by Adrian, Lara
Brynne had felt Zael’s grief, too, but he had remained steady and stoic throughout the wrenching goodbyes and the final moments that his friend’s remains were laid to rest in the sole grave ever to be dug on the immortals’ island haven.
As the gathering dissolved and most of the colony began to return to their homes, the four elders strode to where Zael and Brynne stood on the hill near a grove of fragrant lemon trees. Zael’s arm around her shoulders flexed, bringing her closer to him as the two men and two women approached.
Baramael inclined his head in greeting. “It was good of you to speak at the gravesite, Zael. Nethilos would have been humbled by your praises. It was clear that his wife and daughter took a great deal of comfort in your memories of him.”
Zael nodded soberly. “He was a good man. One of the best I’ve known.”
“Indeed. He was a valued member of our council as well. We won’t have an easy time finding someone to take his seat on the dais with us.”
“No, I don’t imagine it will be,” Zael said. “And what about Tamisia?”
Baramael and the others exchanged a look. “She will be banished from the colony at first light.”
“Unfortunately,” added Haroth, “she has left us little choice.”
Brynne couldn’t deny the pang of sorrow she felt for the Atlantean female. Tamisia had been negligent in looking out for the colony’s best interests, especially in her role as elder, but her remorse had been painfully evident. She would have to live with the guilt of her unwilling role in Nethilos’s death for the rest of her immortal life, which was a punishment that would probably weigh on her more than anything else.
“If she can make repairs somehow, will you let her back in one day?”
The elders all looked at Brynne, but it was Nathiri, the light-haired female with the silver eyes, who spoke first. “Redemption can be a very long and arduous road. It will be up to Tamisia to find her way back, if that’s what she truly wants.”
Baramael’s unsettling green-blue gaze slid to Zael. “Have you thought any more about what you will do?”
“I have,” Zael answered, his tone serious.
Brynne looked at him in question. They had only talked briefly about the condition the council had imposed on the alliance, neither one of them seeming ready to discuss the potential of a future spent apart when they had come so close to losing each other for good earlier today.
He gazed at her, and the affection she saw there helped to ease some of her anxiety.
Some, but not all.
She could feel how deeply he cared for her, but she couldn’t read his mind.
She pressed her lips flat, afraid to ask the question. “What will you do, Zael?”
“The council has determined that the alliance depends on my remaining here at the colony,” he replied solemnly. “So, that is what I’m prepared to do.”
Brynne couldn’t breathe for a moment. She didn’t know what to hope for. After all, the council had put him in an untenable position. But hearing that he would remain behind at the colony with his people opened up an empty spot in her breast that ached with the loss already.
Zael glanced back to the elders. “I’m not about to let the alliance fall apart now. Not after my friend has lost his life because of it. And not after Elyon’s long-festering duplicity only drives home the fact that the colony must be vigilant—within and without the veil that shields us.”
He was right and Brynne knew it. She could feel how committed he was to his people and their security.
And to this magical place.
Baramael’s narrow stare studied him. “So, you fully intend to accept our terms?”
“Yes. I will make the colony my permanent home, just as you’ve insisted. But I have a condition of my own.”
As he spoke, his gaze caught hers again. She saw the tender look in those cerulean blue depths. She felt the expanding warmth of his affection… His love.
“Tell me,” he asked the elders, although his eyes never left Brynne’s. “Has the colony ever denied sanctuary to a mated couple?”
For a long moment, there was only silence. But then Baramael slowly shook his head. “No, we have never.”
Zael’s smile tugged at the corner of his shrewd and sensual mouth. “Then can I expect that you won’t start now?”
Happiness and hope climbed up the back of Brynne’s throat as the four elders spoke quietly among themselves. But there was a trace of doubt too. None of this changed the fact that she was an outsider in this place. More than an outsider, she was made from the worst enemy these people had ever known.
And yet Zael was suggesting he would take her as his mate.
He was actually pressing these four elders to accept her as one of their own, and allow Zael and her to live together here, at the colony.
“Zael… We can’t. Do I really have to tell you all of the reasons why this is impossib—”
He silenced her with a kiss. “Do you love me, Brynne?”
“God, yes. More than anything.”
“And I love you,” he told her intently. “I love all of you, Brynne. Every last cell. And I’m not about to live a single day—on this island or anywhere else—if I can’t do it with you at my side.”
His vow tore something loose in her chest. It was her heart, she realized. It sailed skyward as he drew her to him and kissed her deeply, without a care for the several pairs of Atlantean eyes that watched them.
Finally, someone cleared their throat.
He and Brynne turned to face the sober gazes of the elders.
Baramael spoke for the group. “This is a most unusual request, Ekizael. However, these are most unusual times.” Over the male’s one blue eye, his black brow arched. “And you have fallen in love with a most unusual woman.”
Zael grinned, drawing her close. “Yes, I have.”
A smile tugged at Baramael’s mouth as well. “We owe you a debt for what you did today, Brynne. Not only the four of us, but the entire colony. So, it’s the agreement of this council that it would be our privilege to have you a part of this community.”
