No Promises: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance

by Michelle Love

  The look of complete cluelessness he had when everyone in the room knew something he didn’t left me sad for him. I had to ask the current Phoenix couple to enlighten him.

  Mom gave me her version of the news when we were on the plane. Can’t say I really believed her.

  Here’s how that little conversation not every girl gets to have with her mother went:

  “I would like for you to lie back, Alyssa. I think it’s best if I tell you all this, like I used to tell you bedtime stories. Remember how I did that when you were a little girl?” Mom asks me.

  “Yes,” I say weakly, sniffling. I lay back on my pillows. Mom covers me up, tucking me in.

  “Once upon a time, there was an ancient secret society which tended to a couple of extraordinary creatures. These creatures were sent to them from God. The creatures helped to warn humans of disasters before they happened, as to give those who heeded their warnings a chance to survive.

  Almost every culture has stories about these creatures, from the ancient Egyptians to the American Indians.

  These creatures are human, but they can also take on the form of large birds. There are only two of these birds at a time. Once one pair is done with their jobs and too old to go on anymore, a new pair is formed.

  Now, not just anyone can be these creatures. They’re chosen before they’re even born. The two who are chosen are mates for life, from birth until death. There is no other way.

  Your father and I are members of the society which takes care of these God-given creatures. When I was pregnant with you, we were summoned to a gathering. All the pregnant couples in this group came together. The high priest, Galchobar, was there for what reason we did not know.

  He walked through the mass of people, touching each woman’s stomach. After he had done so with all the pregnant women he went up to the altar, first calling out the man’s name, Lyle Fontaine, then the woman’s name, Sierra Fontaine.

  They walked up to the altar with him. He beckoned us to say the chant of unity. Then he stopped us and spoke another man’s name. This time he said David Devlin, then he said Antonia Devlin, and we walked to the altar. The same process was repeated.

  It was our unborn children who were chosen to be the next pair. Your names were given to us at that time. Yours, of course, was Alyssa, which means ‘princess’ in Greek. The Fontaine’s were given the name Eden, which means full of fire.

  After conferring with the Fontaines, we made an agreement you would be raised in a very normal environment, as long as we kept you chaste.

  It was your father’s and my intent to give you at least a few years of normal before you had to begin an extraordinary life. Not a bad life, by any means. It will be fantastic, Alyssa,” my mother tells me in a soft and comforting voice.

  I open my eyes, not really believing the story she just told to me. “Mom, are you on acid?” I ask her.

  “What? Oh, heavens no, silly girl,” she admonishes me.

  I sit up very slowly, then turn and look her in the eye. “Mom, are you telling me that me and the gorgeous stranger are some kind of flying people? That we are destined to be together or some shit like that?” I ask.

  “Alyssa, I will not have you talking like that. You’re about to step into a very important role. Now, Eden has been groomed for his role his entire life. We sheltered you, a fact that now I don’t think was fair to you, but it’s done, nevertheless. Now we have to get you to grasp onto your immediate future and all that it entails,” she tells me.

  “So, where is Kyle in all this?” I ask.

  “Sorry, sweetie, Kyle is nowhere in this,” she says.

  “Mom, you let me be his best friend since I was ten years old, and now, oh sorry, that’s over. Ummm … not so easy to do, okay?” I gripe.

  “I realize that now, but it changes nothing,” she says.

  “Yeah, it does. He has feelings too, Mom. What about him? This will kill him, if he even believes me. Who is going to believe me Mom? This is ridiculous. When are you going to tell me I’m on some kind of morbid TV show where parents prank their kids with really mean pranks?”

  “You can’t tell anyone about this, Alyssa. They won’t understand,” she tells me.

  “Well, you got that right, Mom. Like, who would understand that a couple of babies were summoned up from hell, or wherever, to rule the skies as giant birds?” I ask.

  “Stop that right now, Alyssa. You are not from hell. Far from it. You come from all which is good. The things you will do are for the good of mankind and there is not one thing evil about it,” she tells me sternly.

