Libra Ascending: An Epic Urban Fantasy Romance (Zodiac Guardians Book 1) by Tamar Sloan (adult books to read .TXT) 📗

It was only yesterday that Tess said they needed to be careful with the nanites. His pod didn’t land with an infinite supply.

Which must mean they’re worried.

To be honest, so is he…

“All done,” Zarius mutters, as if his jaw is wired shut. “Now, we wait.”

Tristan wills his mind to relax. The nanites won’t take long. When his body is working again he’s going to hug these two. Hard.

And then tell them to never tell stories in the car again.

Tess’s perfume tickles his nose. “Why isn’t it working?”

“I don’t know.” Zarius’s voice is so quiet Tristan has to strain to hear him.

“What was he shot with, Zarius? This isn’t normal.”

“I don’t know. It’s not a weapon I’ve seen before.”

Figure it out, Zarius! If Tristan could grab him by the shirt and shake him, he would.

“He’s breathing,” Zarius muses as if he’s talking to himself. “Pulse is slow but steady.” There’s another pause. “He’s paralyzed.”

Paralyzed? But—

“Oh god. We need to get him to a hospital—”

“No,” Zarius cuts Tess off. “He has nanites in his system. They’ll ask too many questions.”

Questions they can’t answer.

“But…” Tess whispers. “He can’t eat. Can’t drink.”

Last time Tristan checked, people don’t survive so well without food or water.

Suddenly, Zarius is a flurry of motion. “I’ll take some blood, study what kind of dark matter has poisoned him. There’ll be an antidote we can program into the nanites.”

“Is that possible? We only have a few days.”

“Chardis can manipulate dark matter to his will—it’s how Skins are able to turn invisible. It gives his weapons unique properties. It seems this poison freezes the motion of cells. I’ll just have to find a way to reverse it.”

Tess goes silent and Tristan wonders if she’s thinking the same thing he is. Zarius makes it sound simple, but they all know it’s not. He’s talking about subatomic particles, here. Ones that don’t behave the way anything else on Earth does. Heck, humans haven’t even observed them yet.

If the technology Zarius needs isn’t in the pod Tristan arrived in…

“I’ll get started.” Zarius’s words are hard with determination. “Tess, you’ll need to keep his mouth moist. A wet cloth wiped across his lips on a regular basis.”

“Already got the cloth.”

Of course Tess does. Caring comes instinctively to her. It’s why, seventeen years ago, she plucked a wailing baby from an alien pod out in the middle of nowhere and vowed to do everything she could to protect him.

But before anything else can happen, a beeping sounds somewhere behind Tristan. Instinctively, Tristan tries to leap into action. He’s been trained to respond to that alarm.

It’s the one alarm that means you act now, think later.

Except his body remains inert. Helpless.

It means Tristan has to lie there, motionless and vulnerable, as Zarius turns it off. The sensor is linked to outside the house. It detects dark matter.

Which means Skins are about to attack.

Zarius curses. “It’s the poison. It led them straight here.”

“They’ve found us?” gasps Tess.

“You stay here and protect Tristan,” says Zarius. “I’ll deal with them.”

What? No! Zarius is still injured from the last fight! And Tristan is supposed to be the one who helps protect Tess. He struggles against the darkness holding him, but it’s like fighting air…without a body. Mentally, he screams a denial. He should be beside Zarius, showing the Skins they don’t ever want to come here again.

Zarius’s heavy boots clatter up the stairs. The sound of Tess’s breathing draws near, rapid and shallow. “Tristan, I don’t know if you can hear me or not, but don’t worry. Everything will be alright.”

Tristan would give anything to be able to reach out and grasp her hand. Tell her it’s going to be okay.

Then run up those stairs and actually make sure those words are the truth.

But he can’t even feel if Tess is holding him. All he can do is lie here. Listening.

Like a trussed duck waiting to be cooked.

A clatter echoes from above them, followed by a crash. Tess gasps, the sound even closer. More thumps then the sound of splintering wood carries down to them.

The Skins are inside. Zarius is fighting them.

Then there’s silence.

Tristan strains to hear why. Has Zarius won?

Have the Skins…

But there’s nothing. He can’t even hold his breath, strain his neck, for pitch sake.

The thumping of boots on the steps finally fractures the quiet.

“Zarius?” Tess asks quietly.

But Tristan already knows the answer. The footfalls were too light, too slow. They’re the steps of a man smaller than Zarius, one approaching with far more caution than a worried husband.

Tess’s sharp intake of breath tells him she sees the Skin. “Don’t you dare touch him.”

“Oh, Chardis is going to do more than touch him,” the man sneers. “It seems the poison did exactly what it was supposed to.”

Lead them straight to them, like a freaking homing beacon. As Tristan lies paralyzed, waiting for them to carry him out.

Tess’s feet shuffle beside him. She’s moving into a fighting stance, just like she’s been taught. Except she’ll be no match against a man consumed by dark matter. A man robbed of soul and conscience.

Zarius! Where are you?

“Don’t take another step,” Tess warns, her voice low and determined.

The man chuckles. “The whole plan is quite clever, really. There’s an antidote, you see. Once we have Gem secured, we want him to talk.”

There’s a subtle crunch as a boot scrapes over the concrete floor.

“Stay where you are! I won’t let you touch him!”

“You won’t be alive to stop me.” The Skin’s voice is cold as death, the words full of promise.

Tristan strains as he battles the invisible chains holding him down. But he’s in a vacuum. Powerless as he hears the Skin leap.

As Tess’s scream is cut short.

As something large hits the wall on the other side of the room and crashes onto the desk.

Tess!

14

Brielle

Brielle’s feet are heavy as she climbs the front steps of the orphanage. All she wants to do is go to bed and let sweet sleep erase