Mira grinned, “it’s the pole dancing, not that I do that anymore.”
“Tristan made you stop?”
“Please girl, no one makes me do anything. I stopped because I didn’t need the money it was more of a cover. More importantly, I watched him sit there and growl at all the men who wanted a piece of me. You know that on their planet they weren’t allowed to form attachments with females. I put myself in his shoes. How would I feel if I finally found myself with a male I loved, and he was stripping even if not completely for the whole world to see? I’d do more than growl, I quit the next day.”
Ava went to open her mouth.
“Stop. Yes, many people both male and female do that job every day, but this wasn’t about them. It was about me.”
Mira was right, the way they felt wasn’t about someone else it was all about them. Ava was ready she still had more to learn, but all she wanted was to see Locke. They finished lunch and started back to the SUV when a black oily substance slid over her thoughts.
Chapter Twelve
“Shadow’s.” Ava heard Mira’s voice as if she was talking through a thick layer of cotton.
The black oil was slowly spreading over her thoughts keeping her off balance. She was scared she was going to slip on it. If she fell, she would be lost. Her hands clawed at her head needing to be able to breathe. She choked feeling her breath cut off.
“Got you.” The voice was dark and sinister increasing her fear.
She was going to die, she knew it. Her mind began to pack up in an attempt to leave a sinking ship. What about Locke? What about him? What did they say when you started to talk to yourself? Are we going to leave him without saying goodbye? The packing stopped her body was focused on the question. No, every part of her cried out. She didn’t want to leave Locke.
Then we have to fight. Fighting was easier said than done, the movies make it look easy. I don’t care was her response to herself. That was true she didn’t care. She stretched out a hand to the Shadowy image of Locke she had in her head drawing strength and comfort from it. We’ll do this thing together.
The black darkness was polluting her like fecal matter. That was enough to make her nose twist, she didn’t want that in her mind. She tried scooping it with a cup like one might do with the fat when you boil chicken. It was taking too long and too much of her was getting into the cup. She discarded that idea. Oil and water, she watched the oil cover her mind trying to drown her. It sat on top of her thoughts never able to penetrate. The longer she watched the more she became aware of the fact that it was two separate layers.
The thin shield that Locke used when he isolated the Shadow trap came back to her. How could she get it? The Locke in her mind was just a Shadow and image she used to comfort herself. He wasn’t real, was he? She tried to remember when he first showed up. The first clear memory she had of him was after their first night together. It was hazy, but she remembered him being at the back of her mind. The more time she spent with him the more solid the image became. He was just a Shadow, right?
Time was moving too fast, soon she would be out of options. Banking her whole life on a strong hunch, she stopped trying to defend herself and flew to the Shadow of Locke broadcasting as loudly as possible what she needed. Either this Shadow was connected to the Kur’ik, or she was dead. Better to be dead than to be a toy for the real Shadows. When she reached him, she saw it. In his hand was the small greenish box that they used for the trap. Taking it she tried to calm herself down as she worked on making it flat. She could see what to do but it wasn’t working.
The Shadow of Locke moved standing behind her. He guided her hands as she did the movements that allowed the box to flatten until it was paper thin. Together they slid it between her mind and the oily substance trying to kill her. It slid through like a sword taking the life of the villain. Once it was all separated, they were able to close it up pulling it into a small box to be disposed of later.
She wanted to turn around and give Shadow Locke a kiss as many as she could get away with. Instead, her world went black.
Air, it was the first thought that came to her, wonderful air that brought lifesaving breaths. The second thought was that it was scented with black licorice and pumpkin spice, impossible she was still trying to make it back to the SUV.
“Ava? Ava are you awake?”
“Locke?” Her voice was scratchy, damage like someone had tried to choke the life out of her
Thick arms went around her as a heavy body leaned into her. Locke, she tried to give a small hum of pleasure. She wasn’t sure if she was here or it was a dream, but she’d take him any way she could get him.
“I’m here princess.”
He had a name for her. It was like the first step to love, right? Did she read that in a Cosmo? Probably not, forget the magazines she was gonna right her own article. No better yet she’d do a quiz for Facebook. How do you know when your partner is falling in love with you? Step one: does he have a pet name for you?
She was gonna do that after she woke up. Her world went black again. The next time she woke up Locke was asleep sitting in a chair next to her bed.
“Locke?”
“Ava, your awake. Tristan!” he leaned over and took her hand in his.
“I was concerned about you. Tristan said you would be okay, but you didn’t wake up after the first time.”
“How long?” Her throat was still scratchy, but it felt like it healed a little.
“Forty-eight hours.”
That wasn’t too bad, wait she’d been asleep for two whole days. “Two complete days?”
“Yes,” he was nodding his head for emphasis.
“How’s my patient?” Tristan walked in his voice more chipper than it had a right to be.
She pried an eye open wider and cast him a baleful look.
“It’s like that, huh?”
