Elizabeth, Peyton - Noble Yearning [Nature's Nobles 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Peyton Elizabeth

  Ronan Dante stood a couple of inches taller with chin-length black hair that gave him a roguish appearance and made his square jaw more prominent. His dark-brown eyes stared at her with almost horror, and for a brief second, she felt the guilt of leaving both of these men when she was younger.

  “Kala?” Gavin was the first to recover. Taking a step forward, he went to reach for her, causing Devyn to take a panicky step back. She held her hands up, as if that would hold them at bay.

  She didn’t want to touch them and have another vision. Devyn was too emotional to have the control she needed right now. She also couldn’t bring herself to touch them physically, because she was afraid she would never let go. Devyn tried to swallow around the lump in her throat. To have them standing in front of her after all this time was pure hell, especially knowing how they enjoyed those women she had seen in her mind. The jealousy still managed to cause a physical ache in her heart.

  “You need to leave,” Devyn managed to say around a throat that felt closed off. She was lucky enough to have any conscience thought left to form words. Of all the people in the world who Mace would send after her, what were the odds it would be the men she fell in love with at the tender age of eighteen?

  “Kala, what the hell is going on?”

  Devyn opened her mouth, trying to tell them again that they needed to leave, but nothing came out. Snippets of their walks and picnics came to mind, reminding her that they had given her two very special months to live out her fantasy of being normal. Well, as normal as it could be for her at that time. Every time Devyn had touched them, scenes from their future would play in her mind. She had absolutely no control back then, learning how to use her power.

  “Kala, answer me,” Gavin demanded. “Are you Mace’s sister?”

  Devyn ignored his question, still trying to come to terms with having them be the ones Mace sent. She remembered having visions of them, many having to do with the missions they were to carry out, the lives they would save, and even the women they would go on to share. Those had been the hardest to envision because she envied those women, wanting to be them, to be loved by Gavin and Ronan. But Devyn had learned early on that her gift was never wrong. As heartbreaking as it was, she did what she had to do and left them to live their lives.

  “Yes,” Devyn whispered, “but Mace made a mistake. You shouldn’t be here.”

  The only time she had ever felt truly loved for being herself had been when she was with them. She couldn’t allow herself to go back to that time or place. She couldn’t handle it. Just hearing Gavin’s voice sent tremors through her body while it remembered his whisper from the past, saying “come for us.” Her body had willingly done what he asked, her self-control taken away from just those three words. Her fingers itched to reach out and touch them. She clutched them into fists to prevent her from doing something stupid.

  “Kala, you’re in danger.”

  Mace hadn’t even been aware she knew them or the group of people he was now living with. She had never told him of her time with them. It was her memory and her memory alone. If Theo ever knew who she was, he would never forgive her for omitting the truth when he gave her a place to stay. Honesty was a really big thing with Theo.

  “It’s nothing I can’t handle. Please, just go.”

  Gavin didn’t back off, but instead, came through the door. Ronan followed, his jaw tight and his brown eyes dark with fury. He had yet to say a word, but then, she hadn’t expected him to. Ronan tried to come across as not caring about anything, but she remembered what they had shared. Her leaving had affected him deeply, but there was nothing she could do or say that would ever make it right by him.

  Devyn backed up a few steps, watching as Ronan closed the door behind him. He looked so good, she almost found herself taking a step forward, but caught herself in the nick of time. She wiped her sweaty palms down the sides of her jeans, all the while telling herself mentally that she could handle this. She would tell them she wasn’t going to Haven and then get them to leave. This was a simple task, right?

  “We’re not going anywhere.” Devyn watched as Gavin looked around quickly, taking everything in. His eyes landed back on her with a scrutiny she could have done without. “Do you know how long we searched for you? Do you have any idea the hell you put us through?”

  “You need to return to Haven and tell Mace that I don’t belong there.” Devyn wasn’t going to discuss the past with them. It would open up too many emotions that she had buried long ago, and they needed to stay hidden. She wasn’t going to cut herself open and bleed in front of them. It just wasn’t going to happen. Her mind was spinning, still astounded that fate would have them be the ones to find her. Fate could be a bitch.

