“Did he now?”
The bitterness couldn’t be hidden as I laid back down. Fire flared over the kindling, and I jumped, letting my gaze shoot back to Cara. She was wearing what looked to be expensive hiking gear. Behind her stood Ri, holding a large backpack. Smoke eased from his skin, no doubt because I was deeper within my land.
“I did. But since I expect no thanks from you, I won’t wait for any. I have to go.”
“What’s the matter. You getting weaker?”
He glared, but turned Cara to face him, lowering to whisper something in her ear. She nodded, and he moved up to kiss her cheek before disappearing. My protective grunt had her frowning as she lowered to sit. The minute she did, my anger melted. Something was different with her. Something big.
“So, the two of you are a thing now? You’re agreeing to be his queen? So quickly the tables turn.”
“I never said I was becoming his queen. I gave him a scenario if I chose to accept his proposition.”
“Were your life and friends so important you’d condemn yourself to death for it?”
“Why are you mad at me? You’re the one who kidnapped me from my home and brought me here. You’re the one who was going to hand me over.”
I flew to a sitting position, staring at her through the fire. Her voice was so calm.
“That was before I knew what this was about. Before I knew he was going to use you as a weapon. Had I known…”
The words trapped in my throat. Not because I didn’t want to say them, but because I didn’t have an answer. What would I have done? What could I do? To not go through this now was not only Cara’s death, but war if I tried to keep her away from him. It was a war I couldn’t physically fight. I had worried for my people before, but they were doomed now.
“Go on.”
“Nothing.”
“What do you mean nothing? You were going to say something.”
“Cara…I don’t know. I wish you could see the bigger picture. If you knew what having you meant to Ri, you would not go back to him. Your people are not just in danger, but everyone on this planet and every other inhabited planet. He won’t be able to resist. Not even if he really wanted to.”
She grew quiet, grabbing a blanket from the pack and wrapping it around my shoulders. The change in her almost made it hard to swallow. It radiated out in such a mass of difference. It worried me. Was it more of Ri embedded inside? Had he gotten to her? Had they mated? Without my heightened senses, I wasn’t sure.
She sat back down, returning to dig in the bag. I clung to the blanket, swallowing hard at the possibilities.
“Cara, I know he’s attractive, and he’s a smooth talker. Maybe he’s shown you things or made you feel a certain way, but it’s not real. Whatever he did—”
“I’ll decide what I believe is real or not. Come sit by me. You need to eat, and then we have to set up the tent. There’s something I want to show you, but I need your help.”
I stood, moving next to her. When I lowered, she handed me a to-go box.
“I refused to leave without a good meal.” She smiled. “It seemed important for you.”
“For me? For you.”
She shook her head, whispering as she moved in. “A lot has happened since you were brought here. I’ll get to that later. Do you remember me telling you I saw something while I was in the shower? There were these images. And I heard a voice. I think they were instructions. I can’t be sure. All I know is I was supposed to get you this.”
She opened the box, and I followed, staring down.
“They told you I needed a salad and fruit?” My sarcasm couldn’t be withheld.
“Sort of.”
“I ordered Mexican food. A lot of it. A burrito. Nachos. The healthy stuff was meant for you. To help with your awakening and to make you feel better.”
“Are we both not awakening?”
All I could do was stare as my heart raced.
“Atlas, I won’t lie to you. I had every intention of running away. Not just from Ri, but from you as well. I can’t now. Not that I would have made it far to begin with. After what I saw, after…” she paused, sucking in a broken breath. “Please, just don’t worry about me anymore. This is bigger than us. Regardless of my decision, you have to go back to who you were. Your people need you. I might need you. I can’t be sure what I will do, but I can’t see Ri letting me walk away if I don’t choose him. I need to learn how to protect myself.” Her eyes lowered, only to come up as she looked at me through thick lashes. “I once saw a spark come from my fingers. I’m capable of something. I need you to teach me what it is.”
