Jax tensed around her. “They got to you. Christ, I’m too late.”
“
They
don’t even know I’m here.”
In response, Jax broke away, grabbed Sienna’s wrist, and led her toward Buzzcut. Pulling her hand free, she clenched and unclenched her fists, putting on her best fake smile. The man looked up from a barely touched beer when they stopped at his booth.
The older man pivoted on his red bench seat, hopped to his feet, gave an overly generous smile, and held out a hand. “You must be Sienna Wolfe.”
She ignored the offered hand and slid into the booth. “Yep. And I’m guessing you’re Jax’s CO.”
A smirk crossed his face. “Major Sommers at your service.” He eyed her before sitting back down. He put both elbows on the table and leaned forward over his beer. “Jax mentioned that you might have run into trouble with some illegal aliens.”
Sienna simply shrugged and glanced at Jax, who stood at the edge of the booth as though on guard. Not that she was an I-told-you-so kind of girl — okay, maybe a little bit — but she’d kept warning Legian that the U.S. military wasn’t half as dumb as he thought. If the Sephians had one flaw, it was that they thought they were smarter than everyone else. Not exactly an ego boost for the lone human in a bunker of five hundred-plus aliens. Then again, they earned their freedom the old-fashioned way. With blood, tears, and death. They deserved a little self-righteousness, no matter how annoying that could be at times.
Even with radar dampeners installed on their ships and throughout their base, Sienna figured it was just a matter of time before someone started sniffing around and noticed that something wasn’t quite right. Heck, she was surprised it took as long as it did.
Clasping her fingers, she leaned forward. “Let’s say I have friends in from out of town to help us with the problem of some unfavorables who’ve also decided to come for a visit.” She spoke as if her insides weren’t tied in knots.
Breathe in. Out. In.
Buzzcut raised a brow. “We believe your
friends
have been here for some time, before we found that interesting weapon in your cabin.”
Her mouth dropped. “You searched my place?”
Buzzcut continued. “Our country has a stand. We don’t put up with illegal aliens of
any
kind.”
While anyone overhearing the conversation would assume they were talking about workers coming over from Mexico, they both understood the true meaning of his words. “The Sephians don’t want to raise a fuss. It’s the Draeken you have to worry about,” Sienna whispered.
He gestured to her, or to her
soullare
more likely. “So tell me why I should trust you.”
“I’m sure you did your homework. So you already know I consulted with your division — the ET unit — for some time.”
“Yes. And your late husband was a trusted officer in the unit, which we prefer to call the 51st Division,” the man added.
“How much do you know about the Sephians and Draeken?” she asked.
The major shrugged, giving her a non-response.
“Well, I can put you in touch directly with the Sephians. They’re not the ones you have to worry about. The Draeken plan to set up shop here, and they don’t share well.”
“When do they plan to do that?”
“Soon.” Sienna rose to her feet, forcing Jax to take a step back as she fought to tamp down the fear building within her. “I can assure you we’re on the same team. It’s time to help the Sephians help us, and I hope you’ll agree. Think on it. I’ll call Jax one week from now.”
Sommers eyed her for a moment before giving a tight nod.
“I’ll be in touch.” As she turned to walk away, she noticed Sommers said something as he lifted his beer. It wouldn’t have been odd except Jax was standing next to her, leaving no one near Buzzcut.
Dammit. Ear piece.
Jax followed her to the door, and she stopped him with a forearm to the chest.
His next words were haunting. “Get out of there now, Sienna.”
“Too late for that, Jax.” Sienna threw open the door and stepped into the cool night air. Grabbing the helmet off the seat, she hopped on her three-wheeled Bombardier Can Am Spyder, and peeled away from the curb, not quite sure if she just helped the Sephians or opened their back door to the proverbial wolf.
As she sped under flashes of streetlamps, it hit her that Jax and Buzzcut were the first humans she had talked to in the three months since she’d moved to the base. It seemed like forever ago since she hadn’t been the one the Sephians looked at like she was the alien. The normalcy of something as simple as a dance reminded her of a quiet, easy life she used to have. A life nothing like the commitment she’d made when she jumped down that rabbit hole with Legian.
