Darian shrugged. “The Elitists are all purebred Intarans. Our faction, the Kindred, encompasses pure-bloods, hybrids, and the humans we’ve accepted into the fold.”
I gestured for him to continue. The more I knew about my enemies, the better prepared I’d be. “We keep the Elitists from harming humanity when we can. They destroy anyone who doesn’t follow their strict code. The Kindred protect the minorities among both races.”
“So why don’t you guys look like aliens?” I leaned back to examine him, but he appeared normal. “You don’t have six legs, or tentacles, or green skin, do you?”
“Nope. What you see is what you get. Well, unless I morph myself. But I was born this way.” He put his arms out, and my gaze followed the contours of his exposed chest. “Our scientists think Intarans and humans are related. The alignment of the planets is too close for it to be a coincidence.”
“Makes sense. But how?” I chewed my lip as I thought, and he tugged the abused flesh from my teeth with his thumb. For a moment, we stared at each other.
He cleared his throat and continued. “We use the Portal, but we didn’t build it. According to our oldest legends, it’s been there since the beginning of time. Several gods are credited with its creation, but none have stepped forward to validate the claim.”
“So which came first? The human or the Intaran?” I quipped.
“Our fertility rates on Earth have declined over the centuries, and each generation is less powerful than the last. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say Intarans were the original inhabitants of both worlds. Our ancestors were trapped and lost their magic after multiple generations.”
“What gifts do your people have?” I’d seen a few, but if these people were after me, I wanted to know what I was up against.
“Full blooded Intarans possess many abilities, usually within the same branch as their predecessor. The Elitists breed their offspring, but talents don’t follow clear hereditary patterns. When two divergent lineages combine, the magic might mix, or the dominant talent could suppress the lesser. Sometimes a combination of skills crops up, usually in Intaran- human offspring.”
I hadn’t thought much about children, but I wanted them one day. What would his child look like? A little girl with his chocolate locks and my coloring teased me. Then another image of a little boy with my hair and Lukas’ piercing gaze invaded my musings. As neither was possible, I banished the idea. Even my inner self couldn’t decide which man I wanted more.
“So, as a race, you guys can develop any kind of superpower?”
“No.” He laughed. “Our capacity is limited, and individual strength varies. There are those of us who alter matter; Shapeshifters and Manipulators, for example. Some have mental abilities like Prophesy, Telekinesis, and Mind Control. And others master the elements.”
“What can Lukas do?” I asked.
“He’s a hybrid.” Darian gestured toward the kitchen. “His strongest talent is Dreaming, which lets him enter dreams and direct them. He also sees Visions in his Dreams, and reads the echo of memories off objects through Psychometry.”
“Can he read my mind?” I whispered as I felt the heat creep up my neck. If he knew half the things I thought, I’d die of embarrassment.
“No.” He shook his head. “Some of our allies can, but every telepath I’ve met has to make a considerable effort to breach a person’s inner thoughts. They must touch their subject to get beyond fragmented images. It’s a lot harder than the movies make it.”
“That’s a relief. Sometimes I think he knows what I’m thinking before I do.”
“Most Intarans and hybrids sense general emotions with proximity, or by reading your aura, but not the concepts behind them.”
The muted conversation in the next room drew my attention. “What about Daniel?”
“Daniel’s human, but he’s bad-ass enough to hang with us.”
“There’s a lot of people here.” I’d noticed everyone drifting past the living room door as they tried to peek in. Several of the onlookers were familiar from the club.
“You’ll meet the gang soon, since I’m sure they’re curious about you, too. It isn’t often we let someone in on the secret.”
“Any other supernatural creatures wandering around?” I teased. “Is a unicorn going to pop up on Main Street, or maybe the cashier at Walmart happens to be a leprechaun?”
A chuckle escaped his lips, followed by another at the entry, and I slipped from Darian’s embrace. Lukas watched us with a speculative look. Confused by their reactions and my conflicting attraction, I stepped away from them both. When did love become so complicated?
