Chapter Twenty-Four
Tears filled Naura’s eyes as she watched Tony practically run from the room.
She’d attempted to get inside his head in hopes of discovering what had him so angry, but she’d never been able to penetrate his mind against his will. And his will was the strength of a Bracadyte’s.
Adjusting herself to a more comfortable position, she swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand and focused on moving her feet.
The pain in her back, burned and throbbed, but it was bearable. Tony’s blood had already set her healing in motion.
Her fingers trembled as she gingerly touched her lips, the lips that Tony had kissed only minutes before.
Naura had never felt anything as amazing as Tony’s mouth covering hers.
She ran her tongue along her bottom lip, glorying in the taste of him, the scent of him still lingering on her skin. Butterflies erupted inside her stomach at the memory of his tenderness.
She shifted on the bed, marveling at the wetness present on her thighs.
Naura knew enough about mating to understand the workings of a female’s body, and hers had begun preparing itself with that one precious kiss. She could only imagine what it would feel like to take him into her body, to have him love her the way that she loved him.
Unsure of how long she sat there lost in thoughts of Tony, Naura noticed a shadow pass by her door.
“May I come in?” Abbie called from the hall.
Naura quickly covered herself and relaxed back against the fluffy softness of her pillows. “Of course.”
Abbie took a hesitant step inside the foyer, craning her neck to meet Naura’s gaze. “Zaureth is with me. Do you mind?”
“He is always welcome,” Naura replied with a small smile. The fact that Tony hadn’t returned with them wasn’t lost on her.
Zaureth accompanied Abbie into the bedroom and took a seat on a nearby stool. “How do you fare, daughter of our king?”
“I am feeling much better, Zaureth. But I have asked you to refer to me by my given name.”
The healer dipped his head. “It is difficult for me to change. I will strive to do better.”
Abbie sat on the side of the bed. “Roll over, sister of Hauke,” she teased with a chuckle. “I’d like to have a look at your wound.”
Naura returned her smile, but couldn’t quite manage a laugh. She slowly rolled to her side, giving Abbie her back. “It does not pain me as it did earlier.”
A gasp escaped Abbie. “Zaureth? Come have a look at this. It’s amazing.”
“Human blood is nothing short of a miracle to the Bracadytes,” the healer confessed. “We do not need it to survive and consider it a crime punishable by death if taken without consent.”
“By death?” The tone of Abbie’s voice left little doubt in Naura’s mind that she didn’t approve.
Zaureth stood and moved around to the foot of the bed in Naura’s line of vision. He clasped his hands in front of him and pinned Abbie with a serious stare. “If we were permitted to take the land walker’s blood at will, the humans would soon become the minority in a world of Bracadytes bent on bloodlust.”
“And if it’s given freely by a human?”
“It is definitely frowned upon, but does not break any our laws.”
Abbie went back to studying Naura’s wound while continuing to question Zaureth. “So, the Bracadytes would disapprove of me giving blood to Hauke if he needed it?”
Zaureth shook his head. “You are his mate, and therefore one with him in the eyes of our kind.”
“People,” Abbie corrected. “In the eyes of your people.” She patted Naura’s shoulder, letting her know that she could abandon her side position.
Abbie rose from the bed to face Zaureth. “No matter where you come from or how different our DNA, you are still walking, talking, breathing people.”
Zaureth chuckled, startling Naura. In all the years she’d known him, she had never heard him laugh.
“You missed your calling,” Zaureth teased. “You should have been a politician.”
Abbie’s mouth dropped open. “And what do you know of politicians?”
“Only what I have read. Now, I must take my leave. I am being summoned to a birthing.”
He paused inside the foyer. “Anthony Vaughn waits in the hall. Shall I send him in?”
“Yes, please,” Naura blurted, blushing as Abbie sent her a wink.
Hauke’s mate moved to follow Zaureth from the room. “I need to go also. Arcanum should be waking soon, and he’ll be hungrier than a horse.”
