Illicit Desire: Outlawed Realm, Book 2 Page 6

  “They may. Anything’s possible.”

  She made a face that said she didn’t appreciate his appraisal of the situation. “And that doesn’t worry you?”

  “Does being hit by a car, dying in a plane crash or having someone break in here and murder us during a home invasion bother you?”

  Her expression darkened. “It’s not the same. You know it’s not. We’re not inviting trouble by simply going about the day.”

  “You haven’t watched much news on this side, have you?” he countered. “I have. Nothing but unexpected turmoil. Children snatched on their way to school, never to be seen again. Men murdered in convenience stores when all they wanted to do was buy a pack of cigarettes. Women being—”

  “All right, all right. I get it.” She sounded like she wanted to punch him. “Besides, I know why you’re really doing this.”

  As though Lukan’s love for Arez and her eventual extermination wasn’t enough? “Which is?”

  “Your freaking code of honor and…” She didn’t continue, swearing beneath her breath instead.

  “What? Finish what you meant to say.”

  Her lower lip jutted out. She ran her thumbnail over his nipple, then sighed. “You think I haven’t noticed your discontent these last months?”

  Mystified, Nikoli shook his head. “What are you talking about? I’ve never been happier.” He regarded their still-joined bodies. “Doesn’t this prove it?”

  “We’re not in bed all day and night.”

  He licked the seam of her mouth, then murmured, his lips brushing hers, “Only because you insist on going to work.”

  “Because you can’t.” With her palms on his chest, she pushed against him so he’d have to back off and look at her. “You’re bored with what you do. Who could blame you? On E2, you were a quantum physicist, seeing to your dimension’s safety. Here, you invent stuff to use in the kitchen or around the house. Junk you see on infomercials.”

  Nikoli wasn’t certain whether to be insulted by her appraisal of what he did or touched by her concern for him. “You said you liked my stuff.” He pointed his finger at her. “You told me it was brilliant. You were the one who suggested I do it.”

  Shame registered on her face, along with worry. “Oh baby, please don’t misunderstand. I wasn’t insulting you. Your inventions are brilliant, like nothing I’ve ever seen. They’ll revolutionize the industry. No one over here has ever been smart enough to think of them.”

  “So they’re good junk.”

  She grabbed his finger and kissed the tip. “Forget what I said. Bad choice of words. I’m just worried about all of this and why you’re doing it. Do you want to leave this realm? Is that what this is about?”

  He brought back his hand. Within her, he felt his cock going soft, something that happened to men in his realm only after hours of sex. On this side, having outrageous accusations hurled at him clearly had the same effect.

  Color tinted Regina’s face a dark pink, telling him she’d noticed his wilting erection.

  Hardly the way for him to keep her satisfied. He didn’t want to ask, but did. “Do you want me to leave?”

  Her eyes widened. “No. Never.” She brought him down to her, kissing him roughly, not stopping until they both needed air and his cock started to respond.

  Nice, but she wasn’t getting off that easy. “Tell me you adore me.”

  “You know I do.” She ran her fingertips over his eyebrows. “I’d die for you.”

  “That’s not what I’m asking, and I certainly wouldn’t allow it.” He spoke softly, “Just trust me in what I have to do for Lukan. Stand behind me in this.”

  She made a noise somewhere between a moan and an oath.

  Nikoli asked, “Can’t you understand that he loves Arez?”

  “Of course, and I feel for both of them. What they’ve been through is beyond awful. I don’t want anyone to get hurt or to die, but my greatest concern is for your safety. Isn’t there another way to do this without you getting involved?”

  He tried to joke. “It’s not as if Lukan can purchase a ticket from one dimension to another.”

  Regina’s hand went over her eyes.

  So much for joking. Nikoli decided to reason. “My involvement will be minimal. I’m not going with him to E4.”

  “But you’ll be testing the portal to make certain it works correctly, right?” She clutched his arms. “What happened to Meelo? Did the gateway trap his arm and scar his face?”

