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Asher tried not to judge Reginald for screwing things up yet again with his daughter, except Asher’s instinctive need to protect Marissa only colored his opinion of the man that little bit darker.
Oh, he didn’t doubt for one minute that Reginald loved Marissa. But the older man seemed so set in his ways he couldn’t see outside the straight and narrow, couldn’t undo the hurt he’d already caused.
Marissa craved love and kindness from her father, even a blind man could see that. But all she got was fumbling attempts of reassurance and a father who was too emotionally withdrawn from his offspring to know how to share his affection.
Amanda stepped forward. “At least stay for dinner.” She smiled at Marissa, her eyes warmer. “You’ve come all this way, don’t leave again so soon. Please. I’d feel responsible if your father never got the chance to speak to you after all this time.”
Marissa turned to Asher, and he gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m happy to stay if you are.”
She nodded, and turned back to Amanda. “Okay. But not for long, we’re ... in a hurry.”
Amanda’s smile widened and Tenille expelled a relieved breath. “Then I’d best make sure the chef is busy getting on with tonight’s dinner.”
“Thanks Tenille,” Reginald murmured, before he looked back at his daughter and Asher. “In the meantime, how about a drink upstairs on the veranda?”
Ten minutes later Asher sipped a whiskey on the first story veranda with its white-railed enclosure. A three-quarter moon peeked through heavy cloud along with a few pinpricks of stars. But otherwise the sky was ink-black.
He shivered. He assumed the Earth’s next full moon would see him involuntarily shift. He only hoped he was ready for it when or if it happened.
He blew out a slow breath. His brother, Kadin, might well be living on Earth somewhere, likely Australia if his preprogrammed craft made it here in one piece. Kadin could have filled him in on everything about this planet, including its full moon and the Earth breeders.
His brother could also tell him if he’d been the one who’d burned the PDA’s operative. Because it was more than possible the PDA had been after Kadin and he’d had to resort to his dragon defense.
He only hoped Kadin was still alive, still roaming free. Because more than anything he’d just love to see his brother again. He’d do anything just to hug him, to tell him he was sorry for not speaking up and defending him, and allowing him to be expelled from Riddich simply for befriending their enemy.
He exhaled softly. It was amazing how different his insight had been since stepping back and seeing things from a new viewpoint. Not that the hellish war had given him much option. He’d forgotten what it was to feel peace and happiness, even for just a little while. And now that he had it in his grasp he didn’t want to let it go.
“Are you okay?” Marissa asked beside him.
He managed a nod and a smile, but dared not look at her and give away his raw emotions. Instead his stare dipped to a sweeping lawn that disappeared into shadows untouched by the property’s many blazing lights. A breeze ruffled the fan-like leaves of what he recalled were palm trees and brought with it the scent of what he guessed was saltwater and something floral.
“Honeysuckle,” Marissa said with a smile as he inhaled deep. She pointed to a garden that was dappled with strategically placed lights. “From here you can also smell the frangipani; they’re the big creamy yellow flowers on the trees over there.”
“I have much to learn on this planet.”
She smiled. “I’ll help you.” She too inhaled before she added, “You can also always smell the harbor here, there’s nothing quite as soothing as a sea breeze.”
He nodded, touching the tendrils of her bright hair that’d escaped from her hairstyle, and that lifted and fell in the teasing breeze. His heart shuddered. He’d do anything for this woman. “I’m yet to smell anything as nice as your hair.”
She giggled, sounding as free as the sea breeze right then even as she tilted her head closer to this touch. “That’s my vanilla shampoo.” She blinked up at him. “Of course in this country everywhere you go you’ll probably always smell eucalyptus. It’s a very distinctive scent.”
He sucked in another breath, filling his lungs with her vanilla scent, which mingled sublimely with every other scent she’d identified. “I’m only glad I crashed landed here,” he said huskily, his chest aching as he stared at the visual of her beneath the lights. She was dazzling, a beacon to his senses.
“So am I,” she said softly, blinking up at him as though he was still the mighty king of his people. Not one of the last surviving species of his race.
Reginald stepped toward them, a drink in hand, and Asher took a mouthful of the amber liquid in his own glass. The whiskey burned its way down his throat, taking away the bitter taste left in his mouth. He’d lost so many of his people, women and children, and yet he still lived.
