by Sadie Jacks
Without easing myself from the shelter of her body, I carried her to my room. I needed our combined scents filling my space. Saturating it. Overwhelming my more sensitive nose. Imprinting itself on my brain the way she’d imprinted herself on my heart.
“Fuck.” I looked down at the woman in my arms. I couldn’t fucking believe it. I’d fallen in fucking love with her.
A low purring snore rumbled from her chest.
Chapter 41 – Kiema
A heavy pounding filtered through the weight of sleep. I batted at the sound, snarled, before pushing my head under the pillow.
Go away.
More pounding.
“Ms. Feuer! This is Dallas with the front gate. Ms. Feuer!”
I threw my pillow across the room. Got to my hands and knees.
“You have unauthorized visitors. Ms. Feuer!”
“Shit, shit, shit.” I bounded from the bed, awake enough to grab a discarded sheet from the floor on my dash to the front door.
“Ki?” Ransom yelled from his shower.
“The guys are here,” I yelled back.
I slid the last foot to the door, the sheet caught under my feet. Slamming into the solid wooden door, I had to take a minute to steady myself.
“Wait!” Ransom yelled.
I wasn’t going to leave them out there. I checked through the peephole to make sure it was the front gate guard first. I wasn’t stupid.
The guard rolled his eyes, muttered something under his breath, and raised a fist into the air.
I pulled the door open before the guard could pound on it again. “Thanks, Dallas. I forgot to call. There should be an Atlas, Asher, Saint, Xander, and Taryk here. Please show them through the gates. I’ll take care of all the formalities.” I shut the door in his face. His surprised face.
We weren’t going to have a lot of time before the guards called my parents.
“Damn it, Ki. I said to wait.” Ransom came out of the room, a skimpy towel barely covering the essentials.
Damn shame about that towel. I eyed the man who had given me a life I’d never thought to dream of.
Before I could move to his side and kiss his sexy mouth, more loud banging came from the front door.
I raised my eyebrows. “That was fast.”
“You didn’t think they were going to wait around with their thumbs up their asses, did you?” Ransom said, his face dark.
Another round of banging on the door.
I studied the man in front of me. His face was closed down, his expression withdrawn. “Are you okay?”
He gave me a stiff nod.
I tipped my head to the side. “Are we okay?” I motioned to the space in between them.
“I don’t know if I can share you.” He said it fast, his gaze glued to the floor.
“Then I won’t be shared. I love you, Ransom.” I felt the heat rise to my cheeks. “I know it’s only been a little more than a week. You probably think I’m a silly woman, falling in love with the first man who can touch her. But you’d be wrong. I love more than being able to touch you. Although I love that, too. I love your heart. The way your friends act and respect you. How you—”
The rest of my words were cut off by his mouth. I lifted my arms, running my hands over his shoulders. Pulling him tighter against me.
He kissed me once, twice, three times before he set me away. “I love you, too.”
“Good.”
The guys banged on the door again. This time it sounded as if all five of them did it at the same time over the entire door. It almost rattled in its casing.
Ransom rolled his eyes. “I guess we should let them in.”
“Especially if you want any real clothes. Although, I’m a little sad that you’ll be covering up.” I pouted up at him, my bottom lip popped out.
He leaned down and bit it. “Then I’ll stay in a towel.”
I kissed him. “I’m not sure that’s going to be real conducive to getting any work done.”
He sighed and set me away. “Killjoy.”
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
“We’re coming, damn it!” Ransom yelled through the door.
“Then open the fuck up! The guards are looking like they want to shoot us!” I couldn’t tell who was talking, but I figured they were right about the guards. Loyal to my parents, they would protect the investment I represented at all costs.
I moved and opened the door. The stiff breeze slapped me in the face and reminded me that I was covered in a bed sheet. Heat rose to my cheeks, despite the cool air.
“Welcome to the cabin. Please come in.” I stepped to the side.
“Hi Ki-Ki!” Asher was standing on the top step.
“Hi Asher.”
“Just remember, don’t to—” Ransom began
Asher bussed my cheek.
Agonizing pain ripped through my body as my spirit merged with Asher’s.
Chapter 42 – Kiema
I didn’t have time to explain the rules! It was my first thought landing in the spiritual landscape of Asher’s body. Unlike the colors of the rainbow that I’d experienced in Ransom’s, Asher’s were predominantly browns, greens, and golds. It reminded me of the forest that sat just beyond the perimeter of the cabin.
While I didn’t really understand what was happening in his body from a medical perspective, I could see the pieces of his spirit that were at war. The gray and the earth tones were fighting in a swirl of chaos.
The pulsating fiber of black was threaded through each earth tone. Almost as if it were the origin of the colors. I grabbed one piece of the black fiber and willed my spirit to find the beginning of it.
The black thread threw me off. I felt like I was kicked in the guts and then run over with a semi truck. I bounced off the edges of Asher’s body.
I can make the pain stop, I whispered.
The war of colors stilled almost as if his spirit could hear and understand me.
I touched the black thread again, this time using only a wisp of my own energy to entwine with it.
