She picked up her knife and fork. Focus on the facts, not the way his easy immersion into her head made her stomach knot. Sex was one thing; sharing powers was something completely different. “How do we close it?”
“I’m not sure if we can close it. Not if it’s the mate link.”
She cut into a scallop. “I don’t like not having a choice. It’s my power. Shouldn’t I be able to control it?”
“I don’t know that a bond like this can be turned on and off like a light switch. Maybe you could ask your brothers.”
“My brothers won’t talk to me about that stuff. I can ask Cara or Faith.”
“Okay, do that.” He drank his wine, that dark-eyed gaze never leaving her. “Let’s talk about something else.”
“Like what?”
“You pick. Anything you want.”
“Really.” She pursed her lips, a million questions coming to mind. “Tell me about your family.”
She caught the flicker of discomfort on his face, felt his reluctance through the bond. Maybe this mate link thing could be useful after all. She still couldn’t read his thoughts, but his emotions came through loud and clear.
“I’m not sure where to start.”
“Start at the beginning. I know you were born on Santutegi. Is everyone there Atlantean?”
“Most of the population. It’s where many of them settled after the city was destroyed. But there’s a good amount of humans, too.”
The waiter came back and cleared away the appetizers, assuring them their entrées would be out momentarily. After he’d disappeared again, Tessa picked up right where she’d left off. No way was she letting this opportunity slip away.
“So I met your father. What about your mom? Where’s she?”
He reached for the wine bottle and tipped more into his glass. “On Santutegi. Or she was, last time I saw her.”
“When was that?”
“When I was ten. That was when my parents split up, and my father took me to the United States.”
“I’m sorry. You haven’t even talked to her since then?”
“No. My father forbade it.” His lips twisted in a bitter semblance of a smile. “Nothing was to interfere with my training for the Leyala, especially not a woman.”
“But she’s your mother!”
He shrugged.
“I can’t believe you didn’t go to visit her when you were an adult, no matter what your father said.”
“It wasn’t permitted.” He leaned in, lowered his voice. “You see, it wasn’t just me and my father who left. It was the whole temple. They disagreed with the Mendukati, which was rising to power back then in a big way. The whole temple picked up and left Santutegi and has been existing in secret these past twenty years. The Mendukati hate us nearly as much as they hate the Seers, and they would be more than happy to destroy all of us.”
“No wonder you’re helping us,” Tessa mused. “We’re basically on the same side.”
He lifted his glass in toast. “We are.”
She answered with her own glass and drank, then asked, “Was your mother a Warrior?”
“Nope. Human.”
“Human! I didn’t realize we had that in common. What’s her name?”
“Nilara.”
“Nilara. Pretty name. Do you look like her or your father?”
He chuckled. “Definitely my father. Atlantean traits always breed true, and my mother was a blue-eyed blonde. So of course I ended up with the darker coloring and Warrior powers.”
“I didn’t know that. But it explains a lot about my own family.” She gestured at her hair. “I got the blond hair from my mother’s grandmother, apparently. I never met her. I haven’t met most of my mother’s family. A lot of them were killed in a fire about the time my parents met.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“Mom told us recently that it was Mendukati. And now I’m getting depressed. Let’s get back to the subject. Your mom. How old was she when she married your father?”
He lifted the wine bottle, and she held out her nearly empty glass so he could pour. “My parents were never married. Things are a little different on Santutegi. We don’t have marriage. We have claiming, which is kind of like handfasting. It’s an exclusive relationship, but either party can end the union without a lot of legal fuss. Usually they still parent the children together.”
“All right, then how old was your mom at the claiming?”
He frowned in thought. “I’m not sure when they said the words, but she was young. Seventeen when we were born, now that I think about it, so she had to have been sixteen or so.”
One word jumped out at her over all the others. “We?”
He frowned. “Pardon?”
“You said she was seventeen when ‘we’ were born.”
“I did, didn’t I?” He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Okay, yes, we. I have a twin brother.”
Her mouth fell open. “Get out! There are two Adrian Grays in the world?”
“Not exactly. We’re not identical.”
“Well, that’s a disappointment for women everywhere. But I’m sure he’s good looking, too, and since you both had the same parents, that means he’s a Warrior, too, isn’t he?”
“Yes, he is.”
“Did he come with you? Is he at the temple? I’d love to meet him.”
“No.” He leaned back and sipped his wine, the picture of elegance. “He stayed with my mother on Santutegi, and my father brought me to the United States. I haven’t seen him in twenty years either.”
The waiter arrived with their lobster, and she sat back, allowing him to place the succulent dish before her. She was rather glad of the interruption. She had a lot to digest, like the new information about Adrian’s parents and his twin brother and Santutegi.
And the fact that he was lying to her.
Her truth-seeing abilities didn’t work on other Atlanteans, but she could feel through their bond that something was off. She knew he was Mr. Cool-As-A-Cucumber in most situations, but no one with a heart could be that calm about such a traumatic childhood. He’d been separated from both his mother and his twin brother, and he acted like that was no big deal.
