When he began muttering about writing an article for a national medical journal, I gripped his shoulder and forced him to face me. “So Dallas will live?”
“I—I—” Grinning, Dr. Hannah scratched his head. “Yes, I believe so. For a while longer, anyway.”
That was all I needed to hear. “Call me if there’s any change.”
“Yes, yes,” he answered, distracted. “I’m going to order a complete blood count and an intralateral biopsy. Maybe a CAT scan to check brain activity. In all my years of medicine, I’ve never seen this happen before.”
I wanted to smile and frown at the same time. How could something so wonderful for Dallas be so disastrous for others?
Damn it, I only had four days to save my friend’s life.
CHAPTER 9
I went home and hit the bed fully clothed. I didn’t check my messages, didn’t eat or shower. My weary body ached and demanded rest, and the softness of the mattress beckoned like a knowing siren.
Sleep claimed me instantly.
As always, dreams soon followed, though these were different than any I’d ever experienced before. I dreamed of Kyrin. I dreamed he stripped me down, peeling away each layer of my clothing. His tongue moved against mine the entire time, his taste as warm and rich as brandy on a cold night.
Unbidden, my hands tangled in the silkiness of his hair.
He tore his lips from mine, and I moaned at the loss.
“Touch me,” he whispered.
Even in my dream I tried to resist him. “No.”
A slow smile teased his mouth before he crushed our lips together once again. I released his hair, ran my palms down the sleek brawn and sinew of his chest, then cupped the hard mounds of his ass. His skin felt like velvet, the hardness of his muscles a perfect contrast.
His body was as shaped and honed as any human. Better even. Bigger. His limbs were laced with sinew, so hot, so powerful. A girl could become addicted to such raw intensity.
“I need you, Mia,” he intoned.
I clasped my hands over his jaw and brought him down for yet another kiss. I tasted a swirling storm of hunger as his tongue swept into my mouth and attempted to conquer me. Utterly conquer me.
He groaned my name.
I awoke shouting his.
Panting, sweat-soaked, I lay there, my hands fisted in the covers of my bed. Frustration clawed at me, his heady taste still in my mouth. Cool air stroked my naked, heated skin. I sucked in a broken breath, hating that I felt seared. Branded.
Kyrin was nowhere to be seen.
Only a dream, I reminded myself. Only a dream. Except, when had I stripped?
God, I need a hobby, I thought, rolling to my side. However, nothing appealed to me. I didn’t have the patience to create things. Didn’t like to paint, knit, or shop. My only activity in my free time was to work out or train in street combat. Sometimes I read, but that was only research for work. Maybe it was time to stop living, eating, and breathing my job, though. Maybe then my dreams would quiet.
At least I wasn’t dreaming, as usual, of the aliens I had killed or the victims I failed to save in time.
I lumbered out of bed. My legs were shaky. After downing an entire pot of vitamin-enhanced synthetic coffee, I showered. I’d read that our ancestors had used water to bathe. I couldn’t imagine such a thing. Dry enzyme and glyceride spray was the norm now, blowing over us from head to toe in mere seconds. Water would have cost a fortune and taken too long.
Once dressed, I headed for the station house. There I picked up a new pyre-gun, replacing the one Kyrin had stolen.
I rode the elevator to level five, then underwent a retinal scan and fingerprint ID. I felt revived, centered, as I entered Lilla’s small, cramped cell. The click, click, click of the triple lock resounded behind me.
I’d left my gun and blades at check-in. Physically, Lilla was no match for me, and we both knew it. I could take her down without the aid of a firearm. Mentally, though…I just prayed I was prepared.
I was going to have to pump this stubborn, emotional Arcadian for every bit of information she possessed. I’d probably have to lie, cheat, and threaten. Whatever I had to do, I’d do it. I couldn’t set Lilla free—God, I couldn’t believe I was even considering the possibility—without finding the missing first.
Not even for Dallas.
I’d admitted that much to myself already, and it still hurt like hell.
But…
If I found the missing men, as well as Steele’s killer, I could set Lilla free with a clear conscience. Sure, I’d be breaking the law—all predatory aliens were to be executed. I’d fought to put that law into place, and Lilla was definitely predatory. I didn’t care, though. I’d set her free and never regret it.
Urgency, and a small trace of fear, embraced me as I took stock of my surroundings. Urgency for Dallas, fear for the enclosed space. The walls were stark white, padded, and there wasn’t a single window. A cot was pushed against the north wall, and a toilet occupied the south. There was nothing else in the way of furniture.
Lilla lay on the cot, her hands folded neatly over her stomach, her legs crossed at the ankles. She no longer wore her seductive clothing. Now she had on a plain blue shirt with matching pants, both made of stiff poly. Her eyes were closed, but I knew she wasn’t sleeping. Serenity might radiate from her every pore, yet I knew better; I sensed her inner turmoil.
“I know you’re awake,” I said. I crossed my arms over my chest and waited. When minute after minute ticked by and still she said nothing, I added, my voice taunting, “How are your accommodations? Satisfactory, I hope. If the warden forgot to put a chocolate on your pillow—”
That had the desired effect.
“Damn you,” she spat, jolting up. Her nostrils were flared, her eyes ablaze with hatred. “Who are you to ruin the lives of others?”
“I save human lives. If I must ruin yours to do so,” I shrugged, “so be it.”
“You are so smug, so sure. You will come to regret all that you have done, Mia Snow. Of this you can be sure.”
A prophecy? Or merely words of hope? Either way, I suppressed a shudder.
“My brother—” she began in her familiar chorus.
“Yes, yes. I know. He’ll eat me up and spit out my bones. The fact is, Lilla,” I said, casually placing my hands in my pockets, “I’ve already had the pleasure of meeting your brother, the procurer of human death.” I emptied my expression of all emotion. I couldn’t allow her to read me, to see the truth, once I spoke my next words. “Kyrin is in custody right now.”