by Sadie Jacks
Junior and I loped along beside the two giant spirit beings. I still couldn’t see what they saw, but I figured it would be self-evident when we finally arrived.
I was right.
“Gaia’s shitballs,” I said.
Chapter 32 – Kiema
I could feel them, but I couldn’t see anyone. It felt like, if I were a big room, someone was moving furniture around inside me. I felt furniture feet scraping over my belly. The nudge of something brushing against my chest, like a tall armoire just brushing the ceiling.
“Saint?”
No answer.
“Xander?”
No answer.
I looked around the gray monotony of my landscape. It was as boring and comforting as an old blanket. I know Ten had wanted to check my magic, but I’d thought I’d get to be part of that exploration.
I tried to find the fiery thread that marked me as a Spirit user. There was nothing here but the regular gray of the healing world I usually saw.
I don’t know how long I hung out in this place, but after a while I saw something shift, a subtle but definite movement. It was so far away I doubted my eyes for the briefest seconds. When it happened again, I knew I wasn’t making things up in my boredom.
The gray around me erupted into bright, startling color. I saw the forest behind the cabin. Each tree was there, the bright colors of the wildflowers in the spring. Even the sky was a darker blue than usual.
Off in the distance, something was moving up and down. It moved towards me with terrifying speed. As it appeared and disappeared from view, I heard someone saying, “Sweets!”
“Xander?”
“We’re coming.”
“Xander? Is that you?”
“It’s me, Ten, and Anda.”
The object turned into a huge white tiger. No longer ephemeral, it was flesh and fur. With one last great pounce, it landed on me. Taking both of us to the ground, we rolled in the flowers, over and over, until we came to a stop beside a stream I’ve never seen before.
Tenny, in dragon form, stomped up to us. Beside him was the loveliest woman I’ve ever seen.
Good thing I’m not into the ladies.
She smiled at me, shot me a wink.
I rolled my eyes. “Of course, you can hear my thoughts in this place.”
She giggled, the sound much like the brook next to Xander’s tiger and me. “Only because of what I am and where we are. You are very skilled in your magic, Kiema. I did not know that I was no longer on Earth. You are an adept guardian in your own right.” She bowed low, her rainbow and black hair brushing the forest floor.
I pushed Xander’s tiger off me and gained my feet. I bowed to her as well.
“So,” I began as I straightened. “Are you the person…goddess…being.” I nodded. “The being who gave me magic and life?” I winced as I felt heat blaze in my cheeks at the gauche words that tumbled from my mouth. “Sorry. That was rude.”
“But honest. I will always take honesty over doublespeak or polite address at any time.” She folded her hands at her waist. “No, Kiema. You are not of me. My last remaining daughter is on Earth. I can feel her,” she laid a hand on her heart, “here. She is safe, well, and happy. All a mother could ask for.”
I could see the sorrow battling with the happiness in her eyes. “But you wish to share your life with her.” I nodded.
“Yes. As any loving mother would. But to keep her safe, I keep away for as long as I can stand. The precious few moments I get to spend with her are my most treasured memories. My sister has been unable to find her, my Starlight. I will do anything to keep this from happening. But as she is safe, it seems I’m needed here, with you. Why do you believe that you lose part of your lifeforce with every healing?”
I shrugged. “This is what my parents have told me. According to the testing center, after my first accidental healing of a young girl, my cells showed premature death.”
Anda reached out a hand. “May I?”
“Sure.” I laid my hand, palm up, in hers.
She closed her eyes as a look of concentration creased her brow.
I looked at Tenny and Xander’s tiger. Tenny gave me a smile as he stretched out on the ground, his tail wrapping up around his hind legs.
Xander’s tiger sat at my feet. “This place is nice, sweets. Not gray at all.”
I laughed. “It’s so weird to hear your voice coming from a tiger’s mouth, Xan. And no. It’s not gray right now.” I looked around again.
