Woman Beware Read online

  “Very much so.” He answered with a smile. Did his new feelings show on his face? Did he feel this way only because she had done for him what no other woman had ever done, or was it because they were truly meant to be, the way the voices in his head would suggest?

  Will you listen to yourself? You’ve actually admitted to having voices in your head. What does that say about you? Artu closed his eyes, scrubbed his face with his hands and wondered when exactly it was that he had lost his mind.

  Standing on still-rubbery legs, Artu reached down and pulled Lena to her feet. “Thank you for that, Lena.” He swallowed thickly. “I shall treasure that memory always.”

  A little crease appeared between her beautiful eyes that were a wondrous color he’d never seen before, that seemed a mixture of blue and brown. “You’ll treasure the memory?” She bit her lip. “You’re acting as though you don’t plan to see me after today or something.”

  How did he tell her that he expected her to leave like all the others? What if saying it made her do that very thing? He stared down at her, wondering how he could explain.

  “I would love for you to stay with me. However, I have not had the best of luck with women.” He would leave it at that and let her think of that what she would.

  “Artu,” she began with a smile and the shake of her head. “That’s because those other women weren’t meant to be with you.” She moved closer, wrapped her arms about his neck and drew his head down to hers. “Apparently, I am the woman you’ve been waiting for.

  Lowering his head, Artu covered her mouth with his for another passionate kiss. “You are.” Only the gods and the Fates knew that truer words had never been spoken.

  Swinging her up into his arms, he carried her into the sonic dryer and then into the bedroom, where he placed her on the bed with a gentle kiss to her lips. “It’s time we got some sleep. We’ll talk about our future in the morning.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Lena woke to the pounding of a distant drum. The irregular beat made her frown. It was probably that deadbeat neighbor of hers, Dean, playing his weird psychedelic sixties music again.

  Rolling over, she put her pillow over her head. “Turn it down, Dean. I’m not in the mood to hear it this morning.” That was an understatement, to say the least. Her hippy neighbor’s idea of music had yanked her from one hell of a wonderful dream.

  Coming to terms with the fact that she wasn’t getting anymore sleep this morning, Lena threw her pillow aside with an impatient sigh, sat up and opened her eyes. “Oh, my god! It wasn’t a dream.”

  When the thumping continued, Lena turned to look at Artu, wondering how in the world he could sleep through the racket coming from somewhere beyond the bedroom door. He was gone.

  “Don’t even tell me you left me here by myself.” Lena grumbled as she gathered her clothes together to get dressed. “I’d better not find out that you’ve left the house and tried to stop the authorities from arresting me, dammit.”

  She looked down at the soiled clothes she held. “I could sure use Artu’s sister’s clothes right about now.” Even fresh from storage, they’d be better than what she had with her. Frowning, Lena resigned herself to wearing them for another day. She’d refuse to wear these after today without washing them first. At the moment, it didn’t matter how long his sister’s things had been in storage. They would have been a welcome addition to her non-existent wardrobe. However, they were back in the room where she’d unpacked them and left them on the chair so she could wash them.

  Artu had told her the clothes were clean, but he’d also said that they had been in storage for a number of years.

  The drumming continued and Lena rubbed her temples. “I wish that damned banging would stop.” She looked toward the door and worried her lip. Should she go see what made that thunderous noise?

  What if something had happened to Artu? She knew he said he was invincible, but he had said that was only until he met his mate. He said he would age and die just like everyone else after that. She thought about the chemistry they experienced between them last night. What if she really was his mate? Could someone kill him now?

  Mind made up, Lena hurried from the room, almost running up the hallway that led into the main chamber of the underground structure. She couldn’t let him stand between her and whatever justice his people meted out. Not if he could get himself harmed. She couldn’t allow him to get himself hurt because of her. Lena knew she would never be able to live with herself if she didn’t do something to stop him.

  Lena decided that she would face whatever music she had to. She was an illegal alien in his land. It didn’t matter how she got here or why she was here. If they couldn’t deport her and she wasn’t married to a citizen, they should incarcerate her. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t asked for this. The law was the law.

  Her stomach churned at the thought of languishing in a prison in the ultimate foreign land. She was on another planet for crying out loud. You couldn’t get to be much more of an illegal alien than that.

  Lena reached for the door handle, paused and took a deep breath, trying to muster up the courage to open the door. The distant banging grew louder.

  “Come on, Lena,” she said as she cautiously made her way down the long hall. “It’s time to pull up your big-girl panties and face the proverbial music.”

  The closer Lena got to the source of the drumming, the louder it got. The louder it got, the more her stomach churned, until she felt as though she might be sick. It didn’t take long to realize that someone on the other side attempted to break the door down. Yet it held.

  Taking another deep breath for courage, Lena reached for the door and opened it just as the men on the other side were on their back-swing with a strange-looking metal bar that she could only guess was their form of a battering ram.

  “Arrest the trespasser!” A tall man situated behind the rest screamed. “She does not belong here.” He sneered at her as the others grew quiet at his accusations. “Do not think to brainwash us as you have our defender with your stories of the Fates. We are not as gullible as our lonely protector.”