“Thank you,” she murmured, humbled by their acceptance. She’d never dreamed she would find that here.
She had never dreamed she’d find the kind of love and passion and contentment that Zael had brought into her life.
His fingers laced with hers as he drew her gaze back to him. “You haven’t given me your answer yet, Brynne. Can you love me enough to stay?” His eyes searched hers, solemn, earnest. “Can you love me enough to be my mate and spend your lifetime here at my side?”
“Can I love you enough?” Joy swamped her. All of the emotion she felt swelling inside her—both her own and Zael’s—was too much for her to contain. It spilled over in the tears that streaked down her cheeks. “Zael, I love you enough for a thousand lifetimes. You are my home and my heart. My everything.”
“Forever,” he murmured, his deep voice rough with feeling too.
As his mouth slanted sweetly over hers, she wrapped her arms around him and surrendered completely to the moment, to the man who was all she would ever need.
All the uncertainty and fear that had lived in her for so long evaporated under the warmth and strength of Zael’s kiss. Of his love.
In his arms, she had no doubts.
She belonged to him—body, blood, heart, and soul.
Irreversibly.
Eternally.
He broke their kiss on a sensual groan. Swiveling his head toward the elders as if in afterthought, he smirked. “If the council will excuse me, I’d like to take my beautiful mate home now.”
He barely gave them a chance to agree.
Brynne laughed as he scooped her up into his arms. His lips brushed her ear as he lowered his voice to a whisper meant for her alone.
“I want to show you my home, love. Our home. And our bed.”
CHAPTER 37
He had never brought a woman into his private home on the island.
As he carried Brynne inside the white stucco cottage on the same high hill where Nethilos had been laid to rest, Zael had never felt a greater sense that he had—at last—arrived where he belonged.
With Brynne as his mate, he would always be home.
“It’s beautiful,” she said as he brought her into the open-air residence with its wide garden terrace that overlooked endless turquoise waters. She sighed in unabashed awe, her dark green eyes lit with wonderment. “Aren’t you going to give me the grand tour?”
“Oh, yes,” he said, his voice rough with desire. “We’ll start the tour in the bedroom.”
“That would be my first choice too.” She smiled, licking her lips in a way that made his blood run hot and arrow straight to his cock. “After the bedroom, then where will you take me?”
He smiled, thinking of all the erotic possibilities. “Everywhere and every way,” he promised with a kiss, already hard and eager to have her beneath him.
A soft evening breeze rolled off the waves below and sifted through the flowering bushes outside the bedroom’s open wall of glass. The air was filled with the fragrance of salt and citrus and sweet sea roses, although it couldn’t compare to the scent of Brynne’s arousal as he laid her on the white cotton sheets of the bed and began to undress her.
He explored her skin with his mouth and hands as he unwrapped her for his hungry eyes. He didn’t think his desire could grow any more intense, but as he watched her transform beneath his fingers and tongue, he knew he would never see anything hotter than Brynne when she was fully Breed. When she was writhing and moaning for him, her body surrendered to him completely.
Solely his.
“You’re mine now,” he told her, stripping out of his clothing and then kissing his way back up her naked body. “Forever, Brynne.”
“Yes.” Her gasp lengthened into a slow, pleasured sigh as he sank into her heat. “Oh God, Zael. I feel you in my blood. I feel your light in me…in my veins, everywhere. It’s so powerful.”
Hearing that made him smile with pure male possessiveness. Knowing that a part of him lived inside her now only made his desire for her spike and deepen, along with his devotion.
“I felt your blood and your light when I fought Elyon too.” She reached up, cupping his face in tender hands. “It centered me, Zael. It kept me sane, even at my worst. I felt your blood and your light in me, and I wasn’t afraid. Not of anything. Not even myself. You do that for me, Zael. You and your blood. And your love.”
The thought that he could bring her comfort or grounding humbled him, honored him more than his words could ever express to her. Brynne’s love was an honor to him, and he looked forward to spending his life proving to her that he could deserve her.
“So long as I draw breath,” he promised her fiercely, “you will never know fear or darkness again. Only love, Brynne. Our love.”
“Yes,” she answered, arching up to meet his deep thrust. “Zael, yes…”
They moved together in a perfect friction, skin on skin, touching, kissing, caressing. Zael couldn’t look away from the emotion he saw in her smoldering gaze. The love he saw there staggered him. It humbled him like nothing ever had before.
He wanted to feel that love inside him.
Through blood and bond.
He wanted it so fiercely, it became a drumming in his veins.
In his heart.
Slowing his tempo, he reached up to stroke her beautiful face. His thumb swept over her parted lips, his eyes rooted on the pretty white points of her fangs.
“I want to feel your blood inside me, love.”
Her soft, indrawn breath seemed uncertain, as if she still didn’t quite believe that he could mean it. Before she had a chance to voice a single doubt, he lifted her chin and held her burning gaze.
“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.” He kissed her, unrushed and meaningful, letting his tongue trace the razor-sharp tips. “Let me taste you, Brynne.”
When she hesitated, he took her hand in his and brought her wrist up to her mouth.
