Chapter Four
Chapter Four
Pushing those crazy thoughts aside, Zack slung the strap of his laser rifle over his shoulder and strode right up to her. He was impressed when she didn’t back away or flinch as he came to a stop a few inches from her. Instead, she just watched him curiously as he gently lifted her arm to inspect it.
Up close, she was even more stunning. Her skin looked like it had been brushed with gold dust, and she had a face that had been blessed by the gods. Focusing on her injuries, he noticed her skin was raw and abraded in several spots, but it didn’t look too bad. Despite that, he still wanted to punish whoever had hurt her.
Unable to help himself, he rubbed his thumb over the soft skin of her wrist since he was still holding onto her. He felt more at ease when he felt the steady beat of her pulse, confirming she wasn’t a robot. Not that he’d really thought she was, but it was better to be sure. His own pulse started to beat faster as desire surged through him.
Touching her had been a bad idea.
Or it could have been the best thing he had ever done.
When his gaze rose to meet hers, he was instantly mesmerized by her glowing silver eyes. She was almost the same height as he was, making it easy. His gaze strayed down to her lush lips, and he wondered what they would feel like pressed against his. He caught himself leaning toward her and was grateful he had stopped before making a complete fool of himself.
He blinked in surprise when he noticed that she had fangs. That was certainly unexpected. Something about that pushed at his memory, but it slipped away again before he could make sense of it. Maybe she was a vampire. Or perhaps they had something to do with whatever superpowers she had.
While the sight of fangs should have been alarming, it didn’t freak him out as much as he thought it would. In fact, he discovered that it didn’t bother him at all. It just made him more intrigued by her.
“Who are you?”
“Jecca.”
“Jecca,” he repeated, savoring her name. “Just Jecca?”
“Aye. Until I can remember the rest.”
That made him frown. Fuck, he’d almost forgotten about her head injury.
“I’m Zack Keller, and these are my friends Nico Artane, Travis McClain, and Lina Z’Mar. We were…”
His words trailed off when she tilted her head back and stared intently up at the dark sky. Something had caught her attention, which had him following her gaze. His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t see anything. He searched for several seconds, then he sucked in a harsh breath when he caught a faint trace of a trail of light in the sky.
“Incoming!” he shouted. “Take cover!”
He grabbed Jecca’s hand and dragged her with him away from the street as the flare exploded into a large firework overhead. The bots used the firework flares that exploded low in the sky to signal to any others in the area that they had discovered supers that needed to be captured and taken to one of their testing facilities.
As sparks rained down close to where they’d just been standing, he noticed that his friends had fled in the opposite direction. He had been so focused on protecting Jecca that he’d forgotten about his team for a moment. Pushing the guilt aside, he called out to them.
“We’ll meet you back at headquarters.”
Getting nods of agreement, he watched as they disappeared into the shadows before he led Jecca away from the scene. He realized that she was easily keeping pace with him as they ran. He didn’t let go of her hand, though. She had to be scared and confused since she had no memory due to her head injury, but he couldn’t take the time to explain everything to her right now, and it was safer to keep quiet until they reached safety.
If a bot had sent flares out, they had already targeted their location.
That meant they were calling in reinforcements.
As he thought that, another flare exploded, this time directly overhead. Zack cursed as he pulled Jecca down and shielded her body with his as the sparks rained down around them. He braced himself to feel the burn of those sparks on his back, then blinked in confusion when it never came.
Added to that, he no longer sensed the rain pouring down around them either. That was strange enough to have him glancing around. He saw that they hadn’t escaped the fallout from the explosive.
Something was protecting them.
No, not something.
Someone.
While he’d done his best to shield his new obsession with his body, it hadn’t been necessary. Jecca had a hand out as she used her powers to create a dome of protection around them. The dome flared with light where sparks from the firework rained down on it. Seeing the shield had something flickering in his mind, but trying to recall the elusive memory was like trying to capture smoke in his hand.
