Sergey: Love Me Harder (6 page)

Since then she’d moved every several months, feeling eyes on her like she was being watched.

“What’s the great news?” She asked.

“They can’t get to you here.” He replied.

She didn’t pretend ignorance. She understood what he meant. She’d several close calls where she’d just managed to escape the men who wanted to capture her. They were military, she assumed. They wanted her back for tests or to kill. She never wanted to find out the answer.

“How will I be safe here?”

“The threat of death to anyone who touches our females is a promise that we deliver on. Your safety has already been linked with Rena’s and Dee’s. If they like the world in one piece, they will never try to touch you again.” Dante said.

She looked at Dante’s eyes and realized he played by a different set of rules. A deadly set. She glanced up at Sergey. His brown eyes took on a deadly expression. She knew deep in her heart, he would kill for her. She glanced at the other two and saw similar expressions.

They weren’t men.

She leaned into Sergey’s strength and enjoyed the feeling.

Chapter Nine

Dante stiffened. “I need to leave. A problem has come up.”

Lorali looked around not having heard a phone ring.

“Don’t worry, you’ll understand later,” Dee said, noting Lorali’s confusion.

Aran stood still, holding Rena. “We’ll come with you.” Holding her close, he kissed her. “We’ll be back shortly. Stay safe. Stay inside.”

“I wanted to talk to you for a minute in private.” Lorali addressed Dante.

“Come with me.” She followed Dante into the hall, noting that Sergey followed also. She knew this was as private as it was going to get.

“I don’t understand what happened that day as far as my body is concerned. How can I suddenly feel when I couldn’t before?”

“That answer will be better coming from Sergey.”

She turned to look at him.

“Tonight, little one. We’ll talk about it all,” Sergey said.

Aran and Niko joined them, followed by Rena and Dee.

They lingered indulging in one last round of goodbyes and several kisses that threatened to make Lorali sick. There was too much love in that hallway until Sergey grabbed her and placed a quick hard kiss on her lips. She might reverse her stand on the kissing, if she was the recipient of many more.

The males left with a warning to stay indoors.

“Who’s up for a mall trip?” Rena asked.

“Not me.” Dee responded with a shudder.

“We’ll go to a different mall, silly.”

“Aren’t the two of you supposed to stay inside?” Lorali asked. Two pairs of brown eyes looked at her as if she’d grown another head.

“If we stayed inside every time they told us to, we would never see the light of day.” Dee said, even though the first no had come from her.

“Lorali, you’re supposed to be our bodyguard. Right?” Rena asked.

She nodded, wondering where this was going.

“Why don’t you get your equipment? Then we’ll walk into the garage and see what toys Sergey has hidden in there. That’s still inside. Once there, we can decide if this is a good day for a mall trip.” Dee said with a smile.

Sighing loudly, she ran upstairs to get her weapons.

When she returned, they went into the garage. The place was huge. Sergey must love cars. He had so many. The car that caught Lorali’s eyes was a bright red Mustang.

“It’s beautiful. I used to have one, just like this.” Lorali said.

“You don’t say.” Dee opened the door and pulled out the keys that were lying on the driver’s seat.

“I’m pretty sure the last time I was in here, this car wasn’t.” Rena said.

“This is the first time I’ve seen it too, Rena.”

Dee held the keys up and slowly swung them before Lorali’s eyes. “Did someone say she wanted to go for a drive?”

She really should resist temptation. Lorali grabbed the keys quickly before Dee decided to pocket them.

“Shotgun,” Rena called, before sliding into the front of the car.

“Why do you always get shotgun?” Dee mumbled as she climbed in the back behind the driver.

Lorali looked back and forth between them before finally laughing. It was apparent they were good friends. They joined in with her laughter before giving her a quick course on how the security ran in the house.

Soon they were on the open road and she was seeing what her baby, oops Sergey’s car could do.

“Ask.” Rena said.

Lorali glanced at Rena. “Ask what?”

“Ask what you want to know about aliens and mates.”

“I don’t want to get too curious.”

