by Scott, J. S.
“One realm,” Kat added excitedly.
Talia gave Kat a weak smile. “Yes. Paranormal beings exist in another dimension. But somehow, the Sentinels exist in the same realm as we do, but the Evils don’t, although they can visit this realm. And some entities occasionally pass through the barrier into the human realm for a variety of reasons.”
Kat nodded. “Like me. I can walk realms, go to those other dimensions. Kristoff is working with me to control that power. Right now it’s kind of a crapshoot where I’ll end up if I try to leave the human realm, but I’m getting better.”
Talia had recently met Kristoff, who she personally thought resembled both a god and man. He was physically beautiful, almost too perfect, and he emanated a power that was frightening. “I have a special power, too,” she admitted to Kat. “But it’s an unknown until it’s released if I mate with Drew.”
“Just be careful when you do. I know Zach told you what happened to me. You said ‘if,’” Kat replied curiously. “Don’t you want to be with Drew?”
Yes. Yes. Yes.
If the theory of radiants and Sentinels being similar to twin souls was correct, and if one soul really did complete the other, Drew was her match. Oh hell, she knew Drew was her partner soul. There was no other way to explain her yearning to be with him. She wasn’t experiencing infatuation or a schoolgirl crush. The way she felt when she was around Drew was more like a super-powered magnet trying to suck her toward him, refusing to let go. “I’ve spent most of my adult life trying to avoid men. I’m a freak, Kat.”
“You’re not a freak!” Kat exclaimed furiously.
“I see the paranormal. My eyes glow when I spot one in the human realm. I’m taller than a lot of men, and I’m so ugly that the only sexual experience I’ve had in my life was a fraternity prank when I was in college to see who could sleep with an ugly virgin for initiation.” She shot Kat a dubious look. “Freak,” she repeated.
“You’re statuesque and you have beautiful eyes,” Kat defended angrily. “Maybe you’re different, unique, but that doesn’t make you a freak. And Drew thinks you’re the most beautiful thing on earth. Do you really think I’m such a catch?” Kat gestured at her own body and face. “Until I met Zach, I didn’t believe I was attractive. I’ve always been overweight, and my red hair has constantly been the bane of my life. But Zach still looks at me like I’m the most desirable woman he’s ever seen. Give Drew some time. He’ll eventually convince you because he’ll never stop looking at you the way he does now.” Kat stopped and took a deep breath. “Your IQ is off the charts. I’d love to be that smart. It’s likely that the people in your life were just jealous. Do you have family?”
Talia felt a twinge of pain in her chest, a reminder of a time when she had a mother who loved her. “I never knew my father. I was the result of my mom’s first and only one-nighter. But I lost my mother four years ago. Luckily, I was left enough money to survive, and had enough scholarships to finish school.”
“Siblings?” Kat queried.
Talia lowered her head, remembering how alone she’d been almost her entire adult life except for her mother. When her only parent had died of cancer, she’d been completely alone. “No. I don’t have anybody.”
“You have all of us, now, Talia. The Sentinels will be your family,” Kat said softly. “I’ve only been married to Zach for a little over a month, but I love Kristoff, Drew, and Hunter like brothers.”
Somehow Talia couldn’t see Hunter as a brotherly type of guy, and she told Kat her thoughts.
“Hunter’s troubled,” Kat admitted reluctantly. “But he lost his whole family to the Evils. He can’t ever seem to get enough revenge to dissolve his anger. He cuts through the Evils like a madman, but he’s kind to me. I think there’s more to Hunter than anyone knows.”
Talia had sensed that, and she’d never been afraid of Hunter, no matter how mad, bad, and angry he seemed. His vibes were volatile, but not evil.
“I think I’d really like to have family,” Talia answered Kat honestly as she looked up at her. The other woman’s eyes glowed with nothing but kindness, and Talia sensed that she’d found a friendship like she’d never known. She’d never been good with people, but Kat was somehow different. It was like the two women understood each other perfectly. “And I do want to be with Drew. But we barely know each other.” But then, why does it seem like we’ve known each other forever, yearned for each other for a lifetime and beyond?
