Dark Horizons (The Red Sector Chronicles) (20 page)

I stared at him, long and hard, my gaze soaking
up
every inch of him. Though his skin was still incredibly pale, it had a rosy hue to it. He looked healthy.

His brows rose in amusement. “Now here’s a surprise. Outspoken Sloane McAllister, struck speechless. That only happened once before, when I stole a kiss in an alley not too long ago…”

My cheeks flushed
and I blinked, snapping out of my stupor.
“This is just a dream. You’re not really here.”

Aden
shrugged
, eyes sparkling. “Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t.”

I looked at him oddly. “What do you mean?”

“I’m saying it’s not un
heard of for a creator and his child
to find their minds linked from time to time, especially during times of great distress.”

“You mean your consciousness and mine are really here? In my, er, head?”

The corner of his mouth lifted in the faintest of smiles. “Something like that.”

I wanted to hug him, to know he was real and whole and not dying. But something held me in place. I couldn’t move. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?” I asked, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear only to have the wind jerk it free a few seconds later.

“And freak you out any more than you already were? Please, Sloane. I’m a little arrogant, maybe even a
little cruel
at times, but I’m not sadistic.”

I’d seen him fight before, had watched the predatory glee on his face as he ripped into his opponents
’ flesh
. I shivered, despite the spring warmth hanging in the air.

Something occurred to me.
I looked him in the eye
s
, stepping closer. “Why did you tell me Orion was dead?” I
demanded
, my throat tight.

A flash of regret went through Aden’s gaze, and he licked his lips before answering.
“Because he was
,
in the metaphorical sense of the word.”

It was my turn to raise a brow.
“Kind of like Anakin Skywalker in
Star Wars
?”

He snorted. “Noth
ing so mystical as that, young Pada
wan.”

I lightly punched his chest and his grin widened. Then his gaze turned serious once more. “I me
ant to tell you.
I really did.” Pause. “But as I got to know you, as I grew to… care for you, I couldn’t bring myself to rip your heart out like that. You had already been through so much.”

“And lying to me was better?”

He gently gripped my shoulders. “I did it to protect you. I know now that maybe it would have been better if I’d just told you the truth and not let you find out the way you did.” He winced. “Hindsight is always clearer than foresight, or so they say,” he
added
dryly.

I looked away, feeling a little guilty for making him feel bad. The whole thing about my brother seemed trivial considering the current circumstances. “It’s fine. It happened. I’ll get over it.”

Aden was silent
and I could feel him studying me. Just as I opened my mouth to demand to know what he was t
hinking about, he said, “Even in
your dreams you try to put on a strong face. You don’t have to here, you know.”

That almost broke me. I felt on the verge of cracking as it was, in need of letting it all out somehow, but that only felt like a waste of time. And there was too much at stake to get bogged down by emotions.
“I thought you said this wasn’t a dream?” I asked
before I could cry
.

He smiled softly, reaching out to catch a strand of my hair. I shivered as his fingers trailed across my cheek as he tucked the strand behind my ear. His hand lingered there, his thumb gently caressing my cheekbone. “I know what I said, but you have to wonder. I’ve never created any ‘children
,
’ so I don’t know exactly how this works. However…” He leaned in, tilting his head slightly as if to kiss me. “If it is a dream, I hope I never wake up.”

I held my breath, my eyes locked on his lips. Unlike when I was with Leo, my emotions weren’t turbulent with confusion. I was calmed by an inner peac
e that only Aden could bring. I searched his eyes, finally reaching up to touch his face. It was warm and smooth, as silky as I remembered it being.

I never want to leave either.

“How are you feeling?” I asked instead, too chicken to spit out what I had been thinking.

He smiled. “Don’t worry about me. It’s you I’m worried about.”

My lips twisted up into
a devilish grin. “Aden, it’s me.
I even put on my big girl shoes before I left.”

He chuckled softly, that light I had grown so fond of returning to his eyes. “You’re so beautiful,” he said.

I tensed at the hint of sadness on his words. “Aden?”

“Yes?” he whispered, leaning in, his lips parting as they prepared to enclose mine.

“I…”

I was wondering if you had lied to me earlier about being okay so I wouldn’t worry?

I couldn’t finish the sentence. I think I forgot how to breathe, which was weird because you’d think you wouldn’t need to in a dream or whatever this was.

But this wasn’t a dream. It was
real. It was me and the man who ha
d claimed my heart, surrounded by a perfect illusion.

I almost forgot it could be shattered until Aden’s lips were about to touch mine and
the dream fell
apart as I was yanked back into my body.

My mind was super
groggy, like I’d been pulled out of mega-REM sleep, but I vaguely recalled hearing a door creak open. That was what woke me up.

Instantly, adrenaline electrified my blood, pumping it harder through my
veins and waking me up faster.

The room was nearly dark again, which meant it must be dusk.
I started t
o sit up
but caught sight of a hand
reaching beneath my pillow.
Freezing, I followed the hand
all the way
up an arm, and my eyes landed on a very tense Arika.

Neither one of us moved. We stared at each other for what felt like an eternity.

