Dating Outside Your DNA (19 page)

He thought he couldn't feel lower than he had a few minutes ago. Man, had he been wrong. He drew in a ragged breath.

That night they ate in silence. He noticed Lyraka didn't eat  much at all. She spent most of the time moving the food around on  her plate. She finally stood, dropping her white linen napkin on the

table. When she brushed past his chair, he spoke.

"You'll be joining the others tomorrow."

She stopped immediately, and faced him. "What do you mean?  Am I being kicked out?"

"No. It's not like that all. Joe wants you to train with the others."

Silence.

"And you?"

"I'll still train you, except now it'll be with the group. There'll  probably be other instructors as well. Joe wants to...step up your  training."

"Why?"

He stood, tossing his napkin on the table. "Because there's  been some activity. Because  he may need your skills to quell an  uprising." He closed the distance that separated them. "Go home,  Lyraka. Go back where it was boring and safe. You're not ready for  this."

"I've been ready all my life. This is what I was meant to do. I've

studied all the books. I faced the obstacle course, and I bet I'm as

good at it as any other agent."

"There's more to it than that."

She raised an eyebrow. "You mean the trust thing?"

"That's part of it."

"Or were you trying to run me off and using trust as an issu e?"

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When he didn't say anything, her eyes widened. "That's it, isn't it?

You haven't wanted me here from the start."

"Of course that's not it." But he knew that was part of it. He  sighed. "People get killed."

"Death is a part of living. Sometimes you have to take chances  just to feel alive."

He placed his hands on her shoulders. "But I don't want you to  take that chance."

"It's not your choice to make." Her words were soft, but carried  a lot of weight.

He got lost in her eyes. "I'm sorry about today."

"I know."

There was a wealth of sadness in her eyes and he knew that he was the one who'd put it there. She had every right to hate him.

"I guess there's nothing left to be said." He dropped his hands from her shoulders and walked past her. "Be ready to leave at the usual time in the morning."

She reached her hand toward him, but he'd already left the room. Her steps were heavy as she walked from the dining room.

She started past the front door, but stopped at the last minute and walked toward it. She eased it open and slipped outside.

The air was chilly. A shiver swept over her, but she didn't stop, continuing toward the trees. She didn't breathe easier until she was deep inside the cover of branches and bark.

But she didn't feel the kind of peace that usually came. What was happening to her? She felt as though Roan had ripped her heart out, then squeezed the very life from it. If only her mother was here so that she could ask her what was happening.

Maybe her life would return to normal once she was  with others who pursued this career. Maybe then she would feel more in sync with herself. Maybe then she would stop feeling this incredible pain.

Maybe.

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Chapter 15

L
yraka had never been this nervous in her life. Not even the first time she'd had to go to the dentist and heard the drill in the background, not when Rick had first kissed her nor when Roan...

Okay, she was pretty nervous from the time she'd first laid eyes on Roan.

But she held her head high as she walked into the room. She counted  eight people. Everyone was standing except one man who had his nose buried inside a book in a back corner of the room. She recognized Roan, and Gavin, the guy from the firing range. He smiled and she relaxed a little.

Roan cleared his throat. "Lyraka will be joining the team," he told everyone.

Besides Gavin and Roan, there were four men and two women.  One of the women was a Nerakian, probably a warrior, she looked a lot like Kia--who was technically Lyraka's niece, except Kia was older.

The warrior glanced her way, then seemed to dismiss Lyraka.  She faced front, but then slowly brought her gaze back to Lyraka. The woman's eyes widened slightly. Their gazes locked. Lyraka raised her head and squared her shoulders. The woman nodded.

Okay, so the warrior suspected there was something different about Lyraka. No biggie. The Nerakian didn't know Lyraka's blood was mixed. Let the warrior wonder what made Lyraka different.

Lyraka turned her attention to the other female. Definitely earthling. She was petite and blond. Everything about her looked soft.  Blond hair, baby blue eyes. But when she met Lyraka's gaze, Lyraka

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noted the intelligence lurking in that one look. Lyraka had a feeling  there wasn't anything soft about her.

The men stared openly at Lyraka, as if they'd never seen a  woman. She met the gaze of one of them. He blushed before shoving  his thick glasses higher up the bridge of his nose, but she noticed he  didn't look away. The only man who didn't stare was the one who had  his nose stuck inside the book.

She tried not to let her nervousness show. Roan had already said they would introduce her skills when the time was right, but for now, she would just be one of the group. She didn't feel like one of the group. She felt like a bug under a microscope.

Th e team she was joining had been training for months, though not together. Roan said it might not be a good idea to mention she'd only been there for a short time. She could understand his reasoning, sort of. After all, they were there to keep Earth safe. They shouldn't mind doing whatever it took to make that happen. But she would keep silent.

"Everyone take a seat," Roan said.

There were no desks here. Only one long table. She moved to  the seat closest to the door and pulled the chair out. Nothing like a quick getaway. Gavin and Roan stood as everyone else took a seat.

Gavin looked at each of them. "You've each been handpicked  to work as a team. Some of you have already been working together  and some of you have been training longer than others."

"But n ow you're going to be taking it a step further," Roan said.  "Everything you do, you'll do as a unit. There's no room for mistakes."

