He released me. “It’s natural for our blood-bond to direct our motives into complete compliance of one another. In the future if you wish to block from me, you will need to focus more firmly on the task.”
So I did, only a second later finding I didn’t care for blocking him. I wanted him to know the truth of my thoughts, for now was not the time for any hidden agenda between us. “You can read what you wish.”
He watched me closely, inclining his head. “Then let me take you somewhere more comfortable.” He eased upright. “We have much to discuss and little time to do so.” He strode out the door on the other side of the room from where I’d entered.
“Wait up.” I caught up to him, walked side by side down the carpeted passageway, my level of comfort in being around him so strong. Shocking, and fascinating. “Okay, so why exactly do you have a steel room? I know why you painted it, but why have one at all?”
“The steel room is simply to ensure Carlisio can’t track you on Davio’s behalf. I will not risk any endangerment coming to you while you’re with me.”
“Uh-huh.” We’d see about the endangerment—the jury was still out on that one. “Would you explain why a steel room would stop a forewarner’s tracking? There’s very little I know.”
“Simply put, our cells can’t pass through the solidity of steel. They also can’t pass through the energy field which protects Dralion. That being the case, this steel room exists for the same reason as the dome. You arrived in the room next to one which holds a large amount of metal. This effectively scatters the initial image of your arrival, and it also allows for a defendable position if one’s ’porting airstream is followed.”
We rounded a corner, passed two bedrooms with silver thread shimmering in the white carpet under the recessed lights. The walls here were painted a stark gray too.
“Although now, it is quite safe for us to move about the rooms of this apartment. There is no chance Carlisio can gain an accurate visual, not with the natural use of steel contained within this building’s construction.”
“I see, and I can teleport from any one of these other rooms?”
“The amounts of steel aid in disseminating images, but not in preventing any form of teleportation, only a solid wall can do that.”
“So I can leave at any time?” Which I would in an instant, if necessary.
“Yes.” He grasped my shoulder. “I see your thoughts, and I understand your confliction. Yet you are my daughter and tied to me by blood, a bond which our Magioling DNA accepts to a far deeper degree than an Earthling’s. As your new relationship with Loveria stands strong, so too does a blood-bond. The two are no different in strength, except he holds your soul.”
“My bond with him grows fast.”
“So I’ve seen.” A rush of air passed between his lips. We entered a living room.
Ahead, one scalloped wall faced a dark, full-length glass slider, and in the adjoining room, a tidy kitchen in tones of black and white with a marble breakfast bar appeared utilitarian clean.
I moved toward the one and only piece of furniture in the lounge, a two-seater gray leather couch.
“Where are we?” With that precise hearing of mine, I caught the crashing of the surf somewhere close.
“At the Mount.”
Which meant we were only a thirty-minute drive from my home.
“Harbor side or ocean side?” I sank down into the leather, ran my hands over the chill of the fabric.
“Ocean, and we’re on the top floor of the exclusive towers. This is the penthouse suite.”
Oh, he had some fancy digs. “So you just moved in?”
“No.” Flinging out the back-tails of his leather coat, he eased in beside me. “I purchased this apartment after the towers were built—eighteen years ago. I needed a base close to your mother and you.”
“Really?” I checked out the room again in case I’d missed something that said eighteen years of occupation. “So you didn’t care to decorate? Some color would be nice.” White, black, gray, and silver everywhere.
“This apartment is here for one reason only, and as I’ve said, I can’t be followed. I come here only to check on you and your mother, that’s when I can do so without your grandfather becoming aware of my departure from Dralion.”
I rubbed my nose. “I have a grandfather?”
Did that mean I had other family as well?
“Yes.” He angled his head to one side, that intense violet gaze of his trained on me. “To both questions.”
I tapped one foot. Having him reading my thoughts was going to take some time getting used to. “How often do you check up on us?”
“I spend a few short minutes visiting your street, two or three times a week. It’s the most I can manage.”
“How come I’ve never seen you before?”
“I’m forced to keep my distance. Your grandfather rules Dralion with a firm hand, an iron grip that doesn’t allow me to acknowledge my weakness, my one all-consuming love.” He paused for a moment, then continued. “Which is for you and your mother.”
I looked at him, trying to find a breath as everything swayed before me.
“Breathe.” He rubbed my back.
I inhaled, and vitally important air shuddered back into my lungs. “I—I—” How shocking. “My mother? You love us? And did you say my grandfather rules Dralion?”
He took my suddenly frozen hands in his and rubbed them too. “We have much to discuss, and you have much to learn.” Warmth returned, and he continued, “You are a Wincrest and my name is Prince Alexo.”
“Oh hell. Hell. Hell. Hell.” This couldn’t be happening.
My so-called grandfather must be the hated Donaldo who Davio would gladly kill, right along with my father. “You’re truly Alexo?”
A small cough as he cleared his throat. “Please, don’t call me by my given name. I am your father, and I have waited a lifetime for my daughter to name me as such.”
“Right, Dad,” I exaggerated. “You can’t think it’s okay to dump this kind of information on me, or at least not this fast after eighteen years of nothing.”