Kat leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “Patience isn’t exactly a Sentinel virtue, but get to know him. Drew has always been the reasonable Winston, the one who watches over everyone else, takes care of everyone else. He asks for very little in return. Except food. He deserves so much more, someone of his own. No one will ever care about you more.”
Talia wanted to get to know him in every way, including physically, but she answered aloud, “He’s trying to be patient.”
“Well, for a Sentinel in the mating process, it’s pretty hard,” Kat mused, smiling mischievously as she realized what she’d just said.
“It’s always hard,” Talia said with a laugh.
“Get used to it. It doesn’t change after you’re mated,” Kat snickered.
“Do you mind?”
“Nope,” Kat replied smugly. “Not a bit. I think I’d be disappointed now if Zach wasn’t so intense, although it took some getting used to.”
Talia wasn’t at all sure she’d have a difficult time getting used to being the object of Drew’s unrelenting desire. In fact, she was pretty sure she’d relish it once she got past her initial reservations and apprehensions. Right now, it was overwhelming, but she was fairly certain that she was living every woman’s fantasy with Drew.
“I think I could learn to live with that problem,” she answered Kat with a playful wink.
“It’s one of the perks of being a Sentinel’s radiant,” Kat corrected.
Talia reached out her arm and snatched a cookie to go with her coffee—one of Drew’s favorite treats. One of many! She chewed, letting the taste of chocolate and pecans explode inside her mouth. She swallowed before remarking hesitantly, “I just don’t want to disappoint him.”
“Not possible,” Kat said confidently.
Raising her coffee to her mouth, Talia hoped that Kat was right.
Drew watched as the penalty Sentinels prepared Hunter for another punishment, this time for decapitating two Evils without provocation. “Fuck! He can’t take any more of this. He damned went through it yesterday,” Drew said angrily to Zach, who standing at his side. “Why can’t he just stop?”
Drew and Zach usually didn’t watch the torture that their brother went through time after time for wasting Evils by the dozen. This time…they did. Hunter endured the penalties without complaint, but both brothers were concerned now, anxious that his sanity was starting to slip. Hunter broke the rules too often now, too close together, and it was taking its toll on him. He was already beaten and broken from yesterday’s infractions. Two days in a row was going to be too much. One of them would have to step in, trying to safeguard Hunter’s barely sound mind.
“Can’t you stop them?” Drew asked furiously, jerking his head at Kristoff, who was standing on his other side.
“I’d take his place if I could. But I’m not allowed to interfere. Not in the human realm,” Kristoff said regretfully. “But you’re correct. I’m not sure he can take much more.”
“I’ll take his place,” Zach answered, starting to step forward and toward the area where Hunter was about to take a beating.
“No!” There was no way Drew was letting Zach step in. Kat would kill him. He grasped Zach’s upper arm to stop him. “You have a mate to think about.”
“So do you,” Zach said solemnly. “Let me go, Drew. You don’t always have to be the one to step up to the plate all the time.”
“You’re not goin
g,” Drew replied adamantly, looking at Kristoff. “Permission to take Hunter’s punishment?” he asked his king.
Kristoff’s nod was nearly imperceptible. “Granted,” he replied formally, his voice strong, but resonating with regret.
Zach yanked his arm away from Drew. “Goddammit, Drew. You’ll be locked up all night.”
“Take care of Talia. Swear it!” he demanded of both his king and his brother, looking from one to the other.
“Done,” Kristoff and Zach answered in unison.
“Stubborn bastard,” Zach rasped, watching as Drew strode forward to relieve Hunter of his punishment. It was the right of a Sentinel to take the disciplinary action for another with permission from their king.
