The Trinity Ring

by C. A. Bleu

Tipping her head up to meet his lips, their kiss quickly deepened as she arched her back, pushing herself into his strong muscled chest, longing for this intimate physical connection. Wrapping her arms around his neck she felt him reach around, pressing her tighter against him while he kissed her. She gasped at the feeling of him, his strength, his heat, his passion as she kissed him back. Dimitri moved his kisses lower and lower down her neck and body until he leaned back on his knees and continued to undress her.

  Zara was breathless, with a mix of feeling both bold and shy. “Take your pants off too,” she said, glancing up at him as she nervously tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

  “Are you sure Zara?” he asked, he would not push her if she was not ready. She smiled the most genuine loving smile he had ever seen and nodded, watching as he took off his pants. He placed soft kisses from her toes to her ankles, up her legs and inner thighs. Pausing, he looked up at her from the apex of her thighs. Her amber eyes giving off flecks of golden sparks as she bit her lip in anticipation of what was to come. Smiling to himself, he gently dipped his tongue into her soft folds as he slowly slid one finger inside. The groan of pleasure that escaped her as she threw her head back gave him the reassurance he needed to keep going. His finger moved slowly in and out while his tongue moved to the tunes of a slow exotic dance.

  Barely able to catch her breath, Zara closed her eyes, moving her hips with him. Light flickered behind her eyes and she felt the build of release in her. “Don’t stop, please don’t stop Dimitri,” she said, grabbing his strong shoulders as she felt her body tighten then explode around him. He could feel her body continue to pulse around his finger.

  Watching her come apart, he knew he would do anything for her. He wanted to keep her safe and happy the rest of his life. Kissing her thighs, stomach and then her breasts as he moved back up the bed. Zara ran her fingers over his short hair. She was glowing, a soft golden glow she was unaware of, with a smile of pure contentment. Aching with his own need, he would not rush her.

  “I want to feel you Dimitri, all of you.” Zara said on a whisper,

  Momentarily frozen, he hovered over her and she heard his quick intake of breath at her words. Knowing he may not move an inch, she reached down and took the length of him in her hand. Closing his eyes, he let out a small groan. She wanted to feel him inside her, she needed them to become one. Stroking him slowly, she moved to guide him where she wanted him to be. Feeling bold, even with her nervous inexperience, because she knew this was what she wanted, what she needed.

  Unable to speak, his breath left his body as soon as Zara took him in her hands and began to position him where he could enter her. The love and trust she was showing him overwhelmed him. He leaned up over her as she placed him at her core, pausing for an instant to stare deep into her golden amber eyes. When he told her he loved her, the golden sparks moved in her eyes. Holding her gaze, he kept looking into her eyes as he moved deep inside of her. Closing his eyes only when he could no longer manage the pleasure he felt. He stilled, allowing her body to feel him there, their racing hearts and ragged breath were the only sounds in the room.

  Lost in sensation, she began to relax, wrapping her legs possessively around him. Exploring, her hands tenderly ran down his muscled chest and around to his backside where she pushed him, gently urging him to move.

  “Are you alright?” he whispered as his pace began to quicken. In answer, she dug her nails into his back side urging him on further. Restraint was lost to him as he began to move in a more urgent rhythm.

  “Dimitri,” she whispered as he moved faster and faster now. She could feel herself building to another bigger release.

  “Zara,” he said on a ragged breath; he couldn’t hold back any longer.

  Her heart raced, a deep release was about to explode. Yelling his name, a sudden burst of electric energy slammed into him and surrounded them both with radiating warmth and pleasure. Her orgasm kept kicking, squeezing him as they remained enclosed in a cocoon of warm golden electric energy.

  “Oh Zara,” Dimitri said reverently into her ear as he thrust deeper one last time before spilling into her. Opening his eyes, he saw Zara was glowing a brighter golden color than he had ever seen before and it seemed to envelop them both. Smiling up at him, her eyes shined.

  “Are you okay?” he asked gently, kissing her forehead.

  “I am more than okay, Dimitri, I am so glad we found each other,” she said, leaning further into him. They lay together, both filled with love and peace, until they fell asleep.

