by Jaymin Eve
Greedily, I drank in the sight of his broad, tanned shoulders, following the lines down over defined pectorals, and those abs … if someone carved a statue of the perfect male physique, they could use Daniel for inspiration. The deep maroon marks, which matched those on his head, filled the skin of his chest and arm. I wanted to trace each and every one. It would take me days. And I would love every single second of it.
“I’m a fan,” I said with a grin, running my hands across his abs. They tightened under my touch. I liked to see the way I affected him.
He caught my hand before it went lower. “Callie, love, it kills me to say this, but there’s no rush. The last few days have been crazy. A lot has happened. I can wait as long as you want.”
I wiggled further under him, my hands back to exploring his delicious body. “Are you even listening to me?” He sounded amused, before he leaned down, his lips pressing to my neck.
I gasped, choking out, “What if I don’t want you to wait at all?”
My hands moved toward his belt and he caught them. I paused to try to get my hormones under control.
“You’ve been through a lot,” he repeated, holding himself above me, our gazes locked. “If you need time to adjust to everything, including the fact that we are soul-bonded and soulmates, then you should take the time. There’s no rush. If I get my way – and I usually do – you will be here forever. Home. With me.”
Home. It was my dream. Daniel was my dream. I reached out for him, wrapping my hand around his jaw, and pulled him down to me. I took control of the kiss, letting him know exactly how I felt about waiting.
I was no virgin, and I was keeping my promise of being with someone I loved. I was done waiting. Pulling myself up, I pushed Daniel back, straddling his body and settling against him. I was pretty bold in the bedroom, always had been. I liked to take control and right now Daniel was trying too hard to be a good guy. He didn’t have to try, though. I already knew he was.
“This has nothing to do with grief,” I said, pressing my lips to his, over and over. Then moving lower, I kissed across his jaw and down his neck. “This is about our love, this is about life being short … able to be taken from us at any moment. This is about me wanting you right now more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.”
“This is about our forever,” Daniel finished, and I nodded.
“You’re my forever,” I confirmed. I’d never been one for random fleeting loves, so I knew this was it for me. Soul mate and soul bound, I was okay with that.
He took control back then, his kiss hot and deep, our lips moving with desperation and emotion like nothing I’d ever experienced. His arms wrapped tightly around me, and I rocked against him, needing relief. I managed to get his pants off, leaving him in just a pair of boxer briefs. They were black, fitted to the hard lines of his impressive body. The tatted marks extended down past the waistband, following his perfect vee.
Holy fuck … someone give me a freaking fan.
I needed to cool down. Looking at Daniel had me burning up. The fire inside of him was igniting the fire inside of me. He removed my shirt in one smooth movement. I was wearing nothing below, because I’d still been in the clothes from Leights.
He touched my bare skin gently, fingertips rubbing across the sensitive peaks until I was a writhing, groaning mess.
“You’re beyond beautiful,” he said.
I wanted to say the same thing back, but his lips were on me again and I couldn’t speak. My shorts were gone soon after, and there were no more words as we loved each other. In that moment with Daniel, it was abundantly clear that while I was not a virgin, I had truly never understood the actual beauty in lovemaking. Sex I’d had, but this was so much more. Every caress brushed more than just my skin. I felt it all the way through my body.
To be this close with a person you cared so deeply for … it was everything.
For the first time in my life, I didn’t wake alone. Warmth surrounded me, and I was so comfortable that it felt like I could doze here for the rest of my life. I wiggled myself back on Daniel, needing more of his touch. A low growl in my ear had a grin stretching across my face. I liked this little power I had over him. A large hand snaked over my stomach and pulled me back into his hardness. I wiggled again, tormenting him the way he was tormenting me.
“Waking with you in my arms,” he murmured. “Sign me up for a lifetime?”
A low moan slipped out from between my lips and I pretty much jumped him. A girl only had so much control. If the last few days had taught me anything, it was that every second was precious, and I was not wasting another moment not loving Daniel.
Much later, I got to experience my second new intimacy. Naked, we sat on the floor of his huge shower and we talked. About everything and nothing. After some time, it grew more serious.
“The lead you had on Laous was completely dead?” I asked, sadness creeping into my heart again. I was hurting for Lexen and Jero and Emma. Also, Marsil’s parents, who would have to bury – farewell – their son. Life really wasn’t fair.
Daniel leaned back. “He had definitely been there but was clearly tipped off before we arrived. We just missed him.”
“What about Rao?” I said, a part of me worried for the big scarred dude. “He protected me, Daniel. There’s something good in him still, if we can just get him away from Laous.”
Daniel reached out and took my hand, our arms forming a bridge between us. I liked being able to watch him like this, water slicking across his face, looking so damn beautiful.
