Return of the Ascendant (The Ascendant Series)

  Her unexpected companion’s pace also slowed once they reached the light. She turned her gaze to him once again. Had he been the one who had cast the shadow?

  She didn’t think so. Although she couldn’t tell much about him from his profile, she didn’t sense that he would harm her.

  “It isn’t me you need to worry about,” he said in a deep voice. “You were right to fear the dark.”

  Chapter 2

  Blinking over the stranger’s comment, Kyra wondered how he’d known what she was thinking. She shook her head, figuring he’d just made a lucky guess based on the circumstances.

  They walked for several feet before her sanity kicked in. She tried to remove her arm from the man’s grasp, but he just held her tighter. While the action should have alarmed her, it didn’t. It sure as hell annoyed her, though.

  Giving him a more careful study, she tried to place his face. What little of it she could see as he studied their surroundings seemed somewhat familiar. Had she met him at a party? Was he in one of her classes last year?

  That didn’t seem likely. She’d surely have remembered someone as hot as he was.

  His gaze moved sharply to hers. She found herself catching her breath as she looked into the most startling silver eyes she’d ever seen. No one could possibly have eyes that color.

  “Who are you?” she whispered.

  Something flashed in his gaze. Disappointment? Irritation? She couldn’t tell.

  He looked away without responding. His pace increased. She got the sense he didn’t want to be alone with her. Insult rose like a tidal wave.

  “Okay, that’s far enough,” she commanded.

  Her voice sounded louder than she’d intended. She planted her feet, refusing to move another inch until he let her go. Unfortunately, since he was far stronger than she was, he pulled her right out of her shoes and kept going.

  “Are you freaking kidding me?” she cried. “Let go of me, asshole!”

  Finally, he stopped walking and glanced down at her. She thought he looked puzzled, but then realized she couldn’t read his expression at all. Anger made her face and throat burn as she yanked her arm free.

  “Look, I don’t know who you think you are,” she said, stalking back to her shoes, “but you have no right to haul me around like that. These shoes cost me fifty bucks on sale, for crying out loud. Don’t you know how long it takes a college student to save up that kind of money?”

  “There is no time for this,” he replied.

  There was something formal about his speech, she thought as she put on a shoe. He had a faint accent, as well. Maybe something European? She wondered if they treated women like this wherever he was from and sniffed in disdain.

  One of his eyebrows lifted. “I realize I have failed to make a grand impression, but time is of the essence.”

  “It sure is,” she said, securing her second shoe and starting forward. “My friends are waiting for me.”

  He stepped into her path, making her once again come to a halt. “You saw something in the shadows,” he said.

  She started to argue, then glanced over her shoulder at the lingering darkness not too far away. Just the sight of it had her skin tingling. Frowning, she turned back and met his gaze.

  “I will escort you,” he said.

  “To my friends?”

  “Yes.”

  Studying his striking face, she tried to gauge if she was in any danger. Almost immediately, she decided that the only danger she was in was of drooling all over him.

  “Okay,” she said at last. “Thanks.”

  She started to ask his name, but he took her arm and started forward so quickly that she almost dropped her purse. Her focus shifted to staying on her feet as they rushed across the soft ground. She puzzled over his obvious hurry. Although she wanted to see her friends, she sure didn’t think it was worth breaking her ankles over.

  Just when she decided she was going to plant her feet again, she spotted Avana and Sam sitting together on a bench under one of the lampposts. Avana’s bright, yellow-orange hair would have stood out even in darkness, as would the shiny pink tank top and colorful miniskirt she wore. Her effervescent friend set her own style, something Kyra had come to admire about her.

  Sam was also fashionable, but more traditionally so. He kept his dark hair styled in the current “deliberately tousled” look, longer on top than on the sides. It currently fell almost into his dark eyes, which glanced over when she neared.

