What To Read After FSOG: The Gemstone Collection Part Two (77 page)

“I’d rather talk about us.” If she could just touch him, freedom would be hers. “Really, it will be so much more satisfying for both of us if you release me.”

Ignoring her plea once again, Dallas straightened abruptly and strode the two paces to the table. “Your story first.”

“Why don’t you tell me what you know already so I don’t bore you with details—”

“I don’t play that way, Lilly.” Dallas grabbed another of the battered wooden chairs and flipped it around. “This is about
you
.” Straddling it backward, he rested his arms casually over the chair back. “From what I know about my partner it will take the better part of the night to satisfy his needs. Which means I’m in no rush.” He lifted his hands and shrugged. “And from the look on Thaegan’s face, I’m thinking you’re going to want to answer
my
questions before he returns. I’m not sure I have any control over him when he’s around you. And I’ve definitely played the only trump card in my hand.”

Not knowing what Dallas would do once he knew the truth, Lilly continued to stall. “I’m not sure where to start.”

“The beginning’s always nice.”

She snorted in disgust. “The beginning’s a nebulous place. Beginning of my life? Beginning of the night? Beginning of this farce? Which beginning, Dallas?”

“How about the place where you found yourself alone in deep space—running?”

His question slammed into her with all the power of a slap to the face and she reeled from the impact. “I’m not running.”

“No?” He absently picked at his fingernails. “A beautiful human female alone in the middle of this godforsaken frozen abyss known as deep space, making a living as a high-end prostitute because it was her life’s ambition? I’m not buying it.” He looked up at her, his expression thoughtful. “Which means,” he held up a finger, “you’re undercover working for some agency or,” he lifted a second finger, “something happened on Earth that sent you fleeing.”

“There’s the third possibility. I was born out here.”

“Yeah, I would’ve gone there except you know Dallas, Texas. Nope. Not born out here.” He shook his head. “And since I’m intimately familiar with the government agencies, I’m thinking you’re not working for them either. Which leaves you hightailing it through space.”

Lilly kept the surprise from registering on her face. She had suspected Dallas and his partner were into something illegal, but mentioning the government meant he probably worked for them. What the hell had she stumbled into? “Yeah, I left Earth. But lots of people are doing it these days, looking for something more exciting.”

Dallas stood abruptly and swung the chair out of his path. “Cut the shit, Lilly. You sought me out tonight at the tavern.” His boots thudded across the floor until he was face-to-face with her, his voice a low growl in his throat. “Let’s not pretend our fucking in the alley was anything more than a fact-finding strategy. And when that failed, you came back to the tavern to save the Znedu. And when that failed, you tried to kill me. How am I doing?”

“I haven’t any idea—”

“Bullshit!” Dallas roared in frustration. Stomping back to the table, he cleared the decorative centerpiece with one swipe of his arm. The cutesy knickknacks shattered on the floor. Dallas leaned heavily on the table, his head hanging to his chest, his voice painfully steady. “I’m actually trying to help you here, Lilly. I work for a very nasty branch of the government. When Thaegan returns, he intends to take you in for questioning. And trust me when I say you just don’t want to have to face that squad of aliens.” He looked at her over his shoulder.

Lilly burst out laughing. No doubt from Dallas’ expression she looked like an escapee from the Pteran Omega asylum. In her opinion, when it came to interrogations, they rated about a minus three on her fear scale. Exile on the other hand, couldn’t be measured. Relief bubbled out of her.

“I’m glad I can amuse you.”

“I’m sorry, but in my line of work interrogations are part of the job.”

Dallas stared at her, one eyebrow cocked. “And which line is that?”

Staring at the man, his naked chest heaving with frustration, something inside Lilly broke. She had no idea why it felt right to trust Dallas. He’d done nothing but screw up her plans. But she was tired of being alone. Six months drifting in space without another human to call friend was no longer an option. Dallas might not be interested in continuing what they’d begun tonight, but Lilly wouldn’t know if she didn’t try. And she’d start by offering him the truth. “I’m a detective. Actually, I
was
a detective. Chicago PD. Now I’m a bounty hunter.”