“Rao was gone, also.” He paused, and my heart hurt at the grief in his eyes. “I honestly can’t believe he’s still alive. I thought I lost him. I’ve mourned him for years. I should have known … there was no record of his soul through the justices. Every soul that dies is recorded in this large tome. I always assumed my father couldn’t bear to see Rao’s name, so he wiped the ledger.”
I understood a parent doing that. Losing a child was a pain worse than any other, in my opinion.
Speaking of his brother reminded me of something else: “Dan, I think I saw Fraizer on the platform. He was part of the resistance.” As he sat straighter, I quickly added: “I don’t know for sure. He jumped off the side before I could confirm it. But it definitely looked a lot like him.”
“Fraizer is missing.” Daniel sounded resigned. “He hasn’t been in House of Imperial for two days. And there is no record of him through the network. He’s off the grid.”
“The council is looking for him?”
Daniel nodded. “He’d better hope they find him before I do.”
My voice grew hard. “I guess we know where these leaks and betrayals are coming from. The resistance had members of all four houses.”
He cursed. “I’ve never been so pissed off with my own people. We have to assume there are more than just the ones who attacked you.” Flames flickered in his eyes. “The council have those betrayers Chase captured. They will be interrogated, and hopefully we’ll find out who the ones still in hiding are. Then they will be punished.”
Judging by his expression, this punishment was not going to be pleasant. Since they killed Marsil, I was okay with that.
I straightened then as I realized something. “We’re in House of Imperial,” I said slowly. Daniel nodded. “Marsil’s soul … is it here?” He nodded again, and my heart raced and ached at the same time. “Well…” I pushed. “Tell me what is happening with him?”
Sorrow carved very fine lines around Daniel’s eyes and mouth. “When a Daelighter dies a true death, it’s different to what happened with you, or even with Emma when she was thrown into the justices. Marsil has no body left now, it’s only his essence. Energy. At the moment it is in the incubation zone, where those domed structures are.”
“The egg room…” I pushed.
“Yes, the egg room. He will be there for a few days while his energy deals with the trauma of dying. Then he will be weighed, judged, and make his choices.”
&nbs
p; “What do you think he will choose?” I whispered, still not fully understanding how their afterlife worked.
Daniel’s hand tightened over mine. “I’m not sure. I didn’t know Marsil that well, but something tells me he has unfinished business, so he may choose rebirth.”
“And we’ll never know which child he becomes?”
He gave a simple head shake. “That’s a power beyond Imperial.”
I still wasn’t sure exactly how to wrap my head around my new world.
“So what do we do about Laous now?”
Using just his impressive abdominal muscles, Daniel stood, pulling me with him. “Right now, there’s nothing we can do. He’s cut off all avenues of tracking. We had the one shot and we blew it. We didn’t know about this resistance, but now we will be more aware. Our next step is to find the third family of secret keepers before he does.”
“And ferret out all the resistance.”
Daniel brushed some water from my cheeks. “Fraizer isn’t the only one to disappear. I’ve already had fifty or more Imperials fall off the radar in the past two days. It’s definitely time now for me to get my house in order. I have let them drift along for too long without a solid leader. It ends now.”
Determination straightened my spine. I was no doubt channeling that from Daniel, from the sense of team and kinship I felt. “I will support whatever needs to happen,” I told him.
He lifted my hand and pressed his lips to it. “You will be at my side. We lead together.”
I had no idea if I was even remotely capable of such a feat, but somehow, staring into my love’s determined features, I kind of felt like we could do anything. Together.
Epilogue
Chase
Planting my feet, I let the haze of power wash over me. As my mind switched to the other sight, the one that connected to the network, I focused on the crisscrossing streams of power. They were pretty far away, because I was in House of Leights, but I could still connect. I could still fill my body with strength.
Drawing the inner power, my limbs lengthened; my body grew wide and sturdier. The world looked different through the eyes of my other form, hybrid of the Galinta and Daelighter.
“Chase, please, we don’t know anything more.”
I ignored the pleas of those secured to the wise old Galinta across from me. These were betrayers of Leights. Of my House. Usually I was slow to anger, but when it grew and grew, like it had the last few days, I ended up in a state all should fear. Like nature in itself, I could be calm, or I could bring the wrath of the world down.
“For your sins, you will all die,” I told them, my voice much deeper than it was usually.
“What if we told you where the next secret keeper was?”
I paused, my roped hands whipping out to capture the female’s head. The council had dropped my defectors off, telling us they got very little information from them. It was up to their overlord on how they would be punished. Father let me deal with them. I was the one they tried to kill. I was there when they killed Marsil.
This was my battle to wage.
“Speak now, or you will not speak again,” I said, the branch I was on vibrating as my anger flared once more.
Her long auburn hair was matted and filled with tangles, her face smeared with dirt and blood from whatever the council had done. She was terrified, but her voice did not waver.
“Laous mentioned this just very briefly, but he said he was heading to Washington to find her. Apparently her parents are important diplomats. They actually work for the coalition which handles Daelighter and human relations … the secret government branch that initiated the entire treaty.”
