THIRTY-FOUR - Thorn

THIRTY-FOUR

Thorn

Ishower at Alana's as she continues to sleep, then dress myself in fresh clothing I brought with me the night before. Her closet is full of yellows, pinks, and aquamarine blue, and I enjoy poking through her jewelry stash. The woman truly does love sparkles.

When she's finally where she belongs, I'll make sure she has any trinket she could ever desire.

I glance at my watch. The security teams are on set schedules, so it's fairly easy to slide inside when nobody's looking. I could probably get Alana out, but I want her to come to me. Oh, it's pride and arrogance, but I can live with that. Plus, when she voluntarily knocks on my door, it will be her own choice. I don't want her to give me a hard time about it, since no doubt she'll want to leave more than once during our lives. Hopefully long lives if I can cure the curse.

I won't let her leave, which is actually an assurance my girl needs.

Of course, if she doesn't get it in gear, I will take matters into my own hands. For now, I've taken illegal and likely immoral steps to keep her safe and have no intention of letting her know about them.

My phone buzzes and I read a note from Renaldo that he's still working on finding the money behind the kidnapping attempt on Alana. He's turning into a decent mole.

Buttoning up my shirt, I watch her even breathing and take note of the bruise on her delicate face. The purple has darkened and a sliver of yellow shows along the hollow beneath her cheekbone.

Cal Sokolov's death is going to be painful. Horribly so.

She murmurs in her sleep and draws her legs up, frowning. Is this another nightmare? Then she whispers my name, and sweet honey flits across my tongue.

Ah. Apparently I'm not as frozen inside as I thought, because my heart thumps. Hard. "Alana." I crouch down and brush her jawline. "Wake up."

She awakens, her eyes more green than brown in the early light. Pink infuses her cheeks. "Um, hi."

I kneel in front of her. "Having a good dream?"

The pink deepens to rose and she winces, gingerly touching the bruise on her cheekbone. "Shut up."

"Be nice or I won't make you feel better." I snag her good ankle and pull her around, tossing her legs over my shoulders before enclosing her entire cunt with my mouth.

She arches and makes a sound deep in her throat.

"That's better." I snap the side threads of her panties and remove the offending garment before I go at her, wanting to give her pleasure for a few moments. She's already there, coming hard against my mouth with a muffled shriek. It's not enough. I lick her again, taking my time, and drive her slowly back up.

Her lithe body stiffens.

"Stay relaxed," I mumble against her engorged clit.

She shudders. "You stay relaxed."

I smile, lean back, and lightly slap her clit. "You want to play?"

She frowns up at me. "Not really."

"Then behave." I lean back down and take my time with my mouth and fingers, forcing her over all too soon. She tightens and covers her mouth again to stifle the scream. Kind of. I let her come slowly down and then stand, scooping her from the bed and striding into the bathroom where I place her in a lavender oil-scented bubble bath I drew earlier.

Her moan is much like the one when she comes.

"Stay sitting," I order, reaching for a hair tie on the counter that I quickly use to clumsily secure the mass atop her head. "All right. Lie back."

She slides beneath the bubbles, her eyes closing, pleasure relaxing her face. The lavender should both soothe her and reduce inflammation. "This is lovely."

As is she.

I snag a towel and place it by the tub so she doesn't have to reach for it. Then I put a pill and a glass of water on the edge of the bath. "Take these."

Her eyelids open. "I have a dance tonight."

"It's early. It'll be out of your system by lunchtime." After hopefully reducing her pain as well as some inflammation.

She does so, her gaze remaining on me. It's contemplative. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"Because you're mine."

"What if I wasn't?"

"There isn't a universe or reality where you're not."

She moves slightly and the water splashes. "You're so sure of everything."

I truly am. She looks fragile and defenseless in the bubbles; the bruise on her cheek appears painful. Fury nearly engulfs me, and only the fear in her eyes grounds me, forcing me to remain in control. So I sit on the damn bathroom floor to face her. "We need to talk."

Her chin lifts, and bubbles cover the bottom half. "Sounds serious."

"You can't charge the aquamarine crystals at Aquarius Social right now." I keep my voice gentle as I issue the order.

Life sparks into her eyes. "I'm not letting you take Aquarius under, Thorn. Period."

"If I wanted Aquarius under, I wouldn't require your assistance." I'm fairly certain the attacks against me originated with the Rendales and TimeGem and thus I have no reason to hurt her father or his company. At the moment, anyway. "This is about your safety."

"Are you threatening me?" She sounds more curious than frightened or even angry.

I sigh. "You'd know it if I were." Navigating this situation with her is taking more energy than I'd like, especially since my feet are freezing and it feels like a block of ice has settled at the base of my spine. If my spine freezes, I'm screwed. "Have you told anybody about my synesthesia?"

