Untamed Hawaiian Heat (Rift Hunters)

by MacLean, Shay

  Pushing aside the answering flare in his chest, he pressed inside her again until he was fully sheathed. He paused until she opened her eyes and looked at him. “Mine, Kiana. Do you understand?”

  Her eyes widened at his declaration of possession. Mateo could feel the shiver that danced along her spine, echoing through their emotion link. She nodded her agreement.

  Something didn’t feel right. Like a piece of his soul was missing. No. That couldn’t be right. Kiana was his world. His life. His love.

  “You know that’s not true, mi amigo. You know there’s another.” Remi’s voice sounded in his mind again.

  Mateo shook his head. He couldn’t have heard Remi’s voice. He was gone. Desperately needing to drive the reminder of his past away, he began to move inside Kiana. He slowly increased the speed of his thrusts, his pleasure amplified by the strength of her ecstasy pounding through their cybernetic link until he couldn’t tell where his ended and hers began.

  Their climaxes crashed over them simultaneously. Their emotion link vibrated with each convulsion of their bodies, doubling the euphoria washing over them. Mateo pulled out and shifted to lie beside Kiana as he drifted back to the real world. His mind wandered aimlessly, then focused in on the restlessness inside him as it began to build again.

  He shifted so he lay behind her, and pulled her into his arms as she finally fell asleep. She’d been working too hard of late. He wished she would allow him to help her find the answers she was looking for.

  Soon the lantern flame flickered and died. Staring into the darkness, Mateo attempted to stay awake. For some reason, he had a foreboding that when he awoke, everything would be different. Fatigue pulled at him, though, reminding him he hadn’t slept in almost forty-eight hours.

  The calm he’d experienced after their lovemaking only tempered the fierce energy pulsing in his chest. As he drifted toward sleep, he felt it rekindle, where it remained at a simmer. Waiting. But for what?

  Exhaustion finally overtook him. He heard Remi’s voice again as he sank into oblivion.

  “He’s coming.”

  * * * *

  Kiana jolted awake to the sound of an alarm blaring through the com link on her desk. It seemed like only minutes since she’d drifted off. She glanced back at Mateo and saw him stretching as he sat up. She was tempted to ignore the call and let Montgomery handle it.

  “Lieutenant Grant, we’ve got a breach in the perimeter approximately twenty clicks southeast.”

  Kiana pushed the thought of curling up next to Mateo away and got up.

  Mateo was already strapping on his gear. She smiled at the sight. He was as dedicated to stopping the Syndicate as she was, even though he wasn’t from Hawaii. He’d taken her fight as his own. It made her love him all the more.

  “Stop looking at me that way, Kiana.”

  She heard his voice whisper in her head. Kiana raised an eyebrow. “Or what?”

  He straightened from tightening a wickedly curved knife to his thigh and approached her. He pulled her close to him with one arm and brought his other hand down on her ass with a resounding smack. “Oh, I think you know what will happen, mi amante. Now come, let’s get rid of those bastardos.” With one last playful slap on her bottom, he headed for the flap over the entrance of their hale noho.

  Kiana watched Mateo as he headed for the door, her gaze lingering on his tattoo as he exited the room. She quickly finished strapping on her own gear and was heading out when she realized Mateo’s tattoo had been glowing again with a sapphire light that shimmered faintly along its lines. She made a mental note to look at it more closely after they’d dispatched the bastards who dared to approach their camp.

  Chapter Two

  Earth 2013

  Tiaki breathed deeply and focused the energy seeping through his fingers, pulling more from Earth's core. He’d never had so much trouble closing a time rift before. The threads in this one were ragged and stretched. Which meant it had been open for a while. It also implied that it might have been opened by unnatural means. That troubled him.

