Eternal Nights

by Patti O'Shea

  Giving her perfume ran into the same problem. Besides, Stace had so many damn bottles of the stuff, she hardly needed more. Alex had removed that item from his list as well.

  Flowers were more viable since they grew everywhere in the Old City, but if he picked them, they’d look far from perfect. More likely, they’d resemble something Cam would gather for Ravyn, and Alex refused to hand something to Stacey that was less than what she deserved. That had taken care of his final idea.

  Shit, it wasn’t like he had time to sit and mull this over. Every damn time he turned around, it seemed as if more people went missing. Four more soldiers—three men and a woman—had been reported AWOL today. McNamara was riding his ass to come up with answers before, as she put it, “half the post vanished.” Alex was working sixteen-hour days or longer, and so were his men.

  Maybe he was foolish, playing this so close to the vest, but he’d told no one except Montgomery’s team about the smuggling. Cantore and his men were investigating that angle, and Alex had everyone else working on pieces. He hadn’t even informed the colonel about the antiquities thieves because she would jump the gun, and Alex refused to risk lives unnecessarily. The woman had always been too worried about how she appeared to the top brass.

  It was a safe guess that most—if not all—of the missing were part of the smuggling ring. With the number of men and women involved, something must have leaked—that many people couldn’t keep a secret—but no one had reported it. Not one damn soldier.

  Tossing his pen down on top of the paper, Alex leaned back in his office chair and scrubbed his hands over his face. He was tired. Instead of spending his few off hours sleeping, he was spinning his wheels, trying to come up with a plan for his personal life. Why did Stacey have to throw down the gauntlet now? Why not six months ago or six months in the future?

  He sighed. Women were a mystery to him. Alex knew better than to compare Stacey to his mother, but she was nothing like his stepsister or his stepmother, Marie, either.

  How the hell had Brody wooed Ravyn?

  Alex didn’t have a clue. By the time he’d arrived on J Nine as part of a rescue team, the two of them were already committed to each other. He supposed he could ask, but he wasn’t going to. Brody would have a good laugh, and Ravyn was too close to Stacey.

  Leaning forward again, Alex picked up his pen and started doodling. With all the pairings that had happened on the planet, there must be dozens of examples to emulate, but after wracking his brain, he was forced to concede that he hadn’t paid attention to the details, only the results.

  If it wasn’t for the damn situation going on around him, Alex could pull a quick covert op, kidnap Stacey and hold her in one of the buildings of the Old City until he got his point across—that she meant everything to him.

  But it wasn’t an option. Until Hunter’s killer was identified and caught, until he’d located all the missing soldiers, Alex was stuck. He needed time.

  If he’d had more warning, he could have out-maneuvered Stacey, made sure her request to return home was denied, but she’d blindsided him. It took more than a day and a half for messages to travel between the two planets and she’d already received approval before his communique had reached Earth.

  He’d briefly considered asking McNamara to hold the transport on Jarved Nine until the murderer was apprehended, but he wouldn’t. Those Spec Ops teams were needed back home and in position before war was formally declared with the coalition.

  So that pretty much shot all his ideas to hell. Stacey would be leaving and his determination to win her was going to die on the drawing board. How pathetic was he?

  He’d never given up easily. If Plan A didn’t work, he used B, C, D or even Plan Z if that’s what it took to get the job done. His persistence had distinguished him when he’d been part of Special Operations. So with his limited time and the obvious answers unworkable, he’d simply have to come up with another method to get his point across.

  Alex dropped his pen and pushed his chair back. He had a couple of hours before he had to be back at his desk, and he was using them. Maybe he couldn’t kidnap her indefinitely, but he could grab Stacey and talk to her.

  “Sir?” his aide asked as Alex strode past him.

  “I’ll return for the twenty-three-hundred-hour briefing, Sergeant,” Alex told him without slowing down.

  When he reached his sister’s home, though, he paused. Frontal assault or covert insertion? He opted for the first choice. His mood was fractious after the bitch of a day he’d had, and if Brody was stupid enough to get in his way, Alex could work out some of his frustrations.

