by C. J. Parker
The misty image passed as quickly as it came and Rhonda suddenly found herself surrounded once more by Hurricane Mona and up to her waist in her surge waters.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Lexie sat on the bed, her expression downcast and dejected.
“What’s wrong?” Bobbie was sure she knew what was bothering Lexie, but wanted to hear it from her. “You look like you’ve lost your best friend.”
“You don’t need me now. You got Ionna. She’s real Moran blood though she’s chosen Tabatha as her mom. I’m some village orphan you took in.”
Bobbie Lifted Lexie’s chin to look into her gaze. “Honey, you are my daughter. You are a Moran. If the Spirit Warriors choose Ionna over you to lead in the future, you will never be the village orphan again. You are Moran by choice. You will have a purpose.”
But I hope not for many years.
“I didn’t understand that when I was your age and nearly blew it. Learn from my mistakes. They will need you in your time more than they needed me in mine. You will help rule the Shifters in a time of transition. It will be more important than this time of battle with our enemies.”
“But Ionna is a real Moran.” Tears welled in Lexie’s eyes.
Bobbie gave Lexie’s chin a shake. “Listen to her in there. She’s talking everyone’s ear off. She rambles. She’s still a child. You, Lexie, are smart and savvy. You are aware of what’s going on around you. Ionna is oblivious.”
“She means well.” Lexie swiped at an errant tear.
“Yes, she does. But, she’s a little girl. You are, as you keep telling me, nearly grown. I need you to help me lead.” Bobbie heard footsteps at the doorway and turned. Stephen came to the entryway and stood waiting. “You and Stephen are very important to the prophecy. Aetheria told me herself. How, I don’t know. She didn’t see fit to tell me. You need to find her and ask what it is you’re to do, where you’re needed. Then do everything she tells you. Our very existence may depend upon it.”
A gust of wind shook the shutters and rain pounded the roof once again. “Snow, I’d like you to stay here with us until the storm is past. You can have the pull-out bed in the living room.” Bobbie patted Lexie on the thigh and stood. “Let’s get some pillows and sheets for him. Then we need to make an inventory of food and water. Has anyone filled the bathtub? I know no one has filled the jugs. We need to do it now. The pumps will shut off soon.”
Stephen stood straighter. “I filled the tub and I found some five gallon pails in the shed this morning. They’re full and sitting in the kitchen. I don’t know where the jugs are.”
“Good job, Stephen.”
Lexie winked at him. “Show off.”
He smiled. “Glad you noticed.”
“Lexie, the jugs are in the attic. You’ll find the door in Tabatha and Rhonda’s room.”
Lexie walked past Stephen and shoved his shoulder. “Come on, brown nose. Guess I should be glad you left a few brownie points for me.” She stopped abruptly and glanced back at Bobbie. “Aetheria just walked in the front door.”
Bobbie nodded. “Send her in.”
“Send me in?” The old woman’s brow crinkled. “I’m sent nowhere.”
Bobbie mentally counted to ten. “Where have you been?”
“Here and there.” She glanced around and nodded, obviously satisfied with the progress. “I have need of the children. I will return them.”
“For what? What are you up too, old lady?”
“Robertina.” Aetheria lowered her chin to her chest and signed deeply. “I am up to nothing. The Spirit Warriors would have a word with them.”
Alarm shot through Bobbie’s middle. A word could mean trouble, or they were sending Lexie and Snow away. “No. I don’t think so.”
“They will do them no harm.”
“Yeah right. Like they did me no harm, or Tabatha or Rhonda? They didn’t do any harm to Derek either, did they?” Bobbie rushed toward the kids but several Spirit Warriors formed a line separating her from them. “So help me God, Aetheria, if they hurt those kids, I will banish you from my midst. You will not be welcome.”
Aetheria nodded and turned away. “I never have been, child.”
Bobbie knew she had wounded the old woman more than if she’d sliced her in half with a sword. But the words were spoken and couldn’t be retracted.
“You may come, Robertina, but you cannot interfere. Once they are in front of the Spirit Warriors, they cannot hear you, they cannot see you.” Aetheria lifted the skirts of her shawl like dress and flung it above Bobbie, Lexie and Stephen’s heads with a flourish.