The older man stared at him. “So where are you from Asher? What do you do for a living?”
Asher frowned. Not because the other man was trying to gauge something more from him, not even because of the guilt he carried around. He instantly sensed Marissa’s discomfit, and he wanted only to see her smile again.
He focused on Reginald. “I believe I’ve already told you.”
Reginald barked out a harsh laugh. “Right. So you’re still going along with that story, then?”
Marissa stepped closer. “Perhaps you need to show him, Asher? Prove him wrong once and for all.”
“Show me what?” Reginald blustered, even as his new wife approached with a glass of wine in hand.
“Perhaps you’re right,” Asher murmured, brushing his fingertips under Marissa’s jawline before he closed his eyes. When his eyelids next flicked open, his vision was startlingly clear.
Amanda’s glass smashed onto the floor as she gaped at him, and Asher could easily have counted every single line grooved into her face and flaring out around her eyes. He didn’t need twenty-twenty vision to see the burst of shock in Reginald’s stare, or the flash of pride in Marissa’s.
His heart warmed and hope almost paralyzed him as the truth hit him. He’d do anything to continue to have Marissa admire and respect him. Even if that meant lying to her about knowing she was a breeder.
“So it is true,” Reginald said hoarsely. “You’re not from Earth.”
Asher’s stare returned to normal even as Amanda backed away and said in a shrill voice, “I ... I can’t be here right now,” before she spun around and clattered back inside on her high heels.
Reginald blew out a heavy breath. “Amanda will be fine. I’ll talk to her later.” He focused on Asher. “What I need to know now is who or what are you, and why are you here?”
Asher nodded, respecting the fact that Reginald was at least willing to listen and learn. He wasn’t completely dissimilar to his daughter. “I’m from a planet called Riddich, where my people and I lived in peace for many centuries ... until another alien race wanted what we had in abundance.”
“And what exactly do they want?” Reginald rasped.
Asher pushed back sharp loss and a much heavier weight of rage whenever he thought of his enemy and what they’d done. “My people have an energy within that enables us to become another creature ... a dragon.” He ignored the older man’s widening eyes. “It’s that same energy the Tantonics want for themselves, an energy they’ve learned to extract and harness.”
Marissa moved to Asher’s side, her stare capturing her father’s. “It’s the truth. I’ve seen them too.”
Reginald frowned, clearly not liking the direction the conversation was heading.
Asher didn’t blame him. “The Tantonics blew most of my people to kingdom come and captured and imprisoned the rest. Well, except for a small number of us who escaped to different planets. My craft crash landed here on Earth.”
Reginald sucked back the remainder of his drink before he asked, “Do these Tantonic aliens you speak of know where you are?”
He nodded. “I’ve been on the run from them since landing on Earth.”
Reginald drew in a sharp breath. “So you’ve dragged my daughter into this mess with you?”
“It’s not like that!” Marissa protested. “Asher tried to leave me behind. I had to practically beg him to change his mind.”
Reginald turned to Marissa with a shake of his head. “You’ve always brought home strays and wounded to look after and protect. Clearly nothing has changed.”
Her eyes flashed. ”Except Asher is a person just like you and me!”
“He’s a dragon!” Reginald roared. “That makes him an animal too!”
Asher held the other man’s gaze and said quietly, “What I am is a man who’d protect your daughter with my life.”
Reginald’s stare didn’t soften; instead something harder, more unyielding glinted in his eyes. “You couldn’t even save your own people, why would I believe you’d save my daughter’s life?”
“Dad! Stop!”
Asher felt a piece of him break apart inside. “It’s the truth, Marissa. It’s pointless to deny it.”
Reginald’s jaw tightened even before he turned to Marissa. “Stay here with us and let this ... alien, face the Tantonics alone. Please.”
Asher ignored the drowning sensation inside as he nodded at Marissa and said quietly, “You should do as he says. It will be safer for you, for us both.”
Hurt flashed in her stare. “Is that really what you want?”
“What I want is to never see you hurt and not be on the run for the rest of your life.”
She blinked. “And what about what I want?” she whispered. Before either he or Reginald could answer, she added, “Because I don’t want to spend the rest of my life regretting letting go of the one man on this planet who has made me feel alive again.”
