“I gather that to be a no then?” Lucius said with sarcastic humour.
“Don’t play fucking games with me Luc, Keira is MINE and she will always be MINE!” On hearing this I felt all my anger bubble and steam to the top until I realised I was now on my feet shaking with fury. I could feel everyone’s eyes snap to me and my taught body, so highly strung someone could have picked me up and used me to play a bloody violin! My vision was misting over as I felt my body begin to tingle. It started in my fingertips and was channelling its way up my arms and into my chest. My very core was getting ready to explode and I heard gasps coming from both sides of me but I couldn’t look. My vision was showing me only Draven and for a second I saw him flinch. I felt like I was getting so hot I would self-combust. Hell, I felt like I was glowing like poked embers.
“Keira?” Draven said gently. I tried to calm myself down but I was now panting like a rabid dog and Draven was looking worried.
“Keira, listen to me, I don’t…توسط خدایان …I don’t know what’s happening to you but you need to calm down and right now…do you hear me?” (Means ‘By the Gods’ in Persian) I heard the slight panic in his voice but the command at the end was what made me snap. It was like stoking the fire and I felt something in me just bang, pop and smash its way through me.
I was assaulted with images of Draven in bed with Aurora and the same video footage that had tortured me for every minute since being made to watch it. I could see it like it had painfully been scorched to my memory bank and when his hands pinned her wrists to the beds frame, just below where my picture hung, I finally lost it. I watched with the rest of the room as every TV screen on the walls started to play my exact thoughts. The image I was seeing in my head was playing in exact time as my memory was relaying it and now everyone, including the guilty, could watch his actions with me. I watched his utter astonishment transform his hard features into lines displaying the unbelievable. I watched as the emotions played out as his head flicked to every screen but the only one missing was the one I was counting on to tell me he still loved me…guilt.
At that point I screamed out at the searing pain that ricocheted through my brain and continued on and on until it had me gripping at my head with both hands. I heard things around me smashing and glass raining onto the hard flooring like hailstones. I heard other people screaming in fright and shock but I didn’t look, that was until the biggest smash of all.
The sound of the walls shaking brought me from my pain and the immense heat started to subside. I opened my eyes to see that my hands were glowing like a light bulb was beneath my skin but then it started to flicker as my pulse started to slow and the tingling in my body started to fade. I turned around and saw what everyone else was looking at.
The biggest screen of them all that was behind the seating was now smashed as though the hulk had used it as a plaything. The frame was now in black glass splinters on the floor and the screen looked like it had gone a round with an automatic weapon. Sparks flew from inside and I looked round to see the rest of the damage to the room. No screen had survived and there were even some cracks in the walls with now some of the light fittings hanging down like limp dying flowers.
What had I done?!
“Oh, Keira.” Draven said and made a move to touch me but I recoiled back.
“DON’T TOUCH ME!” I screamed at him, both afraid of hurting him and of what his touch could do to me. It was the very thing I had craved for so long, having him standing here, so close, close enough to touch was like waving a syringe in front of a drug addict. And Draven was most definitely my grade of poison.
For once Draven listened and not only did he obey but he now looked afraid of what would happen if he didn’t. I had to get out of this room and away from all these judging eyes that made it feel as though the walls were closing in on me. Draven looked past me and I felt Lucius’ presence at my back.
“Keira girl?” He whispered close to me in concern. I felt his hand barely touch my shoulder before I shrieked out and jumped a mile.
“No! I said don’t touch me! I…I…don’t know what…what happened…I…No! Please don’t.” I said again when I saw him reach for me a second time. I was backing away and one of my heels caught on the rubble my outrage had caused. I stumbled a bit and saw Draven about to reach out when I righted myself at the last moment.
“Ppleasse!” I stammered, thick with emotion, halting him in his tracks.
“I have to get out of here.” I said backing up, looking frantically round for my escape. I couldn’t understand what had happened to me but whatever it was, it left me feeling like an emotional wreck, shaking like a leaf in a thunder storm. Tears were streaming down my cheeks sending black drops to the evidence of my destruction on the floor.
Thankfully my saviour was found in the only face that wasn’t looking at me as though I was someone else. Pip made a whistle to get my attention and then pointed to a small bar area that had a glass door to the side. She winked at me and I ran to the door trying to get away from any sight that reminded me of what I had done. What had happened? Where had that come from and how on earth would I ever stop it from happening again. Was that it now, every time I got angry I would hulk out Demon style and end up killing every TV in a thirty metre radius? Let’s just hope nobody ever pissed me off in an electrical store or sparks were going to fly!
I tried to ignore all the frightened glares being sent my way and pushed on the frosted glass doors hoping my touch wouldn’t make them shatter. I didn’t fancy becoming a grated Keira or being embedded with millions of glass knives any time soon.
I was surprised to find the outside world behind the door as it led onto a metal staircase that twisted up to the roof. The cold air hit me and I welcomed the sensation of it cooling my still heated skin. I walked up to the top and found a contemporary little garden with weathered wooden decking that had turned a greyish shade and a dark slate whirl in the middle of the round courtyard, like a pathway with no destination. It kind of represented the way I was feeling. I felt that level of craziness that I might have just walked it!