The place really was beautiful. The woods were deeper here than in their physical world representation. I would love to spend time here if it were always this vibrant and alive.
Anda fell back as if someone had pushed her away from me. She looked down at me, her eyes, a dark rich blue with an almost icy blue rim, widened. “What are you?”
My eyes widened. “Aren’t you supposed to tell me what I am?”
“I’ve never seen anything like you before.” She shook her head back. “You have pieces of Prime in you. Almost as if you are more closely related to it than I. Your Spirit writhes and bends, spikes and shimmers. It should be like this stream.” She waved at the body of water. “Your magic is both old and modern.”
“Great. Because why couldn’t I be normal? Do you have any idea why my cells die after I heal someone?”
Anda shook herself. Pushed back her hair with a wave of her hand. “Yes. It seems that two factions of your magic are at war.”
“The old and new?” Xander asked from beside me.
Anda nodded. “It would seem so.”
“Can you help me?”
She nodded again. “I can help soothe the warring factions, but I will not be able to heal you as you heal others.”
“Will I continue to lose lifeforce if I touch or heal others?”
“I do not think so, but as this is something with which I’m so utterly unfamiliar, then I cannot say for certain one way or the other.” She watched me intently, her head tipped to the side. “Do you wish for me to do this?”
I looked at Tenny, his green gold eyes warm with love.
I looked down at Xander’s tiger. His eyes in this form were ice blue, almost electric. His were full of love, but also of caution.
“What do you think, Xan?”
“I think I want you around for as long as possible, sweets. But you have to do what you feel is right. I’ll stand by your side until death takes either of us.”
I leaned down, kissed his furry head. He purred low in his throat.
“Kiema?” Tenny said.
I looked up at him. His eyes shifted from green gold to the rounder shape and darker color of Saint. “I love you. From now to eternity. If you want to do this, we’ll be here with you through it, after it, and beyond.”
I leaned forward, resting my forehead on the dragon’s snout.
Turning back to the goddess who patiently waited for me, I straightened my shoulders. “Yes. Let’s do this.”
She took both my hands in hers, closed her eyes.
Heat washed through me. Like touching Ransom for the first time before he shifted. It felt like bonfires erupted throughout my body. Soon, a tidal wave of cool relief washed away the flames.
Anda stepped back, a smile pulling on her graceful mouth. “You keep surprising me, Kiema.”
“What? That was it? I’m healed?”
She laughed, the sound tinkled and trilled through the air. “You are far more than what you seem. Your mates, your guardians will have their hands full with you. Do not be afraid of the power inside you.”
“But what about the warring factions? The old and new magics? Did you fix those?” Saint asked from the dragon’s body.
“They were masking. A protective layer, if you will.” She giggled again, clasped her hands over her chest, swung in a small circle. “You will suffer no premature death due to healing or touching others. Your magic was protecting itself until you rise to its fullness.”
I looked to Saint, then to Xa
nder’s tiger. Tipped my head to the trippin’ goddess.
They shook their heads.
“Anda? What did you find out?” I asked, returning our flighty goddess back to the here and now.
“Just know this, my dear Kiema. Soon, you will surpass me in ability.” Her happiness dimmed a bit. “But know this also: having this power, this magnitude of power, will cause you to be the focus, the target, of those who would kill you to have it.”
“What is it?” I shook my head, frustration causing my hands to clench into fists. “What am I?”
She cupped her hands over my cheeks. “You’re going to save us all.” She laid her lips on my forehead.
My world faded to black.
Chapter 33 – Saint
I ripped Ten through whatever magic continuum we were in and landed us back in Xander’s room.
Ransom had Kiema’s limp body cradled in his arms. The look in his dark blue eyes slayed me. I was just glad he was carrying our Kiema. If his hands had been free, I’m pretty sure I’d be dead. Or at least badly damaged.
“Your floor. Now.” He stepped past me, his face hard, closed off.
“Oooo, Saint’s about to catch it,” Asher said as if we were back in high school and I got called to the principal’s office.
