Regali (A Walker Saga)

by Jaymin Eve

  She giggled. The sound was infectious. “Love Bwacie.”

  Colton suddenly sprinted into view. The relief that crossed his face was apparent as he noticed Petal in Brace’s arms.

  “Dammit, kid, you’re going to give me a heart attack,” he said as he reached our side.

  “You’d think they’d have learned by now not to leave you with any living thing to take care of.” Brace laughed, handing the little girl across to her uncle.

  She was so cute, refusing to let him go until he had given her three kisses.

  “Five minutes. I was only watching her for five minutes and she was gone.” Colton jiggled the little girl closer to him.

  She snuggled into his shoulder, her eyes closing.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said, before disappearing into the crowd.

  We continued to walk along the path. Still no one had approached us, although most of the curious onlookers did give Brace a nod of respect as he passed them by.

  “This is a small planet, about a thousand miles in circumference, but we only have the one city. Everyone lives here.” He pointed out different landmarks.

  The city looked pretty big. I could tell that we were only getting a brief glimpse. The houses and shops were similar to those I’d seen on Earth but made from strange materials.

  We rounded a corner and suddenly this estate rose up before us. There were no gates or barriers that I’d noted so far, but it looked like this place should have huge security fences. It was spectacular, in that manicured, movie-star home way. A long path that was bordered by greenery on both sides led up to a two-story, cream-colored and old-manor-looking home. The framing was dark, contrasting nicely with the cream walls, and there were flowering vines climbing their way up strategically placed trestles.

  Brace paused at the beginning of the path. “This is our Abernath home,” he said to me.

  “It’s so lovely.” I faced him. “Please don’t tell me this was where Que lived.”

  Brace laughed. “No, this was my mother’s family home. She gave it to me to raise my own family one day. Que lived over there.”

  He pointed to our left side and I turned my head to find an ugly monstrosity sitting on the top of a sloping hill. It was all steel, glass and metal. Cold and rising at least four stories into the air. And it was exactly where I would have expected Que to live.

  “I hate that place. I closed it down the moment I got back and haven’t stepped foot in it since.” He stared at it for a moment, his expression hard, before he shook his head and faced me again. “Let’s go inside so you can check the place out.”

  I smiled up at him. I couldn’t wait to see if the inside was a beautiful as the outside.

  “Colton’s on his way,” Lucy said, halting us before we moved again.

  And indeed he was. He dashed up to where we stood at the start of Brace’s beautiful home.

  “Hello, Red, sorry I didn’t have time to greet you properly.” He swept me up in a hug, laying a solid kiss on my cheek. “You look stunning. Great to see you’re here adding some class to Abernath.”

  I laughed. “You old charmer you.”

  He set me down and turned to Lucy.

  “Hey, pretty girl.” His voice lowered.

  He leaned down to kiss her as well, but unlike mine, which was high on my cheek, hers landed close to the corner of her lips.

  Lucy’s face flushed and for once no smart comment emerged.

  “Come,” Brace interrupted. “Let’s take our stage show inside for now.”

  I knew what he meant. We were the main attraction on the street right then. I’d thought the Walker gathering was bad, but this was ridiculous.

  Inside, the house was perfect. I could see the women’s touch, from the pastel colors to the delicate furnishings. But still Brace had added his own persona. There was a wicked weapons room downstairs, and his bedroom – well, our bedroom – was dominated by a massive bed. Definitely custom made, way beyond a king size. Princeps size maybe.

  Colton and Lucy followed us around for the tour. They were being surprisingly formal and polite with each other, but I knew that couldn’t last long.

  Just as we settled into the kitchen, perched on high bench chairs, Magenta and another female walked into Brace’s house. I might have bristled a little internally at the way Magenta so casually entered. No knocking or anything, as if she owned the place.

  Lucy, on the other hand, was doing none of her bristling internally. She literally hissed like an angry cat. Especially when the other woman, a strawberry blond – who Colton greeted as Chelsea – laid a full on kiss on the blond wolf shifter. No wonder Lucy was in her fighting stance.

  Colton pushed the clingy Chelsea away.

  “Play nice, Chels, or I’ll put you outside.” Colton’s tone was light but there was an edge to it.

  He reached out and pulled Lucy to his side.

  “This is Mag’s best friend Chelsea.” He introduced the pouty female.

  She had golden eyes, almost the same shade as her hair, and was tall and willowy. Like most Walkers.

  “This is Abby, Brace’s mate, and Lucy. They’re honored guests. Treat them with respect.”

  Brace hadn’t said anything, but one look at his face had the two women lowering their heads deferentially. We didn’t need any man to protect us, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t still nice.

  “They need you in the training hall.” Magenta addressed Brace. “There’s been an incident.”

  He nodded. “Let them know I’ll be there in a minute. And that I’m bringing my mate.”

  As he said the last statement I got the feeling the news was not going to go down well.

  The two biatches (as Lucy called them) left us and we hurried to make a few sandwiches to take with us. I was starving.

  “We need to move it,” Colton said as we left, food clutched in our hands. “Abernaths can destroy shit faster than you can blink.”

