HeroRising (4 page)

His lips tightened, but he begrudgingly nodded.

“Good. What’s your last name?”

His eyes widened. “What?”

Oh God. This was not a good start. “What is your last name?”

“I do not go by one.”

“But you must have one. I know people from Norway usually
have a last name, unless you’re Bjork, and I think she’s Swedish.”

“I—uh.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he looked to the walls,
tables, everywhere else but at her.

Was he seriously not going to tell her?

As she opened her mouth to tell him no way, he answered with
a softly spoken, “Llanos.”

“Excuse me?”

“My name is Bale…Llanos.”

“Is that with one
L
or two?” she asked, pulling up
the web browser on the phone.

“Two.”

Bale Llanos. Hmmm. Interesting. Especially the way the
syllables rolled around her tongue. Damn, why couldn’t he have a non-sexy last
name, like Smith or Steenburgen?

Good news, not a single thing came up in a web search with
his name. Not even anything close to his name. Bad news, not a single thing
came up in a web search with his name. So, the man knew how to keep a low
profile.

“Who is your employer?”

“Are you asking for their names?”

“No, their tax ID numbers. Of course their names, silly.”

He drew a deep breath and answered just as softly as he had
given his name. “Amaryllis Kilsgaard.”

“Is she someone famous?”

The corner of his mouth quirked up. “Back home, yes.”

Ping. A hit.

“She owns a restaurant? Tutala? I’ve heard of that place.
That’s cool.” She scrolled past the listings of five-star reviews and went to
the photo gallery to check out his mysterious employer.

Figures. Of course he’d be hired to guard a beautiful woman
with long black hair, lavender eyes and more curves than the St. Louis Arch.
Hey, what was this?

“Who’s this guy?” She pointed to a photo of the woman with a
man standing next to her with a possessive arm around her shoulder. “He’s hot.”

Bale frowned. “That is her husband, Lucian.”

“Seriously?” Way to go, girlfriend. A successful restaurant
and surrounded by two incredibly gorgeous guys? The woman was doing something
right. “So, what kind of trouble does she get into in order to have you two
guys watching out for her?”

“None, because we watch out for her.”

Ari smiled and went back to look for more information.
“What’s The Cavern—”

“Will you come with me?” he interrupted in a rush. “I’m offering
a nice bed. Hot shower…”

Ooo, he had to play on her weaknesses.

“Only for the night. And if I think I’m being an
inconvenience for even one nanosecond, I’m outta there.”

“If you wish,” he said with a nod. “Are you ready to
depart?”

“Yeah, I just want to make one last trip to the restroom.”

“I will await you at the cycle.”

Damn, she was really falling for the way he spoke. It was
too cute. “Okay.”

She admired the fluid way he moved as he collected their
trash and walked out the door with a stride that said, “Yeah, I’m a man. Back
the fuck off.” A walk like that made a girl’s brain misfire and wonder if he
was as confident in all aspects of his life. At least, it made
her
wonder.

She let out her breath in a slow whistle and placed her hand
over her fluttering belly. It was hard to tell what made her more
nervous—staying the night with strangers or being plastered again to Bale’s
delicious backside.

Didn’t matter really. She was going to face both realities
soon enough.

Bale adjusted the fit of his leather gloves over his scarred
hands and asked himself for the thousandth time that hour just what the fuck he
was thinking. The moment they had stopped at the drive-thru, he should have
ushered the little human inside and been back on the road before the door
closed behind her.

So why hadn’t he?

The too-too pleasant ache in his cock was an obvious answer
but not the only one. The rest, well, he didn’t even want to contemplate. And
those reasons didn’t matter. Ari was just another of the many humans who had
needed his services, and she wasn’t going to be the last. Taking her the last
leg of the journey and seeing her to safety had nothing to do with wanting to
remain in her presence and everything to do with fulfilling his mission. That
was all.

Right. His dick twitched as Ari stepped out of the
restaurant and glided toward him on her impossibly long legs. Although he
towered over her by a good foot and a half, the female was all legs with gently
swelling hips, and breasts that weren’t too big but large enough to shimmy a
touch with each step.

Of course the heating of his blood would be easier to ignore
if he hadn’t sensed the answering flare of desire within Ari. For some reason
he couldn’t fathom, she liked what she saw when she looked upon him. She also
had a healthy dose of skepticism too, which he appreciated. When she had gazed
at him with that sultry stare and a soft pout on those full lips, he had almost
forgotten who he was and reached out to feel the texture of her cheek before he
woke from her spell.

And that hair. In all his days he had never seen anything so
glorious. On his home planet of Skandavia, everyone was light skinned and dark
of hair. Well, almost everyone. Princess Amaryllis with her straight silver
locks had been a much-discussed anomaly among the citizenry. Now that she’d
been mated and marked by her husband, she resembled the people she once had
been destined to rule.

