She covered it for him, though, heading to the counter and laying her boxes side by side. “Well, all rough nights are best healed with copious amounts of coffee and sugar. Brenna never got a chance to finish her Krispy Kremes, so we picked up more on the way home.”
“I thought she was just sleeping in.” Abby glanced at the hallway leading to the bedrooms behind her. “Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine.” Eryx sipped his coffee, then motioned toward Ludan with the mug. “We just had a little something to take care of with Ludan. Brenna’s a bit protective where he’s concerned.” He tacked a little extra mental message on the end. “And by protective, I mean pissed-off momma cub. Remind me to tell you how she nearly ripped me a new one later.”
Lexi plucked a doughnut from the box. “Trust me. After a good night’s sleep and the little surprise you booked for her, she’ll be a new woman.”
“You think she’ll like it?” Abby said. “It’s not much. Just a little place I saw down the street when I was leaving the other day.”
Lexi opened her mouth to answer, but Brenna’s voice sounded from the hallway. “Ludan?”
Eryx and Abby spun toward her voice, and Ludan stepped out of the kitchen to bring her in his sights. Her hair was loose and still a little mussed, and she’d thrown on the simple yet ridiculously sexy cotton nightshirt she’d peeled off the night before.
Her gaze locked onto him, and her shoulders relaxed on a relieved exhale. A vibrant pink flush spread across her cheeks, and her fingers pushed and pulled nervously against the fabric barely covering her thighs. “Sorry. I thought you’d left.”
Left. As in abandoned.
The three long strides to reach her were the most fundamentally necessary yet awkward of his life. Especially with Eryx, Lexi, and Abby weighting each step with their curious stares. He banded his arms around her and nestled her cheek against his chest. What his avid audience thought about his actions didn’t matter. Only Brenna and her needs counted. He lowered his mouth to her ear, knowing all too well how his quietly murmured words would still register for Eryx. “Do you remember what I promised?”
Brenna pulled her head away enough to peek from beneath her lashes. “You’re with me,” she whispered.
“Until you decide otherwise.” The clarification shredded his already shaken emotions, but it was important. Just because he was the first man she willingly chose didn’t mean he’d be her last.
Movement sounded behind them followed by Abby’s hushed voice. “Maybe I should reschedule.”
Brenna stiffened beneath his arms, remembering their audience, and stepped out of his hold. “Reschedule what?”
Abby glanced at Lexi.
Lexi sipped her coffee, then motioned to Ludan and Brenna with her mug. “No way. It’ll be a nice treat for the two of you. This is just morning after kissy-kissy.” She winked at Brenna, then grinned at Abby. “I told you they’d end up together. The Lexi Mojo is never wrong.”
“Oh.” Abby rubbed her hand along the hollow at the base of her throat and quickly looked away from Ludan, centering on Brenna beside him. Given the bold flush that crept up her neck, he had a good idea which parent Brenna earned the blush from. “Well, I made us a spa appointment at a nail place down the street. Nothing fancy. Just a manicure and a pedicure.” Her gaze flicked up to Ludan, then back to Brenna. “I can reschedule it for a better day though.”
Brenna squeezed his bicep and a slow, delighted smile crept into place. Even with his limited profile view of her, he could see the thoughts churning behind her dark eyes.
The image of her in front of him, wrapping her tentative fingers around his shaft, blazed bold as the real deal in his head.
“I’d like that,” she said. “Very much.”
He barely bit back a moan and tried to will his cock into not responding. It didn’t help. And something told him he’d end up liking the outcome of Abby’s gift just as much as Brenna.
Brenna stared down at her smooth nails and smiled so big her cheeks hurt. Their length barely reached her fingertips, so she’d gone without colored polish, but they were even and glossy with a simple clear coat. Her palms beneath weren’t completely free of the calluses she hated, but they were smoother, and the technician promised they’d go away completely in time.
