They ignore me while the three guards and the guy from the sec center all stare at each other for a minute. Hrennuan finally says, “It doesn’t make sense.”
Then I say to them, “Do you all think maybe the two are tied together?”
“What do you mean?” one of them asks.
“Ali’yah’s visit and Melody’s disappearance. Like maybe do you think Ali’yah wants to kidnap her or have someone do it? And she’s the distraction?”
Their brows furrow until I stop the process. “Hey, no mind babble here. Spill it.”
“There’s no way possible anyone could get in here to kidnap her,” Touhurandrun whispers.
Thinking back to the security in this place, Touhurandrun does have a point. “True. I remember when I tried to get inside. And I wasn’t even an intruder. Okay, so what now?”
Alarms start clanging and that MSI voice rings out, “Intruder alert. Main vault. Intruder alert. Main vault.”
Ali’yah runs out and asks, “What’s happening?”
My guards look at me and say, “Let’s go.”
We all run to the vault where Paradox is securely kept, including Ali’yah. On the way, my guards talk with the sec center. We don’t know what’s going on, but right now we don’t care. We just need to know Paradox is safe.
We arrive to find the two guards dead and Melody inside the vault holding Paradox. None of this makes sense to me. Why would Melody be holding Paradox?
“Melody, put that down! It’s dangerous.” She ignores me. “Melody!”
She still holds Paradox and while doing so, removes the ever-present locket she wears around her neck—the one her grandmother gave her. We’re all so shocked and intrigued by seeing her down here, that none of us think there’s any possibility of harm resulting from this. And this is totally ridiculous, given the fact that there are two dead guards lying right outside the entrance to this place.
But then something both unexpected and astounding happens. The locket begins to blur and before any of us realize it, it slowly morphs into Judgment Day.
One shock, namely Ali’yah, was bad enough. But now this? This is my friend Melody. My dive buddy. My drinking buddy. My colleague. What the hell is happening here?
“Oh, hell no!” Ali’yah yells, as Melody starts to wrap the chain of Judgment Day around Paradox.
“What is she doing?”
“Activating it,” Ali’yah yells.
“Stop her!” I yell, as I dive for her. Why am I the one doing this? There are three mountainous guards that could take her out, but no. I’m the one who does it and no doubt will pay for it.
Melody anticipates my movement. Her arm snakes out and with perfect precision, cuts me down like I am nothing more than a gnat. My body slams against the wall and air hisses out of me like a slashed tire. I’m frozen with pain, punctuated by the inability to breathe. But my hearing is as acute as ever and it’s laced with scrapes, grunts, and crashes, though I have no inkling of what’s happening. I may be dead in seconds, or celebrating a huge victory.
Then The Seven storm the vault and the noise level increases. Sabin wraps an arm around me and drags me out of there, setting me down on the floor.
“Stay put. I’ll be right back,” and he’s gone. Like I could move a muscle anyway. Hell, I can’t get a cupful of air in my lungs.
Not much time passes before footsteps file out. Sabin is by my side instantly.
“Can’t breathe,” I wheeze.
“Edge! Serena is injured,” Sabin yells.
Edge comes and says, “Maybe we should call in an SIMD.”
Somehow, I end up in bed, and the SIMD passes something over me. “Human subject suffers from broken ribs, punctured lung, blah, blah,” is what it sounds like because I get very woozy.
Sabin’s face moves in and out of focus and when I reach for his hand I miss.
“Serena? Serena? Are you awake?”
I didn’t know I was asleep.
Sabin sits on the side of the bed and rubs my cheek. “You’re awake!”
“I am?”
“Yes,” he laughs.
I look over at the windows and it’s dark. Then I look at the bed and notice I’m naked. “Why am I naked?”
“When the SIMD got you all patched up, I took your clothes off because I figured you’d be out of it for awhile.”
“How long this time?”
“Only a day.”
“What happened?”
“Your broken ribs punctured a lung and your clavicle was fractured. You had a torn bicep, too. But you’re all patched up.”
“The baby?”
His hand grabs mine. “Is fine.”
Then it all comes back. Melody. How? “Melody!”
Sabin shakes his head. “It wasn’t Melody. It was Kor. He used a kind of morphing technology to alter his appearance that made him look like Melody. It was a great plan, too. When we came to rescue you, he used imaging for himself. I think he may have tested it on you. Remember when you said you couldn’t touch him? That was part of it.
“How?”
“He set up a barrier, because if you touched him after he put it in place, you would know he wasn’t there. So when we went in, he used his morphing technology and changed himself into Melody, knowing we’d bring him back here. He’d already morphed Judgment Day, so he knew it worked. We brought him here and his intention was to steal Paradox and get out. Only our security system was a little too good.”
“Then why did he try to activate it?”
Sabin shrugs. “Now that I can’t answer. I guess he figured if he was going down, he would take everyone with him.”
My brain can barely process this. “So when did you find out it was him?”
“When we killed Melody. Or who we thought was Melody. As soon as she died, her body morphed into Kor. Imagine our surprise.”
Thank god The Seven got here in time.
“I knew something was off. Kor told us he didn’t have what we wanted and we should go home. Then he disintegrated. So we came back here and I found you … well, you know that part.”
“I’m glad he’s dead.” The freaky bastard deserved worse, but what’s worse than death?
“You stopped him, Serena. His damn plan came this close to working.” Sabin holds up his thumb and forefinger, almost pinching them together. “He would’ve used the weapon if you hadn’t been here to stop him.”
“I clearly did nothing.” I swing my arm over my body. “If it had been up to me, we’d all be cosmic dust right now.”
He takes my hand and presses his lips to my palm.