  “Unless you count the part where you make a couple of kids spend the rest of their life together. Whether they want to or not. I mean, can’t I be this creature and still be with who I want to?” I ask.

  Oh, boy, that sounds dumb. Am I beginning to believe this crap? Yeah, I’m going to turn into a big bird, squawk. Mom has lost it, I thought.

  Needless to say, it was all true.

  Grace and Rodney let Scotty’s hands go and we all wait for his reaction. As his eyes open, I see new depth to them. “No way!” he says. He looks at me. “No way! You’re going to be a giant bird, sis.”

  Everyone in the room laughs at his reaction. He looks around at all of us. “I can’t believe you kept this a secret from us, Mom and Dad,” he says, then comes and gives me a hug, much to my surprise. “I’m really sorry about all those jokes I played on you, Ally. Please forgive me. I’d never have done those things to you if I’d known what you are.”

  My mother and Eden’s share an, “Awww, how sweet.”

  I hug my brother, then ruffle his hair. “I forgive you, Bubba. It’s what little brothers do, after all.”

  He gives me a smile and says, “Thanks, Al. You’re the best.”

  The butler announces dinner is being served in the formal dining room and Eden takes me by the waist. We follow the old man through a myriad of halls and rooms until we reach a spectacular dining room. It’s even more beautiful than the five-star restaurant Eden took me to.

  Now this is the life!

  Eden pulls out a chair for me at the enormous table. I sit and he takes the place next to me. The other Phoenix couple sits across from us. It’s odd, but I have no questions to ask them, because they’ve told me everything in short clips of visions in my mind.

  When they held my hands, I saw things so quickly it’s not humanly possible to process the information. Yet I did. Here I was thinking this whole time that I was plain old Alyssa Devlin, ordinary girl. I thought my destiny was to become Kyle Boyd’s wife and mother of his children. Nothing more than that.

  Wow! I couldn’t have been more wrong!

  Apparently, these creatures have existed for thousands and thousands of years. The couple who sits across from us doesn’t look it, but they’re one hundred and fifty years old, and they don’t look like they’re kicking the bucket anytime soon. They appear to be in excellent health. Both are still attractive, with few wrinkles and silky, shiny silver hair.

  Grace has green eyes. In her younger years, they were a brilliant almost teal color. The years have faded them some, but not a lot. Rodney had chocolate brown eyes when he was young. His have faded a bit too, but they still radiate compassion. That’s what I feel the most in them is a compassion for others.

  I know it dwells in myself, as well as in Eden. It will enhance once we’re able to change. So many things will enhance. They couldn’t show me the future, only the past. What our gifts will be is unknown, as each pair has different ones. But it’s the overwhelming compassion for all creatures which drive the Phoenixes.

  An odd fact they shared was about birth control and how it doesn’t work on us. They’ve had five children in their marriage of one hundred and thirty two years. We’ll have children when Our Creator wants us to.

  That’s another thing they gave me—faith. I believe without a shadow of doubt in Our Creator. Never have I had such a strong belief.

  The only thing which bothe
rs me about all of this is the knowledge that Kyle will never leave my heart. I made a place for him there and he will always reside within me.

  My place is with Eden and he has a much larger place in me. He’s in my heart and soul, so much different than the small piece of my heart Kyle’s in. But he is a part of me, and I don’t know how the future will be with him always in my life.

  He will be a part of it, though, and Eden, as well as Laura or anyone else who gets involved with Kyle, will have to deal with it the best they can. It’s out of my hands.

  A maid fills all the stemmed glasses with a white wine and I look down the table at my parents. Scotty is on the same thought as he says, “Hey, Dad, am I allowed to drink wine?”

  “If it’s placed in front of you, it’s yours, son,” my father answers.

  Scotty does a funny thing with his eyebrows and says, “Man, life sure has changed, hasn’t it?”

  We all find ourselves laughing. Eden’s hand comes to rest on my thigh and I look at him. It’s almost as if I can see right into his soul. I’m so nearly there. I send a thought out to him, shouting it loudly in my head to see if he can see it. ‘Tell me you love me.’ I send it out to him over and over as I look into his emerald eyes.

