My Man Michael (39 page)

“Enough.” How could he keep saying such things? Emotions frazzled, Kayli glared at him. “You use that word too often.”

His brows shot up in confusion. “What word?”

The way she practically spat it at him instantly turned his mood. Expression darkening, Michael came to his feet to tower over her. Kayli had a strange foreboding of things to come, things out of her control, and she almost backed up in denial of the inevitable.

“You,” he said, leaning down into her space, “never say it at all.”

A complaint? She shook her head in confusion. A dozen different times, the words had burned her throat with her need to share them with him. Only because she didn’t want him to feel trapped by her emotions had she kept silent. She had brought Michael here for a reason, for a specific purpose.

It was probable that he had chosen to make a union with her because, in a totally unfamiliar area, she was the one closest to him. That he enjoyed sex with her made his adjustment easier, and she found no complaint with that part of their deal.

It
had
been a deal. Hadn’t it? Tone tentative, she asked, “Did you
want
me to?”

Seeming distant and guarded, Michael folded his arms over his chest. “Depends on if you mean it or not.”

Her mouth fell open. So . . . did he mean it when he said it to her in those abstract ways? Her heart raced with yearning, and with that aberrant fear. Oh God, if she admitted she loved him, would her world forever change?

Hadn’t it already?

Shaking his head, Michael said, “Forget it. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot.” He left for the bathroom, leaving her with her own chaotic thoughts.

Love. It had been more unattainable than union, so abstract in her mind that she wasn’t sure how to deal with it, what to do for it.

Her stomach hurt and she wrapped her arms around herself.

For as long as she could remember, she’d given herself to her duty as Claviger. But now, with the enticement of so much more . . . did she even want to continue in that path?

Without realizing it, her hand flattened to her belly. Even now, she could be carrying his child. Tears welled in her eyes. Would she dare risk something so precious just out of a sense of duty?

No, she would not.

The second she made the decision, she felt stronger, more powerful than she ever had.

Smiling past the tears that continued to track down her face, she stood.

She was about to call out to him when he came back into the room, freshly cleaned and dressed. He took one look at her and froze.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” A strange, alert expression shone in his blue eyes.

Smiling, her heart full to bursting, she said, “Michael—”

And then Hauk’s voice interjected. “I am beyond remorseful to interrupt you lovebirds yet again, especially at such a tender moment, but there is a problem that requires your immediate attention.”

After a long, measuring look at Kayli, Michael said, “What is it, Hauk?”

“It has just been discovered that Nayana is missing.”

Kayli gasped, but Michael asked, “Who’s Nayana? You mean another woman’s been kidnapped?”

No, Kayli thought. It was impossible. The intruders had snuck in after she’d put such careful checks in place? “When was she taken?”

“According to Lydina, she was taken right before your union.”

Lydina, the AFA that they’d sent in place of a human woman? Kayli’s heart dropped to her knees. “You’ve been in contact with Lydina?”

“She has been returned to us,” Hauk explained.

“Returned? By who?” Michael demanded.

“Valder Wildoon—the man you gave her to.”

CHAPTER 22

“
T
ALK fast, Hauk.”

“He left Lydina at the border and she walked in,” Hauk explained to Mallet. “As soon as she reached our boundary, I detected her. She said that Valder is just beyond the lake, awaiting you. He wants to meet man-to-man.”

Mallet grinned with anticipation. “Perfect.” He started out of the room.

“Damn, damn, damn!” Kayli shouted. “Michael, don’t you dare leave here without me!”

He glanced over his shoulder to see her scrambling after him, her body bare and her hair tangled. He was still pissed that she continued to keep him at a distance. “You’re naked, dollface. Not a good way to confront an enemy.”

“Stop!” She swiped a shirt from the floor, but nothing else. “I mean it, damn you. We are a team. You said so yourself.”

Her deteriorated language was a bad habit she’d picked up from him. Raemay wouldn’t like that a bit, but her mother’s reaction wasn’t a priority right now.

Doing what she’d brought him here to do was.

Seeing Kayli charge naked after him, seeing her small breasts bounce, was an interesting thing—but Mallet refused to be sidetracked.

He wanted to be so much more than her fucking team-mate. He wanted to be . . . everything to her.

At times, like right now, he thought he wanted the impossible.

“Exactly,” he agreed, having no intention of putting her face-to-face with any bastard who kidnapped women against their will. “We’re a team. You go round up the troops and I’ll head to the lake.”

“No!” She tripped, snagged him by the back of his shirt, and almost took them both down.

“Kayli,” he said, trying to sound reasonable as he helped her to catch her balance. “We don’t have time to argue about it. He wants to meet man-to-man. With me.”

“You won’t go alone.”

Damn. “Look, Hauk can oversee things, right, Hauk? If it’s a trap, he can transport the lot of you over to join me.”

“I can do that,” Hauk said, but he sounded very reluctant.

“There, you see?” Mallet didn’t want her to worry too much. “Now go sound the alarm—do whatever it is you do—and get everyone ready.”

Both her hands fisted in his shirt. “You will wait for me.”

Mallet pried her hands loose. Time to make a stand. “Wrong. You brought me here for this, remember? Not for anything else.” Not for love. Not for a life together. “Let me make your effort worthwhile.”

Her eyes filled with panic. Strange for her, considering she was supposed to be cool and collected at times of crises.

“Many things have changed since then.”

“Like?” Would she admit she cared for him? He waited.

