What about Nate? Has his future been cast for him as it has for me? Has our link to each other been determined all along as the manufacturing of some fucking super power couple?
From the moment I met Nate, the attraction was instantaneous. Could this Copula inside of me be the sole reason Nate and I feel an attraction to each other?
I stop walking and look out into the sea. Breathing in deeply, using the cuff of my sweatshirt to wipe away any evidence of my fear and anger in the form of tears, I turn around and start back to the villa to get answers.
I slam the door shut behind me, and walk up to the table where Ezra and Nate are still sitting. “Are you implanted? Was my mother implanted?”
Ezra responds, “Yes, and so is every other guardian in our fellowship.”
“Where’s your implant?”
Ezra shifts, turning his head to reveal the nape of his neck. “They’re all implanted here. It’s the closest spot to the central nervous system. I was implanted when Sebastian took me under his wing.”
Ezra shakes his head, almost as if to clear his memory of the pain from the process, but he isn’t fast enough to block me.
Images flash through my mind. The sedative needle … the scalpel slicing through delicate skin at the base of his neck—the stream of blood releasing—the implantation of the device—the Copula—which is nearly the size of a half dollar—Ezra opening his eyes to Sebastian hovering over him.
I turn to Nate to see if he saw it in Ezra too. By his expression, I know that he has. His mouth forms a thin line, and his arms cross in front of his chest as he stares at Ezra.
I need proof. When could it have happened? I don’t remember any surgeries as a child.
Ezra reads me. “It’s done in infancy. Your mother and I—we decided to perform the surgery immediately following your birth.”
I point to Ezra. “Wait, you just hesitated. There’s something else. What is it?”
Shifting in his seat, he looks at Nate and me with warning. “ Don’t interrupt me until I’m finished telling you what I’m about to say.”
End of Sample
To continue reading Descend, download your full-length copy.
Published by
Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing, LLC.
Algonquin, IL 60102
Copyright 2016 Venessa Kimball
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Published by
Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing, LLC.
Novi, Michigan 48374
This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious and are products of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual events, or locales or persons, living or dead are entirely coincidental.
Edited by Kristina Circelli -Red Road Editing
and
Dawn Miller Editing
Cover and Formatting
Dreams2Media
Dedicated to the strong women in my life that have passed on:
Great-grandmother, Olivia Ramirez, Grandma Gladys Bean “Big Mom,” and Grandma Amelia Vuittonet Castillo. You are no longer among us, but always with us, no matter time or space.
“An invisible red thread connects those destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstances. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break.”
—Ancient Chinese Proverb
DESCEND
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: GOOD MORNING
CHAPTER 2: ALTERED
CHAPTER 3: PROGENY
CHAPTER 4: THE LOST SON
CHAPTER 5: ALLY
CHAPTER 6: THE CRUX
CHAPTER 7: BESTOW
CHAPTER 8: RESIST
CHAPTER 9: FIRST WAVE
CHAPTER 10: NOT A DATE
CHAPTER 11: CRUEL FATE
CHAPTER 12: DREAM AND LITTLE DREAM
CHAPTER 13: MUTINY
CHAPTER 14: LINE IN THE SAND
CHAPTER 15: FAMILY TIES
CHAPTER 16: SLEEPLESS NIGHT
CHAPTER 17: SEEING ME
CHAPTER 18: DISARMING
CHAPTER 19: THE MARK
CHAPTER 20: BOUND
CHAPTER 21: TRUST
CHAPTER 22: SNOWFLAKES
CHAPTER 23: FOUND
CHAPTER 24: GUESTS
CHAPTER 25: CASUALTIES
CHAPTER 26: ELEVATE
CHAPTER 27: GHOSTS IN MY HEAD
CHAPTER 28: THE SLIP
CHAPTER 29: STRIKE
CHAPTER 30: THE PACT
CHAPTER 31: THE PLAN
CHAPTER 32: DOWN THE HATCH
CHAPTER 33: CRIES IN THE FOREST
CHAPTER 34: OFFERING
CHAPTER 35: THE EDGE IS NEAR
CHAPTER 36: PASSAGE
CHAPTER 37: LEFT
CHAPTER 38: THE PROMISE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
SNEAK PEEK OF ASCEND: A COPULA CHRONICLES NOVEL, BOOK 3
CHAPTER 1: ON GUARD
CHAPTER 2: LINK RULES
CHAPTER 1: GOOD MORNING
Jesca
I am still in bed. I should be in my car, heading to Ms. Olivia’s in an hour to open the store. For someone who recently acquired stealthy speed as a super power, I’m moving like a snail. Since the night we lost Corinna, sleep has not been my friend. Not like it ever has really.
Ezra told me the nightmares would come back with intensity when we left the facility. He said to tell him when they got bad again, but I haven’t mentioned it to him. Being underground in the facility had its fringe benefits.
Because of our link to each other, Nate’s the only one who knows how bad they’ve gotten. Ezra says that we are linked, or coupled, because of our abilities. I’m not sure about that, but I know that Nate and I have become inseparable since he joined us in Miami two months ago. Sebastian and Ezra made the call that I needed a partner. While I can physically protect myself with my abilities and don’t need a babysitter to hold my hand, I can’t deny that our abilities together are more powerful. I also can’t deny that Nate’s presence has made me feel less vulnerable to attacks, awake or in my dreams.
