“Yes you are,” she giggled. “We’re kind of connected, Bray.” She rocked her hips softly in a way that made is solid cock throb even harder than he already was.
“I meant it’s none of my business.” He kissed her sweetly.
“It is your business,” she offered after pulling back from the sweet kiss. “It’s all of our business as long as were all stuck here.”
He nodded. He wasn’t going to argue with the empath. “Everyone’s been saying you used to work for the Seven.”
“Worked for. That’s a joke. I still work for them. You can never leave them, Bray. Remember that.”
“Why not?”
“They force you to do things.”
“Like how?”
“They’ll threaten to hurt or even take your family. Like they did mine.”
Brayden’s eyes widened. “Oh, my God. Bryn.” He pulled her into a tight hug. “I’m so sorry.” When they’d pulled back he could feel her inside his feelings. He’d been feeling her before, but now it was like an empathic hug she wasn’t withdrawing from. He moved his feelings into hers; holding her tight. She seemed to relax with the two of them so tightly entwined like this. He just wanted to hold her now and never let go. She needed to be held.
“So that’s why you won’t leave.”
She nodded.
“You told Wynn this, obviously.”
“He doesn’t understand. His family was taken and killed long ago. He never knew them. He was raised in the protection of the Dominion. The Dominion faith can be very fundamentalist, and rigid. I think I was the first real girlfriend he’s actually ever had.”
“I’ve heard the stories,” Brayden admitted.
“I wasn’t going to turn him in, you know? But he wouldn’t leave me alone. The Seven are cunning, Bray. They found out about us. At that point I was stuck. I had to reel him in.”
“But you do like him. I can feel it.” The sensation of feeling O’Brien’s warmth for the guy was strange, but intriguing.
“I do, but I don’t know if it’s because of who he is or if it’s just me feeling sorry for him.”
“Yea, I can feel that. Feels like it’s a little of both.”
“You can feel that in me?” she asked.
He nodded.
“Oh, thank you Brayden. I was hoping someone would be able to help me sort these feelings out.”
“Maybe you just need to date for a while.”
“Like you and Parker.”
“Yea. We’ve been dating for a little while.”
“Are you going to marry him?”
“Both him and Carissa.”
“Wow. That’s really sweet. The three of you. You really like her. I can feel her within you.”
“I don’t know her. I think what you’re feeling is just our attraction. But, yea, if Parker fell in love with her, I probably will as well.”
“Do you think it will work, with the three of you?”
“I don’t know, why?”
“Oh, you can feel why, silly.”
He could. Bryn had grown some deep feelings for Lear.
“You don’t think Brooke and Dade like each other?”
“She’s not big on him. But that’s probably my fault. I haven’t been very kind with they way I’ve been talking about him.”
“We have to be careful now, Bryn. We’re kind of a family now. A team.”
“I know. I liked what Cierra said about all of us today. She’s kind of taken the lead in pulling us all together.”
“I liked what she said too.”
“Brayden?”
“Hmmm?”
“I think I like you.”
“Oh yea?”
“I mean, a lot.”
“You’re very sweet, Bryn. I’m sorry you have to be caught up in all of this.”
“I’ll survive, but, I may need to swipe you from your boyfriend now and then.”
He smiled and chuckled. “You can swipe me any time you like, Bryn. But—what about Brooke?”
“She’s beautiful, Bray, but she’s not going to last—I mean, as friend.”
Brayden’s face grew concerned. “Why not?”
“She’s not like the rest of us.”
“Because of her tattoo?”
“Yes, but it’s more than that. Everyone will soon be looking for people, others like her. The truth is, I hid Brooke from them, like I tried to hide Dade.
“You don’t like the Seven. I can feel that.”
“I don’t; I just do what they tell me to stay alive.”
“Why did you bring her here?”
“It wasn’t intentional. I was going to let her go, but I had to bring her here to keep her out of the hands of the Seven. They may have her, but they don’t know it. But I know what she is.”
