“Only where your heart is concerned, but Liasare, I can assure you there’s nothing soft about me,” he said as he started moving his hips.
She had to agree with him on that.
Chapter Thirty-Two
They were naked, sitting in bed facing each other and she was going over everything he had just told her.
“So what you’re telling me is that Apollyon, or The Destroyer is Abaddon and I’m the one that’s supposed to take him out, right?”
Jurek sliced his head up and down once.
“I’m outta here.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Liasare scraped her teeth across her bottom lip and bit it for a minute. “Do you remember when we first met and I acted like I was all brave and everything?”
“Yes, and I thought it was so sexy of you too.” He reached out to caress her breast, circling it with the pad of his thumb.
“If you keep that up, I’ll never tell you my story.”
“I find I can’t be near you without touching you, Liasare.”
“I understand,” she agreed, as her hand rested on the markings on his hip. “Well, I was shaking in my boots. Literally. I was scared to death. I pretty much have been since day one. Do you remember that night Tak found me outside the warehouse?”
“How could I forget? I was pleasantly surprised to see you again, but I didn’t want you to know that,” he confessed. He moved his hand from her breast and began brushing the backs of his fingers across her ribs.
“I was so scared, I didn’t even have the nerve to come inside. I had gotten chased, and I still don’t know how I lost those stinking Xanthians, but the only place I knew to run was back to you. You scared the crap out of me too. When I got back to the warehouse, I paced outside the door, too chicken to open it or to even knock. So I hid across the street, behind those trashcans, seriously frightened to death. For some reason, being that close to you made me feel safe. It was like you frightened the crap out of me, but made me feel safe at the same time. It confused the hell out of me. Anyway, then Tak found me and hauled my ass inside and you accused me of spying. I thought I was going to die.”
“I remember.” He cupped her face and was sliding his thumb back and forth across her cheek. “Your face looked as white as a sheet.”
“What I’m trying to tell you here is that I’m nothing but a chicken shit. I always have been, ever since all the kids made fun of me when I was a bundle of scars. I’ve tried to put on a brave face, but it’s nothing but a facade. Hell, why do you think my language is so nasty? That’s all part of my facade too. I don’t have what it takes to do this. I’m nothing but a clump of nerves as it is, but being expected to kill Satan, or whoever the hell he is, is way out of my league.” She clutched her hands together, trying not to look like the huge ninny she knew she was, but it was too late. Jurek had already seen her hands trembling.
He gave her a long hard look and then asked, “Do you think I’d send you in there alone or expect you to do this by yourself? You’ll have a team of Praestani at your disposal, including myself. I’ll not let anything happen to you.”
“We’re talking about the anti-Christ here Jurek. Get real. How strong is this dude? We need God and his army of archangels or something like that! Not a team of Praestani. No offense, but we’re not enough,” she argued.
“Okay. First things first. I need to teach you mind control. That’s our priority now. Once you have that mastered, we can move around freely, without worrying about Mr. A showing up and trancing you into following him in your sleep. He’s nothing but a mindfuck anyway.”
Liasare flew out of the bed and jumped up and down doing some sort of a jig.
“What the hell’s wrong with you?” Jurek wanted to know, chuckling. “I didn’t think you liked to dance.”
“I didn’t think you had a sense of humor,” she sassed. “I just remembered something,” she shouted as she slapped herself in the head. “Ouch! That hurt!” She hit herself a little too hard.
He rolled his eyes. “So what did you remember?”
“My dream. He came again and tried to get me, but I pushed him and the monsters away.”
“Good girl! How’d you do it?”
So she explained in detail and concluded with finding Jurek on the floor. He coaxed her into trying it again, but this time in her mind. The block for her, it seemed, didn’t come in the form of a window shade. It came as a fence or a shield. She had to imagine pushing it out with her hands and it seemed to work that way. They practiced for several hours, until her head started to pound.
“Tomorrow, we’ll try this with the others. We’ll see if Tak, Ludo and Marik can get to your thoughts. Liasare, I’m going to tell them to put you through an endurance test of the mind. You won’t like it and your head will be throbbing at the end of each day. We’re going to do this for at least three days. Then I’ll bring in Naroo. She’s an expert in mind control. When you can block Naroo, I’ll feel comfortable in going back to the way things were, but not until then. Okay?”
Liasare nodded, although she was not looking forward to it.
***
As promised, the next three days were torture. Tak was especially brutal. For some reason, their relationship had deteriorated to the point of open hostility. Everyone noticed it. When Jurek questioned her about it, she shrugged it off and wouldn’t give him a clear response. Tak did the same when Jurek questioned him.
There hadn’t been any opportunity for Liasare to question Tak, but she fully intended to find out what was going on in that mind of his. The following day, Tak, Ludo and Marik put her through the steps again. Her mind felt like it was stretched, pulled, torn, shredded and everything in between. At the end of the day, she crawled into bed with a cold cloth on her pounding skull. She didn’t even want to converse with Jurek.
He brought her a tray of food and she tried to refuse to eat.
“Liasare, I’ll force you to eat if you don’t do this on your own. Your strength is extremely important and you can’t afford to skip any meals. So what’s it going to be?”
