by Nina Bangs
“He must’ve been in your head.” Edge’s voice was quietly dangerous. “Exactly what kinds of help did he tell you to offer?”
“I usually went to people who were wrestling with tough decisions or didn’t know who to trust. Ted told me what decisions they should make or the names of people they could confide in.”
“And I just bet most of these people were in positions of importance.” Bourne sounded grim.
“Yes.” An ugly picture was emerging. Ted must’ve been manipulating her thoughts from the beginning, but somehow knowing that didn’t lessen her feelings of guilt.
“So he’s been setting up his power structure on the mortal plane for a long time. Looks like Ted just moved to the top of our list.” Bourne leaned forward.
“But Ted’s not here. I would’ve seen him by now if he was.”
He dismissed her comment. “Just because you haven’t seen him doesn’t mean he’s not here. How many fake angels does he control?”
“I don’t know. I never saw them all at once. Just the ones who worked with me and some of the avenging angels…” Avenging angels. Suddenly, she knew. That nagging sense of familiarity had been tugging at her since she first met him. “Kemp is one of the avenging angels. I only glimpsed him once or twice, so I didn’t recognize him when I saw him here. But thinking about the avenging angels must’ve jogged my memory. And now Hope is with him.” Had Hope been part of the conspiracy all along? Passion hated her suspicions. Would she ever trust again?
Bourne nodded. “I’ll have to pay Kemp a visit.” His expression said Kemp wouldn’t enjoy it.
Edge looked confused. “If Ted’s our guy, why the hell did he make his army believe they were angels?”
“I think I get it.” Bourne’s lips lifted in a frightening smile. “He needed an army committed to destroying me, an army truly convinced I was the enemy. They could never question their moral obligation to fight against evil because they were good. And who better than angels to defeat the leader of the cosmic troublemakers.” His smile faded. “But there’s something I’m missing. I’ll have to think about it.”
He looked at Edge. “Oh, forgot to tell you, I—”
Bourne didn’t finish. He narrowed his eyes as he stared at the door. Passion turned to see what had put that expression on his face.
White nothing was flowing under the door and seeping around its edges. Really. Nothing. Everything it touched disappeared, leaving emptiness behind.
Edge leaped to his feet dragging Passion with him. He glanced at Bourne. “We’re outta here.”
He held her tightly to him. She knew he was about to do his dematerializing act that would take them away from the danger. But when nothing happened, she stared up at his horrified expression.
Bourne stood, but more slowly than Edge. “He’s made sure none of your powers will save you.” His smile was a mere baring of his teeth. “He’ll find shutting down my powers a little harder.”
Even as they watched, the nothingness started sliding in around the window. Trapped. Panic pushed at her. She pulled out her cell phone. No bars. Shit.
Without warning, a shimmering space about the size of a door appeared in the middle of the room. Passion could see vague shapes on the other side of its rippling surface.
“I always have a portal for emergencies. This one leads to one of my homes.” Bourne watched the advance of the nothingness with seeming unconcern. “You’ll go through it. Make yourselves comfortable. When this is over, I’ll reopen the portal so you can return.”
“Aren’t you coming with us?” Why would he choose to stay? The strength of Edge’s body pressed firmly against her back kept unthinking panic at bay for the moment.
Bourne looked surprised at her question. “Why would I? This is his first challenge. I have to shove it back into his teeth. Now go so you’re not here to distract me.”
Edge clasped her hand tightly as they ran through the portal. When she glanced back, it was gone.
They were standing in a large room. She couldn’t see much detail because it was night. But it wasn’t completely dark. A wall of glass looked out on a moonlit lake surrounded by forest. The calm beauty of it pushed back her fear.
“If something goes wrong, and Bourne can’t reopen the portal, you can zap us out of here.” Passion didn’t want to think about Bourne losing the battle, but she had to face the possibility.
Edge moved closer to the window. He remained silent for a little too long. “That might not be an option.”
“You think you might not have your powers back? Well, I guess we could hike out if we have to.” She looked at her cell phone. Still no bars. “Where do you think we are?”
He reached back for her hand and pulled her closer to the window. “Look up.”
“What?” The night sky was too bright to see many stars because of…she blinked…the two full moons shining there. She swallowed hard. “At least now we know why Ted couldn’t find him.” Was that breathy voice hers?
“He won’t leave us stranded.” Edge sounded sure of that.
“If he’s dead—”
“He won’t die. He’s survived as our leader for tens of thousands of years.” His voice was tight as he moved around the room. “Where’re the freaking lights?”
After watching Edge circle the room in a fruitless search for switches, Passion decided to try something else. “Lights on.” Surprised, she watched light flood the room.
Edge gave only a cursory glance at the huge room with its soaring ceiling, fireplace big enough to double as a guest bedroom, and beautiful furnishings. Passion took a few more minutes to admire everything before following him.
The kitchen was futuristic-scary. But Edge had found this planet’s version of the fridge and was rooting around in it. “There’s enough food in the kitchen to feed us for probably a month.” He sounded relieved.
Passion left the kitchen first in search of a bathroom. Along with a bathroom that could have doubled as a Roman spa, she found the master bedroom. Edge joined her there.
