“Where is she?”
She froze; the voice was low and deadly. She shook, feeling hives break out on her arms.
“Who?” Phoenix’s voice was calm.
“The Firestarter.”
“She left over a week ago.”
“You have to get away Rylee.”
“How am I supposed to do that Marc?”
“The window.” His voice was whispered in her ear.
She went to the large tub and stood on the rim reaching up to open the window. It was wide, big enough for her to climb through. The window was made of one-way glass. Phoenix never told her that, but as surely as her name was Rylee, she knew no one could look in.
She opened the window and looked down. Her head swam from dizziness when she realized just how far from the ground she was. They were only on the second floor. It was the height of the ceilings.
Hell no, there was no way she would survive the jump without breaking something. Her throat worked as it tried to contain her nausea. The side of the house with smooth.
“She’s still here.” Another voice spoke. “His kind doesn’t give up mates, unlike mine. We eat them if it doesn’t work out.”
Rylee’s eyes met Elfin’s looking for confirmation of what she heard. He nodded his head; his eyes were as wide as hers.
“You have to go,” Marc whispered fiercely. “It’s the only way you’ll be free.”
She looked for him, but his avatar was gone. He was nothing but a whispered voice in the room. She shook her head, there was no way she was deserting Phoenix or the rest of her family. She stepped down and made it to the door.
“She’s not here, if she were I would have made a way for her to escape.”
“You didn’t know we were coming.” There was a sick joy in that voice.
“She would know that she couldn’t help if she was stuck in our rooms.” The tone of Phoenix’s voice was steady. It stopped the pounding of her heart.
He was right rushing out there wouldn’t give her any kind of advantage. How did he expect her to leave him?
“The window Rylee.” Marc’s voice was urgent.
She nodded wordlessly while Elfin who was clinging to the front of her shirt climbed his way to her shoulders and wrapped around her neck. He was going wherever she went.
“No pressure Elfin. Now I have to keep both of us alive.”
“I trust you.”
She climbed back onto the lip of the tub and looked out the window. It was her only means to escape, and it was a death trap. A small sound caught her ears. It sounded like rock being forcefully pulled over rock. She looked down to find stone creaking loudly being forced out of the side of the mansion. It came out enough to give her enough room to grip her fingers and toes almost like a staircase of death.
If she were a climber, she’d have this. Truthfully, she didn’t walk a treadmill. Exercise wasn’t her thing. She gave up when she realized her hips were never going to be skinny.
The door to the bedroom slammed open. She was out of time. She said several prayers as well as a Hail Mary and anything else she could think of before she hoisted herself up to the windowsill. She was on her knees when she turned around facing the inside of the bathroom.
The handle on the bathroom door jiggled. She dropped clutching for the extended brick in a panic. The window shut with a soft swoosh. She didn’t have time to wonder how that happened.
She stayed still trying to catch her breath when a figure came to the window. One she could see clearly. If she could see him, then he should be able to see her. He was horrible to look at. She knew he was wearing a human disguise, but she was seeing the being underneath. His skin hung from his bones. His teeth were sharp, red, and looked like they could cut through bone. If he was the person she thought he was, that made him the being who ate his mate.
Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Or was it the other way? Doesn’t matter, just don’t hyperventilate.
She waited for him to sound the alarm as his eyes looked directly at her. He tried to open the window; it wouldn’t budge. Soon he turned around with a shrug and left the window. He hadn’t seen her, but she wasn’t out of the woods yet.
She called on every spiritual deity she ever heard of and a few she decided must be alien deities to get her down safely. Her feet were bare; it made it easier for her toes to hook onto the bricks. It also made it easier for her to cut her feet.
She refused to look down knowing that she would fall. Carefully she lowered herself wondering if this wasn’t an exercise in futility. She reached out one seeking foot realizing there were no more bricks for her to stand on. She looked down. Her heart sank; she needed to jump the last story.
“Elfin jump. You can make it; you're a cat.” She wasn’t sure she would land without breaking something that meant her neck.
“No.” It was short and sweet. In it was also the stubbornness of a teenager.
“We’re going to talk about this later.”
She took a deep breath and jumped. She wasn’t going to make it. Her eyes closed as death reached for her.
Chapter Sixteen
How long did it take to fall into blazing agony? Seriously, why hadn’t she reached the ground yet? She opened her eyes expecting to see the greedy ground reaching up for her. When the grass was inches away from her face, she looked around. She was floating. What the hell?
Elfin’s sweet laughter reached her before he jumped down. “Come on, we don’t have all day to play in the grass.”
“Why you little… why didn’t you tell me?”
“And stop your amusing thoughts of death.” He laughed then sobered up. “I can’t make you do anything Rylee it has to be your choice. You chose possible death to help those you love. When you committed, I was able to commit.”
She nodded; it made sense in a strange way. You want to live; I'll help you. If you want to die, I’ll leave you to it. Those were the words her mom spoke to her after she adopted her. Elfin laid her on the grass. She got up and plastered herself against the side of the house.
