He studied her face. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” Though she felt herself flush, she didn’t dare look in Braden’s direction. “I promise you, I’m fine.”
Relaxing, Ruben nodded. “Dad’s furious. But then I’m sure you know that if you just spent time with him.”
“I do.” Did she ever. Though King Leo had become a master at shielding his emotions, she and her siblings and their mother could always tell. “I just spent an hour with him, watching him pace the room while I answered the security man’s questions. Meanwhile, Mother made phone call after phone call.”
“Really?” Braden’s golden brows rose. “Who was she calling?”
She grimaced. “The entire family. It’s almost like she’s assembling the troops. She called our sisters and their families. I’m guessing that they, as well as all the aunts, uncles and cousins, will be here this next weekend.”
Ruben looked properly shocked. “Why? I don’t understand how Mother would think that could help.”
“Maybe she feels there’s safety in numbers.” With a shrug, she cut her eyes at Braden and then jerked her chin toward the door in a silent plea for Ruben to leave.
Eyes widening, Ruben glanced from her to Braden and back again. She made a shooing motion with her hands.
“Maybe I should go,” Ruben finally said, frowning at her.
She nodded vigorously, glad Braden couldn’t see her.
“You can stay if you want to,” Braden put in, telling her without using the actual words that he didn’t want to be alone with her.
Tough. He wasn’t getting off that easily. They had things to discuss.
“It’s all right. Go,” she told Ruben, playfully pushing him toward the door. “I’ll be up for the evening meal, so I’ll see you then.”
Shaking his head, Ruben went, his thunderous expression letting her know she’d have some explaining to do later.
She followed behind him, keeping far enough back that he couldn’t ask her any questions. Back stiff, Ruben continued on, still frowning.
As soon as her brother had turned the corner in the hall, Alisa closed the door to the lab and locked it. Suddenly, unaccountably nervous, she decided she’d lead up to the topic she really wanted to discuss.
“About the break-ins,” she began, trying not to smile at the nearly palpable relief in his expression. “What do they want? Obviously, they don’t intend to kill me or they would have done so when they broke into my room.”
“You don’t know that for certain,” Braden said. “I might have interrupted them before they could complete their task.”
“No, I saw the video. It shows the guy—Rok or whatever his name was—entering my room and you coming to my door a good five minutes later. If his mission was to kill me, he had ample time to do it.”
He blanched, considering her words. “All right. Let’s say I believe that they don’t want to kill you. But it’s perfectly obvious they want me dead, based on the explosion in my laboratory back in Boulder.”
“Come on. You don’t even know if that explosion was related to this,” she protested. “And even if it was, I doubt the same people in your country were involved here in Teslinko.”
“Ruben thinks they were.”
This stopped her cold. “He does?”
“Yes. These extremists will apparently do anything to keep us from finding out how you remain human so long.”
“That makes no sense,” she protested, feeling vaguely ill. “Even if you discovered a potion or a pill people could take, it would still be strictly voluntary. Why deny others the right to choose to do what they want?”
“Because it’s always that way. A few people think they own the right to determine how others live.” He started to turn away, then, almost as an afterthought, turned back toward her. “Now, Alisa, if you don’t need anything else, you can go. I’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“We need to talk,” she blurted, crossing her arms, wishing her heart wasn’t pounding.
He winced. “No. We don’t. I do need to apologize—”
“Don’t you dare!” Furious now, she had to take several deep breaths to keep from blurting out something she’d regret later.
“Alisa, last night was a one-time thing, a huge mistake,” he continued, apparently oblivious to her anger. “Don’t make it into more than it has to be.”
She refused to let him know how his words stung. Or would have, if she truly believed he meant them. “That’s odd,” she said, her voice silky smooth. “I could have sworn we both enjoyed ourselves.”
Dragging a hand through his already mussed hair, he sighed. “Of course we did. That’s not the point.”
“Then what is?”
“You’re a royal princess. When all my testing is done, whether or not I have definitive results, I’ll be going home. Back to the U.S., back to Colorado.”
She waited for him to get to the point. “And?”
“And you can’t go with me.” The grittiness in his voice, as well as the tightness in his jaw, told her how difficult he found making that statement.
“Go with you?” she repeated, feeling a rush of tenderness as well as surprise. “Are you asking me to—”
“No.” The single word sounded so harsh that she recoiled. “I’m not asking anything of you, Alisa. Except to leave me alone.”
She refused to acknowledge the sharp stab of hurt. “That would be pretty difficult to do since you still have to do your little experiments.”
Strolling around the large lab table, she walked right up to him and poked him, hard, in the chest. “Or have you possibly given up on your research?”
His mouth twisted. “I haven’t finished testing you. We must have contact professionally out of necessity. But that is all it can be. We cannot have a personal relationship.”
She couldn’t help herself, she laughed. “I think it’s a bit too late for that, don’t you?”
“I’ve already tried to apologize,” he said. “But you won’t listen to me. You hear the words, but refuse to acknowledge their truth. I know you’re royalty and as such, used to getting exactly what you want, when you want it, but this time is going to be different.”