“Our fearless leader knows how to live.” Edge walked over to the bed and lay down. “All those sleeping–on–a–cloud mattress ads? This one actually delivers. Come on over and try it.” He patted the spot beside him.
“We can’t just kick back and relax. We have to do something.”
He raised one brow. “Suggestions?”
She waved a hand toward the wall of glass that looked out on nothing but forest on this side of the house. Bourne evidently wasn’t into privacy. “We should go out and take a look around.” Passion stared at him, as if her glare had the power to remove his yummy body from the temptation of that damn bed. Now wasn’t the time for…If not now, when?
Edge looked past her at the window. “I don’t really think you want to do that, sweetheart.”
For a moment, she thought he’d read her mind. And then she turned to follow his gaze.
Three very big, very red eyes stared back at her from the other side of the glass. She blinked. They blinked back at her. “Umm, exploring can wait till morning.” She looked around. “No window coverings.” She was afraid to give a verbal command for fear the window might open. No way did she want to see what owned those eyes.
When she looked back at Edge, he was smiling. “Ready to join me?”
She nodded. Once on the bed beside him, she forced herself not to look at the window. Closing her eyes, she tried to relax. He was right. She’d never lain on anything this comfortable. Then she thought about stretching out on top of his naked body. Who wanted to sleep on a cloud anyway?
Passion allowed the silence to build until she decided to say what needed saying. She opened her eyes. “What I said about you being death and me being life? Dumb.”
“But true.” He didn’t turn his head to look at her.
“You didn’t pay attention to the rest of what I said. We balance each other. And that’s a good thing.” That’s not what she’d thought at the time, but she did now. And there wa
s something about recognizing the balance that was important. The meaning was just out of reach, though.
“You didn’t trust me not to kill Murmur.”
“No, I didn’t.” Couldn’t deny that.
“You were right.”
His lips tipped up in that smile she loved.
“I never lost it like that before.” He turned his head to stare at her. “But I was so afraid for you that I couldn’t think about anything except stopping him. You make me lose control.”
Passion understood the gift he’d just given her. He’d made himself vulnerable, admitted that she weakened him in some way. But that wasn’t right. “I always want to make you stronger. And being willing to defend someone you…care for is a strength.”
Once again, the silence weighed on them.
Finally, he spoke. “You know I want to make love with you? Right now, right here.”
Took the words right out of my mouth. She nodded.
“We can’t, though.” He sounded pained. “Bourne. The portal. We have to be ready.”
She nodded again.
“There must be a TV or something in this damn room.” He scanned the area.
Passion agreed. She needed a distraction before she said to hell with Bourne and ripped Edge’s clothes from his luscious body.
He picked up what looked vaguely like a remote from the bedside table and began pushing buttons.
“Don’t push anything that says Open Windows.” She still refused to look at the wall of glass.
A few minutes and a lot of muttered cursing later, the far wall suddenly became a giant screen.
“Yes.” Edge pushed his success by pressing more buttons.
“Describe what you wish to view.” The sexy female voice gave no other instructions.
“Avatar,” Passion offered.
“We’re on an alien planet. Why would we want to watch a movie about another alien planet?”
The sexy voice overrode his complaint. “Describe what you wish to view.” She almost sounded a little impatient.
“Hey, how about showing us making love on a roller coaster? Is that description good enough for you?” Edge’s frustration was leaking out.
Passion laughed. “It’s a machine. It doesn’t register ticked-off or sarcasm. Besides, they probably don’t have roller coasters on this planet. Maybe we have to actually describe the plot of the movie.”
Edge made a rude sound, but he didn’t get a chance to make any snarky comments because suddenly a title scrolled across the screen. Sex on a Roller Coaster.
“What the hell…?” Edge sat up.
“Ohmigod!” Passion popped up beside him.
They both stared at the screen.
“Since you did not describe any specific actions, the Fantasy Fulfiller will generate random sexual acts.” The female voice sounded smug.
Shock, horror, and yes, fascination held Passion’s gaze riveted to the screen. She should’ve been shouting, “Turn it off!” but it was all too…She licked suddenly dry lips.
Beside her, she felt Edge tense, but he didn’t say anything. Definitely no “shut it off” shouts from him.
Then the first scene appeared on the screen. She gasped. “That’s us. How?”
Even though she knew the images weren’t real—okay, so they looked darn real to her—she frantically scanned the screen, and then sighed her relief when she didn’t see anyone else on the coaster, didn’t see any shocked onlookers staring up from the ground.
They were both naked. She sat straddling his thighs facing him as the car hauled itself up the steep incline. His mouth was on hers, and Passion could practically taste the long drugging kiss. Sweat sheened his perfect body, delineating his hard muscles. Her gaze dropped to between his legs, to the long hard length of him.
She gripped the comforter until her knuckles turned white as he broke the kiss and slid his tongue down the side of her neck. Passion tried to unclog her brain. No, not her, the woman on the screen who was the pretend her. But she could swear she felt the warm glide of his tongue, and her nipples tightened into hard nubs of overexcited nerve endings as he teased each one with the tip of his tongue.