Naura’s lips twitched. “I love your human sayings.”
“Well, I love you. Don’t let Uncle Tony keep you up too long. You don’t want to overdo it.”
Naura nodded, watching her brother’s beautiful mate leave the room. She suddenly felt awkward. How was she to win Tony’s heart with her hair in tangles and two small fangs peeking out from beneath her top lip?
“Naura?” Tony began as he entered her bedroom. “About what happened earlier—”
“Do not apologize for giving me the best gift that anyone has ever offered me. I will cherish it with my whole being.”
He stopped next to the bed and sat. “It was wrong. Don’t you see? You should have never risked yourself for me, Naura. And I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
Pain sliced through her heart, leaving the wound in her back to pale in comparison. “You…you do not want me.”
Tony’s expression turned to something dark and dangerous. He laughed without humor. “Want you? I want nothing more than to throw you against a wall and take you in ways you could never imagine. Hard and fast. That’s what I want.”
“I do not care, Anthony Vaughn. If that is how it is done in your world—”
“You should care.” He was suddenly hovering above her, his eyes glittering in the light of the moonstone next to her bed. “Because your injury is the only thing stopping me from doing just that.”
Naura shrank back from him, stung by the harshness of his voice. “It does not matter in what fashion that you take me, Tony. Only that you do.”
His expression hardened even more if that were possible. “How many men have you been with?”
“Men?”
“Bracadyte males,” he growled, his gaze boring into hers.
Tears of embarrassment filled her eyes. How could she tell him that it was forbidden for the king’s daughter to give herself to anyone but her mate?
“No one.” Those two words slipped from her mouth in a whisper of shame. It was unheard of for a Bracadyte female to reach thirty years in age without finding a mate.
Tony went completely still. “What did you say?”
“Please go,” she murmured, covering her face with her hands.
He pried her hands away, forcing her to look into his beautiful blue eyes. “You’re a virgin?”
Naura would give anything at that moment for a hole to open beneath her and swallow her up. “Yes.”
“Jesus. I’m such an ass.” He kissed her fingertips and stood, not meeting her gaze. “Are you hungry?”
She’d just admitted to being an untouched thirty-year-old virgin, and he wanted to feed her?
Naura rolled onto her side to block out the view of his handsome face. “No thank you. I wish to sleep now.”
“Hey…”
“Please do as I ask.”
A sigh escaped him as he left the room. Naura managed to hold her tears at bay until the echo of his footsteps could no longer be heard.
Chapter Twenty-Five
President Rueben Howell arrived at St. Mathews General Hospital shortly after three o’clock with the Secret Service in tow.
They enclosed him in a huddle of safety as he marched toward the service elevator and climbed inside.
The elevator took off with a jolt, humming as it sailed up to the third floor. A ding sounded, signaling his arrival at the Intensive Care Unit.
He waited for his men to exit first be
fore stepping out into the hallway and trailing off to Henry Sutherland’s room.
A tall doctor stood at the foot of Henry’s bed, studying a chart with the intensity of a hawk. He looked up as Rueben stepped through the door.
“Mr. President. We’ve been expecting you,” the doctor announced, replacing the chart and extending his hand. “I’m Bruce Ortega.”
Rueben accepted his palm with a smile meant to put Ortega at ease. “A pleasure, Doctor Ortega. How is our patient doing?”
“Please, call me Bruce.” Releasing Rueben’s hand, the doctor turned toward Henry with a bleak look. “He’s stable for the moment, but the prognosis isn’t looking good.”
“He hasn’t regained consciousness at all?”
Ortega shook his head. “We have him in a drug-induced coma to give him time to heal, but as with any drug, it can have adverse effects.”
“Such as?”
“Well, for one, slowing brain function, preventing his body from telling us when it’s in distress.”
