All eyes turned to Krav who stood with one red scaled hand stretched out in the direction where Nia had been hovering in the water. He shook some water droplets from his hair and then his hand returned to match the rest of his human form once again.
“Crazy,” Cindy breathed.
“Sorry guys, I couldn’t listen to anymore of her shit,” Krav said.
“Good call demon,” Adam nodded in approval.
“I’m sorry cara,” Ronan said to Cindy, his voice filled with regret, “I never meant for you to get caught up in any of this…”
“Okay kids,” Krav cut off his apology, “we gotta move. Cindy, are you down with taking a little trip with the Captain here?”
She stared up into Ronan’s face and, in one look, she knew him. Knew everything she needed to know about him. He was a fierce protector, strong and selfless. He’d incurred the wrath of a god to save her life for crying out loud!
She turned away to take a brief look around the beach. He’d die if he stayed here on earth. It was just a matter of time, even she could see that. But he couldn’t make it back home without her. That empty place inside her jumped, pushing her closer to him. She couldn’t let him slip away from her now. He had just saved her in epic hero fashion! She let out a short breath.
“Let’s go,” she said taking Ronan’s hand in a decisive grip. His eyes widened.
“Are you certain?” He asked her. “It’s a whole other realm we’re talking about. There are dangers. I don’t know that I’ll be able to bring you back.”
He passed a look to Krav. The serpent demon just shrugged as if he didn’t have an answer for that one.
“It doesn’t matter Ronan,” Cindy said. She knew it would to the people she was about to leave behind, her family, friends, cats, but that part of her that had been missing since forever was calling out for him and she had to go. She looked at Krav and nodded her head once in the affirmative.
“Right,” the serpent said, then turned and spoke to Adam, “we’ll have to use your access. This one closed when I zapped Nia,” he nodded at the water.
“Take them in through the back, my security will let you through. I’ll stay and clean up this mess,” he frowned at the dead Miserians as he pulled a small bag out of his coat.
Krav cleared his throat and lowered his voice.
“There’s also the small matter of your abductee, Anax.”
He tipped his head when he spoke the word that Nia had used to greet Adam with earlier. Adam’s head snapped up at this and he started to say something but Krav cut in.
“I wouldn’t mention it, but it seems that your holding cell wasn’t quite secure enough…” he let his words trail off as he saw his meaning sink in.
Adam pinched the bridge of his nose then cursed.
“Just get them through Krav, like I said, I’m on clean up detail.”
Krav winced and Cindy wondered what they were talking about, but before she could ask questions, her world blurred as she was swept off of her feet. She would have fallen over if it hadn’t been for Ronan’s arms around her. In the next instant, they were all three at the scene where this whole adventure began ─ the back of Ramone’s Party Cove.
***
“What the…” Cindy staggered a step. “What just happened?
“You just flew Krav Air, baby,” Krav said.
“Watch yourself serpent,” Ronan warned before Cindy even had the chance to respond, then answered her question “he used the god’s powers to bring us here.”
“Actually, it’s more like physics, but whatever,” Krav said, “let’s get a move on.”
They walked through the main area of the club which was in shut down mode so there was no one there to see them. Then they headed into a storeroom in the back of the bar. Ronan’s sudden shift to move in front of her alerted her to the fact that the room wasn’t empty. When she looked toward the back wall, she caught sight of what had to be the most massive human being she’d ever seen in her life. With dark ebony skin, dark clothes and dark glasses, the giant had just materialized out of the shadows.
Krav addressed him as they got closer.
“Evening Sol, we’re just passing through,” he said. The man stepped to the side, never uncrossing his boa constrictor arms from the front of his chest. His only acknowledgment of them was a hard silent stare.
Krav opened a door and passed swiftly through without a second thought. Ronan led Cindy, eyeing the guard with suspicion before they all descended down a narrow stairway.
They took a left at the foot of the stairs then walked down another short hallway and under an arch into a light-filled room that looked nothing at all like the club on top. It was a big circular space with several porticos that led into other hallways all the way around. In the center of the great room there was a fountain that bubbled around some statuary.
“Welcome to The Palace,” Krav said, “or, as it’s known in certain circles, Vortex 1.” Then he waved his arm around in a sweeping gesture. “I’d give you the grand tour but we’re a little pressed for time.”
“Are you sure it’s a good idea to take her to the island?” Ronan asked Krav, “Thema…”
“Will be pissed, no doubt,” Krav agreed, “but, now that Cindy has the elixir every type of otherworld creature for miles around will be coming for her. At least on the island, you’ll have your men for back up. And, you know, the whole not dying thing is a pretty sweet deal on your end too Captain”
He winked at Cindy then and she couldn’t suppress a small laugh even though the situation was anything but funny. Still, he was damn charming for a scamp.
“Cindy,” Ronan searched her eyes, “you’re certain you want to go through with this?”
“I’m positive,” she said, without a doubt in her mind, “you’re not getting rid of me.”
“Never,” he said pulling her into the circle of his arms, “you’re mine forever now.”
