Dark Desire (13 page)

Temple took a
quick look around his office, cataloguing in his mind anything he had to take.
Only one thing came to mind, and with quick strides he moved to his desk. He
ran his thumb against a button underneath the left edge and pressed. With a
metallic click a compartment sprang free revealing a small metal disc. Oman’s
Seal in those human idiots’ hands would be worse than giving a monkey a machine
gun.

Slipping it into
his trouser pocket he grabbed Leola’s hand and pulled her to him and grabbed
his cell. “We don’t have the time to argue about this now. Let’s get the hell
out of here.”

 
Lucien led them past the stairwell, and the
sound of angry voices and pounding feet grew louder as they ran past, stopping
at a door labeled janitorial supplies. The door barely shut behind them when
the sounds of shouts, breaking glass, and furniture being overturned carried to
their hiding place.

Mob mentality at its finest
, Temple thought
drily.
And the Enforcers wondered why he wouldn’t lift a finger to help a human.

The space was
tight with the three of them crammed in between buckets, mops, and cleansers.
He squeezed Leola’s hand in reassurance, noticing, even with the dim lighting
from one single overhead bulb, the paleness of her face, fear haunting her dark
eyes. The sharp stab of anger surged through his system, and he hated Amari
even more for putting his woman in such danger.

Yes, he
admitted, if only to
himself
, Leola was his. He loved
her and would do everything in his power to see her safe and happy. Lucien made
a soft chuffing sound, bringing him back to their present situation. Quietly he
shifted as far back as he could, pulling Leola with him to give Lucien room to
maneuver. With silent efficiency his second in command reached up the far
corner of the back wall and placed his hand flush with it.

With a click and
whirr of bolts being released the wall slid open with only a whisper of sound,
showing another emergency staircase, one no one but Temple and Lucien knew
about and that would never be found on any blueprint.

Temple always
prepared for any contingency, and with Amari he made sure to have plenty of
contingencies. His dealings with her after the uprising had always left him on
edge. Instinctively he sensed the cold strategist in her. She’d played her hand
well, he would give her that. Now it was his turn, and he promised it would not
go well for the power-hungry bitch.

****

“So our poor
little rabbit was snatched?” Amari purred into the phone. “Notify me as soon as
you have her location.”

Disconnecting
the call she slipped her cell phone back into her jacket pocket and stepped
carefully around the debris of what was left of Temple’s office. Quite a feat
since she wore high heeled pumps of red leather to match her pencil skirt and
tailored jacket. Now she was glad she’d held off on killing the little bitch
right off. The people of Atlantis would execute her for treason, while her
little army concentrated on ridding her of
those pain
in her ass Enforcers, Zeke included. She looked around the room, impressed by
the humans. At least they were efficient when it came to destroying things.
Taking in the total destruction around her she frowned. Perhaps too efficient
since the room looked like a hurricane had slammed through the place leaving
only splinters in its wake.

Carefully
picking her way to Temple’s overturned desk she bit off a curse, noticing the
hidden compartment hanging by only one hinge. Empty. It seemed Temple found the
time to escape with Oman’s Seal. Damn the wolf. He’d proved to be more
resourceful than she gave him credit for.

“Elise, what are
you doing here?” Edwin’s voice carried to her from the doorway.

Damn, the man
was worse than a bloodhound. All right, so she slept with him and he turned out
to be a surprisingly attentive lover, but that didn’t give him the right to
shadow her every move. She would have killed him after their first time
together … well maybe after the third or was it fourth orgasm he gave her.
Unfortunately, she needed him breathing for the final piece of her plan.

Soon, she
promised herself as she pasted a smile on her face and turned to face him. She
took in his thin, wiry frame in black slacks and blue silk shirt, his thinning
brown hair combed back away from his angular face. Not much to look at, but a
dynamo in bed. Who’d have figured?

“Edwin, I
thought it safe since no one was around and no sign of that horrid Temple Fox.”
She gave a delicate shudder.

“You promised me
you would stay safely away from this place. You said you would make the call
from your car and let my men direct the attack,” he softly chided, His steps
crunching on the debris littering the marble floor.

“And I did
exactly that, I promise.” Amari wrapped her arm around his. “I just was
curious, you know. How they live, what they value.”

“They are
abominations, nothing more than animals that are a danger to the human race.
They value nothing.” His tone was flat, but hate sparked in his gaze.

“Of
course, dear.
You are quite right, I’m being silly. Sometimes my curiosity gets the best of
me. I’m sorry I worried you.” She soothed him, allowing just a touch of
hesitancy in her voice to sound worried.

He responded as
she expected, and his eyes softened a small smile lifting the corners of his
lips. “I can understand your curiosity. You have lived a sheltered life, never
seeing firsthand the violence they are capable of.”

“I am just happy
I could help in some small way. I am so relieved I came to you with that
anonymous tip I received. I knew if there was anyone who could chase away that horrible
Mr. Fox it would be you.”

“And you did the
right thing. Without your help he would still be fooling us, making money and
blending in as if he was human, but I am glad you are going to your sister’s
for a few days dear. I want you safely away from Mr. Fox should he find out you
were the one who went to the papers. As his secretary he would easily put it
together that it was you who turned him in.”

Amari flashed
him her most dazzling smile. “As always, you are right.”

Chapter Fourteen

Lori narrowed her
gaze on the insane kidnapper standing at the door to her makeshift prison. Dark
shades covered his eyes, making it impossible to get any read on what he was
thinking. Who the hell wore sunglasses in the middle of the night? It wasn’t
like she didn’t already know about his freaky ass eyes.

