Naura

by Ditter Kellen

  “I do not want to be with anyone but you, Anthony Vaughn.”

  Tony flinched from Naura’s words. She wanted him to give her all the things he wasn’t capable of, such as love, a home, and a family. His chance had already come and gone years ago with Joanne.

  His heart no longer had the ability to return the feelings that Naura needed. No. He wasn’t the man for her. He would make her understand once she was well. Until then, he’d give her the hope required for her to pull through.

  “Maybe,” Tony mentally replied. “But we’ll never know if you don’t stay tough and come back to us.”

  “I will stay strong for you…”

  * * * *

  Tony paced along the hall outside Naura’s room, alongside Hauke, Vaulcron, and the rest of Naura’s family.

  Braum sat on a stone bench next to the door, staring down at his clasped hands. He lifted his gaze to Tony. “What are your intentions toward Naura?”

  “That’s none of your business,” Tony bit out, slowing his movements.

  Though Braum would be the logical choice for Naura’s future, it roasted Tony’s ass to imagine them together.

  “I did not mean to summon your anger, human. I am merely curious.”

  Tony narrowed his eyes in Braum’s direction. “I’ll just bet you are.”

  The big Bracadyte got to his feet. “Are you challenging me?”

  “Do I need to challenge you? Because I’m up for it, asshole. Anytime.”

  “Now you insult me?” Braum took a step forward.

  “Easy, you two,” Abbie intervened, moving between them with her arms extended. “There will be no fighting. Especially outside the infirmary. Do you want Naura to overhear you?”

  Tony ran a hand through his short hair. “It’s been hours. Why hasn’t she woken yet?”

  “It is the concoction I gave her for the pain,” Zaureth offered. “It should wear off soon.”

  A soft moan came from the infirmary, and everyone rushed inside at once, bumping shoulders as they passed through the arched entrance.

  Tony hung back as Laurel and Abbie moved to the side of the bed.

  Abbie touched Naura’s shoulder. “Hey…welcome back. How are you feeling?”

  Naura’s eyes fluttered open. “As if I battled with a shark. And lost.”

  The whispered words caused chuckles to erupt inside the room.

  Abbie ran the tip of her finger down Naura’s leg and along the bottom of her foot. “Can you feel that?”

  A small indentation formed between Naura’s brow. “Feel what?”

  The grim look on Abbie’s face confirmed Tony’s fear. Naura had lost sensation in her lower extremities.

  Abbie performed the same test on Naura’s other side and got the same results.

  “These things take time,” Abbie reassured the room’s occupants. “I’ve seen it happen before.”

  Laurel touched Tony’s niece on the arm. “What are you attempting to tell us?”

  Abbie shook her head slightly. “Let’s talk in the hall, shall we? Naura needs to sleep if she is going to get better.”

  Tony waited until the room emptied before sliding a small stool over next to the table. He attempted a smile that he didn’t feel. “You did it. You pulled through.”

  Tears filled Naura’s eyes. “I cannot move my legs. I will not walk again, will I?”

  “I’m sure it’s only temporary,” Tony assured her. “You don’t worry about that. Save your strength for getting better.”

  She slowly lifted her hand and traced the scar running from his temple to his cheek. “How did this happen?”

  Images raced through his mind unbidden. Dark, horrific images he saw nightly in his dreams. “War accident,” he lied, tucking the sheet more securely around her.

  “You are not telling the truth, Anthony Vaughn,” she whispered, her eyelids drifting closed. “I can feel your dishonesty…”

  Her breathing grew even, telling him that she slept once again.

  Getting to his feet, Tony ran his fingers through Naura’s long silky hair. “Everything about me is dishonest, sweet girl. You would do well to remember that.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Abbie rushed into the great hall in search of Hauke. She’d foregone connecting with him for fear that his thoughts would be intercepted.

  Hauke excused himself from the conversation he’d been having with one of the Bracadyte males and rushed to his wife’s side. “What is wrong, my mate?”