Chapter Twelve
Darian
I tensed as Lia slipped from my embrace. Lukas watched us with a speculative look, and several intense emotions filled his aura. How could I forget she was his soulmate?
“We’ll introduce you to the Kindred later.” He took her hand. “We’ve confirmed the Elitists want you, and last night wasn’t random. My team spotted men watching Tainted Eden and outside your apartment. We’d hoped they didn’t know where you lived, but it isn’t secure for you there anymore.”
“What can I do? Where will I go?” Ryleigh looked stricken, but I didn’t dare pull her into my arms.
“You remember Mimi?” He led her to the hall. “She has rooms for us.”
“All of us? I thought these guys just wanted me?”
“Mimi, Darian and I are going with you, and my people will keep an eye on her neighborhood. We’ll be more comfortable there, since it’s above ground. They don’t know about this safe house, and it’s almost impossible for them to find. We won’t let anyone hurt you.”
When Lukas pulled her into a hug, his eyes met mine over her head. I couldn’t read his emotions through their overlapping auras. She leaned away and made a face at the bloody smears on her bodice.
She glared at me. “This was my favorite dress.”
“I’ll get you a new one.” I’d buy her a hundred dresses to see her smile again.
“Hmmm.” She gave me an odd look, and then turned back to him. “Do I have time to shower first? And could I borrow something to wear? I can’t go out in this.”
He looked at me as he answered. “Mimi’s already waiting for you in the other room. She’ll take you to the Bed and Breakfast while Darian and I pack whatever you want from your place. We need to talk anyway.”
Ah, hell.
Shit, shit, shit. If he was willing to leave Ryleigh, it would get ugly. His abilities might seem benign, but he was a terror on the battlefield. Literally. I didn’t want to fight him. I looked at her as she walked away.
Did I?
The ride to her apartment felt strained. With the increase in activity, several of our security staff traveled with us. We’d seen a few suspected Elitists on the trip, but they did little more than observe. The loud pulse of a radio in the unit next door matched the turmoil of my thoughts.
I watched Lukas as he examined her home. He had a pained expression, and I noticed there was nothing in the way of decorations or personal touches. Boxes marked with the names of various rooms lined the wall between the living room and kitchen. “Lia’s moving?”
“She told Mimi she’s going overseas for a job opportunity she can’t pass up. Jason pulled her credentials. She’s top of her class in field archeology.”
That explained her interest in history. “When?”
“Less than two months.”
Distress radiated from him in waves. “You’ve got time to convince her to stay.”
“Do I?” When he faced me, he wasn’t angry or upset. In fact, he seemed curious, and his mouth quirked with humor. “Or maybe you’ll be the one to persuade her?”
Shit. I hadn’t meant for any of this to happen. But I couldn’t deny it, either.
He turned and walked through a doorway off the entry. The packages indicated this was her office. A desk and chair were all that remained unpacked. I didn’t want to, but I followed him, a
nd the door closed with an audible click. I continued to the open curtains and pretended to look outside.
What could I do to fix this?
I’d expected him to question me about what was going on with Ryleigh right away, but he paced in silence instead. I refused to turn from the window. She was his mate. No even worse, she was his soulmate, his Setah. If he attacked me, I didn’t deserve to defend myself. He cursed several times before he stopped on the other side of the room.
As far from me as possible.
“Why the hell didn’t you shift, Darian?”
Shocked at his choice of topic, I spun toward him. He looked at my healing ribs with worry. He and I had never been intimate, but I sensed Lukas was as fond of me as I was him. Except, now he had his mate, and didn’t need me anymore.
“I was about to.” He might not be pleased with my answer, but I owed him an explanation. “Then I saw the look on her face… and I couldn’t. I couldn’t stand to frighten her.”
“She was already frightened. You could have died!”