“Prejudice of a different sort,” she said. “Tell me, Mr. Logical Scientist, on what facts have you based this finding?”
She had him there. She could tell by the dull red that spread up his neck to his aristocratic cheekbones.
Finally, he inclined his head. “Again, it appears I must apologize.”
This time, she said nothing. Instead, she strolled closer to him, standing as near as she dared without actually touching him.
He swallowed hard, his only reaction to her.
But it was enough.
For a moment she watched the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. While he might try to pretend to be completely unaffected by her, she could tell her closeness disturbed him.
Satisfied, she gave him a little space. “Isn’t that what’s important here?” she asked softly, circling around him again. If she kept moving, she might not touch him. “At least to you?”
He swiveled his head, following the sound of her with an uncanny motion that made her wonder if he could suddenly see. “Of course. It should be to you as well.”
A pulse beat strong and hard in the hollow of his throat. He wanted her, she knew. As much as she wanted him. At the thought, desire swept through her in a wave of heat so strong it blindsided her.
Swaying, she put out a hand to steady herself, connecting with the cool metal of the stainless-steel countertop. She felt pulled to him as strongly as if by powerful invisible magnets, and actually leaned toward him. Because all she wanted was to feel his hard, masculine body against her, touch his heated skin, feel his mouth slant across hers.
He must have felt the same compelling impulse, because suddenly somehow they were wrapped around each other, melded together like molten metal.
Exactly where they should be.
When the floor moved be
neath them, at first Alisa thought this was in her head, a reaction to the heat of his kiss.
But the second time, when she heard a loud boom and the motion was so violent that test tubes and beakers went crashing to the floor around them, she realized something else had happened. Something awful.
“Is this an earthquake?” she gasped, holding tight to Braden so she wouldn’t fall, bracing herself for another tremor.
“It might be,” he said grimly. “Though judging from the sound of things, I think a couple of bombs just exploded.”
Chapter 13
As the seconds ticked away, seemingly in slow motion, a flurry of other sounds echoed through the walls and reached them. Sirens, another series of smaller booms. Screams. Then…nothing.
Amidst the shocked hush, a hiss as the overhead sprinkler system came on, soaking them.
“Damn.” With a sinking heart, Braden realized he’d been right. “I think at least two bombs went off in the palace, close enough to shake the floor and rattle the walls. And now there’s a fire somewhere. This isn’t good.”
“Bombs?” She sounded frightened. Then, not waiting for an answer, she moved closer to him. Instinctively, he put out his arm and pulled her in tight, trying in vain to shelter her from the cold water cascading from the ceiling.
“Surely not a bomb. It could have been a hundred other things, couldn’t it?”
“What else could it be?” he asked, wishing he had an umbrella. Already drenched, she felt smaller and much less royal, more human. More Alisa.
Shivering, she sneezed. “So you’re telling me that you think they’re attacking the palace?”
The icy water raining down on them didn’t help him think clearly. Still.
“An outright attack?” she repeated, sounding incredulous. “I can’t believe they dared.”
“We don’t know for sure it’s them,” he tried to point out, reasonably he thought, trying in vain to shield them both from the sprinklers with the jacket he’d draped over the back of his chair.
“We don’t?” Rather than sounding afraid, anger vibrated in her voice. “Who else would have wanted to attack the royal palace of Teslinko?”
She sounded as though at any moment she wanted to go hunt them down, like a warrior woman of old. Damn. The king and the crown prince would never forgive him if he let her place herself in harm’s way. And he’d never forgive himself if anything happened to her.
“Alisa, listen to me. We don’t know for certain that it’s an attack.” He kept his voice soothing. “For all I know, it might be a military exercise gone bad.”
Though he didn’t really believe that. Just in case she didn’t either, he wrapped his wet coat tighter around them, effectively keeping her in place.
“We’ve got to do something,” she pointed out, holding herself tensely, but not pulling away or ducking out from under the coat. Yet.
The instant the thought occurred to him she struggled to push away.
“What are you doing?” he asked, managing to sound only marginally concerned. “You can’t go out there.”
“Can’t I? I’m a princess, true, but more importantly, this is my home. My family is out there somewhere. I need to make sure they’re safe.”
“But what can you do?” he pointed out.
“I don’t know, but there’s no way I’m simply going to hide away in here and let some extremist group overrun the palace. My palace.”
She had a point. But still… How the hell was he supposed to keep her safe if she insisted on throwing herself out into the fray?
He thought fast. “Why don’t you call Ruben and see if he can tell you what’s going on?”
She took a deep breath. “That’s a good idea.” At least she sounded calmer. “That is, if I can keep my phone from getting drenched.”
Muttering a curse word in her native tongue, she finally crawled under the lab table. “At least this helps somewhat. Are these sprinklers ever going to shut off?”
“I was hoping you could tell me that.”
Instead of answering, she snorted. “All I can think of is that they’re keeping the building from burning down.”
He nodded, listening as she messed with her cell phone. After a moment, she sighed.
