Dragon: Allie's War Book Nine (70 page)

Then I shook my head, frowning.

“No,” I said. “He won’t.”

“Allie,” Balidor said, clicking in frustration. “I am afraid he will kill
you
if he finds out about this! He’s going to lose his fucking mind. He’s going to lose his fucking
mind
about this, Allie! You cannot tell me you know your husband so little that you do not realize this.
Gaos,
Jon thinks so…he is afraid for you. So is sister Kali.”

I felt that pain shift into a harder anger.

My biological mother was weighing in on my sex life now.

Great. That was just…fantastic.

I knew they wouldn’t understand this. Whether it had been a month or two years, they would never understand this. I’d told Revik as much. He hadn’t cared.

But thinking about Revik right then wasn’t exactly helping, either.

Remembering what I’d felt off him just that morning, I stood there, hanging over the console as the anger in my light turned into something a lot colder.

I spoke before I could stop myself.

“Revik’s too busy fucking half of Asia to give much thought to what I’m doing right now, ‘Dor,” I said. Swallowing my own words, I fought my light before I added, “I highly doubt he gives a shit.”

My pain worsened as I spoke. Feeling Balidor’s light react on the other end of the line, I forced myself to dial it down, to shrug.

“…And unlike me, he’s sharing light,” I said. “So maybe you and Jon and my
mother
should worry less about me. Maybe you should worry more about him…assuming we ever even see one another again in the flesh.”

I felt ‘Dori shaking his head almost before I’d finished speaking, though.

“It is not the same, Alyson,” he said, clicking at me in open annoyance. “You know it is not the same. Do not play stupid on this.”

“Why?” I said.
“Why
is it not the same? Because I’m female?”

“Because he’s not
dating
anyone, Alyson!” Balidor snapped, his voice openly angry.
“Gaos,
Alyson! Do you think I am so oblivious? We have people watching him…as well as we can, anyway. We also have people watching you, and we can see him through your light. Your husband is sleeping with
prostitutes.
More or less a different one every night, from what we can tell. The fact that he is opening his light comes across more as a self-control problem from alcohol and depression and missing his wife...not some attempt to be intimate with any of the females he’s been with. Which would be
obvious
to you, if you weren’t willfully misunderstanding it…”

I felt my jaw harden more, even as I shook my head.

But Balidor wasn’t finished.

“Alyson, Jem was acting territorial with you before you’d even
slept
with him. In that meeting we had, he spoke to you like you were already involved...I actually looked at his light, thinking you were already having an affair with him, that something had happened. I am not the only one who wondered, believe me...”

“Bullshit,” I said, flushing.

He clicked at me louder. “Alyson…for fuck’s sake…do not play stupid on this. I know you understand seers better than this. I know you do…whatever you are pretending.”

I only shook my head though.

I didn’t want to talk about this any more. I didn’t want to be lectured about how my infidelity was somehow “worse” than what I’d been forced to feel every morning for however-many weeks from Revik.

Or maybe I just didn’t want to hear about Revik being depressed, no matter what coping strategies he was employing. I didn’t want to hear it because it felt true. It felt true and there wasn’t a damned thing I could do about it.

When the silence stretched, Balidor let out a sigh.

His voice grew low, a near murmur in my ear.

“I don’t know what the hell you and your husband are up to right now,” he said softly. “But you are playing with fire, Alyson…in more ways than one.”

I felt my jaw harden more.

Without answering him, I pulled the plug, cutting the transmission.

Using a thought-command, I turned the transmitter off altogether next.

Staring down at the console without seeing it for a few seconds, I felt my jaw harden the longer I looked at those morphing and flashing lights.

That feeling growing in those higher reaches of my aleimi didn’t diminish.

“This isn’t going to work,” I muttered, still staring down at the board.

Pushing my weight off the console, I felt pain coil back through my light, hard enough to catch my breath.

Balidor suspected something. Five months in, and Balidor still suspected something.

If Balidor did, those on Menlim’s side would too.

“This isn’t going to fucking work,” I said, feeling that pain in my chest worsen.

Re-igniting my headset, I keyed in a different code.

He picked up at once, barely letting it pulse before he clicked over…then not waiting before he sent me a tugging tendril of heat, undiminished by the distance between us. Pain rose in my aleimi in response, even as his light coiled aggressively into mine, pulling at it insistently.

“It’s about goddamned time,” he said, exhaling. “I was about to go drag you out of there…or maybe just strip you naked and fuck you face down on that console.”

When I didn’t respond, I felt his light turn more probing, skirting the edges of mine.

His voice sounded almost businesslike when he next spoke.

“Well?” he said. “Are you going to tell me? Did brother Balidor manage to get in the last word? Or did you hang up on him? Serves him right if you did…”

I fought to think, still turning over the data points crowding my mind.

