Beyond them were the other two I’d first heard. A woman with dark brown hair stood to the side of the window, her face half cast in shadow as she scanned the section toward the road front. She was fully armed, a nasty looking blade hooked into her belt on her right. She appeared battle ready, her tight leather vest secured with straps over a ruffled white shirt and inky skintight pants. Wearing knee-high, black leather boots, she was ready for some serious action.
“That’s Viv, one of my best protectors,” Davio offered as he watched my gaze wander. “Over by the door is Zac, another of our best.”
My heart stopped. Zac was huge, a tall, broad-shouldered man whose body rippled with lean muscle, a fighting machine with his sword clasped between both hands and resting point down to the carpeted ground. He was dressed similarly to Viv in dark leathers, but half his chest was bare where his white shirt remained loose and unbuttoned at the front.
I gulped and eyed Davio. More focused now, I couldn’t miss that he too was dressed in a similar fashion as Zac and Viv. Dark leathers and a white shirt fluttering underneath a finely made sleeveless leather half-coat made up his attire. Yep, my mate appeared to have stepped out of an ageless time, his clothing nothing like the teenage jeans and shirt he’d worn the day before.
“Well,” I said, drawing in a deep breath. “I’m very glad I didn’t see you like this yesterday.” One look at his combat leathers would have made me freak.
He withdrew his sword, sliding it out of the weighty scabbard belted low on his hips.
“Hey, hold on.” I scuttled back, actually cracking my head on the white painted headboard behind me. “Whoa.” I held up a placating hand as I rubbed my twice-beaten scalp.
“Would everyone leave the room? It seems it is necessary for me to speak to my mate. Privately.” His deep voice resonated with determination.
“Ah, is that a wise idea?” A rush of air left my body at the way he slowly propped his sword beside my headboard.
“It is when you are all I’ve thought about this past day—when I’ve been so unsure whether I could’ve ever kept my word and stayed away. The bond builds fast, and even I have been unable to dismiss it.”
The others filed out the door, gently clicking it shut behind them. Davio continued, “As is the way with mates, I need to be close to you, to see to your welfare and quite obviously your protection.”
He paused, his large hands gripping my waist as he lifted me. Seating himself, he set me on his lap. “Although I cannot and will not shirk my duties. Not even for you, or for any other. Carlisio has a large country to govern, and he can’t do so alone. My father aids him and for the past year I have too.”
“Um…okay?” I was on his lap? It felt strangely right. Touching a finger to his bristly jaw, I offered him a slight smile. “Sure, you aid your father, grandfather and your country. Except don’t forget me in the vast scheme of things.”
“I won’t forget you, not after you’ve haunted my thoughts this past day. Even now, I can sense your connection and the ability you have to merge your mind with mine when we are together. If it weren’t for that, I would feel discomfort.” His arms banded tighter about me, enforcing a closeness which continued to surprise me.
“So, now what do we do?” I snuggled, discovering my need of him intensifying just as his obviously was. I watched the play of sunlight dancing through the window, dappling across his face and highlighting his strong jaw and his mouth.
“Someone harmed you. Zac, Viv and Belle are just three members of the team I keep quite close to me. No one else will ever get through all of us to you again. But there will be rules. To ensure your safety I want you to—”
“Hold on.” I cut off his words by pressing a finger to his lips. Ooo, so soft. And what was with my fascination with his mouth?
His brows drew down, his forehead furrowing deeply. “Are you still not feeling well?”
“Oh, I’m more than well.” Then I slowly grinned and leaned in. “It seems I want more than your protection. I want you to kiss me.” The complete and honest truth.
That comment stopped him dead cold.
Then he inhaled, slowly, the sound so sweet as his breath stuttered a little. “Kiss you?” he murmured, his eyes now turning a melting hue of delicious brown. “Are you sure?”
“Only if you want to?” I somehow managed to shrug my shoulders like his decision didn’t matter either way.
“I want to.” Then he closed that last little gap and there was nothing but his warm lips against mine. Every sound around me vanished as my world centered and became only him.