“Teach you? You, who might someday be my enemy?”
“Atlas, please.”
I shook my head and took a deep breath. “A spark. Fire? From your fingertips?”
“Yes. I’m not sure on the fire part. It was just a spark.”
My mind swarmed with the shock and possibility of her gift. “This completely changes things. You can’t be his mate, Cara. You just can’t.”
“What if he’s serious about wanting peace? I know the Ri have a reputation—”
“A reputation.”
“Shhh. Let me finish. They’ve done horrible things. To you, to your people, and to others, I’m sure. But what if he’s telling the truth? Peace cannot be discarded because of the past. He at least needs to have the benefit of the doubt.”
“And you’re willing to put yourself in harm’s way to give it to him?”
She looked down at the box, but she couldn’t hide the sadness. Even without powers, I could sense it as if it were my own.
“Ri has shown me things. He believes I’m what he needs to be good. If that’s the truth, and I can be his brains, as he put it, then I can keep him from going to war. I can save lives. Isn’t that what lightwork is? Saving people? Loving people? Doing what is best for humanity and the universe as a whole?”
“Lightwork?” My finger slid under her chin, making her come back up to face me.
“My god, he has gotten in your head. Your sacrifice will kill you. He will kill you. If not by his own hands, then by using you as his weapon. You may transport light, but you’re still human. Your body can only take so much. He has to know this. He has to know what a risk this is for you. A mate would never chance their partner’s life. Not for anything. They protect, love, cherish, and fight to keep it safe. Not this.”
Chapter 13
Cara
I wasn’t sure whose hands were trembling worse, mine or Atlas’s. The tent was up, we’d finished eating, and our vibrational frequencies were so high from the breathing exercises Atlas had us do, we were both shaking. We hadn’t said much to each other since our slight argument, but it was enough. Where Atlas stood was clear. Where I stood was as murky as the man’s aura before me.
Red was prominent amongst the thin, gold lining. He was nervous, and maybe a little excited, but fear was definitely ruling. What we were doing was huge. Depending on my path, I could very well be creating a monster. But I couldn’t believe that about Atlas. Since Ri had opened me with Atlas’s light, I felt as though I had become part of him. Having Atlas’s essence inside me did more than heal me. He opened my eyes. I saw the truth through his mind of the real danger his people and others could face if Ri used me for evil.
Deep breaths left us as we sat and faced each other. We were in sync, breathing as one. My palms rested on his, and my knees connected just below Atlas’s. Our touch was electrifying, building into a powerful force the more we merged.
Brown eyes blinked, but I barely saw as I became sucked into their depths. The love residing there matched my own. Its familiarity relaxed me, yet filled me with indescribable fulfillment. Flashes of Ri in the hotel room broke through. I let the memory play out, not letting it distract me from what intuition told me I should be doing.
“Where did you take him?”
“To his land. He’s safe.”
Ri stopped at the bed, staring across it. I stood on
the other side, holding our bags. I wanted to make it clear my path was with Atlas. I was afraid of what I had witnessed and been made to do.
“You care about him.” At my silence, he nodded. “It’s okay. I’m not upset. It would be natural for you to feel safe with him. But I am your king, Ina. Your mate. You need not fear me.”
“You just killed a man.”
Confusion drew in his handsome features and he clasped his hands before him.
“It had to be done. He hurt you. I had to make an example of him. No one hurts my queen. No one. Not lightbeings, and not one of my own.”
“What if you hurt me?”
Ri was suddenly next to me. I jumped at his presence, but he didn’t pay it attention as he removed the bags from my grasp and spun us to the bed. He laid down, placing me to straddle his waist. At my immediate twist to get off, he held, keeping me in position.
