Page 42 of Freedom Mine
Chapter Eleven
ALLI
Alli woke with a start. The second she heard Kayo screaming at the top of his lungs, she raced downstairs and charged into his bedroom to find him waving a five-inch blade in mid-air, slashing at invisible foes. He nearly struck her but she dodged behind the open door, unable to reach the hallway. She couldn’t understand what he was saying, the words in another language, not Althiran.
“Kayo,” she said, keeping her voice soft but firm, hoping she could calm him enough that he’d stop thrusting and slashing his knife.
“Ama kenni aler-ra?” he said, his eyes intensely focused on her as he cut off her escape, trapping her in the corner of the room without anything to shield herself from his knife. She’d cleaned his room too well, and unlike his office, he’d maintained it. Not a bottle or stray tool in sight to hurl at him if he came any closer.
Which, of course, he did.
His six-foot frame was nothing but muscle driven by rage. Despite that rage, Alli stepped closer to him. The knife that had been pointed at her lowered a fraction of an inch, and then he repeated the foreign words, with less fear this time, though the urgency she felt rippling off of him remained.
“Ama kenni aler-ra?”
“I don’t know what you’re saying, Kayo,” she said softly, as if she were convincing a child to drop a pair of scissors before he could fall and hurt himself. “It’s me. Alli. Blue. Don’t you recognize me?”
“Blue,” he repeated her name, testing it out on his tongue. His eyes narrowed as they ran the length of her. Light bounced off the gleaming steel knife as his eyes heated with rage.
She took another step closer to him. The need to stroke his cheek, to place her hand on his arm and urge him to lower the knife before he harmed himself overrode all common sense. She shouldn’t care what happened to Kayo, at least not above her own safety, but she did.
To her surprise, his knife lowered a fraction of an inch. He was in there. Then the front door of the house creaked, distracting her, but not Kayo. He was too fast, too alert. With an iron grip, his left arm swung around her torso and drew her against his chest. The flat end of the knife settled against her left shoulder near her neck as he buried his face in her hair and murmured something low and breathtakingly sensuous, though she didn’t understand the foreign words. His thumb of his knife-hand caressed her collarbone in an oddly reassuring touch. Despite the knife at her cheek, her body molded to his. Kayo’s free hand splayed on her abdomen, restraining her with his hard length pressed up against her ass and his warm breath parting her hair as he nuzzled her neck.
Kayo suddenly swung Alli behind him. Jace had entered.
“Hali fen te’ya ren, Kayo,” Jace said from the threshold.
Now the knife pointed outward, toward Jace while a solid hand locked on Alli’s wrist, sending a clear message that he intended to keep her behind him.
“Hali fen te’ya ren, Kayo,” Jace repeated, his voice steady but authoritative. “Don’t move or talk, Alli,” he added quickly in a softer voice, one that wouldn’t anger Kayo.
Kayo’s knife hand lowered slightly. “Abaci berk’ies. Yoz?”
“Yoz.” Jace nodded and held his hands out, palms up.
“Akitti eb!” Kayo said, agitated, his hand once again waving the knife around, pointing toward Jace.
Jace closed his eyes, his hands still raised and open. She hissed at how vulnerable he’d made himself. Kayo could easily strike out and kill him. Perhaps that was the point.
“Yoz,” Kayo said as he turned the knife around and placed it handle first in Jace’s hand.
Jace opened his eyes, and gave Kayo a quick nod, thanking him. “Mag’hi avi na. Tas enja Alli.”
Kayo turned around, a haunted look in his eyes as he traced his finger along her cheek. Then he stepped aside, clearing her path to leave.
“Now, Alli,” Jace said, using her name, likely for Kayo’s sake. He always called her ‘Blue’, but to Kayo, she was ‘Alli.’ Kayo had always shown such pride in using her real name, ever since she’d shared it with him. It was as if she’d bestowed some great honor on him, even though it was just a name.
Reluctant as she was to leave Kayo in his agitated state, Jace seemed to know what he was doing. She dragged her hand gently down Kayo’s knife arm as she edged her way out from behind him. Beneath her fingertips, muscles tightened, but he didn’t move. Even with her back turned to him, she could feel his eyes on her the entire way out the door. Once she’d reached the hallway, Jace shut the door behind her and stayed in the room with Kayo.
Alli paced the hallway for what seemed like hours. Once in a while, she heard Kayo raise his voice, followed by Jace’s calmer murmurs. Standing in the hallway where she couldn’t see what was happening, where she was useless to Kayo, made her feel defeated. Whatever memories had gripped Kayo. . . She couldn’t help him. He didn’t want anything from her. He’d made that clear last night.
She kept busy in the kitchen, sweeping the floor, washing cabinets, and making laja. . . anything to avoid looking at the vegetables that she and Kayo had been chopping last night. The desire she’d felt from him—for him—had shocked her. Then, he’d backed away without explanation, leaving her body thrumming and her mind confused. She’d been too embarrassed to return to the kitchen after that. Apparently, he hadn’t returned either.
“I gave him something to help him sleep,” Jace said, as he entered the kitchen.
“I want to see—”
“Later, maybe,” Jace said, his arm outstretched to prevent her from heading down the hall.