She ate, albeit begrudgingly. After the first few bites, her appetite soared and she felt so much better when she finished. She sheepishly thanked Jurek, and actually had the decency to blush. He grinned and preened like a silly peacock.
Men! Can’t they ever be humble?
Two days later Naroo made her appearance. Under any other circumstance, Liasare would have been overjoyed to see her. Today, however, she was shaking like a stupid leaf flapping in the wind. She tried not to show her nervousness, but it was no use. Tak made several snide remarks, which she chose to ignore. That was unusual, but her anxiety level was sky high and her heart was hammering so loudly, she couldn’t think clearly enough to come up with an adequate riposte.
Once Naroo began, she understood what Jurek had been talking about. She was powerful. Liasare’s mind felt raped and pillaged when they’d finished. She was certain every secret, every emotion she had safely locked away in her box of unshared memories had been discovered by Naroo. Her mind felt like it had been flayed, dissected and left open to bleed to death.
Liasare was an emotional wreck. She trudged to her room and didn’t even get to the bed. She slid down the wall and sat there with her head lying on her arms, as they rested on her raised knees. She’d never felt so battered in her life.
She didn’t hear him enter; she only smelled his presence and felt the fan of his breath as he knelt before her. “That bad, huh?”
“Ugh, the absolute worst.” She didn’t even move her head.
“What can I do for you? Can I run you a bath? Bring you some wine? Or some brandy perhaps?”
“A bath, some wine and you, please.”
“Anything to please you.”
A few minutes later, he lifted her up and carried her into the bathroom. Stripping off her clothes, and then his, he sat her in the large tub in front of him between his legs and let her lay back against him. Handing h
er a glass of wine, she relaxed as he massaged her neck and head.
“Mmmm. That feels so good. Thanks for taking such good care of me.”
“I aim to please. Besides, Naroo put you through hell today. I’m sorry it was so horrible. I couldn’t bear to watch. I know you weren’t aware of it but I was only in there for a short period of time. I could feel your anguish tearing at me. Liasare, she couldn’t get through.”
That brought Liasare out of her exhausted stupor and she sat up so quickly, she knocked Jurek’s wine out of his hand that he was about to raise to his lips.
“What did you say?” she asked, twirling around to face him.
He beamed and said, “I think you heard me. Naroo couldn’t get in. Even when she had you at your worst, when you were so drained, she couldn’t breach your shield. She told me she was extremely impressed.”
“You’re not screwing around with me are you?”
“Not yet, but I’d like to be shortly,” he said smirking.
“Jurek!” she splashed him. “I’m serious!”
“I am too, on both accounts. She couldn’t get through your shields Liasare. You’re good; actually, you’re epic. I trust her abilities more than anyone’s. If Naroo thinks you’re good, I think you’re good.”
Liasare just stared at him.
“You doubt my words?” he asked incredulously.
“Oh please. Don’t go all kingly on me here. I’m surprised because I totally felt like Naroo shredded my mind, chewed it up into tiny pieces and spit it back out at me. I could barely walk back here and honestly, I don’t know how I made it. I was positive she’d uncovered my deepest darkest secrets and it was killing me.”
He cocked his head at that odd angle and narrowed his eyes. “What kind of deep dark secrets might you have?”
She squiggled around so her back was facing him again and his arms snatched her and spun her back to where she was.
“Oh no you don’t. Spill it Liasare.”
“Most of them you know Jurek. They’re things that are of no consequence, things I don’t care to talk about. Unhappy memories, that sort of thing.”
He let out a long breath. “I don’t like the fact that you have unhappy memories. Why won’t you tell me about them?”
“Because they’re a part of Sarah St. Davis who is no more. I want a life filled with better memories with you. Richer memories. That’s why I want to be Liasare from now on. And besides, you know the worst ones anyway.”
“Come here,” he said, pulling her into his lap. “I hope to make a lot of great memories with you Liasare Davidson, mate of Alaric Herdekian. There’s something I’d like to ask you.”
“Yeah, what is it?”
“I know on Vesturon, wedding ceremonies are important, so I was wondering if you would like to have one?”
“Are you asking me to marry you?”
“I suppose I am.”
“But according to your laws, or whatever, aren’t we considered married already?”
“Well, yes, but...”
“Then that’s good enough for me.”
Jurek looked at Liasare as she looked at her hands beneath the surface of the water. He wasn’t really buying it, but he’d let her have this say for now.
“If you’re sure about that, but I would love to do it your way as well.”
“No, I’m good.” He nodded, but he couldn’t help feeling disappointed either.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Praestan
They were back on Praestan. Liasare thought it unwise for them to go to Vesturon. She decided she would take no chances where her nieces’ and nephews’ safety were concerned.
They went directly to Jurek’s home this time and not the sanctuary. Liasare was in awe; his home was magnificent.
“Er, a little warning would have been nice.” She looked around at the stunning views from every window. They were standing in the private living area that was right off their bedroom. It was a large room filled with furniture that was nothing but wide flat bench like sofas filled with tons of cushions. The floors were made of smooth stone and there were water features built into one on the walls. The room was soft, the lighting, the furniture, everything about it oozed comfort and softness. Liasare fell in love with it at first sight.