“Does the council know this?” I asked, trying to keep my dread from showing. This was so much worse than we’d originally thought. Kidnappi … abducting – as Callie would say – the daughter of two treaty diplomats. Laous was going to send us to war before he even found the stone.
The female shook her head. “No. I tell you only so that you might consider some leniency for us. You have the final punishment rights.”
She flinched as my ropelike arms tightened across her face.
“Is there anything else you’d like to tell me?” My whisper sounded menacing even to me.
Her throat worked as she swallowed, opening and closing her mouth. “I … um … he said she had a stupid grubber name.” She paused, swallowed again, and then said, “Maya Anne Lewis.”
Maya. I rolled the name over in my mind – the secret keeper from house of Leights.
A sense of purpose started to build within me. I withdrew my vines from her. “Thank you. I wish I could save you from your fate,” I told each of them, because it was true. They were my people, which made the betrayal so much harder to bear. “But you made your decision and now you must live with the consequences.”
I turned away, not watching what the Galinta did with those they held in their embrace. It was time for me to go to Washington. I was going to save Maya before Laous got to her.
He had hurt his last secret keeper.
House of Leights
Secret Keepers Series
Book Three
Jaymin Eve
Copyright
House of Leights: Secret Keepers Series #3
Copyright © Jaymin Eve 2018
All rights reserved
First published in 2018
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. All characters in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
ISBN-978-1-925876-05-5
Chapter 1
“Hey, Maya. Wait up!”
At the shout, I swung around to find Brad loping across the front of the redbrick science building, heading for me. As I waited, I shifted my pack to the other shoulder. The thing weighed a freaking ton. The teachers here were taking this “prepare us for college” thing a little too seriously. It made me tired just thinking about the rest of the year. I really just wanted to cheer, hang out with my friends, and occasionally attend school for my senior year. Not cool that the teachers were making it such hard work.
“Sooo…” Brad drawled, stopping in front of me, towering over my five-foot-two frame. “Are you hittin’ up Owens’ party tonight?” His dark brown hair was rumpled, which he did deliberately because he thought it made him look hotter. As usual, his very blue eyes were twinkling.
He was a linebacker for our football team, and he used his height and broad shoulders to pummel the other team. Our team had yet to win a game, but they still gave it their all. Dae Academy was a very small, very exclusive private school in Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia, meaning we had excellent facilities and awesome trainers, but not a lot of students to choose from. They did what they could, though.
Pushing some of my dark hair back, I sighed. “Honestly, I don’t think I’m going to make it.” I pulled a sad face. “I have two quizzes I need to study for, a history assignment which is over three thousand words, and now Mr. Chan wants us to demonstrate our public speaking skills by reciting a twenty-verse poem – without prompt cards.”
My sad face morphed into a pout, something I had perfected long ago. Brad just laughed, used to my antics. We’d been best friends since we were little, and I couldn’t imagine him not being around, which was another huge reason I wasn’t that excited about college. We were not going to end up at the same school. I had to stick around Virginia, as per my parents’ rules, but Brad was looking at Texas U.
“I’m sure you can get all of that work done over the weekend,” he pushed, reaching out to ruffle my hair. “Friday night is for relaxing … it’s like a rule.”
>
I elbowed him to make him stop ruffling my hair. It took time to get the long, thick strands into order. “I can’t argue with you about the Friday rule, but my parents are really on me about dealing with my college choices.”
“Still have no idea where you’re applying?” His tone was more serious now. He’d heard all my worries before.
“Nope,” I said softly. “Nothing feels right. Nothing fits. I keep hoping something will fall into place, but I’m half contemplating just running away for a gap year.”
It was a lot more than half, actually, but I didn’t want to freak everyone out. I hated the way I always felt so displaced. I tried to do all the “in” things – I was a cheerleader, had great friends, an awesome best friend, rich parents. I had everything. And, for the most part, I enjoyed my life. But there was this … emptiness.
Switching my bag to the other shoulder again, Brad reached out to relieve me of the weight. “Holy shit, girl. What the hell do you have in here, bricks?”
Wrinkling my nose at him, I let out a sigh. “Pretty much. Textbooks should be used to build walls. That would be a better use for them.”
“Come on,” he said as he started to walk. “Gracie will be waiting for you. She hates when you’re late.”
Gracie was my nanny, like a second mother, and she was pretty strict. She expected me out in the parking lot at 3:20 P.M. and not a moment later. That way our chauffeur could beat the majority of school traffic.
I picked up the pace, and Brad easily kept up with me. I had to take three steps to one of his. “Have you asked your ‘rents why they won’t get you a car?” he asked me, before he leapt down a set of five stairs.
I hurried after him, skipping just the bottom two steps. “They told me that we have Bruce to drive everywhere, so I really don’t need to worry about that yet. And my safety or some crap.”