“I would never intentionally hurt you. If you were true Ri, you would know what I’m doing right now is not what we would consider normal. Ri men, especially the king, are to take position here,” he said, rolling me to my back and grabbing my wrists to hold them against the bed. I thrashed, but he only pushed harder between my legs. “We are above females. We are superior in every way you can imagine. I will change that.” Again, we rolled to where I was on top. But he didn’t let go. He used his hold to pull me down onto his wide chest. “It’s my gift to you. To show you my intentions are good.” Closer, he drew me down, until my lips hovered above his.
“I don’t want to see this.”
Atlas’s angry words drew me from the images with a start.
“You could see that?”
His lips pursed. “You were showing me, weren’t you? You were doing it intentionally?”
“No. I was…I don’t know what I was doing. I was just letting everything filter through as I tried to concentrate.”
“Well, I could see. The fact that I could…” He tilted his head as his eyes narrowed. “How are you able to do that so soon? You shouldn’t be so open. Not yet.”
“Can I show you?”
“Does it involve more seductive lies from Ri?”
My head lowered, but he brought it up with his fingers sliding along my jaw. It started in a smooth touch, lingering until I felt myself leaning into them.
“I’m sorry. I have no right to be upset. I can see how you would believe him. As hard as it is for me to admit, I think if I were in your shoes, I’d probably believe him too. Except, I know what he’s capable of. You saw that through me. My child, Cara. My little girl. Anyone who could take the life of someone so beautiful and innocent is capable of unimaginable horrors. Even to someone they claim to love.”
“He never said he loved me.”
“One doesn’t have to when they pretend so well. He makes you believe it. It’s in the way he looks at you. In the way he touches you. In what he professes to do in your honor. Ri is playing you, just as he’s playing me. I fear for you, Cara. For what will become of this. I want to believe some miracle has occurred and he is not the same person who brutally murdered my queen and child, but I am no fool. The night does not become day, no matter how many stars fill its sky.”
I wrapped my fingers around his large palms and squeezed. I was just as confused as Atlas. There didn’t seem to be a right answer. I felt trapped, but urged him to continue to unravel the situation within my mind.
“We plan later, remember? Right now, we have to focus. You understand this meditation stuff more than me, now see what I have, Atlas. Be my other half so we can make this whole.”
“Your other half?” His breath increased as he swallowed hard. “You’re so different than before. Why do you sound like the teacher, and me the student? It should be the other way around.”
“I don’t know. It just is.”
“Before we go back, am I going to see the two of you... Did you and Ri…?”
I laughed. “I’m not so easily swayed. What you saw was as far as it went.”
My arms extended, and he drew my hands toward his chest, holding them tightly. There was a fascination in his eyes that made my cheeks heat in embarrassment. His want of me was all too revealing. Too beautiful.
“You are so much stronger than you appear. Ri’s persuasion is not easily dismissed. Not by humans, nor by women of light. A king is a king. Even a dark one has a certain charm to those who are blinded by ego. It has made many fall. But not you. Never you, sweet Cara.”
All I could do was get lost in his eyes again. I let myself go, falling into the deepest parts of him as the memories of Ri returned. His hands were on both sides of my head, his fingers pushing through my dark hair as he licked his lips. I squirmed uncomfortably, unable to break whatever spell he was under as he studied my face.
“I want to give you a gift. I want to help you. Atlas’s light has made you see, but barely. I want to open you more.”
“I don’t think so. I think I’ve learned enough. The colors, auras, they’re disorienting. I’m still getting used to seeing them around everything.”
“They’re faded. Barely there. You’re used to them. Now see them as you should.”
A hard tug jerked against my stomach. The physical pull sent my body rocking against Ri’s. He moaned, fisting my hair while he sucked in a breath. Heat blossomed around my core, surging through my chest until it began to fill my forehead and eyes. It was too much. Crackling sounded in my ears, and it was as though I was burning alive on the inside. My mind begged me to look away, but I couldn’t. Hellfire flickered inside him—the light, the dark. Color illuminated from his skin, and there were ones I didn’t even have names for. Spectrums I’d never seen before.