She relaxed deeper into the massaging pedicure chair, closed her eyes, and wiggled her toes in the hot water. She’d tried to talk Lexi into joining them, but she’d insisted Brenna have time alone with her mom. Eryx hadn’t helped the argument, pointing out how Ramsay couldn’t juggle the search for Serena alone.
Her mother’s low voice sounded close beside her. “You like the surprise?”
“I love it.” She rolled her head on the headrest and carefully laid her hand over Abby’s wrist so she didn’t smudge the still-wet coral polish. “Thank you. I know in the bigger scheme having smooth hands and nails is silly, but I want to feel pretty.”
Abby dipped her head toward Ludan sprawled in an uncomfortable-looking chair in the salon’s cramped waiting area. “Because of him?”
Like it always did when she looked at him, her heart leapt a little stronger and tiny flutters whispered low in her belly. His arms were folded across his chest and his knees braced wide, ready for action at a moment’s notice. Not once since he’d settled into his chair had he looked away from the television, but she’d bet her newfound freedom he knew every single thing happening in the bustling business. “Maybe a little before Ludan, but definitely now.”
“So, Lexi was right? You really are…with him?”
Funny. Her mom seemed as nervous talking about intimacy as she was. Maybe it was a normal thing between mother and daughter. “Yeah.” It came out daydreamy. As if her waking self hadn’t really come to grips with last night actually happening or his beautiful promise.
A little girl in a yellow sundress with white polka dots toddled toward him. Given her unsteady gait and the limited amount of teeth lining her vibrant smile, she couldn’t be more than a year and a half old. Clutched in her pudgy grip was a bright red plastic phone. She held it out to Ludan. “Hello.”
Her mother stood sharply and started after her child, a mix of worry and fear on her face, but stopped short when Ludan took the phone and held it to his ear.
“Hello?” Even from twenty feet away his low voice vibrated through her, his simple, kind action for the child pushing tears to her eyes. He’d be a great father. Protective and indulgent.
Well, maybe indulgent with a daughter. For a son, he’d be different. Kind but stern, teaching him how to be a protector in his own right.
“He scared me at first,” Abby said, “but there’s more to him than how he looks.”
So much more. And Brenna imagined few people spent enough time with him to realize it.
“He’s different around you,” Abby said.
Brenna faced her mom. “Different how?”
Abby smiled, a little lopsided and distant, but a smile all the same. “The same way your father used to act around me. The rest of the world got a polite but closed-off mask, but for me, he was vulnerable.” Her focus sharpened, and she cupped the side of Brenna’s face. “He was that way with you, too. From the day you were born his eyes burned a little brighter. When he’d come home, you’d rush to meet him at the back door, and he’d sweep you up in a big hug. Nothing made him happier than hearing your giggles.”
Memories rushed in fast and overwhelming. Her father’s citrusy cologne and the suits he always wore to work. Swinging while he pushed her higher and higher. The way he’d read her stories before bed. “Ludan told me what happened.”
Ducking her head, Abby brushed nonexistent lint from her jeans. “He blamed himself. I tried to tell him otherwise, but he couldn’t shake it. Couldn’t live with the guilt.”
“It was my fault.”
Abby’s head snapped up. “No.” She gripped Brenna’s chin between her fingers and held it firm. “Never think that. Not for a minute. It’
s a parent’s job to protect a child. Not the other way around.” Her gaze slid to Ludan, then back to Brenna. “Someday you’ll understand.”
Oh, how she’d love that. Sharing a child with Ludan would be nothing short of perfect.
Her mother lifted Brenna’s hand and studied her palms. “She did a good job.”
Brenna nodded, already planning ways to experiment with Ludan and gaining his feedback on the improvements.
Smoothing her fingertip over one stubborn callus, Abby frowned. “I know you don’t want to talk about how you know Ludan or the time you were away, but did he have anything to do with your disappearance?”
“He saved me.” As soon as she spoke the words, she realized just how true the admission was. Lexi may have been the one to guide her from Maxis’s house, but it was Ludan who’d tended her soul. “Lexi, Eryx, his brother Ramsay, and Ludan…they all saved me. But it was Ludan who brought me here and helped me find you.”
