The door was locked, as it should have been, so he knocked.
“Coming.” Though muffled, Devon’s voice was still intelligible. She pulled the door open and smiled. “I was just about to grab my phone and find out where you were.”
She’d pulled her dark hair back into a ponytail and her cheeks were deeply flushed. Her eyes gleamed like priceless emeralds, their almond shape giving her an exotic air despite her casual attire. Black yoga pants hung low on her hips, the wide waistband folded down to showcase her toned abdomen. She wore a clingy pink tank with tiny black skulls and crossbones.
His gaze gravitated to the faint outline of her nipples and his body stirred with appreciation. “Did you wear that to work?” He moved into the living room and she closed the door.
“You don’t like my outfit?” Her tone was tinged with playful challenge.
“I like it a little too much.”
“I cut out early and treated myself to a nice long bath.”
He pictured her in a bathtub, naked and rosy, ready to be touched and licked. “Sounds wonderful. I wish you’d have invited me.”
“Maybe next time. I needed some alone time.”
He nodded. Their relationship was still really new and she’d been through so much. Needing a few hours alone to sort her thoughts and feelings was expected. “What smells so good?”
“I wasn’t sure when you’d be here, so I went with something that improves with time. Bison stew. I baked a fresh loaf of bread, or actually the bread machine did. It’s not fancy, but it should be delicious.”
“My mouth started watering at bison.”
She smiled and motioned toward the small square table which was already set for two. “I have wine, beer, lemonade or water.”
“I’d love a beer.” He crossed to the table and sat. He could barely remember the last time a woman cooked for him. In fact it was hard to remember the last time he’d had a home-cooked meal. Unless he counted Dorothy’s leftover chicken. “Was your day more productive than mine?”
She approached the table, a wineglass in one hand and an open beer bottle in the other. “Mine was largely routine, but it felt nice to be back to normal.” She handed him the beer and set down the wine by her plate. “Are you ready to eat or do you need a few minutes to unwind?”
“There’s nothing to unwind from. We chased our tails all day.”
Her smile was warm and engaging. “You have tail feathers, not a tail.”
“Details.” Her cheer was contagious and he started to relax. “Would you like me to grab something?”
“Not until we’ve finished dinner.”
He chuckled.
She brought a cutting board with a loaf of crusty bread to the table first then a small Crock-Pot filled with fragrant stew. While she sliced several pieces of bread, he ladled stew into the bowls. “This smells amazing. I can’t believe you had time to make this today.”
Guilt reshaped her smile. “I made it from scratch, just not today. Today I took it from the freezer to the Crock-Pot and let it simmer while I soaked in the tub.”
“My kind of cook.”
Even reheated, the stew was delicious and Ian felt remarkably comfortable with Devon. Their conversation was effortless, they knew the same people and shared many of the same interests. And their attraction was undeniable. The slightest brush of her fingertips sent his pulse racing and he could stare into her eyes for hours.
“So how did you spend your day?” He paused for a swig of beer as she answered.
“Catching up, mostly. We ran a funding drive right before I was kidnapped, so the sponsors needed to be processed.”
“People can’t donate money online?”
“No, they can and many do. This was different. We asked people to ‘adopt’ a specific animal for a year. Obviously, the cats stay here, but the sponsors are admitted free so they can check on their adopted feline. We also send pictures and progress reports, that sort of thing.”
“Very clever. Was it your idea?”
“Initially, but Hailey helped me work out the details.”
He nodded as he enjoyed a healthy mouthful of stew.
“Alex Garran finally called me back.” She wiped her mouth with a napkin, her expression suddenly distant.
“Have they figured out what was in the injections?” He dreaded the answer, hated the possibility that she might be in for more pain. But she obviously needed to talk or she wouldn’t have told him about the call.
She set down her fork as her gaze returned to his face. “I thought they’d triggered Therian heat, but apparently females don’t actually go into heat until after they’ve been defined.”
He paused as his mind filled with examples that proved the conclusion wrong. “But I’ve witnessed many undefined females struggling with the effects of Therian heat. Carissa was in heat when Quinn found her and she had yet to be defined.”
“The symptoms are basically the same for defined and undefined females. However, what’s going on behind the scenes is completely different. A defined female attracts the strongest, most genetically compatible male and her body creates an environment that maximizes the chances of conception.”
“And an undefined female?”
“An undefined female attracts and then tests males until she finds one aggressive and powerful enough to be a permanent part of her. With me, and others like me, it has nothing to do with procreation.”
“That’s why undefined females never conceive,” he mused.
“Alex called it the acquisition cycle.” She took a deep breath and set her napkin on the table. “The last injection triggered my acquisition cycle and only the counteragent will allow me to lock in my definition.”
“You can’t be defined?” The idea was horrifying. Her captivity had left her feeling vulnerable and helpless. He would do everything in his power to protect her, but he wanted her to feel less…powerless.
Before he could react to the dismal concept, she smiled. “Don’t look so devastated. The counteragent will finalize my definition, but it’s up to me how many animal natures I absorb before I take it.”
