Awaken Me Darkly (Alien Huntress 1)

I reached out, just about to press my palm against the print scan to release the locks. Then I paused, hand suspended midair. My skin tingled. Another wave of foreboding, this one stronger, more intense, crashed inside me.

I needed to open the entrance, but…

Jaxon watched me expectantly.

Do it. Open the door echoed in my mind, the words spoken by that same rich male voice that always made me shiver with both dread and heat. Open the door.

I remained motionless. Was it possible…could Kyrin make himself invisible? Was he here, now, waiting for me to escort him inside?

“Mia,” Jaxon shouted over the alarm. “What’s wrong? We need to guard Lilla. He might already be inside.”

I jerked my hand back. “How could he have opened this door?”

Jaxon shifted impatiently on his feet. “I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. We need to get inside. This conversation can wait.”

No. No, it couldn’t. A slight breeze caressed my neck, a breeze that held the subtle fragrance of Onadyn. I spun to my left. Saw nothing amiss. I spun to my right. Again, saw nothing amiss. Yet I knew, knew, Kyrin was inside this room with me.

“Mia, damn it,” Jaxon said. “Let’s do this.” He stepped forward, reaching out, waiting for me. We had to do the fingerprint scan together, or the door wouldn’t open.

Just before his palm hit the sensor, I closed the distance between us and grabbed his wrist. “Kyrin is inside this room. I don’t know how, but he’s here.”

“What are you talking about? He’s not here. He’s—”

“There’s no way he could have opened this door. I think—” Another breeze, this one so close I felt a wave of heat brush my cheek. I didn’t finish my sentence as I released Jaxon’s hand and pivoted on my heel. I pressed my back against the cold steel door, dialed my weapon to stun, then pointed the barrel straight ahead.

Jaxon finally caught the truth of my words. Without another protest, he moved out of my way and stood beside me, his weapon trained, as well.

Open the door, Kyrin said, the words whispered next to my ear like a lover’s entreaty. His voice was low, a menacing growl. Strangely, I wanted to obey, though I did not feel phantom fingers inside my mind trying to bend me to his will. The most feminine part of me simply wanted to help him.

“Do you hear that?” I asked Jaxon, keeping my eyes straight ahead.

“The alarm?”

“The voice.”

He shook his head.

I forced my ears to block the screech of the alarm and my head to block the seductive rhythm of Kyrin’s timbre. I willed my breathing to slow and concentrated on the movement my physical senses could not detect.

Up ahead, a lightning swift rustle blurred my vision, and in that instant, a tingle of languid awareness rippled through me. Another blur, this one to the right. Then another, this one to the left.

“I’m not opening the door,” I said to the air in front of me.

I felt Jaxon’s silver gaze level on me.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe Kyrin had already slipped past this door, and I was an idiot for not storming into the cells and stopping him. But I believed in trusting my instincts, and to do that, I was willing to take a chance.

“I don’t care how long the alarm blasts or what happens beyond this room,” I said. “I’m not moving from this spot.”

In the glass panel of the far entrance, I watched as Jack and several other agents sprinted toward the enclosure. Damn, I didn’t need their interference right now.

I had to stop their progress. They might unintentionally—or intentionally—ruin everything I was struggling to do.

“Lock the entrance,” I told Jaxon.

After only a slight hesitation, he darted across the small area and disabled the wires that allowed passage in and out. When Jack reached the portal, he hit the steel beams with a thud. I watched his mouth move swiftly in a stream of curses as he attempted to pry open the door with a solid kick, then with a punt of his shoulder. No luck. He shook a fist at us, his hand arcing wildly through the air in an attempt to wave me over and threaten at the same time.

I gave one, swift shake of my head.

“Reveal yourself,” I shouted to Kyrin.

He didn’t, of course.

“Stay alert,” I told Jaxon. He didn’t appreciate the warning, but I offered it anyway. He hadn’t seen Kyrin slash a knife down one palm, hadn’t seen the wound mysteriously close as if it had never existed. He hadn’t seen the way Kyrin could move, so swiftly the human eye was unable to detect it. Hadn’t felt his unnatural strength. “Keep your pyre-gun on stun.”

Jack disappeared for several long heartbeats, and when he returned, he and several other agents held a battering ram. How soon before they beat their way inside?

“Reveal yourself, Kyrin,” I shouted again. “I’ll help you leave this place unscathed. Let’s help each other, like we did before.”

Again, he ignored me. I saw a hint of a shadow dancing close to me, then misting away before I could fire. How could he move like that? Frustration ate at me as I floundered to lock on him.

“I’m your only hope of escape,” I said.

A whoosh of air rippled. Before I could even react, Jaxon’s features contorted in pain. He grunted, then collapsed onto the hard blue tile, his chest continuing to rise and fall as he drew in oxygen. Shocked, I stood frozen for a single tick of time, staring down at him.

In the next instant, my gun was swiped from my hand. I watched, horrified, as the firearm sailed through the air, only to thud next to the far wall. Fury acted as kindling in my blood, heating quickly and lethally, ready to explode.

I had managed a single step toward the wall when four feet in front of me, the air began to liquefy, becoming a dappled, upright pool of majestic azure. Mist swirled and curled like a dainty ribbon, prancing up to the ceiling. I blinked, only a sweep of my lashes, but when I refocused, Kyrin was there. Completely visible, a looming tower of danger. His scent wafted all around me, warm and exotic, with a hint of Onadyn thrown into the blend.

Black leather pants and a black shirt, much like the clothes of a hunter, hugged the thick muscles of his thighs and chest. His white hair fell loose about his shoulders, with two braids framed against his temples. War braids? I wondered. That only added to his appeal, the infuriating bastard.

“How did you do that?” I demanded. Whatever he’d done, he hadn’t used his molecular transport ability. Had he?

His violet gaze pierced me with purposeful intent. “Do you truly plan to kill her?”