  We hurried along a different path to the one we had come in on. There looked to be one sun-type ball in the air here. It was warm, the sky the color of rich cheese; a strong yellow.

  Heading east from Brace’s home, the road curved around and out of the main residential area. In these outer areas there was more space and the buildings seemed a little older. I could see a large warehouse in the distance. It wasn’t actually until we came up to the side of it that its true size dawned on me. It was massive.

  “This is the training facility for Abernath. Que demanded a minimum of three hours’ training each day from the men,” Brace said, leading us to the large double front door.

  “What about the women?” I asked, shoving the last of my sandwich in my mouth. I was too hungry to be elegant.

  “Women were encouraged to train, but he was too old-school to demand it.” Brace laughed. “And despite this my mother was one of the best Abernath fighters.” He kissed me on the nose. “You would have liked her. You’re alike in more ways than the ability to kick ass.”

  I knew that Brace’s missing mother and sister played on his mind a lot. I wondered if we would ever find out what had happened to them.

  As the double doors opened silence descended over the large room. A thousand men faced us, and in unison they hit the deck, down on one knee, faces bowed to Brace. My mate shook his head as he stepped further into the room, right up to the front of the first line formation.

  “Rise.” He projected his voice into a command. “I have told you repeatedly, I do not expect you to kneel every time I walk in the room.”

  Unlike his egomaniacal father.

  It looked as if Brace had his work cut out to change the rituals their last Princeps had demanded for thousands of years. No wonder Brace had chosen to avoid Que and take the First World task of waiting for me. I’d have done anything to escape also.

  Chapter 14

  They were like robots: highly trained, expressionless, and unable to think for themselves. They stood in formation, twenty across and hundreds deep.
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  “I’ve canceled mandatory training, but none of them know what to do each day. So they just end up back here,” Brace said as we observed them.

  The Walker men looked nothing alike. There were all varieties of hair, skin and eye colors – many of which I’d never seen on a person before – and yet they were all the same.

  “How did Colton end up as such a smart-ass?” Lucy asked. “Que seems to have knocked the personality out of every male Abernath.”

  Colton gave a snort of laughter. “Seriously? You’re calling me a smart-ass.” He shook his head.

  “Colt’s wolf protects him from the worst of Que’s brainwashing. No one owns the wolf.” Brace sighed. “And most of these men are almost normal when they’re outside the training hall. They have families and interact. But it was inside these walls that a lack of discipline was punishable.”

  He rubbed his arm then. I knew the slight and all but invisible marks littering his body were from Que.

  “So what’s the issue that Magenta was going on about?” I couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Or whatever was deemed ordinary on Abernath.

  At these words the men parted down the center. There was a raised platform in the middle of the room. On it was a single ornate chair, and next to that was a stool. Brace stopped, his expression freezing.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “They want me to officially take the chair as Princeps,” he bit out. His eyes darkened. “I think they’re worried I’ll refuse in the end.”

  I laughed. “Doesn’t sound like they’re too downtrodden. Get your butt up there and take your mantel, Princeps Brace.” I gave him a gentle shove.

  He captured my hand and started pulling me along with him.

  “What are you doing?” I tried to pull myself free.

  “I’m nothing without you,” he said, his warm tones washing over me. “We do this together or not at all.”

  I wanted to refuse. In fact I wanted to run screaming from the room because I wouldn’t be there for Brace. I was going to break his heart and my own. But there was no other choice. It was me who had made the decision to free the third Seventine, and now I needed to do everything in my power to make sure we didn’t destroy the worlds.

  I dragged my feet a little but in the end I did nothing; I let him pull me to the platform. We stepped up, thousands of faces turning in our direction. At some point others had entered and were immersed amongst the men. Women, children … I would guess every Abernath was now there.

  Brace sat on the chair and pulled me onto his lap. I was pretty sure the stool had been for me, but he was having none of that. The platform started to lift us into the air.

  “What’s going to happen?” I whispered to him.

  “It’s very simple. Just an absorbance of our people’s power.”

  We were now level with the taller heads surrounding us. I could see no mechanism that was lifting us, but still we continued to rise.

  “Does it matter that I’m not an Abernath?” I wondered how a cross-mating like ours worked.

  “That’s the reason for the power. You’ll take some of Abernath into your energy and we’ll recognize that you’re one of us for all time.”

  This was going to backfire on me for sure.

  Once the platform reached a few feet above everyone, it halted. The Abernaths each dropped to one knee, a fisted hand clenched over their chests.

  “Princeps,” they chanted as one. “We command.”

  More words were stated, but they weren’t in English so I had no idea what they meant.

  “Prepare yourself,” he murmured in my ear.

  I was about to ask what he was talking about when the energy hit me. In unison every Abernath sent power into us. Spreading around the room, it ricocheted out until it hit the center and Brace and I were the eye of its focus.

  If I hadn’t been cradled in his strong arms I would have hit the deck. The power slammed into me, and then, as if searching for my inner crevices, it seeped into my being, my soul, and somehow everything that I was started to morph inside. My eyes shifted to lock on Brace’s. His marks were glowing, the blacked interspersed with other shades of gray, purple and gold.

