Tani's Destiny (Hearts of ICARUS Book 2) (3 page)

“Nica, thank goodness,” Salene said with far too much relief. 

“What’s wrong?” Nica asked, then gasped, knowing the answer before Salene spoke.  “Tani,” she whispered.  “Tell me everything, Salene.”

“I’m so glad you got your powers back, Cuz,” Salene said, then pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes for a long moment in a futile attempt to stop her tears.  “Tani’s gone.  She’s just…gone.”

“How long?”

“A couple of hours,” Rayne said, joining her sister in front of the vid terminal.  “She went to get her guitar from the music hall, and didn’t come back.  According to the professor over there, she never even showed up.”

“Campus security found her student pass on the ground in an alley a couple of blocks away from the dorm,” Salene said.

“She dropped it on purpose, so you’d know she transported off planet,” Nica said with conviction. 

“Off planet?” Salene asked, stunned.  “Do you know why?  Or to where?”

“No, I don’t,” Nica said.  “Have you called your parents?”

“Not yet,” Salene said.  “We were still hoping she’d show up until her student pass was found.  We decided to call you first.  We don’t want our dads going into blood rages and with both of us crying, we don’t have a chance of stopping it.”

“I’ll talk to your mom, first,” Nica said.  “Where are you?”

“In our dorm,” Salene said.  “We missed the shuttle and the liner, but we couldn’t leave without Tani.”

“For now, stay put,” Nica said.  “I’ll call your parents, then they’ll call you to let you know what they want you to do next.”

“All right Nica, thank you,” Salene said. 

“Nica, do you have any…ideas…about what happened?” Rayne asked hopefully.

“She’s alive and, for the moment, she’s safe,” Nica said.  “That’s all I know right now.”

“Thank you, Nica,” Salene said as relief washed through her.  “We thought so too, but we weren’t certain.”

“If I get more, I’ll let you know.”

“Okay, Cuz,” Rayne said.  “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Nica said.  “You two sit tight, okay?  Your parents will be in touch soon.  I love you guys.”

“We love you, too, Nica,” Salene said, then reached out to close the connection.

Chapter
2

Tani opened her eyes very slowly, raising one hand to the back of her head which was throbbing steadily.  She blinked several times, struggling to focus as she sat up and looked around.  She blinked again, this time in confusion when she saw that she was in a tiny room consisting of four metal walls, a metal floor and ceiling, a small tray table with wheels, and the narrow bed she currently sat on.

She frowned, trying to remember where she was, how she’d gotten there, and why she didn’t recognize the room in which she found herself.  She pushed the lightweight blanket she was covered with aside to find that, except for her shoes, she was fully dressed.  Before she could begin to formulate any possible explanations for her growing list of questions, one section of the wall in front of her slid open, revealing an enormous man with light golden brown skin, slanted black eyes, and a head shaven bare except for a top-knot that hung over his shoulder in a thick glossy black braid that reached his waist. 

He was so beautiful that Tani thought she could probably stare at his high cheekbones, sensuous mouth, and dark, mysterious eyes all day long if given the chance.  And if she ever got tired of his face, there was always his body.  Whoa! 

She’d grown up on Jasan where large, powerful males were a common sight and the atmosphere contained more testosterone than oxygen.  But she’d never once felt the slightest bit of attraction to any of those men, or anyone else for that matter.  For some reason, this gorgeous mountain of muscle standing before her was
very
different.  Tani’s attraction to him was so strong, so intense, and so unexpected that for a long moment she could do nothing but stare.  When she realized that she wasn’t just staring, but that her mouth had actually fallen open, she snapped it shut, lowered her eyes, and swallowed hard, her face so hot that she wouldn’t have been surprised to find that it glowed.

Get a grip, Tani
, she told herself silently, using one of her mother’s favorite expressions.  When she was sure she had control of herself, outwardly at least, she looked back up at the man, though she wasn’t quite ready to look at his face again just yet.  Instead, she studied the gray jumpsuit he wore as though she expected to find answers to her growing list of questions written on it somewhere.  Her eyes narrowed just slightly when she noticed the leather belt around his waist that held a knife with a handle so big she doubted she could wrap her hands around it.  But even these attempts to ignore the racing of her blood, the hardening of her nipples, the rush of dampness between her legs, and the pounding of her heart, failed.  It wasn’t until she got a whiff of the food on the tray he was holding that she was truly diverted.  Her stomach immediately began growling and cramping up as though she hadn’t eaten for days.  She sincerely hoped the food was for her. 

