Destiny

by A D Starrling

  Ethan drew a sharp breath and Lucas’s pulse jumped. He had never seen that look on his son’s face before.

  Alexa’s eyes flared in surprise.

  Lucas didn’t even hear the click of the metal ring on Conrad’s staff, nor did he see the weapon extend into a double-bladed spear. By the time he’d blinked, Tomas had closed the distance to his aunt.

  Alexa leaned back, a wicked tip dancing past her cheek. Tomas moved again, the spear spinning in his hands, and brought the other end up toward her chest. She blocked the blow with a sai and jumped back.

  Tension wound through Lucas as he watched them fight. He didn’t have to look at the others to sense that they were suddenly as nervous as he was. Only Lily appeared relaxed, watching her twin and Alexa with a faint smile.

  It was a couple of minutes before Alexa stopped defending and started attacking in earnest, her gray eyes focused and serious. Tomas countered with the spear before twisting the second ring and drawing the two short swords inside the staff.

  They paused for a moment and faced each other silently across the clearing, their breathing slow and steady.

  Hairs rose on the back of Lucas’s neck when a flock of birds suddenly rose from the trees and headed into the island, their agitated cries heralding what was about to happen.

  Chapter Two

  It came in faint ripples at first, like a warm breeze coursing across his skin. The first true pulse of power sent sand dancing off the ground at his feet and made his teeth vibrate in his jaw. Lucas stared at the woman he had just fought with the same feeling of awe he’d experienced the first time he’d seen her do this.

  Alexa stood in the middle of a rising storm of pure energy, sand and dirt shivering and rising a couple of inches around her ankles, the leaves and branches in the closest trees bowing under the pressure waves. It was her own invisible life force, a force that could make the very earth tremble.

  It had only manifested itself after she had suffered her first and only death to date.

  They’d witnessed it two years ago, when Ethan had used the full extent of his elemental abilities on her during one of their sparring matches. The sheer strength of her response had driven Ethan off her and six feet across the ground before he had clung on grimly to gravity with his own ungodly energy, his shocked expression echoed on the faces of his Immortal cousins. The second time had been when Lucas himself had nearly bested Alexa during one of their fights, the intensity of the power that had radiated off her nearly driving him to his knees.

  ‘Holy—’ Ethan croaked.

  Lucas glanced at him before following his startled gaze. His heart stuttered in his chest.

  Just as the air shimmered around Alexa, so had it started to do around Tomas. Wood groaned behind the boy as a small bush nearly uprooted itself. Specks of sand trembled on the ground and rose around his feet.

  Tomas smiled at Alexa. Her lips curved in an answering grin.

  Just as quickly as they had started, the formidable energies rolling around the clearing dissipated. Tomas dropped the swords and ran to his aunt.

  She caught him in her arms as he jumped, gave him a quick hug, and pressed a kiss on his forehead. ‘That was amazing. Since when have you been able to do that?’

  ‘Since just now!’ Tomas replied, face flushed with delight.

  Alexa met Lucas’s guarded stare over the little boy’s head. Deep in the silver depths, he detected the same unease he was experiencing.

  The children were progressing faster than any of them had thought they would.

  ‘It’s okay, dad,’ Lily said.

  Guilt stabbed through him at the nervous expression on her face. He walked over to her and lifted her in his arms. ‘I know, sweetheart. It’s just—sometimes the two of you surprise us, that’s all.’

  ‘Did something happen?’

  Lucas twisted on his heels.

  Anna and Olivia were headed across the sand toward them, a golden retriever and a German Shepherd in their wake. Lucas’s breath stilled for a moment when he met his wife’s green gaze. Though they had been married seven years, she still had the ability to make his pulse jump.

  Olivia suddenly paled at her side. From the way she stared past him, he could tell she’d just exchanged psychic thoughts with Ethan.

  Anna glanced at her.

  ‘Lucas?’ she said, her voice hardening.

  He looked over his shoulder.

  Ethan was making a subtle neck slicing motion with his thumb. Conrad shook his head slightly. Laura bit her lip, amusement dancing in her hazel gaze. At the far side of the clearing, Tomas and Alexa were playing with the dogs while doing their damnedest not to meet Anna’s eyes.