Bobbie stood waist deep in water, looking into the Council House. No water flooded its floor. Lined up on the stage were two thrones. Her father, Uriah, sat on one, on the second her brother, Elsu. Lexie, Stephen and Aetheria stood in front of them, their head lowered in respect.
Pushing against the barrier, Bobbie called out to her dad and brother. The joy of seeing her family again tasted sweet on her tongue. Every treasured memory of them returned, her father’s laughter and kind words, her brother’s tender touch each time she accidentally hurt herself. “Please,” she sobbed. “Please let me go to them.”
The warriors stood their post, unmoved by her emotional request.
Uriah placed his hand on Lexie’s head. “As of this day, you are a Moran. Is this your wish?”
Lexie nodded her head. “Yes. Oh, yes. I want to be a real Moran more than anything.”
“So be it.” Uriah placed his other hand on Stephen’s hair. “And you, Stephen? What do you wish?”
“Just to love and serve Lexie.”
“Oh, I think the prophecy has a bit more planned for you than that.” Elsu rose and moved to stand in front of them. “Stephen, you were born to be one with Alexandra. Your future will be serving together equally. Giving faith and guidance. Give me your hand.”
“No!” Bobbie fought against the hold the Spirit Warriors had on her, struggling to enter the hut. “Don’t do this to them. Don’t curse them to the life we’ve had to live, Elsu.” All the taunts, the loneliness and pressure to please slammed into Bobbie like a wall of flame. She didn’t want this for Lexie.
Stephen placed his hand in Elsu’s while Lexie placed hers in Uriah’s.
“Breathe as one. Speak as two. Serve all. Here stand the future King and Queen Moran. The Spirit Warriors will divide to protect those who serve now and you who will serve after they have gone.” Her dad and brother chanted together.
“Alexandra, do you promise to rule with love?” Uriah asked.
“Yes, sir.” Lexie smiled at Stephen.
“Stephen, do you promise to rule with kindness?” Elsu asked.
Stephen swallowed hard. “Yes. Yes, sir.”
“Do you accept each other?” Elsu touched their cheeks.
Lexie and Stephen gazed at each other. “We do,” they murmured in unison.
“Will you accept the mark of leadership?” Uriah stepped from the stage to be at their level and demanded full attention.
They closed their eyes and nodded.
“So be it,” Elsu and Uriah said as one. They raised Lexie and Snow’s joined hands into the air. A circle of flame started at their fingertips and continued down until it settled at their wrists. Stephen’s whole body shook but he made no sound. Lexie cried out and pulled away. Her trembling hand grasped Stephen’s again.
Lexie opened her eyes and glanced in Bobbie’s direction. Their gazes met. Bobbie found herself in the council hut facing her father and brother.
“Why have you done this?” Bobbie’s outrage was so intense she could taste the bitterness in the back of her throat.
“Why have you?” Her father frowned. “You took the child in, made her your own, knowing the role of the Moran name. Stephen came of his own accord. Where Alexandra goes, he will follow to the end of their time. Like you and Kangee.”
Bobbie searched the hut for the kids, but they were gone. With a gust of wind, the rain returned strikin
g the roof with a drum like rhythm.
“Aetheria has taken Lexie and Snow to your friend.” Elsu came close enough for Bobbie to feel the heat of his spirit on her skin.
She knew better than to try to touch him but reached her hand toward his cheek. His spirit faded and her heart cracked in half, just like it had the day he died.
Her father stood in front of her now, Elsu appeared behind him. “Your enemies will return in great number, daughter. You have an army at your will. They are at your beck and call.”
Elsu smiled. “We are at your beck and call, but you must call us back.”
A bright light surrounded them then faded and they were gone. The water surged in and pushed her up against the wall. She dove in, swimming out of the hut toward her staircase.
Bobbie sat on the highest step letting the rain hide her tears. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been sitting there when she heard Lexie’s tentative voice behind her.
