by Adrian, Lara
“Our lives would all be emptier if you weren’t part of them,” Tavia said as she tenderly squeezed Jordana’s hand.
“It’s true,” Carys agreed. “And we also wouldn’t have the Atlantean crystal your father hid away from Selene all these years.”
The odd reference pulled Brynne out of her unwanted musings about Zale and that troubling kiss they’d shared.
“What do you mean, a crystal? What are you talking about, Carys?”
“Ah, that is a whole other story,” Tavia said. “We’ll explain everything to you, Brynne, but let’s do it over breakfast. You’ve had a very long night and I’m sure you must be starving.”
CHAPTER 8
“Have you thought any more about what I asked of you the last time you were here?”
Had he thought about it? Zael grunted at Lucan’s question. “You asked me to consider betraying my people, Commander Thorne. I assure you, it’s been foremost in my mind ever since.”
The two of them had left the conference room to talk alone, and because Lucan had something to show Zael, he’d said. They strode the labyrinth of corridors that snaked past smaller meeting rooms, training facilities, and Gideon’s high tech lair of computers and communications equipment where the eccentric Breed male was already deeply engrossed in his work on half a dozen touch-screen monitors filled with scrolling code.
“I haven’t asked you to betray anyone, Zael. What I asked was for your trust. For your confidence as the Order attempts to learn all it can about your queen and her intentions.”
“Selene hasn’t been my queen for a very long time.”
“You served her for centuries as one of her legion,” Lucan reminded him.
“Yes. And more than a hundred years ago, I left the realm a fugitive. For as long as I’m alive, to Selene I’m merely one more defector with a price on his head.” Just like his comrade, Cassianus, and the small number of other Atlanteans who’d escaped to begin again in a new place, without fear of a volatile ruler.
“But your loyalty is still intact?” There was weight in Lucan’s question, and its implication.
Zael answered honestly. “I don’t serve Selene, but I can’t condemn her completely. She was good once, but she’s a vengeful, powerful woman. Her heart iced over when Atlantis was destroyed by your Ancient ancestors.”
“That’s a damned long time to hold a grudge.”
“She’s immortal, Lucan. Her heart may never thaw. It went even colder after her only child was dead and her sole heir was stolen away.”
“Along with the crystal Cass took at the same time,” Lucan added.
“Yes, along with the crystal.” Which was now in the Order’s hands. Not that Zael had actually seen the treasure to verify that fact.
As crucial as their newfound alliance was, Lucan Thorne had been reluctant to let Zael anywhere near the crystal Jordana had received from her father and entrusted to the Order. For that, Zael had to respect the Breed male.
The crystal was one of five that the realm once possessed. They were each a source of immense power and versatile uses. Put into the wrong hands—the hands of an Atlantean whose motives were less honorable than Zael’s, for instance—and the outcome could be catastrophic.
Lucan paused in the corridor and faced him. “When we met here a few days ago, I asked if the Order could count on you as an ally.”
Zael nodded. “And I told you that as long as I was confident we both wanted to achieve the same thing—lasting peace for all—that you would always have my trust and confidence.”
“So you did.” After a moment, Lucan motioned him forward.
Zael instantly recognized the huge chamber he was brought to. He’d been there on his first visit to Order headquarters just a few days ago, and he would never forget the vast archive room. Or the remarkable woman responsible for it.
“Hi, Zael.”
“Jenna. Hello.” He smiled as the lean, short-haired brunette set aside a journal she was recording and came over to greet him.
“Have you had a chance to see Dylan yet since you arrived?” Jenna asked. “She’s come by here a couple of times already, hoping she might find you.”
“I haven’t seen her yet, no,” Zael answered, feeling a pang of regret—and affection—at the mention of the other Breedmate. “I’ll make sure that I do.”
Lucan cleared his throat. “We’ll all have plenty of time for reunions, but right now, I wanted Zael to understand where things are progressing with your visions, Jenna.”