  “And you know us better than that, even after all these years,” Gavin said angrily. “You are returning with us to Haven. And once we get settled, you’re going to explain exactly why you lied to us. You’re the Seer, for God’s sake! For now, you get a reprieve, because there’s a man in town asking questions. We don’t know how he figured out you were nearby, but he has, so we need to leave quickly.”

  “He won’t get any information from anyone,” Devyn reassured him, feeling a little like herself. She needed to take control. “No one knows who I am.”

  “Estelle, the waitress at the diner, knew you were here,” Gavin pointed out, taking another look around. He must have caught sight of her suitcase through the bedroom doorway, because he started to head that way.

  “You probably asked about a local artist because that’s what Mace told you to do, but she knows me by the name of Phoebe Lewis. No one knows my true name, so the man you think is looking for me will not find me. He has no clue he’s looking for a painter. Trust me, if someone did come here looking for a Seer, I can play dumb just as good as the next girl can. It won’t matter, though, because I’m leaving, too.”

  Gavin stopped a foot from the bedroom door and turned around slowly. Locking eyes, he stared her down and his voice went an octave lower, if that was even possible. “All this time, we searched for you, thinking fucked-up thoughts of you lying somewhere in a ditch, dead. And here you were, all cozy in some cabin while we went through hell. Is Kala even your real name?”

  Devyn spared a glance at Ronan, who was now leaning up against the door with his arms crossed. He was starting to make her feel antsy with his silence. The stormy expression in his eyes promised one hell of a confrontation, but she was smart enough to know he wouldn’t do it now. He had always been very calculated in his actions, and she was positive now would be no different. They both waited for her to answer.

  “No.”

  Ronan’s intense stare never wavered from hers, and when she shot a look over to Gavin, he had his eyes closed. Guilt started to make its way into her chest again, which made her angry. Anger she could deal with. She had done what she had to do. Was it so wrong of her, at the tender age of eighteen, to want to know what it felt like to be normal, to be loved? Damn it, she saw glimpses of their future, and she hadn’t been a part of it.

  “Do not look at me that way,” Devyn said accusingly, pointing a finger at Ronan. “And you,” Devyn continued, addressing Gavin, “don’t you dare make me feel guilty over something I had no control over. I saw your future back then, and I wasn’t a part of it.”

  “We’ll talk about this back at Haven.”

  She watched as Gavin turned and walked into her bedroom. He grabbed the handle of her suitcase and swung it off the bed, while taking the duffel bag and swinging it over his shoulder. Ronan still stood leaning against the door, and she realized they really thought she was just going to go with them without a fuss.

  “I’m not going with you,” Devyn said, trying to keep the desperation out of her voice. She couldn’t live through leaving them twice. Even after ten years, she would have thought these feelings would be gone and buried, but just seeing their faces and hearing their voices brought everything bubbling up into her chest until she couldn’t breathe. Her skin
still remembered the caresses, and her pussy still remembered what it was like to be filled by them.

  “Is there anything else you need, besides what’s in these two things?” Gavin asked, walking toward the door. Ronan finally stepped away from the door and turned the handle, opening it for Gavin to walk through. He called over his shoulder, “Take one last look around. We can have someone come to get the rest of your stuff later.”

  “There won’t be a later, damn it!” Devyn let the anger take over. “Mace was wrong to send you here. I need you two to leave—”

  The ringing of a cell phone sounded through the air, cutting off what she was about to say. Gavin reached into his pocket with his left hand, not bothering to place the suitcase on the ground, and pulled out his phone. Did he think if he placed her stuff on the ground she would try to take it from him? The thought had crossed her mind, which further pushed at her irritation that he would know that.

  “What have you got?” Gavin hadn’t bothered with pleasantries, so whoever was on the phone had information he wanted. She couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation, but from the look he was giving Ronan, he didn’t like what he was hearing. “And how did we not know this?”