“That’s a pretty awesome power you have.”
Jecca smiled at him over her shoulder, and his body stiffened in reaction.
Damn, she was fucking sexy.
“I told you I am super.”
He huffed out a low chuckle. “That you are.”
Trying to shake off his lust, he started to speak again but didn’t get a chance as his attention was drawn to the three robots that converged on the street from different directions. Standing around eight feet tall, the robots’ metal frames gleamed in the street lights as each of their single red visor eyes scanned the area. Fucking hell, dealing with one bot was bad enough since they were heavily armed and could do some serious damage.
Fighting three at once would be a fucking nightmare.
He wasn’t sure just how strong Jecca’s shield was or how long it would last, but they needed to get the fuck out of there before they were spotted.
“Fuck,” he hissed. “See that big building over there? The big one that looks like a cathedral? Keep close to the ground while we make a run for it.”
“Why do we—?”
“We need to get the hell off the street before they see us. If not, we’ll have to fight our way out. And our chance of survival against three bots isn’t good.”
Jecca briefly considered what he’d said, then decided against it. Instead of running, she simply teleported them inside the building he had pointed to. That gave him what he had asked for without wasting any time.
She had wanted to destroy the robots for putting the fear she’d heard in Zack’s voice. Wanted to crush them and turn them into nothing but metal particles that would be washed away by the torrential rain. But when she tried, it didn’t work. Frustration burned through her at the malfunction of her magic. She needed to figure out what in hellfire was blocking it…and fast.
Thankfully, her ability to teleport worked.
At least for that short distance.
Taking a quick scan of their surroundings, she saw that the building they had transported into was an old library. The room was dark, with only a few emergency lights illuminating the large space. However, she could clearly see they were kneeling on the main floor of the building on the center aisle that was made of a dark, glossy marble.
Stacks of books surrounded them, and there were more tomes filling the massive bookshelves that completely covered each of the walls. There was a large spiraling staircase that reached the second and third levels, and she could see more stacks of books on the upper floors. Lightning flashed outside, creating a kaleidoscope of colors as the light shot through the stained glass windows.
Long, wooden tables filled one side of the main floor, and there were several small green lamps set on each tabletop. Leather chairs with low, rounded backs bracketed each side of the table, and there were more seats available in the lounge area located on the other side of the room. The seating area was filled with long leather couches, plush chairs, and low tables.
While it seemed like a comfortable place to wait out the storm, she didn’t think of it as a very secure location to hide from robots set on destruction. It was too open and would be far too easy to break in. And truthfully, it would be a shame if all those books were destroyed in a fight.
Glancing over at Zack, she saw that his eyes were wide with shock as he gaped at her. Perhaps she should have given him a little warning before she had teleported them inside, but there hadn’t been time. Her priority had been to get him to safety, so that is exactly what she’d done.
“I…you…”
“I told you I am not a robot,” she said with a hint of amusement in her voice.
He wheezed out a laugh. “Yeah, thank god for that. We should be safe enough in here. I hope the others got somewhere safe before the bots spotted them.”
That made her frown. “You believe we are safe in here?”
He nodded as he stood up, then he reached out a hand to help her to her feet. Placing her hand in his, she felt a jolt of electricity surge through her at the contact. She slowly rose to her feet and fought the urge to press her body against his. Something about him drew her to him. It felt like more than just simple attraction. It was a visceral reaction that was hard to deny, but she needed some answers before she allowed herself to indulge and scrutinize those emotions any deeper.
It couldn’t wait, not when their safety was at risk.
“You are saying the robots will not be able to find us simply because we are inside this building?”
His brows furrowed as if he was puzzled by her question. “Yes.”
That didn’t sound right. In fact, nothing about the entire scenario struck her as making any sense.
“Do you not find that strange?”
“What do you mean? Why don’t we move over to the lounge area there and dry off…” He glanced down at himself and her, then blinked in surprise. “We’re dry.”