“And the Znedu?” he asked.

“Has a rather large price on his head. But thanks to you and that oversized caveman of a partner it looks like I won’t be collecting
that
reward.”

“Tough life here in deep space. Why’d you leave the cushy detective’s job on Earth?”

“Same thing that made your partner run from the cabin.”

“The cerebellum thing?”

“
Seraphelium
. And yes.”

Dallas picked up the chair he’d flung and set it close to her. Settling backward on it once again, as if the back were a shield for protection, he pressed his body close to hers. “Why don’t you tell me what the hell that is? Seems I’ve got some missing pieces in this puzzle.” He brushed hair from her face. “I want to help, Lilly. But I can’t keep you safe if I don’t know everything. Thaegan mentioned some myth, but I’m thinking it’s much more than that.”

The man was an enigma. She wanted to believe the compassion in his voice was real, but the hard set of his jaw communicated something entirely different. In reality, when it came right down to it, she wanted someone to know. Someone who could share her burden without judgment. Lilly had no idea if Dallas was that person, but sitting here, bound and naked, she figured she really didn’t have a whole hell of a lot more to lose.

“She was my great-great-grandmother. It’s barely a part of me.” Lilly looked down. Even with Dallas’ hand warm on her shoulder, there was shame in the telling.

His finger came under her chin and gently lifted it. She had no choice but to stare into the chocolate pools of his eyes. “Then it’s not your fault. Whatever
it
is, the responsibility belongs to someone else.” His thumb brushed over her lips. “The beginning. Start at the beginning. I have no idea what it is. What you
are
.”

Confusion and frustration warred within her. How could he not know? The answers were as obvious as her beaded nipples and the dizzying aroma of her arousal. Dallas was so close she could feel his body heat pressing against her, making it hard to fill her lungs. Yet the man seemed immune to the sexual energy crackling between them. Even without trying, her own arousal was usually enough to affect any male close to her and drive one with his hands on her to sexual delirium.

“You seem, well…you’re very obviously human.” One side of Dallas’ mouth curved, his dimple softening the hard angles of his jaw. “But there’s something that makes you special.” His hand brushed up her face to cup her cheek and she couldn’t stop herself from leaning into it. “I just want to understand it.”

His eyes searched her face, settled on her lips and Lilly thought for a moment he might kiss her. She wanted to feel the heat of his mouth on hers. Instead, he dropped his hand, rubbing them both on his jeans. “Just please explain to me what Thaegan was talking about.”

Even that slight rejection stung. Now that she understood they weren’t selling her to the highest bidder, seduction and escape no longer mattered. What Lilly needed now was Dallas—a human man—to accept who she was. Filling her lungs with courage, she stared straight ahead, unable to witness his revulsion as she recalled the story her mother had told her the night of her first menses. “Serapheliums are an ancient race. They came from another galaxy, hundreds of light years from even deep space. It’s said they resembled humans, but their beauty was unmatched. Gods bowed down to their perfection and angels sang at their births.” She chanced a look at Dallas and shrugged, embarrassment heating her cheeks.

“I can see the resemblance.”

She laughed out her disbelief. “Yeah, whatever.”

“You’re too hard on yourself.” His hand feathered across her face and settled warm and firm on her shoulder, encouraging her. “Continue.”

“The Seraphelium were a small population of peaceful people. But warriors arrived on their planet, seeking new territories. Aliens from another planet. Not wanting a war, the Serapheliums offered a portion of their lands. But it wasn’t enough. The warriors needed slaves to make new weapons and build their armies. The Serapheliums rose up to fight against them, but they were too weak. The men were enslaved. The women didn’t know how to defend themselves and the warriors began taking them for their own pleasure. But it seemed the women had a special power over them. Though they had no effect on their own kind, the female touch of a Seraphelium could bring the opposite sex of another species to their knees with blind sexual need—”

“Thaegan said your hands were dangerous.” His hand slid from her shoulder, down her bare arm to her bound hands behind the chair, threading his fingers in hers. “And if you touched me, you’d make me forget everything except having sex with you.” The smile lighting Dallas’ face reached up to soften the danger that had sparked in his eyes. But there was no evidence of heavy-lidded lust.