But Adrian did have a heart, a great big one, as a matter of fact, so he couldn’t possibly be as unaffected as he appeared. Which meant there was way more to the story. More that he wasn’t telling her. The specter of Luke rose in her head, another man who’d made her fall for him, who’d lied to her. A man who’d betrayed her. But Adrian wasn’t like that. Couldn’t be. Not her destined mate.
Because if it turned out he was, she’d never survive it.
They ate in silence for a few minutes, the lobster and risotto completely living up to the rave reviews the restaurant had received. Then she asked, “Who’s Atlas?”
He was swallowing when she posed the question, and he choked, reaching for his glass of water. She waited while he got himself under control. Finally he managed, “Pardon?”
“You heard me. At the temple your father called you Atlas. Is that your brother’s name?”
“No. No, it’s not my brother’s name.” He took another sip of water and met her gaze. “It’s mine. I’m Atlas.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Truth. She could sense it through the link, even if she couldn’t read it in his eyes like she could in a human’s. But she could tell he hadn’t meant to reveal that much to her, and it stung. Why did he feel such a need to keep secrets from her? Wasn’t this bond supposed to make them a team? “I thought your name was Adrian.”
He hesitated for no more than a beat, but he did hesitate. “Adrian is the name I took when we moved to the States. Atlas is my birth name.”
“Your father still calls you Atlas.”
“He’s a traditionalist in the temple. To the U.S., he’s Ed Gray, at least on paper. And I’m always on a mission, always out there mingling with humans. Aside from needing to stay off the Mendukati radar, I needed something a little more no
rmal sounding. I’ve gotten used to being Adrian. I prefer it.”
“I understand.” She sipped her wine, tried to play it off like it was no big thing that he’d just confessed to having a secret identity. But the memory of Luke whispered warnings in her mind.
“I didn’t mean to hide anything from you,” he said, touching her hand. “I’ve been Adrian for so long I almost forget I was ever anyone else.”
She lifted one shoulder. “It’s okay.”
“I know it’s not.”
“No, really, it is. I get it. You have the Mendukati looking for your temple, and it’s like you’re in Witness Protection or something.”
“Exactly.”
“I understand. Really, I do.” She lifted her wine again. “What’s your brother’s name?”
“Gadeiros.”
“And I’m betting your last name isn’t really Gray, is it?”
“No, it’s Itzal. Gray is a loose translation.”
“Atlas and Gadeiros Itzal.” She shook her head. “You’re right. That wouldn’t fly in human circles.”
“They’re actually quite common names among Atlanteans. Atlas and Gadeiros were the first kings of Atlantis, the oldest set of five sets of twin brothers.”
“Five sets of twins? Ten brothers?” She chuckled, and for a moment suspicion receded. “At least their mother did it by twos. Only five labors.”
“You’re right. I never thought of it that way.”
“You’re not a woman.”
“You noticed.” He slanted her a sexy look that made her sensitive spots sizzle.
“You bet I did.” Three glasses of wine had started a nice little buzz going. She turned her hand over beneath his and twined their fingers together. “You, sir, are gorgeous. The first time I saw you, I almost drooled.”
“Almost, huh?”
She nodded. “Didn’t want to give anything away.”
He lifted their joined hands and pressed a kiss to hers. “Got news for you, princess. You weren’t fooling anybody.”
“Was, too.”
“Sure, you believe that, if you want.”
A busboy came to clear their dinner dishes, and the waiter wheeled over the dessert cart. “Would you like anything for dessert? Tiramisu, New York–style cheesecake, molten chocolate cake, lemon tart, ice cream? Coffee, cappuccino, espresso, latte?”
“Tessa?” Adrian asked.
“A latte, please. And I’d like a lemon tart, too. I can’t resist lemon.”
“Very good,” the waiter said. “And you, sir?”
“Just coffee.”
“Cream and sugar?”
“Black.”
“I’ll be right back with your coffees.” The waiter wheeled away the cart.
“Lemon, huh?” he said. “I would have figured you for a chocoholic.”
She laughed. “Just shows how much we need to learn about each other. I was sure you were going for espresso or cappuccino, and you just order straight-up coffee.”
He shrugged. “I’m a man of simple tastes.”
“That jacket you’re wearing is hardly simple. Designer label, I’m betting. Silk tie. And I do believe those shoes are Italian leather.”
“I like to get my money’s worth. These brands are well-made.”
“That’s your story, huh?”
“It’s the truth.”
“Nice to get the truth from you, Mr. Mysterious.” She tried to keep her tone teasing, but even she heard the hint of hurt beneath it.
“I never lied to you, Tessa.” He took her other hand and held both of them, staring into her eyes. “There were times I didn’t tell you everything, but I have never lied to you. I need you to believe that.”
His hands were warm and strong, his deep, dark eyes deadly serious. He could make her feel so safe one moment, then the next … “I want to, but there’s such a fine line between holding back information and outright lying.”
His mouth tightened. “Not in my book. I was under orders from the temple to play things close to the vest, but I never told you an untruth.”
“So your bosses made you do it?” She pulled her hands from his, pretending not to notice how his fingers curled into loose fists at her withdrawal. “Why did the temple want you to be so secretive in the first place? I mean, we already decided we’re all on the same side.”
