Alpha's Promise

by Rebecca Zanetti

  Ivar turned and studied the equations. “Something tells me we’re going to be able to visit your brother soon.” It had to be Quade she’d painted.

  Promise paused, and they all turned to look at her. She partially pivoted. “Faith? I need the results of the MRIs. All of them.”

  Faith nodded and hustled for one of the computers, typing quickly. A printer soon shot out reams of paper.

  Promise leaped for them, throwing several on the floor. “There it is,” she muttered, taking one sheet back to the board to start formulating equations again.

  Ronan shook his head slowly. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

  Faith pursed her lips. “Agreed. She might be here for a while. You guys want to grab something to eat? I’m starving.”

  Promise made a frustrated sound that had them all pausing again. She fumbled behind herself for a yellow marker, rushed to a far board, and diagrammed something with Hope Kayrs-Kyllwood’s name on top. “Later. Get to this later,” Promise muttered, throwing the yellow marker over her shoulder and returning to the main board and her black marker.

  Ivar leaned back against the wall, bemused.

  “Food?” Ronan asked, his gaze remaining on Promise.

  “You guys go ahead,” Ivar returned. “I want to watch this.” He couldn’t look away. The idea that he’d have to leave her soon hurt somewhere he hadn’t realized existed. Even if she didn’t realize he was there, he wasn’t leaving her. Not yet, anyway.

  * * * *

  Being grounded stank. Hope snuggled with her stuffed dragon in bed, her lip out. She hadn’t gotten to play with her friends or watch television for a whole day so far. It wasn’t fair. The sky cried big tears for her. Yeah. That’d teach them. The sky was on her side and would rain until she wasn’t sad anymore.

  A tapping at her window made her sit up. It was dark outside.

  She looked at her door, but it stayed closed. Holding her dragon close, she slipped out of bed and padded to the window.

  Pax was on the other side, his nose flattened against the glass. She gasped and struggled with the heavy pane, shoving it up. “Paxton Phoenix,” she whispered. “What are you doing?”

  “Move back.” Water dripped off his too-long hair and onto his shoulders.

  She kept her stuffed animal away from the rain and stumbled back.

  Paxton’s chubby hands grabbed the sill, and he jumped inside, landing really quiet. When had he learned to be so quiet? Without saying anything, he pulled the window shut with one hand. “I wanted to check on you.” Her butterfly nightlight was on and made the bruise on his face stand out.

  She rushed forward and hugged him. “I missed you.”

  He patted her back and leaned away to look at her face. “You’re okay, right? They were mad. Your dad was super mad.”

  “No.” Her lip trembled. “I’m not okay.”

  Pax straightened. “What did he do?”

  She paused. “Huh?”

  “What did your dad do?” Paxton’s silvery blue eyes glowed in the darkness.

  She sniffed. “He grounded me. No television or toys.” It was terrible.

  Pax’s shoulders went back down. “That’s all?”

  That’s all? It was awful. “Yes.” She sniffed again and handed over the dragon. The green guy was Pax’s favorite, and since his daddy didn’t let him play with stuffed animals, he played with them at Hope’s. “Are you in trouble?”

  “Um, yeah. Grounded. But I snuck out.” He looked down at his wet shoes on the rug. “My dad is on patrol and won’t be back until tomorrow afternoon.”

  She blinked. “Who’s staying with you?”

  “Nobody. I’m eight,” he said, his shoulders kinda hunched.

  Her mama didn’t know he stayed alone. Hope shivered. “Wanna stay here until morning?”

  He nodded, not looking at her eyes.

  She went to her closet and pulled her daddy’s shirt off the floor. She’d worn it to sleep in a few nights ago. “Here. Put your clothes on the chair to dry,” she whispered, turning back around and looking at her bed.

  When he’d changed, they jumped in the bed, giggling. Pax still held the dragon, so Hope picked up the teddy bear Uncle Logan had given her last week. Pax held her hand and snuggled into his pillow. “Hope? If you go and see Drake, try to take me with you, okay?”