  ‘Thanks for nothing, guys,’ Lucas muttered.

  ‘Lily, the fact that you’re trying to soothe my mind with your powers right now only makes me more suspicious, honey,’ Anna said in clipped tones.

  Lily wrinkled her nose at her mother. ‘So, it’s not working?’

  A noise distracted them.

  A speedboat curved around the head of the cove to the west and crossed the lagoon. It slowed before gliding to a stop next to the yacht moored at the jetty a few hundred feet from the house.

  Three men and a woman climbed out. They secured the boat, cleared the pier, and headed leisurely toward them.

  Alexa’s face lit up. ‘Zachary.’

  She bolted out of the clearing, flashed past the other visitors, and jumped into the arms of the blue-eyed blond behind them.

  Lucas grinned as they tumbled to the ground, Alexa’s lips locked firmly on Zachary’s mouth.

  The woman from the boat smiled as she approached. ‘Look who we bumped into on the way here.’

  ‘Madeleine,’ Conrad said warmly as she rose on her tip-toes and pressed her lips to his cheek. He followed her amused gaze to the pair kissing passionately behind her. ‘I thought he was still on that dig in Alaska.’

  ‘He didn’t want to miss the birthday,’ Reid Hasley said wryly, skirting the couple on the ground.

  Lucas greeted his best friend with a hug, allowing Lily to dart out of his arms and into the hold of the man who came to stand next to Madeleine, Tomas close behind her.

  Asgard Godard kissed the little girl on the head and ruffled Tomas’s hair.

  ‘It’s good to see you,’ Lucas told his uncle with a smile. ‘How was the trip?’

  ‘Too short,’ Asgard replied. ‘Victor and Dimitri send their apologies for not making the party.’ His eyes turned melancholic. ‘We visited the grave before we flew back.’

  Lucas swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. Though seven years had passed since the death of Tomas Godard, Asgard’s father, and his and Anna’s grandfather, the pain of his loss still echoed inside him. He had only known the former Head of the Order of Bastian Hunters for a short time, following a series of incidents that had seen him and Reid dragged deep into the Immortal societies. But meeting Tomas had revealed to him the startling secret of his own identity, and Lucas had wished for more time together.

  Anna’s grief had surpassed his, for she had grown up with their grandfather. It was she who had picked the final resting place for his ashes in Prague.

  Olivia’s eyes widened. She stared from Asgard to Madeleine. ‘You—you’re engaged?!’

  Madeleine sighed. ‘I really wish you’d stop doing that mindreading stuff to us. But yes, we are.’ She grinned and showed them her left hand.

  Olivia flushed but leaned forward with Anna and Laura to examine the diamond sitting in her white gold and platinum ring.

  ‘Sorry,’ she mumbled. ‘It’s like you were shouting it at the top of your voice.’

  ‘Yeah, well, I can’t help it.’ Madeleine rolled her eyes at the red-eared man next to her. ‘It took this guy long enough. There are only so many hints a woman can drop.’

  ‘Congratulations,’ Lucas said warmly.

  Asgard nodded, clearly embarrassed by all the attention. He turned to Ethan.

  ‘So, when are y
ou going to make an honest woman out of my niece?’ he said gruffly, indicating Olivia with a tilt of his head.

  The Seer flushed an even deeper shade of red.

  Ethan grimaced. ‘It’s not from lack of trying, old man.’

  ‘What?’ Anna whirled around and stared at Olivia.

  ‘He proposed?’ Laura added, stunned.

  Olivia bit her lip, her expression turning stubborn.

  ‘She said something about it not being the right time yet,’ Ethan explained in the face of her evident discomfiture. He sighed. ‘Having a psychic for a girlfriend sure robs the spontaneity out of certain things.’

  ‘It really isn’t the right time,’ Olivia told a shocked Asgard.

  Ethan stared past her and frowned.

  ‘Sheesh! Either stop that or get a room, will you?’ he yelled.

