Scorpio Sons 1: Colton (12 page)

When her sad refrain was finished, she sat in silence. The audience was completely still. Then, as the seconds ticked by and she started to worry that something had gone wrong, the studio exploded with cheers and applause. And it went on and on, people everywhere coming to their feet as they clapped and cried openly.

That's when she felt their emotion crack open the dam she'd used to keep the tears back. With a sob she brought her hands to her mouth. She'd been applauded before, many times, but nothing like this. Even the judges were giving her a standing ovation, and it seemed to go on and on forever.

In a dream, she came forward and heard the judges banal comments, all good for a change. And then she left so that the last performer could take his turn. She saw Colt standing just off-stage and his expression was tortured. Connor covered for him by congratulating her enthusiastically.

Then the rest of the crew moved in to pat her back and tell her how great she was. But she barely heard any of it. Her eyes kept returning to Colt, waiting to see what he'd thought. But though she kept glancing his way, he said nothing. And in the end she had to let the crowd of well-wishers draw her away from him, back towards the green room.

Would it have been too much to ask for him to have said something? She'd sung her soul out to him and he could say nothing?

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Colt had never seen or heard anything as beautiful as Lyss that night. And it had caused a deep aching pain to form in the centre of his chest. Now that he knew that song was written about him, it seemed impossible to bear the intensity of emotion that churned through him. Was this what love felt like? He didn't know. But for the first time since he'd seen her again, he felt awe, wonder and an odd sense of gratitude. This amazing woman was not only made for him, literally, but she loved him; had loved him from the start. Just as he'd loved her from that first night, he now had to admit.

But knowing it, and feeling its rightness, didn't make it any easier. And worse was to come. Akabar would make his move on Alyssa tonight. He knew it. Just as he knew he'd never let the bastard succeed while ever there was breath in his lungs.

The wait for the results an hour later was interminable, especially as he couldn't see Alyssa during that whole time. Then the contestants were led out on stage for the results to be announced. After hearing her performance, he had no doubt she would make the finals. How could she not, when the audience had been overcome by her performance? But the producers made them all sweat. Alyssa was the last contestant to be granted her place.

After that, it was all rather anti-climactic. Alyssa was hustled back to the changing rooms and when she reappeared, clean-faced and wearing a lovely dress suited to a night on the town, she seemed somewhat dazed.

"How yer doin', song bird?" Connor asked in concern, coming around to take up his position to her left. His accent was heavier than usual.

"Okay. I feel a bit faint, a bit… weird, but okay. I wish I didn't have to go through all this again next weekend. I just want it over."

"Well, it's just another week. And you're a sure thing to win after that performance. If I had any worries about your acting ability, you quelled those tonight."

"It wasn't an act," she said looking up at Colt. He felt that starry gaze right down to his toes.

"Ah, I see. Looks like I never had a chance, huh?" Connor was playing with her and they all knew it. He was the master of easing a difficult situation, and for once both he and Alyssa wanted him to succeed.

The next few minutes passed in a blur as Akabar arrived on the scene to take charge of
his
starlet. He seemed more jubilant than usual, clearly proud of her performance and the response she'd received for it.

"I was going to take you clubbing, but I can see that today has taken its toll. What about dinner in one of the private rooms at
Providence.
No eyes watching your every move, no hysterical fans trying to get your autograph."

She smiled tiredly and brushed her hair back over her shoulder. "Sounds like heaven. I can barely keep my eyes open."

"Then maybe we should pass on dinner and get you to bed. My place. What do you say?"

Alyssa almost stumbled, her shock at the suggestion so extreme. But she recovered quickly and smiled up at the bastard as if such an idea was more than appealing.

"Alzhir, you know I want to take our relationship to the next level. But I just can't. Not yet. First of all, I'm barely able to see straight I'm so beat. Second, you know that I only get to lose my virginity once. I want it to be right. You know? I… I was wondering if we could go away together for the New Year? What do you think? Can you get time off for us to go away, just the two of us? I could relax, have some quality time with you, and things might just feel right then…"

Akabar seemed somewhat disgruntled by being put off, but her request was enough of a peace-offering to have him taking the bait. "I understand completely. I want it to be special too. For my people, a woman's virtue is precious, and the giving of it, a celebration. So yes, if you want to go away over New Year, I will make it happen."