Even knowing her history and the astonishing cause of the Breed dermaglyphs that tracked all over Jenna’s human skin, it was hard not to stare. But her outward appearance wasn’t even half as interesting as the other thing that made Jenna unique.
After surviving a horrific attack by the last living Ancient—the savage fathers of the Breed race—Jenna was now gifted, or cursed, some might say, with the dreamlike memories of her attacker. The journals she’d been filling for the past two decades were a staggering chronicle of the Breed’s history, as seen through the eyes of that now-dead predator.
She glanced at Lucan. “Did you tell him I’ve been seeing more details of the attack on Atlantis?”
“We were just getting to that,” Lucan said. “I’ve decided it’s time to show him.”
Zael was about to ask for an explanation, but since he’d entered the room his temples had begun to fill with a persistent and distracting buzzing. His chest and limbs felt increasingly warm…as if a furnace had been turned on inside him.
“The crystal.” He swung an incredulous look on Lucan. “It’s here in this room.”
He wasn’t asking for confirmation. He didn’t need to ask. Every cell in his body was responding to the close proximity of the otherworldly power source belonging to his people.
Lucan nodded to Jenna. “Show him.”
She walked to a large safe that stood open on the other side of the chamber. Retrieving an object from within the sturdy vault, she returned carrying it in her hands. It was a small, unremarkable metal box with a broken seal.
Zael didn’t have to look inside the titanium container to know it held the egg-sized, silvery crystal. Had the box been sealed, the metal’s properties would have prevented any of his kind from feeling the crystal’s power, even at close range. According to what Jordana had told him, that’s how Cass kept this particular crystal hidden in the human world for so long.
But with the power source exposed to him now, Zael felt its heat and vibration as if it were a part of him. In many ways, the crystal was a part of him. He and all of his kind shared a unique connection to all five of the crystals that once belonged to Atlantis.
Jenna paused in front of Zael and Lucan, holding the box carefully in her palms. “The first time I touched this thing, it really kicked my butt.”
Lucan grunted. “That’s an understatement if I ever heard one. Her glyphs went crazy, rioting with color, and that crystal glowed as bright as the sun inside her hands.”
Zael listened, marveling that she dared touch the crystal without knowing what it might do to her. But from what he’d seen of all the women who were part of the Order and their extended family, Jenna had a rare courage.
“The visions I saw after touching the crystal were the strongest I’ve ever had,” Jenna explained. “Since then, I’ve been working a bit more with it, conditioning myself to hold on longer each time because it seems to make the memories stronger, more vivid in my mind. I’ve almost collected a full account now of the day Atlantis was destroyed.”
Zael couldn’t hide his amazement. “Remarkable work. I know it can’t be easy, seeing the things you do when you look through the Ancient’s eyes. The Order is fortunate to have you.”
She laughed. “Do me a favor and tell that to my mate. Brock thinks I’ve lost my mind to be doing this.”
“Because he loves you,” Lucan said soberly. “He doesn’t like seeing you suffer, even if it’s only through hideous visions like the ones you’ve b
een chronicling. If you were Gabrielle, I’d rather smash this chunk of Atlantean rock to dust than let you anywhere near it.”
Zael understood the sentiment, but what Lucan suggested was impossible. “The crystals can’t be destroyed. Not through any means you or I might have.”
He glanced down into the titanium box in Jenna’s hands, awed to be seeing one of the five crystals up close. It drew him like a beacon, like the living source of power it truly was.
Beneath its glimmering, silvery surface, facets of sparkling light glowed deep in the crystal’s core. The hum of cosmic power reached into him, waking his cells as it would any of his kind.
He heard Lucan’s wary growl beside him as the energy within the crystal responded to Zael’s nearness and began to pulse. And inside Zael’s body, he felt the warmth of the crystal’s power building in him too.
“The crystal,” Jenna whispered, her eyes widening. “Something’s happening to it.”