They stuck to the shadows with Elfin going first. They figured who would think a cat was gathering information?
“The family is sitting in the kitchen. Tee and the others are sitting outside the kitchen door. One of the aliens is threatening to kill them if they came back in.”
Tee and the others were in their cat forms. There was a cat door on the kitchen door. That way they could come and go as they pleased without needing opposable thumbs.
“They are waiting on you,” Elfin said.
“No pressure there.” She mumbled to herself wondering how her boring life had become one filled with danger and a sexy male who made her feel things.
She crept closer to the end of the wall that would leave several feet of unprotected space between her and the kitchen door when a sniffle caught her attention. It sounded like someone trying not to cry. Looking around she couldn’t find anyone. Turning she concentrated on the door. What could she do if she successfully breached it? Giving up wasn’t an option. Phoenix would have a fit and rightly so. He was willing to die for her, and she… well she was willing to die for him. Probably some misplaced loyalty. I mean what else could it be.
Again, with the sniffling. She turned and still couldn’t find the source.
“Are you ready?”
“Yep.” Of course, she was ready. Here comes freaking Rylee to save the day.
Before she could move from against the wall, there was more sniffling.
“Sorry love. I have to find out what this means. Distract them for a while.” She didn’t know if Phoenix could hear her, he seemed to be able to hear everything when they were under house arrest. House her ass, they were under one-floor arrest. She smiled wondering how she could find humor in such a grim situation.
“You’re going the wrong way.”
She was, but Elfin was right beside her. Her feet took her to the right. It was also an open space, but no one in the kitchen w
ould be able to see it. She walked until she felt a pressure against her legs.
“What the?” Something was hindering her movements. The further she went the more she felt like she was in quicksand. She was sinking and unable to move.
Holding out her hand, she summoned a large flame. She commanded it to break up and highlight what was in front of her. A clear wall was between her and a child. A child?
The child’s head moved. The lightest lavender eyes she ever saw looked at her out of a midnight dark face, lavender hair spilled over her shoulders.
So not human. Rylee tugged at her shirt, the innocent beauty of that child was making her feel like she was something the cat threw up and then dragged in. The girl raised her hand and waved.
Not a child a preteen.
“What are you doing here?” She whispered looking around for whoever imprisoned the girl.
“The hunters caught me, took me from my world and imprisoned me. I have to do what they say, or they will kill me.”
“What are you doing?” Rylee asked measuring the cage they were holding her in.
“I placed a dampening field around the property. It will stop the others from relying on any abilities they might have.”
“I called my fire.”
“You are part of the planet, I was not told to block natural inhabitants.”
“That’s why the cats can move about freely?”
“As long as they are cats, they are part of the planet, except for the one. She is like you a part of the planet.”
Rylee nodded; she meant Tee or Tia when she was in her human form.
“Let’s get you out of there.”
“You can do that?”
She hoped so. She took control of the dancing spheres of fire that illuminated the young girl. The fire moved closer to the clear enclosure. I need you to burn the sphere without harming the child. She gave the fire a direction. It was one of the deadliest forces on the planet, but water or wind could easily stop it in its tracks.
She thought briefly of the wildfires in California. It wasn’t as easy to stop fire as many believed. The fire licked over the barrier stopping as if it were alive to check in with Rylee. She encouraged it to move to devour, yet to be careful.
The more she worked with her fire, the more she understood it was an extension of herself. That gave it more of a mind. It didn’t destroy indiscriminately because she didn’t. It looked for ways to make Rylee proud. When the first spark broke through the barrier, it immediately put itself out. Then there was another breakthrough. Soon the girl was standing with a smile on her beautiful face.
“You make me want to get a facelift you're so beautiful. What’s your name?” Rylee changed the subject not wanting the child to think she was jealous of her, or worse one of those adults who abused children.
Was she jealous? No, she shook her head and flexed her fingers. There was an ache in her chest. It was like looking at someone who had their whole life ahead of them and briefly wishing for a chance to do it again.
“My name is See-la,” she pronounced every syllable slowly.
“Nice to meet you, Sela.”
“You too.”
“My name is Rylee.”
“Rylee beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Before anyone else truly finds you beautiful, you must find yourself that way first.”
Shit! Educated by a twelve-year-old.
Sela went down on her knees to pick up Elfin. “I found you handsome; I'm never going to let you go.”
“You know that’s my cat, right?” Rylee asked her, wondering why she was squaring off with a child.
“No, he’s mine. Don’t worry I’ll let you watch over and protect us until we’re old enough to protect each other.”
“Let me…” Nope, not touching that. “We have to get you somewhere safe.”
“Wait.” Sela placed her hands in front of her, palms out. Her thumbs were touching. Then with smooth movements, she moved her hands to the side palms still out. Between her outstretched hands was a panel.
The panel reminded her of one of those games she had seen in the toy department of one of her favorite stores. It had squares on it with numbers and only one slot open to rearrange them. The kids were supposed to arrange the numbers in numerical order.