He had come to me at the first sign I was in trouble—no man had done that in my life.
My soul lifted and my heart soared.
Desire flared, and he pushed me back against the soft comforter. He surrounded me, my mind captivated as we shared breath.
Slowly he eased away. “Faith, where you are concerned, my corporal need for you will rally just as greatly as my need to protect you. I believe we need rules.” His liquid gaze turned me into a pile of goo.
I inhaled slowly, remembering to breathe. “Yes, I can already tell you could use a few rules. Do you want me to start?”
He grinned and curved a hand around my neck, maintaining our skin-to-skin contact. “I’ve been raised by my parents and my grandfather, taught to assert myself strongly, and you must do the same with me to ensure you’re heard.”
I tapped him on the chest with my finger. “Yeah, I’ve already done that. You need to pay more attention, big fella.”
A smile twitched his lips. “Big fella?”
I tilted my head. “That’s right, so what else do I need to know about you since we’re being all honest?” Because I could sense there was something else, an element of truth below the surface in every word he spoke. I almost had my finger on it.
“You already feel the awareness of it. We cannot lie to one another, or I should say, we can, but the other will always sense it.”
Now truth, there was a bonus, because that’s what I desired most.
Davio caught my tapping finger and brought it to his lips. Gently, he kissed the tip and made my heart flutter about quite senselessly. “These last few months of your education are important, and I don’t wish to take that away from you. Only, I will rarely be here. I will do what I can to give you what you need, but there will be times of separation. It can’t be helped.”
I stared at him, strangely not liking the idea of this separation he’d spoken of. Ah, and here I thought I was an independent woman. Even my mind cringed at the thought of dropping this mind-merge I had created with him. I loved my soft spot. “There is a place within your mind I’m linked and locked onto, where I’m resting.” I looked at my hand in his. “With skin-to-skin contact, our tension dissolves.”
“I’ve felt it too. Touching is important to ensure all is well.”
I nodded. “The pain is like a brewing heat coursing through my veins. I merged my mind with yours and with touch, the aching sting disappears.” My explanation was real—unnatural and impossibly bizarre—but still real. “Is this normal for mates? Or has it something to do with forethought?”
“Merging your mind with mine has nothing to do with us being soul-bound. Being mated is a relationship, a union of the two souls and is separate to the skills we hold. It’s also only you who is forming the mind-merge. It’s not my skill.” He frowned. “Forethought? Carlisio certainly does not mind-merge like this and bed down in my mind as you are doing. He simply reads others’ thoughts when they’re near, as they project them, although, it is your father and his line which is unknown. This strange ability may have come from him. We will simply have to work around our unusual pairing.”
I could sense the truth he spoke of from our bond—could feel it resonate with unerring accuracy.
“Finding out who your father is will be a priority.” Davio stroked my hair, his touch so gentle. We barely knew each other, yet were still bonded so strongly.
&n
bsp; “It’s never bothered me, to not know of the man who aided in conceiving me. I’m very lucky—I have a wonderful mother who has single-handedly raised me, without even the aid of grandparents or aunts or uncles. There has only ever been Silvie and her mother, Seriah.” No one could have asked for a better best friend. I sighed. “I’ve only ever needed them. My father means nothing to me. No man ever has.”
He smiled, giving me a wink. “Ah, but I will.”
Then he kissed me deeply, and I kissed him back, overwhelmed by the new emotions stirring within me.
He broke away first, his head coming up. He ducked a look at the door. “Silvie’s coming. Down the hallway. I can hear her.”
So could I—that precise hearing of ours being immensely helpful.
The door flew open and slammed against the wall. Yeah, that was Silvie, all right.
“Ten minutes is enough you two. Now break it up,” she admonished as she stormed toward the bed, red-gold locks flying about her face. “Let’s remember we still have a villain to unearth and apprehend.” She turned, giving Davio a fierce glower. “What do you think you’re doing on my best friend’s bed? Get off. Off. Off. Off.”
