paused and then rephrased. “Master Aune, if you could please emulate my uniform, it would decrease the danger of discovery.”
“Stop the conveyance so I can study your shape.”
Charlotte chuckled. “Men get slapped for saying things like that on Earth.”
Dro Tar shot her a conspirator’s smile.
Tal and Dro Tar got out and walked to the passenger side of the car. Charlotte felt as if she had front row seats to a special-effects demonstration. Dro Tar turned around in a slow pirouette.
She could barely hear what they were saying but Tal’s abilities fascinated her. His basic shape remained the same but his clothing transformed into a neatly pressed uniform. He tried three hairstyles before Dro Tar approved his appearance.
He pulled her door open and she got out. “Does this mean I get to be the bad guy—Officer Aune?”
His jet-black hair gleamed in the sunlight, the top slightly longer than the neatly clipped sides and back. The angular arrangement of his features hadn’t changed all that much but his skin now held a warm, golden glow. His eyes appeared human, the irises the same smoky mixture of gray, blue and black.
He smiled and she felt her stomach somersault. He was gorgeous. She wasn’t sure if it was the more conventional hairstyle or the perfectly fitted uniform, but Tal made one devastating cop.
“Only if I get to choose when and how to use the handcuffs,” he responded to her nearly forgotten question.
She felt her skin burn and knew she was blushing to the roots of her hair.
His soft chuckle played across her senses like sun-warmed fingers.
“Why did you go with him?” he asked, catching her off guard.
Charlotte postponed her answer while he opened the back door and helped her into the backseat of the car. He started to get in after her but Dro Tar made a small noise.
“Up here, Officer Aune,” she said lightly. “That would be a breach of protocol.”
He took the seat Charlotte had just vacated.
“Why did you depart with Dez dar Joon?” Tal asked again. He turned nearly sideways on the front seat, his gaze boring into hers.
The meet and greet was over, back to business.
“Obviously, I didn’t realize it was Joon,” she snapped. “I just needed to…”
“Needed to what?” he persisted.
“Rod Sanders was one of the firefighters who responded the night you arrived. I thought I could trust him. I thought… I promised I wouldn’t do anything to endanger you and I didn’t. I was just going to have Rod take me to the airport so I could book a flight to Denver, but Rod— Oh dear God, my purse. My purse is in that truck. They’ll think I… At the very least they’ll think I stole the truck.”
“Can we go back for it?” Tal asked.
Dro Tar listened to the radio for a minute and then shook her head. “Too late. They’re already on-site.”
“What are we going to do? This is terrible. This connects me with a murder and I can’t explain the truth.” Charlotte shook with foreboding.
“I told you that you didn’t comprehend what was going on. I told you the danger would—”
“When did you realize he was an imposter?” Dro Tar cut in, saving Charlotte the trouble of strangling Tal. The last thing she needed right now was a sanctimonious lecture.
“Almost immediately. Once I got in the truck, he started asking me questions about my fami
ly. He wanted to know if I was adopted.”
“Were you?” Tal asked.
Charlotte took a deep breath. He didn’t mean to be rude and annoying but apparently tact was not taught on Ontariese. “I was, but what the hell does that have to do with any of this? I’ve had it with you—people. Are you going to tell me what this is about? Why is Dez dar Joon looking for me?”
Tal had to look away from her lovely face. Her wide blue eyes stirred feelings in him he wasn’t willing to consider. Anger painted the crest of her cheeks with rosy color but vulnerability shone in the depths of her gaze.
He had to protect her from Joon, but he also needed to understand what Joon wanted with her. Would ignorance keep her safe or would it simply leave her unprepared as she had been at her dwelling?
Before Tal could decide what he deemed best, Dro Tar answered her question.
“We don’t know why he’s looking for you. Even the Symposium couldn’t give us a definitive answer.”
“You don’t know what he wants?” she muttered. “That’s just great. No, that’s perfect.”