“It goes straight to voice mail,” she told him. “What if Ruben was hurt?” A thread of panic crept into her voice as she stood back up. “Come on. We’ve got to go make sure he’s all right.”
He grabbed her arm as she tried to duck away and brush past him. Her skin was wet and clammy. And soft. “We’ll do no such thing. If the extremists are here in the palace, they want one thing. You. Ruben—and your father—would want me to protect you at any cost.”
Though she grumbled under her breath, he could tell she realized the truth of his words.
“You have a point,” she finally said, shivering. “But listen to me. By staying here getting soaked, we’ve become targets—wet, ineffective targets. Is that really what you think is the best course of action? What if a team of enemy commandos comes crashing through the door at any second?”
About to tell her not to be foolish, he closed his mouth. Now that he thought of it, she might not be too far off in her supposition.
“Fine then. Come on,” he told her. “We won’t stay here. First thing we’re going to do is find a safe place to go. Hopefully, a dry place. Please keep trying your brother.”
Her shivering had gotten worse. Now she’d begun shuddering. “I will. And my parents, too. If anything has happened to them…”
He wanted to pull her close again and try to warm her up. Instead, she took his hand. “I’ll lead the way.”
Again forced to acknowledge the limitations of his blindness, he let her lead him from the room, trying to push away a dash of resentful self-loathing as he went. She was a princess in need of a knight, but he was only half a man. How the hell could he protect her from what he couldn’t even see?
Together they moved through the door. Squinting, trying hard to focus, he searched the blackness of his vision, hoping to find the lightening at the edge, the faint gray he’d noticed once before.
Instead, he saw only darkness. Disgusted with himself for hoping, he gave up the effort. Best to use his other senses to the fullest extent rather than try to make one manifest that was never going to be there.
Once out in the hallway, the acrid smell of smoke was stronger, though the sprinklers continued to douse them with icy water.
Braden barely even noticed them anymore.
“Our guards have vanished,” she said, still gripping his hand. “They must have run off to help the others.”
“And abandoned their posts. That’s not good.”
“No, it’s not.” Her grim tone told him she took this seriously. “I will make sure my father and Ruben know about this. They will be reprimanded.”
If they aren’t dead. Neither one spoke the words out loud. Instead, they continued moving forward. The odor of smoke grew stronger, polluting the air, making it difficult to breathe. Despite that, the sprinklers continued to pummel them with increasingly foul-smelling water, making him wonder what exactly the sprinkler system used as a reserve.
Still, Alisa pulled him along, moving without hesitation, as though she sensed no danger in the dank and wet halls.
Feet sliding in what had to be an inch or more of what felt like a swamp, yet again he found himself cursing his lack of sight. Would he ever get used to being blind? Apparently not, especially not now.
“How bad is it?” he asked. “Can you see in front of you, or is it really hazy from the smoke? Do you think there’s a fire on this floor?”
She never even slowed. “If there is, I’m guessing the sprinkler system would have taken care of it.”
Now that they had taken action, she sounded fearless. He couldn’t help but admire that. Many women—especially those raised as sheltered as he imagined a princess must have been—would be cowering and afraid of their own shadow right about now. Not Alisa.
Still, she hadn’t exactly answered his question about the potential fire.
“How far ahead of you can you see?” he asked again.
“Far enough.” Still she kept her hold on his hand, leading him forward the way a woman leads a small child. “Come on, we’ve got to hurry.”
Suddenly, he’d had enough. Jerking his hand away, he stopped, concentrating. He thought hard, clenched his teeth and willed himself to see.
Of course, nothing changed.
Feeling slightly foolish—he was a scientist, after all, and thus should know better—he tried again.
“What are you doing?” Impatience coloring her tone, she reached once more for his hand.
Scowling, he eluded her grasp. “Give me a minute,” he growled. “Please.”
“Fine.”
Again he concentrated, hoping against all rational thought, all logic, that he could somehow harness the power of his mind and lift the permanent blinders over his eyes.
See, he roared to himself, inside his own head. See, damn it. See.
For the space of one heartbeat, he thought he saw a flash of lightning. Blinking, he tried to find it again and failed. Of course. What had he been thinking? He of all people knew better. In the real world, miracles never happened.
Shoulders sagging, he reached out to find her hand. “I give up,” he said. “Lead the way.”
She didn’t immediately help him out. “What were you doing? And don’t say ‘nothing.’”
“I was being foolish.” Disgusted with himself, he lurched forward, hand outstretched like some ridiculous music-video zombie. When he connected with her fingers, he closed his fist around them and held on tight. “Please, let’s continue on. Let’s go.”
With a loud sigh, she started forward again, tugging him with her. They sloshed through the flooded hall, with bitter, smoke-tinged water raining down on them, and neither spoke.
Finally, after the trudging seemed both endless and pointless, he used his free hand to slough water from his face. “Where are we going?” he asked. “What’s your plan?”
“We’re going through a part of the house that’s less traveled. I want to make sure my family is all right. Since it’s obviously not safe to take the elevators, I’ve decided that we should go for the stairs.”
The Wolf Princess: The Wolf PrincessOne Eye Open (The Pack) Page 16