“Bobbie. Are you coming in?”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Bobbie stepped into the shower’s weak lukewarm stream and reveled in the comfort it brought. Slowly it chased away the chill of the storm’s downpour and pushed away all thoughts of the oncoming battle. But it couldn’t wash away the hurt of Aetheria’s betrayal. She glanced out the bathroom window and gazed at the dark clouds blocking out any last rays of the sun. Night was coming quickly and with it, the danger of darkness giving cover to those who waited to attack.
Fatigue seeped from every pore of her body. The shower stopped, the pump’s reserve dry. She stepped into Kangee’s towel draped arms. He wrapped her in a cocoon of his warmth.
“How could Aetheria do this, Kangee?” Bobbie wept. The old woman’s actions had been a near fatal blow to her already battered emotions. “How could she?”
“You need rest. There’s nothing we can do about it now. It’s done.”
“And how do you feel about that?” She waited. The silence stretched to a chasm-sized canyon between them.
“If it’s their destiny, it may be for the best. But I think they’re too young to know what they’ve gotten into. I’ve known most of my life what was to come. My grandfather told me at a young age that you and I were mated by fate and that we would have to fight a great battle. I knew I loved you, and I thought I understood.”
Holding her tightly, he kissed the top of her head. “But I had no idea. Stephen loves Lexie and she him. I know this to be true. But they are going into this cold. They’ve had no time to think it out. They don’t have to be here, they can be free.”
“So now what?” Bobbie’s thoughts were a muddled web of confusion. “We can’t undo what the Spirit Warriors have done.”
Kangee carried her to the bedroom. She buried her face between his chin and his shoulder, not wanting to talk to anyone yet. He laid her on the bed and covered her with a cool sheet. She turned down the other side, patted the bed. “Please don’t leave me.”
Kangee stood. He was like a bronzed god watching over her. She needed him, and he was there for her. Leaning on her elbow, she reached over and raced her fingers down his chest to the tight muscles of his stomach. Bobbie ran her tongue around the head of his hardening erection. “Come love me, Kangee.” She reached for him as he placed one knee on the bed to her right and started to roll toward her. “I need you.” Bobbie pulled him to her and grasped his shaft in her hand, stroking him.
“Take it easy, baby.” He wrapped his fingers around her wrist to slow her movements. “I want this to last. I want it to be more than sex. I want to make love to you.”
Kangee ran his fingers through her damp hair. His fingertips brushed over her temples as he kissed each eyelid, the tip of her nose then moved down to her lips, taking them hostage with his own. His tongue slipped into her mouth and coaxed hers into a game of seduction.
Bobbie’s cat lay beneath the surface of her skin, wanting to burst forth. A low growl rumbled in her throat.
“Don’t shift on me. This is between you and me, not your animal and mine. Send her back. Lock her away. I want you, Bobbie. My woman. I want my lifemate to make love to me.”
Bobbie used every strand of power she possessed to force the cat into dormancy, but let the snake slither close, using its slow, deliberateness to calm her thoughts.
“That’s it. Slow. Soft. You are so beautiful.” Kangee’s mouth moved down to the hollow of her neck, leaving gentle kisses in its wake. He took small nibbling bites around her breast in an upward spiral motion until he came to her nipple. He sucked it deep into his hot mouth and toyed with the hard tip. His fingers ran a trail up her thigh to the vee between her legs and gently brushed over the moist mound.
“Yes,” she begged, and Kangee took the invitation and plunged his finger deep inside her. A kaleidoscope of color burst, filling her sight with every hue known to man. Every muscle in her body tightened as she fought not to climax.
In and out. His thumb rubbed the nub of her womanhood. In and out. Bobbie’s stomach muscles quivered, pressure building higher until her body exploded in an eruption of pleasure and release.
“That’s only the beginning.” Kangee lifted, settling himself between her legs, but still denying what her body craved. He started where he’d begun, kissing her eyelids, temples, neck, breast, sliding lower and lower until his tongue reached out to flick across her hard nub of pleasure. Soft at first, it was like butterfly wings, but with each swirl of his tongue the pressure increased until she thought she would blow sky high. Then he withdrew and flicked his tongue against it softly and started again.
