by Moira Reid
“I’ll protect you.”
She stared at the calm set of his features. “You can’t—”
His lips pursed together and he nodded. “I can. I want you to live. Let go, Claire.”
She couldn’t let go. Her hands were no longer under her control as terror streaked through every muscle, freezing her body against his. “It’s too high—we’ll die.”
The crash of the room’s door awakened her muscles, her grip tightening more painfully against the pebbled glass. Butch’s calm, soothing voice filled her head once more
“I’m not going to let anything else happen to you.”
The memory of those words and the conviction in his voice both times he’d spoken them released her. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his neck.
* * * * *
He took a step forward and dropped to the ground. As soon as his feet hit the narrow strip of grass surrounding the building, he ran.
“How in the… Put me down, Butch!”
He ignored her. They didn’t have the time it would take him to explain any of this. Right now, they needed wheels and a lot of distance between them and their “friend.” With any luck, they could get out of here before he caught up.
A shushing sound passed alongside his ear, followed almost immediately by the loud crack of a weapon.
He darted behind a car and knelt. She struggled out of his grasp and tried to stand. He pulled her back to the ground beside him.
“What was that?”
“A .38, most likely.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Someone is shooting at us?”
“No, he’s shooting at you.” He rose a few inches and peered through the car’s windows toward the hotel. A tall figure in black pants and a black shirt dropped to the ground from the broken window.
“Get up! Move!”
Butch weaved between the cars, dragging her along behind him. They had a good lead but would never make it back to Claire’s car before their pursuer caught up. Butch grabbed a door handle on one of the parked cars. Locked.
He turned to the one beside it with the same result. “Damn.”
“He’s not following us!”
Butch looked in the direction of her extended hand. She was right; he was running toward a white van parked at the circular entrance. Oh, shit. Garren.
“What’s he going to do, run us down in the parking lot?”
Garren got in the van and drove back onto the main street, then sped away. Butch stood and helped her to her feet. “Are you all right?”
Her glare could have melted steel. “You’ve got one hell of a lot of explaining to do.”
An hour after her adamant refusal to return to her house, they sat together in her car parked far off the main road out of town. He’d driven out here to clear his head the first night he’d landed on this planet. That had been a bad night. Garren showing up was definitely worse.
Butch snapped the phone closed and slid it back into his pocket. He’d called the captain to update him, carefully avoiding mention of the kindred’s name. Garren was his past, not the captain’s or Claire’s, and his presence here confused an already overcomplicated situation. If a human were out to harm the captain’s daughter, that would be bad enough. This particular renegade bent on termination was far more dire.
This one last assignment, just this last one. If he could make it through this, he’d be on his way back home. The captain’s words echoed in his ears. “But if she dies, you’re going to wish you’d never been hatched.”
“Your father said he’s never told you anything, and he’s not going to.”
His orders from the captain were specific: “Under no circumstances is she to know about the inner workings of the unit. That would put her life in further danger, and I’ll kill you with my bare hands if you do that.” Unfortunately, knowing what not to tell was not the same as knowing what he should.
She sat up in her seat and pointed at him, then opened her mouth. He interrupted her before she could get out a single word.
“Don’t bother, Claire. I said I’d answer your questions if he wouldn’t.”
Her eyes widened. “You’re going to defy the boss?”
“I’m going to protect you, and that means you need to know something about what you’re dealing with. Maybe then you’ll cooperate with me.”
“Cooperate with you?” She shook her head. “Okay, fine. That guy shot at us—I’m cooperating. Now who was he?”
How much to give away and what to keep to himself was a fine line to walk, and his being on this planet in the first place was evidence enough that he wasn’t known for his caution. If he revealed too much, he would put her in even greater danger. What could he tell her and not give away so much that he’d buy himself more years on this forsaken rock?
But the real problem was Garren. What in the hell was he doing here? And why was he after Claire?
“That was a Viven” Not exactly accurate, but close enough.
Claire blinked twice. “Okay.”
Butch watched her face. Did she know more than her father suspected? Maybe he wasn’t going to add to his sentence after all. “You know what that is?”
“Someone who can talk with his mind and has three eyes.”
Perhaps the official party line would instill enough fear in her to be cautious. “They are specialists. Trained and used by the military for unique assignments, like this one.”
“You’re one too, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am.”
She nodded, then licked her lips. “Okay, then.”
He waited for her to say something further, and when she didn’t he checked his radar. Not another human or Viven in scope. Why had Garren run from them at the hotel? What was he doing on this planet in the first place? Had he been sentenced here too? Or had he come on his own?
When he could stand her uncharacteristic silence no longer, he turned to her.
She held up her hand. “I’m not as stupid as you or my father seem to think.”
She opened the passenger door and started walking down the gravel road. Butch got out of the car and followed her.
“Where are you going?”
“Getting as far away from you as possible.”
“Claire, wait.”
He jogged to catch up with her, but she began to run. “Claire! Stop!” Doubling his effort, he found she ran as fast as any kindred, but fortunately the high-heeled shoes she’d chosen for work slowed her down just enough.