Drew didn’t hesitate. He came to a halt in front of the penalty Sentinel, blocking him from getting to Hunter. “I’ve been granted permission to take Hunter’s place. Let him go.”
The Sentinel who was to carry out Hunter’s sentence lifted his head and spotted his king standing across the open courtyard. Kristoff nodded and Hunter was released. It took him only a moment to get Hunter completely free.
“No. Get on with it,” Hunter told the penalty Sentinel. “I refuse to let him step in.” Hunter’s voice was hoarse and defiant.
The penalty Sentinel shrugged. “You can’t refuse. It’s an order from our king.”
It took several guards to take Hunter away, dragging him to Kristoff’s side. Drew breathed a sigh of relief as he saw all of them flash away—Hunter definitely not leaving by choice as Kristoff wrapped a powerful arm around his neck and transported out of sight.
They’ll take care of Talia.
Truth was, he didn’t want anyone watching over Talia except him. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Zach and Kristoff, but he needed and wanted to see her, to protect her. His mating instincts were screaming painfully at him to go to her, but he was bound by his word, and he would serve Hunter’s sentence. His brother was just a short step away from losing his mind, and he was afraid that any further punishment would send Hunter tumbling over the edge.
“You ready?” the Sentinel standing next to Drew asked stoically.
Drew didn’t bother doing things the human way. He wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. He made his clothing disappear magically, leaving himself completely nude.
A prolonged beating was first, followed by incarceration in the isolation cell. Sentinel demons couldn’t bear to be confined, and it was the worst sort of torment for them to have to live through being in the tiny prison with no escape. The cubicle was mystical, and Drew knew he’d be powerless the entire night. Not that he’d try to leave. Hunter’s fuck-up had to be punished, and the slate wouldn’t be clean until his time was served.
Drew gritted his teeth as he was bound to a brick wall, the captivity enough to irritate him.
The first crack of the whip hurt. The second was a bit more excruciating. He tried to think about Talia, how his whole life had changed since she’d entered it. Her beauty took his breath away, and everything about her delighted him. Occasionally, he’d delved into her memories, and most of them infuriated him, made him want to kill anyone who had ever hurt her. He’d be doing a lot of murder, because she’d been hurt time and time again. Talia had spent most of her life feeling unwanted and unattractive. The only happy memories he’d viewed were the ones of her with her mother, and even many of those were sad near the end of her mom’s life. Talia had spent most of her young life taking care of her mother during her prolonged fight with cancer, and the rest of it completely alone.
A freak.
Just the thought of that slur against his woman made him nearly insane. Talia was special, and in no way freaky. She was…perfect.
When Drew had finally taken the number of lashes that Hunter’s punishment required, he was released from the bounds, his body sagging from the pain.
How the hell did Hunter manage to do this so often? No wonder he was batshit crazy.
The cell was small, hardly big enough to enclose his body. He was barely able to move, and he had to stay in a seated position.
Panic closed in as the door began to shut, his natural demon instinct balking at being closed in, four walls confining him in a tiny little space.
The door clanked shut, plunging Drew into darkness. He strained against the walls and the door unconsciously, his sole objective being relief from the pain of being confined.
A scream in his head was the only thing that made him stop fighting—Talia’s shriek of pain. “Fuck! I need out. She’s in trouble,” he rasped in a low, frustrated voice. He pounded both fists furiously against the walls, now desperate to get to his mate.
He heard another scream, really listening this time, before coming to another conclusion. “She’s not in trouble with the Evils…she’s hurting.” Drew knew her in ways that were frightening, and he could tell the difference between her fear and pain.
Drew! He heard her scream for the third time, now clear enough for him to make out his own name.
Drew scrambled to block his thoughts, but he wasn’t able to do it. He had no magic as long as he was locked up, no way to hide his emotions from Talia.
And he realized with horror, much too late, that Talia could feel every bit of his pain.
He tried to blank his mind, to not let the pain of his imprisonment permeate his being, but his reaction was elementary, instinctively demon; he was screwed. In the end, he failed miserably, his angry, anguished demon crying out in fury and torment.