Alyssa smiled up at him as if the clouds had cleared, and she'd suddenly seen the sun for the first time in days. "Oh good! I received an offer to sing at Copacabana Beach on New Years Eve. It's quite an honour. We could make a vacation of it."

Akabar reared back as if she'd bitten him. His reaction was so extreme that his men started drawing their weapons and staring about them, searching for the threat. After a moment of intense focus, Akabar pulled himself together and smiled at Alyssa benignly. The only sign of his continued ill-ease were the beads of sweat that had broken out on his forehead.

"Ah, no, my love, that would be a poor choice. It is very crowded in Rio at that time of year. You would hate it. I think it would be better if we escaped to a Pacific Island. A friend of mine has a private island we could use. We could do away with bodyguards for the time we were there. That would be a relief, wouldn't it?"

Alyssa looked dutifully disappointed at his rejection of her idea but then she perked up. "Yes, you're right. I am over crowds. A deserted beach sounds just perfect. I'll spend Christmas with my parents and then I'm all yours, whenever you can get away."

"Excellent. I will see to the plans tomorrow. Now, let's go and eat, drink and celebrate your success. You were astonishing tonight. Every person in the studio was holding their breath, fighting back tears at the end."

Alyssa smiled shyly and looked away. If he didn't know her better, Colt would have thought her overwhelmed by Akabar's praise. Instead, he knew she was breathing a sigh of relief that she'd just pulled off her first task for the Sons. They now knew without a doubt that New Year's Eve in Rio was when something disastrous was due to occur. Something so bad that Akabar had nearly peed his pants at the very thought of being there at that time.

Their trip to Melrose was fast and trouble-free. He didn't like the fact that they were relegated to the follow-up vehicle while Alyssa and Akabar shared the silver stretch limo together with his goons. But by midnight Alyssa was deposited back at her hotel and she was once more in Connor and Colt's care.

"Enjoy your visit with your parents, my love. I wish I could come with you. But the cameras will be out in force, and I think it is still too early to meet your parents formally. Maybe after New Year?"

Alyssa had stood with him at her hotel room door, bodyguards clogging up the hallway around them. This was what Colt wanted, Akabar right where he could see him!

"Yes, I think you're right. It's more of a PR trip anyway. I'll barely have a moment with my parents when the cameras won't be on. I have to go to my old school to meet teachers and students. They've been fanning the flames for a week, so my mom said. Anyone would think that our little suburb of Portland had never seen a famous person before." She laughed at her own humour.

"They probably haven't. Not someone of your calibre. Those kids will be able to tell their grandchildren they once met you. It will be their only claim to fame."

Alyssa laughed almost light-heartedly. "I doubt anyone will even remember my name in a few years, no less that far into the future. But this
is
my time. I plan to make the most of it."

Akabar leaned down and gave her a lingering kiss that had too much tongue for Colt's peace of mind. But he kept his cat tethered, if only to save Alyssa's from rising. The fear of what the bastard might do if he saw her cat was more than enough incentive to keep control.

Once Akabar had seen her safely into her room and departed, Colt knocked on the door again. Alyssa opened it and let him and Connor in.

"So something really bad is going to happen in Rio on New Year's Eve. I was half-hoping it was a mistake. We have to stop it, Colt. We can't let him kill hundreds, maybe thousands, of people just so he scores points with the Guild."

He took her hands and brought them to his lips. He wasn't sure if the kisses he gave those restless fingers were for her or for him. But he knew breathing in her scent was enough to settle his agitated cat. And when her arousal hit his nose he couldn't hold back the growl. But tonight wasn't the night for them to be together. There were still too many issues between them, and he was more than a little scared by the thought of what sex with her a second time would be like. Half of him hoped it would be every bit as seismic as last time, the other part
feared
that it would be. Then another part was worried that the tension that now existed between them might ruin everything.

