A Seacat's Love (Oceanan Trilogy Book 1) (23 page)

“The alarms were tripped.”

“Not by you, I’m sure of it. Besides, you got out in one piece.”

“Barely.”

“You made it.”

“I was taken off guard by what I found. I left evidence behind. They should know by now it was me.”

“I took care of that. I also had Seeker and Trigger clean your house.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “They weren’t thrilled about that.”

“How? And clean my house? Why?”

Lance stared at Rick. His head tilted to one side. “You’re questioning me?”

Rick paused before the deck fence. He focused on the ocean. “You should’ve made a move sooner. The others might still be alive if you had.”

Lance leaned his hips against the wooden railing and faced the entranceway to the house. “I did make a move. I have Cobra and Viper on the inside. How else do you think I found out about the government’s true intentions—how I took care of your stomach problem? I assigned Seeker and Trigger to clean-up duty after you left your home. You left in a hurry. I wasn’t about to leave that to chance, not after the facility.”

Rick continued to stare at the sea. It seemed like he was not paying attention. In truth, he was waiting for an explanation. Lance understood.

“Rick, listen to me.” Lance faced him. “I was brought in to question the aliens. After my work was done, I was left in the dark. I had no reason to doubt our government’s sincerity when I left. But I wanted to make sure, so I sent two of our people in. Viper and Cobra have been keeping me up to date. We wanted to make a move sooner, but it was too sticky. And our main man, the only one who could pull this off, was overseas.”

“Spare me,” Rick grumbled, even though he knew Lance meant it. The team was unstoppable as a whole, but individually, some of the team members would never survive. Suddenly a fact crossed Rick’s mind. He suspiciously regarded Lance. “How the bloody hell did you get here?”

“I drove.”

“Drove! How did you find me? I ditched you weeks ago.”

“You did. But I knew you had to be headed here, so I camped out by those cliffs over there.” Lance pointed to where he had slept for nearly three weeks. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

Rick looked at the nearby rocks. “But I—”

“Yes, I know. You checked.” Lance smiled. “I hid.”

Rick was not happy with that. He had prided himself with being thorough. It seemed he still had a lot to learn from his big brother.

He stared Lance in the eyes. “How did you know I owned this place? I never told you or brought you here. And I know you couldn’t have followed me.” He smirked. “You can’t keep up with me.”

Lance sighed. “True.” He pointed to the house with his head. “But she’s not as good as you at throwing off a tail.” He smiled his famous lopsided smile.

Rick glanced at the house and then back at his friend. “How did you connect Carol Ann to me?”

“Well, that was an accident.” He scratched the side of his face. “You met her for dinner one evening two years ago. I happened to be in the same restaurant with my parents. I saw the two of you enter together. I quickly saw the resemblance, despite the difference in eye and hair color. I took it upon myself to follow your secret relative and find out where she lived. Then one day when you were on vacation, I decided to find out if my hunch was right. And—”

“And voilà! Damn! Who else knows?”

“Just me.” Lance shook his head. “I made sure no one else knows about your secret.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better,” Rick grumbled.

Lance chuckled. “All kidding aside, Rick, what are we going to do about them? The entire army is looking for them. Seeker and I managed to throw them off your trail. But I don’t know for how long that’s going work. We have to figure out something and fast.”

“Then let’s go in and talk to them.”

Lance nodded in agreement.

Carol Ann’s angry voice was heard from the deck. Rick’s ire was on the rise again. His protective nature took hold, and he stormed into the house. Lance followed close behind him. They saw Tigif had gotten his arm bandaged and was now facing Carol Ann in a heated discussion.

“But I thought the two of you were lovers!” he accused.

“Lovers? My God, don’t be so disgusting!”

“There is nothing disgusting about being Rick’s mate,” Leonora put in. She appeared from the kitchen, carrying a bottle of water.

From where he stood, Rick could see the disgust that gleamed in Tigif’s eyes as he scoped Leonora’s form. He was obviously unhappy with what she wore.

“You would know,” he said.

“Yes, I would.” She shoved the water bottle into his chest.

“You’re bloody lucky that man shot you before I did,” added Carol Ann. “I would’ve killed you for touching my Rick.”

“Rick no longer belongs to you. He is mine now,” corrected Leonora.

“Rick will always be mine.” Carol Ann met Leonora’s gaze. “And now yours as well.”

Rick’s chest puffed out. He spotted Lance passing his fingers through his short brown hair. Rick knew his chuckle was directed at him. He did not care. The two most beautiful women in the entire universe were fighting over him, and it made him proud.

“How is that?” questioned Tigif. “If you are not Rick’s lover, what sort of claim can you have over him?”

“The sort of claim a sister would have on an older brother.” In making this revelation, Rick made his presence known. He did not want to, but he saw the need after that morning’s episode. He did not want Leonora to think he was capable of being unfaithful to her.

“Sister!” chimed Tigif, Leonora, and Lance.

Carol Ann smiled at him with eyes full of brother worship.

“You told me your sister died with your parents.”

Rick spared Lance a side-glance. “I lied to protect her.”

Lance’s brows furrowed. His attention dropped to the travertine floor.

Rick gravely regarded the women. “Leonora, Carol Ann, Blaisdale has done what he could to throw the army off our trail. But we haven’t a clue for how long that’s going to work. We have to figure out how we can get the two of you safely back home.”

Those last words brought distress and pain to Rick and Leonora. Their eyes met and held. After living in solitude for so long, neither wanted to give up what they had found so soon.