Adrian sighed. “The elders of the temple still live in the past to some extent, and they’re extra paranoid. I can’t blame them. They took a huge risk separating from the homeland. It would have meant certain death, had they been caught.”
“Criten would have ordered a whole temple of Warriors to be killed? That’s horrible.”
“That’s treason,” he corrected. “Criten’s father labeled us outlaws, and his son has picked up that torch. Technically, all the Warriors in my temple are traitors to Santutegi, including me. The penalty is death.”
Her mouth fell open. “What! Some of you were children—you were a child—when the temple left Santutegi. Yet he’d still call you a traitor?”
“I had passed the test to become Leyala. I was a student at the temple. That made me a Warrior and responsible for my own actions.”
“Leyala. That’s sort of the Warrior police, right?”
He nodded. “We have the ability to enact Judgment on another Warrior who has broken the law. We can strip away his Warrior powers and with that, his sanity.”
“His sanity, too?” She shuddered. “That’s harsh. I mean, a person can still live without powers.”
“Not a Warrior. A Warrior’s entire sense of identity is wrapped up in his abilities and his training. Without them, he’s nothing. Every Warrior feels that way.”
Which included him. Another clue to the mystery that was Adrian Gray. “Your world sounds very unforgiving, Adrian.”
“I can see where you’d think that. Yes, the Warrior way of life can be very unforgiving. But it’s also disciplined and rewarding.”
“If you like that kind of thing.”
He lowered his voice to a rough rumble. “You like it fine, princess. My discipline. My patience. They come in very handy in certain situations.”
She blushed, damn it. “Cut that out.”
“Not on your life.” He switched to mind speech. I love it when you blush. I love the way your eyes sparkle and how you try to act offended. But you’re really not. You love what I do to you.
“We’re having a serious conversation here, Adrian.” She spoke aloud. She needed to keep a certain distance, to avoid the intimacy of mind speech.
“Are we? Then why don’t you tell me about Luke?” He stretched one arm along the top of the booth and lifted his wine to his lips with his other hand, a man in complete control of his world. Which annoyed the heck out of her.
“You already know or have guessed most of it. He was a guy I dated, he hurt me, and now I just found out he’s Mendukati. End of story.”
“Sounds to me like it’s just the beginning. Tell me more.”
“It’s ancient history.”
“You’re not old enough to be ancient, princess.” He set down his wine and leaned forward. “Tell me.”
“I don’t know where to start.”
“How did you meet him?”
“At my father’s company.”
“He worked there?”
“Yes.”
“How old were you?”
“Twenty-one. I’d just finished college.” She paused as the server arrived with their coffees and her dessert. “Wow, this looks absolutely sinful,” she said as the young man left.
“Don’t get distracted.” He picked up his coffee and sat back. Waiting.
“Fine.” She took a bite of her tart, closing her eyes in bliss as the tangy lemon and sweet sugar sang the Hallelujah Chorus in her mouth. “Oh, wow, you have to try this.” She opened her eyes and sliced another piece off, holding it out to him on her fork.
He leaned in and accepted the bite, closing his lips around the fork and sliding the tar
t into his mouth with a slow sensuality that had heat sparking between her legs. That dark-eyed gaze never left her as he chewed and returned to his seat. “You’re right. Sinful.”
Sinful. Heck yeah, he was.
“Tell me more about Luke,” he coaxed.
What was it about him that made her want to spill the whole story right then and there? If she didn’t know for a fact that his powers wouldn’t work on her, she’d swear he was Whispering her. But he didn’t need his Atlantean powers. Not when one hot look and a few well-chosen words had her quivering and ready for him. Was there any defense against one-hundred-proof Adrian?
“Tell me, Tessa.”
Her name whispered in that velvety baritone enticed her to submit. To give him anything he wanted.
“Tell me,” he said again. “You said he worked at the company?”
“Yes. He was a salesman.” Her mouth quirked as she acknowledged her own surrender to his will. “I should have known something right then. He was way too charming.”
“You were young. Go on.”
“You probably know some of it.” She sipped her latte. “Rafe had taken off and Darius was in the hospital. My parents were busy both looking for Rafe and caring for Darius, so no one was really paying attention to what I was doing.”
“You felt lost, and Luke filled the void.”
“I guess so.” She took another bite of her tart. “Sounds pathetic now.”
“Not at all. Your family had just gone through a trauma.” At her questioning look, he shrugged. “Rafe told me some of it. Anyway, if this Luke guy was really Mendukati—”
“That Warrior the other night said he was.”
“Right. If Luke was Mendukati, then he took advantage of your vulnerability during a difficult time to get close to you. It’s a classic maneuver.”
“Gee, thanks, that makes me feel so much better.”
“Sweetheart, you were vulnerable, and he attacked where you were weakest—your loneliness and feeling of disconnection from your family. There’s no shame in that.”
“I do feel ashamed. And stupid. Like I should have known.”
“How could you?” He laid a hand over hers. “You couldn’t read him. You couldn’t have known.”
Warrior of Fate Page 17