  “I won’t make the same mistake in calibrating it as my father did. I have more experience, having built a device before.”

  Her nails dug into his skin. Nikoli ignored the pain.

  She frowned. “Fine. Do what you have to. I’ll test the portals for them.”

  “No.”

  Despite the volume of his voice, Regina didn’t flinch or back down. “I’m not letting you do this alone. I’m not letting you get injured like Meelo. I don’t want to see you in pain like he is.”

  “He isn’t in any.”

  “You mean he just willed or reasoned it away?”

  She was being ridiculous and emotional, just like everyone else on this side. Which is why he’d left his. Although the chaos here made Nikoli crazy at times, it also allowed him to feel alive. “He’s taking one of the medicines your people developed. He learned about it from a TV program. I believe it’s called Home or House.”

  She stared. “He’s taking oxycontin, a narcotic?”

  Surprised at her reaction, Nikoli lifted his shoulders. “What’s wrong? Is it a bad medicine?”

  Regina pressed her fingers against her forehead. “If he gets it on the street from a dealer, which he surely does, then he might get arrested during a drug bust. Oxycontin is illegal without a prescription. If he’s hauled into a police station, the cops will take his fingerprints. Want to guess what they’re going to think when they see Meelo’s don’t match anyone’s on this side?”

  No wonder she’d been so upset. “Tomorrow, when he returns, I’ll tell him he can’t buy anything on the street again, no matter how much he needs it. Meelo will listen. He won’t do anything to put us at risk. Nor will I,” Nikoli added, trying to assure her. “I’ll work in secret. Nothing will change.”

  The way she hugged him, clinging to his body, told Nikoli everything already had.

  Things might never be the same again.

  Chapter Five

  It was taking too much time.

  Day after day, Lukan came to Regina’s house, expecting Nikoli to give him the finished device, prepared to force him to do so if need be. For two weeks, the man had offered nothing but excuses. Nikoli kept asking Damir and Meelo for more materials, many of which he’d never used before. Endlessly, they discussed what he should do to make the instrument as effective as possible. They insisted it was so Lukan would come to no harm, all while he knew Arez was inching closer to death.

  Lukan couldn’t stand it any longer. He circled Regina’s dining room table, agitation and worry over Arez’s safety forcing him to pace. Last night, when exhaustion finally allowed him to sleep, he’d dreamt of Arez, shackled and caged as always, naked and surprised at his return.

  Her lips parted as he drew closer to her, wanting to touch her again, needing her caress as much as she required his. Lukan’s slumbering mind expected her to ask him a flood of questions, demanding to know where he’d been, why it had taken him so long to return.

  Instead, she whispered, “What are you doing here? Who are you?”

  His belly twisted. So much time had passed, surely she’d forgotten about him. If not, then she hated him for abandoning her to Vakar. Or she was already dead.

  Abruptly, he stopped, his legs going weak, his head swimming.

  “Lukan.” Damir pushed out of her chair and went to him.

  He swung his hand out, keeping her away. A long time ago, he’d wanted the concern and love she now showed, and received neither. It was too late to return to that earlier time. Only Arez could g
ive him all that he still hungered for.

  “Here,” Regina said, hurrying from the kitchen. She took the empty jar of peanut butter from him and delivered a full container, no doubt believing a lack of food had caused his dizziness rather than heartache over Arez. “Eat all you want,” Regina assured. “We have plenty.”

  Her kindness tonight was in stark contrast to the first days he’d come here. Then, Lukan had felt Regina staring as he ate hurriedly, grabbing whatever food he could from her table, unable to help himself. Always he feared there wouldn’t be enough, or she’d snatch the meal from him as the guards had done in the Pleasure Palace. And so he’d behaved like a man who’d known nothing but slavery and near starvation, no better than an animal created solely to be used or whipped.

  Pride made him want to refuse the jar and turn his back to her. She’d never known a day of hunger. She’d never faced the prospect of someone deciding whether she would live another day or die.

  “Go on,” she coaxed more softly than before.