One soft knock to the door, then Nate opens it and whispers, “Can I come in?”
His checking on me every morning has become a habit since his taking up residence with us in the villa. I whisper back, “Yes.”
It’s still dark in the room with the first light of dawn slowly creeping through the window. Nate’s hair sticks out in every direction, he’s wearing a long-sleeve unbuttoned shirt, and a pair of boxer shorts as he shuts the door behind him. As he turns to me and comes toward the bed, his six-pack peeks through his open shirt. I close my eyes, partly because I’m still sleepy, but partly because he’s gorgeous and while he’s getting in bed with me now, it’s completely platonic. Yeah, you keep telling yourself that Jes. The link doesn’t feel platonic when he’s healing me that’s for sure.
I scoot over in the bed and he climbs on top of the covers next to me, laying his head to face me. “You don’t look like the Bride of Frankenstein, Jes.”
Shit. I let that thought slip. While Ezra says it’s not wise to keep our thoughts free flowing between us, Nate and I have agreed to keep our minds open to each other only when we are in training with our abilities or when we sense danger. Ezra says that’s the intention of a link by all accounts is to make us stronger and safer as Dobrian guardians. However, keeping my thoughts to
myself is probably the safest thing for Nate and me.
Nate reaches his hand out slowly then brushes a stray hair from my face. His blue-green eyes are so soothing to look at and the feel of his finger grazing my forehead has the same affect. He whispers, “How did you sleep?”
I close my eyes again, letting the exhaustion pull them closed. “Okay. You?”
I hear the tension in his voice when he responds. “Jes, you need to sleep. Would it help if...”
My eyes pop open as I glare at him and raise my voice a little too loud. “NO!”
God, I hope Ezra didn’t hear that.. Nate’s idea of us spending the night in bed together, just sleeping, is ridiculous. It would not do a thing to ease my nightmares, and I would be thinking, many thoughts all night. With the volatile reactiveness we’ve experienced with our link, my virginity would definitely be in jeopardy. Not that I would mind—Gah! No! I shouldn’t be thinking that!
As I stare at Nate, a smile playing on his lips as he glimpses my thoughts, I lower my voice and take a deep breath in. “No. It’s not a good idea.”
I turn the tables before he can speak the snide remark he has building inside his head. “You aren’t sleeping well either. What good would two over exhausted guardians be for the salvation of our universe? Why aren’t you sleeping?”
It’s crazy, but I can feel him tossing and turning all night even though he’s in a room across the hall from me. Sometimes in the throes of my nightmares, I hear him call out within seconds of me waking.
Ezra said that our intuitive response for each other and telepathic link would develop at a quicker pace now that we’re training with our joined abilities daily.
I’ve come to terms with the fact that my lucid nightmares will seep into our world. It isn’t a question of if they will any more. Moreover, the nightmares, the vivid images of what may lie ahead are becoming a stronger presence in my mind, like it or not.
Nate shifts on the bed to lay flat on his back. “I’m getting more sleep than you are. It’s not bad.”
Nate yawns and pulls the covers out from under him. I feel the cool draft touch my legs from the sheets lifting. The weather has turned cold recently. It’s been cooler than what you would expect for Florida in early fall. Ezra said that we’d start seeing some climate changes before the collision of our galaxy with Andromeda. We don’t know what kind of effect the collision will have on us. Our galaxy could intersect with it and survive, or collide and kill us all instantly from the force of the collision.
After Nate settles the covers back over us, he turns to face me. His eyes focused and intense all of a sudden.
“What?”
Nate pulls my hand from under my pillow and holds it in his. “Don’t try and wrap your mind around it. I have tried and failed.”
I look at him, smirking. I know he’s right. “Wow, look at how smart you are, Nathaniel Sera!”
He scoffs once, then grins as he wraps his arm around me and pulls me closer to him. Yes, this is a key reason sleeping, just sleeping, in the same bed would not work.
Softly, he says, “Don’t do that. You do that when you want to make light of something you’re feeling. It’s all right to be scared.”
I’m about to argue with him when he puts his index finger on my lips to hush me. My breath catches with the sudden touch and before I can consider stopping what he’s starting, he moves in and rests his lips gently on mine.
He pulls back a fraction, just enough to search my eyes. I can’t deny that I’ve missed the feel of his lips The last time we kissed, Corinna was just taken and he had healed me in the most intense healing experience he and I have had. That same night, Ezra told me he was my biological father. As I snuck out to go for a run, Xander came out of nowhere, asked me to leave Miami with him, planted the breathless kiss on me and then disappeared into thin air.
I knew Nate knew Xander had kissed me as soon as I walked through the door
Yes, I have felt guilty about kissing both of them in the same night, and that has helped keep things platonic between us for the last two months. His heavy gaze as he licks his lips and slips his hand under my nightshirt, along with my need for this guilty pleasure kicks my libido into overdrive. I push the shirt off his shoulders, wanting this guilty pleasure that has been building between us for weeks. Running my hands along his smooth sculpted arms, he eagerly works the shirt off, and then dips his mouth down to take mine in the deepest way.
