by Honor James
“When Katherine says to jump, we ask how high and stay there until she says we may land.” Trey grinned. “The little ones will be coming with us. We should be able to leave them in the box I set them up with. It’s got some dried vittles and paper in case they need to do their business.” Moving to the bathroom, he collected them and passed her the water dish and bag she’d had them in. “Let’s hit the road, Rimi, ma’am. We have a bit to go before we’ll be able to sleep tonight.”
Rimi rose and looked to Talon and nodded. “Thank you. For saving my hide. Thank you all,” she said to the men in the room. “And will you pass it to those that aren’t here as well? And now it’s time for me to go and see Kat.” She smiled and added, “So that I can see this whole ‘jump’ thing that Trey mentioned.”
Growling at her softly, he winked and waved her toward the door. Walking her out to the truck that Talon had arranged for him to borrow, he stowed the kittens in the back and put a light blanket over the top to keep them corralled, hopefully. Sliding behind the wheel, he got them moving and then called the house. “Hey, kitten, we’re on our way to you, darling. Yes, yes she’s right here with me. She’s fine. Yes, love, I promise she’s got not a scratch on her.” Rolling his eyes, he handed the phone to Rimi. “Apparently she believes me on everything else in life but not this one thing,” he muttered. “Women.”
Rimi snickered and took the phone from him. “Hey, Kat.” She smiled and listened to her friend and then nodded. “Yes, yes he’s been amazing. He’s even helped me with my four babies.” At Katherine’s exclamation she shuddered. “Kittens, Katherine, kittens. You know I don’t have a man in my life, silly goose.”
Shooting her a look, he grinned. It was going to be interesting putting the two women in the same room together. Driving along, he listened as they chatted, talking about this and that and everything in between. Pulling into the drive a while later, he slipped the phone from her. “We’re here, love. Come out and talk in person, will you please?” he requested and disconnected the call, dropping the phone in his pocket as he slipped from the truck to collect the kittens.
“You do know that she’s likely going to beat you for hanging up on her, right?” Rimi asked with a smile and walked around the vehicle and then embraced Katherine when she walked out. Hugging her close and tight, she sighed. She was safe. “Hey, Kat,” she murmured softly.
“Hey yourself. Bets is absolutely beside herself. I told her that you were safe and no one would get you here. Talked her out of coming and out of sending freaking marines in.” Kat rolled her eyes. “My men would eat marines alive, wouldn’t you, darling?” she asked Trey as he walked by her. “Where is my kiss?” she then demanded.
“They taste rubbery,” he told her with a straight face, leaning in to kiss her gently. Smiling against her lips when she snorted, he nipped at her mouth. “Unlike you. You taste like the best kind of sugar out there,” Trey growled softly, pulling her in for a deeper kiss before letting her loose and smacking his lips. “My kind of sugar.” He winked.
Unable to help herself, Rimi gagged. “All right, enough.” She pushed her way between the man and woman and growled right back at the big man. “Take my kitties and put them in my room please? Let me have some time with my friend.” She looked to Kat and then gave her a hug.
Kat laughed and winked at Trey. “Go ahead, honey. Put her near the guards so that she’s safe. In the meantime I’m going to take her and feed her.”
“Yes, love.” He smiled and shook his head. Growling low, he snapped his teeth at Rimi and felt justified when she jumped, slightly, but still…Chuckling, he looked down at the furry little face peering up at him curiously. “I’m a Wolf, little ones, but trust me, I’m not big on eating anything that is as cute as you are. No, I’m not,” he murmured, taking them inside to where he knew Kat had decided Rimi would sleep.
Chapter Six
It felt like hours later when Rimi was finally able to be shown to her room. She hadn’t met all of Kat’s husbands, mates, whatever they were, but she had talked to them on the phone and liked them all. She could tell that Kat was very well loved, and that made her so very happy for her friend. She deserved happiness, deserved joy. Walking down the hall to her room, she smiled at one of the guards, as Kat had explained, and murmured a hello to him. She turned then, a frown on her face, and looked at him. “Do I know you?” She felt like she should. Weird, but she felt as if she knew him.
