Ana stood outside Troy and Evy’s room and was just about to knock when she sensed her friend wasn’t alone. Ah, Rose. Right. X was on his first duty since being mated. Maybe she should come back later. Thing was, it had taken her all day to work up the courage to ask Evy for help in the first place. She sighed and rapped on the door lightly.
“Come in, Ana,” Evy called.
She walked in and smiled when she realized what the females were doing. Evy was working on folding what looked like an origami wolf while they looked at a diagram on her laptop.
The Seer looked up and smiled. “I found you a pattern for an eagle.”
Evy had known she was coming. Well, of course she did. She and Evy had become close and the female was so down to earth that it could be all too easy to forget who she was—basically, the most powerful being Ana knew other than the Goddess, herself. “Thanks.”
She looked at Rose’s cheetah. “That’s really amazing.”
“Thanks. I’ve been doing it since I was a girl. It just takes practice.” Rose smiled. “I think I’ll leave you ladies to chat. I’m going to head downstairs and finish unpacking before the males get back. Thanks so much for tonight, Evy.”
“Oh, of course. And thank you. I can’t believe how much the tea helps. It’s like a miracle. Oh! And you’re coming to lunch, right?”
“Definitely.” Rose handed Evy a handful of paper. “You can keep this to practice with. I have plenty.”
Evy walked her out, then turned to her friend. “What’s wrong?”
“How do you know something’s wrong? Is that some kind of Seer shit?”
“No, silly. It’s some kind of best friend shit. What’s up?”
“Well, I’ve been having this recurring dream for a really long time. Maybe for years, even. All that time I was never able to see the end until just recently and I wondered if maybe you could see more.”
“Why not ask Richard to read your thoughts?” Evy looked at her appraisingly for a moment and cocked an eyebrow. “Uh-huh. You don’t want him to know about it.”
“Not now. At least not until I’ve figured out what’s going on.”
“Okay. So what’s the dream about?”
“I think I’m about nine years old. I’m walking through the house and catch my psychotic bitch of a mother talking with someone. A male. Then the two of them disappear together.”
“Disappear? As in gleam? I didn’t think Victrixa had that kind of power.”
“She doesn’t. That’s one of the reasons I think the male might be important.”
Her friend sat on the bed, crossed her legs, and patted the duvet in front of her. “Okay, well, let’s see if we can identify Mr. Mysterious.”
Ana sat down in front of her and Evy took her hands. She closed her eyes and tried her best to relax. It was a good thing the Seer did all the work. She was too nervous to even begin to concentrate.
A few moments went by and already Ana was getting antsy. She was so tense. When she was inducted into the Order and mated to Soaring Eagle, she felt like for the first time in her life she knew who she was and where she belonged. But after the whole nagual thing. She opened one eye and peeked out. The female’s eyes were glowing their usual pearlescent color. After another moment, her big brown’s returned.
“Did you see anything?”
“Not much. But dreams are harder to access because they’re not really real. But it’s possible this dream is really a memory, right?”
Ana nodded.
“Okay, let me try this another way. I’m going to go back to that time in your life and look for the actual event. I know this is hard for you. I’ll try to be quick.”
Evy took Ana’s hands once again and began to probe through the events of her past. Some were far less than pleasant, but she was very quickly learning to keep a lid on her emotions. Otherwise, the whole Seer gig was going to drive her white ass crazy.
Finally, she was watching Ana walk down a dim hallway. She could hear voices. One was a male, so she stuck with it. She called to her mother, but she didn’t answer. She pushed open the door and Evy saw a flash of Victrixa standing with a male. As they vanished, the Seer pushed deeper and followed them as they traveled. And then she was back in the present, looking at the back of a tall, black-haired being. He was standing in some kind of cavernous room. He wasn’t a shifter, she realized. Well, that explained the travel question.
Without warning, he turned around and a blinding white light appeared in front of his face. “No!” His strange inhuman voice echoed through the chamber. “Do not see me!”
He summoned energy to his hands and sent it careening toward her, but Evy was faster. She held up her hand and blocked the energy with her palm. How the hell…? As she looked at the white light, the heat behind her eyes became unbearable and she suddenly felt herself thrust backward. She screamed as she slammed into the wall next to the window in their room. She groaned as she tried to move.
Ana ran to her side. “Evy!”
“People really need to stop doing that,” she barked.
Rose put the last of her sweaters in the closet and looked at the clock. It was already one thirty and Xavier had promised to be home by two. She was exhausted. She attributed it to a week in which she’d been attacked, mated, unemployed, and relocated. She grinned. She was seventy-five, after all. She decided to brush her teeth and change into a tank top and boxers. Then she stood looking at the bed. Deep down inside her somewhere, she still couldn’t believe this was their bed—their mating bed. There had been a time when she was younger and had hoped against hope this might happen. Over time she had gotten used to the way her life was. She was proud of all she had accomplished as a female, and an Asian female especially. But as she slipped under the duvet and let Xavier’s scent seep all the way to her marrow, all she wanted to be was his female.