“I hope you defended me, love,” he added, sending another thick pulse of heat. “I’ll reward you if you did…a few times, maybe.” His pain worsened, pulling on me more achingly as his breath caught. “Maybe more than a few times…”

Shaking off my reaction to his light, I didn’t bother to respond to his words.

Nor did I ask how he knew I’d been talking to Balidor about him.

“Jem?” I said. “Where are you?”

“Masturbating,” he said at once. “Fantasizing about you opening your light…about you letting me fuck you with your light open. I was just about to come, actually.”

Feeling another heated pulse off him, I found myself believing him.

“Yeah,” I said patiently. “But where? I need to talk to you.” Rolling my eyes, I exhaled, puffing my cheeks. “Well. I need to talk to you whenever you’re…finished.”

“I’m not going to come now,” he assured me. “I’d rather wait and do it on you…or preferably, in you.” Feeling me flinch, he smiled. “What do you want to talk about, love? Sex, I hope,” he said. “And opening your light. I really, really want you to open your light, Allie…gods.”

“No,” I said, clicking at him. “…And no. This is business.”

“Business?” There was a silence. Then his voice changed, turning harder, more infiltrator-like. I heard and felt him shifting on whatever he lay on, probably sitting up. “What kind of business? Did something happen?”

Shaking my head, I said, “No. Not yet. But I think it’s going to. Can I come up there? This really can’t wait.”

“Yes,” he said. His voice sounded wary now. “Allie? What’s this about?”

I considered brushing him off, waiting until I’d walked up there. Then I realized it might be better to let him react while I wasn’t yet in the room.

Making up my mind, I made a flowing gesture with one hand, a near apology in seer sign language, even though he wouldn’t see it. I was already walking down the corridor towards the small service elevator that was the only way out of this part of the building.

“It’s about Dragon,” I said, sighing. “It’s about you and me going after Dragon, Jem. Alone.”

There was a much heavier silence.

Then his voice came out harsh, for the first time holding more anger than sex.

“I’m in 408,” he said. “I’m not going to discuss this over a headset. Get your fucking ass up here, Alyson. Now.”

In a strange way, his anger was a relief.

Smiling a little, I nodded, once.

“On my way,” I murmured.

I found him pacing when I walked into the room he’d set up as sleeping quarters.

I think the room itself had been a lounge of some kind once, or maybe some VP’s office back in the day. A few pieces of bland corporate art hung on white walls next to graffiti art from squatters and a burn hole in one wall. A cherry wood bookshelf that probably once held books on team building and how to steal cheese from other people, tchotchkes and whatever else now stood mostly empty, its shelves covered in scratches and wax from old candles.

They also housed a number of Jem’s clothes and personal items.

He didn’t have much. None of us carried much out here, but he had a book of commentaries he carried with him, I’d noticed, bound in leather so probably an original. I’d also seen a few pieces of jewelry, hair clips, a couple of headsets and a hand-held that must have been his from before, so probably housed more personal items versus work-type stuff.

And guns, of course. He usually carried at least four, along with a half-dozen magazines and a satchel of bullets, both organic and dead.

Most of that decorated the shelves now in uneven lines.

His duffle was on the floor next to the same bookshelf. He’d also either found or dragged a beat up couch in there. When we’d christened the room the previous night, it hadn’t been on that faux leather monstrosity that smelled vaguely of cat hair, however.

He’d fucked me on a pile of blankets on the carpeted floor, instead.

I made a point of not sleeping next to him, but I assumed he planned to do most of his actual sleeping on the couch. It had to be better than the crappy office carpet.

He turned sharply as I walked in. His eyes looked dark to me where his face lay partly in shadow. Only one florescent tube still worked by the window on the far side of the room.

“What is this shit?” he growled. “Are you fucking with me right now, Allie?”

Sighing a little, I folded my arms.

It crossed my mind that maybe the walk up here hadn’t allowed him to cool off, but had instead given him time to get himself even more worked up.

“Are you going to explain this asinine plan of yours?” he said, still glaring at me. He folded his arms as well, mirroring my pose as he stared across the room at me. “Or should I save you the time and just tell you you’re fucking insane now…?”

Clicking at him, I shook my head.

“We can’t let him reach China,” I said.

“Dragon? What makes you think he’s even
going
to China, Esteemed Bridge?”

I gave him a level look, my expression flat.

Studying my eyes, he exhaled in irritation, conceding my words with a wave of his hand. “Fine. Why can’t we let him get to China?” he said.

“Revik’s in China.”

Dalejem’s gaze narrowed, studying mine openly that time. He looked about to ask me something, then shut his mouth, as if thinking better of it. Frowning, he shook his head, clicking, then looked at me again.