The three men watched as the contact was made and before them a brilliant light filled the room, making each of them close their eyes and turn from it, while they heard a loud scream come from one of the women - they could not tell who.
Isabella felt the power surge through her, like it was flowing from her and into Kat, consuming the younger woman in front of her. She heard the scream that came from Kat and watched as even through the blinding light she could see a blue light rise up from Kat's belly and hover right in front of her face. Although she did not know what it was, she knew through instinct that she had to eliminate it, and quickly brought her other hand up and struck it directly with the golden glow coming from that hand. Bringing her other hand up from Kat's belly, the younger woman slumped down before her, but Isabella could not do anything in that moment for her. Isabella concentrated her power on her hands, enclosing the blue light within them, trapping it with her own golden light and eventually she felt the heat reach an intensity she had not yet felt before, and smoke began to emanate from her closed hands, before the feeling of power disseminated into the air around her. Whatever it had been, she knew it was now gone - destroyed.
She looked down and saw Kat lying still, and quickly moved to her, knowing that she was in the same state Trent had been the day that he had touched the golden rock in the cave.
The three men watched from where they were as the bright light disappeared and they saw Isabella kneeling in front of Kat, brought up her hand and placed it on Kat's heart, the golden glow showing once more. Trent watched in wonder, knowing in the depth of his soul that what he was seeing was what Isabella had done to him that day - brought him back to life.
All of a sudden a loud gasp of air being inhaled came from Kat, and her body convulsed. Isabella watched the young woman and immediately sensed a different person before her. She heard someone moving up behind her but she held her other hand back to indicate them to stop.
"Wait."
Kat opened her eyes and immediately looked around her, intensely frightened.
"What? Where am I?" she asked Isabella with fear in her voice.
"You are in the temple, Kat."
"The temple? No. No, I was at the mill. Adrian and I were about to leave to go to the evening meal."
Kat looked down at the warm feeling in her chest, and put her hand over the glow that was coming from it.
"What happened to me?" she asked and Isabella stood up, holding out her hands to assist the younger woman.
"Come, Kat. Stand now. You have not been yourself but now all will be well," she said, feeling with no uncertainty that her words were true.
Kat stood and looked around her, seeing Adrian, Trent and another older man looking at her as they slowly moved forward toward where she and Isabella stood.
"Adrian? What are you doing here? And who is that man?" she asked, her confusion evident to everyone, and everyone found it to be real.
The ancient walked forward until he stood directly before Kat, and before everyone he closed his eyes and seemed to focus solely on her, trying to find any trace of whatever it was that had consumed her.
Finally he smiled at her and held out his hands to take hers in his.
"Kat, I am Elder Rhys, and I am an ancient. You are feeling confused now but rest assured, all is as it should be."
Kat let the old man hold her hands and felt a level of trust emanate from him so relaxed.
"Kat will be well," he said, smiling as he walked away from all of them, seemingly confident that there was nothing more to fear.
Trent approached Isabella and put his arms around her protectively, and she welcomed the feeling of safety that came from the action. But she stood where she was and watched as Adrian slowly moved forward, uncertain what had happened or where he stood with Kat now.
"Adrian. I do not feel like myself at all and I do not think I am ready to go through the pairing yet. I am sorry…" she started to say and Isabella saw a look of relief come over him in realisation that she might not remember all that had happened in the build up to this moment in time.
He smiled at her fondly and moved to put his arms around her.
"Do not speak of that now, Kat. I shall walk you home and you must rest," he said softly and she nodded, the high level of confusion still greatly evident on her face.
As if understanding the same need to test, Adrian and Isabella walked toward each other and put their arms around each other, holding each other tightly, before looking at Kat to see if there was any reaction to it, but she only smiled sadly at them, and Adrian placed his hand on her arm and led her out of the temple.
Trent turned Isabella around and held her firmly against his chest. She felt exhausted all of a sudden, and leaned against him happily.
Aware that a feeling was missing, she placed her hand on her belly but felt nothing.
"It is gone, Trent," she said sadly and immediately felt his hand touch her also.
"It was not our child, Isabella. It was something else - something wonderful inside of you that was needed for you to save us."
"Yes. But what of our child?" she asked, feeling a great sadness that registered as a sense of loss, but he only smiled brilliantly at her.
"Well now we have to keep on trying, don't we," he said with a very suggestive grin on his face, and she laughed at him and kissed him.
"Take me home," she whispered and he leaned into her ear.
"Gladly."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To be continued in
The Golden Supremacy
(Book 2 in The Golden Desires Series)
THANK YOU!
Thank you so much for reading my book, 'The Golden Desires'. I greatly enjoyed writing this story and I appreciate your enthusiasm for reading it.