  She wasn’t surprised by the slow smile that spread across his face when he spotted her. They’d become good friends ever since Avana introduced them when she was a freshman and he was a sophomore. Although Kyra suspected he wanted things to progress beyond friendship, she didn’t feel the same way. Still, she returned his smile.

  She was unprepared for the expression that altered his face when he glanced beside her and spotted the stranger. It was some kind of blend of shock and alarm. He surged to his feet.

  Seeing his reaction, Avana looked over in Kyra’s direction. Her deep blue eyes flew wide, and she also got to her feet. Kyra realized Avana, too, was concentrating on the man.

  Fear made a grand resurgence, clutching Kyra around the throat. What did her friends know about this guy that she didn’t? Had he been in the news? Was he some kind of serial killer or mad rapist?

  Her pulse sounded in her ears as her adrenaline spiked. Sam said something that sounded like, “tie dean” or maybe “tidying,” but it was barely audible over the blood drumming in her head. Next to Sam, Avana started to bend over. To protect herself? To pick up something she had dropped from the large hobo bag she always carried? Kyra wasn’t sure, but Sam stopped her. His gaze once again moved to Kyra as the man pulled her to a stop a few feet away.

  “Kyra, are you all right?” Sam asked.

  “I—I think so,” she said, looking from him to the stranger, whose gaze remained trained on Sam. He had yet to let go of her arm, but he wasn’t hurting her or acting aggressively. In fact, the more that she stood there without anything frightening happening, the more bewildered she became. “Do you all, um, know each other or…something?”

  “Damn sure,” Avana murmured, her voice sounding almost reverent.

  She was looking at the stranger. Kyra guessed she also found the guy hot and was about to flip the flirt switch. For some reason, that knowledge irritated her.

  “Damn sure about what?” Kyra asked, pulling her arm free of the man’s grasp. “You’re sure you know him? Then who is he? He’s not very chatty.”

  Everyone exchanged looks that told her she was missing out on something they all knew. A random thought flew into her head.

  “Wait a minute,” she said, holding up a hand and praying for patience. “Did you guys arrange some kind of double date for tonight or something?”

  Avana looked at her and let out a tinkling laugh. Sam frowned and made a gesture with his head that indicated the man should join him in a private conversation a few feet away. The man didn’t move, however.

  “We must leave immediately,” the stranger said. He sounded as though he was used to people obeying his every command.

  “Seriously, Avana,” Kyra said, looking at her best friend. “This is the type of guy you see me with?”

  Muffling another laugh with the tips of her fingers, Avana looked at Sam. Something about that look made Kyra stiffen. Were they trying to pair Kyra with Sam rather than the new guy?

  The stranger looked down at her. “What you felt back there in the shadows was no figment of your imagination. There is real danger threatening you. We must leave now.”

  Avana’s eyes widened, all traces of humor gone. “Danger? My jaw care?”

  Well, that’s what it sounded like to Kyra. The inflection on the last three words was weird, though. She wondered if her friend was having a stroke. Or maybe Kyra was having one. Anything was possible.

  “You didn’t foresee this?” Sam asked Avana.

  She shook her head, looking tro
ubled.

  “Foresee what?” Kyra asked, tossing her hands into the air.

  “What danger are you talking about?” Sam asked the stranger, stepping closer to him and Kyra. “Is it—?”

  “Yes,” the man said.

  Sam exchanged another look with Avana, who now looked downright scared.

  “Okay, what the hell is going on here?” Kyra asked, crossing her arms over her chest. “I get that I was wrong about the whole double date thing, but if you all think I’m in some kind of danger, then I have the right to—”

  “Not now,” the stranger interrupted. “We must leave this place.”

  He tried to take her arm again. She jerked away, bristling over his rudeness. “I’m not going anywhere without an explanation.”

  “You know how stubborn she is, Ty,” Sam told the man. “You should just use your abilities now and be done with it.”

  Kyra’s eyes widened. “Sam!” she exclaimed. “Use his what on me? What do you mean, he knows how stubborn I—?”