Then I was moving. It felt like being moved along by an elevator.
A sudden stop. Then a shimmering ball of black appeared. It was huge. Vaguely animalistic in shape, it was all the colors of the earth with that throbbing tinge of black.
I sent out tendrils of my spirit. The ball accepted them, pulled me toward it.
Be careful, we don’t want to hurt either of us, I said.
It pulsed twice.
It slowed its pull.
I continued to feed the ball until it was completely encased in my own spirit.
Are you ready, I asked.
The ball pulsed two more times.
Good. I gathered my courage and severed the line connecting them.
One body, one spirit.
One body, one spirit.
One body, one spirit.
Kiema’s body, Kiema’s spirit.
Kiema’s body, Kiema’s spirit.
Thank you, Gaia.
Kiema’s body, Kiema’s spirit.
Between one breath and the next, I was in my own body.
Luckily, someone had moved me to a bathroom. I bent as my stomach tried to evacuate my body.
This time I felt it. Between the retching and heaving, I felt that bloody sphere detach from somewhere in my magical landscape, hit the bottom of my stomach, and slide up my throat.
I needed to remember that for Dr. Atlas.
I passed out before I could say anything.
Chapter 43 – Ransom
“You stupid fucking idiot,” I yelled at Asher as Kiema went completely still. Shoving the guys out of the way, I smashed Asher’s face to Kiema’s.
“Don’t you fucking move,” I growled at my friend.
“What the fuck is going on with her?” Saint asked, his brow furrowed.
“We have to move them, together, to the nearest bathroom. They can’t separate until she’s back in her own body.”
Her body was
stiff as a board and just as cold.
Wrapping Asher and Kiema in my arms I started walking backwards into the living room.
“Taryk, find me the nearest bathroom. It’s going to be off to the left somewhere. Not the first door on the right though. That one’s got the specimen.
Taryk sidled past our small group.
“Door,” I said, not caring who got it.
It slammed closed behind me.
“This way,” Taryk called. “Third door on the left down the far left hallway.”
“What’s happening?” Dr. Atlas asked, rushing behind me.
“She’s been sucked into Asher’s magical spiritual plane thing. It's where she does her healing.”
“Did this happen to her when she healed you?”
“Yes. Although I didn’t have to watch her become a mannequin, that part had already happened. I don’t want to ever see it again in my life.”
Taryk had the bedroom and bathroom lights on. I made sure to keep Asher and Kiema together as I moved them to the bathroom. All the guys filtered in behind me. The room was spacious, but six grown men and a woman did take up a lot of real estate.
Looking at their faces, I knew none of them were going to leave.
I looked at Asher. His brown hair was its usual mess. The pallor of his skin was new. “Is she going to be okay?” he asked.
I heard the quaver in my friend’s voice. Remembered the terror that flooded my system when this had happened to me.
I gave my friend a tight nod.
I looked around the room, found the collection of rags and towels. “Get that small rag wet with cool water. Wring most of it out. She’s going to need it when she comes back.”
Saint stepped forward, performed the duty.
Asher went rigid in my arms. “Whatever the hell she’s doing, something inside me doesn’t like it.”
“Don’t you fucking let her go. You stay still. You absorb that pain like your life depends on it,” I growled in his face.
Asher nodded the slightest degree, his cheek still plastered to Kiema’s cheek. He closed his eyes, shutting away the golden-brown irises, concentration plain on his face. He settled, drawing deep breaths in through his nose, pushing them slowly out through his mouth.
Everyone waited. I felt sweat break out over my body. She has to be okay.
Like coming back from the dead, Kiema’s whole body inhaled.
I pushed Asher back, and turned Kiema to the toilet. She knelt as she began the process of emptying her stomach. Saint handed me the cool wash rag.
I placed it on her neck and waited.
I waited, anxious and terrified, to see if she would expel another organ-like sphere.
I winced. There it was.
But I couldn’t worry about it right now. She was folding over from unconsciousness.
“That’s for you, Atlas.” I nodded towards the toilet. “The original one is in the bathroom the first door on the right.” I picked Kiema up. All the guys moved out of the way.
I set her on the bed in the connecting room.
“We’re screwed,” I said.
“How so? I need to evaluate her,” Atlas said as he laid his medical bag on the floor. He opened it, fished around in its depths.
“Not happening, Atlas. You can’t touch her. At least not skin to skin. We’ve successfully been able to touch through the shower curtain and cotton. We don’t know about latex gloves or anything else.” I rubbed a hand down my face. “I also don’t know if that applies only to Asher or everyone.” I punched a fist into the bed. “There’s so much we don’t fucking know.”
“We’ll get started on the answers, boss. Settle,” Saint said. “First order of business let’s all find rooms. There should be enough for all of us to have our own space.”
“That’s where we’re screwed. We only have two days left on the designated ritual time. If everything moves along the same timeline as before, Kiema is going to be in no shape to move. Hell, if she stays true to the first time, she’s going to be experiencing some wicked body changes, including temperature fluctuations.”
