He directed the mouse’s arrow to the play button, his thoughts repeating what they had earlier. It can’t be true. It just can’t.
Unsettled, he clicked the button.
Nothing happened. All he saw was a shot of the empty hall. “What happened to the sound?” He should be hearing something.
“You need to turn it up.” Ernez pointed to the volume control.
Carreon put the sound at one hundred. All that produced was a steady hissing noise. “Is it broken? Why isn’t there any—”
“Liz!” Zeke’s voice shouted from the recording. “Liz, it’s Zeke. Your father’s with me. He’s all right.”
“Dr. Munez is still alive,” Roberto had said during his call.
The doctor’s voice sounded next on the tape. “The door might be shut,” he said. “If it is, she might not be able to hear any—”
Munez’s words stopped. He and Zeke finally came into view at the end of the hall. Carreon leaned up in his chair. Zeke had his arm wrapped around the older man’s waist, helping him to walk. Munez was limping badly.
The tape didn’t show what Zeke saw beyond the door. Carreon recalled every bit of the scene. Liz on her side near the fireplace, her face swollen and purplish from lack of air, mean bruises on her throat. Dead. Dead. Dead. Carreon had felt the bone in her throat snap beneath his fingers.
An anguished howl escaped Zeke as he and her father hurried into the room, out of camera range. Unmoved, Carreon listened to Zeke’s cries, his foolish pleas for Liz to be all right.
She wasn’t. Would never be again. He’d left her fucking dead.
“Go away!” Zeke’s voice shouted, no doubt to her father. “Leave us alone.”
“Put her down,” the older man said.
“No.”
Munez made a pained noise. “Do as I say.”
“Why? You think I wanted this to happen? I love her.”
Carreon’s jaw tightened at Zeke’s declaration. His fucking audacity in claiming Liz when she’d belonged with her own people. With him. Doing exactly what he said. Not defying him in the least. He gripped the arms of his chair.
Munez kept speaking. Carreon caught the last of his words. “—down. Let me do what I must.”
During the next minutes, Munez murmured to his daughter, telling her of his love. “Come back,” he finally murmured.
No, Carreon thought. What he wants is impossible. It can’t be true.
Not wanting to hear any more of the old fool’s sentimentality or Zeke’s sorrow, Carreon fast-forwarded the video, then stopped and gaped at the screen.
Zeke left the safe room first, followed by Liz.
No.
Repeatedly, Carreon had insisted to Roberto that Zeke must have carried or dragged her lifeless body from the room.
On the recording, she walked on her own. Pausing, Liz glanced behind herself. Her face was no longer swollen, nor a sickening mauve color. The bruises Carreon had left on her throat were gone. She looked as though she hadn’t died…as though he hadn’t killed her.
He had, damn it.
Following close behind Liz was her father, no longer limping.
Had she healed him?
Had her father done the same with her? How could that be? Before Carreon had left his safe room, he’d searched for her pulse. There was none. She hadn’t been breathing.
This isn’t possible.
He backed up the video to play the parts he’d fast-forwarded over. For a moment, there was only silence or static, then Munez’s voice.
“My dear sweet daughter, I’m so sorry. I never wanted to have to do this. It’s not fair leaving you with this burden. I warned you about our gift. I told you there were things about it that you didn’t understand. Now, I have to show you.”
Again, the video fell silent.
“Show her what?” Carreon growled, wanting the man to speak.
Munez’s voice continued finally. “Come back.”
“What are you doing?” Zeke’s voice asked. “What’s happening? She’s gone. There was no pulse. She can’t be healed. Why are you doing this?”
“Because I love her too,” Munez said. “I have to bring her back.”
Chapter Five
Nude and well loved, Liz lay at Zeke’s side on his bed, one hand curled near her chest, the other resting on his belly.
The tips of her fingers and palm were wonderfully warm, the weight of her hand proving to him that she still existed…she lived. There shouldn’t have been any doubt. Even so, each breath she took seemed a continuing miracle to Zeke. He fought an urge to gather her closer, as if that would convince him everything was all right and would continue to be so.
Hours earlier, he’d battled his doubt by not allowing her a moment’s peace from his insatiable desire, somehow believing that his love alone could restore her to what she had once been.
No, dammit—what she still is.
Uncertainty pressed in on him again. Zeke shoved it away, forcing his thoughts to return to what he’d shared with her.
After having taken her in the tub, he’d helped Liz to her feet but didn’t direct her out of it. “Drape your arms over your head.”
“Why?” she’d murmured.
In answer, Zeke nuzzled his face to her neck. Her skin was moist, slightly salty and oh so soft. He suckled it gently. She moaned in pleasure. He whispered, “You ask too many questions.”
“Sorry…but why?”
“I have no idea. You’re probably too curious.”
She laughed softly, the sound mingling with the water gurgling around their knees. “No, I mean why do you want me to hold my arms over my head? Do you have any idea how heavy they are?”
A thread of fear ran through him then, chasing away his previous arousal and contentment, making his skin prickle. He recalled how she’d fallen asleep or passed out in the Jeep.
“Have they always been that way?” he’d blurted. “Are they heavier than usual now?”
She regarded him as though he were nuts. “What?”
Zeke pushed back his panic and tried to sound reasonable. “Are you tired from your orgasm?”
“Yeah…aren’t you?”
He should have been. However, his passion for her, his fear that she’d somehow disappear, leaving him alone, kept Zeke far too alert. Without her, he couldn’t exist, would refuse to go on. Earlier, Zeke had been more than willing to leave his people and this stronghold forever if it meant staying at her side. Away from here, he’d had no idea where they might have gone or how he could have protected her from Carreon before they reached their ultimate destination. However, he would have moved heaven and earth to do so. “I’m fine.”
“Good.” She sagged against him, her body dewy and warm from plumes of steam rising from the tub. She made a throaty sound that any man would interpret as satisfaction.
Smiling, he wrapped his arm around her waist, holding on to her as he leaned down to get the soap.
Liz brushed her lips over his shoulder and suckled it briefly, then asked, “What are you doing?”
“Bathing you.” Once he’d worked up sufficient lather that smelled faintly of lime, he ran his soapy hands down her back, not stopping until he’d reached her ass. He cupped her cheeks in his hands, separating them, and ran his slick forefingers over her anus.
Her breath caught.
“Good?” he murmured.
She clutched his biceps and whimpered in response.
Nice.
Zeke eased her hands from him and studied her reaction as he lathered her breasts, his thumbs dragging over her nipples. Liz’s head fell back. Several strands of hair clung to her throat while the rest of her mane dangled over her back. Golden light rained down on them from behind the mirrored ceiling, the illumination softened further by the mist, so warm and inviting. She’d already closed her eyes and now parted her lips, looking like a woman one step shy of ecstasy.