In her periphery, Ludan shot to his feet. He prowled to the center of the salon, eyes locked on the television. The sound was down, so it barely registered over the constant whir of jetted water, but the closed captioning scrolled fast beneath the image on the screen.
A news anchor filled the screen. At the bottom the caption read, Human Access to Eden Hinges on One Renegade. A second later, a penciled image popped on the screen.
Her image.
It was roughly done and showed her with the braided pigtails Maxis had always forced her to wear, but it was her. Even the haunted glaze her eyes had held for the better part of her life was in place.
Ludan spun and stormed toward them. “Let’s go.” He urged Brenna from the chair and slid the sandals she’d worn closer to her feet. “Abby get your things.”
Behind him, the TV shorted out and went dark. Throughout the salon, patrons reached for their phones and punched frantically on the bright screens.
Brenna fumbled with sliding her shoes on.
To her credit, Abby didn’t argue, just scooped her shoes and purse up and hustled around to Ludan. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you later.” As soon as Brenna had slipped her last foot into place, he pulled both of them behind him, one of their wrists in each hand. “Stay close to me.”
One of the women who worked at the salon came rushing forward. “It’s her.”
Ludan herded them both out the front door before she could close in on them and grabbed them both by each shoulder.
The woman hurried out the front door, looking in both directions, but never acknowledging their presence.
He’d masked them. Had completely blown his vow to keep his Myren existence secret in exchange for keeping her safe. “You shouldn’t have done that,” she whispered.
His arm settled on her shoulder, and he pulled her close beside him. His voice barely registered. “No one’s touching you. Not on my watch.” He glanced at Abby on his other side.
Her jaw hung slack, and her eyes were wide with shock.
“Abby.” His command was low enough others around him wouldn’t hear, but it was enough to shake her mother out of her stupor. “Keep one hand on me at all times. Don’t let go. Understand?”
She swallowed, and her eyes cut to Brenna, but she nodded.
“Good.” He guided her hand to his waist and squeezed her shoulder. “Just trust me a few more minutes.” He started forward, carefully navigating the crowds so they never made contact with those walking the sidewalks.
Abby stumbled awkwardly behind Ludan, scanning the crowds along the downtown street. “I don’t understand. Why don’t they see us?”
“He’s masking us.” Protected beneath his arm, she couldn’t reach her mother for comfort. Could only cast a sympathetic gaze across his broad chest. “We can see them, but they can’t see us.”
“He’s one of the people from Eden,” she muttered. “One of the people from Texas.”
The last word had barely left her lips when they turned the corner into their apartment building, and Ludan urged her up the stairs in front of him. Whether her mother’s tone had rubbed him the wrong way, or he was worried she’d do something to call attention to them, his tension jumped to a whole new level.
Brenna fisted her hand in his T-shirt at his waist. “She didn’t mean anything by it. She doesn’t know the whole story.”
“I know she doesn’t.” He frowned and steered them both down the hall toward their apartment. “Just pisses me off Serena’s the one doing PR for our race.”
The apartment door swung open while they were still ten feet away.
Abby flinched and scrambled backward, plowing into Ludan’s unyielding body.
“It’s okay, Mom.” Brenna urged her forward. “It’s a gift. Nothing to be afraid of.”
Gripping Brenna’s hand, Abby plodded across the threshold. She might have been scared out of her wits, but as soon as the door shut behind them and Ludan dropped his contact, she faced him. “Tell me why my daughter’s face is on national news and how she’s caught up with a bunch of people who can do things that shouldn’t be possible.”
His scowl deepened, and the muscles at the back of his jaw took on a high-octane tick. “The man who took your daughter is dead, but his mate, Serena, is unfortunately still breathing. The two of them lead a cause that believes humans are lesser beings who should serve the Myren race. The best way to make that happen is to bring down the wall that separates our realms. From what I gathered, Serena’s figured out your daughter is the key to making that happen and is pulling out all the stops to find her. Though I’ll be damned if Serena gets anywhere near her.” He paused long enough to huff a few haggard breaths. “That sums it up.”