OMG, the alien doctor had jokes. If only she was well enough to appreciate them.
“You almost died,” his voice was no longer chipper. “Everything says you should have died, I’m at a loss to explain how you are still with us. I can tell you there is a connection between you and Locke. It is not a mate bond, not yet. You will both need to think about where you want your relationship to go. I don’t want you to bond accidentally, there is no coming back from that.
“Now for the good news. You’re going to survive your encounter with the Shadows with nothing more than a sore throat and a headache. When you feel better, you’ll need to work on defense.” He did another exam on her before giving her a shot that would stop the pain and allow her to rebuild her mental defenses faster.
She was attacked by the Shadows, but all she could think of was the word mate bond. Would Locke want that with her? She said she was going to keep him, but this was different, it was real.
“Hi,” her throat hurt. He stood and brought her ice chips. He was such a good male. She beamed at him.
“You almost died,” he ran a finger over her cheek.
“Sorry about that,” she took more ice chips in her mouth. They were helping her throat feel better, looser. “How did I get here?”
“Mira found two people willing to help her get you to her car. She told us what was happening, but it was faster for her to bring you here than for us to get to you. I was already helping you with the Shadows.”
“That really happened?” In the back of her mind, she was calling it a dream. There was no way all that could have happened but if he said he helped her, she believed him.
“That happened.” He took her ice and replaced it with a glass of water. She drank it down the smooth flow helping her throat.
“What now?”
“Now? We get you well. I know you want to talk about things like the mating bond. I watched Mira and Tristan and even the others although they mated while I was in the ground. I have come to believe that human females like to know everything at once.”
She gave a light laugh feeling pleased when her throat didn’t reject
the sound.
“I don’t know about all of us, but I’d rather take my medicine than play around with it. I agree though this probably isn’t the time. How about we compromise? You lay next to me so I can sleep and then tomorrow we’ll talk about the bomb Tristan dropped.”
He climbed onto the bed next to her. She pillowed her head on his chest and breathed in his scent before falling asleep.
The bright red door to the house stood out in the bleak terrain that surrounded it. There had been no rain, it could be the only reason the grass was brown instead of green. Further out at the edge of her vision was the hills that seemed to surround the place on three sides.
A large truck pulled up. She shook, there was no place for her to hide. Two men got out while the front door to the house opened.
“You got more?” The woman who opened the door asked.
“Yeah, two more, dead as a doornail,” the driver said as he opened the back of the van.
“Well hurry up you know the window closes fast.”
The driver and his friend pulled out two wrapped cadavers dragging them to the house and up the stairs. Ava followed since no one seemed to notice her. The house was stark with only what seemed to be living room furniture and not much of it. That couch looked like she had seen it fifty years ago.
The woman walked over to the wall on the far side moving a painting. The wall slid open to reveal an elevator.
“Come on time is ticking.”
They dragged the bodies onto the elevator. Not knowing what else to do Ava followed. She tried to read the thoughts of those around her as the elevator descended. The further down it went the more she felt like she couldn’t breathe, it was like the world would fall on her. How did people like minors do this?
The door opened, and she was in a different world. This was state-of-the-art everything. They stepped off into a reception area. The man at the desk looked up nodded and went back to whatever held his attention. She followed the men with the bodies. They went down several corridors until they ended in a lab. It was white and silver with a futuristic look to it.
“Put them on the beds. I hope these two work out the last four were duds and we had to dispose of the bodies.”
They took the cloth off them to show they were both naked before placing them on the beds.
“Dumping the bodies at the base of the mountain’s not really disposing of them.”
“Did you say something Jenkins?” Another man walked in. He was military with a star on his shoulder.
“No, sir.” Both men snapped into a salute.
“At ease. These weapons are becoming harder to create.”
“Continue Dr. Harding.”
Straps came out the wall wrapping around the body of the corpses. Then an automated arm lifted holding a vial of liquid. The needle was aimed at the temporal lobe. The thick needle entered their heads. Ava placed her hand in her mouth to keep from yelling even as her mind told her they were dead.
A shake to her shoulder woke her up. She realized she was crying and whimpering. Locke took her in his arms rocking her slightly to give her comfort.
“It was just a dream.” One messed up dream.
“Was it about what happened to you?”
“No,” she snuggled deeper into his arms. “I saw dead people, literally.” She told him the rest of her dream trying to shake it. “It was just a dream.”
They laid back down. He tightened his hold on her. She needed that as she closed her eyes her mind asked her one final question before sleep found her.
If it was only a dream why was she so scared?
Chapter Thirteen
Tristan spent several minutes frowning at Ava before he pronounced her well enough to be discharged.
“Thanks,” she left fast with Locke on her heels. The last thing she wanted to think about was her dream or what was happening between her and Locke. None of that compared to the feeling at the back of her mind that she wasn’t completely alone.