  She glanced around to be sure she wasn’t heard. “It’s Henry.”

  “Let us go to our room to speak. We will have more privacy in there.” Hauke took hold of her hand and guided her toward the hall.

  Neither of them spoke until they were safely in the foyer of their apartment.

  Hauke cocked his head to the side. “What has you troubled, soul of my soul?”

  “Henry is gone,” she blurted, rubbing her palms on the jeans that Vaulcron had procured for her on one of his trips to Cuba.

  “Gone where?”

  “To the surface, I would imagine. His dive gear has disappeared along with him.”

  Hauke rested his hands on her shoulders. “He must be brought back. He knows where we reside, Abbie. If the land walkers capture him, they will force him to talk.”

  “I know,” Abbie quickly agreed. “And the coast guard will be waiting next to Tony’s boat. How does Henry expect to get back to shore? It’s close to fifty miles from here.”

  “He must be stopped. I will have some of the guards go after him.”

  Abbie’s stomach dropped. “No. They can’t be trusted not to kill him, Hauke. Send Vaulcron.”

  Hauke nodded. “I will go with my brother to retrieve your sire. We have a better chance at finding him if we both go.”

  “Thank you.” Abbie threw her arms around him. “I have no idea how long he’s been gone. He may be hours ahead of you.”

  Hauke pulled back and pierced her with a bleak stare. “If he has been gone for that amount of time, we may already be too late.”

  “Are you going to tell the king?”

  “Not yet. But I would speak with your uncle before I go.”

  Abbie frowned. “Why get him involved? He’s got enough on his plate with Naura. He hasn’t been far from her side since she awoke.”

  Hauke retrieved a knife from the bedside table and tucked it into his sharkskin boot. “He knows the human military better than anyone. He can advise us on the best course of action. I do not want to be led into a trap.”

  Wringing her hands, Abbie watched her mate pull his hair back and secure it behind his head with a thin piece of cloth.

  He was so beautiful to her that it made her chest ache to look at him. “I love you, Hauke.”

  The corner of his mouth lifted. He bent and softly kissed her lips. “Love is too weak of a word to describe my feelings for you, soul of my soul. Your very presence defines my existence.”

  Abbie’s heart squeezed with a sensation she would never get used to. “Be careful out there. If something were to happen to you…” She couldn’t finish the thought.

  “Nothing will happen to me. I will not endanger myself in that way. I leave my heart here with you and our son. Take care of it for me until I return.”

  He kissed her once more and brushed past her toward the dangers that waited beyond the safety of Aukrabah.

  * * * *

  Glenn Anderson tapped the boat captain on the shoulder and shouted above the engine. “Can you extend the beam of the lights? Get a farther reach?”

  The guy nodded and began pressing buttons that Glenn assumed controlled the lights.

  “How long have they been down there?” Anderson peered over the sides for signs of the third set of divers they’d sent into the gulf.

  “About an hour, sir. They should be heading back up soon.” He glanced at Glenn over his shoulder. “They’re not going to find much in the dark. Maybe we should wait until morning before sending in another cre
w.”

  Glenn knew the captain spoke the truth. “Yeah. Bring them up. The secretary of defense has called in the Navy on this one. They will be arriving soon with mini submarines that can go a hell of a lot deeper than our dive equipment can.”

  The captain rubbed the back of his neck. “No telling where those things even are. They could be miles from here. I sure wouldn’t leave a boat anchored right above my home if I were in hiding.”

  “I’ve thought of that,” Glenn admitted with a sigh. “But it’s the only thing we have to go on at this point.”

  One of the divers suddenly surfaced, removing his headgear as he swam toward the ladder. “We need some help down here.”

  Glenn hurried over to give him a hand. “What is it?”

  “We killed one of them sir,” the diver announced as Glenn helped him into the boat.

  “Are you sure?” Glenn couldn’t imagine one of the aliens allowing a handful of divers to get the drop on him.