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If interested in receiving up to date details of freebies, price drops and new releases, please contact me via my website to leave your name and email address, and I shall be glad to send you news.
Thank you,
Ann M Pratley
BONUS EXTRACT: TOTAL FREEDOM
(TOTAL FREEDOM SERIES - BOOK #1)
By Ann M Pratley
The Drabs, that's what we had been known as, as a band in our home town of Dunedin, New Zealand. We weren't the greatest band and only played a couple of original songs, but we were happy doing what we were doing and over time the crowds did seem to come to love us. That was back in the days of what seemed to be equally the best and worst time of my life. Things have changed so much since then.
When I was 14 years old I attended high school like any other 14 year old, I dressed like any other 14 year old, and I got abused like any other overweight 14 year old - and like too many 14 year olds, I couldn't handle the abuse and as a result I let myself go and believed every word of what I was told. No friends, fat, ugly and totally useless - that's what I was told by people all around me and that was what I became.
Even as a teenager I was well aware of the concept of nutrition and weight maintenance, but day after day everything just felt painful, like just getting through each day was work for me. Like no matter how hard I searched, I just couldn't find where or who I was meant to be. And I became used to using food as my therapy - when I ate, I felt a comfort, like it was the one thing that never hurt me.
Through that period I fell into a comfort zone visiting a local café that sold a wide plethora of foods - nutritious and not so nutritious, but I naturally veered toward the latter. Friends were non-existent to me - in my universe I was a nobody who no-one else ever even noticed.
But one day, walking into my favourite café, something changed. Sitting in there was someone who I noticed and who immediately captured my attention because they were also alone, and looking like they were as miserable as I was day after day. Immediately my feelings didn't seem quite so important - but his did.
Approaching him I didn't
feel the usual nervousness or anxiety that I did when contemplating saying hello to someone new. This person had such a look of despair and unhappiness that it actually felt natural for me to approach him and ask if I could sit with him. When he looked up he had such a look of surprise, but stammered out a quiet 'okay'.
After I sat down in front of him, I could see that he wasn't far away from my own age, but I had never seen him before. He looked at me with such intensity in his eyes, periodically removing his eyes from my gaze as if he were not only shy but also extremely uncomfortable talking to people.
"Are you okay?" I asked him, without even introducing myself. "You look … unhappy."
He looked utterly confused, like it was a completely new experience, having someone ask him anything. But he then seemed to find some core strength as I saw him take a deep breath, as if summoning a hidden inner confidence, and hold out his hand.
"I'm Craig," his quiet voice said with a level of doubt in it that made me think that it was a natural thing for him to expect someone at this point to turn and walk away.
I held my hand out and shook his briefly, suddenly feeling strange at this new thing happening - someone was shaking my hand? I couldn't remember when even either of my parents had touched me.
"I'm Debbie," I replied, embracing this moment of physical connection with another human being, and not rushing to remove my hand.
We looked at each other, not saying anything, perhaps both understanding in that moment that we were enough alike - enough able to understand exactly where each other was right in this moment in our thinking and our lives - that a friendship was about to be formed. Something we both were so unfamiliar with.
UPCOMING RELEASE: TOTAL NEW BEGINNINGS
(TOTAL FREEDOM SERIES - BOOK #2)
By Ann M Pratley
She made a choice when she was young - a choice that she went on to question throughout her adult life to date. Twenty years on, the opportunity to revisit that decision appears before her and she is left to consider what is right.
But in and around this opportunity for decision review, she learns things about her husband that push her to question the soundness of his mind, and wonder why he had ever married her.
A chance to start over, choosing this time to go down the path previously unselected … if we could go back and do it over, would we really make the different choice after all?
INTRODUCING: CRUISING THROUGH TO FULFILMENT
By Ann M Pratley
When a young woman from a small town in New Zealand travels to Vancouver to see the sights and go on a luxury cruise through the waters of Alaska, all she wishes for is that - a holiday.
On board the Glacial Sun, Tanya meets new friends, one of whom will become more, using his charm and good looks to win her heart. But once on land the discovery of a dead body close to her hotel will make her question the goodness of the person she has let herself trust, and wonder if there is a darker side to him.
All she wants is to find is long term love and life fulfilment. How hard can that be?
INTRODUCING: PAINFUL DELIVERANCE
(PAINFUL DELIVERANCE SERIES - BOOK #1)
By Ann M Pratley
She just wasn't made to inflict pain.
She knows it is nothing abnormal. She knows others enjoy it. But with every new level of pain he directs her to deliver to him, Alexis feels another piece of her soul die. He has wealth and he has power, and she knows he won't easily let her go.
