Nephilius - A Walker Saga Book 5

by Jaymin Eve

  He didn’t answer. I doubted he could even talk through that rigid jaw. Damn, he might be so pissed off at my choices and lies that he’d walk away from me. Just say ‘screw you, Abby, and your melding bond’.

  And then with a groan he dragged me into his arms and kissed me.

  With all of his pent-up anger I expected his lips to hit mine hard, in a punishing sort of kiss. But it was the complete opposite. So softly did he touch his mouth to mine, and the moment I tasted him, after so long without, the tears flooded my eyes. I was leaking all over the place lately. He took his time, building slowly until the kiss started to morph into something more.

  Hotter. Instantly drying up my tears.

  Our breaths came out in hard gasps. I poured every bit of my anger, sorrow and loneliness into that kiss, but the strongest emotion was my love. I loved this man so much. Was more in love with him than I’d ever thought possible. And Brace gave back as good as he got.

  He finally pulled away, before cupping my face and resting his head on mine.

  “I think I followed along with what you said, but I need you to tell me everything,” he said quietly. “Start at the beginning.”

  We sat then, on the grass with the ocean roaring in front of us. It was dark, stars and a few of the planets twinkling in the sky above us. Brace held my hand but otherwise we didn’t touch. And with one big breath I started right at the beginning: the dreams I’d had of him on Earth, details of the house in the snow – which I’d been dying to visit again – and followed our story right up to the moment I went to the lalunas and asked them to break our melding bond.

  My hand felt sweaty in his, but I held on, afraid he wanted to pull away. Telling him everything was painful, but for the first time in a long time I wasn’t lying, and that was the biggest relief I could imagine.

  He silently processed my words for a little while, before he spoke.

  “I thought I was going crazy,” he said, staring out into the darkness. “I continued to hear Red in my mind, as if I’d called you that a million times, and yet I knew I hadn’t. All of the dreams, having a mate. I was trying not to push myself on you, but I was desperate to spend time with you. I made Colton find excuses to bring me in to things. Hoping it wouldn’t seem weird.” He cleared his throat. “And every time we were together the need to touch you almost strangled me.”

  He pulled his hand away then, and everything inside me clenched so tightly I thought my heart might actually be crushed. I had expected anger. Hell, I wanted him to be angry with me. But this sadness was torture.

  “I’m … I’m so sorry,” I stuttered out. Stupid useless words. My actions were what counted, and they’d been nothing short of terrible. “I wanted to tell you. I went to tell you so many times, but Lucy kept having those visions. Everyone was dead. Josian said you would never let me break the bond.”

  “You went to Josian and Lucy,” he growled, lowering his eyes, letting those inky lashes fan across his cheeks. “This was about us. You should have come to me first.”

  Well, technically Lucy had come to me, but I knew what he meant.

  “So what do you want to do now?” I held my breath.

  What if he stormed off and never spoke with me again? I’d probably die on the spot.

  Luckily for me, he was hundreds of years older than my eighteen years, and his maturity far out-stretched my own. He lifted his gaze to meet mine.

  “I want you back by my side where you belong. And I want every damn memory returned.” He lifted me with ease and I found myself sprawled on his lap. “And then I want many nights to tie you to my bed where you can’t get into any trouble.”

  He fisted handfuls of my hair, gently tilting my head back to face him. “I feel your regret, and the true pain you’ve experienced. But trust is a fundamental part of any relationship, and right now it’s damaged between us. Only time can repair this bond, so if I act a little tyrannical and possessive just remember I’m working to get us back to the place you described. The way we were when you visited my world.”

  “So we go to the lalunas now?” I tucked myself further into his body. The warmth and heat of Brace wrapped around me. “And what if the visions were correct? We could be damning the entire universe by reforming the melding bond.”

  “It makes no logical sense that you would be weaker mated to me.” Brace was tracing patterns on my back, his hands leaving hot trails on my skin. “Especially if we were melded. That’s the ultimate yin and yang. Two halves of the same whole; and essentially everything is stronger when it’s whole.”