I pushed him as I followed after my brother and mate. I couldn’t help the drop in my belly. Maybe Asher wasn’t so far off the mark, because I felt like I was on my way to the principal’s office.
I climbed the stairs, unwilling to wait for the elevator to drop Ransom and Kiema off before coming back down to get me. Pushing through the stairwell door to my fifth-floor home, I took a deep breath. I still don’t know what happened in Kiema’s spiritual landscape, but I was about to catch living hell for letting anything happen to Kiema while I was there with her.
A fist plowed into my right eye socket as I cleared the door. I fell back against it, the door handle jabbing into the base of my spine.
“I left her in there with you. She’s passed out cold, her pulse barely beating. What the fuck happened, Saint?”
With the sharp burning pain in my face and the knife of steel in my lower back, I pushed off the door and launched myself at him. “You think I would have allowed that if I’d known it was going to happen? That I would let anything hurt her if I was able to stop it? What kind of man do you think I am, Ransom? Think you’re the only one capable of caring for her? Loving her?” I punctuated each question with a blow to his body.
He’d been just as unprepared for my attack as I had been for his.
He caught his feet under him, pushed me back, and sank into a defensive posture.
My arms fell to my sides. “I don’t fucking know what happened, Ransom. Fuck, Anda just gave us more cryptic goddess speak saying that Kiema was going to save us all.”
“Save us, who?”
I tipped my head back, yelled at the ceiling. “I. Don’t. Fucking. Know!” My heart was pounding in my chest, my face was on fire, and it felt like I had a piece of steel stabbing my spine.
“Is Kiema Anda’s child?” he asked, his voice more subdued.
I wiped a hand over my face. “No. Her last girl is somewhere on Earth.”
He blew out a breath. “Thank fuck for that.”
I laughed, the sound a little hysterical to my own ears. “Not if what Anda said is true. Our local goddess seems to think Kiema is stronger and more powerful than Anda is herself.”
“Fuck.” The word whooshed out of him on a hard breath.
I looked at him. His face was pale, his eyes wide. “What are we going to do?”
“I really hope you are including me in that ‘we,’” Kiema said from the bed.
Ransom and I both rushed over to her.
She was sitting up, legs splayed out in front of her. She growled low as she touched the reddening spots on our faces.
“Of course, it does. Do you remember what happened in your landscape?” I asked.
She smiled wryly. “Yup. Nothing like having a goddess think you’re better than she is.” She flopped back on the bed, her arms and legs spread wide.
Not even the sexiness of her body and pose could pull me from my mission at the moment. “What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know there is anything we can do. We still have Juan in the hold, Aeron in the infirmary, Iron Serpent beating at our doors—literally in that last case. I don’t know what we’re supposed to do with this new knowledge. She said she thinks she fixed the magic so I don’t lose anymore life if I heal someone, so who freaking knows.”
“I know this is a little off topic, but it does relate. If your power works by delivering what the deepest darkest secret of the soul is, why couldn’t you heal that guy before?” Ransom asked.
I glared at the man who was closer to me than a brother.
Now? This is what you want to talk about now?
Kiema smiled at me, ran her hand down my arm. “It’s okay, Saint. It is a good question.” She turned to the third of our little triad. “I don’t know the answer to that either. Just call me No Answer Abby.”
“Well, Abby, I think it would be a good thing to find out. If Iron Serpent is looking for all the people you’ve healed, that person might still be on their list,” Ransom said.
“True. I think we’ll need Xander to do the data mining though. I doubt Juan is going to tell us anything of value.”
I chuckled, the sound low and dark. “Oh, he’ll talk. But you’re right; we’ll get Xander on it.”
She yawned, hugely.
I looked out the wall of windows. It surprised me to see only the barest hint of the setting suns. “It’s time for bed,” I said.
“Not yet. I’m hungry,” Kiema said, even as she curled onto her side, snuggled deeper into the sheets.