Drew’s hurting; he’s in trouble. I need to help him!
Talia bit her lip to muffle another scream, her body curled into a fetal position on the kitchen floor.
“What’s happening to her?” Kat asked Hunter, Kristoff, and Zach, the men having just arrived at Drew’s house. Kat knelt by Talia’s side, her hand stroking Talia’s hair anxiously.
“I don’t know,” Kristoff answered, his voice gruff and concerned.
Talia’s mind reached for Drew, but all she could find was misery and sorrow, and it was tearing her apart. “Drew. He’s hurting,” she murmured aloud, her body thrashing with every wave of pain he was experiencing.
“She knows,” Zach said angrily. “How the hell can that happen? They haven’t mated. And even then, she shouldn’t be able to feel his pain.”
“She’s an empath receptive to paranormal entities,” Kristoff replied abruptly, kneeling on the floor on the other side of Talia, his hand to her forehead and scalp. “Drew is her mate. She’s connecting with him because he can’t block her right now. Fuck! I didn’t know because I didn’t want to delve into her memories without permission. It shouldn’t be happening. Drew has no power right now.”
“You’re looking at her memories now,” Hunter pointed out huskily.
“I don’t have a choice,” Kristoff barked, shooting a furious glance at Hunter. “I can’t watch her suffer like this.”
Talia could hear the droning of voices, but she was centered on Drew, and she couldn’t make sense of what anybody was saying. “Help him. Please,” she begged, her only thought to save Drew from his agonizing mental torture. Why couldn’t any of them help him?
“What can we do?” Zach queried in a disturbed voice.
“What about Drew? Is there anything Irish can do?” Hunter questioned roughly.
“Drew doesn’t have any power. He’s imprisoned. You should know better than anyone what it’s like. But I have no doubt he knows what’s happening to Talia. She’s psychic and they have a connection that’s working even without his magic because they’re mates and she’s an empath. She blocks it herself most of the time, but Drew’s pain reached her, even from a distance, and she opened the pathways because she knew he was in trouble,” Kristoff answered abruptly.
Talia? Don’t fret, mo mhuirnín. I’m fine.
Talia could hear Drew’s voice in
her mind, and he was far from being okay. Talia felt his desperation and despair, even though he was trying to mask it and make light of it—unsuccessfully. “You’re suffering,” Talia whimpered, her body shuddering.
“Are they actually communicating? And where is Drew?” Kat asked frantically, her voice panicked as she looked at Kristoff questioningly.
“He’s serving Hunter’s sentence,” Zach answered angrily. “I knew I should have insisted. Dammit! You wouldn’t have been able to feel what I was feeling because I wouldn’t have had my magic. And when I do, I can block it.”
Kat shot Zach a warning look that said they would discuss his comment later. “How long?” she asked curtly.
“Drew’s imprisoned until dawn,” Kristoff replied grimly.
“Can you put her somewhere more comfortable? I’ll stay with her.” Kat’s voice was resigned.
“I’ll stay with her,” Hunter interjected. “Better yet, I’m going back and taking his place.”
“You…” Kristoff said sharply. “You will leave. Once I give the order for a Sentinel to take a punishment for another, it can’t be undone. Go and think about whether or not your selfish actions were worth causing your brother and an innocent pain, a human who we’re duty-bound to protect. I’ll deal with you later, when I’m able to be a little more rational. For now, your powers are bound.” Kristoff’s blue eyes glowed as he glared in Hunter’s direction…and Hunter disappeared almost instantaneously.
“We’ll stay with her, Kristoff,” Zach told his king solemnly.
Talia felt Drew’s mind drifting away from her, and the separation was more excruciating than his pain. She didn’t want him to leave her. If he was going to hurt, she’d rather bear the suffering with him than be separated from him. “No,” she cried out. “Don’t go!”