  That had been my most recent revelation. But still my worry that this was selfish prevailed. I started to laugh then, the relief of sharing the burden, or releasing the lies, took its toll. I was shaking as embarrassing snorts and gasps escaped from me.

  “I lasted like ten minutes without you,” I said between chuckles. “I thought I was so strong. I was going to be the self-sacrificing martyr – which I deserved after releasing the third Seventine – but I’m starting to realize how unappealing the role of sacrifice really is.”

  I was weak. There was no denying it. But dammit, I was eighteen, and if the worlds ended I wanted every last second with Brace.

  “You’re strong.” Brace could read me even without our mental link in place. “It took strength to break the bond, to do what you felt was right. No matter what you think, you can never take away the fact that you sacrificed your happiness for the lives of others. You’re deserving of the role of conduit.”

  He stood then, scooping me into his arms so there wasn’t one sliver of space between our tightly pressed bodies. “And I’m proud to call you mate. I wouldn’t have chosen anything different. I would not change one thing about you.” He started to walk us along the beach, back toward the house. “Not even your stubborn ass, which is determined to give me a heart attack.”

  He sounded like my old Brace then, and for the first time in forever I felt the tension leave my body. And suddenly I was beyond exhausted. I laid my head on his chest and let myself drift with his walking motions. It had been a hard few days, what with being a living energy bag and all of that. It was nice to just have a breather, and to have no secrets between us anymore. This didn’t fix things, not by a long shot, but it was a step in the right direction.

  “I was letting other people tell me what to do when I knew in my gut that I should have followed my own instincts,” I murmured to Brace, and myself, I guess. “If I’m going to be the leader that brings about the destruction of the Seventine then I need to be stronger, trust in myself more.”

  His chest moved under my cheek as he replied, “It’s not wrong to seek wise council. No true leader believes they know everything. Otherwise you have a dictator like Que. He didn’t start out bad, but somewhere along the way the power corrupted him and he could no longer see reason. And no longer did he consider the opinions of others.”

  Brace’s deep voice rumbled around. “But in the end you must trust your own instincts, and mine. You should be grateful that you have me.”

  I elbowed him, and he laughed.

  “Seriously, I’m a smart guy. If you want anyone in your corner for the end-of-days battle … well, you could do worse.”

  “You and me against the world, baby.” I was slurring a little as exhaustion claimed me.

  “Sleep, Red, I’ll keep you safe.”

  Hearing those words again was a balm to my wounded soul. And even though I didn’t want to lose any time with Brace, I couldn’t stop myself from drifting to sleep.

  The voices woke me first. I was disorientated for a moment, wondering why my bed was so hard and yet so comfortable. And then I remembered my confession to Brace, and with a jolt of adrenalin I realized I was still in his lap. I didn’t open my eyes, though. I was going to milk this moment for as long as possible.

  “You won’t have time to go to the lalunas. We have to be back on Nephilius in an hour.” That was Colton.

  “Delane is more of a pain in the a
ss than Fury, and that’s saying something.” Lucy spoke next.

  “She just has a code of honor. You can’t blame a person for being strong enough to stay true to themselves,” Brace said, his familiar rumbling voice washing over me. “And there’s no chance she’ll beat me, so I just need to finish these rounds and then we can help Red move on to the next world.”

  “It’s so strange hearing you call her that again.” Lucy’s voice sounded louder. “I can’t believe she told you everything …” There was an extended pause. “Don’t be too hard on her. She wanted to tell you the entire time. I had to practically glue her mouth shut to stop her from blurting everything out.”

  Brace’s arms tightened around me. I was pretty sure he knew I was awake. “I’m not happy about her deception, but I do understand what she was thinking. And in the end, I can deny her nothing. She owns me, body and soul, and my driving need is to make her happy. No point fighting against that urge.”

  Colton snorted. “Finally you can join the whipped-Walker club.”