Reginald seemed lost for words, and Asher wasn’t faring much better. He’d hoped she had feelings for him, but he’d never believed those feelings would run deeper than the breeder in her instinctively yearning for sex.
Not in a million years.
“I mean it, Asher,” she said. “You’re not doing this alone. Not anymore.”
Reginald’s stare glittered. “I can’t believe you’ve involved my daughter.” He inhaled sharply. “Will those Tantonics take Earth over next? Are we all in danger?”
Asher tried not to judge the man. Reginald clearly also wanted to protect his new wife, the same as Asher wanted to protect Marissa. “I don’t believe they will. There’s no energy here which they can harvest for themselves.”
Reginald visibly wilted about the same time Tenille’s sing-song voice cut through the charged silence. “Dinner’s ready in five minutes!” The completely oblivious housekeeper lifted her hand in a little wave before she spun away to return downstairs to the dining room.
Marissa touched Asher’s forearm, and his whole body sparked with electricity. Her eyes held his, serious and intent. “Let’s eat, and then we’ll leave. Together.”
Reginald’s face paled as he stared at his daughter. “Where will you go?”
She turned to him. “I’m not sure, but it’s probably best you don’t know anyway.”
Reginald’s voice cracked. “If you won’t stay, I’d at least like to help in any way I can. I don’t want to lose you again.”
Marissa stilled, indecision written all over her face. Then she nodded and said, “There is one thing you can do.”
Reginald nodded. “Of course. Anything.”
“We borrowed the car we drove here from a sweet lady in the country. Could you please return it along with something nice to thank her?”
“Done.”
She managed a smile, and then added, “And if you could find someone who’d lease my farm and look after my mare, Winnie, and my cattle, I’d really appreciate it.”
“Of course.” He smiled. “Is that all?”
She pressed her teeth into her bottom lip. “If we could borrow one of your cars that would be great too.”
“On one condition.”
She stiffened. “Yes?”
“You come back and visit me again really soon.”
All her tension visibly melted away as she looked at her father and said softly, “Agreed.”
Joy flooded Asher knowing that at least a little of Marissa’s emotional pain had been lifted. He only wished he could offer her a similar deal and that his own life wasn’t in such turmoil.
Yet the moment he clasped her hand in his and escorted her to the dining table downstairs, he knew their being together was right. Their being apart just wasn’t an option anymore, no matter how much he battled with his conscience.
He pulled a chair out for Marissa and then took a seat next to her at the big black polished table. She sent him a small smile and his heart dipped in response. He exhaled carefully. He wouldn’t allow even one Tantonic to touch a single, precious hair on her head.
Tenille brought out steaming dishes and placed them in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves. Marissa leaned close to him and named each dish. “Asian noodles. Chicken casserole. Greek salad. Roast pork with potatoes, pumpkin and peppercorn gravy.”
Asher didn’t much care about table manners as he shoveled the delicious food into his mouth. He needed all the calories he could store in order to convert into energy for his next dragon shift. Needed every advantage if he was to protect Marissa and, in a year’s time, meet his crew again, his sister.
Marissa laughed as she watched him devour the food. She turned to Tenille. “Please give our compliments to the chef for his amazing cooking.”
Tenille beamed. “Will do.” She arched a brow at Reginald. “Is Amanda not hungry again?”
Reginald put his knife and fork down. “Perhaps I should see if she’s okay. She’s had quite the shock today.”
Tenille’s eyebrow lifted a little higher. “Oh?”
He smiled. “Nothing for you to be concerned about, Tenille.”
Amanda chose that moment to walk downstairs, her face averted and her body stiff and unyielding. Asher stopped eating for a moment even as Reginald stood and pulled out the chair next to his own.
“Are you okay?” Reginald asked her.
She nodded, her mouth a tight line. “Yes, I’m fine.”
Asher swallowed. The exquisite food was no longer palpable. Something wasn’t right, and he’d learned long ago to trust in his dragon senses that’d been honed even further by war.
Marissa’s hand clasped his thigh, a reassuring touch. But Asher froze at a far off sound. His eyes narrowed on Amanda. “What have you done?”
Amanda blanched even as Marissa asked him, “What’s going on?
He turned to her, but his voice carried around the thick silence of the room. “There are soldiers at the gates.”
He stood and held out his hand to Marissa. “We have to leave. Now.”