The roof was surrounded by a waist high wall that was also overflowing with different plants and shrubs. At the corners the walls were built up into higher pillars and had sculptured topiary on top. At one side was a built in water feature that was a solid piece of white marble that stood like a car upright on its bumper. The water trickled down from the top and cascaded on all sides of its rough edges like it had just fallen from the mountain side. It was beautiful and the sound was soothing in the still air. I walked to the edge and was surrounded by the sparkling lights of the city below and it cast a warm orange glow to the night sky.
“It’s a beautiful sight and one I haven’t seen in far too long.” I shuddered at the deep voice behind me and soon my skin heated once again, only this time for very opposite reasons.
“Draven.” I whispered his name as if it held all the answers to every single question that had run through my brain since the time I was taken.
“Munich is beautiful.” I said as I didn’t know what else to say.
“I wasn’t referring to the city, Keira.” His words were now right behind me and even though he still hadn’t touched me, his presence was like a solid wall at my back waiting to catch me.
I wiped away the last of my tears and I knew my makeup was now half way down my cheeks but I didn’t care. Of all the times I had thought about seeing Draven again, being right here, in the personal space of his awaiting arms, this was not the way I ever expected things to have happened and it was killing me.
“Draven, I can’t do this.” I managed desperately and still keeping his inch of distance between us I felt his breath dance along my neck. I knew why he hadn’t yet touched me and at this point I was thankful for it but when he leaned close enough to whisper, “Ssshh” in my ear, it was still like all my nerve endings lit up and his touch came through in other ways.
“Keira, stop.” He said firmly when I started
to shake my head. I didn’t know what I wanted anymore. I was being pulled in two directions and neither one was going to help me from being lost. I wanted Draven to wrap his arms around me and I wanted to drown in the heart of him. I wanted to snuggle down so close that no one would ever be able to get me off him. But in my other mind I wanted to run from him and never look back, in the fear that if I did, he would catch me and never let me get away from the heart-breaking knowledge that he cheated on me.
“I just didn’t realise this would happen Keira…I mean…I never thought it possible.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked, still without looking at him.
“I am talking about your obvious powers Keira, what else would I be talking about?” Really?! What else…? Was he sodding joking!
“Oh I don’t know…” I said just as I turned round to face him, because for what I needed to say I had to witness his reactions to gauge the truth.
“How about the fact that you have been lying to me from the very beginning! The fact that sleeping with me has been changing me into some super human demon half breed that can now destroy rooms…or how about all the stuff you kept from me about why you and Lucius really argued…” I was now getting angrier by the second and was walking him backwards as I continued.
“Or let’s get to the real gritty part should we Draven, let’s talk about how I saw you and you’re not so angelic EX having SEX in what was supposed to be OUR bed! So how is THAT ‘else’ for you Draven?” I had completely snapped now and was angrily once again wiping away at the tears that came along with my fury.
But it was the look on his face that finally stopped me and there was no mistaking the look of complete bewilderment I found instead of the guilt I was counting on.
“What on earth are you talking about?” Draven bellowed at me as it now all sank in. The lines in his face defined his scowl and the trade mark brooding frown was replaced by one of indignation.
“How can you not know Draven, you were there after all?” I said but Draven’s eyes focused on mine as if searching for something before realisation hit and from the look of things, it hit hard.
“What was on those screens in there…the images you projected was what you think has actually happened?!” He shouted this last part but I stood firm. What else could they have been…maybe my worst nightmare, but even my own mind wouldn’t have been so cruel. I found though that I couldn’t answer him with words so I just nodded and in return his eyes glowed a deeper reddish purple…oh yeah, he was angry alright.
“And where the fuck did you get that image from?” He growled at me and I couldn’t help but flinch when he said the F word at me. I didn’t want to tell him as I just knew as soon as I said the name it would only inflame his rapidly growing temper. But when I still hadn’t given him a name then he said my name in a warning.
“Keira!”
“It doesn’t matter Draven, I just want you to tell me if and when it happened.” At the sight of his outburst I think I would have been better saying the bitch’s name. He clenched a fist, brought his arm back and embedded his hand into the wall closest to him. The pillar didn’t stand a chance and when he whipped his hand back a waterfall of soil came with it. Oh and did I mention the mother of all roars that went with the colossal man paddy.
“IF AND WHEN!? How about FUCKING NEVER!” He screamed at me making me take a few cautious steps back. I was now speechless but that didn’t seem to matter to Draven as he was now taking my place and was in full wrath mode.
“Did Lucius set this up? Is this what he had planned all along? He is clearly trying to turn you against me and you are letting him! You are a pawn in his little game and you are letting him win! How could you?” He accused and I cringed before regaining my anger.
“I can only go by what I saw Draven and besides, it wasn’t Lucius who showed me and he certainly didn’t have anything to do with it!” Ha, I thought as I watched his eyes narrow but then they fly open again.