Ransom laughed. “What do you say to a movie and dinner?” He looked up at me after getting Kiema’s nod.
“Sure. I’ll get dinner started. Any requests?”
They didn’t care, so I just got a variety of fruits, cheeses, and crackers from my kitchen. I filled a couple glasses with wine. I would be having water. Especially if I wanted to taste any of Kiema tonight.
“Action work for you?” Ransom asked.
My lips quirked. Action was definitely what I was after. “Yeah. That’s fine.”
**
“Take them into your mouth, Kiema. Yes, angel, just like that.”
My head fell back along the couch. Fuck if she wasn’t sucking and licking my balls like she’d been doing so for years.
I grabbed her head in my hands, careful to keep from applying too much pressure. I directed her head from side to side as her tongue slid along the slight indentation in my sac.
Her hands on the floor. I so wanted to feel them on my body. I almost broke my cardinal rule about touching. But that slippery edge of fear kept me from asking for it.
My sensitive balls fell from her mouth, a look of question on her beautiful face. “Everything okay?” she asked.
I pulled my head back into the heaven sitting between my legs. “Yes, honey, absolutely perfect.”
She studied me for a couple more seconds. Then, between one breath and the next, she had my dick sliding into her mouth, hitting the back of her throat.
“Fuck!” My hips pushed me further into the hot cavern.
A low vibration came from her mouth. She was looking up at me, a glint of sexy teasing in her eyes.
Before I could say anything, her eyes seemed to roll up into her head as another moan slid along my shaft. Her back arched like a cat’s before pushing her hips down farther toward the floor.
Ransom rose from behind her, licking his lips. “Angel, you taste so fucking good. I can’t wait any longer. I have to be inside you.” He looked up at me.
I felt my belly tighten. “Give me your hands, Ki.”
Without taking my cock from her mouth, she lifted her hands and placed them in mine. I turned both of our palms down, locked her hands under mine against m
y knees.
“Ready,” I said to him.
He lifted her ass a little higher. Spanked her right cheek.
Another buzzing hum slid up my dick. I pushed deeper into her mouth.
With a slow sigh, Ransom sank into her. Her tongue and mouth lost all rhythm as she closed her eyes.
Sliding one hand free, I said, “Look at me.” I pulled at her hair.
She purred around my cock, but didn’t show me her eyes.
I pulled again, sharper this time. “Look at me, Kiema.”
As her silvery gray gaze landed on mine, I began fucking my cock up into her mouth. Matching pace with Ransom we kept her filled and stretched between us.
Her breathing was picking up. Soon, she wouldn’t be able to keep me between her lips and breathe at the same time. Gripping her hands in mine, I pushed back the sofa.
Her mouth fell open in a gasp as the sound of Ransom spanking her filled the room again.
“Hang on, Ransom. I want to try something.”
His punishing thrusts slowed.
Kiema glared at me and growled. “Ransom.”
I tapped her chin. “You’ll like this, I swear. I want to slide a finger in your ass, while Ransom fucks your pussy and I lick your clit.”
Her pupils blew out as her body bucked against Ransom’s. “Fuck man, her cunt just locked down. I’d say she’s interested.”
“I need the words, Kiema.” I lifted my index finger. “Just this finger, my tongue, Ransom’s dick.”
She nodded.
Ransom spanked her. “Words, Kiema.”
“Yes. I agree.”
“Any issue, you just say stop or slower.”
She nodded. “Agreed.”
Ransom rubbed his hand over the spot he’d just slapped. “Good job, angel.”
Her head dropped low, her hair a dark curtain, as she shivered.
I smiled and looked up at my brother. “Her pussy ripple just now?”
“Hell yes.”
“She already likes to please us.” I reached down, grabbed her chin, tipped her head back up.
Leaning down, I brought my mouth to hers in a rough clash of teeth and lips. I drew back, her bottom lip between my teeth. “The fact that you, and your body, likes that, pleases me very much, honey.” I licked the spot I’d just bitten.