But she shook her head. “Michael, stop and think. You have not fought him. I realize that you are very good at what you do, but you don’t know how good he might be. It would be better if—”

“Now you have doubts about my ability? Thanks.” He’d seen the man, and felt not the least challenged by him. But when Kayli only looked more stricken, Mallet softened. “Look, I’ll detain him, that’s all.”

“But . . .”

“This is our best chance for you to shake off that guilt, babe.” And then, just maybe, she’d be ready to forge a real life with him as husband and wife, in every sense of the word.

She shook her head. “No, Michael, please. We need to form a plan.”

“And then he might take off again and we’ll have lost the opportunity. Have a little faith in me, will you?”

“You are worth more than a little guilt to me.”

Well, that was something, at least. It wasn’t love, but what the hell. Maybe once he rid her of her nemesis, she’d learn to love him. “You can’t talk me out of it, Kayli. Not everything is in your control.”

“I figured that out for myself already.”

His smile took him by surprise. “Sorry, love, but this is one of those times where you’re just going to have to accept my nature.” He set her away from him, looked at her naked legs, her unprotected head. “Hauk?”

“Yes?”

“Can you get her properly dressed before she joins the defense team?”

A beat of silence sounded like a ticking time bomb. Hauk cleared his throat. “She has special gear for engagement with enemies.”

“Perfect. Be sure to stick the helmet on her head, too.”

Hauk said, “Yes, of course. But if I could offer a suggestion—”

“I’m the boss, Hauk. You’d do well to remember that.” Mallet knew that if he hesitated at all, if he showed any weakness, Kayli would follow hot on his heels. And in fact . . . “Hauk, wait. After you get her attired, take her to the reception hall so she can round up the defense team. I don’t want to see her anywhere near the lake until she has everyone with her as backup. You got that?”

Hauk sighed. “Yes. Got it.”

Kayli didn’t argue. She dropped her hands and stepped back from Mallet. She looked so utterly devastated by his decision to exclude her that it felt like he’d taken a shot to the liver.

She stared at him, eyes big and wounded, and then in the next instant, she was gone.

Mallet fought the unavoidable remorse. He had no idea if he’d done the right thing or not. He only knew that he couldn’t risk her.

“She is not angered,” Hauk told him. “She is despondent. But she is now in full gear at the reception hall where the troops are already assembling.”

Mallet supposed that’d have to be good enough. Even he couldn’t get away with removing her from the defense team entirely.

“Get me to the lake.” If he could destroy the bastard before Kayli got there, it’d be a moot point.

“Do you require special gear?”

“No. I fight barefoot, usually in shorts, but the pants are fine. Just get me there. Now.”

Mallet didn’t have time to regret his decision before he found himself at the lake.

Unfortunately, he was alone.

Valder Wildoon was nowhere to be seen.

Mallet strode along the shore, searched the edge of the woods that marked the colony’s boundaries, but he saw nothing, heard no more than the occasional insect, the lapping of the water on the shore, and the breeze rustling through the treetops. What the hell? “Hauk?”

“Yes, Mallet.”

“Where the hell is he?”

Another long sigh. “It appears that his instruction to Lydina was a setup.”

Oh, shit. No, no, no. “Explain that.”

“Please recall that I did try to suggest to you the probabilities.”

Mallet’s blood ran cold. “Explain it now, you fucking chunk of metal, and fast!”

“Twenty men were hiding outside my radar, with more in readiness should they be needed. They entered the center of town.”

An eerie calm settled over Mallet. “Near the reception hall.” Where Hauk had taken Kayli.

“They only wanted you out of the way so they could storm the colony from another direction. I sounded the alarm, of course, and even now, the intruders engage with the defense team.”

Pinpricks of light flashed into Mallet’s vision. He’d never known fear like this and he didn’t like it worth a damn. All his training had taught him to remain calm and methodical, but chaos reigned in his thoughts. He was far too emotional.

“They specifically want Kayli.”

“Put me there.” An invisible fist squeezed his throat, making the words raspy.
“Now.”

Hauk, damn him, remained composed. “Shall I drop you anywhere in the middle of the conflict, or would you prefer to be near where Kayli fights?”

Ah fuck! His brain scrambled, but he forced himself to draw an icy breath of control. “Yes, damn you! Next to her.”

In a flash, Mallet found himself in the middle of a conflict, bodies smashing into bodies, fists and elbows flying. He ducked a strike and automatically retaliated with a kick that landed against his opponent’s temple.

The guy crashed down like a fallen tree.

While fending off other attacks, he searched for Kayli and found her engaged with a big blond man who smiled as he taunted her. She wore a uniform and helmet, but Mallet recognized the shape of her body, her stance, the tilt of her head.

He had only a second to watch her before the man tried to trip her and found out what Mallet already knew—that she had incredible skill.

Her elbow smashed into the man’s jaw, snapping his head back. Then her knee came up into his gut, once, twice, again to land on his chin . . . and down he went.

Fluid and fast, she turned and launched herself after another man.

Pride burned inside Mallet.

Hot damn, she was good. Better than good. His little woman knew how to kick some serious ass.

The intruders were outnumbered. It was clear they hadn’t expected to find men fighting with the defense team, and while the women warriors showed more skill, the new male recruits contributed strength and power.

In part to ensure her protection, but also to fight alongside her, to encourage her, Mallet tore through the intruders to reach Kayli’s side.

Left in his path were broken and disabled men.

Just before he got to her, Mallet recognized the blond dude as the same one who’d ridden the loud cycle the night Lydina was taken.

Valder Wildoon.

Grabbing Kayli from behind, Valder lifted her completely off her feet. She bloodied his nose with an elbow, brought her heel back, almost hitting his groin.