Laighean frowned slightly as he moved out of the way of the woman and shook his head at her question. “I don’t believe so, miss.” He tipped his head in a slight bow. “Laighean, one of the Queen’s Royal Guards,” he told her softly. “Was there something you required assistance with, miss?” They’d been warned a guest was coming who knew of their world, sort of. They were to be courteous and polite, answer all questions, but generally leave her be.
“Queen?” Rimi asked with a frown. “Huh?” She hadn’t known that Kat was a Queen. She knew that there was a hell of a lot she missed, but Queen? “Uhm.” She shook her head and looked at him again. “Are you sure that I don’t know you?” She could have. Well no, that would be silly. There was no way that this was the man that she had spent every night dreaming of for as long as she could remember.
“Yes, miss, I’m pretty sure,” he told her quietly as he watched her. “I’ve been told I have one of those faces that many can relate to and believe they see someone they know in.” He gave a lazy shrug of one shoulder. “Katherine is our Queen,” he added, seemingly since she was clearly disbelieving of that fact. “She will verify that with you, I’m sure, if you ask. She was a little put out apparently and didn’t know what it all meant but appears to be handling it very well for someone who believed she was merely human.”
Rimi just nodded dumbly and put that on her list of things to talk to Kat about tomorrow. Lord, that list was growing and growing by the bushel. “Well it was nice to meet you. I’m sorry, what was your name again?” She was sure he had told her, but it was one of those names that she had never heard before and honestly would like to hear it again.
“Laighean,” he told her softly. “Most call me Lee though.” He didn’t mind it and it was a little more “modern” he supposed. “It’s easier to say and remember than Laighean, so if you wish you may use it.” Pointing to a room, he smiled slightly. “Your room is there. If you need anything, the guards are on shifts and will assist in any way we can.” Her room was right next to his, and he had a feeling he wouldn’t be getting much sleep while she was there. Why he knew that he couldn’t say, but it didn’t make anything less true.
“It was nice to meet you, Lee,” she said with a smile. “I shouldn’t need anything. Right now, just a nice hot bath and a lovely sleep sounds perfect to me.” She was certain that this man had been the one that she had been dreaming of all her life. She was positive of it, but she didn’t know why or how so she simply let it go. “Thank you for showing me to my room, and for being so kind. I do truly appreciate it.”
Bowing slightly, he smiled slightly and then froze at her slightly shy blush and faint smile. He had a flash of something. “A glade, small pond, flowers everywhere, a blanket, homemade I think, and you laying there in the sun.” His words were soft. Actually, until she stared at him as though he’d grown a second head, he didn’t realize he had spoken aloud. “My apologies, miss,” he murmured, stepping back. “I spoke out of turn. Goodnight to you.” He needed to get outside into the night air and figure out what was real and what wasn’t.
“Yellow and red tulips,” she whispered and watched him, her eyes as wide as his. “The pond had a little shelf that made the smallest of waterfalls that made the most beautiful of sounds that blended perfectly with the sounds of the birds in the trees.” She nearly fell as she leaned back against the wall. “You are who I’ve been dreaming of all my life,” she whispered.
He’d stopped dead in his tracks at her first word, but by the end he had whipped around and moved closer to stare at her
. “That’s not possible,” he breathed out. He’d been, for all intents and purposes, dead. His body had been alive, but there should have been nothing in the darkness. So then why did he see it as clearly as she did? Lifting a hand, he gently touched her cheek with a single finger, but it was enough. Awareness zinged through him hard and fast straight for his groin.
It is possible when your bond-mate needed you to help her get through life. A soft voice spoke in Laighean’s mind. You were not responsible for all that happened so long ago. I have never held what happened against you. She and this new life are your reward. She needs you far more than you can possibly know, Laighean. They will come for her again, and only you and the fighting prowess that you hide from one and all will save her. Question is, will you?