Rueben wanted to rip the ventilator from Sutherland’s throat and demand that he tell him where the aliens were hiding. Instead, he handed the doctor a card. “I am staying at the Hilton a few miles from here. You will call me the minute he wakes up?”
“Of course.” Bruce took the card and tucked it into his coat pocket.
The president turned toward the door. “Do we need to wear masks to visit the top floors?”
Ortega pulled Henry’s curtain closed and followed Rueben into the hall. “The virus isn’t airborne, sir. It’s bacterial. As of now, it is spread only through sexual contact, open wounds, and saliva.”
Rueben rubbed at his eyes. “As of now? Does that mean you expect it to change?”
“Anything can change, Mr. President. And at the rate this thing is mutating, it could be airborne quicker than we think if a vaccine isn’t found soon.”
“Do you really believe that?”
“The pathogens and bacterium are dividing. The more they divide, the smaller they become, expelling through a sneeze, a cough, or even a laugh, risking everyone unfortunate enough to be in the general vicinity of its host.”
“I see. Maybe I’ll pass on the upper floor touring until we better understand what we’re dealing with.”
“Probably a wise decision, sir,” Bruce admitted, shaking his hand once again before rushing off to respond to a code.
Rueben boarded the elevator, retrieving his cell phone as the doors slid shut behind him. He selected the number two key and pressed the call button.
Secretary of Defense Gerald Kerik picked up on the third ring. “Kerik.”
“I need to speak with you,” Rueben began without preamble. “Have you arrived in town yet?”
“Yes, sir. Got here this morning.”
“Can you meet me at my hotel in an hour?” Rueben rattled off the address.
There was a brief pause. “I’ll be there, sir.”
President Howell disconnected the call and stepped off the elevator into the lobby. A spark of hope took root inside his chest at the thought of the Navy ships now docked offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.
If anyone stood a chance at discovering the aliens’ lair, it would be Gerald Kerik. The man was ruthless and would leave no stone unturned when it came to uncovering the truth.
And the truth was out there, Rueben thought, as he sandwiched himself between his men and made a dash for his limousine. Yeah, it was out there all right. He just had to expose it.
* * * *
Bruce Ortega lowered his head in exhaustion as he pronounced the time of death on a heart attack patient who had arrived in the ER earlier that morning.
“You did everything you could,” an older nurse assured Bruce with a pat on the arm. “Go get some rest. We’ll contact the family.”
With a nod of appreciation, Bruce left the room and ventured off to the doctor’s lounge for a much-needed cup of coffee.
After pouring the hot liquid into a paper cup, he meandered over to the couch and eased down to the cushions.
If President Howell ever found out about Henry’s whispered words to Bruce only seconds before Ortega had induced the elder man’s coma, Howell would no doubt have him arrested for obstruction of justice.
He set the cup on a glass table and positioned himself horizontally on the couch. No matter what happened from here on out, Bruce could never repeat what he’d learned from Henry.
Closing his eyes, he thought back to the seconds leading up to Henry’s coma. How Abbie’s father had pulled at Bruce’s coat, forcing him to lean in close.
Sutherland’s mouth had opened and closed before he’d whispered, “Waterfall.”
Though it made no sense, Bruce was sure he’d heard him right. What did a waterfall have to do with the aliens? Maybe they weren’t in the gulf, after all, but in a cave near a waterfall.
No matter where they resided, Abbie was with them, and Bruce would never lead the military to her doorstep.
She meant too much to him. Even if she’d chosen one of those things over him. No, he could never hurt his Abbie…
Twenty-Six
Tony marched down the hall in search of the bathhouse. He needed to rid himself of the sticky film of salt water on his skin, along with Naura’s scent.
God, she smelled good, he silently admitted, coming to a stop outside a massive room with clothes lining the left wall. Good enough to eat. He popped a piece of gum into his mouth.
