Seared [Pain & Love 1] (BookStrand Publishing Romance)

by Ashlei D. Hawley

  Chapter Twelve

  Mallory wanted to call Reyna’s cell, but she hadn’t gotten the number with everything that had happened. She knew Tyler didn’t have one. She cursed herself for her stupidity, and cursed the stranger for throwing spears of flame at her. Her arm hurt like hell. She was speeding, but she knew that any cop who saw her would know her as soon as she exited the vehicle. She just hoped she didn’t get a tail of flashing lights and sirens.

  Well, damn, maybe she did want that, she decided. The Hunters hated to act during the day, but Mallory knew that Tyler and Reyna had been throwing off their preferences ever since Tyler had crash-landed his ship. Now that Mallory had thrown herself into the mix, she knew for a fact the Hunters would go against their MO in order to get their current targets. Aliens were unique even for the seekers and killers of the paranormal and supernatural. Mallory didn’t even need her gift to know the Hunters would be converging on Tyler and Reyna’s location as soon as they were able.

  If they weren’t there already, Mallory thought to herself worriedly. She pushed the speed of Reyna’s vehicle even higher. She didn’t want to involve the police, but she knew one man with a gun who would be helpful to have on their side, and he wasn’t on shift today. She pulled out her phone and hastily scrolled to his number with her injured hand, hissing as the skin tightened in agony.

  “Dad,” she said as he picked up. “We’re going to need your help.”

  * * * *

  Reyna and Tyler had watched the sunrise together, but the companionability that had been between them the night before had dissipated some. Tyler knew Reyna thought he was hiding something else, something important, and it was making her draw away from him again. He couldn’t afford that. To have her finally give into him—so unexpectedly, so wonderfully, so completely—and then pull herself away from him again would be the worst kind of pain. He thought that nothing could go beyond her not wanting him, not loving him. Now he knew a new kind of terror as he realized that pain barely brushed the surface of a Reyna who gave herself to him utterly and then left him alone. He could not be without her again.

  “Please talk to me,” he said softly as they shared a quiet lunch of sandwiches and sliced pickles together. “I know something is bothering you. Your questions, they weren’t idle. What do you think I’m hiding from you?”

  Reyna plucked pieces of crust off of her sandwich. She hadn’t found herself very hungry as she continued to stew over her dream throughout the course of the morning. She sighed and met Tyler’s very straightforward gaze.

  “I feel like there’s something you’re not telling me, and I feel like it involves Judith,” she replied sullenly. There was no need to bring the dream up to him, she’d decided. Subconscious or malevolent entity, the dream had been convincing if nothing else. If there was something he needed to tell her, she needed to hear it before she could move on with the uncertain new path she had decided to embrace.

  Tyler pushed his plate away. It was the first time Reyna had seen him not finish food. That confirmed for her that something was definitely weighing on him. Whether it was a secret about her baby or not, she had to know.

  “Reyna, you must understand that everything involving you, me, Judith, and our two worlds, the way they are linked is very hard to understand,” he began. “It’s hard for me to understand, I know it will be hard for you to understand.”

  Reyna felt a flaring of her old anger, but she tried to convince herself Tyler wasn’t insulting her intelligence, he was just trying to explain—albeit poorly—the reason why he might be keeping something from her.

  “You’re going to have to try me,” Reyna told him in a firm voice. “Because I don’t know what this is. I don’t know where we’re going. I need to understand things, Tyler, and something tells me there’s something here, underneath the surface that is going to fester if you don’t help me understand.”

  Tyler felt like he was nearing a panic. There was something to tell her. He’d thought about telling her countless time before that moment, but he knew she still wasn’t ready to hear it. He wasn’t ready to say it and it came down to very simple reasoning. He didn’t know if he’d be offering her the truth or the worst kind of false hope. It killed him not to tell her, but it would kill her if he offered something so wonderful just to prove himself a liar at a later date.