The panel in front of Sela didn’t have numbers on it. It was filled in with strange symbols that could have been words or the alphabet, or her dinner order. Sela moved the objects quickly, separating and then combining different squares until there was a rosy glow that came from the panel.
“I get better at this each time I do it.” She closed her hands, and the panel disappeared “I’ve undone everything I did.”
“The cats are here for you; they are going to protect you.” Rylee watched as each cat took on a humanoid shape. This was going to take some getting used to.
“I know a safe place for you,” Tia said. “I love your hair, I wonder if I can dye mine that color.”
“I’m in,” Emani agreed. “I bet Serenity will flip her…” She stopped to look at Rylee, and then they all giggled together.
“Keep Sela safe and I’ll keep your almost slip to myself.”
“Are you coming Elfin?” Sela stopped to look at him. He walked to Rylee.
“Go with Sela, I need to know you’re safe.”
“My job is to keep you safe.”
“You did that when you didn’t stop me from finding Sela and when you kept me from going splat. Now we have to keep Sela safe. It’s the only way the created can fight back.”
Elfin moved back, then there was a young teen standing there. Rylee smile when she caught his pointed ears. Her elf looked like the most handsome elf on the face of the planet. How did she go from having no one to having a family?
“Go hide I’ll let you know when it’s safe.” She watched as they ran towards a flat spot that must have ended in a hill. When she could no longer see them, she turned her attention to freeing Phoenix and the rest of their family. Now it was time to let them know she was no one's victim.
She stepped out into the open when she was close enough to be seen from the kitchen. With meandering steps, she approached the door. A wide smile was on her face as she opened it and stepped in.
“Hi hun, I’m home.” She threw a kiss at Phoenix. “You didn’t tell me we were having guests. I would have come sooner.”
“I told you she wasn’t here,” Phoenix said never batting an eye.
“We’re here for you.” The one who ate his mate said to her.
“Oh? Do I know you?”
He looked around the room nervously before squaring his shoulders. “You have to come with us.”
“Where are we going?”
“Nowhere.” The one who was sitting back in the corner said. He gave the other man a glare and pulled out a gun. He aimed it at Rylee’s head. Akron slid to the floor raising his leg to kick the man in his jewels.
The man crumpled. Phoenix twisted picking the man up who was holding him by his wrists. He flipped him over his back placing his knee on his throat. The mate killer was pressed against the wall with a butcher knife at his throat. Thrice smiled at him waiting.
“What just happened?” Rylee asked.
Brandi left the room. When she came back she had zip ties for aliens. After they were secured Slade and Mekhi took them to the basement.
“Are we keeping them here?” Rylee asked with a puzzled look.
“They like to torture. I mean question downstairs, and then they will get rid of the bodies,” Serenity told her.
Rylee’s eyes were big as she edged her way to the door.
“Stop messing with the newbie mate,” Quinn said with a laugh. “When they are done questioning them. It sometimes looks like torture to us; that's why they ask us to stay upstairs. They will take them off-world to a prison they feel fits the crime.”
“Where are the… cats?” Brandi asked. “I swear I don’t know what to call them.”
“I’ll second that,”
the rest said.
“They went over the hill. I also rescued a young girl, I’d say she was a preteen. I think I adopted her without realizing it. She was the one who put a shield up that kept you from using your skills… power?” Her voice trailed off not sure what to say.
“I told Elfin they could come back.” Rylee licked her lips looking at Phoenix.
He crossed the room taking her into his arms.
“There are few species that can dampen the abilities that were given to us when we were created. Your preteen must be a Nikcoy; it is rare to see them outside of their planet or family unit.”
Rylee took a deep breath inhaling the masculine scent of Phoenix. She loved the way he smelled, and the way she relaxed when he was around. He made her feel like everything was going to be alright.
“She said the hunters took her.”
“Are you sure she said, hunters?” Thrice’s voice cut across her feeling of peace making her tense up.
Phoenix’s hand went to her back rubbing small circles of comfort into her.
“Yeah, she said hunters.”
“I thought they were hunter drones, but I’ve never encountered one before,” Akron told them.
“I know they said they came for you, but they were here to access our skills. The silent one can transmit what he sees in real time. We felt when you broke the dampening field of the Nikcoy.
“Sela.”
Phoenix looked down at her. “When you broke Sela’s dampening field.”
She gave a nod of approval.
“We didn’t want it documented that we could feel the lifting of the field. When you came in, I knew we would have to make a move. With mutual agreement, we decided to use moves that would only be found on earth.”
“That’s why the knife to the throat and the back flip. I have to say my favorite was the kick to the private area. I loved the way his eyes went big, and he fell to the floor silently. It was like that much pain couldn’t be expressed with a shout.”
“Akron gets all the cool moves.”
Rylee looked up in shock then giggled. Her hand went to her mouth and still; she giggled making the other sisters laugh.
Phoenix (The Broken Book 5) Page 9