Just a few moments later, Rose heard the door unlock. Xavier came in and noticed she was awake.
“Hey, female. You didn’t need to wait up.”
“That’s okay. I wanted to.”
He kissed her forehead. “I’ll be right in. I just need to take a quick shower.”
Rose picked up on her male’s scent. It was mixed with the smell of sweat and blood. Her head flashed back to when Xavier saved her the night they were mated. He was a hero. A warrior. He couldn’t get back to their bed fast enough as far as she was concerned. She waited while he went into the closet and listened to the various clicks and clocks of his weapons as he disarmed. The bathroom was his next stop. A five minute shower later and she felt her mate’s side of the bed compress. His arms came around her and he gently spooned her from behind. He smelled like her Asience shampoo. She smiled. It was really for Asian hair, but he liked the scent. He wore his hair trimmed short anyway, so it hardly mattered. She turned her face to his and kissed him softly. If he was tired, she didn’t want to keep him from sleep.
But he was far from tired, as it turned out. She grinned as he slipped her tank top up and ran those sexy lips of his across her stomach. She could have been a hundred and seventy-five and she’d still want him inside of her. Now.
Evy let Ana help her over to the bed and the female propped some pillows behind her back. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Okay? What the hell happened?” They heard Troy ask.
“I don’t know. She was reading my past and then she was across the room.”
“It’s okay, really. I’m fine, people.”
Troy sat down on the edge of the bed. “Ev, are you—”
She put her hand to his cheek. “We’re both fine, my male.”
He put his hand on her stomach. “Thank the Goddess.”
She looked up at Ana and raised a brow. “You, on the other hand, have got a mother who’s playing with far bigger things than WMDs, missy.”
Ana’s big, green eyes popped.
“That guy, the one you saw Victrixa with? That actually happened. And he’s no shifter, either,” Evy said.
> “Holy shit. Then what was he?”
“You saw me fly across the room. Do you really have to ask?” Evy answered testily.
“God, I’ve gotta find SE. Thanks for the help, Evy. You’re the best.”
“Yeah, yeah.” When the female was gone, Evy turned to her mate. He was still sitting on the bed and he looked totally stressed. Shit. How was she going to tell him about what happened? Especially since she wasn’t sure exactly what that was. Oh, who was she kidding? “Something happened in that vision, my male.”
“Other than you being thrown across the room?”
She put her hand on his thigh. “Hey, it’s okay. We’re safe.”
He nodded. “I’m sorry, babe.”
Fucking protective instinct. It was so hard to see him like this. She thought about the stories of Adriana’s kidnapping and what Richard had been like during the whole thing. She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I know. The thing is, the male Ana wanted to know about from her past knew I was watching him. That’s only happened one other time, with the Goddess, herself. He tried to attack me during the vision, my male.”
She could see him fighting past the instinct and focus on the meaning of what she’d said.
“Another God?”
“It would have to be, right? I mean, he could gleam, block me from seeing him, and then he attacked me from within the vision. What else could it be? But there’s something else.”
Troy moved closer and smoothed her hair. “What is it?”
“When he attacked me, he summoned power to him and threw it directly at me. But somehow I was able to put my hand up and block it.”
“Do you think your power might be expanding again?”
“No. I’m a seer. My power is passive. It can continue to grow, but it will never be active. This power didn’t come from me, my male. It came from our offspring. I used his power. I must have tapped into it somehow.”
“Wait, if the offspring can deflect that kind of power now at only a few weeks old, what will his abilities be like when he’s grown?”
She leaned her head on his shoulder. “I wish I knew, my male. I wish I knew.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Ana glanced at her watch while she walked down the upstairs hallway. It was just before seven. She’d just been looking for her mate down in the compound when she sensed him in this part of the house. She figured he was in Richard’s room watching the first news of the day. She was just about to knock on the door when she realized he was in the conservatory just kitty corner to the suite.
She stood quietly in the doorway for a moment, not wanting to disturb him. Her mate was sitting quietly in a wicker chair, watching the sunrise in the east. He turned to hold out his hand. She walked to him and put her hand in his.
“I’ve done something,” he said without looking up.
She kneeled down in front of him and looked up into his face. He’d been crying.
“What is it, my male? Are you alright?”
“No. I should have told you something the other night at the condo. After I sent my nagual to you.”
“Go on.”
“I did feel something. It wasn’t anything good or bad. It actually seemed totally neutral. But it was there.”
“What did you feel?” Her voice shook a little as she spoke. She tried to seem calm, but her heart was pounding so loudly she could hear it in her ears.
“It’s hard to describe. It was like fresh air, a draft coming from the outside somewhere.”
She nodded.
“That’s it. That was all I could have told you about it, but you were in such a dark place. A mood I hadn’t sensed in you since before Adriana was kidnapped. Ihkweea, I was afraid for you. I’m sorry.”