  Gavin turned all the way around and dropped her suitcase by the door, along with the other bag. He motioned for Ronan to close the door, which he did, but then Ronan immediately crossed the room to where the window wall looked out at her favorite view. Her focus was torn between whom to watch, but Gavin’s continued conversation won out.

  “So you’re saying we led them directly to her? Son of a bitch, Jagger! We’re in the middle of fucking nowhere with no backup!”

  Devyn let his words sink in and tried to process exactly what was going on and how she should handle this. Somehow, someway, the Fray had followed Gavin and Ronan to Alaska. There could be no other people Gavin was referring to, which meant they were all in danger. But there was one way to know if they made it out of here alive, and it was the last thing she wanted to do. Just the thought of touching one of these men and getting glimpses of their future was enough to make her sick to her stomach. She didn’t want to see them married to someone else, or be fathers to someone else’s children. It almost killed her the first time when a scene involving them with another woman played through her mind, hearing the woman moan her pleasure while the men loved her. And here it was again, that feeling like she was going to be sick to her stomach. Unfortunately, she couldn’t control what visions came to her. She couldn’t just conjure up the exact moment she needed and had to endure what fate brought her way.

  “How many are there, and are they Rogues or humans?” Gavin snapped his fingers to get Ronan’s attention, as he was still looking out the window. What exactly was he looking for?

  Ronan turned and started to walk across to where Gavin stood. Devyn thought about the term Rogues and knew Gavin meant Nobles who had turned on their own. If the men after her were Rogues, Gavin and Ronan would have no clue as to what power they might possess, which would make their job of protecting her harder, not that she had asked for their protection in the first place. Damn Mace and his good intentions.

  “Make sure Tavia and a team are sent in. We’re safer here than we are trying to travel back to Anchorage. Bring them in ASAP and have them call me when they arrive.”

  Every Noble thought a Seer was so god-damned important to their generation, she thought. How many times had Devyn heard that growing up, what an asset it was to have a gift no one else would have as long as she lived? How she could see the future and plan for the Noble race accordingly? They couldn’t be so lucky, she laughed almost hysterically to herself. It wasn’t like she could close her eyes and the fate of the world appeared to her. She had to literally touch someone, skin to skin, to see their future. And it wasn’t as if she could see everything all at once. If she brushed up against someone, a preview of something imminent would appear to her. But to really delve deep, she now had enough control to maintain contact and let the images appear to her from various points in their life. But she didn’t need to do that with them. She just needed to brush one of their arms with her fingertips to grab on to an image of what was about to happen. And she knew from Gavin’s conversation that they needed to know now.

  Right when Ronan would have passed her, Devyn didn’t stop to think, but did what she had to do. He had on a long-sleeved black T-shirt, which, thankfully, had been rolled up to his elbows. Her fingertips grazed his warm skin, rubbing against his coarse hair that had thickened with age. Heat ran through her hand, reminding her of what it felt like to run her hand through his chest hair. How she had loved playing with it, lightly pulling on it and seeing him smile when she did. Trying her best to ignore her physical response and how the heat traveled straight to her core, she concentrated on her power. Her fingertips tingled, and immediately, the vision came to mind.

  Snow covered the ground, the wet flakes sticking to one another like glue and forming a white sheet of entangled lace. The moonlight glanced off the surface, shining its light through the falling snow. Wind blew the individual flecks around in disarray while Ronan stood in the middle of it, legs spread, arms to his side, with his palms facing forward. Devyn could see herself in the background, running from her cabin, screaming his name. Gavin was close on her heels, grabbing her around the waist and preventing her from reaching Ronan. She fought him, scratching at his arms and kicking at his legs, but no matter how hard she fought, he wouldn’t let go. She heard the gunshot. Both she and Gavin stood still, afraid of what that meant. As if in slow motion, she saw Ronan hit the ground, his eyes closing as blood spilled out onto the pristine blanket of snow.