  “The colors will fade,” he said, his warm expression locking me in. “You should see your marks right now.”

  I looked down at my arm and almost shrieked. My blood-red lace had the same shades running throughout. And our marks were intermingling again, the ends reaching out to each other and joining. I could feel our melding bond, and now I could also feel a new bond, my one to the people of Abernath.

  “What’s it like for you?” I asked in awe.

  It was as if I could sense a small part of every person there.

  See for yourself.

  He pulled me inside his head. And I was immersed in everything that was Brace. My slight feeling for each person was increased a million inside him. His sense of responsibility was huge. He cared for every person; he worried for them and wanted to correct the wrongs of his father.

  We’ll always know our people. If any Abernath energy comes near us, we’ll feel it. I know you have your mission right now, but once we’ve destroyed the threat of the Seventine, we can have any life we choose.

  I couldn’t stop myself from kissing him then. I slammed my lips down onto his soft mouth, not caring that thousands stared at us. I was lost in the moment, and it was only as I returned to reality that I realized that cheers and applause rang out through their training building.

  I finally caught sight of Lucy. She was still standing near the doorway. Her worried expression met mine over the cheering heads, and I knew she was thinking the same thing as me: I was in trouble.

  It took a long time for Brace to escape from the training hall. I was introduced to more Abernaths than I would ever remember. They greeted me with the weird forearm handshake of the Walkers. By the fiftieth time I had it down like a pro. Finally we made it back to his house. The four of us stood there in the front sitting room, just staring at each other.

  “Well, that was unexpected,” Colton finally said. “I assume no one told me because I would have definitely given you the heads-up.”

  Brace laughed. “I don’t know, Colt. You can keep secrets in the right situation.”

  Lucy’s head swung up then, her expression intrigued.

  “Do tell.” She smiled in her sweet manner. “What secrets is young Colton keeping?”

  “I am at least five hundred years older than you,” he huffed. “And I have no secrets that are worth sharing.”

  “I disagree,” Lucy said. “You have at least one that influences the decisions you make.”

  He stared at her for a long moment. His white-blue eyes shifted to me. “Can you spare Lucy for a few hours? There’s something I want to show her.”

  “Hello,” Lucy interrupted me before I could speak. “Standing right here and able to make up my own mind about whether I am free or not. And I am not.”

  She emphasized the last words strongly.

  Colton reached out and took her hand. “Please, I think once you see this you’ll understand me better.”

  Her expression softened. She pursed her lips for a moment before giving a swift nod. Then without another word the pair walked out the door. Colton’s massive height dwarfed her completely, but unlike with Samuel, they seemed to fit together. I hadn’t noticed before. Even though Colton always lingered protectively over her, he didn’t crowd down on her making her seem small. Unlike Samuel.

  “Don’t worry about us, guys,” I called as the door slammed shut. “Thanks for all the concern, but Brace and I will find something to occupy ourselves.”

  I turned to face him. “Gee, you’d think they’d forgotten we …” My words trailed off as I caught sight of his expression.

  My pulse skyrocketed and I think I stopped breathing. If I could have bottled the pure devastatingly sexy aura Brace was emitting right then I would have made millions on Earth. I was afraid to break the moment. T
he energy running between us was practically visible. It was potent and hot and … holy hell … I sucked in a ragged breath, but before I got to take a second he had me in his arms. We just barely made it to his room. And I finally figured out the advantages of his massive bed.

  It took half the afternoon but finally when the urgency and passion had eased a little between us I had a minute to catch my breath. Right then I couldn’t find it within myself to regret that moment, despite the pain that I was sure to experience when the bond broke.

  “What are you thinking, Red?” Brace’s husky tones sent shivers along my body, or it might have been the way he continued to run the pads of his fingertips over my naked skin. “I shouldn’t have to even ask you that, but since you insist on keeping me locked out of your mind …”

  I could hear the unasked question there. He didn’t understand why I wouldn’t want him to know everything. His mind was wide open to me anytime I wanted to access it. I was hurting him with my actions and he didn’t deserve that.

  “I was just wishing I could freeze time right now,” I said, trailing my hand along his defined chest muscles. “I just want to stay in this room with you forever. Because I know when we leave anything can happen.” I snorted. “Hell, the world could end tomorrow. But right now everything is perfect.”

  “I’ll keep you safe, baby.” He pulled me so I was sprawled half on top of him. “And I’ll make sure that this isn’t the last perfect moment we have.”

  His mouth captured mine and for a little while longer I could pretend that Brace would always be mine and that I never had to give him up.

  “Tell me about your sister,” I said hours later as we lay in the darkness.

  He laughed. “Caty was the biggest pain in my ass. She was a lot younger, by almost fifty years, and I was pretty happy being an only child at that point.” His arms tightened around me. “I maintained that I didn’t want her right up to the point she opened her massive brown eyes, wrapped her hand around my little finger and captured my heart.” His voice lowered.