Intense emotions washed over her, and she gunned the engine. There was no going back. She had to get her head on straight, quit thinking of the way things used to be, and focus on what they were now.
Life changes. You of all people know that. Get over it, and get on with your life.
She nearly crashed when a bike identical to hers pulled up alongside her. She didn’t even have to look to know a furious Legian glared back at her. She could feel him glower. She should have known her
tahren
would follow her. He yanked his bike in front of hers.
Sienna followed him down a country road, making turns every couple of miles until he stopped abruptly, kicking up rocks. He climbed off his bike, pulled off his helmet, and stalked toward her like he wanted to kill her.
She scowled right back.
He abruptly stepped forward, grabbed her brusquely by the arms, and kissed her hard and merciless. When he let go, she was breathing heavy.
Legian released her and began to pace and forth, pausing to look up at her every few steps. “Dammit, Sienna. You could’ve gotten taken. Or worse.”
“But I didn’t. And someone needed to warn my people. The 51st Division can help,” she replied, crossing her arms over her chest.
He mimicked her stance and said nothing.
She broke first. “It was Jax. I gave him a heads up on the Draeken threat, and said I’d talk to him in a week. Everything turned out fine. Well, except for the fact that the U.S. military is already onto you big and bad. Oh, and they got it in their heads that you’re aliens.”
He rubbed his head, the moonlight glistening off his skin. Then he dropped his arms, walked up to her, and ran his hands over her.
She batted his hands away from her neck. “Stop that. That tickles.”
He held up a tiny device of some sort, which looked exactly what she’d seen before on her job. “Bug?”
He nodded tightly.
Sienna flashed him an innocent smile, shrugged, and then slumped. “Jax. That bastard bugged me.”
Legian dropped the tracking device and shot it, sending dirt and leaves scattering. Sienna cringed from the blast and from the anger radiating off him.
He watched the charred device smoke for a couple seconds before he spun on his heel and gave her the I’m-pissed-off-at-the-world-and-at-you-most-of-all look. “You could have been taken. Or harmed.”
Sienna held up her hands in surrender. “I thought I could trust him.”
He turned away, giving her his back. With a sigh of exasperation, he ran a hand across the back of his neck and rolled his head from one shoulder to the other, the sound of his neck cracking breaking the night’s silence.
The action was a telltale sign that he was getting a tension headache. Legian and headaches did not mix. She lifted a tentative hand and rubbed his bicep. “I just wanted to help.”
After a moment, he turned his head and looked her up and down, not appearing one bit happier. But at least he was no longer a racecar in red. “Take off your clothes.”
Confused, Sienna cocked her head. He said nothing more, just continued to watch her. He looked neither happy nor aroused.
“I don’t understand,” she said.
“You could have another tracer on you.”
She furrowed her brow. “Why in the world would they plant a second bug?”
“It’s what I would do. Clothes. Off. Now.”
“Please,” Sienna mumbled as she yanked off her jacket and began to undo her belt. Suddenly, he grabbed her wrist, stopping her. She glanced up, but he wasn’t looking at her. Legian was too busy looking down the dark road to take notice.
“Too late. They’re moving in.”
“Guess you shouldn’t have destroyed the bug to let them know we’re onto them, huh,” she muttered and bit her lip, instantly regretting not keeping that little outburst in the Inner Dialogue category. But, freaking A, that man knew how to push her buttons. After all, getting bugged was an honest, newbie mistake. Getting bugged by her late husband’s best friend … that just hurt.
“I don’t hear anything.” With the bike headlights off, the country night was black under a thick cloud cover. Exactly how Sephians liked it best.
“Three vehicles. About a mile off. Closing in fast.”
“Call the base for pick up?” she asked, at the same time thanking God for Sephian night vision.
“No time.”
Her heart plummeted. In a rush, Sienna threw on her helmet and jumped on the bike. Legian moved even faster. The headlights came to life when they revved the engines. Kicking up gravel, they sped down the one-lane road and away from the military.
Legian drove way too fast for her skill. It was a miracle she kept up with him without breaking her neck. That was, until he hit the brakes, and he almost had a Spyder and a human shoved up his ass. She cranked the bike sideways, her grip superglue on the handlebar. Having two wheels on front saved her. If it had been a regular bike, she would have laid it flat. As it was, the front right tire stopped an inch from his bike.