“And you naively, no doubt, believe his bullshit! That’s it, I really am going to kill him this time!” He snapped back.
“Yes I do, considering why a man would pull something like that when the thing he wants relies on YOU wanting me back! That and the fact that he bloody defended you!” At this he looked taken aback and for a minute I thought he was going to argue the reasons why, but he must have stopped that train of thought as another realisation hit.
“Oh no, don’t tell me Keira…if you confirm what I am thinking then I am going to be beyond furious.” He warned and a number of panicked thoughts of the past ten days flickered through my head all in seconds. I knew what was coming and I knew that I was going to have to try my hardest not to react if he guessed right. But then he went and said the name that would always get a reaction from me and no matter how small, Draven noticed it.
“Layla!” He hissed. As soon as he saw the truth of the matter from me he erupted, but this time instead of the wall getting any new additions he was at me in a blink. I jumped as his arms enveloped me and I found myself being crushed to his chest. At the first contact with Draven in all this time my mental damn cracked and all my walls came crashing down into oblivion. I buried myself into his chest and sobbed for every single day we had been apart, for every single minute we’d missed and for every single time I thought of him in the arms of another woman. And all through this he remained a constant strength in front of me, holding me to him and whispering soothing words in my ear.
Finally, once I had finished having my meltdown, Draven held me back slightly so that he could look at me and he held my head with both hands and rubbed his thumbs on my cheeks to take away any stray tears. I looked up at him and I knew instantly he had seen everything I just cried about through my open mind. He knew everything I thought he had done to me, what Lucius did to me and how Layla tried to kill me once again. But where I would have expected Draven to have erupted into a mass of murderous rage he gently leaned down and picked me up like he always did at Afterlife.
He didn’t say a word as he took me over to a bench seating area that was sheltered by a canopy of ivy over a wooden pergola. He took his seat and instead of placing me down next to him, he sat me so I was nestled on his lap. The feel of his large hands on my body did crazy things to me and I found myself not only comforted but that my body was being awakened to craving the kind of pleasure only this man could give me. He must have felt it too because the next thing I knew I felt a very solid presence of Draven pressing into my thigh and he had buried his face into my neck. He inhaled deeply as if taking in the very essence of me and his length hardened even more.
“By the Gods Keira, how I have missed you.” He said against my neck and he kissed his way up my jaw line as if too afraid to push for a kiss just yet. As if I was still too fragile and he was right, I needed all my answers before I could let my senses take over just by Draven’s touch alone.
“I need to hear you say the words Draven, I am sorry and I know you might hate me for it but it is the only way to eradicate the image from my brain…I need this Draven.” I said quietly. I felt him stiffen beneath me before releasing a big sigh.
“I know you do and for the record, I could never hate you, not even close.” He said placing his forehead to mine and I closed my eyes so that his lips being so close to mine didn’t tempt me but the scent of him alone was having a drugging effect on me.
“Keira, listen to me now when I say that I have not shadowed the love I have for you by clouding it in sin. I have not touched another since I first knew of your existence in this world and nor would I again.”
“Oh, Draven!” I said, throwing myself at him and clinging to his neck like he was one giant life preserver. I shifted my weight so that I was now straddling his hips and like this it was hard to ignore the weight of his arousal pressing against my core.
“I love you and oh my god, how much I do love you Dominic.” At this I heard him inhale sharply as he took in not only my words of love, but the way it
was reinforced by me calling him by his first name and for me, this was a sentiment saved for times like this, times when my point needed his full understanding…saying his name always did it.
He once again framed my face with his hands to stare deeply into my eyes. I felt lost in them and the emotions I saw there, emotions he didn’t need to say but did all the same.
“And. I. Love. You. Keira.” He sounded out each word in tense frustration at holding back. I knew this because then he swore and crushed his lips to mine in a searing first kiss that reunited our bodies back together again at last. It was like every cell in my body hummed and communicated with every cell in his and together they finally found blissful peace.
One of his hands fisted in my hair and the up do that Pip created was happily ruined and fell into his fingers as all the grips dropped to the floor like someone just switched on a high powered magnet. He used his hold to control my head and now it was bent to the side as he plunged in deeper and I felt the pull of his power taking me to a place only he could take me to. I lost myself in him and his incredible taste. I felt his other arm that he had anchored around my waist, pull me even closer to his body, eliminating the last inches of space between our bodies.
The kiss felt like not only a kiss but also an act of repossession. Like he was marking himself on me, stating his claim and burning his passion into me for everyone to see. And I gladly let him.
I even found myself disappointed when my air started to run out as I couldn’t drag enough in and Draven had to let me go before I passed out. I was amazed to find I was not the only one panting and I did a little mental victory dance in honour of what I could do to him. I was more than happy to see that my effect on Draven hadn’t faded in my absence.
“Holy Shit” I said as I couldn’t find any other thing to say but that. I was happy to see that I receive a cocky grin, one I had sorely missed.
The Triple Goddess Page 56