  “I have already tried that,” the man she supposed was named Ty said. “For some reason, it won’t work.”

  Opening her mouth to launch another question, Kyra paused when Avana stepped forward and touched her arm. Her friend wore a much more somber expression than Kyra had ever seen from her.

  “Kyra, I know you’re confused right now. But you have to trust us. Have I ever lied to you?”

  Hesitating, Kyra looked around at the three serious faces gazing back at her. Her eyes settled on Ty’s before she said, “No.”

  Avana took her hand, once again drawing her attention. “Then please trust me when I say that you have to come with us right now. Your life and the lives of many others depend upon it.”

  Chapter 3

  It was like she had fallen into an episode of The Vampire Diaries, Kyra thought as she reluctantly walked with her friends across campus to Sam’s dorm room. The way they were acting, she wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to convince her that she was the sole human in a town full of supernatural beings. Sam even had the look of Damon Salvatore going for him.

  Barring that absolutely ridiculous scenario, she couldn’t imagine what was going on. All manner of explanations for their strange behavior ran through her mind. Maybe Sam and Avana were part of a cult, or had been at one time and were being coerced back. Maybe they were on the run from the police, having committed some crime that she was now unintentionally involved in. Maybe this was some weird sorority hazing because Avana secretly wanted to become a Kappa Delta.

  None of those explanations felt right. What did feel right, Kyra couldn’t help but admit, was the feeling of Ty’s hand on her arm. He refused to let her walk without him latched to her side. Where normally she would have bristled over being led around, for some reason, his touch made her feel safe. Considering she didn’t even know his full name and they’d only met a few minutes ago, she was at a loss to explain her reaction.

  Avana and Sam looked warily at every shadow, their gazes jumping from one place to the next. Ty, however, seemed to be systematically scanning the environment, drawing on more than his sense of sight as he sought whatever danger he thought was gunning for her. His movements were alert and efficient, making her feel as though nothing would get past him. Power all but emanated from him.

  It was beyond sexy.

  Once again, he glanced at her when the inappropriate thought entered her head. She deliberately looked away, wondering if her libido was giving off a glow he could detect or something. She had more important things to worry about than her growing attraction to this guy she’d just met.

  Avana and Sam really seemed to think she was in some kind of danger. That made no sense. They knew her. She was a straight-A student who kept her nose clean. Sure, she liked to party every so often, but she was always careful about what she drank, and used common sense in situations that could come back to bite her. She had two loving parents who lived only an hour away in a town of less than two thousand people, the town where she’d grown up. As far as she knew, she didn’t have any enemies.

  Her mind went to Rachel. Kyra had engaged in a number of arguments with the dorm monitor over the past couple years. But she couldn’t see why Rachel would want to kill her, for God’s sake. Hadn’t they just left things on civil terms?

  Scratching that off her mental list, she tried to think of someone else who would want to harm her. She came up blank. Not that she was perfect, but she just tended to avoid conflict whenever possible. She hadn’t butted heads with anyone because that would have caused too much stress.

  So who wanted her dead?

  The bald question settled heavily in her mind. Did she really believe that someone wanted to kill her? Why was she buying into this when she knew how crazy it sounded?

  Goose bumps rose on her arms as another thought occurred to her. Her gaze moved uneasily between Avana and Sam. Was she just being a prize idiot? Were the two people who had entered her life two years ago not really her friends, but people who had gotten close to her for another, more nefarious reason?

  She glanced over her shoulder. If she ran, she could—

  “I would find you anywhere you went,” Ty said.

  Gasping, she looked up at him. “How did—?”

  “You will get your answers shortly, Kyr.” His expression softened momentarily before the cool mask slid back into place. He returned his gaze to their surroundings. “I will never let any harm come to you.”