  Lukan took the food and backed away quickly, keeping himself from thanking her, refusing to show any weakness or trust. He shouldn’t even be eating. What was wrong with him? How could he feel hunger with Arez in such peril? How could he be so selfish?

  He slammed the jar on the table. Plates of bacon and thick sausages, bowls of sweet squares called Rice Krispies Treats and a crunchy food known as Cheetos—all of his favorites on this side—clattered with the force of his blow. Damir sank to her seat, gripping the lip of the table, her brow furrowed with worry. Meelo stared at his uneaten sausage, looking ashamed. Not for Lukan’s outburst, but for what his experiments had caused.

  Lukan stared at the man he’d once wanted to be his father, his thoughts raging. How could you have ruined so many lives? Why didn’t you stop what you were doing after creating me? Why didn’t you suspect what Vakar really wanted?

  Why are you unable to look at me even now?

  That was all Lukan wanted from Meelo…his attention and a small measure of respect, not remorse or fear.

  “Lukan,” Nikoli said with forced calm, “please sit down.”

  He would not, even though he was still unsteady on his feet and so tired it was an effort to breathe. “What you’ve done so far isn’t enough.”

  Nikoli showed no reaction to the accusation.

  Lukan went to him, not stopping until he was next to his chair. Regina followed, no doubt prepared to protect her man as Arez had done with him. “Don’t worry,” Lukan said to her, “I have no intention of harming Nikoli.”

  “We’re not afraid of you,” he said before she could comment. “We understand your worry.”

  “Then why haven’t you built the device?” Lukan argued. “You’ve had weeks to work on it. For such a celebrated scientist, it should be a simple matter. I need a portal to enter and to leave E4. That’s all.”

  Nikoli laid his utensils on the plate, his spaghetti and bananas not even half-finished. “I’m aware of that, but the materials on this plane aren’t as sophisticated as what we have on E2. I need to adapt what I have available here to what I need. It’ll take a few more weeks for me to modify the device and perfect it.”

  “No.” Lukan squeezed his fists so hard his nails pierced the skin on his palms. He used the pain to feed his resolve. “There is no more time. Not even another day. Vakar means to do to Arez what he has to all the others her age. She may very well be with him at this moment, her life at risk.”

  “How?” Regina asked. “What does he do?”

  Lukan shook his head, unable to answer, unwilling to picture Arez’s fate once she came fully within Vakar’s control. His body ached from holding in a growl of frustration, a cry of hopelessness.

  “What?” Regina prodded.

  Lukan spoke through his teeth to Meelo. “Show her.”

  Damir stood. “I’ll do it.” She set up the equipment for them to view the hologram, evidence she and Meelo used to convince Nikoli’s father of E2’s corrupt government.

  “The images will be fainter than usual,” she warned, “because of the outside light.”

  It shone around the edges of the shutters, illuminating the room. Today, like all the others, Lukan hadn’t been able to wait until twilight to come here. Eager to learn Nikoli’s progress, he’d worn his hoodie and sunglasses to shield himself.

  There was no protection for the male slave in the hologram. He seemed younger than Lukan, with wavy black hair that fell to his broad shoulders.

  “He was our eleventh creation,” Damir said, speaking quietly, though not enough to hide her remorse.

  The slave’s lids were mere slits, heavy with sleep. He blinked slowly at the gloom well beyond the Palace’s doorway as though trying to understand an unknown terrain he’d never seen. His life, like all of the others except for Lukan’s, had played out inside the structure. It had been his world until now.

  Confusion sped over his features as to what he was doing here. Stark fear replaced it as two guards shoved him from the Palace. Arms flailing, the slave cried out, stumbling, then trying to right himself. At last, he did and hurried back to the door.

  The clang of the guard locking it echoed through Regina’s dining room.

  The slave’s cries followed. He pounded on the door. “Let me back inside,” he begged. “What have I done?”

