Illicit Desire: Outlawed Realm, Book 2 (11 page)

God. She forced a grin. “Good.”

“You don’t sound so certain.”

“I am.”

“You’re such a lousy liar,” he said, hugging her.

She held him fiercely, kissing the top of his head. His hair was thick and soft, smelling of the woodsy shampoo he favored on this side. For the rest of her days, its scent would bring Regina back to this moment. “How long do you think it will take Meelo and Damir to find what you need?”

“I don’t know. But they’ll hurry. They love Lukan.”

“Yeah, they do.” As Nikoli loosened his arm and directed her to his lap, Regina snuggled into him. “What’s Lukan facing over there if—that is, when he gets Arez out of the Palace? He and Damir said something about a jungle. That doesn’t make sense if it’s a twilight world. How can plants grow without any light?”

“It’s scarce, not absent.” He brushed Regina’s hair from her shoulders and stroked her back. “From what Damir said, the plants have adapted, using what little illumination exists. In order to reach it, they grow far taller and larger than they do on this plane or E2. They’re not green as they are here, but a yellowish color, similar to gold.”

It sounded too weird for her to picture. “What about the animals? How do they hunt or avoid predators if they’re nearly blind?”

“You’ve seen whiskers on cats, right? It’s the same with E4’s mammals. Their feelers are several feet in length, brushing the vegetation, allowing them to detect obstacles and movement they can’t see. Because of their poor sight, their eyes are larger too…the size of saucers.”

She curled her upper lip. It sounded like something from a fairytale she’d heard when young and believed in ghoulies and ghosts. No different from now. Andris, Sazaar and the other vampires had convinced Regina monsters had always existed. “Damir mentioned subhumans. Are we talking about Neanderthals?”

“Some are similar.” He ran his fingertips down her throat, trying to soothe her.

What he was doing felt incredibly good but not enough to lull her into complacency. “Some?” Regina eased back so she could look at him. “Damir said ‘the others’. What others? What did she mean?”

Color rose to his cheeks. Despite that crack in his composure, he spoke calmly. “Lukan knows to avoid them.”

“Good for him.” She frowned. “Them what? Tell me.”

Nikoli sighed.

She slapped his chest.

Grabbing her hand, he kissed her fingertips. “There are creatures on E4 with intelligence similar to ours, but they’re more cunning. They’re part human, part wolf. They can change from one form to the other at will.”

Regina’s mouth sagged open.

“You wanted to know,” Nikoli said.

She blurted, “You’re saying they’re like a werewolf or a lycan? I think that’s what they’re called. I’ve read horror stories about these things. You’re telling me they’re real, just like vampires? Oh hell,” she continued before he could answer. “Have they already come over here through a portal like the vampires did? Were the authors of those stories talking more about reality than folklore?”

Nikoli lifted his shoulders. “I don’t know. I’ve never read those stories.”

“This is nuts.” She fisted her fingers in his tee. “When will it end?”

“Do you want it to?”

Was he kidding? “Yes, of course. Don’t you?”

“Not if it means going back to the existence I knew on E2. Everything perfect, little of substance to worry about, nothing to live for, no one to really love.”

Regina blew out a sigh. Why did he have to pick now to be so fucking objective? “Isn’t there a happy medium?”

Grinning, he scanned the room, messy with his stuff and hers. “I believe we’re living it.” He hugged her so hard Regina winced. “Sorry.” He released his grip a bit. “You’re in no danger from what’s on E4. I’d never put you at risk with what I’m doing.”

“I know that, but what if something goes wrong? What if something from there follows Lukan and Arez through the portal?”

“He knows better than to allow that to happen. Everything’s going to be all right, believe—” Nikoli stopped abruptly at the doorbell’s chime.

Regina scrambled off his lap. “I didn’t expect Meelo and Damir to get back here so fast.”

“It’s good news. They must have found the materials I need far more easily than any of us imagined.”

She didn’t think so but nodded agreeably.

The bell chimed again, followed by quick rapping.

“Why are you still here?” Nikoli swatted her butt. “Go on. Let them in so we can get this over with.”

She bent down, brushing her lips over his. “Once it is, you’re mine, mister, and you’re going to pay for what you just did.”

“Begging you to get the door?” he asked, all innocence.

Regina gave him a smile and went downstairs. Through the stained-glass windows on either side of the front door, she saw the outline of two figures, one taller than the other. Definitely Meelo and Damir. She wondered if they’d returned to ask Nikoli something about the materials he needed, or were back here to report their failure in finding the stuff.

Aw, please, not that.

Hanging on to a bit of hope, Regina opened the door. Her smile faded instantly at the man facing her. His paunch and florid complexion told Regina he surely had high blood pressure. His thinning hair put him at late forties or early fifties. To his side was a thin woman in her forties with short brown hair. Her glasses made her already pinched features even more severe, like someone who’d found religion and was determined to preach about it whether that was welcome or not.

These two were certainly dressed for proselytizing, both of them wearing drab suits.

Great. Just what Regina needed tonight. “Whatever you’re selling, I’m not interested,” she said as politely as she could.

The woman glimpsed past Regina into the house.

The man studied her as though trying to answer a question playing in his mind. “We’re not selling anything. We’re here to see you, Dr. Page.”

He’d said her name so casually…so confidently…it stole all speech. For some reason, Regina’s first thought was to lie and tell him he had the wrong house. Not that she figured he’d believe her. He had an air of skepticism about him, and authority. It was in the way he stood and kept staring at her.

She cleared her throat, hoping to hide her wariness. “Why? Who are you?”

From his jacket’s breast pocket, he pulled out a thin leather wallet. Flipping it open, he revealed a shield. “I’m Detective Sheehan. This is my partner, Detective Goddard.” He gestured to the woman. “May we speak with you for a moment?”