Jurek watched her every expression and smiled every time she saw something new. The icing on the cake was when he showed her their bedroom suite. Every bit as grand as the sanctuary, Liasare gasped when she entered the room. It was lush, soft and extravagant. Silken bed linens, plush carpeting, gorgeous paintings and wonderful views combined to create a perfect place to nest. The bathroom was exactly like the one in the sanctuary and Liasare was eager to use the shower and bathtub. She grinned at Jurek when she saw it.
When she walked in the huge closet, she was astonished to see stacks and rows of clothing for her. Jurek smiled and shrugged when she opened her mouth to speak.
“You needed clothing so I took the liberty of taking care of that small task. Are you tired, hungry? Can I get you anything? I need to attend to some things before Rykerian and January arrive later this afternoon.”
“No, I’ll take a short nap and maybe read a little. Go ahead and do what you need to do.”
They kissed and he was gone.
Liasare sat on one of the comfy sofas and started thinking about the beautiful series of waterfalls and pools of sparkling emerald green water she and Jurek had dipped in when they had been here last. Those waterfalls she loved so much were simply amazing and she wished she knew the way there so she could check them out again. The next thing she knew, she was standing next to them.
“Oh sweet baby bunnies! How the hell did I do that? Where am I and how the hell am I going to get back?” she said out loud. She threw her hands up in the air and started pacing.
“Jurek! Jurek!” she screamed. And then she yelled, “Alaric!”
She heard a popping noise and she flew in his arms. She was trembling and having a total freak out. Her heart was in her throat and her palms had turned to sweat. “Oh, thank God you’re here.”
“Calm down. It’s okay Liasare. You just transported yourself here. You’ve advanced another degree,” he laughed.
“Holy shit! Someone needs to give me a fucking manual because this is making me mental, I’m telling you. Crap!”
Jurek laughed even harder. “Damn Liasare, you do have a way with words, but I would prefer less colorful language coming from that beautiful mouth. In fact, I would prefer this instead.” He proceeded to kiss her, passionately, making her forget everything but his demanding lips, velvety tongue and sinful taste.
When he eventually ended the kiss, she felt like he’d stolen some valuable treasure from her. Sensing her loss, he breathed, “It’s only temporary, Liasare. There’s always more where that came from.”
“Hmmm, I guess I’ll always feel like that when you end a kiss. They’re like heaven to me,” she smiled as she traced his brows with her thumbs. “I was serious about the manual Jurek. This really is driving me nuts. One minute my butt is sitting on the sofa and the next I’m standing by the waterfalls wondering how the hell I got here! This is making me psycho!”
“I get it. Listen, now that we know you can do this, which is epically impressive by the way, what you need to do is never wish you were somewhere. That’s the trick, love. When you think about it and wish it, that’s the key to shifting into your energy form and traveling there.”
“Like I’m gonna remember all this stuff. I don’t know how you do it.”
He pulled her into his arms and laughed again. “I’ve had five hundred years to practice.”
“Oh, well gee, that makes me feel so much better. So by the year 2530, I should be pretty much set then, right?”
“No promises here,” he smirked. He was making fun of her so she drew back and punched him in the shoulder. “Damn, Liasare. That hurt!”
“Serves you right for poking fun.”
“Yeah, speaking of p
oking.”
“You have a one track mind buddy.”
“What’s your point?”
She rolled her eyes. “Okay, I’m going to try this thing and hopefully get us back to the house. Hold my hand just in case.”
She concentrated on wanting to be back there and wishing she was there, but somehow they ended up in a broom closet.
***
Jurek and Liasare were standing in one of the many living areas. He had given her the grand tour of his home, which was more like a mansion, and she decided it would take days before she had this place figured out. They had wandered through room after room filled with beautiful artwork, gorgeous furnishings, priceless artifacts and so many other things Liasare couldn’t wrap her brain around them all. Her mind was addled with everything that was Jurek and he eventually pulled her aside and calmed her, assuring her these things were meaningless compared to her. At some point, she came to terms with what it meant to be Jurek’s mate.
January and Rykerian were shown in a few minutes later. Liasare still was angry with them for the way they handled the Tommy issue. What she hadn’t expected was their reaction to her appearance. She hadn’t noticed much of a change, other than the absence of her scars. Jurek told her constantly how beautiful she was, but she just thought it was because he was emotionally tied to her. Apparently her physical appearance had undergone quite an alteration.
“Sarah? Oh my God! I’m not sure I would have recognized you,” January gushed as she moved to embrace her. “What happened to your scars? My God, you were beautiful before, but now you’re, you’re perfect!”
“I’m sorry January, but if you call me Sarah, one more time, I’m going to beat you. And Rykerian, take that look off your face because I’ll beat you too. That girl you once knew is gone. My name is Liasare and I would ask you to remember that.”
Jurek stepped to Liasare’s side saying, “She means business too.” Then he gave January a hug. “To answer your question, I took her scars away for her.”
Dangerous Lovers Page 140