My nails pushed into the comforter on each side of his head while I breathed through the change. Impossibility was something of the past. Ri’s voice told me that as his thoughts spoke to me telepathically.
“From here on out, what you know, is not what once was. You speak as all higher density beings speak. You see only in light. You feel with nothing but love. Feel it in your chest, Cara. Feel the sensation swell to proportions unknown. Embrace your awakening. Your spirit shall see all you were meant to forget. Know yourself as you never have throughout your lives. Today, I give you the gift of self. Shall you never forget it.”
As if I was ripped from Ri’s lap, I felt myself sucked into a vortex of engulfing reels of newborn cries. Multiple alien races became evident, with countless lives. Male, female. More years than seemed imaginable rushed at hyper speed on infinite planes of existence, overlapping each other on dimensional realms and worlds layered in endless space. Every outcome of each life…I experienced all at once. The best and the worst tore into my very being, healing and wounding. I died every way imaginable, at every age, and at every second. The damage caused to who I was divided from me, embedding right into the man whose lips pressed into mine. Ri took my pain, every hateful thought and act, leaving me with nothing but true self. It was a layer my mind shielded for only me to see. I was a tear in time. A split from the essence of my soul. From Atlas’s soul. We were one. Then, we were two. We were the same, coming from the same over-soul and source, yet completely different people.
I gasped, flying to sitting position on Ri’s lap as I sucked air deep into my lungs. My rebirth was one unlike any other I had in a previous life. I was new. Untainted beyond measure at an advanced mentality. A sob left me, making me conscious to every aspect of my human body. I was suddenly aware just how delicate, precious, and tough my human identity was. So much more so than any other species. Human’s had abilities not yet tapped into. Ones that went far beyond densities higher than our own. We were special. So very special. But Ri couldn’t see that, and I held the information deep inside me so he never would.
“Impossible.” Atlas jumped to his feet, wild eyes staring over me as he pushed his fingers through his dark hair. “How? How did he do that? Why? Who…are you? Me? Wait.”
His breathing was just as labored as mine. I lifted
to my knees, reaching for him.
“I don’t know why he did that or what it means for us. He didn’t see how you and I are connected. Only I did. And truthfully, I’m not sure he could see my lives like I did either. Only…feel it. We were one in that moment, so I was experiencing everything he was too. I don’t think he saw,” I whispered.
“I knew there was something different about you. More inviting. Cara, this is not good. Not in a sense. Good, yes, but not with Ri involved. How does it keep getting worse? A man of my position was taught to never admit when he’s trouble, but…creator, help me. Help us all. Ri has reached a level unheard of. He’s more powerful than I might ever be. A man who takes such risks over a woman does not fear failure. He knows he will not lose. Ri may just destroy us all.”
“And if that’s not the case? What if you’re wrong and he is genuine?”
Atlas fell to his knees, pulling me into his body as he wrapped his arms around me.
“Then it is I who am doomed to take his place. I have never wanted to kill a man as much as I do in this very moment.”
Chapter 14
Atlas
Nothing could make me let go of Cara. I held her with the desperation I had to be back home—to find the me I had lost so long ago. My warrior, the king, he was still there. I felt him when we were merged, but how did I get him back? How did I become the man I once was? Especially with so much anger and pain inside? It seemed impossible. Especially after everything I saw.
“I will help you. You’ll find him again.”
Lowering my face into Cara’s neck, I tried to hide my emotions. This new her made it hard. She was so good. So filled with hope and encouragement, it nearly broke me.
“You didn’t like me in your mind. I hear nothing from you anymore. Ri took that. He drained me when he healed you.”
“If I could, I’d give it back. I’d give this all to you. Help me.”
My head lifted, and it was followed by Cara’s palm on my cheek.
“He put my hand here. He had you touch me. If I touch you, maybe I can give you some of what I have.”
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