The Space Beyond (The Book of Phoenix)

by Kristie Cook

  My jaw popped as I clenched it, but I kept any further fuming to myself. Didn’t she get that she was all I cared about? Okay, maybe not all I cared about—I wasn’t that much of a douche. But she was definitely all I needed. To have her safe by my side or in my arms was more important to me than anything.

  “And I’m going with or without you,” she added. I suppressed a growl.

  “So are we,” Asia said. “We’ll figure it out, Jeric. We’re strong, remember? The strongest of them all.”

  “You’ll have each other,” Melinda said. “When you find Lakari swarming, take up residence and make yourselves a part of the community where they’re hunting. You may need to get to know the people so you can find out who’s going Dark, especially if Leni’s senses don’t pick it up right away.”

  “And be careful with small towns,” Uri warned. “They make things more difficult. It’s always best for one pair to go in first, while the other hangs back for a while. If the Lakari suspect an influx of Guardians in the area, they might jump the gun and swoop in on the soul before you even know who it is.”

  “We can do this,” Leni said confidently.

  “I still don’t like it,” I muttered.

  Leni squeezed my hand again. “We chose this, remember? It’s time to step up and make ourselves useful. And like I said, I’m doing it with or without you … but I’d much rather with you.”

  I cut my eyes down to her and huffed my breath through my nose like a bull. The woman was stubborn. And a pain in my ass. And would always get her way when it came to me. No fuckin’ way would I let her go out on her own.

  “Remember to believe, Jeremicah,” Mira called after me as we headed for the door.

  I’d remember. I really had no choice now, did I? I had to believe in our abilities if I was going to keep Leni from getting herself killed. The silver lining: At least we were getting away from everyone’s stupid expectations and judgmental glares here at the manor.

  Chapter 6

  As we prepared to leave the manor for the first time in months, the only thing that had me doubting this decision was that the mission pulled us away from the Gate … and possibly from Nathayden. We were setting out to hopefully find Rebethannah, but what if she was near here, and that’s why Nathayden contacted us, and now we were traveling hundreds of miles away? What if she was in the Gate, too? For all we knew, she wasn’t even on our world.

  I didn’t know if my instinct told me one way or the other. Not something I’d admit to Jeric, especially not right now, because when needed, my intuition had been loud and clear for us. I didn’t have that strong pull right now that told me what to do. Options bounced around in my mind, but I didn’t know if my preference was by instinct or mere desire. I wanted to get away from the manor. I wanted to prove to myself and to Jeric—and to everyone else—that we were ready to be the warriors and the leaders we were meant to be. I wanted to do a mission more than I’d wanted almost anything since we’d been here. I just hoped this strong desire was truly my intuition.

  And I hoped we’d somehow be able to help Rebethannah and Nathayden.

  “You really believe we know what we’re doing?” Jeric asked as we packed our few belongings, the sarcasm dripping over Mira’s favorite word.

  “Of course,” I said, sounding more confident than I felt. I still had it—the ability to mask my true feelings. Jeric stopped shoving clothes into his bag and eyed me. Okay, so hiding feelings from him was basically impossible, since he could pretty much feel them, too. He turned toward me and placed his hands on his hips.

  “Don’t lie to me,” he growled.

  “We can do this,” I said.

  He took a step toward me, and I backed away from his predatory advance. Another step had him right in front of me again, and another of my own steps backward had me pressed against the wall. Each of his hands landed on the wall next to my face, and he leaned his head in so close, I could see every speck of indigo in his royal blue eyes. His warm breath fell on my lips, followed by his gaze. His eyes slowly lifted to mine.

  “I will follow you into the dark,” he said, his voice low and edgy. “I will do anything for you, babe. Just know that if anything happens to you, it will destroy me.”

  “Jeric,” I murmured as I placed my palms on his narrow hips and slid them up to his chest, where I fisted his shirt in my hands and pulled him even closer, “if you can’t believe in anything else, at least believe in us.”