  “Okay,” she whispered, her eyelids closing. She had known they’d like each other if they ever met. Things were working out just how she wanted. “Night, Pax.”

  “Night, Hope.” He went to sleep right away.

  She listened to his even breathing and wondered if he should stay with her all the time. He didn’t seem to like his daddy and tried to come to her house a lot. Pax could be her brother. That’d be fun. She snuggled with her bear, keeping Pax’s hand in hers. It was time to see if she could bring him into the dreamworld.

  She had to kinda fall asleep first, so she let herself drift.

  Then she walked on a light pink sand that was warm on her feet. A deep blue ocean rolled in pretty waves, and on the other side was a forest with green trees. A bird flew above her, its bright purple wings gliding on the barely there wind.

  She kept walking, enjoying the warmth. She heard Drake before she saw him.

  He walked out of the trees, this time wearing black jeans and a red T-shirt.

  Good. He was there. She closed her eyes and drew on the idea of Paxton as hard as she could. Then she opened her eyes. Nope. He wasn’t in the dreamworld. Darn it.

  Drake moved nearer, kicking off his tennis shoes and socks to walk on the sand. “How much trouble are you in?” he asked, reaching her.

  She winced. “Grounded. You?”

  He nodded. “Really grounded. I got lectured for hours too. You?”

  “Yes.” Danger, Kurjans, enemies, and a bunch of other stuff. “I told them you wouldn’t hurt me.”

  “They kidnapped me,” he said, his eyes widening.

  She bit her lip. “Yeah. Sorry about that.”

  He shuffled his feet, kicking up sand. “I had to tell my dad everything. I didn’t see a lot of headquarters, but what I saw, I told him about.”

  Hope wiped sand off her leg. “Yeah. I would’ve told my daddy too. Don’t feel bad.” If they were gonna stay friends, they had to tell each other the truth. “Did you try and tell your daddy that the Seven are good?”

  He looked at the huge ocean. “They can’t be good because they want to hurt Ulric. He’s our religious guy. Like your prophets.” Glancing down, he studied the blue markings on her neck. “You’re a prophet. Can you reach others like you? Maybe you can reach Ulric.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t see the other two prophets much.” Lily and Caleb were super nice, but her daddy didn’t let her spend time with them since she was just a kid. Something about choosing her own path or whatever. “I don’t think I can reach him. This is the only dreamworld I can get to.” Right now, anyway. It got easier every year, so maybe someday she could visit other dreamworlds and even talk to Ulric. But then she’d really get grounded.

  Drake scrunched his toes in the sand. “You and Paxton are good friends. No?”

  “Yes,” she said. “Him and Libby are my best friends. And you, Drake.”

  “Hmm.” He watched the bird fly by again. “Do you see the future?”

  “Sometimes.” The bird came back, and she waved at it. “But I don’t get to choose the stuff I see. What ’bout you?”

  He nodded. “Same. I can see some stuff but not others. Me and Pax? We’re not gonna be friends. I’ve seen us fighting each other as grown-ups.” He sighed. “But I can’t see who dies. Somebody does for sure.”

  Her stomach did something funny. “Nobody dies.” Drake just couldn’t see the whole picture. “We’re gonna fix it all.”

  He turned his head suddenl
y. “I have to go. Meet you back here soon.” He smiled, but his green eyes didn’t twinkle.

  She wanted to tell him it’d be okay and to trust her. Instead, she woke up back in her room with the rain splashing against the window, her hand in Paxton’s. She turned to watch him sleep.

  How was she gonna save them both?

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Promise awoke and stretched against a hard male body, wincing as her butt hit his hip. The night before came crashing back. She’d been working on her boards when they’d blurred and become fuzzy, forcing her to sit suddenly. Ivar had insisted she get some sleep, and she’d protested, saying she just required more coffee. When he’d grasped her arm in that no-nonsense hold, she lost it and punched him in the thigh.

  The world had instantly spun, and she’d faced the computer to receive a hard smack against her ass.

