Chrystal Bones (Finding Home Book 1) (19 page)

“I wonder how the Janitor knew them?” It hit her like a brick and things that hadn’t made sense suddenly made perfect sense. “He wasn’t a janitor. That was his cover. He was there to save me. No wonder he was determined to get me out no mater what. That was his job.”

She understood that. She and Riley had saved dozens of children. She could have died any number of times with no regrets. That didn’t take away from what he had done for her but she had always wondered why he took the risk.

“He was human not a Merrot, I know that. When I go back I want to contact them and find out who he was.”

Knowing she had been a job didn’t change her mind. He was still her hero. The only one she had ever had. Then another thought hit her.

“If Mermaids are real what about other races like Shifters or Vampires?”

“I imagine that a lot of Earth Legends are based on truth. We picked up on several species that have made Earth their home when we scanned the planet. Most of them have been there for hundreds if not thousands of years,” Jayden said.

Blue had never given it much thought but with all the stories of UFO’s and Aliens she should have. Oh, she knew she wasn’t the first alien captured but she had thought she was the only one alive. It had never occurred to her that there were others out there living their lives.

When she went back to see Riley she would find them and take any that wanted to leave back to their home planets.

When she said as much to Jayden, he said, “There is no way to tell when the anomaly will open or close. You could spend years waiting.”

“No. When I was with them they told me how to call them. I can travel back and forth whenever I want.”

It was Jayden’s turn to give her an incredulous look. “You forgot to mention that little fact,” he said a little acidly.

“Sorry,” she said unapologetic.

He shook his head. She was definitely going to keep him on his toes.

They spent the next hour with Blue grilling him on the different alien species on Earth. Jayden finally put a stop to it by taking her in his arms and doing what his body had been aching to do since the first time he had kissed her.

What was meant to be a light gentle kiss turned into a soul searing kiss that quickly grew out of control. Blue couldn’t think of anything but him. Being in his arms was the best feeling she had ever had. She felt the excitement build and for right now, gave herself permission to enjoy this. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

Jayden pulled her closer and deepened the kiss. His tongue swept in to explore every inch of her mouth and when she tentatively explored his in return, he growled low in his throat. That growl had her shivering and her knees weakened. He lowered her to the ground never breaking contact. Lightning bolts were shooting through her so fast she couldn’t catch her breath. She felt a desperation to touch and taste him.

He broke off kissing her mouth to trail his lips down her throat. Kissing and tasting her with little bites and nips then soothing them with his tongue. Her top got in his way so he pulled it up and over her head in one smooth motion. Blue thought she had died and gone to heaven.
This
, she thought,
this is what all the fuss is about
. Now she understood.

She would take this night and all it offered with no regrets. She felt his hand unbutton her jeans and when he tugged them down she lifted to make it easier for him to remove them. When she was naked Jayden devoured her with his eyes before looking into hers. Silently asking if this was what she wanted. In response she pulled his shirt off and her hands went to the fastening of his pants. He brushed her hands away and stripped them off without ever taking his eyes from hers.

There were no more thoughts, just the most wondrous feelings as they touched and tasted each other. A tangle of arms and legs moving in an age old dance. Giving and taking pleasure from each other. He was hard and hot and his muscles quivered when he joined his body to hers in the most intimate way. Blue felt complete. She was made for this man. To be his for this night.

She heard Jayden’s deep growl of triumph and unconsciously opened her mind to his. His pleasure became hers and hers became his. Together they flew through a storm of pleasure before slowly coming back to themselves.

When their breathing was normal and their hearts no longer threatened to explode Jayden demanded, “Again,” claiming her mouth in a crushing kiss. Desperate to have more of her.

Twice more during the night they came together. It did not matter how many times he made love to her Jayden could not get enough. She held nothing back. Giving herself to him fully and taking what she wanted. She was no meek partner despite her inexperience.

He had sex before and this was not sex. It was so much more. Not even with the woman who was to be his bond mate before she had betrayed him did he feel anything like this. He was consumed by her and now that he knew what making love with her felt like he would never get enough of her. They were just going to have to make this work. She belonged to Shillidon and he had no choice but to go back to Haldairia. They would have to find some way to do both. It would not be easy but they would do it.

He looked at the sleeping woman in his arms, yes they would make it work. All he had to do now was convince this stubborn, hard assed woman that they belonged together forever. Shalla knew, that was not going to be an easy task. He looked forward to the coming battle to win her heart.

Chrystal Bones Billie Jo Hanlin

Chapter 19

Blue woke instantly alert. There was no confusion about who’s arms held her. She remembered every kiss, every touch, every wonderful moment from the night before. There was no virginal shyness just a hope that they could do it again soon. If she had known what a great stress reliever sex was she would have tried it sooner. Well, no she wouldn’t have.

She was fairly certain that Jayden was the only man who could send her into orbit like that. No one she had ever met had even come close to making her feel the things that Jayden did. When she made to rise his arms tightened, holding her in place. His eyes were still closed but she knew he was awake.

“Time to rise and shine for another fun filled day of hiking through the rain,” she said.

“Not yet,” he said in a voice heavy with contentment.

She relaxed back in his arms.
This is nice,
she thought laying her head on his chest listening to his heart beat.

She was on the verge of drifting off to sleep again when Leo bounded in and over to her. He gave a shake spraying her and Jayden with water. Sputtering Blue sat up.

Laughing she grabbed him by the neck when he gave her a gentle push with his big head. She gave him a good scratching behind his ears. He squirmed his big body between her and Jayden. He laid down and rolled to his back. When the cat looked Jayden in the eye Jayden would swear there was a gleam of satisfaction in them. Leo was showing him without words that he was still the number one male in Blue’s life.

