Never had he seen anything so . . . surreal. It was like a painting, or a vision from a song.
At exactly two P.M., just as Hauk had claimed, it rained. Not a vicious thunderstorm, but a heavy, drenching rain that kept streams full and watered all the lush foliage.
Mallet didn’t mind getting wet.
He turned his face up to the sky and let the water run over him. It felt good, being free like this to think, to just be a man.
Life felt good. Having his strength back, standing on his own, felt better than good.
But being with Kayli felt . . . incredible.
He didn’t want to hurt her, but he also didn’t want to sit idly by and allow her to be hurt by others. Interfering with her mother . . . well, that’d surely lead to trouble. Relatives were always a pain in the ass. But he had to do something. When he looked at Raemay, he saw that she was consumed by the strangest animosity toward Kayli.
She was a darling girl, a woman to be proud of, so why would her mother feel that way?
Denying her company on this little excursion wouldn’t sit well with Kayli, either. But having her pissed was preferable to risking her safety.
He walked a long time in the direction Hauk had indicated. On the media viewer he’d seen the path, so he felt pretty sure of his route. Along the way he saw creatures unfamiliar to him, but Hauk had assured him he wouldn’t run into anything too dangerous as long as he didn’t venture into the woods.
And if he did go into those thick, dark woods, according to Hauk the most treacherous things he’d find there were . . . birds.
Really fat, ugly birds, given what he’d seen on the media viewer. Not the type to fly overhead, but some strange breed that sat in trees and swooped down on prey, big or small, tearing with razor-sharp beaks and long claws.
Sounded pretty gross to Mallet, but he’d hidden his revulsion; he wasn’t a wuss to start worrying about feathered fiends, even the futuristic kind.
After a time, the rain let up and the sun came back out, and that, too, felt pretty damn good. At the top of a rise, Mallet stopped and, going low over rock outcroppings, crept to the edge until he could see to the valley below.
A sacrifice had been left there, all alone and vulnerable to danger.
She was a necessary tool to his overall plan.
Serene and poised, she looked lovely waiting there on a smooth boulder, her long, dark brown hair blowing in the breeze, her hands folded in her lap. She wore a diaphanous gown that reminded him of the expensive lingerie of his own time.
A transport—sort of like a floating car minus the rubber wheels—had taken her out to the valley and left her there to await her fate. Mallet thought of the women who had come before her, the fear they might have experienced, what they’d thought about while waiting.
Fury tightened his muscles.
He’d waited so long that his clothes had nearly dried when he heard the rumble of an engine, a foreign sound in the smooth-gliding solar vehicles of the colony. A big blond dude, dressed in an open-necked shirt and black pants, rode in fast and hard. He spun his purring vehicle in a tight circle around the sacrifice.
She barely moved.
The intruder grinned. He looked to be in his midforties, but still solid in the way of a man used to being physical.
A man in his prime.
Behind him, several other large men rode in on different forms of transport, just as fast but without the throaty growl of the leader’s vehicle. They all circled their prey; they all looked pleased.
Mallet’s eyes narrowed. Fucking perfect.
When the leader again circled, Mallet surveyed the guy’s transportation. It was unlike anything he’d ever seen, in his own time or since arriving here. It didn’t touch the ground, but it had more muscle to it than the other vehicles he’d seen.
It was louder, faster, showier.
He’d have to ask Kayli about it . . . His attention went back to the sacrifice when the leader asked, “What is your name?”
She said without inflection, “I am Lydina.”
“You will come with me now, Lydina,” he ordered, indicating that she should climb onto his transport.
Without a word, she climbed onto the back of the machine, put her arms around the man, and rested her head on his back.
The engine revved, but before leaving, he leaned down and dropped a package on the boulder where the sacrifice had waited. Then, in a blink, he and the others flew away, darting into the woods, shielding them from Mallet’s sight.
Not being an idiot, Mallet waited several more minutes before standing and dusting himself off. He could hear nothing, and trusted that they were completely out of range.
He looked over the edge of the rise and decided that, despite the recent rain, it was navigable.
