by Rebecca York
“There was another one?”
She spoke through trembling lips. “Yes.”
“He freed you from the first.”
Once again she subdued her own needs for the needs of her sisters. For the good of the group, showing them the second encounter.
Although she couldn’t see the man’s face, she experienced anew all that she had felt when he’d touched her, pulled her body against his.
Arousal surged through her. It should have been a private moment, but being an Ionian meant surrendering privacy.
She stood before her sisters, knowing they were all staring at her and feeling the blood pumping hotly in her veins. She was helpless to hide her reaction from them and helpless to keep from bringing back more subtle aspects of the encounter.
For an instant, she had almost sensed his thoughts. Sensed his need for her.
“Impossible.” It was Cynthia who had spoken. “That must be an illusion. Or an effect of the drug.”
Sophia didn’t answer. Out in the darkness, it had seemed real, but Cynthia had to be right. How could an Ionian sense the thoughts of a man? And not just any man, a Minot.
“Don’t focus on the illusion. Do you know his name?” Cynthia asked.
Once again, she struggled to obey but only succeeded in summoning a sense of failure.
“Could he have been at the meeting tonight?”
She went back to all the men who had been there. She knew them from her dealings with the business community. He wasn’t among them.
“No,” she answered, wanting to scream at Cynthia to release her.
Mercifully, the high priestess dropped her hands. As the physical contact snapped, Sophia had to stiffen her legs to keep from falling.
“I think we are finished here,” Cynthia said.
Sophia and Cynthia were the last to leave the temple.
“I’m sorry that was hard for you.”
“Did I have a choice?”
“There are always choices.”
“Even for Ionians?”
“Yes. Even for us,” the high priestess answered, and Sophia knew that the woman was thinking about her own personal life and the man who was presently sleeping in her bed.
Neither of them discussed that as Sophia helped the Ionian leader put out the torches before they climbed the stairs.
Cynthia turned, raising her hand, swinging it from left to right, as though she were signaling to someone far away.
The wall solidified once again.
When they were dressed in their street clothes, they joined the others again in the lounge.
As Sophia looked around the room, she wondered if they were an anomaly in the modern world.
Perhaps, but they still had the power and the will to remain true to their traditions.
And what if they didn’t? Would that mean disaster for the world? They had been taught that the stability of their order was tied to the fate of the universe. Was that true or only a myth designed to reinforce their will to continue traditions established in ancient times?
Her thoughts were interrupted as Tessa came up to her.
“That was brave of you,” her sister whispered.
“We all do what we have to.”
“Sometimes I think I’m not strong enough.”
“You are,” Sophia answered fiercely, even when she wondered if it was true.
Cynthia began to speak, cutting off the private exchange.
“For a long time, our order has enjoyed a period of peace. But it seems clear that danger is gathering around us. We must all be on the alert to make sure that it does not . . . overwhelm us.”
Some of the women gasped.
“Can it?” Ophelia asked.
“Not if we are strong and united.”
“Our heritage is our strength,” Eugenia added.
There were murmurs of agreement.
“But this may not be as serious as it appears,” Cynthia continued. “You all remember that the Minot crave us like a drug. It’s been in their blood, ever since they rescued us in ancient Greece and lived with us for a time. They wanted more than we were willing to give them. This may simply be an attempt by one of them to separate an Ionian from the group and make her his slave.”
Adona spoke up. “Unfortunately, they’ve passed that down through the generations. Why is that?”
“It may be their pride,” Cynthia answered.
It seemed like more than pride to Sophia, but she couldn’t come up with a better explanation.
“There were two of them,” Adona said.
“Working against each other,” Cynthia responded.
“Unless it’s a trick to make us think that one of them is . . . different,” Tessa answered.
Sophia listened to the conversation swirling around her, longing to get up and go to her own room.
Then a question from Denada riveted her attention. “Did an Ionian and a Minot ever have a good relationship?”
“No,” Cynthia said emphatically, but there was something in her voice that made Sophia wonder if it was true.
CHAPTER SIX
RAFE GARRISON’S BICEPS bulged as he pulled himself up on the parallel bar in the Sedona house he’d rented. His heritage had given him a fantastic body, but he never took it for granted. He had thirty-pound weights around his ankles, and after lowering himself to just above the floor, he pulled up again, moving with slow control, making the exercise as difficult as he could.
He was a silent partner in energy companies and firms that made everything from computer hardware and software to sports equipment. In addition, he was heavily into the financial markets.
He would never have to worry about money, and if the world blew up in a nuclear holocaust or went down in a sea of biological contamination, he had huge shelters waiting where he and his descendants could weather any disaster.
But he wasn’t going to conceive his children with just any woman. It must be an Ionian. He wanted children with their ancient talents and their ancient wisdom. He would raise them to be loyal to him, and that would give him advanages no Minot had ever possessed.