Swallowing, he nearly fell down at the sound of Gaia’s voice in his head. If it is what is required, I can do no other than to keep her safe with what I was taught. He didn’t like using what he knew, but he would if it meant protecting his bond-mate. Wait! She’s my bond-mate?! What the hell was that?
You know what bond-mates are, Laighean. Even in your time you knew what they were. Search your memories and you will know, Gaia told him softly. It is not required, Laighean. You always have free will, but would you truly allow the woman that has been tied to your very soul to go away unprotected? The woman that is the other half of your soul, that will give you sons and daughters one day?
Holy hell, he had a bond-mate! Well that was…uh…wow! Blinking, he moved in a little closer to Rimi and slowly lifted a hand. Waiting to see if she would protest, he lightly ran his fingertip over her skin when she held still. Closing his eyes, he listened to what he was getting through the small contact and breathed deeply. Gaia had spoken true. Why now? he asked the Goddess, opening his eyes to look down into Rimi’s wide gaze.
Because she needs you, but you need her more. I had to wait so very long for you to wake to bless you with this woman. She was created for you and you alone. I allowed you both to dream share when you were in stasis because I knew that your Queen would wake during this woman’s lifetime. Just know that she will love you. No matter what else happens this woman will love you.
Rimi looked up at him with questioning eyes. “Lee?” She whispered his name as she leaned in and nuzzled his hand, a reaction that completely and fully shocked her to her toes.
Opening his eyes to look at her, he swallowed. He had no idea what to say, what to do. Uh…help?! he requested of the Goddess. In his time bond-mating had been well known among those that lived closest to the pockets of “others.” But in the modern time, how did one tell another independent person that they’d been fated to be his, the Goddess said so?
Kiss her, you silly man. She likes you, feels the instant attraction. Kiss her, Gaia said with a laugh in his ears before he felt the full force of her pulling from around them.
Rimi had stepped in closer to Lee. She couldn’t seem to help it. “Are you all right? You have a look of panic on your face.” Placing her hand on his that was on her cheek, Rimi continued to rub her cheek against his hand softly.
“I don’t know,” he told her honestly, rubbing his thumb over her skin before he leaned in. “I should warn you,” he said softly, “I’m going to kiss you, so if you feel the need to slap me, wait until I’m done please.” Smiling faintly, Laighean brushed his lips to hers before applying a little more pressure and sliding his tongue gently to the seam of her mouth.
Instead of slapping him, Rimi put her hand on his chest and slid it up and around his neck to pull him closer. There were no words. There were simply actions, and she kissed him right back. The attraction she felt was there and very clear in the way that she kissed him back.
Slipping his arms around her as she relaxed into him, Laighean took the kiss deeper. Backing her to the wall next to her door, he lifted her slightly and stepped in tight to keep her there. Stroking his fingers up and down her arm, he soaked in the sensation of having her close to him. He hadn’t been so close to a female in…too many years to even contemplate.
Because she was on her tiptoes, Rimi lifted her leg and wrapped it around his thigh, and then when he picked her up fully, she wrapped both legs around his waist as she kissed him. Rimi kissed him as if she hadn’t ever kissed another being in her whole life. She kissed him with a need that she didn’t understand, but one that she had felt all her life. When they both finally parted, panting, she looked into his eyes and whispered, “Wow.” Her arms and legs tightened around him as if afraid that he would let her go. “You can kiss me anytime that you want to, Laighean.”
Sliding his tongue lightly to his lips, he appeared to fight to breathe. “I want to kiss you a lot, little one,” he admitted. Brushing his lips up her cheek, he inhaled slowly. “You probably would like to get some rest, wouldn’t you?” he asked, nuzzling at her throat.
“I think I would rather you kiss me some more,” she whispered and held onto him as she did so. “I have to be heavy.” She just realized that she was wrapped totally around him, him holding her against the wall. “Do you need for me to let you go?” she asked even as she tightened her hold on him.
