Although she was absorbed in the story, she had to ask? "What gift?"
"Assaud can heal people; it is a gift that he has kept from my father. He and my uncle have no qualms about hurting people; if they knew what Assaud could do they would hurt them, then heal them and hurt them again. As it is, Assaud is the one who has been tasked with getting rid of the people they have hurt, they think he is killing them when what he is actually doing is healing them, and handing them over to the medicine man who gets them to safety."
Ellie was confused. "Why hasn’t any one killed him?"
"My father rules by fear, he is a large and intimidating man, who is much bigger than me and I am large for a Jaguar. He has also surrounded himself by three other people who rule with him; he has a variety of human weapons making him a strong adversary in the jungle. Sometimes I think walking away and waiting for the right time was the coward's way out."
This time she kissed him though it was not a passionate kiss, it was a soft and tender kiss that filled him with hope.
"A true warrior knows when to fight and when to walk away; I am excellent at the first but not so hot at the last. You are no coward Luke and believe me when I say that if you were, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Thank you for trusting me."
He lay on his back as she snuggled into him, the closeness between them having amplified in the space of minutes. "Now my warrior, tell me something about you that no-one knows."
Ellie had to think about this, she had few secrets mainly because as a person she was upfront and at times confrontational, but he had shared so maybe she should too. "Let's start with the easiest one, I think I am sort of, well I might still be you know…." She was mumbling through this in the hope that she didn’t have to spell IT out.
"No El I don’t know."
Slapping him lightly she hinted again. "Don’t be ridiculous Luke, yes you do it's obvious."
Luke thought until clarity hit him, she couldn’t mean, no surely not. She was so beautiful and charismatic he couldn’t be right. "El, are you trying to say that you are a virgin?"
The incredulous tone in his voice made her defensive. "And what is so wrong with that?" Taking a breath she muttered. "Well I think I am."
Just having her in his arms made him feel content, well not as content as if he had just been in her, but as content as any man could be with a raging erection. That she was a virgin was both scary and exciting all at once.
"Explain how you think you are because my thinking is that if you are not sure then either it was awful in every way, or you are undoubtedly a virgin."
With a sigh she contemplated not telling him anymore, experience though told her that he would needle the truth from her. "There was this one time after a few drinks at a party, I decided to see what all of the fuss was about so I let this man have what I can only describe as a quick fumble where he tried to you know push it in. The thing was I didn’t like it, so I told him to stop."
He had a feeling that there was more to it than that. "And then what El?"
"Oh the rest was nothing exciting, I told him to stop, he didn’t want to so I head butted him, he was pissed, really pissed." She started laughing to herself; Luke didn’t feel like laughing when he wanted to murder someone. "He actually tried to have me arrested for breaking his nose."
"What happened then?" He could hear the strain in his own voice.
"Don’t get all possessive Luke, anyway the police ignored him after hearing my version of events and then, well I am not meant to know this, but Ben beat him up, bless him."
"How are you so nonchalant about this, if it had been your sisters what would have been your reaction."
When she responded there was no longer anything nonchalant about her, her tone was one of steel, her words factual and lacking emotion. "They would be dead now, after suffering a long and slow death."
He loved this little warrior. "Let's come back to the virgin thing I don’t suppose you will let me remedy it?"
"Luke Drakos, I will not."
He chuckled in her ear again. "Then tell me the harder thing."
"Huh." Ellie feigned confusion.
"You said, I will tell you the easiest thing, so now it's your turn to dish."
Now it was her turn to reveal her secrets and she struggled to work out where to start. "Destiny is real; she is an incredibly powerful goddess."
This statement prompted Luke to lift himself on his elbow needing to see whether she was serious. "Now this has a story behind it."
Ellie nodded, it did indeed have a story that still pained Ellie. "My mom was being stalked by an insane witch who was dating my dad; don’t ask me questions about that it would take all night to explain. Anyway the bitch took my mom before she summoned a demon, and no I am not joking. So the witch screwed up, and the demon took the witch while her flunky killed my dad. In between all of this, Mitch who is a warrior for the gods and goddesses, and is a friend of my mom was summoned up top by Destiny who gave him a vial that would allow mom to save one life. She saved my dad's life which sounds terrific, only it wasn't. Dad came back to life at which point Destiny took him for some higher purpose. We know he keeps an eye on us because we get presents on birthdays and Christmas, but he is still up there and we are down here."
Luke didn’t know what to say. "Either you are utterly insane, or you have the strangest family connections. Why aren’t you angry, you know about the loss issues?"
How could he still make her laugh when she was baring her secrets and fears? "I honestly do think that I might be insane what with me talking to horses and wild cats, but it's true. Destiny is there in heavens, she has my father and this is where it gets hard for me. My dad was a lovely, kind man who was loving, and affectionate with us girls. He loved us yet I never felt connected with him even as a child, I loved him, oh I don’t know how to explain it except to say that I didn’t feel close to him, even though he was a marvellous father. Anyway when mom met Ben, I was rude and challenging due to a personal oath to myself to protect my mom and sisters, no-one was going to hurt them. I expected Ben to challenge me back."