“What are you doing?” I finally asked.

That same haughty look I’d seen on her back at the prison returned. “What does it look like, vampire? I’m looking for something.”

My eyes narrowed. “For what?”

“Something that doesn’t belong to you,” she said, her words chilling the air. “I’m looking for Leo’s Scarlet Dagger.”

I blinked. “I don’t have it.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

I rolled my eyes. I so didn’t need this drama in my life right now, on top of everything else. “Arika, go away. I said I don’t have it, or I’d gladly give it to you.”

I sat up, gently shoving her out of the way so I could swing my legs over th
e side of the bed
. I winced. My head was
pounding
.

Arika immediately drew her sai
the moment I touched her. She cro
uched slightly, the sai
at her sides
,
with the points running alongside her
forearms
. They looked harmless enough, but I knew she could whip them out and run me through before I’d realized what had happened.

“Where is it then?” Arika demanded.

“Ugh.” I rubbed my temples. “Please don’t yell. I’m right here.”

“Answer my question.”

I raised a brow. Everything was still kind of blurry. “It’
s back in the Red Sector.”

“You’re lying.”

I dropped my hands, exasperated. “Why would I have a reason to lie about that?  I said I’d give it to you if I had it.” And it was true, bad as it made me feel to admit it. Though I knew I’d technically stolen the dagger from Leo, it was the only “present” Aden had ever given to me.
He had confiscated it when I first stepped foot on base
,
and had sweetly given it back to me as 
a
Christmas present.
Part of me wished I’d been able to retrieve it
before Orion’s men took me hostage
. I assumed it was still sitting over at Aden’s apartment, right where I’d left it when I was abducted. My fingers grazed my belt, where I would have tucked it. It would have served as a great reminder of why I was here, of what my purpose was.

The thought of Aden conjured feelings of
ill ease
, so I decided to change the subject. “Why were you spying on us earlier?” I didn’t say it
accusingly
; I was
just
curious
,
and way too tired to feel much of an
ything else except irritable
.

Arika blinked, caught
off
guard. “I wasn’t.”

I snorted. “Yeah, okay.”

“I wasn’t,” she said, a little defensively. “I was coming to find Leo.”

Leo
is
my nickname for him.
His full name was
Leonardo
,
t
hough I’d been calling him
Leo
ever since he’d kept some kids from beating me up in the third grade. I knew it was childish, but I couldn’t help but fee
l like she was trespassing on our friendship
by having the privilege of calling him by his nickname.

Naturally, I asked the one question
I knew I had no business asking.
“Why?”

Arika pursed her lips. “I don’
t have to explain myself to you, especially when it doesn’t concern you
.”

I almost grinned. If she
thought
that was
going to stop me, then she obviously
didn’t
know anything about me.

Arika saved me the trouble of prying. Mischief sparkled in her eyes. “But since you asked, I suppose I should just spell it out for you.” She took a deep breath.

“Leo is my boyfriend.”

CHAPTER
12

I blinked. “
What
?”

“You heard me.” Arika tilted her chin up, her cool eyes narrowin
g. “Guess he decided a blood
sucking monster wasn’t his thing.”

“But…” I struggled to find words. “That can’t be right.”

She barked a dry laugh, her arms relaxing at her sides. “Is it so hard to believe that Leo could possibly be interested in anyone other than you?”

“I didn’t say that,” I growled, glaring at her.

“But you meant it.” Arika’s voice was full of loathing. She made Paris sound like a doting mom. “
You can’t stand the fact he’s finally found someone worthy of him.”

“He’s never mentioned you,” I pointed out.

She tried to hide her wince
,
but not before I saw it. She shrugged. “That’s because we haven’t made it official yet.”

“So he’s not your boyfriend.”

She grew very still. Her eyes blazed with hatred. “Leo means more to me than you’ll ever know,” she said, eyes shining. “But he’s too hung up on you to realize that.”

I stared back at her, unsure if I should say anything
,
or even move for that matter. The way
she was
staring at me…
I had
never seen anyone
contain
that much hate.

Could she really hate me that much just for being close to Leo?

“Arika,” I started
but was interrupted when Leo burst into the room.

“Sloane,” he said
and then paused. His eyes trained on Arika for a few seconds before roving over to me.

“Wow.” He looked away and ran a hair through his disheveled black curls. “I’m, uh, sorry to interrupt whatever it was you two were talking about.” His eyes landed on mine, serious. “But I need to talk to Sloane.”

I thought Arika would hurl a sai into a wall. “Of course,” she clipped, brushing past him as she stalked out the door.

Leo watched her go with a look of confusion before turning back to me. “What was that all about?”

“You don’t want to know,” I said, rising from the bed.
“What’s up?”

He turned all business again. “The others are up.” He jerked a thumb back toward the empty hallway. “I thought you might want to start going over plans for finding Orion.”

My heart skipped a beat, because my brother’s name now immediately conjured an image of Aden. I remembered his lips, so close to mine, and the smell of cinnamon and cloves and sunshine…

I
forgot all about our awkward near-kiss earlier and
nodded. “Awesome. Let’s get to it.”