  Lena frowned. How did he know her story unless he was the one Artu had trusted with their predicament? However he knew didn’t matter. She was an illegal in this land, so she didn’t argue, and she didn’t put up a fight when three men grabbed her and locked a pair of odd handcuffs around her wrists and forearms.

  The man pumped his fist in the air. “Throw her in jail! Keep her away from our defender, who would believe her lies.”

  Staring at him, her eyes wide, Lena’s heart pumped violently in her chest. Of all the people here, she only feared the one man who called for her incarceration. The demonic light of fanaticism practically glowed in his eyes. If she could see it, why couldn’t his own people see that the man was as crazy as a sack of beavers?

  “Throw her in jail!” he screamed again. “Give her the death penalty!”

  Now, wait just a minute. A death sentence was a bit extreme, wasn’t it?

  “Better yet, kill her now!” The man pulled what Lena could only guess was a weapon from his jacket, pointed it at her and fired before anyone could react.

  When the blast hit her in the center of her chest, Lena fell to her knees before hitting the floor on her side. Someone, she wasn’t sure who, rolled her over onto her back. Someone else shoved a jacket under her head. It was a small comfort, but there nonetheless.

  Glancing up at the nearest man who stared down at her with nothing short of horror, she said, “Tell Artu that I love him and…I’m sorry.”

  Lena knew now, that it was too late, that she should never have opened the door without Artu standing here with her. “I knew it.” She said irreverently, knowing that she breathed her last few breaths. “I knew I was going to die the minute I saw that damned red shirt.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Artu entered his home and zoomed toward his bolt hole. He should never have left to try
to talk sense into Benton, but he hadn’t been home. It wasn’t until he saw the crafts outside his home that he realized that Benton had managed to rat him out yet again.

  How had the other man known about the bolt hole? No one knew about that but those who helped build it, and they were long gone from this world. Artu moved as fast as he dared, knowing he had to get there before Lena opened the door.

  Though he knew that they wouldn’t find her unless she came out on her own, he feared that she would inadvertently help them by coming out without coercion.

  “Let me pass,” Artu said with a growl as he pushed his way through what seemed like a battalion of men. He had to stop them. Artu couldn’t allow them to put his Lena in prison. He would go himself before he allowed them to put her in with the blood thirsty criminals and thugs he had helped to incarcerate. They would kill her when they found out he’d attempted to keep her out of there. A commotion at the front drew his attention, and he narrowed his eyes at the open door.

  “She loves him!”

  Artu’s heart swelled at the words. Had she said that? Had she really told others that she loved him? Perhaps, if they were lucky, that declaration would keep her out of jail.

  “For the love of Brigit, what have we done?” one of the men said as Artu pushed through the crowd.

  For the first time in his life, Artu felt fear, true fear, as he pushed his way through. The crowd had grown eerily silent as he made his way to his door.

  Whatever he did, he knew he must declare his love for her to keep her with him. Nothing short of death could separate a defender from his mate.

  Turning, the men faced him and grew silent. Artu’s stomach churned as he drew toward the front of the crowd and didn’t see Lena standing before him. Deep in his gut he knew something was wrong.

  Heart in his throat, he shoved his way through the last of the men to find Lena. She lay on the floor, still as death, her lovely face white, a blue tinge surrounding her lips.

  Slowly, he shook his head as he took in her appearance and the dark stain in the center of her chest.

  “No!” Artu felt his chest constrict as he saw her on the floor, still as death. He covered the rest of the distance in what felt like slow motion. Falling to his knees, he felt his heart break as he lifted her lifeless body in his arms.

  “Why?” he asked no one in particular. “Why did she have to die?” Standing, he gathered her firmly against him. Carrying her into his once-hidden chamber, he walked down the long hall and into the bedroom.

  He looked at the rumpled bed and his heart broke. Was it only a few short hours ago that he’d made love to her right there? Gently, he placed her still form on the bed and gazed down at her.

  For the first time in his life, Artu bowed his head and gave way to tears. How many lifetimes had he waited to meet Lena? So much time wasted. So many years lost. Staring at his feet, Artu stood silent for a moment, wishing that things could have been different.

  “We are so sorry, Defender,” one of the men said as he twisted his hat in his hand. “We had no idea that she was your soul mate.” He swallowed thickly, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. “You see, we didn’t know that she was your mate and under your protection.”

  “Benton did.” Another said, pointing at the man Artu had once considered his best friend. “It was Benton who shot her.”

  Rage, unlike anything Artu had ever felt before filled him at the declaration. Benton, the man he’d trusted, confided in for the last ten years, had shot the one woman capable of ending his torment. His temper flared to the point where he could become like all those monsters he’d helped put in jail. He wanted to reach out, grab Benton by the throat and throttle him. Instead, he sat beside Lena, took her hand in his and pressed it to his chest.

  That was when all hell broke loose.

  The moment Artu touched Lena’s hand to the center of his chest, sparks shot between them. The power arcing back and forth between them made her body jerk and flop on the bed. When he pulled her hand away, Lena opened her eyes and met his gaze.