  Chapter 30

  Zara awoke a few hours later suddenly wide-awake, overwhelmed by a strong feeling that something was wrong. Lying still for a moment, she reached out with her senses, something definitely seemed off. Quietly, she snuck out of bed, tiptoeing to the door, careful to not wake Dimitri. Looking back, she sighed, taking in the sight of him sleeping peacefully before stepping out into the hall.

  Slowly descending the stairs, she whispered Aaron’s name, but there was no answer. After a quick look around, nothing seemed out of place. Turning to go back upstairs, she was stopped by a muffled noise from the basement.

  Cracking open the basement door Zara was shocked to see light filtering through. Taking the steps slowly, one by one, until she reached the bottom, unsure what she was about to find. Standing still in the silence, she waited until she heard that same muffled noise. This time coming from the far side wall, but all she saw was a bookshelf, a dead end.

  Unable to shake the feeling that something more was behind the wall, she pressed around on the wall and bookshelf, but nothing happened. Frustrated, she stepped back, looking at the bookshelf, noting some of the books. On the top shelf, there was a thick dark blue velvet book with a gold Trinity symbol stitched on the spine. Reaching up, momentarily distracted, she was curious to take a look. She started to pull it downward when the entire bookshelf clicked open, popping away from the wall.

  Zara gasped, she was right, this house had more secrets. Bracing herself for whatever she may be about to walk in on, she took in a steadying breath. It was obvious she was not meant to find it. Slowly peeling back the bookshelf just enough to slip through, she saw an entryway that led to an open corridor. There was a closed wooden door ahead of her about ten feet away. The door had no window to see who might have been in there, but Zara decided she had every right to know what was happening. With determined strides, she took the last few steps and turned the doorknob.

  Staring, mouth open in disbelief as the scene in front of her unfolded. Aaron stood, covered in sweat, his sleeves rolled up, with blood on his hands and shirt. Two other men she did not know stood off to the sides, one on either side of the room. Seated in a small chair in the middle of the room was Carson, covered in blood with one eye swollen shut. It looked as though he had been beaten for hours.

  “Aaron, what are you doing?” Zara asked accusingly. All the eyes in the room shot to her. They had been so engrossed in their interrogation they had not heard the door open.

  “Zara, you should not be here. Go on back upstairs,” Aaron ordered, dismissing her as he turned back to Carson.

  She felt her power surge as anger and frustration boiled in her blood. The ground shook and she called to the air around her, pushing with great force, backing Aaron into the nearby wall. He tried to get up, but she kept forcing his limbs hard against the wall with the air so he could not move.

  “Do NOT treat me like a child. What is going on down here?” she asked, easing off her powers momentarily, giving Aaron a small reprieve when she saw his eyes widen in shock at her reaction.

  Staring, Aaron was amazed at how much she had changed in such a short amount of time. With a resigned sigh he realized she was right, she is not a little girl anymore, he understood things would need to be different.

  “I’ve had my team out searching to find Carson and bring him in, they arrived a few hours ago, not long after you went to bed. We have to find out what he knows and why he turned on us.�
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  Trying to process this information while calming her anger toward Aaron for leaving her in the dark about this, she looked to the other men in the room.

  “Leave us.” Though she said this calmly, they bowed their heads immediately and walked out the door. She noted fear in their eyes and felt a twinge of regret.

  “You too, Aaron,” she said and waited.

  Aaron laughed. “I am not leaving you in here alone.” He knew she wanted to be a part of things and rightfully so, but this, this was personal to him and he was not about to let it go.

  Relaxing her shoulders, she gave him a somber look. “Aaron, I can feel your rage, your pain and sadness at his betrayal. You are too close to this to be able to do your job well.” She glanced at Carson before continuing. “He does not need to be tortured further right now. Let me talk to him Aaron, you need to go and try to calm down.” Zara stepped closer, crouching down in front of Carson, waiting on Aaron to leave before she said a word.

  Carson could not believe what he was hearing and though his vision was somewhat blurred from his swollen eye, he thought he could see a soft golden glow around Zara as she knelt before him. He knew in his heart that she was everything the prophecy told of.