Ari’s deep-red mane was something special and another wonder
he had beheld since arriving on this mysterious planet called Earth. The thick
strands had dried into a soft tumble of rich maroon, the shade reminding him of
the
darhan
flowers that grew in the forest of his origins. The splash of
red against the gray-green foliage had always fascinated him with its elegant
beauty and delicate petals. Much as Ari had when he had ridden upon her attack,
only she was no fragile flower.

His empathic powers had picked up on her terror from a mile
away, but it was her courage at facing her attackers that had flashed like a
bolt of lightning, directing him to her location.

His two hearts kicked as he recalled the sight of Ari
running with the wet strands of hair blowing around her shoulders like a flag
during battle. The fear in her eyes made him wonder if his Natalia had had the
same wild look when she had fallen to her killers.

“Bale, are you all right?”

Ari’s softly spoken question and her compassion pierced
through the haze of horror and regret that clouded his vision every time he
thought of his wife. “What?”

The human stood poised on the edge of the sidewalk with her
hands wrapped tightly around the strap of her bag and her big blue eyes wide
with concern. She might not have his power of empathy, but obviously she was
picking up on some of his volatile emotions. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes.” He smiled. Or at least, he tried to force a semblance
of a friendly expression. “For a moment I had a horrible vision of what could
have been if I had not arrived to assist you when I did.”

She shivered with a frown. “Well let’s not think about that.
You were there and it’s all in the past now. What good does it do to dwell upon
what might have been?”

“What good indeed. Maybe it’s to remind me of why I do what
I do.”

“Oh.” She clasped her hands in front of her and fell silent.

“Ready to depart?”

“If you are.”

He handed her the helmet and watched as her slim fingers and
delicate wrist manipulated the strap. So feminine was this little human. So
completely opposite from his own brutish ways. To have killed those two
bastards who dared to harm her would have taken zero effort on his part. Only
her presence had stayed his hand. She didn’t need to be a witness to the
ugliness he was capable of imparting with a speed faster than one could blink.

Or his hungers.

He clenched his teeth against the wave of desire that lapped
up his spine as she settled into place along his back. The respectful clutch
she had around his waist was its own sensual torture. One inch lower and her
hand would brush the pulsating head of his cock, which seemed to want to crawl
out from under the constricting waistband of his jeans. The sensation
intensified as the insides of her thighs pressed against his hips as he steered
onto the highway.
Jesu
, if he kept thinking of the heat of her skin, he
was going to drive them right into a ditch.

Laying on the throttle, he concentrated on the next bend in
the road, then the one after that and the one after that. As mile after mile
passed, he was able to focus less on Ari, barely, and began to formulate what
he was going to say when he arrived on Lucian and Amaryllis’ doorstep.

He had no doubt they would welcome Ari into their home. His
princess was always willing to help those who had a need, whether they wanted
her assistance or not. The difficulty was going to be explaining why he brought
Ari at all. His status was lone ranger. Lone. Always. Never in anyone’s company
longer than it took to lend his sword or when stopping to pay his respect to
the princess and his former commander. Ari’s presence was going to raise a lot
of questions that he had no clue how or desire to answer.

When the effervescent lights of the city bloomed over the
horizon, Bale pushed aside the senseless concern and focused on seeing his
charge to the end of their journey. Ari had not made a sound the entire last
leg, but he felt the drugging pull of her exhaustion. The stiffness with which
she had held on to him earlier had long ago melted until she draped his back
like a cloak. He’d wager she’d deny her sleepiness, if he asked, which was one
more thing about her to admire, and again he wondered what she was doing
traveling all this way on her own.

A riddle he would never solve. Once she was entrenched in
Amaryllis’ good graces, he’d be off. Humankind could not be saved if he spent
all his days on social visits.

“We’re almost there,” he shouted over the sound of the
engine. “Are you still with me?”

The helmet rubbed against his spine as she nodded and her
arms tightened around his waist. For half a second, he enjoyed the pressure of
her touch. But only for half a second.

Their destination was located a few blocks north of the
waterfront and the beautiful bay and on the outskirts of the busy downtown
corridor with its row after row of skyscraping office buildings. In the middle
of all that steel and glass lay an acre of park with flowering cherry blossoms,
picnic tables and a velvet lawn that was perfect for a lunchtime getaway.

Bale turned into the driveway of a five-story building that
opened directly across the street from the bubbling fountain that marked the
entrance to the park and stopped at the gate. Careful to avoid brushing the
soft skin of Ari’s thighs, he withdrew a card from his back pocket and held it
over the sensor. The gate rose inch by screechy inch, and with each second Ari
tensed behind him, her nerves reaching across the air to tighten around his
neck.

Despite the warning from his brain, he reached down and
patted her fingers clenched around his belt. He kept his hand over hers as he
drove into the garage and parked the cycle in the shadows near the elevator.

“Where are we?” Ari asked after stripping off the helmet.

“Our destination.”

“Ha ha. You’re telling me your boss lives in an office
building?”

“My employer lives in a former office building. The upper
floors are living quarters.”