  Although he shouldn’t be surprised. When Rift Master Cacus had informed the Ternion—which consisted of the Council of the Gods, the Kings Council, and the Rift Hunter Council—that the Obsidian Syndicate had been using the rifts to affect the history of other planets, the decision had been handed down to prohibit the use of the rifts. What they hadn’t known at the time was that Aizik Quintilius had designed a transdimensional gate that allowed him to create rifts without the use of the core magic. The only way this rift could have been opened so far from the Phoenix Galaxy had to be that gate. He needed to alert the Citadel as soon as possible.

  Tiaki forced his attention back to the task at hand when he sensed the rift begin to fluctuate. Energy spiked around its perimeter, feeding back into his magic.

  Shit. This wasn’t normal. What the hell had caused this kind of damage?

  Reaching for his magic, he concentrated his efforts. The tattered strands of the rift flexed as he knitted them back together. He could feel the relief in the energy patterns as each thread became whole again. There was still a little more than a yard to go before he could reinforce it to prevent it from reopening.

  He started to back off from the mending process when a sudden spike shot from Earth’s core. Energy rushed through his body and into the opening.

  The rift began to hum and vibrate, pulsing with a life of its own. He’d used rifts before when he needed to close one in a remote location, but the power pouring in and out of this one was greater than any he’d ever encountered. Though the energy wouldn’t normally hurt him—since he knew how to harness it—he didn’t want to find out if the sheer magnitude of this much raw power would. He started to sever his connection with the rift when he suddenly felt his body being pulled into it.

  Knowing it was futile to try to avoid being dragged in, he allowed the rift to engulf him. The energy swirled around his body, cradling him like a mother would her child. It caressed his senses, warmed him as he spun and twisted in the vortex. Colors flew by at an increasing rate as he neared the end of the rift. He braced himself for the drop that would occur upon exiting.

  Another energy spike surged inside the vortex as he approached the end. He panicked when he realized his magic was still linked with the rift. Just as he was disengaging the last thread, a powerful bolt of electricity traveled along it, thrusting him through the last couple of yards of the tunnel.

  What the hell? He wrapped his arms around his head just before he slammed facedown into the hard-packed ground with a bone-crunching thud. Every molecule of his body cried out in agony. He lifted his head at the sound of gunfire. A woman stood over him, a stunned expression on her face. Behind her a man entered the clearing, anger blazing in his eyes.

  Tiaki felt his magic rush toward the couple. Mine, he thought he heard his mind growl as blackness enveloped him.

  * * * *

  Kiana halted in her advance and leaned against a mango tree to catch her breath. The sweet scent of the ripened fruit assailed her with each inhalation. She could hear the voices of her team calling to one another through the com link. Sweat beaded on her brow. It was too fucking hot to be chasing the cowards.

  The bastards were retreating again. How the Obsidian Syndicate, or OS, had succeeded in infiltrating the government so thoroughly when they acted like this was beyond her.

  And with the new president a staunch supporter of the Syndicate, they’d had no trouble gaining control of most of the major military bases. Including Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. Once they’d obtained control, they had wasted no time in culling the soldiers who’d refused to comply with the changes they wanted to implement.

  The Resistance had been born when it became apparent the OS was hiding something from the US citizens as well as a good portion of the government officials. Well, if what the information a handful of senators and representatives brave enough to feed the Resistance with could be believed. Which Kiana was extremely skeptica
l of. Still, what choice did they have but to trust the few who showed a desire to take back the US government? No matter how they had to pretend to support the OS.

  Her stomach clenched at the memory of how easily the Syndicate had invaded her beloved Hawaii and taken away all she held dear. What had once been a lush paradise was now overrun by Obsidian Syndicate forces. Most American citizens had quickly conformed and bent to the Syndicate’s rule of oppression.

  The OS forces had become a plague not only in her home, but in her heart as well. One she had every intention of eradicating.

  The sooner the better.

  Today she’d seen some of the Syndicate’s men wearing a new type of armor. It had radiated an energy she’d never seen before. What had confused her even more, though, was the way she’d been able to feel the power emanating from it.

  Even more troubling was that their weapons didn’t seem to have much effect against the new armor. And the weapons they’d encountered today had been even more advanced than the ones the OS had used in their skirmish just last month.

