Dante gave them all a look that made them stop.
“Seriously,” Lucca said. “No one else comes into contact with the Earth females. They are corrupting us.”
Ash moved over to the bar and helped Brook take a seat. “I’ll make sure to let Aran and Niko know that you called their mate's bad influences.”
Aran and Niko were two of Ash’s brothers and the first two created to get mated. Their mates, Rena and Dee, taught Dante how to roll his eyes.
“I rest my case. You knew who I meant without me even having to say their names!” Lucca sat down with a heavy sigh.
“You’re just upset because after all these centuries you still can’t do a decent eye roll,” Damon said giving him a grin.
“True,” he muttered and let the subject drop.
Jaz walked over to Brook wrapping her arms around her. “How are you?”
“I’m pregnant,” her eyes twinkled when she told Jaz.
Jaz tightened her grip just a little. “I’m so happy for you. I get to be the Godmother, right?”
“You know it.”
“This calls for a special celebration. Ash is about to become a father and Mick is mated.” The brothers got up and rushed to the fridge pulling out ingredients and calling burners on the stoves.
Jaz watched them, not believing her eyes as they shoved and pushed. All done in fun but they were serious about who cooked where.
“Now do you want to expand the kitchen?” Mick asked her.
She nodded her head because Brook was holding her tight screaming congratulations to her.
“I knew Mick was going to be special in your life.”
“Oh, you did?” Jaz smiled at her. “We may have to cash in on that talent while you still have it. Maybe it’s the baby hormones.”
Brook just smiled and looked like she knew everything.
Jaz hugged her again and went to take a seat; everything was perfect. She was mated to Mick and pretty much safe from both the Patron’s men and the Clone Council while she was living up here. The Darkness had made a try for her, but she dodged that bullet twice, so why was she nervous and antsy?
The feeling that this was all temporary haunted her, and she wanted to throw herself into the thick of things to enjoy every moment she could before it all slipped away. Instead, she was going to stay back and wait and watch because that’s the only way she knew to live life.
“Jaz…Jaz?” Her head came up to look at Mick who was frowning at her.
“Sorry I must have been lost in my thoughts I didn’t hear you.”
He walked over and gave her a kiss. His brothers groaned and laughed good-naturedly.
“Pancakes or French Toast, Jaz mine.”
His endearment for her brought a silly little smile to her face and for a moment she stopped worrying and simply enjoyed the moment.
“French toast.”
“I’ve got it,” Lucca called while his brothers groaned.
Soon there was a meal fit for royalty on the table. There was no way they would eat all of this, then she looked around the table and realized there were seven Created males. They were going to eat all of this, so she joined in, filled a plate, and laughed.
Once breakfast was over, she told Mick she needed to go back to the room and left the kitchen. No matter how she tried, the anxiety she felt wouldn’t go away.
“I’ll go with you.”
“I know it doesn’t make sense, I just need some time alone.”
He nodded and let her walk out the kitchen, a frown on his face.
“Who can hurt her up here?” Julian stood by his side as they watched her walk out together.
“I don’t know, but I’m concerned.”
“Have you bonded on all four levels?” Julian asked.
“How do we know that for sure? We assumed that, took it for granted but since none of us ever planned to bond, how do we know for sure?” Damon countered. They knew nothing about bonding.
His brother was correct. When they were younger they talked about what they thought having a mate would be like and how it would impact their lives. That was before they understood that having a mate was a death sentence. Now he was mated, and there was no doubt they bonded on the physical and emotional level.
There was no way he could have experienced the joy he had with his mate without those bonds. Although they were the easiest bonds to achieve they were also the easiest to break. For his mating to truly work, he would have to bond on the mental level as well the spiritual level. When that happened, there could be no separation for either of them.
He looked around the kitchen not wanting to leave the cleanup to his brothers but the need to find Jaz was clawing at him.
“Go find your mate; we have this.”
Mick gave Julian a smile, and a one handed hug that he promptly struggled in while hugging him back before Mick headed out the kitchen.
He took the most direct route to their bedroom and simply materialized in the room. She wasn’t there. A moment of panic gripped him before he relaxed and took himself outside.
He materialized by her side, and she jumped clutching her heart and growling at him.
“That little trick of yours is going to frighten me to death.”
“Sorry.”
“No, I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I simply feel…” She ran out of words, how could she explain to him she felt empty inside?
He took her hand and led her to a lounge area in the back yard. He sat down and pulled her down next to him. Together they leaned back. The chair was comfortable and shifted to mold against their bodies giving them support.
She loved his back yard. It was well kept, and it must be where he liked to entertain. The furniture out there was all done in a striking gold pattern with accents of white so bright at times she had to close her eyes when looking at it. The grass was so soft; she was sure it was from a different planet. He had a large outside kitchen with plenty of space for both him and his brothers to cook, but the thing that pulled it all together was the mountain in the background. The waterfall that slid over it joyfully was amazing. If she listened close enough, she almost felt she could hear the water singing as it poured over the side.