He caught her in his arms and held her as she thrashed wildly to disengage herself.
“Let go of me, you, you…alien!” She pounded his sides with her fists and kicked his shin, then stomped down on his foot. He ignored the pain and held her fast. She’d already figured out the truth. What harm could there be in one small palmful of calm now?
Lifting his hand off her side, he moved his fingers rhythmically until she stopped struggling, her warm back relaxing against his chest. Her head fell against his shoulder, and her warm breath blew hard and fast on his neck.
With eyes half-open, she gazed up into his face, the red in her cheeks no longer burning from the exertion, but from a much more dangerous brand of heat.
“You don’t look like an alien.” She slid her hands slowly up and down along his hips.
Oh shit. Why did she have to be so damn beautiful anyway? He turned her around in his arms and supported her almost liquid form as it lay against his. “Claire, listen. I’m sorry I had to do that. It’ll wear off in a minute or two, I promise. You’ve got to listen to me.”
Placing her hands on either side of his face, she pulled herself up to his lips, covering them with a breathless, voracious kiss that spoke of hunger and need. Butch had managed all his life to stay far away from the lustrous sexuality and vitality only kindred possessed, and with good reason. Her mouth was glorious, and the passion in her body was palpable in the summer heat on this lonely road.
His responding erection was not helping ei
ther.
Fighting the urge to wrap his arms tighter around her and revel in the taste of her sweet, hot mouth, he forced himself to press her body away from his, holding her at arm’s length.
“Wait one more minute, and you might not have to regret what you’re thinking about doing.”
“If you know what I’m thinking about,” she said, her voice a lower register that reverberated inside his chest, “you can read minds also. How convenient. Let me tell you what I want.”
She closed her eyes and smiled, her white teeth gleaming in the morning sunlight. He shook his head to clear away his own lascivious thoughts. Get over it, Butch. This woman is not a perk. He checked his radar once more—still nothing. Good. At least one thing was going right.
Claire’s eyes still closed, he waited patiently for the minute to tick by. She was mistaken. He couldn’t read her thoughts, although from the way she licked her lips, he wished for a short moment that he could.
Finally, he felt the calm dissipate as surely as she did. She opened her eyes, her back straightened, and she jerked her hands away from his body.
“Oh my God! What in the hell did you just do to me?”
“I palmed you, and you should know that it normally ends with two people naked and going at it like bagfits, uh, rabbits. That didn’t happen—”
Her reaction was fast and sure as she slapped the bejesus out of him.
Stunned was not the word, but it was close. Butch caught her wrist as her hand headed for his face a second time.
“I think that will do.”
“How dare you? You son of a bitch! What was that, your planet’s version of rape? You wait until my father hears about this!”
He released her hand abruptly. “Tell me something, Claire. Do you want to live by your rules or Daddy’s? You manage to whip him out like a howitzer whenever it suits you but are hell-bound to shrug him off like a dirty shirt the rest of the time. So which is it?”
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him in response, her skin as red as her lips. “Don’t change the subject!”
“I was right about you,” he said. “You are a spoiled, annoying pain in the ass.”
“And you are an extraterrestrial rapist.”
“Ahlap amitlu a are aleuqa! I was trying to keep you alive, and when you started behaving like a lunatic, I used the kindest method I could think of to stop it!”
She took a step backward. “What did you just say?”
“I said, „I was trying to keep you—’”
“No, not that. The language,” she said, shaking her head. “You said „that is the last straw.’”
“Yeah, that’s what I said. I was accused of rape once, and I’ll be—” Butch stopped midsentence. “How did you know that? You speak Vimone?”
She shook her head, and her mouth hung open. “No, it’s just…it’s something my mother used to say all the time.”
Which made perfect sense. She was at least quarter-Viven, if not half. Based on the fury of that kiss, he was betting on the half. Her mother must have spoken it around her when she was young, but would she put it together?
“She mustn’t find out about her heritage. I’m depending on you to be sure of that.”
“Your mother must have known about your father’s work. I’ll bet she met a lot of us over the years,” he said, keeping his features as impassive as he could. “Now, do you want to live or not? You might not like my not being human, but that’s tough! Garren means business, and whatever the fuck he is doing here involves you…and bullets. I am your one hope of staying alive long enough to stop him.”
“Who is Garren?” She narrowed her eyes, her words uttered from behind clenched teeth.
He turned away and walked toward the car. If he survived this last assignment without killing her or fucking her, it would be a miracle.
Chapter Three
“So, let me make sure I’ve got this right.” Claire marched over the uneven gravel surface toward his retreating back. “As if having a bodyguard isn’t bad enough, I’m shouldered day and night with an extraterrestrial, sexy-stud bodyguard who can turn me into KY jelly at any given moment with one wave of his palm—all to save me from Garren, another extraterrestrial who wants to kill me.”