“What?” He scrubbed a hand over his face as he struggled with his astonishment. “You can absorb multiple animal natures? They’ve made you an Omni Prime?”
“If I want to risk it. And that’s one colossal if. The cautious path is to absorb one nature and then take the counteragent. That will basically nullify the changes they made and allow my body to return to normal.”
Nothing ventured. Nothing gained. He could feel tiny pulses of her excitement, so she obviously understood the extraordinary potential. But was it safe? The backers were willing to damage and kill their test subjects without remorse. He would not allow Devon to be so careless with her health and safety.
“What do you want to do?”
“I haven’t decided yet. The possibility of commanding more than one animal nature is thrilling, but I don’t trust the backers.”
“For very good reason.” He set down his fork and rubbed the back of his neck. He wanted to be encouraging and supportive, but his protective instincts would not be silenced. “I think we should take one step at a time. Absorb one nature and see how smoothly your body adjusts to the transformation. If all goes well, then you can decide if you want to try again or leave well enough alone.”
“But that’s so sensible.” Her smile broadened for a moment then faded as she returned her attention to her wine.
They lapsed into companionable silence as he worked his way through a second bowl of stew. She sipped her wine and watched him, her gaze gleaming with secrets.
“What inspired that look?”
She set down the wineglass and shifted to the side so she could cross her legs. “Tell me about the Guardian of the Ancients.”
He stilled. Payne was the only one still alive who knew about the Guardian. “Where did you hear that phrase?”
“My mother is the Historian. Do you really need to ask?”
Th
ough her approach was casual, Ian tensed. “Erin has never mentioned it to me. I didn’t think she knew.”
Devon shrugged as if she hadn’t just mentioned a secret he’d protected his entire life. “All Mom knows is the phrase and that your family is connected to the mystery. For a long time she thought it was just another name for the Historians. The Historians guard the secrets of the ancient bloodline. It sort of made sense. But there’s obviously more to it than that. Are you allowed to tell?”
He pushed his bowl aside and took a long swig of beer. If their attraction was the mating pull—which he was convinced it was—Devon would have to know the truth before she could make her final decision. Still, he’d kept the secret for so long. It felt wrong to share it with anyone.
“Guardians of the Ancients have been around almost as long as the Omni Prime.” He sighed and pushed back his chair. “I don’t know where to start.”
“The beginning is always a good choice.” She reached across the table and squeezed his hand. “I’ve never seen you nervous before. Whatever you tell me won’t leave this room.”
He wasn’t worried about her spreading the tale. He was worried about her reaction to it. There was so much pain associated with the tale, so much darkness. “My ancestors were chosen to protect the Omni Prime and her descendants, so we were empowered by the most powerful predator on earth.”
“The golden eagle?”
Her confusion was understandable, so he didn’t take offense. “I’m a Therian raptor by birth. I choose to manifest as a golden eagle, but that is one of many shapes I can summon.”
“All right, I’ll bite. What is the most powerful predator on earth?”
“The dragon.”
Her mouth gaped for a moment before she shook away the shock. “You’re a dragon-shifter? Seriously?”
He smiled. “Why would I lie about something like this?”
“You can still do it, shift into a dragon?”
“Modern life has made it a little impractical, but yes. I can still do it.”
“How big are you? Can you breathe fire?”
She was fixating on the dragon and that revelation was a small part of what he needed to explain. “In dragon form, I’m roughly the size of your mother’s house and yes I can breathe fire. I’ll show you the next time we’re at my cabin, but there is a lot more you need to understand.”
“All right. Sorry. It’s just so…unbelievable.”
“Which is why I downplay my abilities.”
Still reeling from his casual revelation, Devon pushed her chair back and stood. Ian was a dragon-shifter. The fact ricocheted around in her brain as she struggled to absorb what that meant. She’d been surrounded by shapeshifters all her life, yet cougars and tigers seemed insignificant when compared to a dragon.
“Go on. I’m listening.” She retrieved the wine bottle from the kitchen counter then motioned toward the refrigerator. “Do you want another beer?”
“Sure.” He waited until she returned to the table with the beverages before he went on. “I told you about Boudicca.”
“She was the reason the amulets were created and Omni Primes are only able to absorb six animal natures.”
“Correct. Her descendants learned from her mistakes and played by the rules. The Omni Prime balanced the male dominated councils until late in the eleventh century. Then a lion-shifter named Audelon resented the Omni Prime and rallied the Prime Council to take back control of the Therian nation.”
He spoke of treason as if it held little consequence. No, that wasn’t fair. He was trying to keep the events compact and clear so she didn’t drift off on tangents. “Did you learn of these events or did you witness them?”
“I was there.” He paused for a drink and tension crept into his voice. “Much to my shame.”
“What happened?”
“Her name was Esmah. She was pure and clever and incredibly beautiful.”
She heard the wistful catch in his voice and narrowed her gaze. “Did you love her?”
“Yes.”
No elaboration, just the single word. Tension banded her chest, making it hard to breathe. “Did she return your affection?”
“My feelings are not the issue. Audelon wanted her and she spurned him, so he vowed to destroy her.”