  “He slept too long,” Lukan said, knowing it might have been him or any other slave outside that door. He trembled at the thought, unable to dismiss his residual fear. “It’s not only age that brings a slave to this point. Begging for more food, failing to perform adequately, looking at another slave too long, breaking any of countless rules can lead someone to this.”

  “Please, tell me,” the young man cried.

  No one answered or came to his rescue. The twilight outside the Palace’s periphery pressed in. Naked, without food or water, he had no defense against whatever was behind him.

  With his nails, he clawed the door as though he could dig through its metal. Streaks of his blood ran down the smooth, dull surface. A howl came from everywhere and nowhere, interrupting his pleas.

  Pressed against the door, he scanned the area beyond the Palace’s lights to determine the source of the noise. Another howl followed the first, along with rustling noises, indicating something moved swiftly through the dense vegetation.

  As groggy as he’d been minutes earlier, he was now as alert but seemed uncertain of what to do. He stepped to the left and froze for a moment, then went to the right. A gust of wind pushed past. Leaves swished. Startled, the slave crouched down, arms around his nudity, protecting himself.

  Overhead, a beam of light flashed, accompanied by a motor’s faint hum. Trembling, the slave squinted, then cowered at the added illumination. Brighter than a thousand candles, it exposed him to the unknown animals and whatever else lay hidden in the night.

  None of the creatures attacked. Instead, the rulers came forward, each of them resembling Meelo and Nikoli. All were dressed in mottled brown-and-gold clothing to make them indistinguishable from their surroundings. They carried weapons that were called crossbows on Regina’s side.

  “Run,” one of the youngest rulers ordered the slave. He was either a son or cousin of one of Vakar’s relatives, all of them related and having held power for centuries on E2. “Try to escape.”

  The older man next to him smiled. “If he can.”

  “Let’s give him a head start,” another suggested. “It’ll make for better sport.”

  Murmurs of approval followed.

  The slave crawled to the master nearest him, grabbing his legs. Just as quickly, he snatched back his hands, his expression horrified at his impertinence in having touched a ruler. It wasn’t allowed unless the slave was ordered to do so.

  The young man pleaded, “Please tell me what I’ve done, and I’ll make it right. I’ll serve you.”

  “You already have,” the older man said. Not unkindly, but with such indifference a chill ran through Lukan. “Ea
ch night you escape us, you’ll earn another day of life with food and water we’ll provide.”

  “To give you strength,” the youngest informed.

  “Turn off the beam,” one ruler shouted.

  A guard obeyed, returning the scene to its previous gloom. The lights surrounding the Palace shone on the slave, revealing tears in his eyes.

  “Go. Now,” Vakar ordered suddenly, moving from the rear of the group to stand before the unfortunate man. “Or die where you kneel.” He placed the butt of his crossbow on his shoulder and aimed the weapon.

  Scrambling back, the slave pushed to his feet, running headlong into the vegetation and more danger.

  The rulers chuckled. An animal howled. The slave screamed.

  As one, the men rushed forward, taking aim with their crossbows.

  “Turn it off, please,” Meelo asked.

  Damir’s hands trembled as she did so. Regina’s face had drained of all color. She held her hand to her mouth as if she might be ill.

  Her horror calmed Lukan more than any assurances or empty promises. Finally, she and Nikoli knew exactly what the slaves faced. “Those the rulers don’t hunt, they allow to starve,” he said. “They wait until the slaves are exhausted and hungry; then they push them from the Palace, leaving them to their fates.”

  Regina lifted her hand, clearly wanting him to stop. She spoke to Nikoli. “Isn’t there some way you can speed up the process?”

  He sagged in his chair. “Not without the proper materials.”

  Quickly, Lukan countered, “You told Meelo your device is at a stage where it can at least open a portal for a short period. That’s all I need. As long as I can get to Arez, I’ll find a way to take her from the Palace. I’ll bring her to another location where we’ll wait until you perfect your instrument, finding us and opening a portal back to this side.”

  “Lukan, no.” Damir went to him. “That would be madness. You have no idea what you’d face on that plane once you’re outside the Palace.”