  Brace stood to the sounds of Colton and Lucy’s bantering. “I’m going to take Red upstairs so she can wake and get ready for Nephilius. I’m sure she won’t want to be left behind. She’s stressing about Delane escaping her grasp.”

  “Okay, we’ll wait here for you,” Colton said, and then I felt a slight jolt.

  I think the wolf Walker had slapped his best friend on the shoulder.

  “Open those beautiful eyes,” Brace murmured as he walked. “I like knowing I can stare at you as much as I want.”

  I met his gaze.

  “You’re like a creepy old stalker,” I teased, a true smile gracing my lips.

  “Emphasis on the ‘old’ part,” I heard Lucy shout from downstairs.

  Clearly her hearing had improved greatly.

  “We need new friends,” I said loudly.

  Lucy and Colton’s chuckles could be heard for most of our journey.

  I stared up at Brace. “You know I can walk. I must be getting heavy.”

  “I could carry you for all eternity.” His voice was low and growly. And I liked it.

  We didn’t say much for the rest of the walk. I wasn’t sure what Brace was thinking, but I was just enjoying the moment. He left me to shower and change while he sprawled across my big bed. Of course, the moment he spread out it suddenly looked tiny. The man was massive, and seemed to be growing even more. His arms were pretty heavily muscled, but since he’d become princeps he seemed to have grown stronger. Josian had mentioned before that princeps received power from their other clan members. Maybe that was what had happened with Brace.

  I rushed through my shower, dressed quickly, and was back to crawl in next to Brace for a quick cuddle. The urge to reform the melding bond was crashing in on me constantly. I knew we would not be able to hold out much longer. The closer we grew, the harder it was to stop the compulsion. When we were together I had to physically stop myself flicking open my necklace.

  “We should go,” I finally said, wiggling away before he could drag me back.

  With a huff, he followed me down the hallway and into the white room. Lucy and Colton were not in there, but I could see a green pixie through the front window. We stepped outside. The sun was just starting to rise in the indigo sky. I was shocked to see that Colton was in his wolf form.

  “What’s going on?” I asked them.

  Lucy was fluttering around, small puffs of dust floating off her, but not enough that I thought she was really upset. “Someone was looking in through the front window. Colt wanted to be in wolf form to scent them.”

  The snow-white wolf started to growl low, an ominous thundering sound which had the hair on my arms standing up.

  And then he took off.

  Lucy didn’t hesitate to follow him, and Brace and I soon caught up to the pixie. Colton was much faster than we were, but as long as we kept him in sight it wouldn’t matter if he pulled ahead.

  “Why is Colton so much quicker than regular Walkers?” I asked Brace.

  He gave a half-grin. “Any Walkers that have a secondary ability –”

  “Like your tropical cyclone,” I interrupted.

  His grin widened. “Exactly. Well, we’re faster and stronger in our other forms. It’s as if that ability amplifies the already superior abilities of Walkers.”

  “Geez, Brace, you’re just so modest. You should get some more confidence,” Lucy drawled, fluttering her wings so rapidly I almost couldn’t see them.

  One thing Walkers had no lack of was confidence. Especially Brace. He knew he was awesomesauce.

  He shrugged. “I just call them how I see them.”

  We were weaving through the main street of Angelisian. The day was warm. Angelisian rarely seemed to get cold, although I detected the slightest of chills in the air at night now; nothing like the frigid winters of New York, though. We were slowly working through the seasons of First World, but it seemed to be pretty much middle ground the entire time.

  The various shoppers milling around the market square barely batted an eye as a large wolf, two Walkers and a pixie zipped past. It was like the start of a bad joke.

  Colton led us out of the town. The gates knew us now and opened without pause. I recalled this path from our first journey so long ago.

  My eyes clashed with Brace’s. He’d told me that he remembered some of taking us to Angelisian, but it wasn’t until I filled in the rest of the details he realized how much had been taken from him. Including the first time he’d called me Red. All the romantic memories.

  “So much has changed,” Lucy said, her tone low. “It’s been a blink of an eye since we walked through that wall to First World, and yet in experiences at least ten lifetimes have passed us by.”