All of this took only a few seconds, so when the man said, “You’re awake,” without a single indication that he’d noticed her decidedly strange reaction to him, she let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.  She liked his voice, which was deep, smooth and warm.  He had a slight accent that sounded familiar, though she couldn’t quite place it at the moment.

“Would you mind telling me where I am, how I got here, how long I’ve been here, and who you are?”

The man smiled and nodded as he stepped inside the room, instantly taking up over half the available space.  He set the tray on the table and when she started to get up, he waved at her to stay where she was and rolled the table to her.  “You probably don’t want to stand just yet,” he said.  “Get some food and caffeine into you first, and then ask your questions.”

Tani barely nodded as a scent unlike anything she’d ever experienced wafted over her when the man approached with the tray table.  It reminded her of a forest in summer, warm and woody with hints of pine and cedar, and a healthy dose of male musk.  She wanted to move closer to him just so she could breathe it in without interference from the aromas of the coffee and food in front of her.  The impulse was so strong that she actually started to get up before she caught herself.  The result was a hard jerk of her body that nearly sent the tray table flying.  She caught it quickly with one hand, then reached for the large, steaming mug of coffee as though nothing untoward had happened. 

She took a careful sip of the hot, strong brew, and forced herself to focus on her current situation, steadfastly
not
looking at the man now standing next to the door a mere half dozen feet away from her.  As the caffeine began to do its job, memories started coming back to her.  Those, combined with the slight vibration she felt through the soles of her feet, the tiny room, and the man’s jumpsuit, added more information.  And more questions. 

She set the mug down and uncovered the plate to find bacon and eggs with toast.  Her preferred high protein breakfast.  Well, accept for the toast.  For some reason, she loved toast.  It was one of her favorite carbs.  Add a little apricot jam and she’d take it over a box of chocolates every time.  Just one more thing that separated her from her sisters.

For the first time, she was able to brush off the stray thought about her sisters without the usual sadness.  At the moment she was far more interested in how this man had come to know enough about her to prepare her favorite breakfast, and how he’d known to bring it right after she’d awakened.  She looked at the tray again, lifted the cover to make sure nothing was under it, and frowned.

“What are you looking for?”

“Sugar, creamer, the usual things people like to put in their coffee,” she replied, displaying no more than mild curiosity after finally remembering to use some of the skills Aunt Aisling had taught her.  Such as how to hide her true thoughts and feelings even while looking straight into the eyes of the most stunning man she’d ever seen.

“I apologize,” he said.  “I thought you preferred your coffee black.”

“I do,” Tani said.  “The question is…actually, it really would be easier if I knew what to call you.  Since you know enough about me to order up my favorite breakfast, it seems fair.”

“Steel.”

“Your given name is Steel?” she asked with just a touch of doubt.

One corner of his mouth twitched and she barely managed to keep herself from smiling.  “My given name, Gunji Tanjelia, is Ganzorig Khaan.  In the old language of my people,
Ganzorig
means
steel courage
.  I was nicknamed Steel as a child.”

“Then your given name is, in fact, Steel, and I apologize for doubting you.”  Steel dipped his head in a slow nod.  “What does
Gunji
mean, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“
Princess
,” he replied.

Tani reached for the utensils wrapped up in a napkin and began unrolling them.  “If you’re going to call me
princess
, I suppose I’ll have to call you
prince
,” she said.  “Or…no,
khan
is prince,
khaan
is king, isn’t that right?”

“Yes, that’s correct,” Steel said, his mouth twitching again.  “I prefer
Steel
, if you don’t mind.”

“And I prefer
Tani
,” she said.  Steel dipped his head again and this time she let herself smile.  Then, before she could stop herself, she asked, “Are you related to Astra, or are you…acquaintances?” 

“She is my cousin.”

“I see,” Tani said, spearing a bit of egg with her fork, carefully hiding the wave of relief that washed through her.  “Was it Astra who told you how I like my coffee?”

“Not exactly.  She programed our food generator for you with the few preferences she was aware of.”

“That was thoughtful of her,” Tani said, wondering why Astra had prepared for her to be on this ship.  But the time was not yet right for that question.  “Did she also program it to know when I’d wake up?”

“I checked on you earlier and suspected you’d awaken soon,” Steel said with a tiny lift of one shoulder.  “I thought you’d be hungry.”

