Devoured Read online

  “Lights off,” he muttered and the automatic sensors plunged his room into darkness. With a sigh, Garron turned on his side and closed his eyes. It was time to let the little Earth girl go now. Time to forget all the puzzling things about her and just get some sleep…

  * * * * *

  The next time he opened his eyes, he was in a different world.

  “So, Princess, I finally found your little hiding spot.” A tall human with brown hair and sharp green eyes greeted the Earth girl, Tess, as she got out of the Kindred shuttle.

  Wait—what? Where am I?

  Garron stared around himself in confusion. He appeared to be in the middle of some kind of holding area where many Kindred vehicles were parked. There was a hard black surface underfoot and some kind of metal fence surrounded the entire lot.

  Though it was past midnight on the Mother Ship, it was clearly some hours earlier here. The sky was a soft blue deepening to dusk near the horizon and several white, puffy clouds floated above. There was a warm breeze blowing that ruffled the long, flowing fronds of the alien which that stood at the end of the lot.

  Wait—a breeze? A parking area? Didn’t I just turn out the lights and go to bed? Where is my room? What is this place and how did I get here? And where is here, anyway?

  Garron looked around some more and realized he couldn’t see his own body. All right, so he was invisible—that was strange. As for where he was, judging from the fact that the Earth girl, Tess, was stepping out of a shuttle and a human was waiting to meet her, he must be on Earth. Probably in Tampa where Sylvan had said she was being extradited to. And this man waiting for her must be the authority who was taking her into custody. What had Sylvan called him? Detective…Directive…? Something like that, Garron couldn’t remember.

  “Pierce,” Tess said flatly.

  Detective Pierce Hughes—that was it! Garron remembered.

  “Hello, Princess.” His smile was more of a sneer.

  Garron frowned. If the man was an authority sent to pick her up, why did he address her in such a familiar way? Was that normal on Earth? But no, it seemed as if they knew each other.

  “What are you doing here?” Tess asked him. Though her voice didn’t tremble, Garron thought he could see fear in her eyes. Was she afraid because she was going to be punished for her crimes? Or for some other reason?

  “Oh, I think you know the answer to that, Princess.” The man walked forward and took her by the arm—or tried to. Tess jerked away from him and looked back at the shuttle driver.

  “Please! This man—”

  But the shuttle was already lifting off—apparently the driver was eager to get back to the Mother Ship.

  “This man is here to collect you, Tess.” Pierce’s green eyes narrowed. “And don’t get any cute ideas—I have a warrant for your arrest.”

  “On what grounds?” she demanded. “I’m not the one who breaks into other people’s apartments and…and…” She shook her head, clearly unable to continue.

  “Ah yes, I did make kind of a mess, didn’t I?” He tsked. “Sorry about that. But you had to know that getting some mangy mutt wasn’t going to keep you safe—keep me from taking back what’s rightfully mine.”

  “I’m not yours. I never was,” she shot back.

  Pierce’s green eyes narrowed again and his hand snaked out. Tess must have seen the move coming because she tried to duck out of the way but he was large for a human and had a long reach. His palm cracked against her face hard enough to snap her head to one side.

  Garron had been standing passively up until now, watching and trying to make sense of their conversation. But at the sight of this male hitting Tess, his blood suddenly boiled and a red curtain of rage dropped over his eyes.

  “You bastard!” He surged forward…only to find he had nothing to surge with. Though he could see and hear and smell the scents of this new world, he didn’t seem to be able to affect it in any way. He was not just invisible but incorporeal—in other words, helpless to protect the little female.

  “Leave me alone!” Tess took a step back, her hand going to the red mark growing on her creamy cheek. “I’m not going with you.”

  “Oh yes you are, or did you forget I have a warrant?” He took a step towards her.

  “Stay away.” Now her voice trembled as she backed away, trying to put distance between them. “I…I’ll tell everyone in the entire HKR building what you are—what you do. I won’t go quietly!”

  “Oh yes you will.” Pierce continued to advance. “Because I’ve already given everyone a heads up that I’m here to escort an escaped lunatic back to where she belongs. I told them not to worry if you shouted or screamed or made crazy accusations—after all, delusional people do that sometimes.”

  “You…you’ll never get away with that. Not everyone will believe you.” Tess was beginning to sound desperate now.

  “If you mean your good friend Di—who I’m pretty sure had something to do with you hiding up on that fucking ship in the first place—don’t worry about her. It’s her day off. By the time she comes in tomorrow morning, you’ll be long gone.”

  “No, I won’t!” She looked poised to flee but Pierce just laughed.

  “Look around you, Princess—where are you going to go? This lot is completely fenced off and we’re all alone out here. The only way out is through the HRK building.”

  “I…” Tess scanned the area desperately. She had the look of a hunted creature—one who is caught in the shadow of the predator and knows there is no escape.

  Pierce seemed to know that. He took one long stride forward and grabbed her by the upper arm. Garron saw his grip tighten as his fingers bit into her soft flesh.

  Tess gave a choked cry as he pulled her to him. Pierce cut it short with a brutal, bruising kiss. She pushed and beat against his chest but he gripped her by her long hair and didn’t let her go until he seemed to feel he had established mastery. Then he broke the kiss abruptly and slapped her hard across the mouth.

  At the sight of another male touching Tess, taking her mouth, hurting her, Garron felt like he was going to explode with rage. The dr’gin within him woke and roared angrily. How dare this fucking bastard hurt her? How dare he lay so much as a finger on her? I’ll kill him—rip him to shreds! I’ll—

  But there was nothing he could do. Nothing but watch as Pierce shook the little Earth girl angrily.

  “You little slut,” he said in a low voice, throbbing with rage. “Look at this get-up your wearing—no better than a prostitute.” He shook her again, glaring at the black lace dress she had on. “But I guess that’s just about right because I hear you’ve been hiding in a fucking whore house. Were you happy up there, Princess? Did you get enough Kindred cock to finally fill you up?”

  “It wasn’t like that!” Tess protested, still trying to pull away from him. “It was just a place to hide. I never did anything with anyone! I would never—”

  “Fucking little liar,” he snarled. “That big blond Kindred, Commander Sylvan, told me you’d been caught by one of the customers when you went with him to his room. What the hell were you doing in his room if it wasn’t fucking him?”

  “He just held me.” Tess was still trying to put on a brave face but Garron could see the tears rolling silently down her cheeks—marked red where Pierce had hit her. “I swear it’s true. We didn’t do anything else.”

  “Lying little whore.” Pierce spat on the ground contemptuously. “You think I believe that? Stop lying right now or your punishment is going to be even worse when I get you home.”

  “You’re not even taking me to the station, are you?” Tess said dully. “You probably don’t even have a warrant. Why would you need one? You can just flash your badge and everyone believes you.”

  “One of the many benefits of being one of Tampa’s finest, my dear.” He laughed angrily and yanked her roughly towards the back door of the large building. “Come on, let’s get you home and decontaminate you. I want you nice and clean before I sho