Taming the Fire (31 page)

She hadn't felt comfortable going to the cafeteria for meals, so Neema had brought them to her. This morning, she'd eaten enough extra-rare steak, eggs and pancakes to feed a dozen people, and now it was nearly noon, and she was starving again.

Kira, who had arrived an hour ago, smiled when she heard Rik's stomach growl. “Maybe it's time for a break.”

Rik nodded. “I've been so hungry. First time I remember feeling this way.”

“I think it's because you finally feel comfortable.”

Rik's brow shot up. “I don't know about that…”

“Trust me. I haven't been able to get through completely to your other half, but I've sensed a huge change in her since you first arrived.”

“How long is it going to take before I have complete control, do you think?”

Kira sighed. “I don't know. You've both been terribly abused. Your wolf is so angry. The abuse turned her vicious, and it could take some time for her to get over her hatred and fear of humans. Men, in particular.”

And wasn't that the truth. Kira had come with her husband, but he'd had to stay outside the door, because the beast would not calm down with him in the room. Only Trance didn't agitate the beast now that the collar had been removed. Oh, it was still wary, but then, so was Rik.

“Kira?” She nibbled her lip, trying to decide whether or not she should risk asking the question she was afraid to have answered.

“Yes?”

Oh, screw it
. “Trance said he would come back to see me. But…”

“He's either coming back to see you because he wants to, or because you're a job, right?”

“I'm that transparent?”

“I had a similar issue.” Kira's gaze cut briefly to the door, where Ender's partial reflection shone in the glass. “Obviously, it worked out. Now I can't get rid of him.”

Her tone was teasing, with an underlying affection that made Rik's heart beat a little faster. Those two were obviously dedicated to each other in a way Rik had been afraid to believe existed. Because if it existed, what were the chances that she could find the same?

“You are in heat.” Rik sighed.

Kira blinked. “How did you know?”

“The wolf knows.”

“Oh.” Kira shifted in her seat. “Well, the truth is that I'm on vacation because I have, ah… special needs every four hours. And men go a little insane around me during this time. Which is why Tommy is here. He won't let me be alone without him right now.” She glanced at her watch. “In fact, we'd better get going. But you should know that Trance was officially off the job the moment the collar came off. Anything else he does with you is on personal time.”

A silly little shiver of pleasure broke over Ulrika's body at the thought, and she began to tremble in anticipation of seeing him.

The beast didn't exactly wag its tail, but it didn't growl either.

Maybe, finally, things were looking up.

R
YAN HADN'T LOOKED
back. Not once. And Meg had watched him walk the entire length of the hallway that led away from her room.

God, she was completely, utterly humiliated. He hadn't even wanted her to touch him.

She'd been kidding herself all those years ago and she'd done it to herself again. He had to give her an orgasm to get her off of him. And now she was stuck here at ACRO, and no one would give her any answers about what she was supposed to be doing and when—and if—she could leave.

You should've learned from what happened to Mary
. She'd promised herself that she'd never get taken in so badly by a man, the way her sister had. Mary had died all alone because she'd trusted the wrong man, and the thought of that made Meg's insides churn.

“I told you that you were headed for trouble.”

The voice came from behind her, and she recognized the slow, easy drawl of her brother even before she turned around.

“Mose!” Meg ran toward him—her brother had entered her room behind a really tall, dark-haired man, who he introduced to her as Wyatt before she flung herself into his arms. Mose accepted her hug easily, even though he muttered something about good thing she was alive or he would have to kill her for getting into this much trouble.

“Did that Ryan guy hurt you?” Mose demanded. Meg looked between him and Wyatt, who already seemed a bit wired—she felt like all she had to do was nod yes and they'd both hunt Ryan down like a rabid street dog. And though she was still angry at Ryan for involving her, she was even more angry at herself for going with him in the first place. For stealing his money years ago.

For not doing more with her life before this.

“Ryan didn't hurt me,” she lied. Actually, it wasn't a total lie, because she was far beyond hurt—she was pretty close to devastated, but she'd be damned if she'd admit that in front of Mose and another ACRO agent.

Ryan was no doubt reacquainting himself with his old life, and maybe with some of the women from those videos, and not thinking about her at all.

“It's great to finally meet you—ML always talks about you. I'll leave you two alone, unless you need my help,” Wyatt said, but Mose waved him off.

“I've got this, brother. But thanks.”

“I can't believe you know these people.” She rubbed her bare arms and then reached for the sweater Marlena had lent her—tall, beautiful Marlena, who if she hadn't been so nice would've made Meg feel like a total schlump.

She pulled the long, cream-colored cardigan on and tied it at the waist.

“These people saved your ass, Meg.”

“That remains to be seen,” she muttered. “What's Wyatt talking about, you needing his help? What are you about to try to talk me into?”

“ACRO—Devlin O'Malley, to be specific—wants you to stay on here.”

“Stay here? And do what?”

Mose shrugged. “You've got talents—ACRO could use your computer skills. And then I wouldn't have to worry about you running all around the world.”

“What about Interpol?”

“ACRO will take care of that for you, should you decide to join them.”

“They have that much power?” She rubbed her hand along the smudged table, her fingers itching as if they missed her usual constant contact with the keyboard of a computer.

“They do.”

“I don't know, Mose… Staying here, it's like being back with Mom and Dad. I don't think I want to be part of a group,” she lied, because there was nothing more she wanted to do than stay here and be close to Ryan. But he'd made his choice—it was time for her to make hers, to move on. She'd done her penance, helped him to get his memory back. They were even.

“Then you're coming home with me.”