  It was almost anticlimatic to find the main gathering chamber empty. He proceeded down the hall, checked out the private rooms, and found those unoccupied as well. In fact, there was no one present—not Brody, not Ravyn or Cam, and not Stacey either. Where the hell were they?

  Parking himself in the main room, he waited. Alex was fairly certain there were no events tonight, so they shouldn’t be gone long, but he’d sit here all night if he needed to. With one person dead and eight more missing, he wasn’t going anywhere until he knew his woman and his family were okay. If worse came to worst, he could hold the damn briefing here.

  He should have brought some paperwork with him, Alex thought as his wait lengthened. So what if he’d been over the damn sheets a million times; maybe he’d spot something on the next read through. Since there was nothing here to keep him occupied, he began to pace, becoming edgier with each passing minute.

  Alex was ready to start tearing the post apart looking for them, when he heard someone enter the house. He turned to light into whoever it was for taking off without telling him where they were going to be, but it wasn’t a member of his family. “Sir,” the private panted, “I’ve been searching for you everywhere.”

  “Well, you found me,” he snapped. “What did you want?” The gir—woman went white and Alex bit back a sigh. Moderating his voice, he tried again, “What did you need, Private?”

  “Sir, Major Brody sent me to find you.”

  Alex felt his trepidation grow, and not for the first time, he cursed the inconsistency of the Western Alliance comm systems within the Old City. “What’s his message?”

  “The major’s son was hurt,” she said, “and they’re at the infirmary waiting for—”

  He didn’t hang around long enough for her to finish. Brushing past the woman, Alex was out of the house and headed for the infirmary at a pace just short of a run. If Brody had sent someone looking for him, Cam’s injury was serious. It seemed to take forever to reach the prefab building, and he pushed through the door, his gaze immediately scanning.

  Ravyn sat between Damon and Stacey, her hands linked with both of them. His sister was pale and tense. Her head came up the instant she heard him. What scared Alex shitless wasn’t her wanness; it was the fact that her lower lip wobbled when their eyes met. Ravyn was as tough as they came, and seeing her on the verge of falling apart had panic bubbling inside him. “How is Cam?” Alex demanded of the room at large.

  “The doctor hasn’t come back yet,” Brody reported.

  “What happened?”

  His sister did start crying then. She pushed to her feet and crossed the floor, putting her back to the room. Without saying a word, Brody followed. He wrapped his arms around his wife from behind, and Ravyn turned, burying her face against his throat. Alex looked away to give them privacy.

  Heart heavy, he made his way over to Stacey, and sat beside her. “What happened?” he asked, keeping his voice quiet. He didn’t want to upset Ravyn more than he had already, but damn it, he needed to know what was wrong with his nephew.

  The silence lengthened, and he didn’t think she was going to fill him in, but at last Stacey said, “Cam got hurt. We don’t know how. Ravyn had put him to bed, but about an hour later she heard a noise, and when she went to check, she found him unconscious on his bedroom floor. God, Alex, his head was covered in blood.”

  S
tacey suddenly seemed shaky herself, and Alex felt his own stomach heave. Not Cam. Shit, it would kill Ravyn—hell, it would kill him—if anything happened to that boy. “Head wounds bleed a lot,” he offered thickly.

  “I know.” Stacey’s voice was tremulous, and although he half expected to be rebuffed, Alex put his arm around her. It surprised him no small amount when she leaned into his side.

  “Did the doctor say anything about his condition?”

  Shaking her head, Stacey said, “Not a word. They just rushed him off. For a split second, I thought Ravyn was going to pass out.” She turned her head so their eyes met. “I’ve never seen her like that. If Damon wasn’t here for her, I don’t know if she could have held it together.”

  Alex glanced over. Ravyn and her husband were clutching each other, sharing their strength as they waited for news of their son. At that same moment, Stacey stiffened, straightening away from him, and reluctantly, he pulled his arm back. “What about you?” he asked her quietly. “How are you holding up?”

