Chapter 8
Killian
Daria was in turmoil as I led her back into the festivities.
She paused at the doorway to slip her heels on her dainty feet, and she visibly pulled herself together, a mask sliding in place over her pretty face.
I saw how much she put on a persona when she stepped into the limelight and rubbed elbows with the rich.
I knew her intimately, not intimately enough yet, but I knew so much more.
I knew this wasn’t her truth. She wasn’t showing herself to these people, but I’d seen her, and I was honored.
“Oh, it’s almost midnight,” she murmured when she’d politely brushed off some couple in fancy clothing, the woman studded with glittering diamonds.
She gestured with a graceful hand toward the brightly lit, cheerful screen on the far side of the dance floor.
Huge numbers were showing the time, and they indicated only a few more minutes were left of this calendar year.
That would be the perfect moment to slip away, everyone would be distracted.
A waiter popped up at my elbow, offering more tall glasses of pale, bubbling drink. I started to brush him away, but Daria snatched up two glasses with a grateful smile. “We’ll stand out if we don’t have these, trust me. Didn’t they teach you how to read a room and blend in?”
I took the glass she held out to me with a mild grimace, worried I’d have to actually sip the drink.
That made her laugh, which eased the sting of her earlier criticism.
“I got the data, didn’t I?” I said. I’d slipped it from the general’s coat without anyone noticing.
They still hadn’t from the looks of things, because the male was mingling at the party and his guards looked no more alert than before.
“True,” she agreed, but her eyes had left my face to carefully scan the crowd.
It had gotten louder in here since last time, and people were converging in front of the large screen with the countdown.
It wasn’t long until the big moment everyone was waiting for, and that’s when we needed to move.
I scanned the exits and the guards that flanked them as I contemplated our best course of action.
Daria took me by surprise when she led me closer to the crowd, she even waved at the general when he glanced our way.
It was not exactly inconspicuous, but nobody saw anything amiss by the way she held my hand.
The little holographic decoy I’d swapped the general’s pin for was doing its trick, but it wouldn’t last much longer.
I could take the guards at the door, just a pair of them.
If they blocked our way, I’d strike them at choice points and they’d be disabled long enough for us to run, without them coming to serious harm.
Callum was waiting not far away. We’d have to cross a few roads and then go through an access door up to the roof of a building.
Our small vessel had silent engines and technology that hid it from any detection technology the humans had, though we were still visible to the naked eye.
The cover of darkness and the fireworks would do the rest.
“Almost,” Daria whispered, and her eyes went from the countdown to me, big, luminous, and a gentle brown that could never naturally occur among my species.
“I’m trusting you, Ian. You have no idea how much.
Don’t disappoint me.” The words were a heartfelt plea, filled with a hint of dismay that she’d even uttered it.
“It’s Killian,” I said, unable to let that stand without her knowing my full name. “And I won’t let you down, Tally. Never.” A promise that a human might consider too much, based on the research I’d done on them, but Daria just nodded.
Around us, people started counting out loud, their voices blending together in one bright, harmonious chorus.
I began to pull on her small hand in mine, but she resisted, and then it was too late.
As everyone shouted ‘Happy New Year!’ she caught me by the lapel of my jacket and pulled.
Our mouths connected and my senses spun and swirled, trapped in a moment of heat and passion.
Vaguely, I was aware of others reaching for their partner for a similar embrace.
No, not quite the same. Ours was considerably more passionate, fireworks exploding between us that were mirrored in the skies outside.
When others laughed and let up, Daria clung to me and I let her.
I wanted to linger as long as she let me. Our safety and our mission be damned.
When she pulled back to the sound of laughter and several bemused looks, I realized that we’d drawn far too much attention.
Why had she done that? Not that I objected to kissing her, not at all, but we’d missed our window of opportunity.
I scanned around us for options while my female clinked her glass against mine and loudly started well-wishing those around us.
Granted, we did blend in, except for that steamy kiss.
Everyone was doing exactly as she was, and I made myself follow along, offering greetings and clinking glasses with the people nearest to us.
I saw that there was a method to Daria’s madness; we were on the move now. The entire crowd was moving, actually.
When I realized that everyone was guided to the exit, I breathed a sigh of relief.
A fireworks display, I should have known.
That was going to be our moment to leave, but would I be able to convince my mate to come with me to my ship?
Or would I have to chase after her into the city? I was about to find out.