“I know.” She stood up and hugged him hard. Then she turned and walked toward the conservatory’s glass wall. “I have something to tell you, too.”
She heard the crisp sound of his boot heels on the hardwood floor, then his big hands were on her shoulders. She looked to the sunrise and turned to her mate. “It’s about the dream I’ve had all these years. The one about Victrixa and the male? I went to Evy and asked her to see what she could make of it. It turns out that it’s not just a dream, but a memory. That day really happened.”
“Was she able to identify the shifter?”
“That’s just it. It wasn’t a shifter. She said that the past shifted and she could see the being in the present. It prevented her from seeing it and then it tried to kill her. She made it out, but…”
“So it knew it was being seen. And it attacked her from within the vision?”
She nodded. “I think it’s Bane, my male. Everything inside me is telling me that it’s him. Between my dream, Evy’s vision, and Victrixa collecting naguals.”
“I think you’re right. We need to tell Reyn and Richard.” He buried his hands in her short dark waves and looked into her face, eyes glowing steadily. “I’m sorry, Ihkweea. I know we’re in this together. I’ll never keep anything from you again. I swear to you.”
She leaned up and kissed him gently on the lips, then gave him her best stern look. “You’d better not.”
He smiled, took her hand, and together they walked across the hall.
Pax was stretched out in the bed with James lying against his chest. He thought about their little hook-up for the thousandth time and smiled. He hadn’t even gotten off. Hell, he hadn’t even managed to get his pants off. But he hadn’t been thinking about himself, for once. Only James. And it felt so good. When the male’s body calmed down enough to let him sleep, Pax had thought about it for hours. To him, it was always about honor and duty. But James was a very different male. What he had done might have looked like service to the Order on the outside, and it obviously did fulfill it, but the real duty was to his friend. It was an act of mercy. Of loyalty. He’d wanted to free Seth from what he became and he couldn’t stand by while his friend was taken down and denied his afterlife. He had to be sure Seth was sent home to the Goddess.
Pax sighed. James knew all along what it would cost him, but he hadn’t given a thought to himself. He was the most selfless person he had ever known, but the thought of what the whole thing might do to him frightened Pax. James was so quick to sacrifice, just like when he’d taken that bullet. Goddess, the bullet.
He brushed the hair off the brother’s forehead. “I should go.”
“I know. Just a little longer.”
He wrapped his arms around him and the male settled back in. Pax knew neither one of them were ready to be together. They both had a lot of healing to do. But when he was ready, there was no one else he wanted.
“James, you know last night wasn’t some kind of pity fuck, right? You know that…”
The male looked up at him. “What, you love me?”
Pax knew he was teasing, but that didn’t stop him from blushing. “I’ve wanted you since the very first time you were with us at dinner. Do you remember that night?”
James looked thoughtful for a moment.
“My eyes were glowing, weren’t they?”
The male’s hazel eyes grew wide as the full meaning penetrated his gray matter. “I just thought you were being friendly.”
“Oh, I’d have been friendly alright.”
James jabbed Pax in the ribs. “Stalker!”
The male smiled and looked down at his lap. “The thing is, I want to be with you. But I know I’m not ready. And if we try it too soon, I’m gonna fuck it up. I know it. It’s not fair to ask you to wait for me, and I wouldn’t want you to keep from seeing other males or anything like that.”
James put his fingers to Pax’s soft, full lips. “There are no other males.”
The brother looked into his eyes and nodded before dropping a quick kiss on his cheek. “I’m about ten minutes late meeting Dies and I need a shower.”
James nodded. The moment Pax slid out of bed, he missed him. As the door closed, a heavy weight settled in his chest. He had a feeling it was going to be
with him for a very long time. He suddenly felt very tired. He wrapped himself up in the duvet and closed his eyes.
Rose sat with the Order’s females in the living area of Adrianna’s suite. Apparently, they had a tradition of ordering different salads and sharing them. She looked around the room from where she sat in the recliner and smiled in spite of herself. They were all so amazing, each in her own way. Helen was so intelligent. Evy was powerful and feisty. Adriana was an amazing leader and mother of the first New Breed offspring. And Ana… Well, she hadn’t spent any real time with her yet, but she was the Order’s only female warrior. Enough said.
Adriana passed her a hand-written list. “Rose, do you know which salad you’d like? It’s your first lunch, so you get first pick.”
“Mary makes all these? Wow. Um, I’ll have the fruit salad.”
The door to the hall opened and Ana came in with the nagual hot on her heels, so to speak. Rose watched it perch on her shoulder as she found a spot on the floor. It really did take some getting used to. “Sorry I’m late, everyone. Are we ordering?”
“Just started,” Helen answered.
“How’s your morning sickness, Evy?” Rose asked.
Evy gave her a big grin. “It’s so much better already. I can’t believe how much the tea helps. I’m actually eating lunch today.”
“That’s great. I’m so glad it’s helping.”
“Thank fuck. What a grouch.” Ana grinned.
Evy crossed her eyes.
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