 
Pale gold stubble showed on his strong jaw
only adding to the bad boy vibe he sported. His short spiked hair seemed even
messier, as if he continually ran his hands through it, and damn, she couldn’t
help the small sting of envy from taking hold. She wanted to be the one to mess
up his hair, preferably with her body wrapped around his like a second skin.

The thought
startled her. Yeah, he had a raw sensuality any woman would have to be dead to
miss, but she refused to be a victim of some Stockholm syndrome bullshit. Yeah,
he may look like sex on a stick, but the man was certifiable!

“What now? Are
you
gonna
tell me some story about little green men
from Mars before you kill me?” she drawled out, sarcasm dripping from every
word.

“Why would I
expend the energy? I think I made myself clear earlier. If I wanted you dead,
you would be.”

“Wow, you really
know how to woo a girl, don’t you? So what then, are you here to kill me or
talk me to death?” She held her chin up in challenge, pushing through the fear
making her heart beat like a jackhammer in her chest. No way would she make it
easy for him. If he planned on her murder, she would go down fighting.

“I’m not going
to kill you,
Laris
.” He spoke softly, the name a
caress of syllables she responded to despite her best efforts. “I believe you.”

She
laughed,
a harsh note grating even to her ears. “Why the
sudden flip?”

“I had a little
chat with your friend
Cici
.” He stopped speaking for
a moment at her soft gasp of surprise. “You have her to thank for your
continued good health. Your stories matched. You still have to prove if you
were an unwilling pawn though. You could have easily had your memories wiped so
you couldn’t finger your accomplices.”

“Gee thanks, you’re
all heart. And now I should be grateful because my story matched
Cici’s
?”

“Of
course.
I’m going to free you from the wall.”

“Whoopee!” She
forced herself not to roll her eyes in disgust. “Are you letting me go?” she
challenged with a perfectly arched brow.

“Not a fucking
chance.”

“You know I will
do everything I can to escape.” She groaned inwardly. Why the hell couldn’t she
just keep her mouth shut? Now he would watch her like a hawk, lessening her
chances of a quick getaway.

He moved so
quickly she saw only a blur of motion before he was standing a breath away from
her. The scent of bergamot and sandalwood tickled something in the back of her
mind, something vaguely familiar.

“You can try,
but I will find you,
Laris
, and I promise you won’t
like it once I catch you.” He murmured the words so softly, his breath lightly
caressing her neck, and a tingle of awareness brought her nipples to aching
buds.

She held her
breath as he reached and unlocked her wrists from the manacles, gently rubbing
at the flesh, bruised from her struggles to get free. “What makes you think you
could find me?”

His head lifted
from his ministrations, and she once again cursed the shades he wore,
preventing her from gauging his emotions. Curiosity won over common sense, and
once again she couldn’t stop the words from coming out. “Why do you wear those
shades? I already know what you’re hiding. Do you think they make you a badass
or something?”

“Or
something.”
His lips lifted in a smile sending her pulse on a rollercoaster ride.

“So take them
off.”

“I don’t think
so. Look, let’s talk about you. What do you remember when you came to in the
alley?”

So big, bad, and
sexy didn’t like talking about
himself
. She could
wait, eventually she would find out what he was hiding. Her eyes narrowed on
him with a glare. “Have you ever heard of personal space?”

He flashed his
teeth in a parody of a smile before he took a step back and crossed his arms
over his chest. Her eyes traveled over the black t-shirt stretched to its limit
around his bulging biceps, almost purring with female appreciation. She shook
herself out of it, but not before his grin widened, aware of her response to
him.

Arrogant bastard.

One pale brow
shot up over his shades. “I’m waiting.”

She shrugged one
shoulder, keeping her voice level. The last thing she wanted was for him to
know how much her memory loss bothered her, how often she struggled to remember
anything
about her past.

“Not much to
tell really. I remember a feeling … no, that’s not quite right.” She frowned,
struggling to catch the elusive memory. “It was more an impression of having
something very bad happen. When I saw the blood covering me I freaked. If not
for
Cici
coming upon me right then God knows what I
would have done.”

“Yeah, something
bad
did
happen,” he ground out, his
jaw tight with tension.

“From what you
say, I stabbed you,” she bit out, her head started to pound out a slow beat
behind her eyes.

“In the heart,”
he added.

Great, so she
tried to kill him. Obviously she was not a nice person, so why would she want
those memories back? “I don’t remember that, and
you
said I just nicked your heart,” she snapped. “And I don’t want
to remember. Who I am now is all that’s important. Just so you know I don’t go
around hurting people.”

“I’m not just
people,
darlin
’. I’m your husband.”

“So you keep
telling me. I. Don’t. Remember,” she snapped again. Her vision wavered as her
knees trembled. It was all too much, and her head began to throb with such
force she feared she would lose what little remained in her stomach. “I really
need to sit down.”

With a curse
Zeke led her to the bed, easing her down gently. Closing her eyes against the
blinding pain she sagged into the bed, her head cradled by a soft pillow. “I
need to rest, if you don’t mind. I promise I won’t be going anywhere anytime
soon. Just go.”

****

 
Zeke studied the woman lying pale and still on
the bed. And so heart wrenchingly beautiful the air seized in his lungs. His
wife, who didn’t even remember attempting to kill
him
.
Or did she? She could be playing him even now, waiting for him to drop his
guard. He was a mass of conflicting emotions, knowing he should take Tegan’s
advice and just take her back to Atlantis, but everything in him screamed no.
What the hell was he going to do with her?