Passion closed her eyes and tried to get her breathing under control. Not me, not Edge. Those people on the screen weren’t them. But every second that passed seemed to make it more them.
Passion didn’t dare look at Edge. She kept her gaze focused on the screen where her alter ego had shimmied as far down as she could given the car’s confines and was showing him what the tip of her tongue could do.
He groaned as she circled his cock and then closed her lips over the head. Passion felt that groan all the way to her toes.
Edge had tangled his fingers in her hair, guiding her talented mouth up and down on him. Who knew she was this good? Warmth and heaviness gathered low in her stomach. Fantasy and reality fused. She couldn’t believe how just watching his body respond to her mouth made her damp, made her body clench.
Passion wanted to reach down and touch herself, relieve the frustrated urgency quickening her breathing and heartbeat.
Okay, so she did feel a little embarrassed as she watched her screen image’s bottom waving in the air and bouncing with each up-and-down motion of her mouth.
Passion chanced a quick glance at Edge. He was staring straight ahead, but he wasn’t making any attempt to hide his arousal.
Then the car reached the top of the hill. At the same moment, she moved forward and planted herself on him. Passion imagined the stretching sensation, the friction, the joy of being filled. As the car paused, she began raising and lowering herself onto him.
Finally, Edge took over. He grasped her hips and drove up into her at the same moment the car began to hurtle down the other side.
Edge’s hips became a blur of motion as he slammed into her over and over. She screamed her ecstasy as she threw her head back and spread her arms wide. Passion thought she sort of looked like the woman on the Titanic who stood at the front of the ship with her arms held out. In real life, Passion would have a death grip on his wide shoulders.
The hurtling car seemed to be taking a long time to reach the bottom. Long enough for both Edge and Passion to reach orgasm. Very loud orgasms.
In the final throes of obviously mindless pleasure, Edge gave one final mighty thrust, lifting her high into the air, and…
Flinging her out of the car. She disappeared, her scream fading until it suddenly stopped.
Passion froze. Did she just see…? “You killed me? How could you kill me? What kind of rotten fantasy is that?”
The screen faded to black as the female voice offered a few closing comments. “But you died happy. Sadly, our hero was devastated. Grief over the loss of his love drove him crazy. He went on a mad spree of destruction, dynamiting roller coasters across the country. He was finally caught and spent the rest of his miserable life in a mental health facility.” Huge sigh. “I love tragic love stories.”
There was dead silence in the room until the sound of applause turned both of their attentions to the window.
Red eyes looked back at them. Not just three eyes. Rows of red eyes. One on top of the other.
“It looks like they set up freaking bleachers out there.” Edge looked down at the remote. “There has to be a button to…”
“Don’t bother looking. They’ll go away now that they’ve seen the show.”
Bourne’s voice caught them by surprise. He stood in the bedroom doorway, one shoulder propped against the frame. He shook his head as he laughed softly.
“Too bad I didn’t have time to fill you in on a few things before sending you through the portal. First, the green button at the bottom would’ve given you a selection of movies. You activated the Fantasy Fulfiller. You have to give her an exact description of what you want or else she improvises. She’s not good at it.”
Bourne pushed away from the door and moved farther into the room. Passion didn’t notice any blood or obvious wounds.
&nbs
p; “Second, my semicivilized neighbors like to watch the movies with me. They’re too big to fit in here, so they watch from outside. You made their night. They’ve never seen a fantasy like that before.”
Passion felt the heat rising in her face. This was way beyond embarrassing. “Edge didn’t really want that fantasy. He said it to be sarcastic. He didn’t know about the Fantasy Fulfiller. He—”
“I think he gets it, Passion.”
Edge’s voice sounded weird, all tight and deep and raspy. She chanced a glance at him.
Hunger so powerful it shook her glowed in his eyes. His hands were clenched into fists, and it was obvious the Edge on the screen was the only one who’d gotten a release.
Time to change the subject. “You survived.” She watched Bourne walk over to the window and wave at the dozens of eyes before they faded back into the darkness. She didn’t ask what owned those eyes.
“You had doubts?” Bourne stood watching them.
Passion wondered how much of the fantasy he’d seen.
“I cleared my suite of his pitiful attempt at intimidation and then came for you.”
“Pitiful attempt?” Why wasn’t Edge chiming in? “It sure got my attention.”
Bourne’s expression turned grim. “He was just playing this time. I don’t think he seriously thought his invasion of my space would destroy me. He wanted to annoy me. He did. Now it’s time to take the fight to him.” He waved them toward the door. “Let’s go. I have some people I want you to meet.”
16
Edge walked back through the portal with Passion and then stopped. Every inch of Bourne’s suite was packed with big dangerous-looking men and women who he knew could kick major butt. All cosmic troublemakers.
And in the middle of the mob, seated on the couch, were a terrified Hope and a pissed-off Kemp.
“Before I came for you, I took time to collect our resident angels.” Bourne smiled at Hope and Kemp.
Hope cringed, and Kemp scowled. They weren’t restrained in any way, but they weren’t making a break for it either. Edge didn’t blame them. Too many badasses in the room to take a chance.