His plan had been going perfectly until some bastard had come charging out of the desert and screwed everything up.
He could have taken the guy. He’d opted to disappear into the night and regroup. Maybe that was for the best. In fact, maybe fate had chosen a strange way to keep him from going down the wrong path.
He had wanted to cut Tessa out of the Ionian herd, but it had turned out that the woman whose car he’d driven off the road hadn’t been her.
“Blood of the gods!”
It should have been Tessa. The woman he wanted above all the others. She’d been scheduled to go to that meeting. Somehow there had been a switch at the last minute, and he hadn’t realized it at first.
Because they were all similar types—willowy, blue-eyed blonds just a little above average height. He could have settled on any of them, but Tessa had drawn him most strongly. Tessa.
She wasn’t more beautiful than the others, but she had a quality that attracted him. She doubted herself, and he knew he could give her the confidence that had always eluded her. Tied to his power, she could be more than she ever hoped for as simply one of the Sisterhood.
He knew he could help her. Mold her. Teach her. More than that, he burned to possess her.
He’d thought he had her, until a flicker of uneasiness had made him look at her face more closely.
And he’d known that it wasn’t her. It was probably her sister, the one named Sophia.
At the very moment doubt had shuddered through him, another man had barged in and changed everything.
Another Minot, sniffing around the Ionians because he couldn’t help himself where they were concerned. Sometimes he thought it was a cruel trick fate had played on his race. Or maybe it was something the women had done long ago just before they’d fled the Minot. They’d cursed them with the burning need for what they would forever be denied.
&nbs
p; “Damn them to Hades!”
He understood that maddening desire all too well, but he knew how to use it, knew how to turn it around and get exactly what he wanted. He was going to have more than hot sex with one of the hottest women in the world. He was going to use her to become the most powerful man—the most powerful Minot—in history.
But now he must be more careful because they would be on guard. And there was another guy out there, screwing up his plans.
He had to find the other Minot and kill him.
Stamping out of the exercise room, he went to his computer and started looking through property records to see who had bought or rented a house in town in the last couple of months.
When he didn’t find anyone who fit, he fought the impulse to throw the monitor across the room.
Maybe the guy was staying at one of the luxury hotels in the area. That would make him harder to find. Or could he be camping in the desert?
Probably the other guy was looking for him, too. Using the same methods. But he wasn’t going to find him. Rafe had had one of his men rent the property as a vacation retreat for company executives. Which effectively hid his involvement in the transaction.
SOPHIA hurried to her room, the one place in the spa where she could be entirely alone.
Once she’d closed the door, she leaned back against the barrier, thankful to have some privacy at last after everything that had happened.
She was still hurting, and she wished for a moment that she could summon a man to her bed and lose herself in his arms. Like Cynthia.
Only a few men lived at the spa. One was Tex Somerville, the gym instructor. But some of her sisters were already sleeping with him. Probably he was in one of their beds right now.
And he wasn’t the man she wanted anyway.
Without even realizing what she was doing, she went into a little fantasy, imagining herself with the second man from the desert. Here in her room, with the door locked so no one could disturb them. They’d undress each other slowly, sensually, standing beside the bed. Then she’d push him onto the flat surface and roll on top of him. After they’d both come, she’d talk to him about what had happened tonight. He’d kiss her and stroke her and tell her everything was going to be all right. And she’d believe it, because she was with him.
Who was he? He must live around here, because he’d come roaring out of the desert when she’d needed him. Could she ask questions in town? Find out who he was?
She drew herself up short, abruptly canceling the plans she was making. What was she thinking? She could have any man she wanted for sex. She couldn’t turn to one for comfort. Or a relationship.
Those things must come from the Sisterhood.
She had given up the life an ordinary woman would seek, but she had always known she was blessed to be a member of the ancient Ionian order.
Eugenia had said their heritage was everything, and Sophia had always lived that way, without questioning her loyalty to the greater good.
She didn’t usually dwell on the past, but tonight scenes from her life leaped into her head. Like the first time, at the age of eight, when she had read the thoughts of one of her sisters and felt a burst of pride that she’d mastered the ancient skill.
She’d run to Eugenia to tell her, and the other woman had scooped her into her arms, hugging her and sharing her pride.
She’d gathered the group, taken everyone to the temple, and thanked the gods for Sophia’s new power.
That had been an amazing moment for her. Other memories were not so happy.
Like the day when Daphne, her mother, had been killed in a rockslide in the desert, and she knew she would never see her again.
There were so many moments when she’d missed her mother terribly. The morning when Sophia had gotten her first period, she had been excited and also terrified by the blood she had found in her underwear, even though sexual information was always part of the Ionians’ training, and she’d known the meaning of the flow.
With no mother to go to, she’d sought out Eugenia.
The older woman had hugged her again. “You are coming into your womanhood. And we must take you to the temple to bless this event.”