He pulled her even closer and kissed her. His arms went around her as she let her doubts and confusion go and got lost in the pleasure of his kiss.
Chapter Fifteen
She laughed and looked at him, feeling a little better.
“I could do that all day.”
“Mmm, I would love to take you up on that offer, but first I was hoping you would tell me what’s wrong.”
She ducked her head so he wouldn’t be able to see her and placed it on his chest. She breathed in his subtle scent that was calming her. Everything should be okay; this was the dream come true so why wasn’t she happy.
“Tell me, Jaz mine.”
“It doesn’t make sense,” her voice came out rough like she was trying to hold her emotions back. “We’re mated. Something I’ve dreamed about for years in the midst of what I was going through. It was a forbidden dream, but I still carried it around, and now we’re together, but I feel like something is missing. I think of you, and I’m so happy, but then I’m sad like you’re not really mine. It feels temporary, like at any moment you’ll be gone and I’ll be alone again.”
She was calling to him on a different level making him think beyond the females in his past that satisfied a need but were never meant to be permanent in his life. His mate was demanding more from him whether she realized it or not. She wanted more than he shared with the others. She wanted a true commitment something he wouldn’t be able just to get up and walk away from.
“When the Created mate, we mate on four levels. The first two are the physical and emotional level. That’s easy, it just requires us to come together physically, and we are the type that if we lay with you, then we have an emotional attachment. They are easy come easy go in a sense. I care about the person, but I know it will
never last. Most humans bond on this level.
“Then there’s the next level it’s the mental level. It’s where the barriers between us come down. I can feel you in my mind, hear your voice. I rejoice to know that we will always be together even when we’re apart. I’ve never bonded with a female like that because I’ve never had a mate before.
“The last level is spiritual and to be honest, I have no idea what happens on that level. None of my brothers know. Once we understood there would never be a true mating for us, we never explored that possibility. I think your body wants to touch me on those levels, and you’re reaching for me and coming up empty. But here’s the thing, I’m reaching for you too.”
She moved her body until she was lying on him. Lifting her torso, she looked down at him.
“What do we do about it?”
“We try to merge.”
She smiled at him and lowered her head. She wanted to merge but not the way he was suggesting. She started kissing the side of his neck.
“Mick, whatever you can give me will have to be enough. I want you.”
He wanted her too and flipped her over before taking her shirt and bra off. A moan came from her as he took a nipple into his mouth and sucked hard.
He was never going to be a soft, easy lover. His need was too desperate. Jaz could see his eyes glow as he switched to the other nipple and a small laugh came from her because she liked him needy.
“One day I’ll slow down. But I need you too much right now.”
“I like you just like this.”
He stood and stripped and then helped her out of her clothes. When she lay back down, he opened her legs and placed himself between them.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.” His head disappeared between her legs his tongue came out and licked her making her body Jump.
“Mick…should you…maybe we shouldn’t.”
He licked her again, this time, getting a better taste of her. Her upper body fell back into the chair as a moan left her.
‘You’re so beautiful down here.”
“I…am?’
“Uh huh.” His finger caressed her folds until she writhed in pleasure then he used those same fingers to open her up so he could see her.
“I love this red hair, it’s like you’re on fire.” He lowered his head and sucked her clit into his mouth.
Her body jerked upward and she gave a high keening sound. Her hands came down to clutch at his hair, and he gave a chuckle before he sucked on her again. His tongue came out licking at her seam before he stiffened it and pushed it deep into her.
Her hips moved jerking upward trying to get closer to his tongue and his amazing mouth.
“Mick,” her voice came out raspy.
He sucked and licked before his fingers came out to play.
She could feel her body opening up to him. A part of her she was unaware she possessed was stretching towards him. The pleasure was filling her, it was so heady she could barely think straight, but she wanted, needed more.
His mouth sucked on her clit again as his fingers played with her, going deep inside giving her such intense pleasure that her body began to shudder. Her hands clench his hair and then his shoulders as her breath came out in rapid pants. His name was torn from her body when she fell apart. She lost touch with reality as she floated in bliss until she fell, hard.
Hitting the floor was not what she had in mind while she was floating. Was this even a floor? She picked herself up, happy to see that she was dressed. She was in a room; it reminded her more of a box. It was gray and square, and she couldn’t find a door. She drifted over to the walls reluctantly, her feet taking her somewhere while her head was screaming to stay away.
Raising a hand, she touched the wall, but the texture was foreign to her. It couldn’t be what she thought it was. She had seen this in the museum of old technology. It was called concrete. The humans around her had laughed when they got to that section wondering what had possessed the older, less sophisticated version of themselves to use something so primitive. The guide had told them how it was used in the past and that when it came about it was a marvelous accomplishment, but the people around her just laughed.