“Why did you stop?” she asked, the words coming out more shrill than intended.
“Dead-end.”
Shit, shit, shit.
She tilted her head enough to look past him. “Hoof it from here?”
“We go on foot. Into the woods.”
She shook her head before turning off the bike and grabbing the key, just in case she could get back to it.
About the time she pulled off her helmet, she stopped and turned. There was no mistaking the engine noise now; they were coming up fast and hard. Multiple big vehicles. Go Army. Her helmet fell to the ground with a thud, and she gave one last winsome look at the Spyder.
I really loved that bike.
“We’ll find out soon enough if you have a second tracer on you.” Legian grabbed her hand and led the way into the woods. She followed him in the blackness, putting all her faith in his ability to find them a way out of this mess.
Adrenaline kicked in as Legian helped Sienna weave around trees and crash through saplings in the cloudy night. He picked up the pace. Branches whipped at her from all directions, and she used her free arm as a shield. Still, she could hear footsteps closing the distance between them. Air blistered in her lungs, and her legs were bleeding momentum. She’d worked out twice a day for the past three months, and she was still no match for the speed of the military guys hot on their tails.
“Omigod. You’re. A. Freaking. Mutant,” she panted out between breaths while trying to keep up with Legian.
“Stay safe.”
“Wha — ” Without any additional warning, Sienna went sailing the air. She bit back a scream, and then landed hard, rolling back onto her feet. Legian was strong, and he’d swung her into a gulley of some kind. She cautiously cocked her head side to side. No whiplash. Good. No broken bones. Good. Still, her body was going to hate her in the morning. Legian tended to forget that she lacked the Sephian ability to heal. And she made a mental note to remind him every chance she got for the next decade. Speaking of which … “Legian?” she whispered.
No answer.
Damn, damn, double damn.
With the moon hidden by clouds, she couldn’t make out much in the blackness. She held out her arms and began to walk forward as fast as a nearly blind woman could in a forest. Once she could hear above her ragged breathing, she whispered again. “Legian? You here? I think we lost —
oof
.”
Lying in the dirt, her shin throbbed. She leaned back against the fallen tree she’d catapulted over. To make matters worse, when she squinted, she saw Jax standing over her. Except now he wasn’t wearing a ten-gallon hat. His eyes were covered with night goggles, meaning he could see fine and dandy in the darkness. He held a GPS-style device in one hand with a flashing bleep right in the center, the red light glinting off the nine millimeter he held in the other. Damn, Legian had been right all along. She still had a second bug on her.
“Where’s the one that was with you?” he commanded, the gun never wavering from the bulls-eye right between her eyes.
“Tut, tut, Sienna. Then how’d you get two bikes out here?”
Oops.
“He ditched me.” Except the words sounded more like a question than a statement.
“Halo Two reporting. Target One attained. At least one unaccounted for. No tracking,” he spoke into the night air.
Sienna could barely make out his frown in the darkness. “Halo One. Come in.” He paused for a moment and looked around, his gun still trained on her. He tried to reach his squad several more times, and by the number of F-bombs he was dropping, he wasn’t getting the response he was looking for.
“Thanks for the flowers, Jax.”
He paused. “It didn’t have to be this way, Sienna.”
Ever since Bobby died, every year Jax sent her flowers for her birthday. Too bad he got the date wrong. Just like Bobby. She took the risk and pulled herself up onto the log, yelped, and grabbed her leg. She winced and looked up at him. “I think my leg’s broken.”
Jax watched her for a minute. A sliver of moon had peeked out from a cloud and made sweat glisten on his face. He did not look happy with the situation, which perked her up a little, considering she was downright miserable with how the night had turned out. Then, surprisingly, he slid the gun into his holster and reached down to her.
Sucker.
As he pulled her up, she whipped out the Taser from the waistband of her jeans, pushed him off her, and zapped the hell out of him. Electrical buzz filled the air as two wires sent a violent charge into his chest. The shot lasted five seconds, but she imagined it felt like an eternity for the poor bastard. When the burst stopped, he fell to the ground, his muscles paralyzed. She almost felt bad for him. Almost.