  Regretting his role in recent events, he still felt he had no choice. He had already told Aaron why he was working with Erebus, about his family and the blackmail. The Protectors knew about the phone that Erebus had given him to be used only for communication with Erebus. Aaron wouldn’t believe him, he kept digging for more, but there was nothing else. There was no more information to give and Erebus was dead anyway from what he had heard.

  Looking at Carson, she could see and hear that he was not doing well. Realizing he may not have long to live and knowing Aaron would not be able to forgive himself for killing him, she reached out to hold his hand. Even though he would never admit it, she knew how much Aaron cared about Carson, about all the Protectors. If she was being honest, she too owed him a debt of gratitude for helping her connect with Dimitri, though Carson’s intentions were less than honorable at the time, it turned out.

  Gasping the moment electric warmth began to move from her hand into his he stared in wonder. Comforting warmth spread all over him, his vision cleared as his swollen eye healed and something in his chest clicked, a broken rib, his breathing became less raspy.

  After healing him, she backed up from the table and calmly asked if he could retell his story to her. When he finished, something caught her attention, creating a nagging tug in her gut. He had ‘heard’ that Erebus was dead.

  “How did you hear about Erebus’s death?” she asked, curious and a little worried.

  “I received a call from Lorcan,” Carson said, looking at his hands and arms, in awe that they were no longer cut and bruised.

  Zara’s blood went cold. “Who is Lorcan?” she asked slowly.

  Looking at Zara, his eyes filled with regret. “I’m so sorry Zara. I never would have betrayed you, but I was left with no choice. Lorcan is Erebus’s son, until recently I did not realize the rumors were true. He sounded just like him too.” Carson paused, looking her in the eye. “He is coming for you, Zara, you and Dimitri.”

  Zara’s heart sank, she could feel the regret and torment in his soul. “I can forgive you Carson, but it’s Aaron you’ll need to worry about.”

  Closing her eyes, she said a silent prayer for both him and Aaron, hoping there was a way forward for them. From the sounds of it, they would need all the help they could get. She wondered if Aaron was aware that Erebus had a son, Lorcan. Walking out of the room, she looked at Aaron and the two other men.

  “He’s all yours,” she said, nodding toward the two men she did not know. “Please, no more torture, we have all we need from him.”

  Standing in silence, they waited until the men came out with Carson. Letting out a shocked breath Aaron couldn’t believe what he saw, she had healed him, but why? He betrayed them, gave her up to Erebus, she could have been killed. The look in Carson’s eyes as he passed by begged for forgiveness.

  Deep inside, he was unable to hide his gratitude. “Thank you for healing him, he is one of my oldest friends. I just couldn’t stop myself. I was so hurt and you could have been killed. You were right Zara, I was fueled by rage and it shouldn’t have gone down like that.” Looking down at his bloodied hands, regret washed over him at the death he almost dealt tonight.

  “We all deserve a second chance,” she said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

  Though she saw the hurt and sadness in Aaron’s face, she still had a bone to pick with him. She couldn’t believe he hid all this from her. They could not continue with him keeping secrets from her.

  Clearing her throat, she squared her shoulders. “If we are going to move forward together, all of us, we cannot have secrets, Aaron. We are a team from here on out, I need to know what is going on. I need to trust that you will be open with me.”

  Looking at Zara in thoughtful consideration, he replied, “You’re right, I think I have taken care of you for so long that I find it hard sometimes not to think of you as that little girl I need to protect. I promise to be more open with you from here on out about information and planning for what we may need to do. I am here for you as are all the Protectors of the Trinity. Zara, you are who we have been waiting for and whom we serve to protect.” It was a solemn vow, a promise that Zara knew would not be broken.

  Nodding her head in silent acceptance of this promise, she asked, “Did he mention anything to you about Lorcan?”

  Aaron’s eyes widened a fraction, barely noticeable, but Zara saw. “No, what did he say?”