Locke placed his hand on the small of her back and led her to the kitchen. There was a sense of déjà vu that settled over her. She shook it, it was just a reminder that this is where her day started two days ago.
“You need to eat,” Mira filled a plate for her without asking what she wanted.
Ava smiled they were starting to know what she liked and didn’t like. It felt like a family.
“Even my sister didn’t know what I liked for breakfast.”
“She knew, but jealousy can do a lot to us,” Mira told her before taking a bite of her own food.
“How are you feeling?” Cade was staring intently at her.
She gulped, Cade was the leader of their group and the one person she really hadn’t gotten to know. At times he seemed easy-going but at others, he was hard like the weight of the world sat on his shoulders. Maybe it did since he was in charge.
“I’m recovered, thanks for asking.” The grin she offered up was only partly genuine.
“An encounter with the Shadows is never easy. You were with us when we found the house filled with Shadow victims and now, they have attacked you.”
“It wasn’t the first time.”
“Explain,” Locke demanded before anyone could say more.
She related what happened to her when she went out before she met him.
“One of them is targeting you,” Mira ran her hand over her face. She looked tired. She filled Ava in on what had already happened and the deaths the Shadows were responsible for. “I can’t believe they are part of human evolution.”
“Stranger things have happened,” but she was with Mira on this one. The obvious question was what was next. She didn’t ask, sometimes you needed downtime.
She took on kitchen clean up watching as everyone left except Locke. She did dishes while he wiped down the stove top, then the table and counters. When everything was clean, they took a seat at the table.
“I guess we should talk.”
“I think I should talk.” He waited head bowed until he felt her hand on his. “I was made through a process I can’t begin to understand. There is a collection of enzymes that are older than time itself. From what I understand they still have life in them. That life created me, us.”
He stood and took her hand, they walked out the back door. There was no one around. They walked to the lake this time. Ava took off her sandals and sat on an edge that allowed her to dangle her feet in the water.
“It’s beautiful out here.”
“It is,” Locke looked at her with stars in his eyes. “I was created to kill we all were but my team Enigma One was special. We did the hard jobs and were forced at times to go to ground to wait until our skills were needed. On our planet, there was this fascination by both the males and females who wanted to flirt with death. They enjoyed knowing they could control a killer, abuse him, knowing his hands were tied. I couldn’t live like that.
“I also knew that I would never have a mate. Even if things changed the Kur’iks like me would never be tolerated as mates. No one would want our enzymes to be passed to another. That’s why when you allowed me to touch your soft skin and then you didn’t hurt me, amazed me. How could a female who was so soft and all curves allow me to touch her perfect skin? How could her mouth open on such sweet moans of pleasure brought on by my hands?”
Ava used her foot to splash water at him. They laughed splashing back and forth as she thought about him and what he said.
“Is mating like getting married?”
“Not for us, it’s forever. There is no divorce.”
“And when you get tired of me?”
“Why would I get tired of you?”
“Everyone gets tired of me. I have a sister she’s two years older than me. I loved her, followed her around everywhere. I wanted to be just like her. The older we got, the more I wanted to immolate her. I think I was twelve when I realized she hated me. I don’t know when the love and acceptance I felt from her changed. Maybe if I had been paying more attention, I c
ould have done something. She hated me, hated the time my parents spent with me, hated if her friends said nice things to me. When she left home, she told me just how much she hated me. I’ve never seen her since.”
She stood up to remove her clothes before jumping in the lake. Locke had seen it all. The cool water felt good on her sun-drenched skin. She disappeared under and came out splashing him as she swam for the other side.
“You will have to pay for that.” He put on his best police voice before diving under the surface coming for her.
Laughing she looked for him to surface when he didn’t her throat tightened up. “Locke!” She dived under the water looking for him. It had to be two minutes.
He came up behind her his arms circling around her waist. Turning around she pounded on his chest.
“Are you crazy! You could have died. How long can you hold your breath for?” He was staring at her and she didn’t know why until she realized the water on her face was tears.
“You scared me.”
“You love me.”
Of course, she didn’t love him. Only fools fell in love so quickly. She was a modern woman and modern woman didn’t fall in love like this. It only happened in the movies.
“Do you love me?”
She opened her mouth to say no, but the words wouldn’t come. How old did you have to be to fall in love? Was over thirty old enough? Did she have to wait to her forties or fifties until she was old enough, sophisticated enough to love?
“I’m not sure I know what love is. It’s not what I felt as a kid nor is it the stupid crush I had on the only boy in the school who didn’t see me. I think that’s why I had a crush on him. He literally never paid me any attention which means he never thought anything bad about me. I know it’s not good sex, although you’re the best. So, what’s love?”
“You’re asking the wrong person. I wasn’t created to love. It still awes me that we can love. Maybe not me though, I’m an aberration.”
The Wolf & The Psychic: BBW Alien Paranormal Romance (Werewolves & Mates Book 2) Page 8