  His knuckles graze my cheek and his caramel lips move as he whispers, “I do love you, Princess.”

  Wow!

  Grace and Rodney giggle at us, making my attention turn to them. “Did you see that?” I ask.

  Rodney answers, “We heard it.”

  OMG! They heard it!

  ‘Taste the wine,’ suddenly fills my head and I reach out to take the glass, taking a sip and finding it sweet and delicious. ‘Do you like it?’ runs through my mind. I turn to look at Eden and smile.

  “I do,” I say, and he rewards me with a kiss on my cheek.

  “This is fun,” he says as he raises his eyebrows.

  Rodney gives Eden a wink, and says, “Just you wait until your wedding night. To be able to communicate with thought will prove quite stimulating to you both.”

  I blush and look away, thinking about how men are always thinking about sex.

  Grace surprises me as she speaks, “They all do, Alyssa. You’ll see soon enough when you can hear everyone’s thoughts.”

  I giggle at the knowledge the couple across from us can hear everything we think. Eden looks at me. “This is so much better now that you know everything about us.”

  I kiss his cheek. “It is.”

  After dinner, we gather outside in the spacious back yard, if you can call it a yard. It’s roughly the size of a football field and a large and glorious swimming pool is lit up in the middle of it. The sound of the waterfall which flows into it makes a comforting sound in the night.

  The Phoenix couple is about to give us a demonstration of their abilities, which will soon be ours. “All you have to do to transform is picture yourself as the bird. You’ll look just like we do, but you’ll keep your distinct eye color,” Rodney tells us.

  Grace smiles and says, “You may wish to cover your ears. The boom is quite loud.”

  I look at Eden and cover my ears, as does he and the rest of our family. Grace looks up and Rodney looks down, then two simultaneous claps of thunder shake us as they become two giant blackbirds and fly straight up into the air.

  I uncover my ears to peer into the night sky. Their dark bodies disappear. A loud shriek makes me throw my hands back over my ears.

  We all turn around to face the direction it came from to find them coming in low and landing just in front of us. They stand still and let us touch them.

  I’m amazed by them and the fact I’ll soon be one. Their feathers shimmer in the patio lights. So black their feathers are, that they sometimes appear blue.

  Gorgeous!

  A small squawk comes from Grace, her head nods, and I know she wants us to step back. Both birds close their eyes for about two seconds and they’re back to people again.

  “To return to your human form, you simply see yourself as that, and presto, you’re back,” Grace says.

  Scotty gawks at them and says, “If I hadn’t seen it, I’d never believe it. I wish I could tell my friends, but they’d call me a liar.”

  Rodney looks at him. “You can never tell anyone. You can only talk about our kind with members of The Phoenix Foundation. They’re our protectors and benefactors. It’s them who bought our homes and cars and pay for everything for us.”

  “Homes?” I ask.

  Grace puts her arm around me as she walks with me. “We have homes all over the world, Alyssa. We’ve taken the home in England for our children and their families to keep after our time as Phoenixes is over and your time begins. Other than that one property, the rest will belong to you and Eden.”

  “I can’t believe it. Tell me, Grace, is it a dangerous life we’ll lead?” I ask.

  “At times, yes. But we have a superior homeostasis,” Grace says. “Once, I got knocked out of the sky from a great height by an airplane. I fell all the way to the ground, broke several bones, and suffered from bleeding on the brain. I transformed into my human self once I went unconscious. Rodney was fine and he got an ambulance, saying I’d fallen from a helicopter we were riding in that was not nearly as far up as I really was.”

  I look at her with sadness. “Oh, that’s terrible.”

  “It all turned out fine. Thanks to our ability to heal faster than normal humans, I was better in a week. Thankfully, we have doctors all over the world who are part of our protectors and he was able to help me,” she says, then gives me a squeeze. “The doctor who cared for you after your little accident is one of them, as is your Doctor Baker, or Byron, as we like to call him. Did you know it was me who stopped you from running into the path of that truck?”

