by Aliyah Burke
“No,” Dracen said, drawing the word out. “That we all saw.”
“Wait, what?” Billy asked. “Edmond came out of the clouds?”
“I think we need to talk to him, but we will wait until Roz is better.” Dracen’s announcement went unchallenged.
“She needs some more rest,” Mal piped up. “I willna kick you out, Altair, but everyone else… You’ve been in for a while now. Let them have some time together.”
Cale was the last to leave then it was just the two of them. Altair lay beside her on the bed and held her close. “Am I hurting you?”
“No,” she said. “Never.” She pushed on his chest and he drew back to look at her.
“What?”
“I love you, too, Altair. I think I fell asleep on you the other day when I was trying to tell you that.”
“Not so much of a sleep as it was a passing out.”
“Ass.”
“Yes, yes I am.” He stared at her wrist, the skin still raw and angry. It had been coated with something Mal had created to keep the pain at bay, and she was supposed to keep it uncovered. Fresh anger grew within him at the blatant reminder of the hell she’d gone through.
“Don’t be mad, Altair.”
“Why not? I could not reach you. I could not save you. You were tortured.”
“No one could reach me until they did. You had to stay alive for yourself.”
“I did not. I stayed alive for you.” His words were harsh but honest. “They put knife to flesh on you. They caused you pain. A pain I could not stop.”
“I wanted to protect you as well. You have no idea how glad I am you weren’t where I was. This feeling of guilt? We’ll get over it sometime. We both have our own scars. It makes us who we are.”
“So forgiving.”
“Not really,” she commented. “I want to kill them all but I don’t want you wasting your time dwelling on the past. It happened. I survived.” She kissed his jaw. “We both did.”
“You almost did not.”
“But I did.”
“I do not know what I would have done if you had died there, Roz.”
There was no answer from her other than deep breathing. He cupped the back of her head and pressed his face into her curls, accepting all he could from her. They could finish the discussion once she was healthy and fully healed.
* * * *
She knocked on his door.
“Come.”
Opening it, Roz stepped in, still moving slowly but gaining momentum and strength each day. “Got a minute?”
Cale sat on his bed, flipping through some papers, but looked up at her. “Sure. Grab a seat.”
She ignored the way he watched her make her way to the nearest seat to him that was vacant. His observation wasn’t any different from that of the others and yet, it was completely. “Where’s Taylor?”
“Out with the children.” He shrugged into his shirt and took a seat beside her. “What’s up? Are you feeling okay?”
“That’s what I came to ask you.”
He pursed his lips and shrugged. “Not sure what you mean.”
His tone held that usual Cale attitude she always got. It wasn’t what she wanted, not this time. She didn’t want their typical pissing match and argument to ensue.
“Come on, Cale. You know exactly what I mean. You almost died.”
Tears shone in his blue gaze. “So did you.” He took a shuddering breath. “You’re not allowed to do that, you know.”
There were charged seconds before he reached out and hauled her close. She pressed tight to his chest.
“Don’t ever fucking do that again, Roz,” he rasped. “Please.”
She held him, her own tears more than just a threat. “How…?” she queried. “How did you reach me?”
His heart hammered behind his ribs.
“I don’t know. I felt the most mind-numbing and excruciating pain radiating throughout my body. Not only that, but in my mind I could hear your cries, yet I couldn’t reach you. None of us could. Mal says I had some of the poison that was infecting you. All I could think to do was shove healing waves back along the same thing that was sending it to me. Each time I did, I got an increased amount of what you had. After a few times, I dropped, unconscious and bleeding from the nose to the floor—or so they tell me. I wasn’t strong enough to withstand what you were going through.”
He rested his chin on her head. Roz closed her eyes. It was normally Tiarnán who offered support like this for her, not Cale. Right here and now, though, this was right.
“How did you make it?” he asked. “How did you find a way to survive that hell?”
“I haven’t a clue.” She longed to rub the scars on her wrists but left them alone. “I was getting warmth and help from somewhere.” She opened her eyes to find the rest of the Guardians there, aside from Aminta. The surprise was seeing Edmond. Their expressions were somber, yet full of love. “I don’t have any idea where it would have come from.”
“How’s your shoulder?” Billy inquired, making himself at home on the bed.
“I lost my mark. They cut it out of me.” Pain lined her words.
“They who?” Dracen this time.
“I don’t know, it was gone by the time I woke up hanging from those damn shackles.” She focused on the tall black man. “Was seeing you part of my hallucination as well? Or do I need to thank you for coming to get us out of there?”
“I was there.” He spoke in low tones, measured.
“Thank you, but how the hell did you pull that off? Can we travel that way?”
“No, Lian did it all, just made it appear like I did.” Edmond gave her a small smile.
Lian. The man had been mysteriously absent since she’d gotten mobile. It was uncharacteristic of him, though. She wasn’t sure what to make of that.