He stopped at the hood of the car and leaned against the dusty vehicle. Crossing his arms over his chest, he smiled. “You think I’m sexy?”
She halted in the middle of the road. “I think you’re an ass. Who is Garren? You said you were going to tell me everything, so tell me.”
“How far back do you want me to go?”
“Start with why he’s here and go from there.”
“I don’t know why he’s here.”
“Then start with something you do know.”
He put his hands in his pants pockets. “I don’t know much. I don’t know why he’s here, and I don’t know why he’s after you. I should call your father back and tell him what we’re dealing with.”
She’d been kept in the dark her entire life, but that was about to end right here in the middle of nowhere, whether he liked it or not.
“First, you tell me what we’re dealing with.” It was a shot in the dark, but something about the look in his eyes led her to the next question. “You know him personally?”
He nodded slowly. “Yeah, I know him.”
“I guess it’s safe to assume the two of you aren’t friends, since he was shooting at us. How do you know him?”
“He and I used to work together.”
“I’m not going to drag this out of you.” She took a deep breath and sat down beside him. “I do, however, have a business to run, and I’ve got to get there in the next half hour. So, if you don’t want me to have you jailed for attempted rape, you’ll start talking.”
He stiffened, and she remembered what he’d said earlier. Something about being accused of rape. Had he raped someone? Was that why he was here?
No, that was crazy. He worked with her father, and her father had hired him to be her bodyguard. There was no way he would hire a convicted rapist to protect her.
But did her father even know? She didn’t want to ask, and half expected someone in Butch’s shoes would lie anyway. Still, she had to, if for no other reason than to let him know she didn’t trust him. Yeah, he’d saved her life this morning, but he also knew this Garren. How did she know they weren’t in this together somehow? And yeah, he was sexy as hell, but how did she know he wasn’t doing that palm thing on her right now?
“Did you rape someone?”
His head snapped toward her. “If you think I’m a rapist, shouldn’t you be just a little more afraid of me? I mean, last night in the rainstorm, this morning in the hotel room. A few minutes ago when you were all over me. I’ve had plenty of opportunities. You don’t look too scared to me, Claire. What exactly do you think is stopping me if I’m a rapist?”
One point, Butch. “So why are you so touchy on the subject then?”
“Claire,” he said, shaking his head. “In your experience, do human men like to be accused of that particular crime?”
He was doing it. He was asking questions instead of answering hers, and letting her draw her own conclusions. Yes, he was a better negotiator than she was. Well, that stopped now. “Were you or were you not convicted of the crime of rape?”
“Convicted, no,” he said. “Accused and told I would be convicted by whatever illegal means were necessary if I didn’t leave the planet immediately, yes. Does that make you feel any better?”
He wasn’t a rapist. She would bet her life on it. “Tell me what happened.”
“And why should I do that?”
She crossed her arms over her chest to mimic him. “Because I told you to. Or better yet, because I actually believe you. I doubt whoever sent you here did.”
He smiled then, a real smile that reached the corners of his eyes. “Just because I said I’m not a rapist doesn’t make it so, you know.”
“Being accused and sent
here doesn’t make you one either.”
He nodded, took in a deep breath, and blew it out. “Okay. I’m working for Err Yedidyah, what humans would call the king of my country I manage his staff, take care of his home security, his grounds, and manage the regiments under his command.”
“You were his butler?”
“No, I wasn’t his butler!” Butch laughed. “I was his Modorom, his second in command. The closest thing you have in this country would be secretary of defense.”
“Oh, sorry. Please continue.”
“Well, I’m with him for three darchas, a little longer than your Earth years, and I’m doing well. He trusts me, and I like the work. One day, I hope to see myself as an honored member of his inner circle—the Ontetni.
“Then, one evening before dark, I’m walking across the grounds, and his daughter, the Asecni Raanana, stops me.”
He paused for a moment, and Claire gently prodded him. “Asecni means princess?”
“Yes.” He cleared his throat. “The princess stops me and says she will ask her father for us to be joined. I’m a little shocked, but I tell her she knows that can’t happen. My destiny is with another. She begins arguing that no Auquerel can bind her to one she does not want—and she insists that she wants me. She is young and spoiled and begins crying when I tell her that what she asks is impossible. She runs to the house, and I go home for the evening.”
She wanted to ask him about what he meant by his destiny with another, what exactly an Auquerel was, and how a “binding” worked, but she waited for him to continue.
“That night, the Err’s regiments descend upon my home, put me in chains, and take me to Err Yedidyah. He says his daughter came to him in shame over what I had done to her, that now she is not worthy of her destiny and I am to blame.”
“Not worthy of her destiny?” Claire chewed her bottom lip. “You mean now she couldn’t bind with whoever it was the Auquerel had picked out for her?”
“Correct.”
Smart girl, she thought. Smart and selfish and unconcerned who she hurt in the process. Claire wondered if this Asecni ever cared about Butch or if he was just her ticket out of an arrangement she didn’t want in the first place. “So, you were sent here. Your punishment, I take it?”