  “He said that he received a call on his phone, the one Erebus had given him, but it was Lorcan who called him.” Balling her fists at her sides, she continued, “He said Lorcan is coming for me; me and Dimitri. Have you checked Carson’s phone or traced the calls? What do you know about Lorcan?”

  “We did get Carson’s phone and we are checking into it now. I have heard that Erebus may have had a son, many years ago I once heard the name Lorcan. Nothing ever came of it though, and we felt it was likely a rumor.” Aaron shook his head in disbelief that it could be true. “Zara, you know we can’t stay here, if Lorcan is out there this place is no longer safe.” Aaron’s heart broke for Zara, he knew how much she loved this place.

  Zara’s eyes glistened. “I know, let’s at least stay through tomorrow then we’ll head out the next morning. Do we have someplace we can go?”

  Realizing she did not know a lot about the Protectors of the Trinity, she imagined they probably had a lot of different resources, but Aaron would need to tell her more about them. Knowing she could not expect to be a part of everything Aaron needed to do, she trusted him to take care of the details and find them somewhere safe to go.

  “Yes, I know where we can go. I’ll take care of it,” Aaron replied as Zara took her leave to head back upstairs. Hesitantly, he stepped back into the interrogation room, processing the events of the night and the impact Carson’s betrayal had on him. Cleaning the blood from the room, he began putting plans in motion to get Zara and Dimitri to safety.

  Walking quietly back to her bedroom, thoughts of both Carson and Lorcan swirled around in her mind, wondering what the future would hold. Opening her bedroom door, she watched for a moment, soaking in the peaceful sight of Dimitri sleeping in her bed before she gently slid in next to him.

  Rolling over in his sleep, he wrapped his arms around her as he mumbled her name. Zara stared up at the dark ceiling knowing that the peace she had been so happy to find was never really there. Would she ever find a way to have a normal life with Dimitri? There was a long road ahead of them and Erebus had only been the beginning. They were going to have to find Lorcan and dismantle the entirety of what Erebus had built.

  Chapter 31

  Lorcan stared out the window of Erebus’s office replaying his father’s last moments again and again in his mind. He had been there hiding upstairs, he saw
the power in Zara Trinity and what she did to his father. Lorcan knew if he had stepped out into view, he too would have been killed that day.

  Haunted by his decision to stay hidden, frozen, just inside his doorway, as he watched her take the life from his father’s body. Regret momentarily surrounded him, his head hung low and he wondered if he would have made a difference had he tried to intervene. Anger grew within him as a vision of Dimitri went through his mind, his father’s favorite. Lorcan noticed the way Dimitri cared for Zara Trinity and the fear in his eyes when she was unconscious. Smiling, a sinister smile, he would get his revenge on both of them.

  Standing in his father’s office he looked around, memories flashing through his mind. Imagining his childhood, he could almost see his nine-year-old self running around his father’s office. Lorcan had been a scrawny, gangly child, not very athletic, but he was smart. Always longing for his father’s attention, approval, any way he could get it.

  They were closer at one time, until Dimitri arrived. He remembered that day like it was yesterday, it was raining hard and he had been waiting, watching, for his father to come home. Running downstairs to greet his father when he heard voices, only to find his arm around the shoulder of another child. Fresh pain sliced his heart at that moment, remembering the shine in his father’s black eyes as he introduced Dimitri; he was proud.

  From that day on Lorcan played his part with Dimitri, still trying to gain his father’s approval, but inside resentment began to grow and fester. At one time Lorcan thought he and Dimitri had a chance of being friends, but then he saw his father’s pride and adoration grow, not for him, but for Dimitri. Ice covered his heart knowing he had been replaced. Dimitri was strong and athletic, everything his father wanted and everything he was not.

  Shaking out the memories of his younger days, he turned his tall, broad shoulders to walk out of his father’s office. Approaching the floor in the front hall, he couldn’t stop the vision that came unbidden to his mind of his father on the floor. With his hand stilled on the bannister of the stairs he stared frozen at that spot. After Dimitri, Zara and Aaron escaped out the front door, he had crept slowly down the stairs toward what used to be his father. His hand trembled, the sight and the smell as the pile of ashes slowly dispersed around the room will forever be stuck with him.