  “Pretty sure, sir. It’s dark as ink down there, but Ned shot something that was shaped like a man. He’s going after it now.”

  “It could be a trap.” Glen turned toward the bow of the boat. “Get your men out of there. Now.”

  “Sir? We have blood.” The captain guided a bright beam of light to a crimson swirl of water several yards from the boat.

  The diver known as Ned surfaced not far from the evidence of his kill. “He’s dead, sir. The doctor is dead.”

  Glenn’s stomach tightened. “You killed Doctor Sutherland?”

  “I believe so, sir.”

  “Son of a bitch,” Glenn snarled. “Bring him up before the sharks arrive.”

  The captain moved to stand next to Anderson. “What happens now?”

  “I don’t know, but if that truly is Doctor Sutherland bleeding out beneath us, it’s definitely a game changer. He was the only bargaining chip we had.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Naura lifted her head and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She was still in the infirmary, lying on her stomach on the hard surface of the examining table.

  She attempted to stretch, fighting back a cry as spears of pain shot through her back.

  “Don’t try to move.”

  Turning her head toward the sound of Tony’s voice, she blinked his face into focus. “You are still here.”

  “Someone has to watch you, else you’d be out in the pool doing laps.”

  She would have laughed if it didn’t hurt to do so.

  Zaureth stepped into the room. “How are you feeling, daughter of the king?”

  Naura squinted up at him. “Would you mind addressing me as Naura? I prefer my birth name.”

  “Very well, Naura,” Zaureth conceded. “How is your pain?”

  “As the humans say, it hurts like hell,” she joked, followed by a wince as a fresh round of stabbing sensations shot through her body.

  “You need blood to heal properly. Anthony Vaughn has offered his. Although it is against the king’s wishes, I think it is the best course of action at this time.”

  Naura shifted her gaze to Tony. “Are you certain that you want to do this?”

  “I’m sure.”

  Zaureth poured more of the blue concoction into a small cup and handed it to Tony. “See that she takes some. It will alleviate her suffering.”

  Tony accepted the cup with a nod. “She’ll drink it.”

  “Very well. I will be on my way then.” Zaureth trailed off toward the archway. “There will be a guard posted in the hall to see that you have privacy.”

  Naura watched as Tony dragged the stool around to the head of the table.

  “Drink this first.” He held the cup of foul-smelling liquid against her lips and poured the disgusting medicine into her mouth.

  Naura drank as much as she could take without vomiting on his shoes.

  “That’s good,” he murmured, setting the cup on a side table.

  Tony appeared uncomfortable as he sat and attempted to place his arm near her mouth. “How do you want to do this?”

  “Would you mind lying beside me? It would make it easier.”

  “Damn it. You’re going to get me killed,” he complained, jumping to his feet and climbing onto the table with her.

  The feel of his big warm body stretched out next to hers nearly brought tears to her eyes. No matter how much pain she felt, how uncomfortable the table she laid on, Naura was in paradise.

  He moved in closer. His breath tickled her face as his deep voice vibrated next to her ear. “Take what you need.”

  His wrist appeared beneath her mouth, and his other arm gently snaked across her shoulder.

  Naura turned her face toward him, nudging his head back with her nose. She ran her tongue along the scar on his cheek, down his neck, and reverently sank her fangs into the pulse point of his throat.

  A groan escaped him as she locked onto his skin with her open mouth.

  The feel of his blood entering the membranes of her fangs felt amazing, but nothing prepared her for the taste of his flesh on her tongue.

  His arms tightened around her, and both of his hands cupped the back of her head, pulling her closer against him.

  “Naura…”

  The sound of his voice inside her mind, moaning her name, ignited a fire in her body that licked its way from her head to her feet.

  Her feet! she thought with more than a little excitement. She could feel a tingling sensation in her feet.

  She nearly cried in relief as she wriggled her toes and snuggled up closer to Tony’s chest. He’d turned completely on his side, facing her.