Abby opened her mouth, then closed it. Then did it again. She finally looked at Brenna and lifted both brows as if to admit she was so confused she didn’t even know what to ask.
Brenna knew the feeling. She remembered all too well the confounding questions for the first year she’d been a captive, though she’d had zero demonstrations of goodness to counterbalance those inquiries. She laid a hand on her mother’s shoulder. “For most of the time I was taken, all I knew were people who believed in the Rebellion. People like the man who took me, Maxis, and Serena. But what I’ve learned in the last few months is that most Myrens are good people. I told you Eryx, Lexi, and Ludan saved me. What I didn’t tell you is Eryx is their malran. He’s a good leader. One who’s kept humans safe from people like Maxis for a long time.”
Deep furrows marked her mother’s brow. “Malran?”
“King,” Brenna clarified.
“And the things you can do.” Abby motioned toward the door. “Opening things without touching them and hiding us. How is that possible?”
“We’re a different race.” The edge in Ludan’s voice was gone, replaced with a weariness that made Brenna’s heart ache. “We’re just like you, but with more abilities. And that bit in Texas you mentioned ended in Maxis’s death, so I won’t apologize for it. If it was up to me, he’d have suffered more.”
The tension in Abby’s shoulders eked out on a slow exhale, and she jerked her head in a stiff nod. “I’m sorry. I’ve seen you with my daughter, and I know you care for her. You and your friends. I won’t apologize for being frightened, but I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”
The memory of her sketched image on the television and the odd caption beneath shook its way to the forefront of Brenna’s thoughts. “Wait. You never said how my drawing ended up on TV.”
The blue in Ludan’s eyes sparked with barely contained fury. “Serena’s newest play. She and a man they didn’t name took a reporter, a reputable one no one would think of discrediting, to Eden. They demonstrated their powers and said those powers could belong to humans.”
“Can they?” Abby said.
“No.” As soon as Brenna answered, the truth of her own situation slammed anvil-heavy in her head. “Well, not without intervention. And even then, it’s not the same.”
“The tr
uth doesn’t matter to her.” Ludan prowled to the window overlooking the street below them. “What does matter is you. By promising power to humans and telling them you’re the renegade keeping them from crossing over, she’s just turned every power-hungry human into a bounty hunter.”
“But I’m not keeping anyone out.” Not yet anyway. Though every time she’d considered what to do if faced with the decision, she’d immediately resolved to keep it in place. Forever.
“No, you’re not. But no one else knows that. And thanks to Serena, a lot of people want into Eden now.” Ludan let the curtains fall back into place and faced Brenna and her mother. “I fried the electronics with a pretty good pulse, but by now word’s definitely gotten out you’re in the area. You’re not safe here. Not anymore. Everyone from nut jobs to the government will track you.” His bitter frown sent shivers down her spine. “I want to take you back to Eden.”
“I just found my mom. I don’t want to leave her again.”
“Then I’ll take her, too.”
“But it’s against the rules.” A knot as big as her fist formed in the base of her throat and burned as though coated with acid. “Eryx said the penalty for that is death.”
“No fault will lie with you. Only me.”
That was what she was afraid of. Just the idea of never seeing him again—let alone being the cause of his demise—was too much to even process.
He crept toward her. “You’re overthinking this. You forget who the malran is. Don’t think for one second Eryx won’t throw down for either one of us. Now what’s your decision?”
Her decision. Like everything else he’d done for her, he’d zeroed in on the one most critical aspect of the situation. It was her choice to make. Not one to be forced on her by anyone else. She glanced at her mom.
Ludan cupped Brenna’s shoulder and pulled her close, lowering his voice. “Understand, there will be guards. Not to keep you under control, but to keep you safe. Life won’t be like it has been here, not for a while. It won’t even be like it was at the castle before we left.”
Eden's Deliverance (The Eden Series Book 4) Page 20