Tony shook his head, disgusted with himself for thinking of her in a sexual manner. She was pure and vulnerable, possessing a precious gift that deserved to be revered, not taken in the rough manner that he’d described to her.
Besides, he mused. He’d never been with a virgin. The thought of it both terrified and enthralled him.
Joanne had been married before she and Tony were introduced and had lost her husband to cancer.
Tony, being young and full of life with everything to offer, had married Joanne, and shortly thereafter became a father for the first time.
Sex became virtually nonexistent after their son’s birth, and for some reason, Joanne’s sexual desires never truly returned.
Oh, she’d tried, he recalled, grabbing a towel from the shelf and checking to be sure he was alone. But the spark seemed to have disappeared along with her swollen belly.
Tony climbed into the warm water of the pool and grabbed up a sweet-smelling cake of soap. He began lathering up his body as memories of his past swept through his mind.
Joanne’s laughter. Her amazing ability as a mother. Her intelligence and giving side all played a part in who she’d been.
Tony slowed his movements as the reality of his dilemma settled in his gut. It wasn’t anger and fear alone warring inside his heart. It was also guilt.
In all the years he’d been with Joanne, he’d never felt the amount of longing or passion as he did in that one kiss he’d shared with Naura.
What kind of a bastard was he? Joanne had been his wife. The mother of his child. He’d loved her. He loved her still. Didn’t he?”
Naura’s beautiful face haunted him. What was it about the Bracadyte female that called to him? Her scent, her eyes, her skin…everything about her attracted him. He craved her in a primitive way he’d never experienced with Joanne. Or anyone else for that matter.
Tony finished his bath and moved to sit on a stone bench situated behind a wall. He ran a hand down his stomach and gripped his throbbing erection. His lips peeled back over his teeth as he slid his fist down his aching length.
“Joanne,” he whispered, allowing his eyes to drift shut. But it was Naura’s face that appeared behind his closed lids.
“Son of a bitch,” Tony snarled, releasing his shaft and jumping to his feet.
He wrapped the towel around his waist, grabbed his clothes, and rushed from the chamber. He needed to leave Aukrabah before he gave into his lust and had sex with the king’s virgin daughter.
Tony noticed a male disappear inside
Naura’s room as he rounded the corner that led to her apartment. Jealousy as well as rage sparked inside him.
He stopped outside her door and pressed his back against the wall to listen.
Braum’s deep voice echoed through the room of her apartment, loud enough for Tony to hear. “I brought you some food.”
“Thank you, but I’m not hungry,” came her muffled reply.
“You must eat if you are to regain your strength. The young guards are beginning to think you are afraid of them.”
Naura’s soft chuckle caused Tony’s gut to tighten with another bought of jealousy. “I fear no one.”
“How is the wound? Is it healing well?”
“I will be as good as new in a matter of moons. You need not concern yourself with my welfare. You only returned home recently, and I am certain that you have much to do besides tend to my needs.”
“But I want to. Your needs are my priority, sweet Naura.”
Tony fought back a snarl at Braum’s flowery words. It was painfully obvious the guy was in love with her.
“Very well. I will take a few bites.”
“Excellent. It is nice and warm.”
The sounds of a spoon clinking in a bowl could be heard over the thundering of Tony’s heart. He wanted to take that damn spoon and stab the drooling Bracadyte in the throat with it.
He leaned in closer, straining to hear Braum’s next words.
“Where is your friend, the land walker?”
There was a brief pause. “I do not know, nor do I care.”
“Does that mean that you do not have romantic feelings for him?”
The hope in Braum’s voice sickened Tony almost as much as Naura’s next words. “I thought I did. But it has become painfully clear that he is not the male for me.”
“In that case, would you mind if I call on you when you are stronger?”
“I would be honored, Braum.”
Pushing away from the wall, Tony strode off toward his own room. Once he’d dressed, had a bite to eat, and gotten some sleep, he would seek out Vaulcron and make arrangements to return to Cuba as soon as possible.
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