Regina’s stomach rolled. What were the police doing here? Surely, they didn’t know about Nikoli. If they did, the feds would be here, right? Men in black from the government. Not detectives from one of the local police departments.

Oh God. Were they here because of Damir and Meelo? Had those two said or done something to draw the authorities’ attention?

“Speak with me?” She gripped the doorknob so tightly her fingers hurt. “I don’t understand. About what?”

“Donald Bakshi.”

The name meant nothing, unless… Was Bakshi the identity Meelo had purchased on this side? Regina’s skin went clammy. It took all of her will to pretend confusion. “Who?”

Both detectives regarded her, allowing the silence to lengthen. In the distance, the whapping of helicopter blades mingled with the sounds of cars and voices. Children still playing outside, neighbors conversing. Someone laughed.

Sheehan said, “We were hoping you’d be able to tell us that, Dr. Page.”

A bead of sweat ran down her spine. She prayed Nikoli wouldn’t take this moment to come downstairs, sensing something was wrong with her delay. If these two started to question him, his life would be over on this side. They’d know he wasn’t one of them the moment they took his fingerprints.

With more confidence than she felt, Regina shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know anyone by the name of Donald Bakshi.”

“We think you do,” Goddard countered. “In fact, we know you do.”

She frowned. ”I don’t see how. I’ve never known anyone by that name.”

“Then why did we find your fingerprints at his home on Bainbridge Island?’ Sheehan asked.

Regina grabbed the knob more tightly, needing something to hold on to. She’d never been in a home on Bainbridge Island until the night she and Nikoli had escaped the vampires. Nikoli had brought her from a portal on E2 to the inventor’s house, a man Andris had killed. Donald Bakshi? The police had found her prints at his place?

Impossible. She and Nikoli had cleaned up before they left, making certain to wipe away their prints for obvious reasons. His were unlike anyone’s in this dimension. Hers were traceable, having been in the system from when she’d been a school psychologist before starting her own practice.

When Regina admitted nothing, Goddard said, “We’re investigating Mr. Bakshi’s murder.”

“How about we talk inside,” Sheehan suggested to Regina. “Unless you want to come down to the station with us.”

In the hall outside Arez’s room, the guards continued to argue quietly, not yet coming in.

“Let the fool have his pleasure,” one of them said, barely loud enough for her to hear. “We can watch and deal with him later.”

“What if Vakar finds out?”

“Do you intend to tell him?”

“Of course not, but—”

“We let the slave use her, then take our turns with the girl, saying every mark on her, each drop of fluid came from him. We’ll have our fun too, and no one will ever know, especially Vakar. We’ll take what’s supposed to belong to him alone. Don’t tell me you haven’t ever wanted to do that.”

“What if I have? It doesn’t mean I’m foolish enough to do so now. How did the slave even get out of his room and into hers?”

“You forgot to lock his door and probably many others, as you usually do.”

“Not tonight,” he insisted. “And what about the light we saw in her room that came from the stone wall? What was it?”

“A problem with the monitors. Most likely, they need to be repaired. Come on. Let’s do this.”

Arez stared at the door to her room, expecting it to open, the guards to watch from in here. After which they’d beat Lukan, taking him away.

Her pulse jumped at the handle turning.

“No,” the one who’d argued the most said. “We should watch from our stations. Then we’ll return. While they sleep.”

Their conversation grew heated but was still so muted Arez was unable to make out anything more. At length, their footfalls moved down the hall. Hurriedly, she whispered to Lukan, “Leave now, before they get back to their monitors and see you.”

“No.” Moving back, he sank to his knees at the foot of her bed.

There, hidden from the monitor’s view, was some kind of a container she hadn’t noticed before. Lukan dug through it, pulling out a slender black box no larger than his hand, with two curved prongs at the top. “What is that?”

He pressed his finger to his lips, wanting her silence. After he slipped the instrument beneath one of her pillows, Lukan returned to his container and took out something else. An item small enough for him to hide in his palm. Arez frowned as he also left it under the pillow.

“Lukan, listen to me,” she whispered. “You have to leave before the guards see you doing so.”

Bent over her, their faces mere inches away, he eased a strand of hair from her cheek. “I have to wait for them to return before you and I can leave. Only then will we have an opportunity to escape.”

“When they come back, they’ll beat you.”

“I won’t give them a chance.” He settled his hand on her inner thigh, his thumb stroking her curls.

Tendrils of sensation rippled through Arez, despite her fear. “What are you doing?”

“Making you mine just as the guards expect. No more questions. Spread your legs.”

How could she? Arez didn’t want him buried inside her cunt, his big body warming and thrilling hers if it meant his death. “No. If you intend to take me, you’ll have to do so by force.”

His brows rose slightly. “Like this?”

A faint gasp escaped Arez at Lukan’s mouth on her throat. His tongue was so hot and wet, she trembled. “Don’t.”

If he heard her warning, he didn’t heed it. Nor did he stop, trailing openmouthed kisses on the base of her neck, breasts, nipples, torso and belly, delivering charge after charge of pleasure. Chained as she was, Arez couldn’t fight him. Nor would her heart allow her to roll away. The brief brush of Lukan’s lips on her flesh might be the last she’d ever know from him. Surely, the guards had returned to their stations by now, destroying his only chance to flee.

He didn’t seem to care, committed fully to their overwhelming need for each other.

With a mixture of gentleness and strength, he spread her legs, his thumbs on her slit, parting the moist petals that protected her opening. Lukan claimed it with his mouth, drawing his tongue up its full length, pausing on her clit.

A moan unlike any she’d ever produced tore from Arez’s throat. She dug her heels into the mattress. Her toes curled.