“What happened last time?” Dr. Atlas asked, a digital notebook in his hand.
I gave them all a rough outline.
“So I’ll start bulking up soon?” Asher asked. He looked down at his body. It was fit, if a little on the skinny side. Long term illness will do that to a person.
I stood up, not caring that I was naked. “Exhibit A.”
The guys studied me. Especially Dr. Atlas.
“I’ll need to get started on a new workup for you, Ransom. Your physical form has changed dramatically and in about a week, you said?”
I nodded.
“We brought you new clothes. They’re in one of the suitcases by the door. Not that you’re not pretty, but pack it away, man. We don’t dig the dudes,” Xander said.
I laughed a little hollowly, my mind still focused on Kiema. “Follow me. We’ll talk some more while she’s out.”
We all walked to the living room.
“I’m fucking starving,” Asher said, rubbing a hand over his belly.
“You’re more than welcome to fix whatever you can find. It’s really basic fare,” I warned. Asher was a bit of a food snob.
“I’ll come up with something.” The other man headed into the kitchen area, began opening cupboards and taking stock of the pantry.
Taryk handed me the right suitcase. I tossed it on top of the island, fished through it. Grabbed the first set of anything I could lay my hands on.
“Before you dress, let’s get your measurements. I brought a scale with me as well. I’ll need to calibrate it.” Atlas waved me over where he’d set up a small computer.
“Hurry up. I’ve been dressed in sheets for the last week. I’m pretty excited about putting non-shredded clothes back on.”
“How long is Kiema going to be out?” Saint asked. He’d stayed back at the hallway entrance.
“Could be twenty minutes, could be hours. She woke up a couple of different times during the healing with me. The first time after healing me, she had some kind of seizure episode. She came out of it on her own though, and hasn’t had any others she told me about.”
Saint peeled off and ran down the hall. “Atlas!” he called after a moment.
I barely got my pants up over my ass before I jetted after him.
Everyone else followed me down to the bedroom where I’d left her.
Her back was bowed once more like a crescent moon, we all stood helplessly by while she suffered.
Atlas reached out.
I slapped his hand. “Seriously, don’t even fucking try.”
Atlas glared at me. “I might be able to do something for her.”
“Unless you have the ability to touch her no one knows about, and have something to stop seizures, you’re going to have to wait. No one’s touching her, but me. And I’m not touching her right now. We do need to collect all the blankets we can find though. She’s right on schedule and she’s going to get cold.” I pushed to the far wall.
“What are you doing?” Taryk asked.
I turned to find the Human Chameleon to be the only other person in the room.
“Opening the windows. Last time she had heightened senses, including smell. The bathroom is going to be awful for her. As soon as she comes out of the seizure, I’ll move her to the living room. Can you go open those windows, please?”
“On it.”
“Tell the guys to take the blankets there. We can build her a fire.”
**
“Your blood work is impressive, Ransom. I want to do some more tests when we get back home. But I would say that you’re in the prime of your life. All of your levels and enzymes are in normal ranges,” Atlas said, not looking away from his computer. “Cellular atrophy has stopped. In fact, I’m seeing new cell growth, division, and increased numbers of muscular cells.
Everyone was gathered in camp chairs around the mattress we’d thrown on the floor for
Kiema. Mountains of blankets spilled from the mattress onto the floor.
“I could have told you that, Doc. But I’m glad we have the medical proof now.”
“I’ll need to start a file on Kiema. If she consents,” Atlas added when I growled.
“We can ask her.” I nodded. Glared. “But those better not be the first words out of your mouth, Dr. Atlas.”
“I do have people skills, Ransom.”
“I think she’s awake,” Saint called, still at his station at the mouth of the hallway.
I shot from my chair, raced down the hallway to the room.
I started speaking before I even checked to see if she was awake. “Ki, we’re here. You’re safe. I’m going to move you to the living room. We’ve already got it opened up with a fire going and all the blankets you’re going to need or want.”
“I’m fine, Ransom. Except for the horrendous smell in here.” Kiema rolled over from her side. “I’ll take that spot out by the fireplace though.” She stretched out, clenched all the muscles in her sexy body. Gave a long groan.
The men at my back sucked in air.
A growl unfurled from my throat.
Kiema stood up from the bed, stopped. She looked down at herself, looked back up. “Why’s everyone staring at me? Is something wrong?”
“Not one thing, kitten,” Taryk called from his position next to me. “We’re just admiring your beauty.”
A blush rose to Kiema’s cheeks.
“Um. Thanks.”
I reached out a hand. She took it.
The group traveled back out to the living room.
Asher waited for her to take a spot on the mattress. He got down on it with her, careful to keep space between their skin. “I’m so fucking sorry, Ki-Ki. I shouldn’t have touched you, shouldn’t have assumed –”
She cut him off with a hand to his chest, her hands well away from the skin showing at his throat. “I understand, Asher. I forgot to explain the rules. I’ve gotten so used to Ransom, I forgot to warn you all what would happen. My fault.”
Asher’s normally pale cheeks took on a rosy glow.