“Going somewhere?”
Oh hell. He recognized that annoyed female voice. Playing it casual, amused at her stealth, he shrugged and smiled as he pivoted to face Kayli. She stood there, feet braced apart, frown fierce, arms folded under her breasts.
“Yeah. I was.” He put his hands on his hips. “I didn’t hear you ride up.”
She relaxed her stance enough to wave a hand toward a floating vehicle. “I rode my aircycle.” At his questioning look, she said, “It’s silent, but fast enough to suit a trip out here.”
Even as Mallet noticed, and regretted, the fine tension in her lithe little bod, he said, “Our intruder rode something noisier.” He hadn’t wanted to upset her again, but she’d have to learn that he needed his space—especially when doing something he considered too dangerous for her.
“An orbiter.” She didn’t look at him as she neared the edge of the hill and peered over. “I’ve seen them, but never ridden one. Few people still have them since most colonies, including ours, have forbidden them.” Her brows pinched down as she moved farther away from him. “Not only are they against eco-friendly codes, they assault the ears and disrupt everyday life.”
Mallet said, “Huh.” Truthfully, he thought it was pretty damned cool. Sort of like a spaced-out Harley. But given her contempt when she described the orbiter, he decided it was better not to admit that to her. “He also left behind a package.”
Kayli, still stiff with irritation, looked toward the boulder where the sacrifice had waited. In a low murmur, she said, “He’s never done that before.”
“Maybe he sensed something this time. Want to go see what it is?”
“I intend to, yes.” Her arms crossed again. The sunshine was bright here, glistening on her pale hair and making her golden eyes glow. “You know the rules, Michael. My mother has declared that no one is to witness the exchange.”
“I’m not much for rules.” Especially when he didn’t understand why they were made in the first place. How the hell could they fight an enemy if they refused to ever confront him, or even lay eyes on him?
“Your being here could have disrupted things if you were spotted.”
Mallet shrugged. “But I wasn’t.”
His cavalier attitude almost caused her exasperation to boil over. “Is this how we work a partnership? You sneak off without me?”
“I didn’t sneak,” Mallet lied. “I wanted to look around, familiarize myself with your colony, and I just ended up this way.”
Unconvinced, she glared daggers at him.
Time for an offense, Mallet decided. “Why were you sneaking up on me anyway?” He moved closer as he spoke. “What if you’d startled me and I went over the side of this damn hill?”
“You’d likely have broken something.” She said that as if it didn’t matter to her. “And then I would have had to repair you again.”
“Yeah, we never really discussed that, did we?” Glad for a new topic, he kept walking until she was near enough for him to touch. “How’d you, ah, repair me the first time?”
Her gaze turned wary. “Hauk did it during transportation.”
“No shit?” He put an arm around her and led her with him as he searched for the easiest route down to the valley. “Hauk is a damned medic, too?”
“No.” She slipped away from his hold. “This is one of those things that, while I understand the end result, I don’t entirely comprehend the specifics of how it actually works.”
“Give it a shot anyway.”
Shrugging, she bent and plucked a beautiful blue wild-flower growing from between two rocks. “During transport you are entirely under Hauk’s control. Across airwaves or something, he sends nano-pulses throughout your system. They detect all damage, feed the information back to Hauk, and with those same pulses, he directs an electrical charge at healthy cells to activate at a highly accelerated pace, healing bone, tissue, ligaments . . . whatever.”
“So the health rate here must be something, huh?”
“We get our fair share of illnesses, which are treated by physicians and lesser, yet still competent, computer systems. But they’re all plugged into Hauk, so he monitors all activity to ensure correct diagnoses. Whenever damage is severe, Hauk intercedes and does what he can. But some injuries can’t be corrected.”
“Like?”
She stared out at the horizon. “A failed heart. Limbs that have been too long severed. Decapitation.”
“Good God, you have beheadings here?”
Her gaze came back to meet his. “Such hasn’t happened in a long time.”