“Aye, we are.”
“Did you do that?”
“I thought we would be more comfortable this way.”
“Thanks for that,” he said weakly.
“My magic allows me to do many things, but my abilities seem to be malfunctioning at the moment due to whatever happened to me. Once I get that sorted out, I should be able to erase the threat of the robots for you.”
“You can just…erase them?”
She kind of felt bad since he sounded so perplexed, but she didn’t understand why. Nodding, she said, “Getting back to my previous question, do you not find it odd that we are safe in here?”
“Not really.” Glancing around, he shrugged. “The bots don’t come inside the buildings. Once they clear the area, we can leave and meet up with the others.”
“This does not seem logical. What is stopping the robots from breaking through the doors or windows? I would also assume they would be capable of scanning through walls, or are they made with antiquated technology? And why did they announce their presence with the firework flares before they arrived? That gave us ample time to get away. If their goal is to capture or kill, none of this makes sense.”
“You’re right,” he said, sounding a little shocked. “I don’t know why I didn’t realize that before.”
Zack’s head began to ache as he considered what she’d said. It all sounded outrageous, yet somehow, he’d never questioned it. He believed her now that she had pointed it all out. Using the flares did give them time to get away, which didn’t make sense. He also wasn’t sure what was stopping them from coming inside the buildings, but somehow he knew they never did.
Not thinking about what he was doing, he reached out and took her hand in his again. That was highly unusual since he’d never been that way with anyone before. He wasn’t a demonstrative kind of guy but being that way with her felt as natural as breathing to him.
Gently pulling her toward the lounge area, he deposited her on the seat of the closest couch while she silently watched him with a curious gaze. He gave himself time to settle while he set his laser rifle down on the low table in front of them, then he unzipped his rain jacket and tossed it on a chair. Even though it was dry, he didn’t need the extra layer on since it was warm enough inside the library without it.
Once he was seated next to her, he was surprised when she gripped his chin hard and turned his head so he was facing her. When she moved his head from side to side then up a little, he reached up and gripped her wrist to hold her still.
“What are you doing?”
“You are injured,” she accused, glaring at him.
“Yeah, I got pretty beat up earlier when—”
He choked on his words when she pushed him back against the couch and shoved the hem of his black shirt up without warning, exposing his abs and chest. He hadn’t been kidding when he’d said he had been roughed up earlier. He had several large bruises on his torso along with some rather nasty scrapes and cuts. Nico had also been similarly injured, but they had treated the worst of their wounds before they’d gone out on patrol.
Her silver eyes seemed to glow brighter as she shoved the long sleeves of his shirt up to inspect the cuts and bruises on his arms. He tried to remain still and impassive for her perusal but couldn’t help it when his cock stiffened under her attention. Fucking hell, if this was his reaction to her looking him over, he couldn’t imagine what would happen when she actually touched him.
He yelped when she reached for his belt. Oh, hell no. He wouldn’t be able to hold himself back anymore if his pants came off. There was also the fact he didn’t want her to see his bionic leg just yet. He didn’t want to freak her out, and that sort of thing required an explanation before he whipped it out.
“You can stop now,” he said in a rush, pushing her hands away. “Yes, I’m bruised everywhere, but it isn’t bad. Honestly, I’m fine.”
“How did this happen?” she demanded darkly. “Who did this to you?”
“I…actually, I don’t really remember. I think I got knocked out while I was on patrol last night with Nico, and we both woke up beat to shit and bruised. We must have had a run-in with the bots. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time this has happened to us.”
Suspicion flicked through Jecca’s mind.
His injuries looked like they were only a few hours old instead of something that had happened the previous night. But she didn’t think he was lying to her. Not intentionally, at least. There had to be another reason neither of them could remember the events that had caused their injuries, and they needed to know the entire truth to figure out what was really going on.
“We need to figure out exactly what happened.”
“Okay. How are we going to do that?” he asked.
“I have an idea about that…”