"Now that we know for sure that Akabar has plans to violently bring Rio to its knees at New Year we can put our people on it. There's no way we'll let him succeed, and if we can get enough evidence of his plans we can take him into custody before you have to fly off to a deserted island with him."

Alyssa smiled her gratitude. "Good. I wasn't sure he was going to take no for an answer tonight. That suggestion that I go back to his place for the night threw me. Did I look as freaked out as I felt?"

Connor laughed. "You looked like a shy little virgin being propositioned for the first time. Don't worry yourself, you played him perfectly. I loved the way you had him salivating over the idea of spending New Year with you, and then dropped the Rio thing on him. He was fuckin' pissin' himself. Pure crack!"

Alyssa stared at him in confusion.

"Crack… humour…a joke…"

"Oh."

"Get some sleep, song-bird. Another big day ahead tomorrow," Connor said as he headed for the door.

Colt followed him. "We'll be ready to take you to the airport at 9 am. If there's anything you want before then, one or the other of us will be at your door all night."

The look of disappointment he saw in her eyes almost made him change his mind and stay. But things would only get worse if he did that. Once all this drama was over, there'd be time for them to work out what they had going for them and how they wanted to play it. Until then, they were safest keeping their distance.

"You were incredible, Ally. I never knew just how good you were until last night. My god, they gave you a standing ovation. And to think I wanted to lock you away in a law office!" Alyssa's father announced over dinner the next night. The camera crew had gone for the night and the family were enjoying some alone-time, Connor standing guard at the back door and Colt at the front.

She smiled at her father and felt her heart lighten for the first time since the night she lost her virginity. It was starting to become THAT night in her mind, replacing THAT night four years ago, as
the
defining moment of her life.

Though she had gone over and over it in her mind, she was still no closer to understanding what went wrong. Connor had told her to give Colt a break, and she wanted to. She wanted to understand why he was so reluctant to embrace the power that existed between them. But it was hard to let him off the hook when his words kept ringing in her ears and his behaviour had been just short of rejection ever since. He hadn't even seemed to want to spend the night with her last night. And now that she was at home in her parents' house there was no chance of any intimacy between them.

Sure, she'd got them the spare bedroom in her parent's ranch-style bungalow, but the walls in the house were so paper-thin that there would be no way she could take Colt to her bed and not have her parents hear it. And that would open up a can of worms she just wasn't ready to address.

But there was one thing she could address. So, bracing herself, she asked the question that had been on her mind ever since she'd found out what she was.

"I wonder if my birth mother could sing. Or my birth father."

Her parents squirmed uncomfortably in their seats and she knew she'd hurt them by bringing up her adoption. In their eyes she was their child.

"Does it matter? You are your own person, Ally. Your talent is your own." Her father puffed out his chest like a bantam rooster. He was not a tall man, and the years had packed on the weight around his middle, but he still had a good head of dark hair, even if it was somewhat greyer now, and his face showed few deep lines.

"I know. But there are certain traits that I've been uncovering lately. Traits that unsettle me. I just wish I knew more about my gene pool, that's all."

"Traits?" Her mother looked worried and her grey eyes hinted that she was on the verge of panic.

"Yes. I was always a good athlete at school, even though it never interested me. But now I seem faster and more flexible than seems normal. And my hearing is amazing. I can hear Connor humming to himself out the back. And I can see in the dark. Like a cat." She dropped the last in, just to see what reaction she got.

And she wasn't disappointed. Both her parents reacted to the word cat as if they'd been bitten by one. "I… I think it would be better to keep those traits to yourself, darling. People might not understand. Remember when I told you that your friends wouldn't like you if you outshone them? That's still true. People can be very cruel to those who are different, superior…" Her mother's voice stammered to a halt as she flicked dark, wispy hair over her shoulder.

"Different? Hmmm. I
am
different. Did you know you were getting a genetically modified baby when they gave me to you?"

The shock and guilt told her all she needed to know.

"H…How did you find out?" Her father asked nervously, playing with his napkin.