  Due to the upgrades in the enemy’s armor and weapons Kiana had seen today, she’d need to push the vice admiral to allow her team to do a recon mission.

  While she hated putting her men in danger, she also knew they would be in even direr straits if they didn’t know what they were up against. She adjusted her grip on her M-80 laser rifle. It wasn’t the newest model on the market, but the new plasma guns the OS used were expensive. Now that the Syndicate controlled all the factories, it was impossible to get ahold of one weapon, let alone enough for all her soldiers. A weapon was a weapon, though, and they needed all the help they could get. So when the little bit of funding their government backers had been able to wire them without raising any alarms had come through, the higher-ups had bought the best weapons they could afford. She was just afraid those new weapons weren’t going to be enough.

  Kiana heaved a weary sigh and shook off thoughts of how they were going to fight whatever this new threat was. She touched the com link in her ear. “Round up your team, Mateo. I’m tired of chasing these bastards. They’re just fucking with us…trying to split us up. Head back to camp once everyone’s accounted for.”

  “You want us to try to capture one of them?”

  Kiana thought about it for a moment. Sweat trickled down her neck and disappeared beneath her brown T-shirt, clung to her breasts. “If the opportunity presents itself, yes. But don’t go out of your way to catch one. We’ve been chasing them all afternoon.” She glanced at the sky. “And it’s starting to get dark. We’ll figure out a new strategy tomorrow.”

  “Your wish is my command, mi corazón,” he purred through their personal link.

  A smile slowly spread across her lips at the desire she felt sizzle along their connection. Swiping the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand, she wished for the millionth time that the trade winds would come back. A swim was what she wanted right now. “It’s too hot for that, mi amante.” She moved away from Mateo’s coordinates to gather her team. The staccato of an M-80 being fired had her turning around to go help them. Suddenly, the air around her began to crackle with unseen energy. Kiana knew she should run, but her limbs refused to obey the command.

  A bright light flashed in front of her, and the sky ripped apart like a chasm in the earth. The energy radiating from the opening pulsed and throbbed, stirring the unexplained restlessness she’d been experiencing lately to a fever pitch. It caused her sensors to flicker out. She’d felt it before but never this strong. She was vaguely aware that someone was still firing nearby, and Mateo’s voice in her ear com link was demanding to know her location. She ignored both.

  The vortex widening in front of her held her transfixed. Colors flashed and spun at a dizzying rate, shooting jagged pulses of lightning in all directions. The sound was deafening. It was a miracle a stray bolt didn’t hit her. Strangely, any stray bolts seemed to be repelled if they got too close to her. The rift began to hum and vibrate with a sudden spike in the energy streaming out of it.

  A man tumbled through the opening and landed at her feet with a sickening thud. His body slammed into the ground with so much force, she was sure he’d broken a bone or two. The portal’s energy dissipated as rapidly as it had appeared, leaving an eerie silence in its wake. Kiana took a step toward the man but froze at the sound of approaching footsteps. She snapped her head around to assess the situation.

  Mateo. She belatedly realized she hadn’t answered his demand for her location. How had he known where she was? Her com link was still flickering because of the energy the vortex had exuded.

  He crashed into the clearing like he’d been running for his life, only to stop dead in his tracks at the sight of the man lying at her feet.

  “Who the hell is that?”

  Kiana looked at the man lying so still on the ground. She was about to kneel beside him to see if he was even alive when he groaned and lifted his head slightly and looked at her. Her eyes widened at the piercing blue of his gaze. He opened his mouth to speak, but whatever he’d wanted to say was cut short when he fell unconscious.

  Kiana squatted next to him. “I don’t know. He just appeared.” She hesitated a moment before adding, “We can’t leave him here, though.” She reached down and turned him over with little effort, thanks to her cybernetic implants.