  “All I can tell you, Reyna,” he began somberly. “Is that you’re going to have to trust me. That’s all there is to it. Is there something I’m not telling you right now? Perhaps. But can’t you try to imagine that the only reason I keep it from you is because I know it’s best for you not to hear it yet?”

  Reyna thought over his words and found they just annoyed her. She felt great—better than she had in years—mentally and physically and what they shared between them was undeniable. She owed a new psychological wellness and a restored body to Tyler. She could trust him with her mind and with her body because he’d already proved how careful and helpful he was with both of them, how well he knew his way around both of them. But how could she trust him with her heart if he couldn’t trust her with the secrets she knew she needed to hear from him?

  A knock on the door jarred Tyler and Reyna out of their separate but equally unhappy thoughts. Tyler stood.

  “That’ll be Mallory,” he told his mate. “She said she’d be around in the morning. If we don’t answer within thirty seconds, she’ll try to break the door down again.” Smiling at his own little joke, Tyler left Reyna to the remainder of her lunch as he went to open the door.

  There was no peephole and Tyler didn’t think to call through to establish who it was. It was a mistake, a careless slip but not one he made in ignorance. As soon as the door swung open, thunder and fire seemed to converge upon his midsection. He doubled around the pain, deafened to Reyna’s screams by the gunshot that had fired a projectile right into his stomach and out his back.

  Blood soaked Tyler’s hands as he sank to his knees, but he was able to slam the door shut before any of the Hunters made it over the threshold. He spun the lock in the doorknob, sticky fingers slipping off because of the blood that coated them. He threw the deadbolt for good measure, knowing that the locks would only hold them for minutes, if that.

  Reyna pulled Tyler to his feet and gaped in horror at the gunshot wound. She thought to grab a towel to put pressure on the injury but, God, which side of it? His stomach was a mess of candy apple red but his back showed the true damage. The exit hole the bullet had made was bigger than her fist. If Tyler was truly human, he was going to die from the terrible wound.

  Mallory parked Reyna’s car across the street from the safe house because the driveway was full of other vehicles. She had absolutely no idea how the flame-haired woman had made it there before her, but she saw the same glossy blue convertible that had been outside Reyna’s home parked with the black Hummer and another that was its match in gray. She flung herself from Reyna’s car and was running full-out toward the house where her new friends were being attacked when she found herself assaulted by an unknown opponent.

  Thrashing, Mallory took less than ten seconds to identify that it was her father who drew her away from the quickly escalating scene in the safe house. She stopped fighting him, but started yelling instead.

  “Dad!” she shouted. “Dad, let go. I have to go help them!”

  Luke Wright, not a man to run away from a fight by any means, was nonetheless not the type of man to let his flesh and blood rush gallantly to her death. Especially not his daughter, not his favorite girl. He threw her in the passenger seat of his large truck and stepped up into the cab beside her. Leaving the other woman’s car for the cops to pick up later, he quickly pulled onto the street and drove away. He’d already called in the report. Officers would be there soon, but Mallory would stay out of the firefight. He’d make sure of that.

  “You’ve got no talents or strengths that can help those two in there,” Luke said, gently but firmly. “I’m sorry, Mal, but every once in a while
we’re going to lose one or two. I couldn’t let you make it three, not my baby girl. I’m sorry, honey.”

  Mallory knew exactly why her father had done what he did, but she couldn’t help crying as they drove away from the people she’d wanted so desperately to save, knowing full well that they were condemning them to death.

  * * * *

  Tyler watched the men enter the not-so-safe house one after another and tucked Reyna into the corner of the living room, shielding her body with his for as long as he was able. The lead man was smiling smugly, and Tyler hated him with every ounce of energy he could muster. If he could stop the man’s heart with hatred, it would have happened.