Rising to his feet, his jacket flapped out behind him and he crossed the room and pulled the glass slider open. The salty scent of the ocean floated in on the night breeze, and he stood there in the doorway facing me, the moon a golden orb framing him from behind. “Enough with the sarcasm.”
“I wasn’t being sarcastic.”
“I understand you’re hurting, but the truth is still the truth no matter which way I present it.”
That I understood, was even grateful for considering the kind of week I’d just had. “Sure, you’re right about that. So tell me why you’ve steered clear of my mother and me for my entire life.”
“Because of your mixed heritage. Donaldo would only ever see Kate as an Earthling and my weakest link, disposing of her as quickly as possible.”
“So why become involved now? With me, that is.”
“It is not I who became involved, but the protectors. Your mate is making my life difficult in his claim of you, and that is why we now meet.”
“Hold on. Give me a minute to think this through. I’m still coming to grips with the fact I’m standing in the same room as my father. Who, I might add, has been silently watching over me, since my birth.”
He rubbed his forehead and moved toward me. “You are safe with me. We are one and the same. Our blood-bond is cemented at birth and that connection is unbreakable. That’s why I’ve never risked coming into contact with you before, for the physical effect of being in each other’s presence is the same as you being in Loveria’s. I would want you with me in Dralion and you would want the same, but I don’t have the heart to take you from your mother. She loves you, and I certainly can’t expose her whereabouts to Donaldo, not when I’ve seen he would harm her. He wants full-blooded heirs, not Halflings, so you’ve both remained here in New Zealand.”
I clutched my head, pressing all ten fingers into my skull. My
mind was stretched to capacity, almost ready to explode.
“Take a deep breath,” Alexo instructed. “We will get through this.”
Oh, I knew I’d get through this, only where would I be at the end? Dropping my hands to my knees, I met his gaze. “Okay, so there’s no risk to me because of Donaldo Wincrest, correct?”
“No, he would never harm a child of mine. The risk is to your mother alone. Her death would be a certainty, allowing him to see me married to another to give him full-blooded heirs. But I’ve never cared that your mother is from Earth, not as he has.”
“How does he even know my mother exists?”
“Because I won’t take another woman as my wife. I also wasn’t careful enough eighteen years ago. I mentioned Kate to him and I shouldn’t have. From that moment on, he’s been searching for her.”
“You’ve never given us up?”
“No.” He took a second, his chest rising and falling as he inhaled. “I see both Donaldo’s strengths and weaknesses. He doesn’t hold forethought as you and I do since it can skip generations, but he is a great leader. Although by the strength of our familial blood-bond, you too would find yourself called to serve him.”
He sat at my side. “I’ve always wished for you to have choices in your life, for those not to be taken from you as your mother was taken from me. Yet now, Carlisio involves his grandson, and Davio pursues you. This means it won’t be long before our spies in Peacio report back to Donaldo that you exist.”
“That would be dangerous?”
“Not to you, but you would be forced to leave your mother if you wish to ensure her safety, and for the past eighteen years, I’ve spent my life ensuring that is so.”
I shuddered. “Donaldo has never met me. How will his spies connect me to you?”
“You hold the coveted forethought strength skill. Your eyes are the rare Wincrest violet. Your features are so similar to one of the other females in our family’s line. I could go on, but those things alone isolate you directly as mine. No Dralion spy worth his weight in gold will ever withhold that kind of information from Donaldo, not if he saw you.”
“I’m not in Peacio, nor do I ever plan to travel there. Dad, I live here in New Zealand.” Whoa, and had I just called him Dad? Freaky.
“You called me father?” He grinned and clasped his hand over mine. “Nothing pleases me more than hearing you say so.”
Damn it. He’d said the blood-bond was seriously strong, and I surely couldn’t deny that. “I hope you realize I’m not enjoying this whole mated relationship, or this whole blood-bond thing that’s going on. Someone, who shall remain nameless, tried to convince me it was all going to be a fabulous thing.” I stirred my hands in the air. “In fact, she told me I needed to consider the full circle behind the mated concept, although she didn’t mention the emotions one would feel for their blood-bonded parent. She should have.”
“Let me guess—the empath convinced you. You have to watch them. They’re pesky people. All they work on are feelings, and at times feelings can’t become involved.”
“Well, they are now. Davio is my mate, and I have accepted him. I can’t walk away from him any more than he’d ever allow it of me.”
A snort. “You make him mad.”
“I happen to do that to people, and he’s no exception.”
He dragged in a stiff pull of air. “I used to make your mother mad too. I miss that.”
“You did?” Something more we had in common, and I couldn’t help my small smile. “She never speaks of you.”
“I’m not surprised considering the way I left her.” He clenched his teeth. “Your mother is unaware of everything. Of whom I am. Of where I come from. Of why I left her the day of your birth.” Harsh words, yet true.
“How can the mated relationship cross planets? First my mother and now me?”
“That question is one that’s always confused me. I’m not aware of Earthlings being mated to our own, but I don’t see why it can’t happen. It certainly has between your mother and me, and I accepted that before your birth.”
I sucked in my bottom lip, nibbled on it. “My mother’s very intuitive. Perhaps she has some inkling? Perhaps you let something slip back then?”