  His eyes bore into mine as he considered my meaning, then his gaze dropped to my lips again before sliding back up. When his eyes reached mine, he nodded slightly. Then he crushed his mouth against me, taking me under with a kiss full of urgency and passion and life itself. I parted my lips, his tongue thrust inside, and I met it with my own. My hands released his shirt and slid up his pronounced pecs to his tense shoulders and neck and into his hair, while one of his slid down my side, over my hip and to my thigh. He hitched my leg up, and I wrapped both around his waist as he pressed his erection against me and ground his hips. I had to lean my head away to catch a breath, and his lips traveled south, over my chin, down my neck, and to my collarbone, while his pelvis continued grinding out a rhythm. When he hit just the right spot, I moaned with pleasure.

  “I believe in us,” Jeric panted against my chest. “More than I believe in anything in this world. I really believe in us when we’re naked, though.”

  He thrust against me again, but harder this time, as though we were already naked, and I cried out more loudly. His hands grasped my waist, and his fingers dug into my hips as he stepped away from the wall with my legs still wrapped around him. He turned and leaned forward, and we crashed onto the bed. Our hands desperately tugged at our clothes while our mouths refused to separate unless absolutely necessary. My top was off and his shirt was on the floor and his jeans fly undone when both of our phones rang with a text message. Jeric moaned into my mouth before we extricated ourselves to find our phones.

  Brock: “Ride’s here.”

  “We can believe in us as soon as we’re settled into the camper,” I promised Jeric before giving him one more lingering kiss. His fingers caressed the bare skin over my ribs before pulling the cup of my bra down so that my breast sprang free. He wrapped his mouth around the tip and swirled his tongue around my nipple before drawing it between his teeth so that it stood hard and tight, making me ache for more.

  “I’ll hold you to that,” he said huskily before tucking my boob back into my bra and grasping my hand to pull me to my feet. His hand cupped an ass cheek and squeezed. “Because I’m going to believe you in every way I can, including ways you’ve never been believed before until the whole damn RV park knows just how hard I can believe.”

  “That’s all I ask for,” I teased with his own double entendre.

  He threw my top at me. “Put this on before I say fuck them and believe you right here and now.”

  “Admit it,” I said with a smile as I pulled the shirt over my head, “you’re glad to be getting away.”

  He admitted no such thing, but I could feel his relief as though it were my own. What happened to his Marine brothers and Jacey when he was Micah and then with his sister and parents earlier in this life had really screwed him up. Although I hadn’t recalled everything from our past lives, I was certain Jeremicah had always been more cautious than me. Always someone who wanted to gather as much intelligence as possible and then analyze it from every angle before moving forward. But at some point, armed with his data and my intuition, he’d make a decision and recruit whatever comrades we had at the time. He enjoyed strategizing with them, and then leading us where we needed to go. He also always loved celebrating victories with them. Now, he wanted nothing to do with anyone but me. He was scared. And now I knew of what.

  The realization hit me like a smack in the forehead: His life as Micah hadn’t started it all.
It wasn’t what happened to Jacey or his sister in this life that sparked his fear. It went back further, to our Separation in the life before. When our single Bonded soul had been ripped from our body and torn into two. When we became Twin Flames. He did believe in us, and that’s what he was so afraid of losing.

  I swallowed the lump in my throat and blinked away the sting in my eyes as I retrieved our things from the bathroom. I had to take a few deep breaths before returning to his side. We tossed the rest of our belongings into our bags and hurried downstairs where Brock and Asia already waited in a newer model yellow Camaro. Asia hopped out of the front seat when she saw us and climbed into the back. When I squeezed in after her, I immediately knew Jeric would have never fit back here.

  “You brought the Book, right?” Asia asked as Brock put the car into gear.

  I patted the bag on my lap. “Of course.”