Then he crushed her to him and sealed the deal with a heart stopping kiss. Her body, to the point of exhaustion only seconds ago, came instantly alive and she wrapped her arms around him. Krav cleared his throat from the edge of the fountain and they pulled apart enough to turn their heads in his direction.
“Sorry to rush you, but I don’t know if your magic,” he looked at Cindy here, “will get him through another sunrise, so into the fountain with you.”
He jerked his head over his shoulder toward the water.
Ronan grunted low in his throat at the demon but stepped forward, halting when Cindy neglected to move with him. He looked back at her, one eyebrow raised in question. She brought her gaze up from the water.
“So, we’ll just…poof…and then…gone?” She asked.
Krav shifted and she looked at him. The demon gave her a smile of encouragement and a small shrug as if to say, “yep, exactly like that…poof and gone…nothing to it.”
“Don’t be afraid, cara,” Ronan said, coming back to her.
She looked into his eyes and that space inside of her opened. It was crazy but that was all that it took for her to agree to do this incredible thing. She squared her shoulders and nodded. Then he lifted her up in his arms.
“Hold on to me,” he said then stepped into the water with her.
Wind swirled up from the fountain, spraying up into the air around them and the last thing Cindy saw of the palace room was Krav’s dimpled smile as he waved goodbye.
She pressed into Ronan’s chest when a cold mist came in contact with her skin, then suddenly, the whirlwind intensified and shot into the air. It sprayed out in all directions as they were pulled into its center. Cindy clung to Ronan for dear life. All at once, the swirling water opened up forming an archway.
Ronan stepped under the cascade with her and planted his feet on a mirror-like floor, when he did, the mist spun out as the arch closed in behind them like a curtain. Once they were encased in the watery vault, everything blurred and started to spin very fast. Cindy tucked her head into Ronan’s neck an
d closed her eyes tight against the dizziness that came over her.
Aside from that, she started to get the pins and needles feeling that always follows a foot or a hand falling asleep but it was all over her whole body. She thought if she could have seen herself right then, she would have looked like a million tiny particles bouncing around inside of a glass dome at high speed.
The prickling and the dizziness grew so intense that she was sure she was going to burst apart and all the atoms that made up her being would be flung into the vortex swirling around them when, as suddenly as it had begun, it all stopped. There was a blessed stillness and she opened her eyes. Ronan turned with her then and, before them, another archway of water opened.
Chapter Twenty-three
Keeper’s Safe Line
“If you are receiving this message, you have reached this number in error…”
Shep cursed and turned off his safe phone. Three times he’d tried reaching Agent Six. All he’d been able to get was the voice mail message that the Keepers used to throw anyone who mistakenly dialed the line off track. Agents were always supposed to answer a call from him.
He shoved the phone inside his coat and pulled a regular cell phone out of the back pocket of his jeans and dialed another number.
“Hi this is Cindy, leave a message at the tone and I’ll get back to you.”
Shep’s heart lurched at the sound of the recording.
“Hey, sweetie, it’s Dad. Just wondering how your trip is going.” It nearly killed him to keep his tone casual. “Give me a call when you get this. I haven’t heard from you in a while.”
He hung up and switched phones one more time then dialed a new number.
“It’s a beautiful day in paradise,” a voice droned out the code words sarcastically.
“Well there’s a storm system moving in from The Mountain,” Shep answered back, “I need to speak to Harbinger. Now!”
“Sorry, no can do, the big guy is incommunicado for the evening,” the tech agent said.
“This is Commander 1 from the Mountain…”
“I know who you are Commander,” the agent interrupted, “we’ve had something of a situation here. Harbinger is currently unable to take your call.”
“Never mind,” Shep said, already pissed for the waste of time, not to mention the insubordination. “Tell your boss I’m on my way.”
He disconnected then dialed one last number.
“What’s up brother,” a gruff voice answered after only one ring.
“Number Two,” Shep said by way of address.
“I told you to quit callin’ me that.”
Shep smiled into the phone.
“Be ready to ride in an hour, brother. We’re headin’ south for the winter like a pair of snow birds.”
Part II
Atlantis 10,500 b.c.
The princess and the king alighted in a grove of trees. Aureliaura blinked her eyes at the sudden change in locations and looked all around, then up at the one who’d brought her. Stolen her rather, and to what end? She didn’t know.
She wasn’t a fearful girl, however. Her disposition more freely given to curiosity than to fretfulness and, just then, the king looked more shocked by what he’d done than intent on violence. He released her hand as if it had burned him.
Aura walked away from him, into the center of the grove, letting the sunlight that dappled the area fall soft on her skin. She reached one hand up toward the light, drawing it into her palm until her whole arm glowed from the borrowed rays.
Gadeiros shifted and her focus went back to him. His mouth worked as the bones of his jaw moved, shaping the strong lines of his face. He was very handsome she decided. His eyes stood out against skin that had been bronzed by the sun. They pierced through the space, bluer than diamond but not as gray as feldspar and they were defined by a ring of thick black lashes. He probably used no kohl to deflect the sun’s rays she thought. He didn’t need it.
“The sun is hotter in your realm than mine,” she said to break the silence.