“So you’re supposed to be like their spy here. Keeping an eye on all of us.”
“I told you, I work for them. I don’t have a choice.”
“I understand. But we need to tell the others.”
“Brooke and Dade already know. Do you think the others will hate me?”
“You just have to be honest, Bryn. They’ll respect you for that. So Wynn already knows, huh?”
“He knows, Bray. But he won’t say anything. He wants to protect me.”
“We’ll all protect you, Bryn. You don’t need to worry about that. But tomorrow you need to come clean about all of this, and what you know about Brooke.”
“I will. I promise.”
31
B reakfast was being set onto the table just as the guys wandered into the dining area.
“Wow, ladies,” Parker sat down at a grouping of four smaller tables that the girls had pulled together for all of them to sit at as a family. “You didn’t have to make breakfast.”
“Sure we did,” Romero smiled. “Besides, you guys can make dinner.”
“What we need is a grill,” Wynn groused.
“You’ll need to settle for something steamed, buddy,” Brayden snarked. “Unless you know how to burn ice.”
“No doubt,” Wynn chuckled.
“Brooke is vegan, guys,” O’Brien reminded.
“You are?” Parker looked surprised.
“You can still grill veggies, Bryn,” Wynn offered. “I’ve grilled all kinds of stuff. Asparagus. Potatoes. Corn on the cob. Even apples.”
“Oooh, that sounds fabulous, Dade,” Lear agreed. “You can grill an apple for me anytime.”
“Is this a special occasion?” Tyler asked taking a seat.
“It could be.” Romero set microwaved entrées on plates in front of people. “It’s not exactly what I would call gourmet, but it’s at least edible.”
“What’s the occasion?” Wynn asked taking a bite.
“Friends.” Romero took her own chair.
“I like the sound of that.” Parker smiled at all of them.
“I just thought we could get to know each other. We’ve been eating in small groups or by ourselves. I thought it would be good for all of us to share at least one meal together everyday. My family always ate together.”
“You look Latino, Cierra,” Brayden began, “but you speak like an American.”
“Brazilian.”
“Ah, don’t tell me that. Brazilians are way too hot,” Wynn complimented.
“You’re not so bad yourself, Dade.” She half smiled, taking a bite of her breakfast.
“Really?” he looked surprised.
“Especially in those clothes.”
“Careful, Dade,” Tyler warned. “She will mess you up.”
“She can mess me up anytime,” Wynn replied, not taking his eyes off of Romero’s.
“How did you get stuck with all of us?” Brayden asked Romero.
“I was on a flight to Miami to see family I haven’t seen before. When we landed I got stuck in customs. They kept sending me back to stand in front of their x-ray wall.”
O’Brien nodded. “It’s called a backscatter x-ray. They were originally dev
eloped to detect weapons, until someone found out they can also be used to detect subtle auras present in awakened, newbloods included.”
“I guess I kept setting the thing off, but it didn’t show any weapons or contraband. After a few hours I was arrested for illegal possession.”
“Of what?” Brayden asked.
“Her genetics,” Wynn answered. “The Secret Laws. All of the Seven-controlled governments have them now. It’ll a capital offense to be awakened, or even just have the ability to become awakened.”
“What do you mean by ‘the ability to become awakened’?” Parker asked.
“Not everyone survives an awakening, Parker.” Tyler added.
“His first name is Winter, Chase.” Romero corrected. “We’re friends here.”
“It’s okay. I actually prefer Parker, Cierra. It’s what everybody calls me.”
She nodded.
“So these awakenings,” Parker continued, “they don’t always work? What happens when they don’t?”
“You don’t wake up. Some people just die within minutes or hours. But none of us are going to have that problem. As newbloods we’re practically awakened already.”
“What happens to us when we’re awakened?”
“You’ll become a god, Parker,” O’Brien chimed in.