"No."

Fascinating. "Why not?"

She looks away, ruffling more bubbles.

"Alana." I put bite into my tone this time.

She sighs. "I don't know. I guess you trusted me with something and I didn't want to let you down. Plus, it's nobody's business, right?"

I like that. A lot. She's a sweet doe in a lion's world and has no clue about her vulnerability. Or perhaps her power. "I have several options open to me right now," I say.

She turns back to study my face. "Like what?"

"I could take you back to my house and lock you down. Or I could trust you to come to the right conclusion about where you belong and ask me to take you." The long game has never bothered me, but with my body starting to freeze, I don't have that kind of time. Even if the illness takes me and I die, she'll always belong to me.

She rolls her eyes. "It's good those self-esteem modules you've been streaming are starting to work."

Smartass. "You can't charge the crystals because there's an enemy out there who has learned how to infect systems, crystals, and their human connections."

She stills. A wrinkle settles between her brows. "Are you serious?"

"Yes." I run my index finger down the unharmed side of her face.

She gasps. "You're freezing."

"I am. From the inside out, and my organs are crystallizing."

Panic tightens her facial features and she sits up, splashing water over the edge onto my pants. "That's insane."

"The only time I'm remotely warm is when I'm with you." I'm not going to start lying to her now.

She looks at the far end of the tub, the gears visibly working in her brain. "That's why you needed the larger garnet."

"Yes. Mine is infected and it's freezing at the same rate as me. Or faster." I frown. The garnet's demise is nearer than mine—what does that mean? When its life is snuffed out, will mine follow? When I prove the hacker's identity, I'm going to make them suffer in newly invented ways.

"You must have an idea of the mastermind behind this," she says softly.

I like her brain. A lot. "I'm fairly certain it's Sylveria Rendale. If I marry one of her daughters, she's all but promised a cure." Although I don't know yet if she's the one with enough talent to have created this clusterfuck. Is it Horace?

Alana shuts her eyes and breathes out. "Do you believe her?"

"Maybe. She might be bluffing." The chess game of life and death isn't new to any of the families. "Gut instinct says she at least knows something, but I need more than that to cure the garnet, or I'd just take her and force answers from her botoxed mouth." But if she isn't the evil alchemist, that person might slip away. "We're working on it."

The struggle in Alana is visible on her face and fucking fascinating to boot. "I've been reading some of your books that deal with the ancient wisdom of crystals and I'll keep going through them. Maybe there's something there." Finally, her shoulders go back and she opens her eyes, zeroing in on me. "I might be able to gain you backdoor access to Sylveriaa's servers."

I sit back. Not an inch of me expects this. "Ella might still have a claim to the company. If I blow it up, she's hurt."

"So don't blow it up," Alana says. "Find your answers, cure yourself, and protect my friend."

Her trust nearly knocks me over. Taking in a lungful, I taste the intoxicating melodies of honey and lavender. "This means you trust me. Come home with me willingly so I don't have to take you by force again. My patience has boundaries."

"Man, somebody needs to drag you into the current century."

"Consider yourself the one."

Her small fingers play with the bubbles. "We need to discuss the event tonight."

Interesting. "What about it?"

"Everyone will be there, and I don't want a scene." She looks up, vulnerability glimmering in her eyes. "I know I conduct much of my life in front of the camera, but I choose the topics. Even though you beating the tar out of Cal would get huge play, I don't want that."

I don't like the undertone of her voice and take a moment to read between the lines, which is not one of my gifts. "You didn't do anything wrong."

She pushes her hair out of her face. "I acted like I liked him."

I grasp her chin, my thumb sliding through the bubbles. "Nothing that happened was your fault. Not one iota of it. Tell me you understand."

Her gaze searches my face. "Fine. I understand. You're not mad?"

"Not at you." I'm careful not to aggravate her bruise. The one Cal will pay dearly for.

Her cute mouth pouts. "Well, I guess Cal will be safe tonight at the ball, at least."

That's what she thinks. I lean over and press a kiss to her sweet mouth. "I have to go. If you can get me into the TimeGem servers, let me know. But if Ella refuses, don't worry about it. I have my best people on it." After making a few preparations for the stupid event tonight, I plan to use everything I have to infiltrate TimeGem today.

Her head lolls. "Okay."

The pill is obviously taking effect. I alter my plans and pluck her from the bath before setting her on her feet and drying her from head to toe. Then I tuck her sleepy butt back into bed, my suit soaking wet. "Call me when you awaken."

Right now, I have a date with Cal Sokolov, who should be just about finished with his tennis match for the morning.

With that, I leave her alone for most likely the last time, because I haven't lied to her.

My patience is gone.