“What the fuck is going on, Zael?”
“You’ll understand best if I show you.”
The answering look on the massive Breed male’s face was anything but certain.
“Trust,” Zael said. “Do I have yours?”
At Lucan’s hesitant nod, Zael reached into the box and collected the crystal into his palms. “In close proximity of a crystal, an Atlantean’s life force increases exponentially. As does our power.”
To demonstrate, Zael pivoted toward the large safe across the room. Lifting one finger, he sent the hulking block of metal gliding across the marble floor as if it were nothing. He stopped it a split second before it crashed into the opposite wall.
Jenna gasped. “That safe weighs more than a ton.”
“With this crystal,” Zael said, “if I wanted to right now, I could break down the walls of this chamber with a sweep of my hand.”
Lucan’s stare was hard and flat with understanding.
Zael glanced at him solemnly. “Now imagine an entire Atlantean army with a crystal in its possession. They would be unstoppable.”
“Why hasn’t Selene unleashed this power on us already?” The Order’s leader demanded. “Why not retaliate against the Ancients immediately after they destroyed Atlantis and drove her into exile?”
“Because to use a crystal for war, she would need to remove it from its other purpose.”
“Which is?”
“Protection,” Zael said. “The crystals have many uses. When there were five of them in realm, they provided energy for all our needs. If we required it, the crystals could’ve been used to power defensive weaponry as well, although that was never something our people hoped for. And, as you just witnessed, they can also enhance an Atlantean’s own individual power.”
“You said Selene uses them for protection,” Lucan prompted.
“Yes. They’re what kept Atlantis safe for thousands of years after my people arrived here. The crystals cloaked Atlantis beneath an impenetrable shield that concealed the island from the outside world. The shield kept the realm safe from any curious visitor or attack.”
Jenna’s brows rose. “You’re talking about an actual force field around Atlantis?”
“To simplify the concept, yes.”
“And then Atlantis lost two of the crystals,” she replied. “It weakened the shield.”
Zael nodded. “Selene was betrayed by her consort—a human. He stole two of the crystals and gave them to your ancestors,” he said, looking at Lucan. “For a population of Atlantis’s size at that time, the three remaining crystals weren’t enough to hold the shield in place.”
Lucan studied the crystal that still glowed and pulsed in Zael’s hands. “That’s how the Ancients were able to launch their attack.”
“And then they used them to power their bombs,” Jenna added. “I’ve seen it in the Ancient’s memories. They created a beam of light that ignited the explosion in the ocean off Atlantis’s shore. Then the tsunami swept in and destroyed everything in its path.”
Zael hadn’t know the specifics of the Ancients’ assault on the realm, but he had guessed at something like Jenna described.
Lucan’s gaze came back to meet Zael’s. “And you’re certain Selene won’t risk weakening her shield now to use her crystal against anyone?”
“She’d be a fool to try. And Selene is no fool.”
“I sure as hell hope you’re right.”
So did Zael, although he kept that hope to himself.
Because if Selene’s need for vengeance should eventually overrule her logic and reason, everyone on this planet would be doomed.
CHAPTER 9
Brynne returned to her suite next to the library, her mind spinning from all she had learned over breakfast with Tavia and the other women.
The investigator in her had been fascinated by the facts of Jordana’s incredible origins. She’d listened raptly over a plate of crepes and fresh fruit as the pale blonde beauty had described the events surrounding her father’s efforts to safeguard his infant daughter.
Not to mention the powerful crystal he’d taken from the Atlantean realm.
Cassianus had gone to extraordinary lengths to keep both of his treasures from falling back into Selene’s hands.
Then there was Zael. From the way Jordana told the story, he had been ready to sacrifice anything for her safety too.
As professionally intrigued as Brynne had been about the details concerning the Atlanteans, their dangerous queen, and the powerful crystals at the center of so much bloodshed and strife, the woman in Brynne was equally fascinated by the deepening paradox that was Zael.