“Like Carissa?” he asked.
“Not like Carissa,” she corrected. “Like Zeus.”
“You’re saying that with a straight face, Bryn. Seriously? There’s a ‘Zeus’?”
She nodded setting down a juice glass.
“She’s right,” Tyler offered. “The prophecies say the gods will all die out and then be reborn. That’s where the newbloods come from.”
“He’s right,” Wynn added. “It’s why the Dark and the Seven were looking for us so diligently. I actually met a goddess once. Totally hot.”
“Who was she?” Parker asked.
“Elizabeth Connor.”
“I’ve heard of her,” Lear entered their conversation. “She’s on Dominion’s YouTube channel. Bryn and I watched their Christmas Story a couple of weeks ago. The woman can sing.”
“Yea, there’s a reason. She’s a goddess.”
“Does your church actually worship her?” Romero asked.
“It’s more like venerate. Like the Catholic Church venerates Mary. I don’t know that anyone actually worships her.”
“We pretty much worship Mary, Dade,” Romero corrected.
“Apostle Connor tries to downplay the goddess rumors, but everyone in Dominion pretty much knows what she is now.”
“What’s she like?” Brayden asked.
“We talked for like an hour after a Temple service she was giving a couple of years ago. It was like she knew who and what I was because she just walks right up to me and introduces herself.”
“I’ve heard the gods can sense newbloods.” Tyler said.
“She could,” Wynn agreed. “She zeroed in on me out of a crowd of thousands.”
“Were you two attracted?”
“I was. Totally.”
“She was too, I’m sure,” O’Brien offered. “I’m only able to sense people empathically if I’m touching them, but the gods can sense us if we’re just around them.”
“I wonder why she didn’t awaken you?” Lear asked.
“She said they would, but at the time, I really had no idea what that was. I was having a hard time with just believing the whole Apostle-Goddess thing. They won’t awaken you if you don’t want to.”
“The Seven don’t awaken you either,” O’Brien added. “Goddesses are too difficult to control. They only have a handful of awakened.”
“You’re talking about Scott North.”
O’Brien nodded.
“Who is he?” Romero asked.
“Someone who left the Dark after he’d been awakened and trained by the clan; the Seven recruited him. He’s the reason the Dark don’t just awaken anyone now.”
“They shouldn’t do that.” Lear looked stormy. “It’s our birthright to be awakened.”
“It’s a bad idea to awaken evil gods.” Wynn frowned.
Lear pursed her lips but said nothing.
“I guess we need to get to Bethlehem then,” Parker mused. “It sounds like the Dominion actually has connections to the gods.”
“They do. But they’re in Michigan and we’re a little stuck here in the Yukon.” Wynn frowned.
* * * * *
Someone was following her. She could feel it. She couldn’t see them, but someone was on her tail. She moved through the late evening corridors of the massive cruise ship, the small golden pistol already in her hand. She felt the feeling again, but the corridor was empty.
Dammit. Whoever it was, they were good. How could her danger senses be going off but she not feel them?
She quickly moved to the aft of the sailing vessel and out onto the deck where a tropical island breeze blew cooler, but still warm; a lot warmer than the last cruise she’d been assigned to looking for newblood.
The deck was empty. The feeling of danger had now waned but someone was or had been following her. She just needed to—
“Hello, Christie.”
The voice from behind her was familiar. She whirled with the speed of a demigoddess toward the inside of the overhanging deck. She hadn’t seen him in months. But she’d heard about him.
“Ian.” A sudden shudder moved through her. She firmed her grip around the golden weapon but didn’t point it at him.
“Finally find enough money to take a cruise?” Ian was taller, dark haired but with his typical bleach-blonde two-tone hip comb-over style. His clothes hid nothing of the cut, killer supermodel male curves and bulges beneath them. God he was easy on the eyes. But she also knew what he’d become. He was one of the ones who’d gotten away from her. Ian wasn’t just an awakened newblood. Ian was evolved—a sun god. One of the most powerful beings the Ra had ever seen. A prince of Interra, the ruling city of the Sentinel gods, he had the power of the Masters at his command. She was in trouble and both of them knew it.