  The brief look she’d spotted in his eyes and his matter-of-fact vow distracted her long enough that she held her questions until they reached Sam’s dorm room. It took some careful maneuvering, as women weren’t allowed in the men’s dormitory. The confident way Sam timed it and plotted their course told Kyra this wasn’t the first time he’d evaded detection.

  His roommate, Doug, had already left to attend the party that they, themselves, had planned to attend, so they had privacy once they reached the room. It was just as small as Kyra and Avana’s room had been, so there were no chairs on which to sit. Kyra sat on Sam’s unmade bed. Ty sat next to her. Avana sat on Doug’s bed so that she faced Kyra. Sam walked immediately to his dresser and pulled a box out of one of his drawers.

  “Kyra,” Avana said, distracting her from watching Sam, who was now using some sort of key to open the box, “I know you have a lot of questions. Unfortunately, it seems we don’t have much time.”

  “That’s correct,” Ty said.

  “I’ll give you as much of an explanation as I can right now,” Avana continued as though Ty hadn’t interrupted, “and fill in the blanks later. The main thing you need to know is that all of us would give our lives to protect you.”

  Nothing she said could have alarmed Kyra more. She would have jumped up from the bed if Ty hadn’t reached over and taken her arm.

  “Please don’t talk,” Avana implored. “Just let me give you the basics so we can do what we need to do to get to safety.”

  Safety from what? Why weren’t they safe here? Why would her friends be risking their lives for her?

  Kyra saw the look in Avana’s eyes and clamped her jaw tight to keep from shouting the pressing questions.

  Nodding and taking a deep breath, Avana began, “We’re not who you think we are. I am AvanaLuja, a Divyner from the planet Alametria. The male you know as Sam is SemDane, a Mynder from the same planet. And this is TaeDane, the Dem-Shyr…your Mynder. The only reason Dem-Shyr TaeDane would be here is if your life was in danger. Because he mentioned seeing something in the shadows, I can only believe that means the Shelvaks have somehow traveled to this galaxy in their search for you. And they’ve found you.”

  It took a minute for Kyra to realize that Avana was done with her explanation. She stared at her best friend for a long moment without blinking. Her gaze moved slowly from Avana to Sam and Ty and then back to Avana again.

  She burst out laughing.

  “Yeah, right,” she snorted. “The next thing you’re going to tell me is tha
t you love Reese’s Pieces and you need to phone home.”

  “I do love Reese’s Pieces,” Sam said.

  Avana rolled her eyes. “She’s referring to the movie E.T., SemDane. She doesn’t believe us.”

  “Of course I don’t.” Kyra grinned. “That was quite an elaborate little story, though. How long did it take you to make all of that up?”

  “This is costing us too much time,” Ty said, getting to his feet. “It always takes a while to help Kyr remember, but that is time we can’t spare right now. We can’t defend ourselves in this small space. If they cut the power…”

  Sam frowned. “You’re right.”

  “Kyra, please listen to me,” Avana said, moving to Ty’s abandoned place on Sam’s bed and taking her hand. “I’ve never tried to trick you before, have I?”

  “Well…no.”

  “Can you think of any reason why I’d want to do so now?”

  Kyra frowned. She had expected her friends to drop the act once they realized she wasn’t buying it. Avana was terrible at controlling her reactions, which was why she didn’t usually lie. Her expression and tone rang with sincerity.

  Her mouth suddenly dry, Kyra shook her head.

  “I promise, I’m telling you the truth,” Avana said, giving her hand a squeeze. “Your memories of Alametria have been suppressed during your time here on Earth. You’ve been here learning important life lessons that you will bring back to Alametria with you when the time is right. This isn’t the first planet you’ve visited, and it won’t be the—”

  “It will be the last,” Ty interrupted. “We must bring her back to Alametria.”

  The numbness that had settled around Kyra’s mind lifted at that. “Wait a minute. You think I’m going to believe that you’re here to take me to another planet? A planet in another galaxy?” When she received their nods, she shook her head. “This is crazy. You’re all nuts if you think I’m going to believe that.”