“Get curious. We’re overjoyed to have another female to talk to.” Rena said.

“How did you meet?”

“I worked for them,” Dee replied.

“Dee invited me to a party they held for their employees. I met Aran there.” Rena said.

She could feel their eyes on her, waiting for her to get to the real questions.

“You were ok with them being aliens?” Lorali asked.

“No.” Rena laughed. “You’re the only one of the three of us who didn’t hide in the bathroom when she found out.”

“I’d have, if there had been a bathroom to hide in. Instead, I was surrounded by three male aliens who insisted they were there to save my life.”

“From where I’m sitting, it looks like they succeeded.” Dee said.

Lorali nodded. She’d spent too many days cursing her fate and then cursing the males sent to help her. Until one day she decided to deal with it and live life on her own terms. So far, she was liking this new life.

“What about the sex?” She wanted to retract the words as soon as they left her mouth. She could feel her face heating up. There would be no hiding from this one.

She shouldn’t be interested, but all she could think of was Sergey holding her against the wall and grinding into her like they were sixteen years old, trying not to get caught. Her body heated at the thought. She could feel herself getting wet and achy. It had been so long.

His bulge had felt epic. It may have been her imagination. Not that it mattered. She had to find out what he was covering up down there. She was licking her lips without realizing it.

“It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before.” Dee spoke, her voice soft, her eyes dreamy.

“I wouldn’t give Aran, or sex with Aran, up for anyone or anything. It’s what you always wanted. That one person who only cares about you. So interested in you that he knows you without needing to control you.” Rena answered.

“The two of you are in love.”

“We are.”

Lorali didn’t want to be jealous, but she was. She was also thankful. If she hadn’t walked in on her fiancé that day, she would’ve made the worst mistake of her life. At least now she still had a chance to find what they had found.

“Why are we going to the mall?” Lorali asked.

Dee gave her a calculating grin. “You need clothes.”

“Welcome to Pittsburgh Mills.” Rena said with a smile.

“This place is huge.” Lorali said as it came into view.

“That’s what I say, but Dee tells me it should be bigger. Hope you like to shop. Rena said.

“You know you can’t bring a gun into the mall right?” Dee asked her.

“How will they know?” Lorali looked at her.

Rena looked at Dee and took over. “They’ll know and so will we. Besides, it’s easier to try on clothes without weapons. You can always grab a gun from a guard if needed.”

Was she really going to let them sucker her into walking into that mall without a gun? She walked through the entrance unarmed. Seems the answer was yes.

They took hold of her and led her into a store.

“What size are you?” She looked at them with a blank look. “Don’t worry. We’ll guess.”

Clothes came off racks and she was led like the sacrificial lamb to the dressing room. Before she could protest again, she was thrust in with an armful of clothes.

“We’re waiting.” Dee said.

She’d huffed with a little puffing before she gave in and tried on clothes. Not just in one store, but in every store they could get her into. Before long, they were all trying on clothes.

As much as she tried to hold back, she found herself laughing. She hadn’t laughed much in too many years to count.

They walked to the food court weighed down with bags. Lorali had protested vehemently that they couldn’t buy her clothes. Their response, no worries. We’ll get the money from Sergey if we ever need it.

They were now talking about what to eat. Rena and Dee were planning on sharing what they bought.

Lorali looked at them, realizing they had stopped talking. “What?”

“What are you ordering?” Dee asked.

“I’m not sure. I may not eat.” Lorali shrugged.

“You have to eat. You have been shopping all day, besides you’re part of the family now. So what are you ordering?” Rena said.

Their acceptance was genuine. She didn’t have to pass a test or do something heroic. They had simply invited her into their lives and accepted her like a sister. She blinked. She’d obviously gotten a piece of dirt in her eyes.

They had a lively discussion on what she would order. Once done, they decided to divide and conquer. They brought the food back, wings, pizza, fries and the salad Dee insisted they eat. Once the food was out they began dipping, swapping and sharing. It was like being little again with your best friends. Lorali smiled there had been no best friends for some time in her life.