“In the future, Silvie Carver”—he pushed himself to his feet and pulled me up to stand beside him—“you’ll remember not to storm into the room the way you just did and disturb us. Correct protocol is that you knock and wait before addressing a prince.”
Silvie didn’t seem to care as she reached past him and gripped my wrist. She scowled at Davio and tugged me toward her like a mother bear protecting her cub. “Well, lucky for me, Davio Thy-prince Loveria,” she shot at him, “I don’t have to observe your correct protocol. We are on Earth, you see, not Peacio.”
And all this from the girl who’d told me just days ago that I needed to get laid.
I almost smiled. Something was definitely firing up all my friend’s cylinders. “Are you all right, Silvie?”
“Well, of course I’m all right. Or I would be if those two sword-wielding fiends of Davio’s would stop goading me. Now get your butt out of your bedroom and into your living room and help me control the sudden surge of protectors you are accumulating in this house.”
I clapped a hand to my mouth, stifling a laugh. “Mum’s not at home is she?”
She better not be. Best I check.
I ran from the room, down the wide carpeted hallway and skidded around the corner into my mother’s cozy living room. One of the framed photographs sitting in a place of honor on the mahogany side table rattled.
Davio steadied the frame then curiosity getting the better of him, picked it up. He tapped the image. “Is this picture of your mother and you?”
“Yes.”
“You look about six.” His eyes twinkled and a humorous grin tugged at his lips. “Nice puddle.”
Drat. I hated that print, the one of me plowing down my childhood slide, only to land face first in one almighty, mucky winter puddle. I ignored Davio’s light laugh as I continued across to Zac and Viv and smiled politely at them. “I’m so sorry. We haven’t been properly introduced. I’m Faith Stryker.” I extended my hand.
The female protector shook my hand, while Zac idly stroked the hilt of his sword, his narrowed gaze on me before moving toward Davio with a questioning tilt.
Viv knocked Zac’s arm. “Zac,” she admonished. “Mind your manners.”
He grunted.
“Men.” Rolling her eyes, Viv turned her attention back to me. “My apologies. My mate finds your presence unnatural. You are not from our country, and he finds…well, he finds that troubling.”
“You two are mated?”
“They are.” Davio set the framed photograph back in place and crossed the carpet toward us. He slapped a hand on Zac’s shoulder as he drew up to him. “Zac, troubling or not, Faith is still half-Magioling, and whether born here on Earth or in Peacio, she is the other half of my soul. You will speak to her with the respect she’s due, and acknowledge her introduction.”
“Of course.” Zac cleared his throat, dipped his head in a half-bow then shook my hand. “My apologies. I was wary and should not have been. My service extends to you, just as it does, and always will, to my prince.”
I scrunched my shoulder blades together, an eerie ripple of discomfort chasing down my spine. This was not a form of formality I was used to, and exactly what service was Zac promising? Hmmm, I also had to remember there was a prince involved. Double eerie. “I don’t require anyone’s service, Zac, although thanks for the offer all the same.”
Edging onto my heels, I backed away from Davio and his protectors as a tense mix of animosity and irritation stirred in my gut. My mate was too close, forcing my tension to build. I reversed, faster, until my back hit the lip of the hearth’s upper mantle.
I slowly exhaled.
Relief rolled through me, the pain and frustration dispersing, but only at the five feet mark and no less.
Davio stiffened, a low mutter rumbling from his throat. “Why the distance?”
“It’s necessary.”
“No, it’s not.” He stalked toward me. “It’s also not your right to decline Zac’s offer. As my mate, Peacio’s entire contingency of protectors are called to your service. They protect our country and its citizens. You will accept his offer.”
With his advancement, I clenched my fists, blood pouring through my veins in a bubbling riot. “Well, you listen here, mister. I’m not a citizen of Peacio, nor have I been to your country.” As if that weren’t obvious. “Or do I even wish to go there.”
At my biting remark, he glared.