“Well, that’s a relief.” Mallet took the flower and tucked it behind her ear. He smiled, liking how pretty that looked, how pretty she looked. “Let’s get that package now.”
After holding her hand, he started to take a cautious step over the edge, and Kayli snatched him back. “Are you insane? We can’t climb down.”
“Sure we can. We just need to be careful.” He expected her to appreciate his consideration in including her. Given the treachery of the climb, he’d have preferred for her to wait around until he returned.
Or better still, not had her there at all.
But she was here, and already piqued, so he hoped to coax her out of her sour mood.
“We’ll take the aircycle.” She pulled away from him and went to the floating vehicle. She swung one leg over the narrow seat and then, as if by magic, glided over toward him. “Get on.”
Mallet eyed the slight framework, the delicate handles. “Yeah, uh, I kind of doubt that thing will hold me.” It looked to be made of some very thin type of aluminum. “If I put my weight on there, we’ll both end up mired in the mud.”
Kayli looked him in the eyes, and said by way of a challenge, “Trust me.”
“A dare!” He grinned at her, liking how she’d chosen to test him. “You’re saying it’ll hold us both, and still get us where we want to go?”
“Without any difficulty.”
“All right, lady.” He stepped over and straddled the seat, hesitated, and then eased down. The cycle didn’t move. “So far so good, but if I get dumped on the hillside, I’m blaming you.”
“Lift your feet onto the running boards and hold on to me.”
“No problem with that.” He settled his feet alongside hers until his long legs caged her in. The position put her firm butt snug against his crotch. Choking down a groan, he slipped one arm around her waist, far enough to open his hand on her trim midriff. Beneath his palm, her muscles tensed. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
She smiled, and vaulted them forward—and over the hillside.
To his credit, Mallet didn’t shout at the unexpected sensation of falling headfirst off a cliff. He did hug Kayli a little tighter, hoping to protect her with his body when they dumped.
But they didn’t.
Staying close to the ground, darting and tilting to avoid rocks and small bushes, she wove her way down the hill—all without once jarring him from his seat.
It was . . . exhilarating. The wind in his face, the scent of nature, the scent of Kayli wrapped in his arms.
Leaning forward, Mallet put his nose to her nape. God Almighty, she was delicious, smelling just as fresh and pure as the outdoors, but stirring him on a much deeper level.
He closed his eyes, thinking what it’d be like once he claimed her as his own, once he had all the rights of a man in union with his woman.
Waiting wasn’t easy. But he had his reasons, beyond the priorities of the colony.
Kayli didn’t yet understand lust; she didn’t understand her own need, so how could she understand his? Until she did, he knew their first time together would be awkward for her at best, uncomfortable at worst.
He wanted so much for her than that.
He wanted . . . everything.
“Michael?”
He opened his eyes, and realized they’d stopped. “Hmmm?”
“What do you think? Did you enjoy the ride?”
He’d enjoy riding her more, but bit back that carnal sentiment. “Enough that next time, I want to drive.”
“As soon as you watch the media instruction.”
“I’d rather you teach me.”
“Oh.” She glanced over her shoulder at him, then away. “I could do that.”
“Thanks.” He hugged her, kissed her ear.
“I think you’d enjoy riding above the clouds, too.”
“You can do that with this . . . what’d you call it?”
“Aircycle, and no. I have a Sky Slider for that. It’s enclosed so that our oxygen is regulated properly. But I love flying up high, especially at night when it almost feels like I’m darting in and around the stars—” She broke off abruptly. “Anyway, if you’d like to take a ride with me sometime, we could fit that in.”
“Definitely.” For whatever reason, he was very turned on by the idea of her sharing new things with him. “I’ll look forward to it.”
To show she was done cuddling, Kayli asked, “Shall I open the package, or will you?”
Stepping off the aircycle, Mallet surveyed the small package, really not much more than a padded envelope. “I’ll do it, just in case it’s booby-trapped somehow.”
“That’s not necessary.” She withdrew a small, blunt pen and clicked a button. “Hauk?”
“So
now
you want to talk to me?”