She adjusted the strap of her bag to lie flat across her
torso and glanced around the garage. He noticed she took particular interest in
the more expensive automobiles parked close by with a little touch of her envy
tickling his gut. “What about the lower floors?”

“There are some businesses that rent out the lower floors.
Keycard access is needed to enter most of the building. Stay by me or in the
main part of the house for now, otherwise you may become trapped until
morning.”

“I have no need to snoop around.” She arched her brow. “Or
do I?”

“No. No need. Trust me.”

She shrugged then turned to lead the way to the elevator.

Why was having her trust so important to him? Why did the
need to see the tension ease from her shoulders and a genuine smile curve her
lips drive him to distraction? She was by his side, following his direction.
That should have been enough. But as long as there was that invisible wall
between them, he found it impossible to leave well enough alone.

The ride up to the fourth floor was silent except for the
soft tap of her fingernail on the bottom button of her jacket. Again he felt
the urge to reach out to grasp her hand in a gesture of reassurance, but he
kept his fists at his sides. To feel the warmth of her palm against his would
only make him wonder if she was as warm all over. A curiosity best left
unfilled. Fortunately for him, the trip was short and the doors slid open with
a hush to reveal a welcoming cream-on-cream decorated sitting area. The
monotony of the pale walls and upholstery was broken up with splashes of orange
and red in the paintings and pillows.

“Nice,” Ari murmured and glanced around with an eye that
seemed to capture every detail of her surroundings.

He stopped at the double doors and raised his hand to press
the Call button only to pause a millimeter from the lighted, pearl-colored
circle. His hand trembled and throat closed up as an unnamed terror raised the
hairs on the back of his neck. Deep in his psyche was a certainty as strong as
the sun’s pull on the Earth that once he pressed that button, his world was
going to change forever. How, he hadn’t a clue, but the feeling electrified all
his senses to the point he swore he could hear the flutter of Ari’s eyelashes.

“Bale?” Ari questioned softly. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” He swallowed hard and pressed the button.

On the other side of the door, the chime resonated in his
chest as if he were standing under the curve of one of the bells of Notre Dame
as they chimed in warning.

Heavy footfalls that sounded with the gait of a man who was
used to being in charge crossed to the door, snapping Bale’s spine straight.
After all these years away from the guard, including the many years he had
spent cursing Lucian’s name, the reflexive need to snap to attention at the
arrival of his general still took command of his body.

The left half of the door opened and Bale sensed Ari tensing
beside him.

“
Brovaro
, it’s been too long,” Lucian greeted and
gripped Bale by the forearm in a warrior’s bow.

Bale nodded, swallowing past the lump in his throat at
Lucian’s greeting of brother. The title wasn’t deserved, at least as far as
Bale was concerned. One should not forgive so easily when their lives had been
threatened, especially for the one who had done the threatening. But then
Lucian and his mate were not ordinary people, rather they were extraordinary.

Lucian’s gentle smile and kind eyes spoke of his knowledge
of Bale’s internal struggle, but he was benevolent enough not to mention it.
His lavender gaze switched to Ari and his brow rose with surprise. His mouth
opened then shut as he looked back and forth between them before he said with a
lift of his finger, “I shall wait until Amaryllis comes down, that way you will
only have to tell the tale once. Please, come in.”

“Thank you, sire.” Bale motioned for Ari to precede him into
the foyer.

“Sire?” she mouthed when she caught his attention behind
Lucian’s wide back.

He nodded once with absolute seriousness. Although they were
no longer on Skandavia and he had once shunned his title as a
Llanos
warrior, he continued to honor his former vows and respected the old ways with
the utmost conviction. It was the least he could offer in the wake of the
graciousness and forgiveness bestowed on him by his betters. No matter how many
times they told him his formality was not necessary, he refused to forgo the
promise he made to himself to atone for his indiscretions.

If he ever needed a reminder as to the differences in their
stations, he only had to step into the confines of the Kilsgaards’ home. Gone
were the white-and-silver color schemes of their home planet and in their place
Amaryllis had created a showpiece of warm, creamy tile and bright-orange and
red furnishings. Their home was pristine, but welcoming at the same time. Well,
welcoming unless you were him. The genuine happiness that bombarded his senses
when he walked through the doors made him achingly aware of his solitary
existence and the dirt stains on his clothes and hands. The light and comfort were
a stark reminder that he didn’t belong, and no amount of Amaryllis’ insistence
would ever change that.

“Come warm yourselves by the fire.” Lucian gestured to the
two armchairs closest to the hearth. “You two look as if you were caught in the
rain. Still riding the motorcycle, Bale?”

“Best way to travel,” he replied.

“Balellanos,” came the squeal from the entry to the living
room.

A combination of guilt, gratitude and awe snaked through his
gut every time he saw his princess. As Amaryllis bounded across the plush cream
carpet with her dark hair flying about her smiling face, Bale wanted to take a
step back and forbid her from sharing any of her kindness. He wasn’t worthy of
her care, but he knew to refuse her would cut her just as sure as a blade.