  She blinked into awareness. “I cannot believe you slapped my butt,” she muttered.

  “You punched first,” he retorted, his voice grumbly in the morning. “You’re lucky you were exhausted. Ever punch me like that again, and you’ll be facing the floor over my knee for a good long while.”

  Oh, he did not. Yes, she’d punched first. But there was no need to get all alpha on her in the morning light. “I was not in my right mind at the moment.”

  “I was, which is why you’re still able to walk today.”

  Well. Whatever. She slipped from the bed and headed toward the bathroom for a quick shower and blush of makeup. Returning, she grabbed her laptop from the table and gave him her haughtiest look.

  He sat up in the bed, the blankets to his waist, his magnificent chest revealed. His eyes were a lighter blue today, and he watched her like a hawk spotting a rabbit. “You need to eat something.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I’ll grab a bagel on the way to the board room.” She paused, her mind racing. “I’m ready to talk to everyone.” Numbers and solutions clicked through her brain, and she nodded, adding them to what was already there. “In fact, I don’t have a choice. The earth is at the right position for the journey to be made.”

  He stretched from the bed, a hulking warrior taking up more than his fair share of space. “You can get me back to Quade?”

  She swallowed. “I think so. But I need more information.” There was still no way to know what he had to do when he got there.

  “You can’t break the bubble?”

  “Not yet.” Even if she could, she wasn’t certain she would. For now, she required more information. “You need to take me with you to at least one of the jump-off points.” No way could he take her into the hell worlds because the wormhole was closing too fast.

  He paused in the midst of pulling up his jeans. “Oh, hell no.”

  “Yes.” She tried to sound conciliatory instead of commanding, but it was difficult. “I have to see what’s happening.” She needed to feel what was happening. This ability of hers, the one dealing with teleporters, enhanced her theories so well. “You don’t have a choice.”

  His smile provided more warning than an outlandish neon sign. “You don’t want to use phrases like that with me, Professor.”

  She shivered and failed to conceal it. “Is it just me, or are your possessiveness and authoritarian tendencies progressing to the point of being tyrannical?”

  His eyebrows lifted. “Perhaps you’re just starting to notice.”

  How irksome. She met his gaze directly. “You are aware, are you not, that I’m about to give you the possibility of entering Quade’s hell world?”

  “I am,” he said, reaching for his shirt.

  “Then you might wish to remember that you’ll need me to help you return.” She flounced toward the door. “Make sure I don’t decide to just leave you there.”

  He flattened her against the door with a whisper of sound, his body bracketing her. “I guess we should get some things straight, then,” he murmured, his hands at her waist. Her shirt soon flew over her head.

  * * * *

  Ivar stirred more sugar into his coffee at the conference table, his body satiated after the discussion with Promise. Oh, there hadn’t been a lot of talking, but in between a couple of orgasms, he was pretty sure he’d gotten her to agree to stop bugging him about teleporting. Hadn’t he? He frowned. Maybe not.

  All the members of the Seven, save for Quade, sat around the table along with Zane Kyllwood, Kane Kayrs, Emma Kayrs, and King Dage Kayrs, who led the Realm. Faith, Grace, and Mercy ate donuts or bagels with their coffee. It was a full group.

  Promise stood up front by a large screen covered with equations from her laptop. She waited for everyone to see it, intelligence in her eyes.

  “Oh, man,” Kane Kayrs said, leaning forward and staring at the notations. “That’s fucking beautiful.”

  “Isn’t it?” Promise eyed the equations like most women would diamonds.

  All right. It looked like a bunch of numbers to Ivar. “How about you explain, sweetheart?”

  She clasped her hands together. “I know how we can reach Quade’s world.”

  Ivar stilled, head to toe. This was happening. Right now.

  She nodded. “All right. Here it is.” Her laser pointer glided to a bunch of the equations, and turning, she read the room. The laser zipped out of sight. “Um. Okay. Without math.” She breathed out. “The key, I think, is the ritual of the Seven and what you went through.”