She couldn’t help thinking that perhaps she’d judged him too hastily, and too harshly.
That had long been one of her many flaws when it came to dealing with anyone—and not something she found easy to change. After all, she’d found out a long time ago that life was a hell of a lot easier to survive when it was lived in basic black or white. Things were either right or wrong, good or bad.
The people around her were either on her side or against her.
Friend or enemy.
With Zael, her old methods didn’t seem to hold up. Everything about the male shook the firm foundation she’d constructed for herself. He seemed to understand that too. Even worse, he seemed to enjoy knocking her off kilter, making her question herself. Making her squirm.
Lord knew he did that all too well.
She thought she’d had him pegged, but he kept proving her wrong. Now that she was forced to look at him in the flattering light of Jordana’s praise and affection, Brynne didn’t know what to think about Zael.
Stepping into the solace of her guest room, she hoped to find a few moments alone to rest and freshen up. She needed a shower and a change of clothes, the latter having been generously provided by Gabrielle. A light blouse and pressed linen slacks were folded neatly at the end of the bed. Brynne traced her fingers over the crisp fabric, moved by how readily everyone in the Order had welcomed her.
That didn’t mean she wanted to stay.
It didn’t mean she could. Not for long, anyway.
Not without letting them all see what was wrong with her.
Not without earning everyone’s fear—and rightly so.
Because sooner or later, she would need to feed. Not on fancy breakfasts or other human food she was fortunate enough to enjoy in spite of her Breed genetics. Sooner—rather than later—she would need to nourish herself with blood.
An act that was as normal as breathing for any other member of the Breed was torment for her. Damned if she drank and damned if she didn’t, Brynne had grown accustomed to stringing herself out as long as she could, if only to avoid the pain . . . the horror.
The shame.
She only hoped she could last until she was able to return to London and resume her life. What remained of it, that is.
Zael had accused her of being lonely and he was right.
He was right about so much where she was concerned, and it terrified her that he c
ould see through her so easily when she’d worked all her life to shelter herself.
With her thoughts dimmed by the reality of her existence, Brynne drifted farther into her private suite. Sunlight streaming in through the parted drapes drew her across the soft Persian rug to the window where the estate’s grounds spread out in an explosion of lush green and brightly colored blooms.
She had forgotten how breathtaking the back gardens were. Flowering bushes and elegant topiary trees complimented an intersecting maze of manicured hedges that meandered from one corner of the grounds to another. Off the back of the mansion, a broad terrace patio led out to flagstone walking paths that drew the eye from one tranquil corner of the grounds to the other.
And that’s when she saw him.
Zael, standing in the center of the garden with his head tipped back, muscular arms spread wide open beneath the morning rays. This was almost exactly how she’d found him that other morning here at the Order’s headquarters. The day they’d met for the first time.
As she had then, Brynne froze, utterly transfixed by the sight of him.
Bare-chested, his smooth skin and copper-shot, golden hair gilded by sunlight, Zael seemed to both absorb and reflect the sun’s rays as he stood there, engrossed in his private ritual. Light radiated from the impressive outline of his body, gathering with brighter intensity in the open palms of his upturned hands.
He was unearthly…powerful.
Heart-stoppingly sexy.
She tried not to stare, but it was futile. Against her will, she felt those strong arms wrapped around her the way they had been on that dance floor. Warm, sheltering, so unexpectedly tender.
She could still taste his kiss. Catching her lip between her teeth and the tips of her emerging fangs, she groaned with the memory of his mouth on hers.
She wanted him.
And, maybe, she acknowledged ruefully, she had been wrong about him. After hearing what he’d done for his friend, Cass, and Jordana, Brynne struggled to hold on to her initial opinion of Zael.
In fact, she struggled to do much else right now besides gaze at him from her window and try to resist the urge to go out to the garden and join him. If for no other reason than to try to unlock their horns and see if they could move forward as something other than adversaries.