  “Tony? It is working,” she mentally conveyed. “I can feel my legs.”

  “Thank God.” His body shuddered, and his pulse pounded beneath her mouth.

  Thoughts, feelings, and memories raced between them like a slideshow of emotions on fast-forward. Tony’s time in the military. Naura’s first black eye during a training drill. Tony and his sister as children, on a picnic with their parents. Naura’s first kiss.

  An image of a woman in labor, tormented as a child slipped from her body. The sounds of a baby’s cries. Blood. So much blood. The screams of a woman as she was taken repeatedly by men wearing masks. A little boy’s lifeless body.

  Naura realized that she was once again seeing Tony’s family being slaughtered through his eyes.

  Agony welled up inside her. He tried to pull back, but she only held on tighter, forcing his memories, his torment into herself as she pushed healing energy into his mind, his heart, his soul.

  “Naura?” Tony whispered aloud, his entire body shaking from her energy.

  She latched on to the grief, the sorrow, and despair. “Accept what I offer,” she mentally sent back. “And suffer no more.”

  Spots of gray danced in her vision as the room spun out of control, taking her breath and robbing her of sight…until she could see no more.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Tony’s entire body vibrated with heated energy. He’d never felt anything so powerful in all his life.

  He tried to pull back, but Naura held on to him with a strength that surprised him.

  “Naura. Stop,” he gasped, his gaze darting around the room.

  Warmth suddenly exploded inside his brain. His back bowed and his teeth locked together as it slid down his skull and into his chest as if heated water had been poured through him.

  Naura’s body went slack, and her fangs slid from his neck. He caught her head before it dropped to the table.

  “Holy shit. Naura? Naura, honey, are you all right?”

  Tony rolled from the table and staggered toward the door. “Get Zaureth in here now,” he growled at the Bracadyte keeping watch in the hall.

  “Right away.” The guard ran off without an inquiry of unnecessary questions, for which Tony was grateful.

  Rushing back to Naura’s side, Tony stopped next to the bed and brushed her hair back from her face. Her skin appeared pale and cold to the touch. “Damn it, Naura. Wh
at did you do?”

  Zaureth marched into the room. “Tell me what has happened.”

  “While I was giving her blood, she said her feet were tingling, and then all hell broke loose. Some kind of strange energy started coming from her. It was almost like heated electricity, if that makes sense. I could see her memories…”

  “I have only witnessed her do that once before in her youth,” Zaureth hesitantly explained. “It is a gift that very few Bracadytes have ever possessed.”

  Tony cleared his throat. “What kind of gift?”

  Zaureth studied him for long moments before answering. “The gift of healing.”

  “But you’re a healer, aren’t you?”

  Zaureth tilted his head in affirmation. “That, I am. Only not in the same sense as her. Naura has the ability to pull one’s sickness into herself, replacing it with her own life force.”

  Tony felt numb. “What happens to the sickness that she absorbs?”

  “It eats away at her as would your human cancer. If she absorbs a physical illness, her body takes the ailment into itself. If it a sickness of the mind, the affliction is then transferred into her psyche to be housed until she can overcome it… If she is strong enough.

  “Son of a bitch,” Tony snarled, storming toward Zaureth. He gripped the healer’s arms. “Fix her, damn it.”

  “I am sorry. I cannot.”

  Tony had to force his teeth apart to speak so great was his rage. “You will help her, or so help me God.”

  “Your God will not assist you in this, Anthony Vaughn. It is your cross to bear.”

  “Then tell me what to do to make her better. I’ll do anything.” And he would, Tony realized, staring into Zaureth’s eerily pale eyes. He would give up his own life if it would save Naura’s.

  “You can do nothing but what she accepts.”

  Tony released the death grip he had on the Bracadyte’s arms. “What the hell does that mean?”

  “Your soul had a blackness in it that most could never survive. I could see it swirling around inside you, eating away at your conscious, corrupting your mind. That sickness now occupies another.” He glanced at Naura’s still form for emphasis.