  Ivar frowned. What did that have to do with Quade?

  She swallowed. “Demons teleport on earth; the Fae go elsewhere. But during that ritual to become one of the Seven, it’s different. As far as I can see, you actually existed in two different places. Both your physical being and your consciousness. It wasn’t split.”

  Ivar took another drink of the too-strong coffee. “How?”

  She swept her hand toward the screen. “You entered another dimension. I think.” Her grin was impish. “Yes, I know. I just said you managed to be in the middle of crossing dimensions.” She pointed at the solution on the board. “It’s only a hypothesis. But that’s the only way I can think of right now for you to exist in two different planes. They had to have combined somehow.” She waited for questions, but the room remained quiet. “And”—she was so animated, she looked delicious—“I think that teleporting paths are like brain waves.”

  Faith sat back and whistled. “Of course. That definitely makes sense.”

  Ivar scratched his back. There was some logic there, and now Promise had math that proved it? “Go on.”

  Promise smiled. “The first point is that demons can only go where they’ve been before…or to places described to them. There has to be some sort of connection.” She nodded at Mercy. “The Fae can travel more broadly, but they usually take the same paths. One jumping point to another, and they’ve never hit that hell loop.”

  “But I did,” Ivar said.

  “Yes.” She nodded. “You were forced into a hell dimension by that Niall. Maybe it was the only one he knew of, and once you were there, you crossed over somehow.”

  “Into another dimension?” Ronan asked.

  “More like a crossing of two dimensions,” Kane murmured. “Right?”

  “Yes.” Promise slapped Kane on the shoulder. “Exactly. I think you combined two, which created a time flux, the only way you could be in two places at once. You guys interfered with time.” She shook her head. “You messed with a whole lot more than that when you created those three worlds.” She frowned. “Strike that. You didn’t create three worlds. You found your way to three and bound them together—by using gravity and time. The magnets you told me about, Ronan. The ones you had to arrange religiously so your world stayed stable. Those affect the gravity. Don’t you see?”

  “No,” Ivar said.

  “All right.” Promise set down the laser pointer. “We know from studying the brain that paths are created. Mayb
e by good habits, maybe bad, and so on. Anxiety makes a doozy of a path as well.”

  The woman was comparing brain paths to teleporting paths? All right. “I’m with you,” Ivar said.

  She sobered. “You’ve been down the path. Now that you can teleport again, you should be able to go where you’ve been by creating those paths in your mind. You teleported instinctively before, and that’s how you’d need to do it again, now that you’ve healed your brain.” Her lips drew tight, and she took a deep breath, obviously not wanting to give him the information. “However you teleport, whatever you draw on, I think you, and probably only you, can return to that world.”

  Only because she’d identified the injury in his brain that he’d been working on healing. “So I can take Quade’s place?” Ivar asked.

  She sobered even more. “Not in the time frame we have right now. But if there’s a way to do it, we’ll find it, and we can fight about it then. For now, you need to seek information before we can determine if the worlds are failing—and you’re the only one who can make a definite return trip.”

  Garrett breathed out. “You have elite status to travel to hell and back.”

  Ivar snorted and quickly lost his amusement as Promise gave him a glare.

  She cleared her throat. “Quade is important, I know. But entire worlds are at risk.” She looked at Ronan. “When your world failed, I think the catastrophic disaster created these hell worlds. And I believe the reaction nearly destroyed Quade’s.”

  Ronan blinked. “So if Quade’s world breaks…”

  She nodded. “More worlds could be destroyed. Every action has a reaction. Using unnatural forces to combine those three bubble worlds left voids in the universe, and some of those were filled. You altered more than we can probably comprehend.” She made a sound of frustration. “Okay. Imagine that the earth disappeared. What would happen to the moon?”

  Since the earth’s gravitational pull kept the moon in orbit, it would…what?

  Promise tapped the screen. “The moon would either continue circling the sun, fall into the sun, or zip off in a straight line and get caught in another planet’s or star’s gravitational pull. We don’t know exactly what.”