  Jerry carried a device not unlike the one that had incapacitated Reyna. Tyler knew with some instinctive part of himself that what the man held had contributed to fewer and fewer of his species returning home after making their way to Earth. Something the Hunters did dissolved their spirits so fully in death that they became confined to the blue planet, never to return to their home world, doomed forever to live out miserable, directionless human lives. The device would more than kill him and Reyna, Tyler knew. It would take a collection of lifetimes, of energy and sustaining memories and reduce them to a scrambled signal that would never again be able to traverse space in order to return to the world it was meant for.

  “Do not do this,” Tyler begged. He tasted blood in his mouth and spat before he continued. “Please do not. I will leave this world, I swear to you. This is not the way you need to ensure my species leave your planet.”

  “I don’t want you just to leave,” Jerry of the smug smile told Tyler. “I want you to never come back. Does that register, chief? Your kind doesn’t stay away unless we make sure you can’t figure out the way back.”

  “She is human,” Tyler insisted as he gestured to Reyna. Jerry lifted the device and showed it to the alien being.

  “If she’s human, this won’t kill her,” Jerry declared. “And if it does, you’re a lying piece of shit anyway, so why would I care?”

  Turning away from Jerry and his apparent death ray, Tyler touched Reyna’s cheeks. He noticed that he smeared his blood on her skin, but she pressed her hands over his to keep them cradling her face. She was sobbing quietly, shaking with fear. The blood mingled with the tears and cleared spaces of her skin, only for them to be covered again as Tyler moved his hands over her face, memorizing it with his touch.

  He pulled her close to him and whispered into her ear, “Please forgive me. Please forgive me, Reyna. I never would have risked you, not for a million lonely years if I would have known. I love you so much. Don’t be afraid.”

  He kissed her forehead and though tears still poured down her cheeks, Reyna nodded shakily and clung to Tyler. That morning, she’d thought they might not have a chance to make it together. Now, she knew that wherever they were, together was what they would always be. It was a comforting thought, and she closed her eyes and pressed herself into his chest, clinging to the thought as she wrapped her arms tighter around Tyler, her mate, her love. She realized she hadn’t said the words to him, the words he had crossed galaxies, denied a throne and abandoned a people to hear. She hadn’t told him she loved him, not once.

  “Trust me,” Tyler was whispered insistently against Reyna’s neck. His moist breath played along her skin as he repeated the words in a desperate mantra, “Trust me, trust me, trust me…” And she did.

  Jerry flicked a button on his machine and pointed it at Tyler and Reyna. Lydia, who’d been standing silently nearby, raised one hand and—before any of the Hunters could object to it—let flame erupt from her skin and flow outward with targeted, unstoppable fury. The fire hit Tyler and Reyna—molten hot like the face of the sun—and in an instant they were reduced to less than ash. The heat vaporized them in less time than it took Lydia to exhale. Wearing an expression that clearly stated the scene was repulsive to her, she turned and walked away without another word.

  Too furious to do anything except scream his bottomless rage, Jerry had to take several red-hazed moments before he was able to do anything with any measure of sanity. He ordered two of the Hunters to make sure she didn’t leave and told the rest of them to get to their fucking vehicles. They were leaving before any unexpected guests showed up and they would be back to their base of operations in twenty minutes. Once there, he intended to have a very long talk with the dragon lady, Lydia.

  The bitch was going to have absolute hell to pay for the little stunt she just pulled. If she was lucky, he might even kill her for it.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Reyna opened her eyes and had to wonder at first if she was in Heaven. She knew she was dead. She’d felt the most all-encompassing, horrific pain a body could ever be exposed to. She knew no creature—alien or human—could possibly withstand the destructive force that had torn through her and Tyler. She was dead, but she was aware. She had to know where she was.

  Rising from where she’d been apparently sleeping, Reyna examined the slim stone thing and tried to determine if it was a bed or a bench. She was surprised that she didn’t have any kinks in her back from sleeping on it. In fact, she felt marvelous. Upon closer inspection, she saw that the stone bench had all sorts of mystifying symbols and what appeared to be letters carved into it on every available surface. She knelt beside it, taking in every detail. The workmanship was beautiful. A master of the craft had certainly been responsible for the creation of such a remarkable piece.