“You can't give me an ultimatum like that.”

“Christ, Meg, now's not the time to be stubborn.”

“That's just it, I don't know what it's time for.”

“You mean you don't just want to sit around and be a beach bunny?” he teased, and then grew serious again. “You're sure this Ryan guy didn't hurt you?”

She shook her head, refusing to admit how utterly stupid she'd been. “He didn't hurt me. I hurt myself.”

T
RANCE WALKED UP
to the half-opened door of Rik's room—her back was to him as she leaned over her bed, fluffing the pillows and pulling the covers taut. He cleared his throat, and she turned.

“Hey” was all he could say.

“Hey yourself.” Rik's voice was soft, but she looked stronger, more in control than she had the other night when he'd brought her into the training quarters and reluctantly left her.

Since then, he'd been attempting to train, to prepare for whatever jobs might come his way, all the while trying not to think about Rik every five seconds.

It didn't work, which was why he found himself in her room, holding a fucking picnic basket.

“Women like picnics—she'll think it's romantic,” Kira had told him when she pressed the basket into his hands earlier. Ender had laughed so hard, finally Trance had to punch him, and the men ended up rolling around fighting until Kira threatened to turn the hose on them.

“I thought maybe you'd want to take a walk with me. The lake's beautiful this time of year… and I've got food,” he said. He held tight to the picnic basket and waited, feeling like an idiot until Rik nodded.

“That sounds nice. I'd like to get out of here, get some fresh air.” She paused. “Are you sure it's okay—do I have permission?”

“You're fine, Rik. You're free to go anywhere around the ACRO premises as long as someone's with you—and that's only temporary and for your own safety. After a while, you won't need anyone.” Even as the words dropped from his mouth, he felt the tug at his gut and wondered if that would really be true—if she wouldn't need or want him now that her collar was off and she had freedom to be with anyone she wanted.

He refused to think about that further; instead, he opened the door and let her pass, and together they walked the half a mile to the lake, as Trance pointed out various buildings to her and explained their functions.

Once they got to the lakeshore, Trance spread out the blanket and Rik settled herself in, the questions began, like he'd known they would. He'd prepared himself, as he'd never much liked talking about his past, but if this had a chance of going anywhere, he'd have to spill.

Rik sat Indian style, rubbed her hands over her knees. “How much of your background—what you told me—was true? I mean, the cop thing?”

“I was an MP, so the cop thing was pretty close.” He passed her a sandwich. “I don't know what it is—Kira made it, so it's probably vegetarian.”

“This was Kira's idea?”

“The idea was mine. She just lent the necessary hand so the food would actually be edible. I'm not the best cook.”

Rik chewed slowly and then, “These are just sandwiches.”

“You'd be surprised how helpless I can be in a kitchen. Although I'm good to have around if you've got a tough can to open.”

She laughed and continued to eat her sandwich as he laid out the fruit and cheese and crackers that Kira had packed thoughtfully, and yes, much better than he would've done. His first choice would've been a restaurant, but, as Kira had pointed out, Rik wasn't ready for real-world encounters just yet, and the ACRO caf wasn't a place Trance was taking this date.

“It's so beautiful here.” Rik was gazing across the lake, which was like glass. “I haven't had a chance to look around much—I'll have to remember this is here.”

“There are hiking trails too, just beyond the bend over there.”

She turned back to him, her face serious. All business. “Have you brought other women here?”

He really,
really
liked the fact that she was jealous, but he wouldn't point that out to her. Not now anyway. “No. Never. I don't date much, especially since starting with ACRO. Before that, well, the military makes it really easy to fool around and real hard to settle down. And then there was the whole excedo issue.”

“You didn't know what you were until you came here?”

He shook his head. Man, he didn't like remembering those days. “I knew something was up, but no, until those men—the Convincers—came to find me, I had no clue that I wasn't alone. That a place like this existed. That I could do some major good for the world.”

“You were my Convincer, then.”

“Yeah, well, there weren't many men here who would've been able to handle you.”

“So they sent out the resident Dom to come fetch me.”

“I'm not a Dom anymore.” He lay on his back in the cool grass, let his eyes drift up toward the puffed clouds that lingered across the sun. “In my military days, that's when I did most of my Domming. Once I got to ACRO, and I understood everything, I pretty much gave it up.”

“Why?”

“Once I knew for sure that there most likely wasn't a woman who could actually handle my strength, I figured why bother?”

“Aren't there other excedos?”

“Males. And we both know I'm not swinging that way. If I did, my life would've been a hell of a lot easier in some ways.”

By now, she'd eaten several of the sandwiches. It was nice to see her appetite coming back to life. But it didn't stop her questions. “What about your parents?”

“My dad was an excedo. Or I'm guessing he was. My mom was normal, and excedo isn't exactly a recessive gene.”

“You didn't know him?”

“He left my mom when he found out she was pregnant. Growing up without a dad pretty much sucked.” The painful memories flooded back to him far too easily. No matter how hard he tried to push down the feelings of utter desertion by the man who'd made Trance into what he was, they always came back. “Sorry, I didn't mean to get heavy.”

She put her hand on his arm. “You can talk about it. You should talk about it. It must've been confusing for you, the not knowing why you were so strong.”

“Yeah, it was.”

“You told me that you left your job because you hurt someone—was that true?” she asked hesitantly.

“No, it wasn't. Not once I got into the military anyway. I learned to control it. Had to, for survival.”

“Did your mom help?”

“Not really. She was too young, got addicted to drugs. After she died, I bounced around a lot as a kid, looking for a place to fit in.”