  “I didn’t know that,” I say, “But I have flash backs of the two of you being there, though I saw nothing at the time.”

  “I caught you up by your shoulders and flew up a bit with you. The fright must have made you pass out, and when I placed you on the ground you fell a bit harder then I meant for you to,” she says with a frown. “I’m sorry for that, Alyssa. I didn’t mean to. You see, that’s why it’s time to let you guys take over. We aren’t as strong as we used to be.”

  I pat her hand and say, “You’ve done enough in your time, I’m sure. We’ll take over and make you proud, I promise.”

  “I know you will, dear. In a matter of days, the adventure which will be your long life will begin. I’m happy to have met you and Eden. The Phoenix legacy is safe with you two,” she says with a hug.

  I cannot believe it. I’m a legacy!

  CHAPTER 28

  EDEN

  Never could I have imagined how complete I could feel. Alyssa has been enlightened and we are finally as we were meant to be.

  I’m truly sorry I kept this from us both for so long. So much pain we’ve both suffered for no real reason. And now Kyle is attached to my mate forever.

  Wish I’d seen that coming!

  We’re on the jet headed back to Cloudcroft for Alyssa’s graduation. My parents came too. They’re enthralled with Alyssa, never having had a daughter of their own to bestow dainty gifts on and chat with.

  I am not a chatter.

  Instead of sitting with my mate, I’m playing video games with Scotty. He and I need to bond, Alyssa told me. He’s a nice kid and he’s kicking my ass at this game that I’ve been playing for years.

  Alyssa sends me little thoughts now and again, telling me she loves me and wants me. I send them back, along with how I’m going to devour her tomorrow after we’re married.

  She chats away with my mother, and I find it funny to send her a mental picture of me kissing her between her naked breasts as she tangles her hands in my hair. She turns back and gives me a wicked look. I wiggle my finger for her to come to me. Excusing herself from my mother’s company, she does as I’ve asked.

  “Come, sit, and play with me,” I say.

  She sits on my lap and takes
the controller from my hands. Scotty looks over at us for a second and rolls his eyes. “Lovebirds, yuk!”

  I run my hand through my mate’s long, silky curls. I graze her shoulder with my lips and find myself beginning to get uncomfortable in my slacks. ‘Control yourself, Romeo,’ Alyssa’s voice tells me in my head.

  ‘Take me to the bedroom,’ I think back to her.

  She returns with, ‘There is no way in hell I’m going to do that with a plane full of people.’

  I send, ‘They won’t care.’

  She puts the controller down, giving me hope. Then she turns on my lap. “You’re being very naughty, Mr. Porno Thinker,” she whispers in my ear.

  Porno! Really!

  I stroke her cheek as I look into her spectacular blue eyes. They’re different now, so open and really seeing me. “After we’re married tomorrow, I’m going to keep you in bed for at least a week,” I whisper back.

  She trails her finger around my jaw. “Glad to hear that.”

  In an instant, she sends me an image that makes me blush, it’s so naughty. “Alyssa!” I hiss at her. “That’s just too much to take. You have to stop, you temptress.”

  “As you wish, sir,” she says with a wicked smile.

  “Go back and chat with mother. Take your mind off such things. You’re killing me,” I say, sending her away with a small slap to her perfect ass.

  The change in her is exciting. No fear, no doubt, no inhibition. She’s real for the first time in her life. She’s letting her true self out, and it’s beyond beautiful.

  We land and make our way back to the Devlin’s home. I’m staying in Alyssa’s bedroom with her so my parents can have the guest room. This will make it so much harder than it has been to keep our virginity intact, especially as my mate seems to tempt me on a nearly continual basis.

  Even now as she unpacks some of the clothes from her room at the mansion and hangs them next to the plain clothes she’s worn her whole life, she sends me images of us.

  Then she stops and looks at me, her mind blank to me. “I need to go talk to them before I see them tonight,” she says.