“In that case, I thank you, because I am hungry,” she said.  “So far I remember Astra leading me to the end of an alley, two men coming toward us, and her saying we’d be transported in thirty seconds.  I disabled the first two men, but two more showed up, so I went back to where Astra was waiting to be transported up with her.”  She popped a piece of bacon into her mouth and chewed for a moment, frowning as another memory slipped into her mind.  “Both men threw something at us, weapons of some sort, I imagine.  They were all carrying huge knives, like that one you wear.  Astra either fell into me, or pushed me out of the way.”  Her eyes widened.  “Is she all right?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Steel said, and she saw the genuine worry in his dark eyes.  “She was struck with a knife that I believe may have been meant for you.  You got the tranquilizer meant for her.”

“I don’t understand,” Tani said.  “Why would those men want to kill me and drug Astra?”

“Because they wanted to capture Astra, and you were in their way.”

“All right, more questions there obviously, but first, please tell me why Astra would take a knife meant for me?  I mean, we’ve been friends for a long time, but I haven’t even seen her for a year.”

“She believed that you’re more important to our people than she is,” Steel said.  “I hope that she’s right, because that’s why we went to New Oxford to begin with.”

Tani set her fork down and met Steel’s gaze steadily with her own.  “I think it’s time for you to tell me what’s going on instead of waiting for me to ask the right questions.”

Steel stared at her for a long moment, and she wondered what it was he was looking for.  Before she found an answer, he said, “You should know that Astra had a micro cam on her collar for safety, and we had a good view from orbit as well, so we know what happened down there.” 

“I hope you intend to share because I was there and saw it up close, and I still don’t know what happened,” Tani said wryly. 

“Then I shall explain as well as I can,” he said with another twitch of his lips.  “We went to New Oxford on EDU-12 because Astra thought that you would be able, and willing, to help our people.  Shortly after finding you, she realized she as being followed. 

“Unfortunately, our ship, and our equipment are somewhat old, so there’s an unavoidable thirty second delay for transports.  The first two men would have reached you long before we could have transported you up, so you killed them.”  Steel shook his head slowly.  “It was…terrifying to watch, while at the same time exhilarating.”  Tani blushed, surprised and pleased, though she wasn’t sure why.  “Then two more men entered the alley,” Steel continued, his expression darkening.  “One of them threw a knife, and the other threw a tranquilizer dart.  You got the dart, Astra got the knife.”

“How badly is she hurt?” Tani asked worriedly.

“The knife struck her in the abdomen a fraction of a second before the transportation beam brought the two of you aboard.  None of us have the medical knowledge to determine if her injury is serious or not, so we cleaned it as best we could and put her in a hibernation tank.”

“Why a hibernation tank and not a healing tank?”

“We don’t have healing tanks on board,” Steel said.  Tani looked at him sharply, but his expression didn’t change.  She believed him when he said they didn’t have a healing tank on board, but she also knew that there was something else that he wasn’t saying. 

“I’m really sorry to be the cause of Astra’s injury, but I know people who can heal her.  We should go to Jasan as soon as possible.”

“You are not responsible for the Nomen’s actions, Tani,” Steel said.  “As for going to Jasan, I’m afraid we can’t do that.” 

“Why not?”

“Because we’re heading in a different direction, and before you ask, no, we can’t turn around.”

“Why not?” Tani asked again.

“Because we’re being pursued by the Nomen that attacked you and Astra in the alley,” Steel said. 

“Well, in that case, if you’ll let me contact my parents, I’m sure they’d be happy to help.”

“We can’t do that, either,” Steel said.  Tani just looked at him, unwilling to ask
why not
yet again.  It didn’t take Steel long to figure that out.  He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall, forcing Tani to look up into his eyes.  It was that, or gape openly at the bulging arm muscles that were now severely straining the fabric of his jumpsuit. 

Tani nearly rolled her eyes at herself.  She’d seen her fair share of muscles before.  Lots of times.  Why the sight of this particular man’s muscles caused such an intense reaction in her was a mystery that she’d have to try to unravel another time.  Right now, she needed to focus on
what
Steel was saying, not how he looked, or sounded, or how intoxicating he smelled while saying it.

“This ship, the
Stray
, has a fully functioning cloaking device, but it’s old, so it doesn’t have the capabilities that new cloaking devices have.  If we send or receive a message of any kind, our transmissions will give us away.  Since the Nomen’s ship is much newer and faster than ours, they’ll overtake us, board us, take Astra and kill the rest of us without breaking a sweat.  If they’ve discovered who you are, they’ll probably take you, too.”

“All right,” Tani said, grateful for the distraction of all the new questions flooding her mind.  “Why would these Nomen want me, why do they want Astra, what did Astra want to ask my help for, and where are we going?”