“Thank you, all the same.” She closed her eyes again and took the love she felt in the room and allowed it to help soothe her wounds. When she opened them again, it was just her and Cale once more. “Did I fall asleep?”
“No, I asked them to leave.”
“Oh.” She began to move. “I’m sure you have somewhere to be.”
“I have to meet Taylor but this is important. She’ll understand. Let me help you back to your room first.”
She stood with jerky motions and winced at her reflection in his dresser mirror. “No wonder the kids avoid me. I look like shit.”
“You’re still healing. Give yourself time.”
She grinned and raised an eyebrow. “So, you’re saying it’s okay I look like shit?”
Cale didn’t miss a beat. He smirked at her. “I’m not the one who has to look at you. That’s Altair’s problem. So yeah, as far as I’m concerned, it’s fine—just fine.”
He walked beside her, not forcing his assistance but there in case she needed it. She paused at the door to her room and tipped her head back to see his face. On impulse, she pushed up on her toes and kissed his cheek.
“Thanks for being my pain-in-the-ass brother who protects me.”
“Just no more stunts like that, or I’ll really kick it.” He grinned then sobered. “I’m not ready to lose you, Roz.”
She nodded. “That goes ditto for me. Be careful.” She entered her room and smiled at the man who waited for her there. “Thanks for coming, Edmond.”
“I was shocked that you contacted me, but I brought my computer. What can I do for you?”
As she hobbled to her chaise, she explained to him as best as she could remember where she’d been held and about the creatures coming from the hole in the ground.
“Anything you can dig up on them would be helpful.”
He covered her with a quilt. “I fed it all in the search parameters and will see what it kicks out for me.”
“You’ll tell me, right?”
“Of course. Rest.”
She was way ahead of him on that. The walk all the way to Cale’s room had done enough.
The green grass swa
yed in the warm breeze, tickling her ankles and calves as she walked through it. Up ahead she spied the herd. They mingled around a sparkling blue lake. She picked up her pace, needing to get to them, make sure they’d all survived. As she headed toward them, she began doing a count.
It was smaller than before. A few of the horses weren’t there. She wasn’t sure if they had perished in the fire or if they were just off somewhere else. She couldn’t see the stallion.
A tiny whicker came from behind her. She stopped and pivoted around. A foal stood there, his knobby legs long and widespread.
“Aren’t you a beautiful boy.” He shone the same burnished red the stallion had but this one had a small offset star on his face.
He snuffed at her as he moved closer without any fear. His soft lips moved and she held out her hands. He touched her wrists and the pain exploded up. She kept her cry contained, not wanting to scare him. The colt circled her a few times before he bounded off to join the rest. She turned back to see him but they faded away.
“No,” she cried. “Come back. No.”
“Wake up, Roz. Come on. Wake up.”
She opened her eyes to find Altair crouched beside her. It had been another dream.
“Another one?”
She nodded and sat with her feet on the floor. “I need to go see the herd.”
He stared at her for a moment before he nodded. “Okay. I carry you until we get there.”
“Deal.”
He scooped her up and she sank against him. She watched the play of the setting sun across the landscape as he took her to the fence. The horses were waiting for her and, true to his word, he set her down there. She gripped the top rail with one hand while she touched heads with the other. Ignoring his mutter of protest, she ducked between two rails and entered the field. One horse on each side, they supported her as they walked away.
Altair kept his distance as the horses surrounded her. If she hadn’t had such an affinity with these animals, he would have said no. But he could see how they gave her back something she’d been missing. All he cared about was her getting better and returning to the woman he first met.
He knew she’d never be that exact one, but at least one who didn’t have the devastation in her gaze. He wanted the one who loved life and he’d not heard a laugh from her in days.
“Altair,” she called.
He vaulted the fence and ran toward her, not liking the panic in her voice. “What is it?”
“Do you see this?”
She had her back to him so he moved up and looked in the direction she was facing. “What am I looking for?”
“This,” she said, moving her arms.
He glanced down and frowned. His expression smoothed out into an expression of shock as he realized what she was talking about. The scars on her wrists had changed. Instead of the way it used to look, he saw a bracelet of running horses on each. He shifted so he was in front of her and took her hands.
Turning them, he saw the imagery went all the way around on both wrists. “When did this happen?”
“No idea. I think this is my sign now. Instead of the mark on my shoulder, I think this is where mine is.”
He laced their fingers. “It never left you. Your sign has always been with you.”
“I’m beginning to realize that now.” Her smile was distant but there. “I’ve learned a lot over this experience. I’m ready to go home.”
He smoothed some of her hair back from her face. “I will carry you back to the room.”
“No, home. Our house. You. Me. And Klaus. Don’t tell me it’s not ready, because I know you’ve been there every day fixing it up.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
He agreed. While she said goodbye to her siblings, he brought Klaus and loaded him up in the truck. He accepted the warning looks from them but didn’t say anything to start an argument. He didn’t care what they thought—she wanted to go home. He would make it happen.