“Do you know anything about your biological parents?” Dro Tar went on.
Charlotte sulked back in the seat, folding her arms across her chest. “Not much. My whole life, I’ve had dreams of a woman. I like to think she’s my mother but I’ve never been able to see her clearly. Dad was never in the picture as far as I know, and Mom relinquished all rights to me shortly after my birth. Probably a teen pregnancy.”
“You know this as fact or this is what you’ve been told?” Tal asked.
She glared at him. He feared that would end her cooperation, but after a pause, she inundated him with information.
“Okay, you want a biography. I’ll just spell it out. I had everything I wanted as a child, but by the time I reached my teens, Mom more or less lost interest in her pet project. See, no deep, dark secrets, and the trauma came long after childhood.”
The pain he’d dispersed was building within her again. How could he learn about her background, figure out what might be drawing Joon to her, without upsetting her further? There was no help for it. He needed answers.
“How did you meet your life mate?” Tal asked. “Was your joining arranged or are humans allowed to choose their own partners?”
“Arranged marriages haven’t existed in America for years. Victor’s father and my adopted father were business partners so our families spent a lot of time together. Victor was almost ten years older than I am and my pedigree is questionable at best, so neither set of parents was thrilled with the romance.”
Pain radiated from her like heat off a firestone and nothing she said made Joon’s motivation any clearer. Tal sighed. “I apologize for delving into issues you find unpleasant.”
“Whatever,” she muttered, and looked out the window.
She lapsed into sullen silence and Tal fought the urge to comfort her. He had no idea how to go about soothing her, even if he were so inclined, but his need to embrace her, to touch her, irritated him.
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again,” Dro Tar said lightly in Ontarian. She tapped her thumbs against the wheel that controlled the vehicle’s direction.
“What, pray tell, does that mean?” Tal muttered.
“We’ve got Joon’s target. All we need to do is wait for him to come after her again.”
There was wisdom in Dro Tar’s suggestion. There was also danger in Dro Tar’s suggestion.
“If we fully understood his purpose, we could better anticipate his actions,” Tal mused. “Does he want her alive or is his intent murder? There are so many variables.”
With her open palm, Charlotte smacked the metal grill separating the seats. “I know you’re talking about me but I can’t understand you anymore. What happened to my translator?”
“Translator?” he asked in her language.
“When you were arguing with Joon, I could understand you.”
He looked at Dro Tar and they said in unison, “Vee.”
“Vee must have been translating for you.”
“Why did he stop?”
“He is extremely weak,” Tal reminded her. “It is probable his levels dropped too low for him to continue the transmission.”
“Joon was shocked that you were still alive,” Charlotte said. “Did he cause your crash?”
“He attempted to collapse the vortex. How did you get away from him?”
She smiled, proud of her ingenuity. “I pretended to be sick to my stomach so he let me out of the truck.”
Dro Tar laughed. “Good thinking.”
“He wanted me to look at him. He said if I wasn’t who he thought I was, he’d let me go. Any idea what that means?”
“Is it possible she’s Ontarian?” Dro Tar asked. “Did you sense anything when you scanned her?”
“I haven’t scanned her.” His eyes focused on Charlotte’s face and she began to squirm. “She seems to have an aversion to such things.”
“I don’t want you in my head,” she confirmed. “Don’t even think about it.”
Tal turned back to Dro Tar with a shrug. If there was no other choice, he could always scan her while she slept. “Has Al secured the dwelling?”
“Yeah. He had one last errand to run then he’ll meet us there.” Dro Tar switched to Ontarian. “If we take her to the ship, she’d be safe from Joon. The scanners would detect him no matter what shape he used.”
Charlotte was excluded from the conversation again, Tal realized. “We need to draw him out, but I will not allow her to be used without her knowledge.”
“So tell her. It’s not like she hasn’t realized the bad guy is after her.”