Luke was riveted as he was given a chance to understand the little girl she used to be. "And, carry on please Ellie…"
She snuggled close, hoping to protect herself from the pain inside of her. "Well he didn’t challenge me; he told me that I had the heart of a warrior. Instead of fearing it Ben taught me to fight, to care, and to protect. He let me grow and develop, never once letting it scare him."
"That's good isn’t it?"
With a sigh she continued afraid to stop now. "It is good, I love Ben, but I feel guilty."
He kissed her head. "Why?"
This was her secret. "Because Ben is my father in a way my dad wasn’t, I connected with him as a father does a daughter and have always had an extremely deep bond with him, which is something I never felt with my real dad and I hate myself for feeling that way."
He kissed her softly savouring her raw anguish; this was the real Ellie, the person with doubts and insecurities, the person who hurt just like the rest of them.
"Ellie you are allowed to have more than one father, had your father been there for you, you would have had two relationships and two father figures just in different ways. That is not a dreadful thing, Ben was there when you needed him yet your father will always be your birth father, the person who cradled his baby, who fed and nurtured you at that crucial time."
"I suppose."
"No suppose about it, Ben was able to help you understand and develop who you are, if your father had been here I am sure he would have helped you develop your other characteristics, like the kind and thoughtful side that you try to keep hidden. Every action, every loss and every gain plays a part in moulding the person, without the pain how do we know true joy? Now, I think we have both bared enough for one night though surprisingly neither of us is running for the hills." She was yawning mid grin as he kissed her cheek. "So unless you are willing to work on the virginity thin
g we should sleep."
"Sleep sounds like the safest option." She closed her eyes comforted in the knowledge that sleep was coming for her.
"Sometimes it's fun to ignore safe warrior."
She murmured while poking him in the ribs. With a sigh he kissed her head and listened to her breathing. "Luke."
"Mmmm."
"Will it poke me in the thigh all night or go down when you go to sleep."
He kissed her head again. "You are so cute, IT is called a penis and with you in my arms it’s a sure bet that IT will be there all night."
"Luke."
"Mmm."
"I am not cute."
"Ellie."
"Mmm."
"I think you are cute."
She ignored him as sleep took her though the grin remained on her face for a while longer.
Chapter 27
Although she hated to admit it, Ellie had never felt so relaxed and free of responsibility as she did over the next few weeks. Claire seemed to be coping well spending a lot of time in the forest researching the tree and animals. When Luke bought the place, he had taken the furthest seven acres and shipped in trees that were as close as he could get to what would be in his natural habitat. Claire now had a book comparing the trees and plants to those that would be in a Jaguars natural habitat.
In the mornings she helped Sandy with the children before taking Devil for a ride and then heading to the cottage to help Luke. So far they had decorated and put new flooring in, today they had finished stripping and repainting the windows.
When everyone else was settled for the night, she had taken to sneaking into Luke's bed where he was waiting with open arms. He never pushed her too far, sticking only to his kisses, yet she was finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a distance. When she had free time she was researching everything she could about Luke's birth place, and the people there. Imogen was sending her some information that she had pulled from computer records.
The rainforest sounded both intimidating and exciting, she had decided that taking out Luke's father and uncle would be her next job. When all of this infatuation with Luke wore off she would need a focus, something to channel her energies on and she had found it.
As she watched the time passing, she was itching with the need to burn off some energy and though Luke offered to help her by sparing, she had declined. Now she had a solution that was building her excitement. Not bothering to shower as there was no point, she rushed to the edge of the forest as the sun set which is where they had agreed she could burn off her excess energy.
Behind her Luke watched. "How can this excite you, actually the fact that it does excite you should scare me?"
She stopped her bouncing. "Does it?"
He had settled on a tree stump waiting for the show. "Shit no, though it does make me horny."
"Everything makes you horny." She was becoming used to his sexual innuendoes and on occasions she made her own; thankfully she didn’t have time to respond this time as Sandy's voice startled her.
"Sorry, I think I misheard you son." Even Luke had the good grace to blush at his moms comment.
"Sandy what are you doing here?" Ellie hadn’t told Sandy her plan, so the fact that she now carried a foldout chair and Claire was following with another unnerved her.
"Well according to my son and your sister, this should be quite a show."
Luke's mom couldn’t see her like this, her thoughts failed to go any further as Vlad materialised with Ice and Shaun by his side. She grinned at them both preparing herself mentally. "Excellent, a challenge."
Ice was in a word, a brute who was classically handsome in a Viking sort of way he oozed menace and was a damned skilful fighter which right now Ellie needed. Ice glanced at Claire with a nod while Vlad introduced himself to Sandy and then Luke which irked Ellie for she was not ready to make happy families.
"Let's do this princess." Ice was smiling while Shaun was waiting in the background chatting animatedly with Sandy as though they were taking a picnic in the park.
"Take your time Ice, at your age you are not as spritely as you used to be." As the insults were traded using humour they danced around each other, both waiting for an opening. Ice got there first landing a blow to her stomach.