  Curiosity overtaking her, Reyna moved around the small room, trying to divine her location and the personality of the place she’d found herself in. The room seemed to be a bedroom, because Reyna saw what was actually a very large and inviting bed stacked high with fluffy, fabric covered pillows. One brightly colored, light blanket was on the bed and Reyna understood why. The air was full of heat and the way the humidity clung to every surface, it felt to Reyna that this place never saw a cold day.

  There were silks on the walls, fine works of art that showed scenes of beauty, love, war and death. The balance was somehow perfectly appropriate. The artwork stunningly embraced the fantastic balance that defined life.

  Making her way to the room’s single window, Reyna looked out eagerly. What she saw captivated her. The sky was a shimmering pink and to the far horizon she could see not one but three small moons, each in different phases of their wax and wane. Great structures towered in the distance, not remarkable as much for their height, though the size of the building was certainly impressive, but for the radiant colors they proudly wore. Reflecting the glorious, romantic pink of the sky, the buildings that looked like stone step pyramids winked and sparkled like precious stones in shades of crystal white, aquatic green and royal purple.

  And the people! There were so many people milling around in the bustling market square that Reyna could see from behind the window pane. They all wore clothing as brilliant colored as their buildings and Reyna could hear the lovely noises of speaking, laughing and some strange, ethereal music.

  Heart beating fast, Reyna longed to join the market goers. Wanting nothing more than to reach out to them, she placed her hand on the glass of the window, wanting to touch the engaging world beyond.

  Reyna’s heart began to pound harder as she saw her own hand.

  The color was all wrong—it shone mutely like fine gold and there, between her ring and middle finger a long, slender additional finger had appeared. She checked her other hand and found more of the same. She pushed her long, foam-light green sleeves up and found her forearms fairly glowed with the same unnatural skin tone.

  She needed a mirror.

  Surging to her feet, Reyna spun around and instead of finding a mirror, she found Tyler, in the alien form he had come to her in. That was infinitely better.

  Reyna ran to Tyler, nearly tripping over the long skirts that flowed around her legs and swished along the floor as she moved. She crashed into him with happiness pouring from between her lips in wordless exclamations of joy and from her eye
s in the form of cool tears.

  “You’re alive!” she finally exclaimed. “You’re alive, I’m alive and I love you! I love you, Tyler. I can’t believe it.”

  Tyler embraced his mate tightly, feeling the cup in which his blessing had been poured into had spilled over. Reyna was with him, alive, and she suffered no problem with her memory or adjustment as he’d feared she might. They were together, she was perfect, and he had the most wonderful surprise for her.

  “Reyna, Reyna, my love, I must tell you something,” Tyler said in a jubilant tone. She stopped peppering him with kisses long enough to step back for a moment and take in all of him—his wide, beaming smile, his gorgeous indigo eyes, his healthy, unharmed body and his aura of peace and euphoria. There was something beyond being with Reyna that was making Tyler practically radiate pure joy.

  “What is it?” she asked him excitedly.

  “When I first left my world to seek you out, it was just after Judith died.” Reyna felt a spike of sadness dampen her otherwise glorious mood, but she nodded and let him continue. “You wanted to know the secret I was keeping from you about Judith, my love, and here it is. Her soul was meant to be mine, was meant to be ours together. I was with her the moment she died, and I did what I could to guide her spirit here. Children are easier to guide, they are less conflicted and closer to the source than an adult. We have bodies, stored here for use for the mates and other souls that sometimes get trapped on Earth. When we can get them back, the new body is activated and the lost soul lives again on home world.”

  “What are you saying?” Reyna whispered softly.

  Instead of answering, Tyler stepped aside and made a gesture for someone to come forward. A smiling female holding the hand of an exceptionally beautiful little girl came into Reyna’s line of sight. The child’s eyes were a mirror of Reyna’s own.