“No, you knocked Melody out of the way which spurred everyone into action. Or at least that’s what they told me. Ali’yah said she apologized to you.”
“Yeah. It was weird. And I didn’t call her a bag of rotten dicks, although I didn’t accept her apology either. We sort of had an interruption that turned out to be a little more important than the apology.”
“No kidding.” He pushes my hair back a little and then wraps a chunk around his hand. “I love you.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. You want to move over and make room for me?” he asks.
“Are you gonna tell me a bedtime story?”
“I’ll do one better. I’ll tell you every single thing that happened and what’s going on with The Seven.”
Scooting my butt over, I pat the bed next to me. “Tell it all, lover. And then you have to tell me something else.”
“What?”
“I’ll ask you in a minute.”
He gives me all the details, from how the League helped to the Council’s reactions. Then he continues. “Judgment Day and Paradox are both locked up tightly in the vault. There was another Council member who’d been brain tapped by Kor, but as soon as Kor died, the guy fell out of his coma and is now recovering. He remembers very little of those years, which is sad. But now we know why we had such resistance with the Council. This man was such a gentle character, you’d never suspect him. So now we have everything wrapped up.”
It all makes such perfect sense. But then I remember the flamed haired creature. “And Ali’yah?”
“She’s like a new person. I think she had a day of reckoning or something. Maybe after she heard I was going to banish her, she had time to think how she fucked up. I don’t know and I don’t care to waste too much time on that subject, but she’s behaving now.”
“So, what you’re saying is—all this shit is done?”
His lips become one thin line as he thinks, and he says, “Yeah.”
“But, Sabin, what about your family? Who killed them?”
“I’m positive Kor was behind the killings. The council member who was involved had something to do with it, but it doesn’t matter, because he doesn’t remember anything.”
“And you’re sure?”
“As sure as I can be for now. I’ll still be open for information, but I’m happy we have Judgment Day and Paradox together for the first time in who knows how long. It makes our job easier.”
This doesn’t satisfy me. For years, he’s been convinced someone conspired to murder his family and now he’s happy with this explanation. I’m not and I tell him. “I think you’re selling out on this deal with the murderers of your family. I don’t like it. You were convinced Ali’yah was involved at one point.”
“I told her that and she denied it.”
“Of course she would. Who wouldn’t?”
He shrugs. “Maybe I’m foolish. Maybe I’m tired of fighting her. But I’ve never seen her act so contrite before. I’m not sure what happened, but this time it may be real.”
“Has she ever been threatened by banishment before?” Maybe this has jerked a knot in her panties.
“Never. Perhaps it worked. But as far as my family goes, I think I’ve reached the end of the line. I’ve tried everything I know. My next step is to let everyone think I’m dropping it. Maybe if they think I’ve come to terms with it, they’ll let their guard down and the truth will be revealed.”
“That sounds like a better plan. Do you think Ali’yah was involved? What’s your gut instinct?”
“I don’t know. She’s pretty convincing on her innocence and her apology to you. However, that doesn’t always mean anything. I won’t ever trust her after the way she treated our marriage.”
And that brings me to a question. “Why did you two marry, if that’s not a big thing here?”
“She wanted it, so I gave in. I tried everything to make her happy, though I don’t know why.”
“You’re right about never trusting her. I wouldn’t.” It’s hard to get a zebra to change its stripes. “So now what?”
“You and I get some alone time. I need some Serena time.”
“I have one more question.”
“What is it?”
“Where did you get that scar on your face?”
The corner of his mouth curls and his onyx gaze presses into me. “Do you like it?”
“Not if it caused you suffering.”
“Will you kiss it? It will make it feel better.” His request is that of a boy, but his voice is sexy and there is no trace of a boy in it. It is all man. Sinfully sexy man.
I stretch over and place a tiny kiss on the corner of his mouth. “I’ll give you more when you tell me.”
“Well, I’d like to say I got it saving the life of someone while fighting the Shaurok, but the truth of it is, I was a clumsy youth and walked into a glass door. The damn thing had fairly honed edges and it laid my face open. My sister and brother teased me unmercifully. Scarred Sabin, they called me.” He wears a cute smirk so I kiss the rest of his scar, as promised.
“Scarred Sabin, huh? It is sexy, like the rest of you. I’d rather call you sinfully sexy Sabin. So tell me, what does Serena time entail?”
“I’m not giving out my secrets, but I can guarantee you’ll like it.” His scent floods my nostrils and I’m suddenly very needy.
“Let me take a shower first.”
His hooded expression lets me know my shower will not be taken alone. And it isn’t. We stay in there for a very long time, even though the cleansing part of the shower is brief. Sabin is an expert at washing my body and applying the soap in all the right places. The fact that his hands move much faster than mine is a huge bonus. But when he’s finished, he tackles my mouth with a passionate kiss, leaving me as breathless as I was with a punctured lung. Only this time it is painless and pleasure-laced. There’s something about shower sex that’s sublime. When he turns me to face the wall and slides my hands up high, I know what’s about to happen. It sends my blood ripping through my veins, searing my body, and firing my neurons. He pulls my hips just enough for me to arch my back and then I feel his tip circling my slit. One hand moves in front and finds my clit as he inches inside. I’m so ready for him, he seats himself to the hilt, and I sigh, because I’ve missed this.
“Fuck, you’re so tight, Serena. And wet. So good. Perfect.” Then he makes that umpht sound I love so much as he moves in and out, slow at first, then picking up speed.
“Faster,” I urge him on.
When he does, he asks if it’s too much.
“No. More.”
I love it when he pulls almost all the way out, then pushes back in, fast and hard. He touches me in places I didn’t know I had. His hand slides across my clit in tandem with his cock and I’m about to go off.
“I’m coming.”