"Introductions first," Gavin said. He nodded toward the blonde.  "Alesha Talbot. Graduated top in her class from Stanford. She's your  numbers person. If you need to know how long you'll have to get in  and get out before you're blown to hell, she's the person to go to."

Lyraka would not have expected that Alesha could add one

plus one. She looked like a piece of fluff. Lyraka h ad a feeling this  was one lady who better not be crossed. There was certainly more to  her than she'd first thought.

"Reeka, as some of you already know, is Nerakian. She's an

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expert on alien species...

"Johnny, you have a problem with being on a team with a  Nerakian?" Gavin asked. "If you have something against working with  any person on the team, then I'm sure we can fix that."

His implication was clear. They worked together or that person  would be dropped.

Johnny shook his head. "No, sir, of course not."

"That's what I thought." He looked at everyone else again. "Like  I said, you're a team. Each of you will hold the others' fate in your  hands. If you can't work together, then we don't need you."

Gavin looked at Roan, he nodded.

"Reeka is also a warrior and an expert in tactical maneuvers.

Next is Warren."

The man with his nose still stuck in a book looked up.

"Warren is one of the best demolition experts I've ever run across."

Warren shrugged. "I like to blow things up, what can I say?"

Everyone  laughed and the mood was lightened.

"Link is fondly known as the interrogator."

Link blushed. "I have a way with people."

"Johnny and Ray are the muscle of the group. If all else fails, they'll bulldoze their way through a brick wall with brute strength ."

All brawn and no brains?

No, they wouldn't be here if that's all they were. Lyraka had a feeling that even though they were built like muscle men, they were smart, too.

"And Lyraka," Roan said.

She met his gaze.

"Lyraka is an expert in counter maneuvers."

Link pushed his thick glasses higher on the bridge of his nose.  "What does that mean?"

"Exactly what I said." Roan quickly changed the subject, but  she knew by the way Link continued to watch her, that he was even  more curious.

Since when had she become an expert in counter maneuvers?

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She wasn't even sure she knew what that meant. But at least he

hadn't said she had no experience whatsoever.

She glanced at the others. Each one of them brought

something to the team. What right did she have to be  here? Because  she could run fast? Because she could blend in, literally? Suddenly  she felt as though she were a complete fake. Roan and Joe had been  right to begin training her one-on-one. If not for that, she wouldn't

have a clue what was going on.

Was that why Roan's tactics had been over the top? So that

she would learn faster? She had caught on pretty quickly. Except she  hadn't given him her complete trust. She'd failed that test.

"We're going to be doing some mock escape and rescue  procedures," Roan  said. "Most of you have already been through this  on paper, but nothing in the real world works exactly like it does in a  textbook and you have to be able to think and act fast without any  hesitation. And you have to be able to trust each man on your team. If  that trust is broken, it could cost the whole team their lives."

She refused to look at Roan. She knew exactly who he was  talking about.

"Relax and get to know each other today. Tomorrow, you'll have  your first mock mission."

Roan and Gavin left the room. Reeka came to her feet. "I'm a

warrior as the instructors said, and Nerakian."

"Yeah," Johnny said as he came to his feet and sauntered over  to stand near her. "The perfect planet, except there aren't any men.  All I want to know," he sneered, "is why the Nerakians killed off all the  men, but everyone likes sex so much it's almost like a frenzy when  you come to Earth."

Link stood. "I...uh...don't think this is what the instructors meant

when they said they wanted us to get to know each other." He looked  around the room at each person. "I've probably been around longer  than anyone here because they've used me mainly on Earth, but I  know whole teams haven't gotten any further than right where we are  now because they couldn't work together." He looked pointedly at  Johnny.

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Johnny looked as though he might say something, then changed his mind and shrugged. "I wasn't being serious."

"I'm hungry," Ray said. He hadn't said much up until now, but he effectively diffused a tense moment.

Warren came to his feet, finally closing the book he'd been reading. "Ray, you're always hungry. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a time when you weren't."

Ray grinned and socked Warren on the arm which almost sent the smaller man halfway across the room. "If you'd eat more, then you might be able to put some muscle on that skinny frame."

Actually, from what Lyraka could see, Warren wasn't skinny and had his share of muscle. It was just that Ray looked as if he probably spent a lot of time in the gym working out.

Ray and Warren seemed nice enough. She was pretty sure  Johnny would never be a favorite with her. She wasn't as sure about the women and Link. She'd reserve her judgment until after she'd been around them a little longer.

"There's a snack bar down the hall," Ray said. "Since we were ordered to get to know each other, we might as well do it over a soda and a candy bar."

"Sure, why not."

"Chocolate?" Reeka said.

Johnny cast a disparaging look at Reeka. "Why do I get the feeling that you would sell your soul to  the devil for a bar of chocolate?" He sauntered past her and out the door.

Reeka glared at him.

"Hey, don't worry about him," Ray said. "Hell, I might sell
 
my
soul to the devil if it was Godiva." Everyone laughed and another tense moment passed.

Roan had talked about trust, and how a team couldn't survive without it, but she had no idea how she was ever going to be able to put her trust in Johnny. She didn't like him. He might be good at what he did, but he was in need of an attitude adjustment.