“That’s the theory,” she said quietly.

He continued to toy with her hands. “How did
you
come to have this power?”

Though his fingers only tickled along her palms, she could have sworn it was Dallas with the sexual gift manipulating the energy flowing between them. His fingers seemed to be sending electrical impulses through her palms and into her bloodstream, kicking her heart rate up several notches. Her breaths came in shallow pants that barely filled her lungs and yet she couldn’t have asked him to stop. Didn’t want to lose the connection. The strumming made her acutely aware of the very male essence of him and she wanted that—craved it with every fiber of her being. Lilly swallowed the burning need clogging her throat, trying to find her voice.

“The female Seraphelium used their sexual gifts to control some of the warriors. They…” She hesitated, not sure if she could trust Dallas with the one piece of information that worked in her favor. But with him sitting so close and seeming to have no reaction to the sexual energy still vibrating the air around them, Lilly decided she had nothing left to lose and pressed forward. “They affect the hormones in the blood, overloading the sexual circuits of males and incapacitating them. While they were in the sexual fugue, the Seraphelium took their war ships and fled. But the ship held many complications. The food was wrong and there were new diseases that infected the population. Men and children seemed especially vulnerable. Those who didn’t starve, died of horrible plagues. No planet would allow them passage for medical help.

“Resigned to death, they wandered through space, waiting for the end. It appears they crash-landed in the desert of Earth with barely a trace of the ship. The large crater it left was thought to be caused by a meteor. Few survived, my great-great-grandmother among them. They were humanoid enough to blend in. Many found new mates. They fell in love and had families. Their past seemed to have been forgotten. That is until the first generation of females reached puberty and the gift—as we call it—surfaced again. By then, humans were reaching out into space and aliens were colonizing Earth. The mingling of races was frowned upon. Not wanting their children to be shunned, the Seraphelium vowed to hold tight to their secret.”

“It doesn’t explain why you left Earth.” His hand moved up to massage her forearm, absently offering the comfort she needed to continue.

“Humans, it seems, are very sensitive about the purity of their race, especially when it comes to the government and national security.” Lilly hadn’t thought about her fall from grace in months. The pain of the betrayal slammed into her as if it were happening again for the first time. “It seems positions like that are for those with
untainted
blood.” She swallowed the hot coal of anger in her throat, closing her eyes to hold in the tears threatening to spill.

A gentle squeeze on her biceps encouraged her to continue.

“My father was a lieutenant in the Boston police department. I grew up surrounded by the code of blue. It’s all I ever knew. I wanted to be a cop my whole life. When I told him his only daughter wanted to follow in his footsteps, he burst with pride.” She coughed, choking on the sorrow clogging her throat.

“He didn’t know, did he?”

She shook her head, fighting the sadness tightening her chest. “My mother didn’t want to fall in love with him. But sometimes the head has no control over what the heart wants.” Lilly shrugged. “She had no intention of having children. But fate had other plans.”

A gentle finger turned her chin again. The man wouldn’t let her look away and hide in her shame. “They were lucky to have you.” Lilly wanted to drown in the compassion Dallas offered. “And you them. Not many people can claim to be born of such love, Lilly.”

“Love couldn’t change who I was. As much as I want to deny it. I’ll always be a Seraphelium.”

“It doesn’t make you less of a woman.”

Once again she laughed in disgust at his naiveté. “According to the asshole who wanted my badge, that’s not the case. I’m an abomination. An out-of-control alien looking to take over the human race from the inside.”

“Wait…the Chicago PD
knew
what you were?”

“Are you kidding me? I kept the truth from everyone.” She wanted to turn from Dallas’ probing gaze. Instead Lilly found herself leaning into the warm caress of his thumb across her cheek, knowing his disgust could take it from her at any moment. “I never slept with guys in school or later with those on the force. Though Serapheliums aren’t on the alien registry, I lived in fear if I ever got too close to someone they might find out what I was.”

“You mean to tell me you were celibate?”