“What are you doing here?” She ignored the quip.
“Looking for you, obviously.” He pushed away from the ship’s pillar that held up the next deck fifteen feet above them.
“I didn’t think you cared about me anymore,” she laid on a little sarcasm.
“Oh I care, about other newbloods. What I didn’t know, up until a few days ago, was that you were awakened and working for the Seven.”
“Everyone needs a job, Ian,” she quipped.
“You weren’t really my girlfriend.”
“Not true.” She smiled.
“Don’t lie to me.”
She couldn’t sense him for some reason, but she was pretty sure he could sense her. She easily noticed the gold band on his finger. Her demigoddess mind connected the dots quickly. Carissa. She’d given both guys keys. The rings allowed her to snoop, to keep tabs on Parker. The bitch obviously had some connections to Interra—and now Ian had taken notice.
“You’re right. You were my assignment. The Seven even sponsored the show. They knew it would attract all kinds of newbloods. Obviously they were right.”
“You’re newblood hunting days are over, Christie.” He moved toward her.
She now trained the weapon on him. “That’s far enough, Ian. Don’t make me use this.”
“Ion pistols?” he half grinned. “Seriously?”
She fired. Four shots. Expertly aimed right for his chest.
Ian’s hand stretched out as the skin around his palm and forearm illuminated with a subtle golden glow. Each of the white-hot ionic blasts entered his palm harmlessly. The golden weapon was suddenly, invisibly ripped from her grasp and flew into Ian’s outstretched hand. The gun then vanished in a subtle flash of color.
“You really don’t want to mess with a sun god—just sayin’.”
She glared. “Go to hell, Ian.”
“Oh, I’ve been there. I was dating you, remember?”
She blew him a sarcastic kiss.
“Where are Parker and Michaels?”
Christie’s mind raced. He didn’t already know? “You’re the all-powerful god now. You figure it out.”
“Oh I will. Trust me.”
“You won’t find them.”
“Them?”
“Hmmm, hmmm,” Christie nodded, a new smirk growing across her face. “Seven of them, actually. I have them all in the little palm of my hand. Touch me and you’ll never see any of them again.”
“I could drop you to a small pile of ash in an instant.”
“I’m sure you could.” That thought unnerved her for a moment. But she had a trump card keeping her alive and she played it. “And then all seven of them are dead. Starving to death. Slowly. I’m the only one who knows where they are.”
“You always were a mega bitch.”
“I have my moments. Let me go, Ian. Or seven newbloods are history.”
“Not a chance.”
Christie suddenly found herself standing in an interrogation room, no longer on the cruise ship. Someone else was there she recognized.
“Carissa—” Christie scowled. She wasn’t just in deep now. The Dark woman had a reputation—make that her brother did; one Christie wasn’t about to mess with. She held onto her trump card tightly.
“Where are Parker and Brayden?” Carissa demanded.
“Get serious. You can go to hell with Ian. I’ll never tell.”
Ian met eyes with Carissa as both talked empathically between themselves.
“Alright, I’ll give you deal,” Carissa began. “Tell me where they are and we’ll put you right back where Ian found you.”
“Not good enough. I know how you people operate. It’s a trick. No dice.”
“Tell me where they are, or believe me, I’ll beat it out of you.” Christie could see Carissa meant business. She doubled down.
“Go head. Touch me and I will never tell you where they are. I’ll let them all die in hell first. Then I’ll tell you where they are.” She smiled. “You’ll have all kinds of fun collecting their bodies.”
32
W here’s Dade? We’re supposed to be pumping ice.” Parker met up with Brayden and Tyler in one of the rooms they’d fashioned into a gym.
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