Awaken Me Darkly (Alien Huntress #1)(47)
Author: Gena Showalter

“Will you force me to bind you now?” he asked, folding his arms over his chest, “or will you behave?”

My teeth ground together. “I’m not a child.”

His gaze raked over me, and he said, “You most definitely are not a child.”

“What makes you think I’ll allow you to tie me a second time?”

“You live for challenge, and I like that about you. It makes me feel alive. I never feel so alive as when I’m with you.”

The same could be said of me.

The realization hit me, and I almost made a play for the nearest exit. It was scary, the way he affected me. I forced myself to stay seated. I had Kyrin exactly where Jaxon and I had wanted him—readily available to probe for information. Of course, I had three disadvantages to being here instead of the station house. One, none of my weapons were in my possession. Two, this was Kyrin’s turf, not mine. And three, I was practically naked. This damn gown was made for enticement, not war.

Well, I thought in the next instant, I could actually use the gown to my benefit.

I sipped my wine and reclined in the satin-cushioned chair, eyeing him expectantly. “Before we end our truce, I have some more questions for you.”

“Ask,” he said.

So I did. “You didn’t use molecular transfer at the station house. So how exactly were you able to appear and disappear so quickly?”

“I did not disappear. Not really. I simply moved faster than your eye could see.”

“You could have sped away like that before our little tussle in the hospital parking lot.”

“True.” The gleam in his eyes became wicked. “If I had, though, I never would have had full body contact with you.”

I tried to hide a grin. How like a man. “Not all Arcadians can do that,” I said. “Move so quickly, I mean.”

“Very few can,” he said, pride lacing his tone.

As I regarded him, curiosity filled me. Not just about the Arcadians, but about this one particularly. “Why is it you can?”

“Quite simply, it is an ability I was born with. All Arcadians are blessed with certain abilities. Lilla, for example, has a great capacity for mind control.”

“And you do not?” I asked, realizing he’d never tried to dictate my actions with his mind. One point in his favor.

“I am telepathic, able to speak my thoughts inside others’ heads, but dominating that person’s actions is not an ability I possess. Nor one I care to.”

“Why use mind control when you can use force, right?” I patted the armband.

“What I do, I do for the greater good. Isn’t that how you do your job?”

I jolted upright, leveling him with a frown. “What are you trying to say?”

He sighed. “What other questions do you have for me?”

“I want to know if I’m right. I want to know if Atlanna is making babies.”

“Yes,” he answered simply. Carefully.

A piece of the puzzle clicked firmly in place. I’d been right. Fertility. Babies. The bitch planned to create as many children as she could and sell them for profit. What kind of sick woman did that? And why the hell was she abducting human men? Did she have human followers and was mating them?

“What’s your involvement? You had dinner with William Steele the night before his abduction. Why?”

His expression became leery. “I befriended William not to hurt him, but to help him.”

My brows arched. “And did you? Did you actually help him?”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “I am well aware that my aid did him no good. I do not need your reminder.”

His accent was growing thicker, more pronounced, with each word he spoke. I’d hit a nerve. “I know you warned the men in hopes of atonement, but that makes me wonder how you knew they were in danger in the first place.”

“How can I trust you with the truth, Mia Snow?”

“If you want me to learn to trust you, you must also learn to trust me.”

He lifted his crystal flute to his lips and drained the rich burgundy contents. “You haven’t asked what Atlanna is doing with the children,” he said, taking the focus off himself. His chin tilted to the side. “Why is that?”

“She plans to sell them. I could guess that much.”

“Some of them, yes.”

“And the rest?”

“She’s a scientist at heart. The others, well, she’s using them in experiments.”

I stiffened. “You make it sound like the children have been born, but there hasn’t been time. William and the others were taken recently.”

“William and the others weren’t the first. They are only the ones you know about. Many children have already been born.”

My God. Revulsion for this woman’s crimes and pity for the innocent babies being sold to the highest bidder, or worse, filled me. “What kind of experiments?” As I spoke, hatred—pure, undiluted hatred—sparked to life inside me. I wanted Atlanna dead. I wanted her to suffer. And I wanted to be the one who made her suffer.

Kyrin pressed his lips together and set his glass aside.

“You won’t tell me,” I said, a statement, not a question. I bit my tongue to keep from spewing a mouthful of curses.

“That is correct. Not yet, at least.”

“I want to know.” I slammed my fist against the table. “Now!”

“You are not ready for the truth.”

I gripped my fork so tightly, color drained from my knuckles. “You know I will hunt her and kill her. You know I will do my best to save those babies. That is what matters here. Nothing else. Or do you want Atlanna alive?”

“No. I want her dead, just as you, but there is more to this situation than you understand.”

“Explain it to me. I’m here. I’m willing to listen.”

Hair swaying at his temples, he shook his head. “I told you. You are not yet ready for the truth, Mia.” Before I could respond to that, he added, “Would you like to discuss your friend Dallas?”

My shoulders straightened. I leaned forward and rested my elbows on the table, letting the subject of Atlanna be temporarily shelved. “You will heal him?”

“Perhaps.”

I vaulted to my feet, my gown swirling at my ankles. My chair skidded behind me, then landed on its back with a loud thump. “I have had enough of your half-ass answers and youare-not-ready-to-know-the-truth shit. Our truce is over.”

Slowly he stood, disappointment deepening the lines around his mouth. “Let us work together, like before. Weren’t those your words to me?”