  “Kala, look at me. Now!” Ronan’s voice snapped her back to the present. It was the first time he had spoken to her since she answered the door. Her eyes opened to find his hands on her cheeks and him taking in every facial movement she made. Her first instinct was to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her go. “What did you see?”

  How could she tell him she just saw him die? It was also the first time she had ever seen herself in a vision. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but all that escaped was a sob. She heard Ronan curse underneath his breath, and then he pulled her in tight against his chest, one hand going around her waist and the other stroking her hair. It was too much. Seeing them again, remembering what it felt like to be wrapped up in their love, and now to know that Ronan died because of her—it was just too much.

  “It’s all right, angel. Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it.”

  Ronan kept murmuring reassuring words, not once unleashing the anger she knew he felt at her betrayal. Tears from her vision, but also of knowing she had caused him and Gavin pain by leaving them, spilled from her eyes. She heard a moan of anguish and realized that it had come from her chest. With Ronan holding her, she finally let go of all the pain, sorrow, and loneliness of the last ten years. Sobs wracked her body until she couldn’t stand, and she felt Ronan place his hands underneath her knees and lift her up into his arms. To feel his hard body again, to feel the security he brought, and then to know she was the one responsible for his death, stole her ability to breathe. She clung to him as if he could make everything disappear and gave in to the grief.

  Chapter Three

  “Is she still asleep?”

  Ronan looked up from closing the bedroom door, seeing Gavin at the kitchen counter using his laptop. Gavin was the greatest at keeping contacts around the world and utilizing them to the best of his ability. He had gleaned information that had saved their asses a time or two, for which Ronan was thankful. He had never had the ability to converse like Gavin, as he was the more physical of the two. Whatever he needed, Ronan would just beat it out of them, with no remorse. He didn’t like to waste time with pleasantries.

  “Yeah.” Ronan walked over to where Gavin sat, grabbing his mug and then taking an empty one near the sink. Even though it was almost nine o’clock at night, both he and Gavin knew they would be up for hours,
and then each would take a shift to make sure the perimeter stayed clear until their team arrived. Then they’d be able to get out of this place. “She had a gun tucked in the back of her waistband. I took it and put it in my bag, at least until we’re sure she knows how to use it.”

  Once Kala broke down, or Devyn as she had told him while she had been trying to breathe through her tears, he had sat down on the couch with her in his lap and just rocked her. That was when he felt the metal at her back, but he hadn’t wanted to take it from her then. He had no recollection of the time, only that to finally have her in his arms again felt like heaven and hell mixed together. He hurt from all the pent-up emotions, while his body still responded to her in a way that it did with no other. Even after all this time, she could make his dick harder than cement.

  He wanted to rage at her for all the heartache she had caused, for choosing to leave them when she could have just been honest. But to see her so broken, it was like somebody was taking a shard of glass and ripping his heart to shreds. When her ragged breathing finally evened out, Ronan had taken her into her bedroom and laid her down, covering her with the throw at the end of the bed.

  “Ronan—”

  “Don’t go there, Gavin,” Ronan warned, not wanting to talk about it. Gavin thought everyone should just slit their veins and let all thoughts and emotions out. Fuck that. He had shared his life story with one person, other than Gavin, and she ended up leaving them. It didn’t matter the reason, because in the end, she left. There was nothing left to say.

  When they had knocked on the door, the last thing he ever expected was to find Kala on the other side. Shit, he meant Devyn. But there she had stood, so similar to that eighteen-year-old girl he fell in love with, but made more beautiful with age. Instead of her black hair being long like he remembered, she had it cut in a chic, blunt bob a couple inches longer than her chin. The color was just as striking as he remembered, causing her blue eyes to shine out from her thick, lush lashes. Her heart-shaped face, with those kissable pink lips, was just as perfect as she was in his dreams. But he had to remind himself that’s where she belonged—in his dreams. Because he couldn’t handle another reality stint where she would up and leave them when the going got tough.