She had been amazed at people who could do so much with so little. Now this same material was holding her captive in a room she didn’t want to be in. Slipping her hand into the pocket of the jeans she was wearing, her fingers touched a sweet ball of candy. Taking it out, she popped it into her mouth and looked around again.
Her mind searched for an explanation. How could Mick be making love to her, making her body shatter with such pleasure, and then without warning she ended up her, alone?
The jeans she was wearing were so tight she could barely breathe in them. The shirt was a crop top. Brook had explained what they were when she cut the bottom of an expensive shirt off and wore it around the house. Jaz laughed to herself. Well, she tried to wear it. Ash was determined to get it off of her. They disappeared, and it was hours later before she saw them again.
She sucked on the candy and pretended it was giving her the courage she needed not to fall apart. Her heart was racing, and the desire to pound on the walls was closing in on her. She leaned against them instead telling herself if she calmed down enough Mick would come for her.
“The humans had many prisons over the centuries that they claimed no one could break out of.”
She jumped and turned around. Dante was sitting next to where she was standing as if he had always been there.
“Can you get me out of here?”
“No, only you can do that.” His silver eyes turned to gold for a minute before they became amethyst.
“Where am I?”
He looked around. “It looks like a jail cell to me.”
She wanted to yell at him, but some sense of self-preservation told her to keep it together.
“Why am I here? I was with Mick we were…umm, we were talking and then I was here.”
Dante laughed. “I highly doubt you were talking.”
Her cheeks flushed. She knew what they were doing was right but years of being told it was wrong, illegal, still lingered in her mind. She didn’t want Mick to get hurt because of what they shared together.
“Mick’s cursed, but you already knew that. His curse means things don’t get to be nice and easy for him. He doesn’t get to be mated and have all the pieces fall into place. Each level of intimacy the two of achieve will be hard won. If he were to share a mental intimacy with you, it would make it harder for the Darkness to control him.”
Dante stood and walked around the room allowing his finger to trail over the concrete. “It’s been centuries since I’ve seen this particular substance.”
He turned to look at her, his eyes once again gold. “Those humans I told you about. The ones in the prisons that no man could escape from.”
She nodded at him remembering the prisons; a picture had popped into her head as he talked and she could see how well fortified they were.
“Some of them escaped. Those who were determined to find a way out did. Those prisons were just like this one. They had a way out, but you had to look for it.”
He was gone, and she wasn’t even surprised at this point. She was beginning to understand him just a little. He never took free will away but always seemed to let her know there was another path if she was brave enough to find it.
There was a way out of here but did she dare take it. Was she ready to face whatever was trying to keep her and Mick apart? Did she even believe that they were meant to be together? Standing she went over every section of the wall trying to find a secret door or a lever, there was nothing, with a sigh she sat down with her back against the wall.
Frustration made her hands tremble. The overwhelming sense of needing to get out and find Mick took up residence in her heart. She jumped up and went over every inch of the walls again thinking she missed something. She made herself slow down and double and tripled checked, but there was nothing, n
o way out; she grew even more concerned.
Dante said there was a way out, and she believed him. Where was it?
Maybe she had imagined Dante; there was a possibility she hit her head and this was a dream. There was always the chance that she had another virus that was unfolding, driving her crazy. She shuddered trying to ground herself.
Closing her eyes, she thought about Mick. The memory of him pulling up the floor boards at Ash’s house to find their escape route made her eyes fly open. She went on her hands and knees and began covering the floor inch by inch looking for something, anything that seemed out of place.
She found it in the middle of the room. It was a patch of concrete that was darker than the rest of the floor, but that was the only thing that gave it away.
She poked and prodded at it for at least an hour until she was so tired she laid her hand over the spot with her palm covering it entirely. Part of the floor slid back. She might have jumped, but by then she was so tired she simply smiled because she found it.
The ladder leading down was in bad shape, but she clung to it as she descended. She looked around finding a maze. The walls touched the ceiling above them, and the paths were narrow. Not knowing what else to do, she started walking hoping she would find the path that would lead her to Mick.
Chapter Sixteen
Jaz was not squeamish, her work in cryogenics allowed her to come in contact with people in need of healing in all phases of their diseases, but she never experienced the pure horror of helplessness on the faces before her. Every turn of the maze brought her into contact with a different being; most of them weren’t humanoid, and they were dying. Not just dying but being torn apart in front of her eyes and there was nothing she could do but walk on.
Walking past them went against every instinct she possessed, but she knew on a level that made no sense that only one person could help them, and she wasn’t that person. Everyone here was locked in their private hell, which made her wonder where Mick was and what he was suffering.
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