“You’ve given me your love,” he said, still amazed that she had. “Now, give me your bond.”
Brynne swallowed, her eyes never leaving his. She gently bit her wrist, then withdrew her fangs from her tender flesh and turned her wrist toward him.
He closed his mouth around the bleeding punctures, sealing his lips over the wound.
The first sip slammed into his senses, hard and powerful. He wasn’t expecting to feel the need it stirred within him, the deepening thirst for her.
He groaned with pleasure—with amazement—at the erotic taste and staggering force of her blood. He felt it surge into him like a wave of heat and energy, even more invigorating than the light that lived in him as an Atlantean.
His erection turned to granite with each draw from her vein. His desire ignited into a need that shocked him. One that demanded to be fulfilled.
He moaned, his hips flexing on their own, his cock pushing deeper, more urgently inside her. He could hardly hold on to his lust now. Like his love for her, his need was too strong.
It owned him, just as this woman did.
She gently pulled her wrist from his mouth and sealed the wounds with a little swipe of her pink, wet tongue. Her face was resplendent with desire and emotion, and the flush of her escalating release.
“Mine,” Zael growled.
Her answering smile nearly undid him.
“Mine,” she said, drawing him down for her passionate kiss.
He didn’t think his connection to her could be any stronger, but then he began to feel his pleasure mounting, doubling. The love he felt was growing, too, intensifying into something so profound he struggled to hold it all inside him.
It was Brynne.
He could feel her now, in his heart, in his blood.
“Yes,” she whispered, nodding. “Forever, Zael.”
She wrapped her arms and legs around him, holding him close as their bodies fell into an urgent, perfectly matched rhythm. They climaxed together, her cry joined with his hoarse shout. His orgasm would have been explosive enough by itself, but twined with the pleasure of hers it was staggering, the most intense rush of sensation he’d ever known.
And it wasn’t enough to sate him.
Zael rolled her onto her side to start another round of lovemaking.
It was a damned good thing they would have an eternity together, because the love and thirst he felt for this woman—his blood-bonded mate—knew no end.
CHAPTER 38
At dawn that next day, Brynne and Zael awoke to find the four colony elders on the doorstep of the cottage. They had arrived with a special request—and a gift for the newly mated couple.
They brought them down to the beach, to where the sailboat she and Zael had arrived on was moored and waiting at the end of the island’s stone dock.
“You agreed to live at the colony,” Baramael announced. “However, we have decided to amend the terms of our agreement.”
“What do you mean?” Zael asked, sounding as surprised as Brynne felt.
“The four of us met again last night to discuss the proposed alliance with the Order. This morning, we met with the rest of the colony and explained everything that happened these past couple of days—including the role you and Brynne played in protecting our crystal.” Baramael put his hand on Zael’s shoulder. “The colony agrees unanimously that you and Brynne should have the freedom to stay here with us and to return to the outside as you choose.”
Brynne swallowed, looking to Zael in shock and confusion. She felt the same reaction in him, through their bond.
“Come and go as we choose?” Zael asked cautiously. “This is…most unexpected.”
“Consider it our gift to you,” Anaphiel said, smiling warmly at both of them.
Haroth nodded. “With our trust. You’ve both earned it.”
“You have the trust of the whole colony,” Nethiri added, the female elder’s silver eyes shining with kindn
ess.
“The freedom doesn’t come entirely without some responsibility,” Baramael said, his bicolored gaze moving between Brynne and Zael. “To be specific, the council would like you both to be emissaries of the colony in our new alliance with the Order.”
Brynne could hardly contain her gasp. As prepared as she was to remain on the island with Zael for the rest of her life, there had been a part of her that yearned to see her sister again, if only to say goodbye. But what the elders were offering was something far better. A chance to keep Tavia and the rest of the Order in her life as partners in the alliance.
“Yes, of course,” Zael accepted, bringing Brynne under his arm.
“It would be our honor,” she told the elders. “Thank you for this very welcome gift.”
“It’s well-earned,” Baramael said. He smiled, and it was a revelation to see the stern Atlantean’s face soften with his warm regard.
“You also mentioned a special request,” Zael prompted the dark-haired elder.
“Yes. There is the matter of Tamisia.”
Brynne hoped the council had also softened toward their colleague’s fall from grace. “Have you reconsidered your position with her as well?”
“No,” Baramael replied soberly. “That we cannot do. Her banishment still stands. However, as she’s never been away from the colony to see where to teleport, she will need help leaving.”
He indicated the waiting sailboat.
“Of course,” Zael said, understanding at once. “Brynne and I can take her to the mainland.”
Baramael nodded. “She will be pleased to hear that. We will inform her to prepare for the journey as soon as you and Brynne are ready to depart.”
“As for her banishment,” Zael said, “adjusting to life on the outside may not be easy for her. Will the council allow us to ensure Tamisia has somewhere to go once she’s away from the colony? Someone to help look out for her, if she needs assistance?”
They all agreed, and not long afterward, Brynne and Zael found themselves on the sailboat with Tamisia, heading back for Athens.