  “I’m okay, just worried. I wish that doctor would let us know how Cam’s doing.”

  “They haven’t even sent a nurse out with an update?” When Stacey shook her head, Alex decided there was something he could do besides sit here helplessly. “I’m going to find out what the hell that doctor is doing,” Alex said, as he stood and headed for the back of the building.

  Stacey caught him before he reached the hallway. “Oh, no, you don’t. What if the doctor is in the middle of some intricate procedure? Do you think your bursting into the room and intimidating him is going to help Cam?”

  “Someone has to get answers for Ravyn and Damon.” His voice came out tight, but other than that, he sounded normal.

  “You’re not charging back there,” Stacey told him again.

  He stared at her, hands clenched at his sides as he struggled to hide his emotions. His whole life had been filled with people leaving, people dying. He couldn’t lose Cam too; he refused, and he wouldn’t allow his sister to lose her son. The problem was there wasn’t anything he could do to make a difference. Not one damn thing.

  Pivoting sharply, Alex walked outside. With his hands on his hips, he took a few deep breaths. Opening his heart had never brought him anything except pain. How many more times did he have to be taught this lesson before it finally sank in?

  Slowly, deeply, Alex inhaled, then exhaled. He couldn’t stay out here long. He had to go back inside, had to be there for Ravyn and Damon if they needed him. As much as this was hurting him, it would be a billion times worse for them.

  Shit, maybe there was a reason he couldn’t come up with a way to woo Stacey. Maybe it was because he was meant to spend his life alone. He should let her go, let her find someone who was easier to live with than he was. It was probably best for him too. After she left, his feelings would eventually fade, and Alex wouldn’t allow another woman close. He’d do what he’d done before she’d swept into his life and turned it upside down—he’d take them to bed, enjoy them, and forget them. And if that existence seemed empty after three years with Stacey, well, he’d get over it. Someday.

  “How long are you going to stay out here?” Stacey asked, her voice slicing through his thoughts.

  “A few more minutes.”

  “Have you considered that you might be needed in there?”

  Alex didn’t say a word. Who needed him? His sister? She had her husband. Cam? He had his parents, and the doctor. Stacey? Sure, that’s why she was getting on a shuttle bound for Earth. He was on the fringes, a fifth wheel—unnecessary.

  The thought was enough to prompt him to try. “The house is empty without you.”

  “Right,” Stacey said with heavy sarcasm. “I’m supposed to believe it’s me you miss and not the sex.”

  “Sex?” Alex laughed derisively. “I’m damn near forty years old. Do you think with the kind of hours I’ve been putting in, and the situation I’m dealing with, that getting off is high on my priority list right now? I don’t know whether to be flattered that you believe I’m that big a stud, or insulted you believe I’m always thinking with my—” he paused, decided Stacey didn’t deserve crudeness, and substituted, “thinking below my belt.”

  “What am I supposed to believe? That you miss me?”

  Carefully, slowly, he reached out and brushed a tress of her red hair off her cheek. When that didn’t bring an adverse reaction, Alex cupped her face in his hand. “It’s the truth.”

  For a split second, hope seeped into her hazel eyes, but with a blink, it was gone, and she jerked away from his touch. “Sure it is. You just hate to lose. You’ll say or do anything in order to come out on top.”

  His temper spiked again, and Alex struggled to tamp it down. “So I’m damned if I do, damned if I don’t? Nice.” A sudden suspicion dawned on him. “Of course, maybe that’s just an excuse. You want out of our relationship, and instead of telling me that, you list all my faults. Then, when I try to do something about my cited deficiencies, you accuse me of lying to get my way, so nothing I do will be good enough.”

  “That’s not true!”

  “Isn’t it?” Alex jammed his hands in his pockets to keep from reaching for her. “You tell me, what can I do or say that you’ll believe? Name one thing that you won’t doubt me on.”

  Stacey’s lips went tight and she wrapped her arms around her waist.