  With that, Brock slammed on the gas pedal, and we took off, out of Tampa and toward the Georgia state line.

  “So we agree that our mission is to find Rebethannah?” I asked once we were on I-75.

  “Brock and I were talking about it while waiting on you guys. Since you already have your camper set up in Lake Haven, maybe you guys can go into town and see if there really are Lakari hanging around there while we find a place to stay.”

  “Good idea. We’ll probably need a few days to settle in and figure things out,” I said.

  “And Lake Haven’s a small town, right?” Asia asked. “Which means we’ll need to hang back anyway.”

  “I don’t get that,” I said. “How are you supposed to help if you’re not right there?”

  “Oh, we won’t be far,” Asia promised. “Trust me. Besides, that’s only if we have to stay at Lake Haven, which we might not. Maybe the Guardians were wrong or the Lakari have moved on by now.”

  “If we’re lucky,” Jeric muttered, his first contribution to the conversation.

  “We’re the best of the best,” Brock said. “Don’t worry so much, man. As corny as Mira made it sound, she was right about believing. Any special gifts and inhuman abilities are already there—you just have to trust in them. And believe yourself.”

  Jeric snorted, and I suppressed my own laughter at the euphemism we’d been using earlier. Brock took it the wrong way, though.

  “Dude, it’s in your hands,” he said, and this time neither of us could hold back the laugh. This only frustrated him more, and he huffed out a breath. “Fine. Believe whatever the hell you want. But at some point, you’ll see that I’m right. When your life’s on the line, you’ll be believing me so hard you’ll be screaming my name.”

  “That’ll never happen,” Jeric choked out, and both of us howled with laughter.

  Asia eyed us with bewilderment, and Brock scowled.

  “Screw you both,” he muttered, and Jeric and I lost any control we’d had.

  We spent the rest of the drive trying to convince Brock that we weren’t laughing at him nor saying we’d never trust him. Eventually, we had to let them both in on our silly little joke before we lost them completely as comrades.

  “Ahhh, I get it,” Brock said with exaggerated enthusiasm. “And by the way, Jeric, believe you to hell and back.”

  “Fuck you, too, dude,” Jeric replied.

  When we pulled into the small RV park and I saw my old red truck parked next to my Airstream, nostalgia hit me hard. Life had been so confusing when we’d been here, but in a way, so much simpler. We’d discovered each other on several different levels and even had our first fight here. So much had happened in the two days we’d been stranded at this campground. Now, we were entirely different people.

  Brock and Asia didn’t hang around after dropping us off, and we hadn’t even reached the door to my camper when a white cat streaked over and rubbed against my legs.

  “Ghost?” I asked with disbelief as I picked up the cat and nuzzled my face against his soft fur. “I can’t believe you’re still here.”

  “He looks to be well fed,” Jeric pointed out as he opened the camper door.

  As soon as we walked in, the nostalgia disappeared, replaced by content. This was home. More “home” than anywhere else we had anymore, because neither of us really felt at home at the manor. Jeric had only stayed in this camper a few nights with me, but I could feel his appreciation for the sense of familiarity, too. Seeing my tie-dyed curtains and multicolored collection of pillows, the funky décor all over the interior, I realized I wasn’t really an entirely different person. I was still me, just … more.

  Jeric dropped our bags in the middle of the floor, grabbed my wrists, and pulled me into him.

  “Now?” he asked, his lips already against my neck.

  I giggled. “I said when we’re settled. We need to go into town, get some groceries, maybe even scope things out and see if there are any Lakari around.”

  He lifted his head to eye me and must have seen I was serious because he groaned. “You’re killing me, babe. I haven’t stopped thinking about you since my shower this morning.”

  My lips twisted in a smirk. “I call your bullshit. If you’d been thinking about me, you wouldn’t have gotten so pissy with everyone.”