“Who wants to hit one more store?” Dee called out.

Rena groaned and Lorali tried to hide. They got into a debate until Lorali lifted her hand, calling for silence.

Someone was watching them. She could feel eyes on her.

“Someone is watching us.”

“Probably someone envious of your good looks.”

Lorali would’ve argued, saying they were looking at Rena or Dee, but her gut instincts had kicked in. The ones that had saved her life more than once. They needed to leave.

***

He’d almost missed them. They were an unexpected bonus he didn’t expect to see when he decided to come to this location. There were three and not two. It had thrown him off. So much for the animal side of his new body that was supposed to make him a better tracker.

Seeing them away from the males had him planning. He would kill them today. It was time. He came closer, only to have the unknown female stiffen. She began to casually look around. He knew she’d somehow figured out he was there. He’d barely been able to conceal himself before she spotted him.

She gathered them together quickly, making for the exit of the mall. He had to stay far behind to keep them from seeing him. When he reached the exit, they were nowhere to be seen. Several cars had pulled out. There was no way for him to tell if one of them held his intended targets.

He was getting tired of playing with his victims. He would shut the trap soon. He went back into the mall, making note of the fact that they had changed their shopping strategy and they had added an additional female.

Chapter Ten

“Do you think we made it back before the males?” Lorali asked. She was beginning to get nervous after what had happened in the mall.

“Of course.” Dee said.

“Aran’s going to be upset.” Rena said with a slight frown on her face.

“Do you blame him?” Dee asked.

“Hey, who dangled the car keys in front of Lorali, tempting her to take a road trip?” Rena said.

“You could’ve stopped me.” Dee said.

“You both tempted me. Why is Aran going to be upset?” Lorali asked.

Neither one of them met her eyes.

“Is that any way to treat family?” Lorali said.

“Did she just try to guilt trip us?” Dee asked.

“She learned that from you Dee.” Rena said laughing.

“I’m waiting.” Lorali raised her voice to cut into their tirade.

“Someone might be pregnant,” Dee said.

“Rena, you’re pregnant?”

“Might be. I’m trying to keep it under wraps until I know for sure.” Rena replied.

“Pay her no mind. Everyone knows and the only person not sure is her. She’s pregnant.” Dee stated.

“I’m so dead. I took the pregnant spouse of an alien to the mall. I really thought you both liked me.” Lorali said with a groan.

“We do. You’re our new sister. All we have to do is put the car back, go sit in the game room and wait for them to come back. No one has to know, especially Aran.” Rena explained her plan, expecting everyone including the males to fall in line with it.

“No one is here.” Dee sighed in relief. “All we have to do is park this baby in the garage. Then we’re home free.”

Lorali drove around back and pulled in to find three males standing in the space that belonged to the Mustang. They moved, allowing her to pull in.

She held her breath as they left the car, waiting for the loud voices and arguments. Rena and Dee pulled out the bags and divvied them up before walking up to their mates.

Rena handed her bags to Aran and stood on her tip toes to kiss him.

“You left.” Aran said. His voice was quiet.

“So did you.” Rena said meeting his eyes.

“I asked you to stay in.” He said.

“I wanted to go to the mall.”

“You couldn’t call?” His voice was soft as he asked the question.

“I should’ve let you know where I was going.” A look of guilt crossed Rena’s face.

“If something had happened to you.” The concern was evident in his voice.

“I was so excited about an all-girls day that I acted without thinking.” She looked up at him acknowledging his concern.

He reached out and pulled her to him. They walked out with Rena calling goodbye over her shoulder.

Lorali turned to realize that Niko and Dee had already left, leaving her alone with Sergey.

She took the car keys and handed them over to him. He placed them back on the seat before shutting the door.

“I should’ve never let them talk me into going to the mall.”

“That’s a conversation I’d love to hear.”

“What?”

“A conversation where you talk Rena and Dee out of something they’ve made up their mind to do.”

“You hired me to…”

“I hired you to protect them, which you did today. You went to the mall and came back in one piece.”