Klaus sat between them and Altair watched as she petted him constantly as he drove. She was right. He had been over there fixing the place back up. Lian had come over and put some warding up. He couldn’t see it but the man said he’d done as such.
By the time he pulled into the drive, she had fallen asleep, both her and Klaus. He helped Klaus down then reached in and carried her out. She didn’t wake so he delivered her straight to the bedroom. Klaus curled up on the floor and Altair didn’t have the heart to make him go back down the stairs, so he just got ready for bed and joined Roz beneath the blankets.
She still slept on her stomach, so she wasn’t putting any pressure on her shoulder wound. All good and well, until she draped a hand over his cock. He squeezed his eyes shut and reminded himself that he needed to allow her to rest. A reminder he required all night.
Chapter Eighteen
Light pierced her lids and Roz longed to bury her head beneath the pillows. Why the hell do I feel like I was out drinking all night? “Turn off the light,” she muttered reaching for another pillow—two weren’t keeping enough out.
“It is sunlight, Roz.”
She snarled when her two blockades were torn back. “Altair.”
“You are supposed to be up by now. You wanted to go to your office.”
She turned her head to the side and glared through one eye at the man standing there. He had his hand curved about the side of a coffee mug. “Changed my mind.”
“Are you feeling okay?”
“If I say no, will you let me sleep?”
“No.”
She rolled on her left side. “What if I promise sex?”
His grin had her beckoning to him with one hand. He put his coffee down and crawled over to her. “Are you sure you are up for it?”
Roz cupped his cock through his jeans. “You’re up for it. Come on. It’s been a while.”
“I do not wish for you to reinjure yourself.”
She pushed him back and climbed on top of him, unashamed of her naked body. “I promise…wild monkey sex later. Right now, I just want to feel you deep inside me.” She undid his buttons and freed him. Hovering over his knees, she gripped him and began stroking.
He was long, full and thick. Her pussy clenched and she could feel the moisture beginning to slide from her. Without any teasing, she moved up and held him against her core. With a light groan, she sank on him, allowing him to push inside and fill her.
Altair intertwined their fingers, pressed a kiss to each wrist and waited. “This is your show, Roz.”
She bent forward and began riding him, slow and easy, despite the need raking at her. While she might long for the hard and fast fuck he gave her so well, her body wasn’t quite ready for that. She stretched out his arms so they were over his head as she worked her hips. He never took his gaze from hers. Longing exploded up her spine and poured out through her as she settled into a rhythm she wanted.
Time lost all meaning for her as the world she lived in shrank to just encompass him and her. She bent her elbows and took his lips. The kiss was tender and filled her with love. She released his hands and wrapped her arms around his neck. He put one hand on her hip and his other sank into her hair, cupping the nape of her neck.
Together they rose to the precipice and as one they fell over, welcoming the pleasure that poured over them. The bolts couldn’t even take her gaze from his as his seed filled her. Exhausted, she slumped on him, not needing any more in her life than she had right now.
He pulled out of her and left the bed. She didn’t even open her eyes when he returned and knelt beside her. “I want sleep now.”
“No. You need to get up.”
“I thought the deal was you got sex and I got to sleep more.”
“I never agreed to that. All I did was ask if you were up for it. Sorry, counselor. Come on.”
“I’m injured.”
He smacked her ass, making her jump in surprise. “Not that injured. Get moving.”
“We’re not in th
e military, you know.”
He nipped where he’d smacked and chuckled. “I am giving you five minutes. When I come out of the shower, you need to be up.”
She gestured with her hand. “Yeah, yeah.” She closed her eyes and burrowed deeper into the bed.
The scent of coffee filled her nose, drawing her eyes back open. Altair stood there, shaking his head at her. His hair was still wet from his shower but he’d put on clothing. Damn.
“Guess I fell asleep?”
“You were supposed to be up.”
“What if I want to spend the day in bed with you?”
“I have to go to work and so do you.” He moved the coffee again and she tracked it. “It is all yours if you sit up.”
Eventually she made it out of bed, bribed with coffee and the promise of something sweet for breakfast. He had a plate with a caramel-covered cinnamon bun on it in his hand when she came downstairs. She took the plate from him and set it on the counter beside him then stepped into his arms.
He wrapped his strength around her, his cheek resting upon her hair. “Do you think we’ll survive this?”
“I do.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I have faith. Faith in the Guardians, you and our love.”
He said it with such strong conviction, she couldn’t help but believe in his words as well.
“I love you, Altair.”
“And I you, Roz.”
He kissed her lightly.
Who knew what was coming next, but she knew she had the best man in her corner. One who had been kidnapped and tortured yet had still been on his way to find her when a Guardian had reached him. When the time came, she wanted him at her side and, with the knowledge he would be there, she had a bit more hope they were to be successful against Them.
Also available from Totally Bound Publishing:
Interludes: Till We Ain’t Strangers Anymore
Aliyah Burke
Excerpt
Chapter One