She mewed like a kitten, screeched like a panther and hissed like a snake. They all tried to burst forward to claim the ecstasy Kangee offered.
“Mine!” She pushed them down and claimed the volcanic eruption of euphoria as her own.
Kangee drew away and stood at the foot of the bed. He bent to kiss her ankle, moved up to her calf, the inner thigh, then started over again on the other leg. He rolled her onto her stomach and kissed his way from her ankle to her hips, sliding his body over her skin. He kissed each vertebra up to her hairline. He slipped his erection between her legs until it was surrounded with the wet lips of her vagina. He moved it back, touching Bobbie’s entry, but let it slide back to taunt her clitoris.
Patiently, Bobbie waited for the right moment and when he drew back again, she pushed upward, plunging him deep inside of her.
~~~
Kangee nearly lost control when her wet heat captured him. Her muscles tightened then relaxed, over and over. He tried not to move, not wanting the pleasure to end this soon, but the torment she inflicted on him with her movements proved to be too much. His skin tingled, his stomach clenched. He moved his hands beneath her to stroke until she climaxed with him. She closed around him tightly, then released, over and over, her body sucking, drawing him deeper. The world vanished. The only thing left behind was her throbbing body insisting on being fed with only what Kangee could give her.
He withdrew.
“No!” Bobbie screamed. “Don’t stop. Please. Don’t stop.”
He flipped her roughly onto her back and plunged into her deep and hard. He bordered on the edge of insanity, driven by his need. Harder and faster he moved. His release stayed beyond his grasp. Something wild within him burst forward. Kangee looked into Bobbie’s eyes and knew she’d witnessed the wild beast within.
Then she smiled. “Love me, Kangee. Show me how good I make you feel.”
His body exploded in a flash of light and heat so intense, he feared it would burn them alive. Over and over, his seed soared into her womb.
He lay still, supporting his weight on his elbows, Bobbie’s fingertips brushing gently over his back.
“Wow.” Bobbie gasped for air. “Where’d that come from?”
Kangee laughed, a short bark of sound. “I don’t know, but I hope we find it again.”
She grinned wickedly. “Now?”
He groaned. She would be the death of him yet. But, God, what
a way to die. “Give me five minutes.” He rolled to his side, taking her with him. He traced circles on her hips with his fingertips. “I love you, Bobbie. I wanted to shrivel up and die when you left me. Once this is all over, to whatever end, if you can’t be happy here, I’ll leave with you. But I don’t ever want to be without you again.”
“I’m so sorry. It had nothing to do with my feelings for you, Kangee. I had to leave. I didn’t know who I was or what I wanted. Out there, in the Outsider’s world, I discovered I was capable of leading.” She stilled his hands. “I have a brain, Kangee. Can make decisions. When Elsu came for me, I told him to go home. I was happy where I was. The idea of coming back here and being nothing but the king’s sister sucked.”
He ran everything she’d said, and a few things she hadn’t, over and over in his brain. It had been hard for Bobbie, but he’d done his best to make her happy back then. “I understand.”
“Do you?” She searched his face. “I don’t think so. You and Elsu were adopted. Willingly given families. I never felt like I belonged anywhere. That’s why I couldn’t leave Snow and Lexie as camp wards. I won’t let any kid go through what I did.”
“And now? Do you know where you belong now?” He needed only to hear one thing.
She laid the full length of her body over his. “I belong right here.”
His soul sang with joy. He’d waited so long to hear her admit that. She was his lifemate. He was hers.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Screaming. Moaning. Pounding on the side of the house. Bobbie covered her head with her pillow. “Go away!” The sound of banging grew louder, more demanding. She fought to draw closer to wakefulness but fatigue battled back, insisting she rest.
A crash. Rain.
She looked around to discern her whereabouts. Something was wrong, this couldn’t be her bedroom. It was raining on her. The wind blew everything as if weightless and without mass. Her nightstand flew over her head, crashing against the armoire. The winds changed direction, as if the world had taken a deep breath, pulling dresses, blouses and jeans through the hole in the ceiling like specters escaping the melee.