  “I got so pissy with everyone, which, by the way, I hate that word. Girls get pissy. Not dudes. But I lost my cool because I was thinking about you. Just in a different way. But the other way is always in the back of my mind, too.” His eyes lit up again, and I didn’t have to wonder what he was thinking about this very moment. I debated giving in, but decided it wouldn’t kill either of us to wait. Patience only came with practice.

  “The sooner we go, the sooner we can get back so you can believe me all night long.”

  He must have liked the sound of this, because he reluctantly gave in, and we made a list for the store. When we headed out, my truck started up right away, and I gave her a pat on the dashboard.

  “Good to see you, too, girl,” I said. Jeric quirked an eyebrow, but I ignored him.

  When we’d been here before, my truck had been in the mechanic’s bay at the truck stop across the two-lane highway, so we’d never made it into the nearby town of Lake Haven. The diner, bar, and convenience store had provided our sustenance. So although we’d seen people around the RV park and over at the bar, I didn’t expect anyone would remember two strangers who’d spent a couple of days outside of town a few months ago.

  I forgot about dancing the bull and the fight that came after. Well, not a fight really, since Jeric had one-hit the dude and knocked him out before carrying me over his shoulder out the door. Apparently, we’d made an impression, although they probably only remembered our faces. Any details of our actual existences had been wiped out.

  “Hey,” said almost everyone whose paths we crossed after we parked on Central Street and walked around a little. They all gave us a welcome smile. The younger people, anyway, and all of the men. Some of the older women, all dressed up with lipstick and everything, smiled, but their grins weren’t very welcoming. Guess they heard about my dance and didn’t approve. I didn’t care what they thought. Except hearts like that were easy prey for Lakari. Maybe one of these old uppity women was their target.

  “Have you seen any Lakari?” Jeric asked.

  “I don’t feel them specifically, but I do feel a lot of Darkness. Don’t you?”

  He answered with a harrumph while I glanced around the businesses lining Central Street, which intersected with 1st Street, the other main drag. It was the middle of a weekday, so activity was probably at its peak. There was one dude down the street, standing in the doorway of a business, who didn’t seem to fit in. A little squirrely looking. When I saw that the business was an insurance agency, though, I dismissed him.

  “If they’re here, they’ll probably be out at night,” I said. “That seems to be their preferred time of day. So I gu
ess that’s when we come out, too, to see where they gather.”

  “You promised me tonight,” Jeric reminded me as he took my hand.

  “I know,” I said with a smile. “We need to get our bearings better anyway. Get to know some people and everything.”

  “We’ll start that tomorrow.” He steered me into the doorway of a diner. “Let’s grab something to eat so we’re not shopping hungry.”

  The mom-and-pop diner was exactly as you’d expect in a small Southern town. Booths that were probably manufactured in 1974 lined the outside wall and tables with lots of character and mismatched chairs sat in the center. Lunch hour had come and gone, so only a few people lingered at the tables. Along the inside wall that separated the kitchen from the dining room was a buffet that was empty at the moment. The fragrance of fried chicken and ham and beans drifted from the kitchen, though.

  “Grab a seat wherever ya’ll want,” a female voice called from the kitchen.

  Jeric and I sat down in a booth in front of a window that provided a great view of the center of town.

  “Sweet tea?” the same voice asked, though nearer and not quite as loud now. A woman, late thirties or early forties, had come out and stood at the counter between the buffet and the cash register. Her pale blue eyes scoured us, as though determining with a hard stare if we were good people or not. Her blond hair was pulled into a clip on the back of her head.

  “Water, please,” I said. I hated tea.

  “And for you?” the woman asked. Her expression changed when she looked at Jeric—I swore her eyes glazed over.

  “Coke, please,” he said.

  “What kind?” she asked.

  Jeric gave me a questioning glance.

  “Everything’s Coke in the South,” I explained. “Thought you knew that. Didn’t you live in Florida?”

  My time in Georgia had taught me a lot. That and Mama had been from Louisiana.