My face heated as I continued, “So it’s obviously futile for me to accept Zac’s offer. I don’t know your protector and he doesn’t know me.”
“Don’t.” Gaze zeroing in on me, he captured my wrist with one hand, his fingers firm and warm. “Your tension is clearly spiking, as is mine. Exactly how far away do we need to be so we don’t suffer these appalling emotions?”
I squinted. “If there’s no skin-to-skin contact, then a good five strides away. The irritation is awful if we don’t touch.”
He dropped my wrist. “Five strides. We’ll enforce it again to make certain.” He turned and marched across the room the required distance, while Viv, Belle and Silvie all watched with their mouths gaping.
Zac hissed as Davio halted. “Is it possible for you to explain this reasoning? I’m clueless about what’s going on.”
“One second.” Davio pivoted as he reached the far couch, met my gaze and questioned, “This seems good. What about you?”
The release of tension took me instantaneously. “Yes, thank you, that’s perfect.” Nothing like two mates, destined to be together, standing a good room’s width apart. Absolutely perfect.
Turning to Zac and the others, Davio explained our issue, while I resigned myself to what was. We had to be touching and merged for the best outcome, or we had to be apart. Lucky for us, I had the skill to mind-merge and sink into that soft spot within his mind which ensured the pain and frustration dissipated for me.
Beyond the sitting room window, the sun set in brilliant shades of yellow, orange and pink which suffused the horizon beyond the row of houses on the opposite side of the street. A familiar, white four-door Toyota pulled into the driveway and rolled to a stop. The driver’s door swung open, and I smiled as my favorite person in all the world stepped out and stood. Mum righted her knee-length, back-slit navy skirt and red blouse then strolled around to the trunk.
“Who’s she?” Zac slid in front of me, sword lifted as he blocked my view.
I groaned. Loudly. “That’s my mother—Kate Stryker.” I slapped a hand against his arm. His strangely immovable arm. Wow, that was one solid piece of muscle. “She’d never harm anyone.”
He lowered his weapon and stared at me like I was a pesky bug under his feet. “Your mother—she’s young, and her hair, it’s chestnut-brown. Yours is so light, so very blond.” Next, he looked into my eyes, and not in a good
way. “Your eyes are a curious shade of violet. They aren’t your mother’s color either.”
“Well, for starters, my mother was very young when I was born. She was eighteen—and she dyes her hair. Usually she’s a blonde.” I shrugged my shoulders. “And the eye color—that must come from my father, not that I know him. He disappeared on the day of my birth.”
Zac glanced over my head as Davio approached. My mate slid one arm around my waist from behind and I leaned back into him, the contact perfect and preventing any opposing emotions the instant we touched.
Thumbing his chin, Zac watched my mother pull out a couple of eco-green grocery bags from the trunk. “Your mother looks far younger than the possible thirty-six years you say she must be. She could pass for your older sister.”
Davio’s hold on me tightened, the block in his mind suddenly lifting and his thoughts trickling through to me. He too believed she could pass as my older sister, that she could easily be a Magioling since his people didn’t age.
“No.” I gripped his forearm tight around my waist and squeezed. “She’s of Earth.”
“Damn, I mustn’t forget you can read my thoughts if I lower my shields.” He immediately blocked. “Zac could be right though—your mother appears far younger than her thirty-six years. She may not be from Earth.”
“I already said no. My mother has not lied to me for the past eighteen years. You’re crazy to think she’s not an Earthling. I haven’t seen her doing anything magical.” I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “I’d like to think I’d have noticed that.” Which meant my strength skills must have come from my unknown father.
“It’s just an observation for now, yet as you said, she was only eighteen when she gave birth to you. She has aged well, although it is disturbing that you have no other known family, that it’s only you and her. In Magio, our children are raised within villages by their immediate and extended family. There are always relatives.”
Thunk. Mum dropped the trunk and bags in hand, strolled toward the front door. “My mother would never lie to me. She has no family because she’s an orphan.”
Protector: A Young Adult / New Adult Fantasy Novel Page 5