Me. He’d worried about me. Oh, I didn’t doubt his fear for Lia, but we both realized they wanted her alive.
“The Elitists would’ve killed you on sight.” He cursed again. “You left yourself vulnerable. What were you thinking?”
I met his gaze, letting the truth of my feelings bleed through. He’d hate me. But he was the one person on this planet I would never lie to. Well Lukas, and now Ryleigh. “How would you behave if she looked at you with raw terror? What would you do if you knew it was you she was afraid of? Could you do it?”
Shit. I’d said a lot more than I’d intended to, but I wouldn’t take it back. I was talking about his Setah for Christ’s sake. He watched me, evaluating me. I couldn’t tell what he thought. His emotions remained elusive. He didn’t look like a man ready to kill his best friend.
With a sigh, I turned to leave before he changed his mind.
“Don’t you dare walk away from me. Not this time.” He didn’t ask, and would never plead. It was a demand; a tone he so rarely used with me, I stopped. He commanded me with his words and his eyes. Hell, his volatile ambiance ordered me to obey.
And because I loved him, I stayed.
“You’re attracted to her. Aren’t you?”
I shook my head, refusing to speak the lie aloud.
“Admit it. You want her.” He growled at me. For a moment I found it ironic. Between the two of us, I could turn into a beast. All traces of humor left when I saw the mix of colors flash in his aura.
“I’ve waited patiently for you to come around. But you don’t let yourself feel. Emotions make you weak, is that it?”
Lukas stepped toward me, stalking me with his entire being. His voice was so soft I strained to hear him. He crossed the room with measured steps, knowing he made me nervous. I prepared for the attack I deserved.
“Two years is long enough, Darian.”
Another footfall. I felt like prey. He trapped me with nowhere to go. Should I retreat? He crowded my space now. But I couldn’t surrender. Not even to Lukas. I would never back down again.
Wait. Years? We’d met Ryleigh hours ago. A full day hadn’t passed since she’d entered our life. Funny how her arrival had destroyed everything I’d ever known about myself.
I still hadn’t answered, and he edged closer.
“I’m not a patient man. But for you, I took it slow. Too much was at stake to give you the chance to run. Now, it’s too late. I won’t let you go.”
He advanced until our feet almost touched. When he leaned forward, the heat of his chest enveloped me. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t look away. And when he grabbed my belt and pulled me into him, I moaned.
I’d hoped for this for so long, I couldn’t fight it any more.
“I’m done waiting.” His lips whispered against my cheek, so close I could lean down and feel their warmth if I dared. “We both know what you want. It’s the same thing I want. And I always get what I want.”
I swallowed hard, so tempted to give in. Lukas must have sensed my conflicting emotions because his mouth covered mine before I moved. The kiss wasn’t gentle. Not at first. His grip on my jeans spoke of raw possession. He was dominant and insistent, and it was my nature to push back.
I fought to control this crazy situation.
Then he tilted his head to deepen the caress, and his lips worshiped mine. Not pleading, but asking me to give in instead of demanding it. His tongue slipped past my teeth without apology. For the first time, I yielded to him. I leaned back, drawing him after me, and let him take the lead.
He accepted my surrender and seized my mouth, my body, and my soul.
For several minutes nothing existed but Lukas. He claimed me, possessing me like no one ever had before. And I would’ve given him whatever he asked. I would have submitted to him, and only him, right there in Ryleigh’s office.
But the sound of the water shutting off on the other side of the wall pulled us out of our lust filled haze.
Shit.
Two days ago, this was all I’d wanted. But now he had Ryleigh. There wouldn’t be room for me in his life now. Or hers.
So, what the hell was I doing?
Lukas let me push past him and I left the apartment. The urge to disappear was strong, but I couldn’t abandon her when she needed me. Too bad I could never escape the way those two made me feel.
For their sakes, I would have to try.
Chapter Thirteen
Ryleigh
“Are you sure, Mimi?”