His evasion hurt even more than an admission, but she chose not to belabor the point. “She was an Omni Prime. Couldn’t she kick his ass?”
“It sounds obscene now, but she was barely thirteen when Audelon began his pursuit of her.” Ian cleared his throat and continued in a stronger tone. “Her parents tried to protect her, as did I. But Audelon was evil and ruthless.” His shoulders squared and his speech became more formal as the story progressed. “Audelon carefully laid his trap and sprang it so well and so quickly that we were powerless to prevent the tragedy. He gathered six cowardly males from minor clans and they defined Esmah by force.”
Devon’s stomach clenched and she tasted bile in the back of her throat. She could imagine a terrified girl of thirteen being forced to drink the blood of six strangers. Cradling her wineglass between her palms, she silently waited for the rest of the story.
“Her spirit was broken that night and her powers were nearly neutralized.” He stared past her, his expression tormented. Faint pulses of grief and guilt echoed through her mind and she realized they were coming across their link. “I searched everywhere and used every ability I possessed, but Audelon was powerful and determined. He stayed a step ahead of me long enough to get her with child. He had forced a mating bond, so by law I was not allowed to interfere.”
“But it’s your job to protect the Omni Prime.”
“Times were different back then. No female needed protection from her mate. As soon as their bond was formed, any action on my part became forbidden.”
“You killed him, didn’t you?” It wasn’t much of a leap. It was what she would have done.
He waited until she looked at him to say, “I did and I was outcast because of it. I knew what I was doing was against the Charter and I killed him anyway.”
“He deserved to die.”
“Perhaps.”
The story seemed incomplete, but she didn’t want to pressure him. He’d already revealed something personal and painful. She moved to the chair beside his and reached for his hand. He stared straight ahead, allowing her touch yet not responding.
“Herbert, Audelon’s son, pledged to complete what his father had started.”
“But Esmah was already defined and pregnant. What more was there?”
“Audelon had crippled the current Omni Prime. Herbert vowed to destroy them for all time.”
“And he must have succeeded because I believed it was a legend until a few days ago.” She shook her head, wanting more information, yet hesitant to ask questions.
“Four months after Esmah gave birth, she ‘jumped’ from the castle tower. Herbert insisted that she had gone mad and that her bloodline was now tainted. A few days later, Herbert claimed to have had a vision. He said Khonish could not allow madwomen to wield such power, so he was going to choose another bloodline for the next Omni Prime.”
“How convenient.”
“Many didn’t believe him, but what could they do? He controlled the Prime Council and the Omni Prime was no longer a threat.”
“What happened to Esmah’s child? Did she have a son or daughter?”
“A daughter, and she was defined with a single animal nature by one of Herbert’s servants. Then the Prime Council passed new laws designed to ‘protect’ Therian females.”
“Oh my gods, are you about to say what I think you’re about to say? Did they insist that females choose their animal nature by the time they’re twenty-one and choose their mate by twenty-five?”
“The ages have been adjusted, down through the years, as sensibilities evolved. According to the original statute, a female had to choose her animal nature one month after her first show of blood and name her mate within the following year.
”
“I had no idea that ridiculous law had anything to do with the Omni Prime.”
“It was designed to curtail female power across the board, not just prevent the Omni Prime from resurfacing.”
“Then how did Maggie end up with all her powers?” Devon had been raised on stories of Maggie, the modern Omni Prime. Had there been no one else between Esmah and Maggie?
He sighed and drained his beer. “There is so much to tell. Decades, no, centuries, of struggle.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
He nodded, his expression growing distant again. “I was devastated after Esmah’s death. As long as she was alive there was hope, but my failure was cemented with her death. If it weren’t for Daralis I’m not sure I would have found the strength to go on.”
“Who was Daralis?” She stroked his hand as the flares of emotion began again.
“Your ancestor. She was Historian at the time and we were both tortured by guilt. But she was able to see beyond the pain and realize it was our responsibility to protect the legend until the reality could resurface.”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Herbert saw Daralis as the threat she was and put a hefty price on her head. I had failed to protect the Omni Prime, but I refused to fail Daralis. We gathered the sacred artifacts and journals and disappeared. Herbert was too powerful to take on directly, so we worked in secret. We trained teachers who made sure Therian history included the Omni Prime. The harder he tried to eradicate all memory of the Omni Prime, the harder we worked to preserve those memories.”
“It’s so strange to think of you in a medieval setting. You said this was late in the eleventh century?”
“It was about 1110 by the time Herbert was in control. He searched obsessively for Daralis, but we’d developed allies by then, people who hid us and gave us supplies.”
“Why didn’t you go all dragon on this bastard and reclaim Esmah’s child?”
He laughed and the tension across his shoulders eased. “You know me too well. I’d had enough of hiding and decided to attack, but Herbert was smarter than his father. He anticipated my move and that’s when he had his servant define the girl. Then he hid her with a family who had no idea what she was. Of course I learned all this months after it happened. Sacking a castle is time-consuming even with a dragon on your side.”
Therian Prisoner Page 19