“How can you trust him? He was the one who drilled us when we were captured and then handed us over to those butchers,” said Tigif bitterly.

“Wrong.” Lance’s focus switched to the cat. “I had nothing to do with that part of my government’s plans. My job was to ask the right questions.”

“Besides, I’ll trust my commanding officer before I’ll ever trust you,” Rick interjected. His glower shouted revenge. “So, how can we contact your people?” he asked Leonora.

“The only way we can do that is by returning to our ship and contacting them from there.”

Lance interrupted, “I thought you said you were dropped off from the mother ship and left here to collect data for a research project you were conducting on our species’ evolution.”

“We lied,” sneered Tigif.

“Shut up, Tigif.” Leonora looked back at Lance and explained. “We did not tell you the complete truth, for we had no way of telling if you were sincere with your words.”

“And after your mad scientists dissected our friends, there was no way in blazes we were going to tell you anything!” Tigif scornfully added.

“Then where is your ship?” Carol Ann asked.

“Same place it has always been,” answered Leonora.

“That’s impossible,” said Lance, scratching his head.

“Why?” asked Carol Ann.

“Because I didn’t believe them. We sent a team to their last-known location and searched the entire area and found no trace of anything extraneous.”

“That’s because you couldn’t see it, am I right?” Carol Ann looked at Leonora.

“You are.”

“How is that?”

“We’ll explain later. Let’s get ready. We’re leaving tonight,” ordered Rick.

Leonora walked toward him. “Right after I take care of your hand and those scars on your back.”

Tigif’s eyes grew wide. “Scars! What scars?”

Lance inspected Rick’s back. “Wow! Rick, that’s got to hurt. And you were in salt water?” His expression turned deadly as his attention riveted to Tigif. “It seems I made a mistake letting you live.” He reached for his gun. “I’ll rectify that.”

Rick lifted a hand. “Relax, Lance, it wasn’t him.”

Lance’s hand remained on the gun’s handle. “Then who?”

Leonora announced with a wide grin, “I did. It’s a soulscar.”

Instantly Tigif’s eyes lit up. He released an angry roar. He would have leapt across the room at Rick if it were not for Lance. Lance’s reaction was a single, fluid move. He held his gun aimed and ready at Tigif’s heart. His glare dared the feline to take a step toward the man he shielded with his body.

Rick was impressed with his speed. He placed a hand on Lance’s shoulder and smiled. “I see you’ve been practicing.”

“Luckily for you,” Lance coolly replied.

Friday, the 16
^th
of August

Grand Canyon, Arizona

“What are you trying to pull? This isn’t where your spaceship is. This place isn’t remotely close to where we found you.” Lance scrutinized the area. “Hell, this is the Grand Canyon. There’s nothing but nothing out here.”

He did not like being made a fool of, especially when he was irritated, tired, hot, and hungry. It had taken them nine days to return to Arizona without being caught by the army that seemed to be everywhere.

“Exactly,” replied Leonora.

Lance stood a few feet ahead of everyone. He glanced over his shoulder at her and asked, “What do you mean?”

“The others were not Seacats. However, I am.”

Tigif paused beside her. Lance saw his face darken at her words. Her words seemed to be an insult of some sort. However, Lance could not care less. All he wanted was to locate the ship and wave good-bye to the most strenuous assignment he had ever undertook.

“I am not an idiot to think there was no chance of us being captured, especially with no sensor devices around our camp’s perimeter,” continued Leonora. “So, while everyone slept, I boarded the ship and flew her here. I then hitched a ride back to camp.”

Rick inserted himself between her and Tigif. He placed his healed hand on the curve of her back and said, “Smart girl. But hitchhiking wasn’t. That’s dangerous.”

“I had no choice.”

He dipped his head once. “I understand. Don’t do it again.”

Leonora smiled. “The others were miffed when I returned. They wanted me to retrieve the ship. But we were surrounded by your army and captured before I could leave the next day.”

“I see,” murmured Lance. He was unhappy with being out smarted by an alien. His ego was injured. “So where is it?”

“Right here.” Leonora pressed several buttons on her left wristguard.

The ship’s cloaking device deactivated. The humans gawked at the shiny, three-story silver vessel that materialized in front of them. Its wingless, sleek, aerodynamic design conveyed maximum speed was on the minds of the builders. A large, tinted-glass window situated above its titled, tapered head showed them the bridge’s location.

“I can’t believe it,” Rick and Carol Ann chimed.

Lance gaped. He thought of all the UFO sightings ever reported. Not one photo came close to what was park before him. This was definitely an advanced species.

Snapping out of his awe, he ordered, “All right people…” He paused and glanced at the Oceanans. “Uh…ahem…well. What are we standing here for? Let’s move it.”

Lance had yet to come to terms with who they were. He wondered if he ever would, or could. He viewed aliens as a type of monster. He could deal with humans who acted like monsters, but real live monsters were a different story—and way out of his comfort zone.

Leonora pressed her lips together and made no comment. She walked underneath the ship’s raised base. She pushed several keys on her bangle. A door opened, and a platform extended. She led the others inside. They were instantly dwarfed by a spaciousness that seemed impossible from the outside.

Leonora led them past two rows of doors on the way to the bridge. “Though smaller than other spaceships,
Star Cruiser Nine
can accommodate sixty people comfortably in its thirty cabins, each with twin, foldaway beds.”