"EXCUSE ME, YOUNG MAN BUT I WILL ASK YOU TO STEP AWAY FROM THE LADY."
Everyone stopped, and turned to Albert who was walking out of the forest with a shot gun that she suspected was loaded in his hands, jaws dropped until Ellie ran to him ignoring the gun and hugging a somewhat bewildered Albert, who was still aiming the gun at Ice.
"Albert these are my friends."
"I disagree; I don’t think a friend would hit a woman."
It was Luke who intervened. "Ellie likes to fight Albert, she does it to let off steam and the shotgun will not work on vampires."
Although Albert dropped the gun, he muttered something about 'women not being women and men not protecting them and when did he agree to let vampires visit, then again why did he need consulting' whilst he was walking to the house.
Taking advantage of Ice's momentary distraction, she ran for him delivering a swift kick to his knee which started the real fun. Over the next hour they hit, kicked, jump and fought till both were exhausted. While a few times she heard Sandy cheer, she heard Luke's voice all of the time. When they were sated, they stopped for a rest with Luke providing her with water and Shaun providing Ice with a bottle of blood.
"Who the hell made a human as strong as a damned vampire, you are one of the best fighter I have ever met Ellie, but one day I will beat you." There was admiration in Ice's tone.
"Keep hoping old man."
Shaun interrupted them. "Well for sure I don’t honestly care about the future, right now though, I do care about my fight, Ice why do ye always ruin my fun. I was next, but you exhausted her."
With his Irish twang, black hair and sea green eyes, Shaun was everyone's friend and everyone's confidant. While his friends loved him, his enemies underestimated him and the women adored him. He looked sexy and gentle, but he was hiding strong vampire abilities.
"Who said I was exhausted."
Sandy looked at her with anxiety and excitement. "That was fantastic you are so talented. I agree that you do look exhausted maybe that’s enough for tonight."
"Yeah Ellie it's enough." Ice's taunting rallied her pumping the adrenalin through her body.
"Come on pretty boy." She jumped up only for Sandy to stop her.
"Let's clean you up first young lady." Sandy was gentle as she cleaned Ellie's lip and rubbed some cream that seemed to appear from nowhere onto her already bruised arm.
All cleaned up she was ready, Shaun was lighter on his feet than Ice so speed was essential. Ellie accepted what she considered to be a little beating before she pummelled him with her own. It was Albert who stopped them.
"ENOUGH YOUNG LADY, NOW YOU’VE HAD YOUR FUN, SO COME IN AND SETTLE DOWN. HOW SHE WILL SLEEP WITH ALL OF THIS EXCITEMENT I DON’T KNOW, BUT YOU STOP NOW."
His tone brooked no argument so she nodded and flaked on the floor. Without conscious thought, she found herself sat between Luke's legs on the tree stump. It was instinct so initially she had no idea why Ice, Shaun and Vlad were staring at her until she found herself in between Luke's arms. Shit.
Claire rescued her. "It's rude to stare boys; surely you have seen a woman sit with a man before. Vlad I hope you have considering you have made my sister pregnant."
All eyes turned to Vlad taking the focus from Ellie thank god, which gave her the chance to make her excuses as she went to shower leaving the others outside.
Luke had enjoyed watching Ellie fight; she came alive and showed the animalistic side of her. He had never met vampires except for Darius, who was part of the pack. Initially Luke thought that these men seemed amiable and sociable, until the one named Vlad asked him to show him around making him realise that another warning was on its way. How the hell any of the girls met anyone he had no idea, he hoped that
Vlads child was male, for a female would be so isolated for fear of angering her father.
*****************************************************
By the time Ellie was showered, Vlad and the others had gone leaving Luke and Sandy sat outside without Claire who had gone to bed. Sandy was so amazed by Ellie's abilities that she even asked Ellie to teach her some moves much to Luke's protests.
When Sandy left them, they remained on the porch making out like teenagers. Luke excited her and made her feel like the sexiest woman in the world and now she sat on Luke's knee watching the stars.
"Explain to me Ellie, how a woman who fights like a vampire needs some many men protecting her."
Not understanding the question she looked at him in confusion. "Explain please."
"So far the following people have made serious threats to my health, Ben, Nicky, Leyland, Ethan which includes Oliver and Logan by default, Danny, Vlad, Ice and Shaun was nodding at Ice's threat so I would count him too, oh and let's not forget your mom, Beth, and May who said she could kill me without anyone ever finding out. I think May's threat scared me the most."
Though he was joking, Ellie seemed insulted that they would dare. "They didn’t, you are making this up."
"I am not." He didn’t seem upset only a little curious.
"How dare they?" She was pissed, how dare they presume that she couldn’t take care of herself.
"Calm down warrior, they can because they love you. Although I am thinking of putting you on a retainer, the list of people wanting to kill me is increasing by the day which is concerning considering that you are my security."
He kissed her to settle her, only for her to make a joke. "Don’t worry Luke; they are all scared of me."
Taming the Warrior Page 16