“No. Kate has believed me gone, and that ending gives her the least pain, which certainly eases my own.”
My legs tingled, and I stood and paced out the prickling. “I have no idea what my mother believed became of you. She said you left us, but I’ve never asked her for the details. There was never a time that seemed right.”
Having not heard his approach, I jumped as he settled an arm over my shoulders. “It’s difficult to watch your distress when we don’t have long together. There is still much we need to speak of.”
“Lay it on me. I might as well have it all.”
“I need to explain your boiling blood in the presence of your mate.”
“How do you know about that?” Ah, of course, he had forethought.
“The aggression you experience around the direct bloodline of Loveria is a part of our genetic makeup. We’ve detested our enemy for centuries, as they have done with us.”
My mouth opened. “Carry on.” Then shut.
“A thousand years ago our family separated from Peacio, taking the lesser opposing land of Dralion. At the time, tremendously bad blood remained between the Wincrests and the Loverias, and that came about because our families alone held the highest skill of forethought. A war raged, and they unfortunately won.”
“You can’t let bygones be bygones?” A thousand years had passed and they still warred? “It’s been millennia.”
“Ours is an age-old war, and one that will never end. Over the centuries, information has been passed down within our line, that the Loverias won that battle from long ago, unfairly. Having seen the written evidence, I agree with my father. The Loverias should have left and not us. This means the only way to gain back our stronghold on Peacio is to eliminate, in full, the Loveria line.”
“You wish to destroy all three, Carlisio, his son and grandson?” I pulled in a ragged breath. I couldn’t condone that.
“I’m not asking you to condone it.” He was so proficient in reading my thoughts. Double freaky. “I’m simply explaining why our two lines have so opposed each other. Even though Davio has not yet thought of it, that state of tension is yet another which will prove you are descended from me.” He crossed his arms. “You must understand our history has decreed our future, that our blood will always war with theirs.”
“Well, isn’t that incredibly helpful.” And super annoying too.
“I’m sorry.” He tilted his head, confusion evident in his gaze. “Perhaps you can explain one thing to me.”
“If I can.”
“How is it you can stand the presence of your mate? I’ve personally witnessed you touching. That should be impossible, or at least extremely unpleasant, considering our blood feud.”
“Ah, I merge my mind with his, and provided we touch, we cease clashing.”
His gaze narrowed. “You merge your mind with his? Don’t you mean you read his projected thoughts? There’s no merging of the mind with this skill of ours.”
“Um, he hardly allows his thoughts to escape. What I mean is, I bed down in his mind, and it’s real nice and comfy, but I only do that with him. You must be able to do it. Davio said the skill of mind-merge must come from you.”
Frowning, the lines on his forehead deepened. “If it’s a part of my forethought, then I’ve never activated it. I certainly never needed to merge my mind with your mother’s as our blood never warred. This is unusual.”
To me everything was unusual, but I kept quiet on that front.
“You don’t mind touching the darkness of a Loveria’s mind?” Confusion chased across his brow. “Is this not aggravating in any way?”
“No, it’s not aggravating. The man infinitely is, but not the mind-merge.”
“I see. Then perhaps this merging is a necessary exte
nsion of your forethought, due to you mating with a Loveria.”
Well out of the two of us, he should know.
“Follow my forethought, if you will. I wish to show you more of what will soon be possible for you.” He walked out onto the balcony so very far above the ground. “We need the open air for it to fully activate.”
I was up for that, and truth be told, my blood-bond with him demanded I please him. Jeez, that was irritating.
Outside under the night sky, we walked to a darkened corner along the balcony that ran the width of the penthouse suite. Far below the glass-railed enclosure, moonlight shimmered over the sandy beach and turned the white-capped waves rolling into shore a stunning silvery hue. A few couples walked hand-in-hand alongside the surf, and seagulls hopped about the rocks near the jutting rise of the mountain so close. That majestic mountain gave this place its name—The Mount as locals affectionately called it.
“This is the perfect spot.” He tapped his head. “Look inside my mind.”
I focused and examined how he took Davio’s image and brought it to the forefront of his mind. As soon as that happened, my mate’s image shimmered into vivid life, then a live feed of images rolled through, as if I stood right with him. He paced Belle’s living room, Zac and Viv standing to one side, and Belle and Silvie the other. No one spoke, the room eerily quiet.
“They have no idea what to do,” my father explained in a whisper. “But as they speak, ensure you listen for you will hear every word they utter.”
I waited as Davio continued to walk back and forth, his lips flattened and his eyes darkened to the point where all flecks of gold within the brown were extinguished.
“Carlisio did not see where she went.” The words rumbled from Davio’s mouth as he ground his teeth together. “She is either near too much metal or beyond Dralion’s energy shield. If that’s the case and the warrior has taken her...” He paused, his gaze narrowing on Zac’s. “Then we kill him, without asking questions.”
Silvie pulled a tissue from her pocket and wiped her reddened eyes. “How? Why? I don’t get this. After all these years, why take her?” Her voice wobbled, and I cringed. I should never have left her without first speaking to her of my intentions. Not that I’d known of my intentions at the time.
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