  Alexa reluctantly detached her lips from Zachary’s and yanked her bemused husband to his feet. ‘Let’s go.’

  ‘Where to?’ the Harvard professor said.

  ‘Like he said, a room.’ She dragged him toward the house. ‘Preferably one with a bed. We haven’t seen each other for two weeks and there are things I need to do to you.’

  ‘Oh.’ Zachary grinned. ‘I kinda like the sound of that.’

  ‘That’s disgusting,’ Ethan said. ‘And in front of the kids, no less.’

  ‘That’s rich coming from you, Hickey Boy!’ Alexa shouted over her shoulder.

  Olivia gasped and pulled up the collar of her shirt. She narrowed her eyes at Ethan.

  ‘She’s joking,’ Ethan said defensively. ‘You don’t have a hickey.’ He paused. ‘Not today anyway.’

  ‘What’s a hickey?’ Lily asked curiously.

  Anna met Lucas’s startled gaze, horror clashing with laughter on her face.

  ‘It’s like that smooching mum and dad do when they think we’re not watching,’ Tomas explained with all the wisdom of one born five minutes ahead of his twin.

  ‘Oh.’ Lily pursed her lips. ‘You’d think they would have given us a baby brother or sister by now, they do that so often.’

  Reid burst out laughing.

  Lucas stared at his feet, suddenly wishing there was a hole he could crawl into. ‘Kill me. Just kill me, now.’

  Anna chuckled and twined her fingers around his.

  Chapter Three

  Anna leaned against the balustrade and stared out over the ocean.

  A full moon kissed the horizon, spectral light turning the dark waters of the lagoon into a dazzling, rippling sheet ahead of the bright reflection of the white orb. The rhythmic song of invisible surf danced toward the house on a warm breeze.

  It was the weekend after Tomas and Lily’s birthday party. Their cousins and friends had left the island two days past to return to their daily lives. With Laura due to have the baby in the next four weeks, they knew they would soon meet again to celebrate the birth of her and Conrad’s child.

  Footsteps sounded behind her. Someone walked out onto the balcony of the bedroom and wrapped powerful arms around her waist.

  Anna shivered at the heat of the man holding her.

  It didn’t matter how many years passed or that she had borne him two children. Lucas’s presence, his touch, his scent, all of it could still turn her legs weak and make her senses swim with desire.

  She recalled the moment she realized she’d fallen in love with him as clearly as if it were yesterday. It had been during the phone conversation, seven years ago, when Victor Dvorsky, the former Head of Bastian Counter-Terrorism and current Head of the Order of Bastian Hunters, had revealed Lucas had injected himself with a genetically reengineered variant of the Red Death. The fourteenth century virus had been behind the deadly plague that had wiped out more than half of the world’s Immortal population while the Black Death scourged Europe and Asia, similarly killing millions of humans. It had been isolated by a group of Crovir scientists as part of a scheme to start a second pandemic and alter the power balance of the world.

  As she had waited anxiously for Victor to bring Lucas to the Bastian compound where she had set up a lab to work on a vaccine, it had dawned on Anna that the pain squeezing her heart and the terror drowning her mind was more than just normal anxiety for the incredible Immortal who had entered her life so dramatically mere days before.

  She had been aware of the spark of attraction between them from their very first meeting and had tried her damnedest to ignore it. But when Victor had arrived at the compound and she had seen Lucas inside the containment pod, the rational arguments she had been wrestling with had flown right out of the window. As she had watched the stubborn, brave, foolish man looking at her sheepishly from behind the glass, Anna had finally admitted to herself how much she cared for him.

  It had been after Lucas became sick—when she had thought she was going to lose him—that Anna had vowed she would do something about her feelings if he survived. Three days later, she had finally been presented with the opportunity to keep her promise.

  Walking into Lucas’s room and climbing into his bed had been the hardest thing Anna had ever had to do in her entire Immortal life. She had never felt so vulnerable, so naked, as she had in that instant, her emotions raw and exposed. For one insane moment, she’d even wondered whether she’d misread the attraction between them.

  All it had taken was a single kiss.

  One blistering meeting of their lips.