Tal knew Dro Tar was right, but he debated how best to approach Charlotte. He didn’t want to overwhelm her with how embroiled she truly was in Ontarian complications. Still she needed to understand the true scope of her peril.
Charlotte looked around to see where they were. Highway 82 became Hallam Street right after it crossed Castle Creek. They were approaching the elevated bridge that would take them into Aspen.
Their language was odd yet musical. She had already pointed out the rudeness of using it in front of her. They didn’t seem to care.
Depression closed in like a thundercloud. At least fear had given her energy. She raised her hood and sank into the warmth of her coat. All she wanted to do right now was curl up in a ball and sleep, escaping the pain and uncertainty that had become her life.
They exchanged several short volleys of conversation before the woman pulled the car into the driveway of a small A-framed house. It looked like a gingerbread house with its steep roof and shingled gables.
Tal opened her door and Charlotte stepped out of the car. A brisk wind blew her hood back from her face but she didn’t bother raising it again.
“I have to return the car before shift change so they don’t realize I borrowed it,” Dro Tar said after letting them in. “Help yourself to whatever you need.”
The house had a rustic charm but it was small and sparsely furnished. Charlotte took off her coat and tossed it into a nearby chair then crossed to the burgundy leather loveseat and sat. Tal watched her silently. She suspected whatever he had to say wasn’t going to please her.
In one elegant movement, he shifted back to his natural shape and sat in the matching recliner. Charlotte smiled despite her sullen mood. He thought nothing of his abilities.
She no longer found his appearance shocking. The long coil of his hair hung over the chair’s arm and brushed the floor. A hint of blue threaded through the raven-black strands. His skin reverted to a smooth alabaster that any princess would envy and dark, slashing brows accented his unusual eyes.
“What are you thinking when you look at me?” he asked softly.
“How very different we are and yet how similar.” She held his gaze for a silent moment, feeling like a child who had stayed too long on a merry-go-round. “What am I going to do? I don’t even know who’s more dangerous to
me—the police, Joon or you.”
“I can transport you to Trey’s ship,” he said softly. “You would be safe there.”
“But that’s not what you want me to do.”
“That is not what I need you to do. Dez dar Joon is a very dangerous man. We don’t yet understand his interest in you, but he has gone to a great deal of trouble to find you.”
“You want to use me as bait to catch Joon.”
He rested his hands on the arms of the chair and inclined his head in a regal nod. “Yes. Here, you are a challenge to him. The fact that I guard you will heighten his enjoyment.”
“Why? Who is Joon to you? He called you seyati. What does that mean?”
The question set him in motion. He crossed his legs then uncrossed them, scooted forward then back again. “It is not easily explained. How much do you really want to know?”
Charlotte kicked off her boots and pulled her legs up in front of her. Resting her heels on the edge of the loveseat, she wrapped her arms around her knees. “I want to know everything.”
He nodded again and leaned forward, his forearms on his thighs. “For thousands of cycles, Ontariese honored a social structure nearly backward from yours. Female Ontarians have abilities males do not. One of the most significant is the ability to recognize potential and latent powers in a prospective mate. This allowed them to choose mates who complemented and enhanced their own abilities, making us stronger as a people. For this reason, females led each of the great houses.”
The wistful catch in his tone tugged at Charlotte’s heart. “You said led. Is Ontariese no longer matriarchal?”
“E’Lanna dar Aune was the last High Queen of Ontariese. She chose Frim dar Joon as her mate.”
“Ah, a family feud,” Charlotte said.
“A family feud that rapidly escalated into devastating civil war,” he corrected. “After giving her two daughters, Frim decided he no long wished to bow to the dictates of a woman. He left her and reverted to his family name. He took a second mate, which is against the Ontarian Code of Ethics. When E’Lanna confronted him with his crimes, he swore to destroy the House of Aune, to wipe it from the face of Ontariese. The High Queen was forced to protect her children from their own father. Some believe he was mad. I believe he was evil. All of his descendants took on the name of Joon from that day forth.”
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