“Point taken cat,” Jayden said then rose to his feet. As much as he wanted to stay in this cozy cave with Blue, it was time to go.

Jayden made coffee and heated up the rest of the meat from last night for breakfast while Blue washed up quickly in the pool. She packed up what little they had used when Jayden took his turn washing up. Before she was ready it was time to go. She took one last look at what had become their cave and knew she would miss it. It had been a nice fantasy. Now it was back to reality.

Jayden put his arm around her and gave a squeeze and kissed the top of her head. It was a small gesture but it touched something deep inside her and she felt a crack appear in her armor. They made their way out of the tunnel back to the wet dreary world.

Several hours later they were overlooking the valley where the distress signal was coming from. There was a Dalor ship alright. Sitting right in the middle of the valley. An old rundown, falling apart, rust bucket of a ship. Looking through the magnifier on the headset she zoomed in on the ship.

“Are you sure that it’s space worthy? It doesn’t look like it could get off the ground let alone fly through space,” she said doubt evident in her voice. “Maybe the Ragillians have a ship hidden somewhere. We could take that one instead.”

“Do you see another ship?”

“Well no. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have one,” Blue insisted. Leo grumbled his agreement from his place at her side.

Jayden drew in a deep breath then said, “Look we can argue about the ship later. Right now can we just concentrate on finding the Ragillians waiting to kill us?”

“Fine. But I am not getting on that ship.”

She turned to look at the surrounding area. Even with the headset she didn’t see anyone so she opened her mind and scanned again.

Each mind she came in contact with appeared as a tiny light in her mind. Usually each individual mind had it’s own unique color but these minds were all the same. A sickly brownish yellow that felt slimy. Which was weird because minds didn’t normally have a feeling.

She counted thirty eight minds hidden in the trees and three in the ship. She felt no emotions at all. It was as if they were drones. Not a single one of those minds felt anything, at all.

“Are you sure they aren’t androids,” she asked Jayden.

“I’m sure, why?”

“Never mind. There are forty one of them. Most are hidden in the trees but three are in the ship.”

“How do you know that?” Jayden asked her.

She tapped her head in response. “Empath, remember. They may not feel anything but they still show up.”

“Right, forgot about that. Point them out to me.”

Blue started to then she had a better idea. She cocked her head, “How about I show you instead.”

“How?”

“If you open your mind to me I might be able to show you what I see. The problem is I might see things you don’t want me to and the same for you. I have only done this kind of thing with Riley so I’m not sure how it is going to work or if it even will work.” She waited for him to decide.

There were parts of himself that he would prefer to stay private but if this worked it would give him a better chance to get them both out of this alive. Forty one clones was more than he had expected. He needed all the advantages he could get. Blue felt his hesitation then his acceptance.

“I’m not going to be rooting around for your secrets. If this works I’m going to try to keep it to surface contact only so you can see what I see.”

Jayden ran his knuckles lightly down her cheek. “Princess as far as I’m concerned you can root all you want,” he said tenderly.

Blue felt her blood heat and it wasn’t from the hated title. She cleared her throat, “Right, well, umm.” She swallowed hard, “Riley and I lay on the floor.” She looked at the wet ground. “Probably not a good idea here.”
Quit dithering and just do it,
she told herself. Blue reached way up and placed her palms on the sides of his temple.

She concentrated on showing him the position of every Ragillian without reading anything from him. If there was one place in the universe a person should be guaranteed privacy in was in their own mind.

“I see them,” Jayden was amazed that this was working. Everywhere there was a Ragillian there was a light. He quickly memorized where they were. Blue let her hands drop. That was surprisingly easy. It had only taken a second to make the connection and send the images to him.

She didn’t have to be careful not to go too deep. She could have if she’d wanted. She also could have ripped his mind to shreds if she chose to. She learned that little fact courtesy of the information that was dumped into her by the new improved chrystal embedded in her throat.

The connection she had initiated hadn’t broken when she dropped her hands like she had expected it too. Looking within her own mind she saw a bright shinny golden thread leading from her mind to Jayden’s.

She poked at it. The thin thread gave under the pressure but didn’t break. She twisted it and pulled on it but it stayed in place. She was so busy poking and prodding that it took a minute for Jayden’s voice to break her concentration.

“Blue what are you doing? You are giving me a headache.”

“You can feel what I’m doing?”

“I feel you doing something.”

“Hummmm,” she decided to leave the golden thread alone for now. She would figure it out later. Back to the bad guys. The ones who were going to try to keep them from that ship. As far as she was concerned they could keep the Dalor ship but they also wanted her and Jayden dead.

She and Jayden discussed and discarded several plans before settling on the simplest. He would go in one direction and she would go in another. With luck they would meet in the middle and take the ship together. Jayden wasn’t happy about separating but it was the best way.

“Besides you are forgetting my personal shield,” she told him touching the ice blue chrystal at her throat.

“It is not going to stop them from shooting you, just touching you,” Jayden said tightly.

“I will just have to shoot them first. Jayden I’m not an amateur. I’m not going to go through this again with you. You do your part and I’ll do mine.” Blue turned away.

Before she could take two steps, Jayden grabbed her right arm and swung her back around to face him.

“What now?” she demanded jerking her arm from his grasp. In answer he put his hands around her small waist and lifted her up to eye level with him. He brought his lips to hers. It was a soft, light kiss and over almost before she could blink. Back on her feet she looked at him in confusion and when she asked again, “What?” it was in a gentler tone.

“You get one bruise, one scratch. If you even break a nail, I will spank your pretty little butt,” he told her in a hoarse whisper that sent shivers down her spine.

“Same goes big guy.”

They were each more worried about the other than themselves and each felt the other’s worry through the golden thread connecting them.

“Are we still connected?” he asked her.