As I unravel in his arms and he consumes me , I run my hand along the stubble of his jaw as he slides his hand down my back, my ass, then grips my thigh and pulls it over his hip. The brief contact with his hardness stirs the most exquisite feeling inside me. It’s as if little knots of tension are bubbling deep in my groin.
Suddenly, Nate breaks the kiss and pulls back to look at me. Our breaths are coming fast as he squeezes my thigh draped over his leg. Resisting the urge to kiss me again, he releases a glimpse of his reason into my mind––my virginity.
As he stares at my lips, a hint of carnal need to take them again, maybe take me all the way, still lingering in his eyes. All of a sudden, his breath hitches as he narrows his eyes on me as he whispers urgently , “Shit, Ezra’s coming to your room!”
I’m still hung up on our bodies, our lips, where things were heading so quickly when Nate scoots away from me, making what he is saying real. Ezra, my dad, is coming to my room and Nate is here making out with me! Shit!
Before I can tell Nate to hurry and get out, I hear a knock at my door.
“Jes, I need to talk with you.”
Nate sits on the bed looking between the door and me.
My voice cracks under the pressure. “Um, just a minute, I need to get dressed. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”
The silence on the other side of the door makes me wonder if Nate’s and my mental blocks are doing the trick or if we were too wrapped up in the throes of passion to disguise it from him. As Nate puts his shirt on and slinks over to stand behind the door, ready for Ezra to enter any second now , he suddenly speaks, “Okay. Hey, have you seen Nate? He wasn’t in his room.”
Nate’s visible relief matches with my thanking the heavens. “No, I haven’t. Maybe he went for a run.”
Nate is rolling his eyes at what he considers a lame excuse.
Grabbing the closest thing to me, I throw a tennis shoe at Nate, hitting him below the belt.
He mouths, “Ouch.”
I put my finger to my mouth, motioning for him to keep quiet as Ezra asks , “Are you okay in there, Jes?”
I jump off my bed and sprint toward the door instantly, knowing Ezra’s next move.
The door starts to open and I lean against it, shutting it back in place.
“I’m fine, I just stubbed my toe. I’m getting dressed right now. Hey, I have to get to Ms. Olivia’s soon. Will this take long?”
With my changing the subject, Ezra responds, “I called her to let her know that you and Nate wouldn’t be making it in today. There’s been some development, and we have a change of plans. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”
As Nate and I continue staring at each other wondering what development has happened, I hear Ezra walk away from the door. Once we are in the clear, I shuffle Nate out the door sending him across the hall.
As he closes his door, I do the same and lean against it. Replaying what just happened between Nate and me , my fingers rest on my lips as I wonder what Ezra is going to tell us. Ezra is sitting at the table, reading the paper as he says, “Morning.”
I head straight to the coffee machine and mumble, “Morning.”
I’m stirring creamer into my coffee when Nate walks in. His hair is wet from the shower, making it appear darker than it really is. Making sure my mental block is completely bullet proof, my mind drifts to Nate in the shower. My imagination has me smiling in no time and I turn back to the coffee machine t
o conceal it from Nate and Ezra.
Ezra asks, “Nate, where were you? Your door was open when I came by to find you this morning, but you weren’t there.”
Glancing over at Nate, he grabs the cereal from the cabinet and turns to the refrigerator to get the milk. “I went on the most amazing run.”
I keep my smile hidden as I stir more sweetener into my coffee, and then quickly curb the grin before turning around to them. I don’t escape unscathed as Nate catches my eye, then winks at me as he takes the first bite of his cereal. Ezra’s eyes remain on his newspaper as he speaks, “That isn’t breakfast, Jesca.”
Walking over to the table, I have a seat across from Nate and next to Ezra. “It is until I hear what you have to say. I don’t want to lose my appetite after going to all the trouble.”
Ezra puts his paper down and looks up at me, seemingly charged with a sarcastic remark when he says , “You look like shit!”
I give him the biggest false smile I can produce. “Thanks so much Dad!”
He looks down at his empty plate and shakes his head. “And why haven’t you told me the visions have gotten worse?”
“They’re getting worse, ” Nate interjects.
I glare at Nate. “Thanks, Nate.”
“Sorry, Jes, but Ezra needs to know.” Nate’s eyes dart back to Ezra. “They’re becoming more intense and vivid. They’re premonitions, aren’t they?”
Ezra’s eyes never leave mine. “Yes, they are. All of your abilities are becoming stronger, and their strength has spawned an adapted ability. Your lucid dreaming and Telepathy are melding to create an outlet for these premonitions to be shown to you.”
I hold my mug between my hands and exchange glances between Ezra and Nate. “I’m not sure I want that ability if I’m going to be seeing what I have been seeing. I’d rather not know the future. Is there a way I can block it?”
Ezra straightens in his chair. “Anna had the ability to divine the future. How can you deny a gift that could save us all?”
Copula Chronicles: The Complete Collection: Origin, Descend, Ascend, Legacy Page 24