  “Yeah,” he said, “that’s what I thought. As far as you’re concerned, it’s over, period, and I might as well save my breath because I’m screwed. Well, you know what, Stace? I’m not giving up on you—not because I have to win, but because you mean something to me—and if you board that shuttle to leave, we’ll both know it’s what you wanted.”

  “This is just like you to take your issues and turn them around onto me. Well, let me tell you—”

  Alex leaned forward, got in her face. “Who are you trying to convince, Johnson? Me or yourself?”

  He watched fury flame in her eyes and he bit back a smile. This was good. This level of anger meant there was still something between them. Maybe he’d hurt her feelings, and she was trying to save face. Maybe she really believed the bullshit she was spewing, but he knew better. His case wasn’t lost yet.

  “Now,” Alex said, mood much improved, “why don’t we head back inside and see how Cam is doing, or if Ravyn and Brody need us to do something for them.”

  “Alex Sullivan...” Her voice trailed off.

  Raising an eyebrow in question, he waited.

  “You are,” she said, voice vibrating with fury, “a piece of work. Everything always has to be turned to your advantage. Let’s say you ‘win.’ How long until things return to normal, and you’re shutting me out again?”

  Her question left him floundering for some kind of answer. “People don’t change overnight,” he finally offered.

  With a growl, Stacey walked away from him, heading back toward the infirmary. Alex caught up with her, and using his hand to hold the door shut, he asked, “What?”

  “What? What?” She yanked hard on the door handle, but he kept it closed. “I gave you three years! If I’d seen even the smallest indication that you were trying, we wouldn’t be in this position today. But you never put out any effort at all. None. And I’m supposed to believe that suddenly you’ve seen the error of your ways? I might be from Iowa, but I’m not that gullible.”

  “All I’m asking,” Alex said evenly, “is that you keep an open mind and give me a chance.”

  She jerked on the door again. He knew better than to push for a response, so Alex released his hold, brushed her hand out of the way and opened the door for her. With a last distrustful glare, Stacey entered the prefab building.

  Alex stopped short to avoid plowing into Stacey. Following her gaze, he found out why she’d hung back. His sister and her husband were still the only two present, but something had clearly happened. Brody appeared murderous, and Ravyn was sobbing. His heart froze, air caught in his lungs, and he wondered whet
her it was worth breathing again if Cam was gone.

  “What happened?” Stacey asked and Alex sucked in some badly needed oxygen. “Is Cam okay?”

  Brody’s arm went around Ravyn and he held her close as he said, “They want to keep him overnight for observation, but all of Cam’s tests came back normal. He should be fine in a couple of days.”

  “What’s the bad news?” And Alex knew there was some of that. Brody tended to be even keeled, so it took a lot to piss him off, and even more to leave him looking violent.

  “The bad news?” His brother-in-law’s eyes were ice cold and promised hell. “The injury came from blunt-force trauma. Some bastard hit my son in the head.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Kendall wanted to look at the image on her palm, but Wyatt seemed disinclined to release her hand. Those faint paisleys morphing into deep, dark patterns had her a bit freaked out, but she was concealing that—she hoped.

  The weird design made her anxious, but she didn’t understand why Wyatt had become so furious. She doubted he would have gotten that pissed off just because he didn’t like her leaving him uninformed. The anger had abated since yesterday, though, and Kendall had no desire to reignite it.

  She looked around, trying to find something to take her mind off her hand. They’d been walking in these endless corridors for days, though, and there was nothing exciting here. Even the rooms they found had become monotonous because of the sameness. Of course, that didn’t mean she didn’t want to come back after they took care of the smugglers, but Kendall didn’t find their surroundings much of a distraction right now.

  She glanced at Wyatt, her most surefire diversion, and wished she hadn’t when her arousal intensified. She’d ached since the dream—it had never gone away—and Kendall wondered at it. On rare mornings, she’d wake up feeling a need, but it had always been faint, and quickly gone. Not this time.

  The worst part, however, wasn’t the throbbing hunger. No, what made her heart race was the realization that the fever wasn’t merely for sex, but for sex with Wyatt.