  “Honey, I’m home,” she said in a singsong voice. Grabbing him by the front of his shirt, she pulled herself up and planted a kiss firmly on his lips. She pulled away slowly, her breath coming in short pants, and slapped his arm. “That’s for leaving me here while I was sleeping.”

  Artu lifted one side of his mouth in a half grin. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

  “Kill the trespasser!” Benton screamed from somewhere in the crowd.

  “Huh!” Lena turned toward the sound and narrowed her eyes. Throwing her legs over the side of the bed, she stood, looked down at the center of her chest, then back up at Benton and scowled. “You shot me, you jerk!”

  “And I shall shoot you again.” Benton lifted his arm and squeezed off another shot before those next to him forced him down. “I thank the gods that my grandfather told me of this secret room he and his father built. Otherwise, you would have succeeded in your plan to steal our defender from us.”

  The shot hit Lena in the center of the chest, charring what was left of the center of her blouse a charcoal gray. Lena staggered back a bit. With a growl, she ripped her arms apart and broke the handcuffs that should have held her immobile.

  Artu gaped when she stood her ground and pointed at him. “We’re going to have to talk about your taste in friends, sweetheart.” She frowned up at him. “Because, so far from what I can see, they suck.”

  “Die, bitch!” Benton screamed again. “I will not let you steal our defender.”

  The entire crowd gaped at Lena as she slowly made her way toward Benton. Step after deliberate step, she grew closer to the man who would have gladly ended her life.

  “Stop staring at me,” she grumbled at no one in particular. “You’ll give me a complex or something.”

  “We cannot help the staring, miss,” one of the bystanders said. “We have never before seen a female defender.”

  “Female defender?” Lena stopped and turned back to Artu. “What’s he talking about?” she asked as she jerked her thumb in the man’s direction.

  “You have lived through two sonic blasts, Lena.” Artu did his best not to gape at her. “Most people have holes in their chests when hit with one. And,” he paused to gesture to her hands. “You have broken the restraints.”

  He refrained from touching her between her breasts where she sported the dark-ringed hole in her blouse. He didn’t want to draw attention to her perfect body, lest she found him lacking and chose another. He wasn’t stupid.

  “So?” She shrugged. “Maybe my body chemistry is different. Maybe I have more strength on this world.”

  “Or, perhaps you are a defender, as well.”

  “She’s a trespassing bitch! She will steal our defender away. She will make him weak and useless. Kill her!”

  Artu growled at Benton. “I thought you were my friend.” He strode over to the man he once confided in and picked him up by the neck. “Instead, you were my worst enemy. Did you know that living alone for so long causes a defender to succumb to madness? Did you care?”

  Benton’s only reply was an inarticulate gurgle. Reaching up, he grasped Artu’s hands, trying to pull them free of his neck.

  Lena rested her hand on his arm, just above his wrist. Her touch soothed him, caused him to relax though he wanted nothing more than to rip Benton’s head off. It was only one more sign that told him he had been living too close to the edge for too long.

  “It doesn’t matter, Artu. He doesn’t matter. I’m here for you now.”

  “Thanks to the Fates.”

  Artu pulled Benton closer. “Defenders eventually grow weary of life, Benton. Imagine living alone, one lifetime after another. The isolation takes its toll on a man.”

  Opening his hand, Artu dropped Benton. The other man bent over, gasping for breath.

  “Now, imagine if that man could fall in love, breed even. How many more defenders might the
world have then?”

  Artu smiled grimly at Benton’s wide-eyed stare. “Yes, you incredible waste of space, I can breed, but only with the one who is my soul mate, and you would have killed her more than once today.”

  “I was trying to protect you from the machinations of greedy women, women who would use your position, your power, for their own gain.”

  “No, Benton,” Artu said with a slow shake of his head. His heart broke as he realized the only person using him for their own gain had been Benton all along. “You were trying to protect yourself. In your mind, you thought you would no longer have a protector.” Artu snorted. “Who did you think would stand in defense of this world when I went mad with loneliness?” Wrapping his arm around Lena, Artu drew her close. “She is my destiny. The Fates have decreed it such. Who are you to decide otherwise?”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Lena watched the exchange between the two men who had once been friends. She wanted to cry for Artu who had once believed Benton wanted nothing but his friendship. She was sure it was a bitter pill to take, but he did so with dignity.

  She had to admire the way he stood so tall and proud, though she knew his heart must be breaking. He looked so regal, so in control of his emotions, but she could tell his mind was in turmoil. She didn’t know how she knew, she just did.

  Then, there was what he and the other man said. “You still haven’t explained this two-defender business.” She glanced up at Artu, hoping he would shed some light on the situation. She had a suspicion, but she knew what she thought couldn’t possibly be what they meant.

  “It would appear, my love, that you have the power of a defender.” Artu glanced at the crowd of men surrounding them. “If you don’t mind, I would like to talk with Lena alone.”

  “No!” Benton cried. “He will leave with her. The longer they are together, the weaker he will get.”