20. Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

The ride to Bella's house was silent. Mostly because Jenna didn't say anything. She gave Bella a big hug and rocked her as they were trading kisses on the cheek. It took all her willpower not to break down and cry. The realization that she might not see her again was causing her to shiver in fear.

"Do you need to tell me what's wrong?" Bella whispered in her ear.

Bella knew, of course, she knew. She'd been her sister for thirty years, but this time she was going to have to withhold information. If Amelia came to Bella seeking sanctuary, Bella couldn't turn her away or Amelia's life would be forfeited along with Jenna's.

"If Amelia asks for help, help her, but keep Rakha with you. Don't trust her, please. I'm begging you." Jenna's gray eyes were waterlogged as Bella nodded her head.

She got back into the Duran before her sister could start demanding answers and pressuring her to go inside.

"I'm amazed you got away from Bella without telling her what's going on," Cleo said.

"Maybe she realized I'm the older sister and I have my act together." Cleo snort-laughed at that.

Jenna agreed. Bella was regrouping and planned to find out a different way. Sisters didn't let sisters drown in shit. At least Bella wouldn't let Jenna drown. The rest of the ride was done with her eyes closed. The Duran was worth its weight in gold.

She groaned when the Duran pulled up to the house. It slowed and parked without intervention from her. SaKura was waiting outside for her, and she could tell it wasn't an ‘I miss you, baby," greeting. He was standing with his legs spread wide, wearing a pair of jeans and nothing else. She was willing to bet he was commando under those jeans. His naked feet were becoming a turn-on. It was something she should have denied, but when death was chasing you, denial seemed stupid. SaKura crossed his powerful arms over his chest and his eyes were blazing like fire in the darkness. He didn't appear ready to kiss her and whisk her off to bed. She could use some loving since she wasn't sure how long ago she had left.

"I wouldn't want to be you, girlfriend."

"Aren't you too old to be using words like girlfriend?" Cleo twisted her model gorgeous face and still was gorgeous.

"Pla-lease." Jenna decided that one word said it all. Why grow old when you could stay young?

"I'm out of here. Good luck with that." Cleo waved her hand to indicate SaKura before she went to the door, gave him a hi, and disappeared inside the house. Yep, she was on her own. Reluctantly Jenna left the Duran and walked to SaKura like she didn't have a trouble in the world. She leaned up and kissed his jaw.

"Shall we go in?" She could eat. Maybe Cleo would throw her a bone and be in the kitchen cooking. Nope, no such luck. The whole downstairs was deserted.

"We went to the mall." She sat on the couch, and he sat close but not touching. She was waiting for him to ask her if she had a good time. What did she buy? Anything, but he didn't say a word.

Did he learn the power play of silence from the FBI, or did they teach it to soon-to-be kings on his planet? The longer he sat with his eyes trained on her, staring, the more she fidgeted.

"I saw Amelia at the mall," she blurted out, not being able to take the pressure any longer. He knew what he was doing. It was like someone was pulling at her nails, ripping them off. "Great talk. Think I'll order some food."

She tried to get up, and he pinned her down with his eyes. Holy freaking cow. Was this what it meant to be the crown elect? No one had ever pinned her down with the power of their will.

"Did I tell you about my trip to the mall several days ago?" Was it just days? It felt like weeks, months. She honestly wasn't sure how much time passed between the first and the second trip. Not receiving an answer, she told him about it like it was the first time because it could be.

When she was done, he gave her a small smile and a nod of his head. She knew that meant for her to go on. That's when she jumped up. It all sounded ridiculous, but when she was in the mall or even in Bella's living room, it made perfectly good sense. Was she looking for imaginary monsters or were the voices in her head leading her to a discovery that was just as chilling as a dead body in the street?

"I heard Amelia's voice when I was on the way to the bathroom. The mall bathrooms are down a hallway a respectful distance from the storefronts. Not that far, but enough so flushing and random gross scents don't penetrate your ears or the goods for sale. Anywayyyy." She drew the word out. Anything to give herself a minute to breathe and think.

"I stopped. I could hear that she wasn't happy, more scared than anything. Then I heard her talking about me. She said that the man promised I'd be safe. She was only doing this to help me. Then he mentions Jeffrey." She couldn't help it. She shivered, and her teeth chattered banging together.

SaKura picked up the throw blanket on the back of the couch before he wrapped her in it. Then he picked her up and sat her on his lap. This was becoming a thing, but she didn't protest. She could live with it and maybe she even liked it, on the down low. It was soft and SaKura was hard and warm. This might be her happy place.