  The details of that night were forever etched in her mind. The way Lucas had responded to her. The way he’d touched and tasted every inch of her skin. The urgency of his fingers when they’d found her hips. The weight of his body above her. The devastating pleasure they had found in each other’s arms.

  Anna would remember the first time they made love all her life, and all the lives that came after.

  ‘Are they tucked in?’ she murmured.

  ‘Ah-huh.’ Lucas dropped a kiss against the side of her neck before resting his chin on top of her head.

  Anna smiled. ‘Which story did they ask for tonight?’

  Lucas groaned. ‘Attila the Hun. I don’t know where those kids get their bloodlust from.’

  Anna chuckled and decided not to tell him it sure wasn’t from her.

  They stood in comfortable silence for a moment, his chest rising and falling against her back, her hands resting lightly on his corded forearms.

  ‘Lucas?’ Anna said quietly.

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘I’m happy.’

  She twisted in his hold, rose on her tip-toes, and kissed him, conveying the depth of her feelings with her lips. His arms tightened around her, his heartbeat accelerating where it thrummed against her chest. She pulled back, looked up into his achingly beautiful, blue eyes, and brought her mouth to his left ear.

  ‘How about we work on that brother or sister Tomas and Lily want so badly?’ she whispered.

  Lucas’s face darkened with desire as she took his hand and led him to their bed.

  Ethan stirred. Pale daylight streamed through the smart glass wall opposite him, illuminating the shadow-filled canyons beyond and the blue waters of the Pacific in the distance. He glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was six am.

  He closed his eyes and rolled over, his arm seeking the form of the woman beside him. His hand landed on warm, empty sheets.

  ‘Olivia?’ Ethan mumbled, blinking fuzzily.

  Alarm slammed through him. He bolted upright.

  She was sitting up beside him, eyes staring blindly forward, body rigid and locked in a psychic dream. Sweat beaded her forehead and her chest heaved under her nightdress.

  Ethan swallowed as the fear drowning his soulmate echoed across their mental connection. Although he could never see what it was she experienced during her visions, he always sensed her emotions if he was close enough to her at the time.

  Right now, Olivia was scared out of her mind.

  ‘Livvy?’ Ethan raised a hand to her shoulder then hesitated. He gritted his teeth, clenched his fingers, and l
owered them to the sheets.

  It was best she saw the vision through, whatever it was.

  Her breath suddenly hitched in her throat. She went deathly still.

  ‘They’re coming,’ she whispered.

  The color drained from her face in the next instant. ‘They’re here.’

  Olivia reached out suddenly with her right hand. ‘No, daddy. Run!’

  Hairs rose on Ethan’s arms, leaving goosebumps in their wake.

  His soulmate’s voice had sounded eerily like a child’s.

  Her fingers closed on empty space. A shudder ran through her.

  She blinked and gasped, her pants loud in the frozen silence. Ethan stiffened when she turned to him, her green eyes dark with panic. She lunged across his lap and grabbed his cell from the nightstand.

  ‘What is it?’ he said numbly, an unknown dread filling him.

  Olivia hit a number on speed dial, brought the phone to her ear, and laid her right hand on his left cheek, hot fingers trembling against his skin.

  Ethan inhaled sharply at the images that flashed across his inner vision. This was something new, something they’d been able to do only recently. Though Olivia could draw upon his elemental abilities and use them at will, he had never been able to reciprocate. Except, now, she could show him her visions. Acid burned the back of his throat when he finally registered what he was seeing.

  ‘Oh God,’ he whispered hoarsely.

  Olivia startled when the call finally went through.

  ‘Get out! Get out NOW!’ she shouted. ‘They’re coming! They—’

  Ethan heard the sudden dial tone. Olivia sat paralyzed for a moment before slowly lowering the phone to her lap, her knuckles white where they gripped the frame. She looked up and met his horrified stare, her eyes glinting with unshed tears.

  Lucas woke to the sound of his cell ringing. Anna stirred beside him. He reached out blindly, took the phone from the nightstand, and blinked groggily at the screen. His eyes widened when he registered the caller ID. He sat up and pressed the answer button.