But she has to leave. Escape. Move on. Forget. She has reached her limit of what she can do. The plans are in place to get away. She just has to hope that wherever she goes - whoever she meets - she won't find herself in exactly the same situation again.
INTRODUCING: DARKNESS OF HEART
(PAINFUL DELIVERANCE SERIES - BOOK #2)
By Ann M Pratley
She thought he'd stopped looking. He hadn't.
She got away from him to start a new life. She moved on. But in his mind, he still loves her and needs her. He still believes that she loves him. That she is meant to be his. That he is meant to be hers.
He will not give up searching for her. He will not give up fighting for her. He will pursue her and stop at nothing to get her back. But it will come at a cost … a sacrifice much greater than he will see coming. A sacrifice that will finally wake him up and bring him back to stark reality.
INTRODUCING: FRIENDSHIP OF DESIRE
(PAINFUL DELIVERANCE SERIES - BOOK #3)
By Ann M Pratley
Tom and Samantha. Feisty friends from childhood who feel like they know each other inside out, until the day comes when one of them suggests they go to a BDSM club together, and become formal play partners. Pushing the limits of what each of them can individually stand in their lifelong friendship, they attract and repel like magnets, until the time comes when they must choose how they will relate to one another - and what kind of relationship they will go on to have in the future.
Whilst on this journey of discovery, the two of them meet and make a new friend - Alexis. A young woman with a hidden and secretive past, and a mystery surrounding the relationship she has - or has had - with a renowned business entrepreneur who begins to integrate himself into Samantha's life, unknown to any of them whether he has done it for him, or for her … or for Alexis, being the mysterious link from his past.
INTRODUCING: ALESSANDRA
By Ann M Pratley
After receiving news from her parents of a possible betrothal, Alessandra, an 18 year old with an ingrained belief that no-one would ever wish to marry her, finds herself in a love so great that at times she cannot breathe.
To marry someone like herself - someone she can go on a sexual journey of learning and exploration with, who also has no previous experience in such pleasures - contributes to her finding a degree of emotional and physical love that she has never before realized could exist.
But that love will be tested by someone from her past with sinister intentions, jealous of the physical love she shares with her husband. Someone set on doing whatever he can do - whatever he must do - to have the woman he desires, no matter the cost.
BONUS EXTRACT: DRAB TO SEX GODDESS IN 365 DAYS
By Ann M Pratley
May 1st
My name is Sarah. I am a wife and I am a mother, and I live in a small city on the eastern coast of the US. I am 42 years old, and will turn 43 in a couple of weeks. I find myself wondering more and more if I am happy in my life, or if I am letting the days churn by, making sure everyone else is happy, while I myself sit on the sidelines. I am not unhappy and yet I find myself trying to analyse and work out if I am in any way content, or if there is a big hole somewhere.
I am well aware of the 'grass is greener' concept - where we sometimes look at other people and we wish we could have aspects of their lives that we don't have ourselves. I understand how easy it is to fall victim to this thinking, so I don't want to do anything rash that might end up not being real and honest, but rather a green-grass move.
As a mother to offspring who have finished high school and are beginning their own journey, I have to allow for the possibility that I am starting to approach the 'empty nest' part of life, and it is this that is bringing forward my questioning about how my life passes each day. As a mother I am proud and often I have internal stress, worrying about my offspring, but must concede that watching them now start to make their own decisions and change tracks on this road of life, has lessened my stress considerably.
Now I turn my attention back to me. I find more and more that I am ready to start being out of the house more and away from my husband more. He is a good man and he has never done anything to hurt me or given me reason to end our relationship. We have been together for 18 years, married for ten, and he is one of those men who happily steps up to do things around the house. He does not complain about doing dishes or cooking a proper meal; he will change the sheets and take pride in making the bed every day; and since the one time he came home after drinking
, and I told him I didn't want alcohol or anyone using alcohol in our family home, he hasn't come home again in that state. Even I cannot fault him in anything, as far as being a husband goes.
And yet, day to day I look at him and I no longer feel content there. It feels like something is missing, and I must be honest with myself and admit that I find myself thinking about being with someone new. Not someone I already know - my thoughts have ventured to somewhere that we are all victim to now, with technology so available and easy to use. I have been thinking about the possibility of using the Internet to go online and find myself a lover.
This isn't something that I could take lightly, or something that I would rush into. But the thought is there. I see myself having three options. I can stay exactly where I am and continue to feel as I feel. I can end my marriage to my husband and leave, to become a single woman again. Or I can find a person who I can spend time with only now and then, who would be my ongoing lover over an extended period of time. Sounds harsh and cold hearted, doesn't it. I know it does - and I know it is. And is it a grass is greener idea? Of course I have to allow for the strong possibility that it is.
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