  “Have you ever asked Quarn how he opened that doorway?” Brace asked. The superiorly-fit-ass wasn’t even breathing heavily. I had no doubt that he could go like this for days. “Because I’ve never heard of any but Walkers being able to move like that between the worlds.”

  My forehead crinkled as his words washed over me. “No, I haven’t asked him again.”

  I felt as if there were so many little things which had happened that I had simply accepted or shoved from my mind. But were some of them important? Was I ignoring information that might give us some advantage against the Seventine?

  “I just assumed it was because he held the laluna,” Lucy said. “If they decided to open the shimmery portal thing for us, then they’d have no problem, right?”

  Brace gave her a nod. “They most definitely could have achieved that. But it begs to be explained why they would respond to Quarn.” His expression softened as it touched on my face. “It was probably because you were there, Red.”

  My laluna was very tied to me. But something was niggling at the back of my mind about that whole thing now. I hadn’t been worried, but thanks to Brace’s words, it was really bugging me. I needed to speak with Quarn. And I could check if my laluna was at the castle with the other royal stone. I hadn’t seen it for a while.

  “What about before that, when Abbs disappeared and ran into you in this forest?” Lucy said to Brace. “How the hell did that happen. She had no laluna then?”

  He didn’t hesitate to answer; he’d clearly thought about it before. “I think as Red approached her enlightenment, our bond was attempting to connect us.” He met my gaze. “Somehow our energy locked between the worlds and it was like you traced to me, but it was awkward because you didn’t have your full powers yet.”

  I remembered the pressure and pain. It had been unpleasant. But meeting Brace … more than worth it.

  “Best day of my life,” he said to me.

  I blew him a kiss. “Mine too.” And it had been. I never knew it then, but I was the luckiest person alive.

  We entered the forest and either Colton was slowing or we were getting faster, because he was much closer in front.

  “Did you tell Brace about Lucas’ visit the other day?” Lucy changed the subjec
t.

  “What?” Brace’s voice went in to the low, scary register. Where I knew he was thinking about doing bad things, like ripping Lucas’ head from his shoulders. “Might be time to make it a little clearer that you are off-limits to him.”

  “Come on, it’s not like I’m all loving-me-some Lucas,” I pointed out. “Most of the time I don’t even like him. He just thinks I’m still the empress.”

  “Plus he seemed to have a thing with Ria.” Lucy was smiling. “And if anyone can keep his butt in line it’s Mother Nature.”

  “Well, let’s hope that’s the case, and I might let him keep his arms and legs attached to his body.” Brace reached out and pulled me closer to him. We were practically running on top of each other and I was okay with that.

  “You were always possessive,” Lucy said, examining us. “But you seemed to have upped it a notch, Brace. What’s with that? Are you and Colt having some sort of competition?”

  He met her gaze with his own serious expression, but I saw a twinkle in his eyes. “I think it’s because we have no bond at the moment. My entire being wants to tie Red to me. It goes against the order of nature for Walkers to stay unbonded, and that causes a bit of aggressive and possessive nature.”

  “Well, that might explain Colton. He informed me last night that he wasn’t waiting any longer for us to complete our mating bond. He said it’s too dangerous for his wolf. He wants to have the ceremony after we get back from Nephilius.” Her blue eyes sparkled. The yellow threading them was glowing too. “I need you to be there, Abbs. I told him I want to incorporate some of an Earth wedding ceremony in too. So you’re my bridesmaid, and Brace will be a groomsman.”

  Even though legal marriages no longer occurred on Earth – there was no way to officially get those documents anymore – some of the rebels still held ceremonies in their compounds. We had gone to a few when we were younger, before New York became a complete shit-hole of a city, and Lucy had talked about them for days. The beautiful dresses, kissing the love of your life, flowers, and romantic words. I’d always been cynical, knowing the reality of married life was vastly different. On Earth, anyway. But Lucy had believed in the beautiful concept of forever-love.