  A jolt of electricity jumped from his supine form to her when she touched him. Heat flooded her senses; her soul shimmered with recognition. The energy she’d been feeling in her blood sparked to life, stronger than ever before, reaching out to the stranger. It felt similar to the energy the vortex had given off. She looked up at Mateo. He wasn’t looking at her but was glaring at the man. He must have felt it through their link, she realized. Kiana reached out to pick the man up, but Mateo pushed her hand aside.

  “I’ll carry him.” His words pressed into her mind, hot and angry.

  “I can do it. Now move aside.” When she sensed the desire to argue with her ripple through their link, she added, “That’s an order, Lieutenant.” Seeing the incredulity flash in his eyes that she would pull rank on him, Kiana looked away and closed hers. She debated turning off their emotion link but decided against it. She’d only imagined the connection she’d felt with that brief touch. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes to find Mateo grasping the stranger’s arm and leg in preparation to lift him. “Lieutenant?”

  Mateo refused to meet her gaze as he settled the man over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. “I’m well aware you can carry him, Kiana. But I don’t care for the reaction you had to him when you rolled him over. Go ahead and give me an Article Fifteen if you must, but I’m carrying him. End of discussion.”

  Kiana stared after Mateo in disbelief as he swept past her. Noticing how the valley had grown quiet with the retreat of the OS forces, she decided it was best to save this argument for later. They needed to get back to base so Niki and Ash could take a look at the guy. Once he woke up, they would find out who he was and then…

  Well, she didn’t know what orders she’d hand down after that. She clenched her hand into a fist. Kiana couldn’t shake the feeling that he was very important. The tingle she’d felt when she had touched the stranger still trembled along her nerve endings.

  Worse, she knew Mateo had sensed it too. What else could explain the anger and jealousy surging through their link?

  * * * *

  Mateo stalked past Kiana and disappeared through the trees. He hadn’t missed her reaction to the stranger when she’d turned him over. It had flashed through their link, hot and tempting. He’d stared at the man lying on the ground while a frisson of heated awareness had fluttered along his spine. After he was sure Kiana wasn’t looking, he’d glanced at his tattoo before reaching down to pick the man up. It had glowed with a deep sapphire luminance, pulsing and tingling across his skin.

  It had taken all he had not to let Kiana feel his reaction through their link. He’d been experiencing this twinge
a lot the last couple of weeks. Building in intensity…like he’d felt when they’d made love earlier. It brought to mind the feeling of his first cliff dive…standing on the edge, adrenaline pumping through his veins in anticipation of experiencing the wind caressing his skin as he’d free-fallen into the cool water below.

  He’d been relieved when Kiana had been preoccupied while he bent and picked the man up. A jolt of awareness had shocked him when he’d grasped the man’s arm to hoist him over his shoulder. His cock had instantly hardened, causing him to pull back. Glancing up at Kiana, he knew there was no way around this. The rest of the team was already headed back to camp.

  And he sure as hell wasn’t going to let her carry him. Not after the reaction she hadn’t bothered to hide. When Mateo picked the man up, the words he’d heard Remi say as sleep claimed him the night before came rushing back.

  He’s coming.

  He had no idea what the hell that had meant, but he didn’t want to dwell on it with Kiana scrutinizing his every move.

  Resigned to his task, Mateo had taken hold of the stranger’s arm and pulled him up to a sitting position so he could ease the man over his shoulders. He’d done a scan of the stranger’s body to determine if he could be moved without further injury, so he knew it wouldn’t hurt to carry him that way. The only problem was, he didn’t want to feel the pulsing energy swirling through him from physical contact with the man. And he definitely didn’t want to feel the blood rushing to his cock.

  He’d never felt the former, but the latter he’d vowed never to allow himself to feel again.

  Ever.

  Mateo increased his stride, wanting to calm the raging heat in his blood before Kiana realized he’d blocked their link. He didn’t want to answer questions about things he’d rather forget.

  * * * *

  Four days.

  It had been four days since the stranger had fallen at her feet like some angel cast out of heaven, and Kiana still couldn’t shake the awareness he’d awakened in her. In fact, despite trying everything she could think of, it had only grown stronger.