“You are not heavy.” She wasn’t either, but he wasn’t human, so he didn’t know if she might be heavy in human standards. To him she was superb, perfect, flawless, divine. Sliding his hands under her bottom, he lifted her from the wall and moved to his door, kicking it shut behind them. Sitting on the bed, he arranged her in his lap as he kissed her again, keeping her close but ensuring she was comfortable.
Rimi didn’t think, she only felt. She kissed him back and ran her hands up and down his shoulders as she did so. Finally, however, she pulled back slightly and looked at him. “I know that this is so crazy. Good lord, I do not come into men’s rooms that I’ve just met, but…” Leaning in, she trailed her lips down his shoulder and shivered as she moved in closer. “I can’t seem to want to let you go. Is that normal?”
“In our world, yes,” he said softly. “It’s quite a common thing.” Not always good, but very common nonetheless. Stroking a finger down her cheek lightly, he breathed her in. “I know this is all new and confusing for you, little one, so if you have questions, definitely ask them. I will answer them as best as I can, and if I don’t know, I will find out the answers.”
“What are you?” she whispered even as she ran her hands down his arms and chest. “And what is this between us? You said that it’s a common thing, but I’ve never, ever felt this way before,” she admitted softly. “You are the first one that I can’t seem to get enough of.”
“I am Fae, one of the Queen’s Royal Guards,” he told her. “Katherine’s guards,” Laighean added, since she stared at him like she didn’t know what he was talking about. “And it is common, in my world, when two souls that are meant to be together find one another. Some call it the hunger. Others refer to it as the need. I’ve even heard it called the hormonal roller coaster in this time period.”
“So my need to jump your bones is completely natural?” she asked with a small laugh. “And is this just something temporary? Should we maybe not see each other for a few days so that it passes?” Even as she said it the words hurt her. She hated to think of not being able to see him again.
“It’s not temporary, and being apart will only cause pain that will eventually be very debilitating,” he told her quietly. “It’s not physical, but close enough,” he murmured. “But if you wish not to be near me, I will respect your wishes.” Even when it would drive him to the edge of sanity.
“I would really rather be closer to you, if you wouldn’t mind it,” Rimi admitted to him and pulled back as she did so. “I don’t like pain. I’ve never been one for pain, and even though you have likely lived through your share of it, I would imagine that you don’t like pain either, or am I wrong?”
“Physical pain is easy to ignore. It is merely the body letting the mind know that something is wrong. Mental pain and pain of the heart are much more lasting and can scar worse than
anything physically done. But you are correct, I do not like pain,” he said softly to her.
“Then what do you think we should do about it?” She stopped moving her hands over his body, stopped moving her lips over his shoulder, because it seemed she was the only one who was into it. She didn’t want to all but rape the poor man. “What do you want, Lee?”
“I am not sure I can honestly answer that question in many cases or instances,” he murmured, watching her face. “But in this I think I can say that I want to get to know you, to learn who you are, and to be with you as much as is possible.”
“Then I think that is what we should do,” Rimi said and laid her head on his shoulder. “I was likely pushing too fast anyway,” she mused softly. “I should probably return to my room so that we can actually get some sleep. Tomorrow we can have breakfast together?” It was a question instead of a comment because she didn’t know what this man wanted, needed. He had seemed to be just as into it as she had been, but then it was as if he cooled as soon as they were behind closed doors.
“I’d like you to stay,” he said quietly, feeling extremely uncertain. He had no idea what he was doing and, really, all he remembered about others and their bond-mates didn’t exactly apply in the more modern times. “I want to learn about you, Rimi.” He was trying to be honest, but he knew he sounded hesitant. Swallowing, he figured he had to help her understand. “Until a few months ago I was in what is akin to a coma, for more years than you would likely believe. The last time I was awake was a time of wars between men and their blades. There were no houses every twenty feet, no modern plumbing, no takeout, no coffee house on every corner, and clean water was a blessing, not the norm. I’m feeling extremely out of my depth and may not be adjusting as well as I should be to our new place in time.”