The over-sized mixing bowl swallowed my arms as I beat the dough. I tried to forget the grueling morning I’d spent with Thane’s interrogators. When these people looked into your past, they were thorough. I hadn’t expected a dissection of every action since the day I was born.
Their inquisition had dredged up the painful memories of my momma’s last year of chemo. I’d struggled to survive the grief of losing both my parents so close together. Watching her embrace death had almost broken me. Tears filled my eyes but I blinked them away, refusing to give in to the emotions swirling in my head. I was orphaned at seventeen, but their sacrifices had made me the woman I was today.
My sorrow drove me into the kitchen to cook her favorite recipe.
“Trust me.” She grinned. “There’s a reason for the old tripe about a man and his stomach.”
“I don’t know. The way those guys keep looking at me… it’s like I killed their puppy. I don’t think making Deditos de Novia will win me any points. They already hate me.”
She helped me cut the dough and spoon in the fresh guava paste. She’d somehow found guavas in the middle of the winter in Massachusetts. My mother would have been appalled if I’d prepared her famous cookies with commercial filling. Working next to Mimi was bittersweet.
Momma would’ve wanted me to move on years ago, but I’d shut everyone out instead.
“They don’t hate you. They’re wary. Too many times we’ve let the outside world in and it tried to destroy us. Experiences like that make a person harden their heart. You’ll be good for them, I think.”
“Well, you have more faith in my treats than I do.” I huffed.
“Just wait and see.”
Her enigmatic smile made me nervous. Lukas admitted she looked off when she’d Seen something. Her Sight ranged from catastrophic to harmless. He’d warned me not to bother trying to get the woman to reveal her Visions. She had little control over the images and kept them to herself.
But I would pay special attention to anything cryptic she might say.
The oven chimed as we finished prepping the dough. I’d never used such a monstrous appliance, but the stainless steel beast handled twelve large trays with room to spare. We worked side by side pushing the sheets inside. As they baked, we wiped flour from the granite counters.
My momma would say, ‘if there wasn’t a mess, you didn’t make ‘em right.’
The view outside the kitchen window was far remo
ved from the downtown Boston neighborhood it occupied. The magic enveloping the Gothic Bed and Breakfast discouraged anyone on the outside from ever looking twice. From the outside, the building looked like every other worn down eyesore on the street.
Behind the wards, the four story sprawling estate dominated the entire block. The charming gardens out back meandered over several acres. I wandered the oasis for hours without seeing it all.
Many charms protected the safe house. They masked the acreage in multiple layers of Illusion and left nothing to chance. Some prevented magical spying, such as Scrying the occupant’s energy signatures or locations. A few tripped alarms, similar to a standard security system, but fine- tuned to specific threats. Others stopped certain types of offensive spells from crossing the threshold.
Mimi helped me dust the cooled cookies with powdered sugar and encouraged me to take them to the guys in the massive basement living room. I felt abandoned, but determined to regain the ground I’d lost this morning. I shifted my weight as the thin wafers set.
My calf throbbed where the shifter bit me three days ago. I suppressed the sliver of growing worry. Darian assured me there was no way I’d turn hairy, and I trusted him. The wound was healing, though it hurt.
I ignored the dull throb and my mind wandered to positive things.
Like the two very charming, very confusing men consuming my every thought. Sometimes, in my naughty moments, I fantasized both seducing me at once. It unnerved me how often the pair occupied my thoughts, even when they weren’t around.
Whenever I imagined a future with either guy, I stopped myself.
I wasn’t ready to decide between the two, and I didn’t want to. In a little over seven weeks I would move overseas, so I didn’t see the point in starting a new relationship anyway. The hopelessness of leaving and never seeing them again left me hollow inside. The more time we spent together, the more I wanted to get to know them. Both of them.
Was it any wonder I felt so confused?
Beyond The Veil: A Paranormal & Magical Romance Boxed Set Page 133