That was the second time she had stood before the Sisterhood, wearing the traditional white robe, receiving the blessing of the high priestess and of the other women of the order. And in the ceremony, Cynthia had reminded her of her duties and responsibilities.
“You can bear children now, although you would never be asked to do that at such a young age. And you will want to wait a few years before you choose your first sexual partner.”
She had nodded gravely, feeling very grown-up.
“And when you do, you will come to your sisters first, for no man will ever take the virginity of an Ionian.”
She knew what that meant. At least in a vague way, but she put it out of her mind for the time being.
She was dutiful and thoughtful in her life choices. She hadn’t looked for a sexual partner until she’d been sixteen, and a young man named Cole had come to the spa with his parents. They’d been attracted to each other and they’d met in the gardens, kissing and touching and driving each other wild with wanting to go on to the next step.
She knew he was the right choice for her first sexual encounter. He was young and attractive. And he wouldn’t be staying at the spa when his vacation was over. She could enjoy him in the way of the Ionians, then let him go.
But she also knew what she must do before she could make love with him.
Once again she came to Eugenia, struggling to keep her voice even as she said that she wanted the freedom to enjoy herself with a man.
“I take it you mean a guest at the spa.”
“Yes.”
“Which one?” Eugenia asked.
“Cole Donovan.”
“He’s handsome?”
She nodded.
“You’ve played sex games with him?”
She felt her face heat, although she knew she shouldn’t be embarrassed. Sex was a natural part of life, and the Ionian women were free to enjoy their bodies to the fullest. “Yes.”
“Does he know how to give a woman pleasure?”
“I think so.” He’d aroused her powerfully, and she’d gone back to her bedroom to find her own release because she’d known she must submit to the will of her sisters before she went to bed with Cole.
He wanted to see her that evening. She’d told him she had duties, but she’d see him tomorrow. Then she went with Eugenia to the sisters’ private lounge. Cynthia was waiting for them there. And three of the other women, Adona, Denada, and Ophelia.
Sophia felt herself trembling as they’d led her into a ceremonial chamber near the temple and closed the door.
The room was lit by flickering torches. The air was rich with a spicy scent. And thick Oriental carpets softened the stone floor. She had never been here before, but she had been told about this place.
To her right was a high narrow bed. She tried not to look at it and focused instead on soft light wafting from one end of the room where she could see an opulent marble bathroom.
“Disrobe,” Eugenia said, her voice commanding and at the same time curiously gentle. How many times had Eugenia been here, performing this ceremony? It wasn’t Sophia’s place to ask. And she knew she was only posing the question to distract herself.
Willing her mind and body to steadiness, she took off her jeans, then her bra and panties and stood before the other women.
“We start with a ceremonial bath to relax and cleanse you. Climb into the tub.”
She walked to the large marble tub and climbed in, sinking into the warm water, her hips resting on the bench at the center and her head cradled by the cushion at one end.
“Discard all your tensions,” Eugenia murmured. “It’s always better if you let yourself enjoy this.”
Could she? Should she think of Cole?
Eugenia must have caught her wavering thoughts.
“Think o
f your loyalty to your sisters.”
“I’m afraid,” she whispered.
“Don’t be. Just trust us to do what you need and let yourself respond. Every one of us here has done this ceremony before you and understands what you are feeling.”
She knew that, and it helped to give her the courage to surrender.
The women clustered around her, slicking their hands with soap.
They washed her body, their hands gliding over her wet skin, moving quickly to intimate places.
She closed her eyes, letting herself enjoy the attention, feeling her nipples tighten and her sex throb.
Denada stroked her with one finger dipping into her vagina, then up to her clit, and she was helpless to do anything besides press her hips forward, striving for release.
But the erotic caress stopped before she was satisfied, making her whimper.
“You’re ready,” Cynthia murmured.
They helped her out of the tub and toweled her dry, then led her to the high, narrow bed covered with silk sheets.
When she was lying down with her head on a soft pillow, one of them held her arms above her head and two of them held her legs open.
She knew that the position was symbolic—of her subjugation to the will of the Sisterhood, and she didn’t fight to free herself.
As three of them held her down, two more aroused her again, one of them tugging and twisting at her nipples and the other standing between her open legs, teasing her clit and the entrance to her vagina until she was writhing on the bed, panting.
It was Cynthia who brought her to climax, stroking two fingers against her clit and into her vagina as Sophia’s hips rose and fell, giving her the stimulation she needed to send her flying off into space.
As the climax ebbed, she felt a jolt of pain and cried out, even when she understood what had happened.
“It’s done. You’re a woman now, free to take any man you desire as a lover.”
She opened her eyes and looked at the women standing around her, smiling down at her.
Eugenia kissed her on the cheek. And Cynthia came up to the head of the bed, holding aloft the polished marble phallus that the Ionians had used down through the centuries to deflower their young women.