"I didn't like the way her voice changed. I looked around the corner to find her trapped against the wall, her toes barely touching the floor. He had his hand around her neck, squeezing. Because I'm a coward, I listened but didn't help. If it had gone on too long, I would have yelled security and fire. That's the only way guaranteed to draw the lookie-lou's." She shuddered some more, sure that her life was about to go up in smoke.

"He threatened her, saying that I had already been sold to Jeffrey Johnson. He's married to Marilyn Johnson and they're horrible." She segued into telling him about them and how Jeffrey and his wife seemed to find her every time she moved. "I hate to say it, but I think Amelia is the reason they keep finding me. Although, now I think they are holding something over her head. What?" She shrugged her shoulders, not knowing.

"They also threatened to give her to Jeffrey if she didn't do as told. It seems Jeffrey likes to break his toys. Not that I think women are toys. I've had dreams of him killing women. In the past, I told myself they were nightmares that my brain conjured because he made me scared. Now I'm not too sure. I think he's a killer and women are his target of choice. I also think he likes to rape and torture them." She relaxed against SaKura's chest, using the silence to her benefit.

"This isn't what you were looking for. Me and all my mess." He placed a kiss on her cheek and then behind her ear as his hand went over one arm at a time, calming her down.

"You, my mate, are a frya. Your dreams expose the wrongs in humankind, and one day you'll have dreams that will expose the wrongs in Dizas. This is exactly what I expect. My sadness and anger are that it hits so close to home. That will rectify itself eventually. The voices of the gods and the visions say that before you can deal with any big issues, you must take care of the snakes spoiling your land."

That wasn't exactly what she expected to hear, but she understood what he meant. Whatever was happening around her was too big to leave untouched.

"Tell me." She didn't even think of holding out. He knew, she wasn't sure how, but SaKura knew her almost as well as Bella.

"I had this thought. Maybe it was a voice whispering in my ear. What if the mystery man…" She didn't know how else to refer to the man from the mall she kept seeing. "What if the Tan-ge can do the same thing that Rakha can do? What if they can impersonate a human? That man could be Tan-ge. It makes a wicked kind of sense. He looks like an Uber human and he's going around telling everyone they can protect themselves. They don't need any monsters to protect their planet. By the way, no, I don't want you to leave or pull your troops away."

He gave a soft growl of agreement against her ear, but other than that, he was silent. She shook her head. SaKura should be an interrogator somewhere. There would be fans and people standing around in awe. They would wonder if he got the confession with nothing but a grunt. The government, states, and cities would all fight over him, but she was digressing.

"I don't think anyone can stop what's coming. I'm dead and if I'm dead, so are you. That's why they haven't made a move. They saw what was happening between us, deciding to take out two with one rock."

Now it was her turn to get silent, to wait for something from SaKura. He gave a growl that sounded suspiciously like Kala's, who came running into the living room.

"You will go nowhere without Kala. He reinforced in a language that Kala responded to. I'm not losing you, nor am I letting anyone take you away. We just found each other."

He picked up the phone and called someone. He was talking rapid-fire fast and since it was his native language, she'd hazard a guess he was talking to his brother. She only caught about a third of the words.

"Everything okay?" He nodded.

"I want Rakha to look into the man you mentioned as well as your ex-next-door neighbors. You wouldn't have a picture of them, would you?"

"Why the hell would I have… Okay, wait." She fished her phone out and went to the photo gallery.

While she was looking through photos, he touched his ear and then started talking. She'd bet dollars to donuts that he was talking to his ship. Which was something she hadn't thought about until this very moment. Didn't he need one to get to Earth? It must be up there somewhere, evading the Earth's detection system. If the Diza can avoid our safeguards, then so could the Tan-ge. So much for the big mouths who were assuring everyone that they were safe from the Tan-ge.

Ta-da. She had a picture of Jeffrey on her phone. She took it one day when he was bothering a teenage girl. If something happened, she wanted proof and not hearsay that he was messing with her.

She handed the phone over to SaKura, who enlarged the pic to see his face. "He's not Tan-ge. I'm not certain they can take on your form. I am certain they can't change their ears. There is a small tail attached to the bottom of their ears, and there is a red dot here. I don't think it'd be noticeable in a human, but humans don't have them. It might look like a birthmark or a pigmentation mutation."

Jenna's stomach rolled. She was sure she'd seen the exact earlobe and mark combination. Now her mind refused to tell her where, but it was too close to home. Whoever had the mark.