His gaze was locked on her fingers as they bounced a ball of sunlight between them. She dropped her hand and his eyes came up.
“Is it?” He asked.
She smiled by way of an answer and the space around them softened. Encouraged, Aura ventured further.
“Yes, Emania is a cooler world than this one.”
He nodded.
“I’ve heard little of the place, I confess. I know nothing of the sky realms at all,” he said. “I am a little surprised to find that Poseidon has been able to make friends there.”
Aura shrugged and continued her study of the trees. It hadn’t been very long that she’d known about the pact between her father and Poseidon but she considered herself fortunate to be given to such a beautiful place in betrothal…and to such a handsome man. Intense as King Gadeiros was, the whim of youth made it all too easy for her to find the brooding warrior intriguing rather than frightening. She wondered what more lay beneath the surface of both kingdom and king.
“I know not the details of their acquaintance,” she rejoined, “only that my father hopes that our marriage will bring certainty to the Tides and keep the worlds in balance, Anax.”
“Gadeiros please, when we are alone, Princess.”
She gave him a small smile.
“And are we alone?”
“Assuredly,” he answered, “this space here by the falls is one of many secluded spots on Gades. I have it shielded with Atlantean crystals. Even the gods cannot see us here.”
His voice was hard with confidence and housed the barest note of a threat. Aura started a little at the change, her eyes going wide.
“My father won’t like that. You should take me back.” She kept her voice light. The way one would when speaking to a predator they didn’t want to provoke.
Gadeiros moved into the sun-filled space where she stood. Reaching forward, he touched the crest of her cheek, then stroked a golden curl at her temple all the way down to where it fell on her breast. He twisted it softly and watched the color change in the sun. Aura took in a shaky breath but it wasn’t fear that made her shudder.
“I don’t think I will,” he said.
Releasing her hair, he skimmed the backs of his fingers down the center of her breast, over the hard peak there and Aura’s breath caught. No man had ever touched her thus. His hand kept travelling and he watched the small jerks of her body with an unreadable expression. All the way down it went, over her ribcage and past the dip in her waist until he found her hand and clasped it. Finally, the hardness in his eyes relented.
“If you are to be my queen, you should know all you can about the lands I rule. I can show you more without an assembly, unless you do not wish to explore. I assure you that you are well protected with me princess.”
Aura slanted him an assessing look. She wasn’t so certain of that.
He’d been angry back in the temple but now he did not seem so. His touch delighted her body. Still, he was a frightening figure. His warrior’s heart lay just beneath the surface of his royal exterior and she wondered exactly what kind of man he was. Of course she’d heard the stories of his conquests and his demigod status but not much else. He was pleasing to the eye, this son of Poseidon, but all too often, a beautiful face hid a wicked heart.
His chest was bare to her view ─ golden skinned and heavily muscled in the manner of a man who spent much of his time on the battlefield. He wore gold and onyx neck plating with a black crystal ankh in the center. His head was free of elaborate headdress save a thin gold and black jeweled band that circled his forehead. His dark black hair hung thick and straight to his shoulders underneath it. Both his hair and skin were oiled, as was custom for a visit to temple and the scent of body-warmed sandalwood filled her nostrils, making her lightheaded.
She brought her head up and met his stare. Inches below his eyes, his mouth twitched turning up in the barest hint of a smile and Aura realized he’d been watching her study him and hadn�
��t said a word the whole time.
The sight of his lips stirred things inside of her that her maiden’s burgeoning awareness had yet to bring to life. She reached out to retrace the path that her eyes had taken with her fingers but her hand stopped in mid-air.
Suddenly, he grabbed her wrist. She jerked her head up to meet his eyes. They’d been changed by his smile, warmed from their normal stone to something more liquid and she swayed toward him, might have fallen into his chest but his grip on her tightened. She righted herself just as he pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed the sensitive undersides of her fingers.
Her eyes drifted closed and it was as though she could feel his lips everywhere on her body at once. She could sense the curving of his smile and opened her eyes just as he brought her hand down between them.
Probably nothing on this island presented her with more danger, that she might need protecting from, than him. He would take her back to her parents if she asked him, of that she was sure, but alone as they were and as thrilling as this place and its king were, she didn’t want to go, not yet.
“Show me Gades,” she said.
Chapter Twenty-four
Isle of Gades
Ronan stepped through the Tides with Cindy in his arms. The water wall immediately closed behind them and vanished. They’d been transported to a small grotto. Cindy blinked. She thought her ears must still be ringing from the Tides but then she saw that the noise was coming from a cascade that spilled over the rocky ceiling they were standing under. Crystal clear, it fell in sheets. They’d landed on the back side of a waterfall.
The pounding of the water mimicked the feel of Ronan’s heartbeat. She tried to clear away the intoxicating affects of being held by him and focus on the magnitude of where she was and how she’d come to be there. But, in his arms, she found it hard to concentrate on anything other than the way he felt.
“Umm, you can put me down now,” she said over the roar of the waterfall. He bent his head to hers.
Moontide (Tides of Atlantis Book 1) Page 14