She pulled away, breathless and panting, and I nearly fell on my face trying to find her in the empty space in front of me.
“What was that?” she said, in between breaths, and it sounded like she was at least ten feet away from me.
My hands found my knees as my dark world spun around me. “Uh…” I took in a few deep breaths and swallowed before continuing on. “I’m pretty sure that was what you referred to as an okay kiss.”
A short burst of laughter left her mouth, but then she must have covered it with her hand, because there was only silence for a few pounding heartbeats after that. “Seriously, Ace… Did you feel that?”
My lids closed over my eyes, even though there was no need. I knew what it was, but I didn’t want to say it out loud if she hadn’t already come to the same conclusion. I stood, feeling all the while like I was missing a part of me without her in my arms. A cluster of emotions were shooting through me, and I knew the confusion and anxiety that I was feeling both came from her. After a moment, I sighed. “How about I teach you how to meditate?”
She hesitated for only a few seconds before replying with a quiet, “Okay.”
I knew I was confusing her even more, but that hadn’t been any ordinary kiss. Don’t get me wrong, it was freaking amazing, but the bond had never felt stronger than it did when we’d kissed. She already had doubts that her feelings for me were real. I damn sure didn’t want to confirm it for her.
“Ace…” she said as I folded my legs under me on the floor.
My jaw twitched. I knew she could tell I was getting upset, but I couldn’t help it. The bond may have started this thing between us, but it was damn sure not going to be the end result. It was not going to reign over us. The meditation seemed to be helping. She needed to learn how. “Yeah?” I said, shortly.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have reacted that way. It just took me by surprise, I guess. I agree with you,” she said, now from in front of me.
What? What had I missed? “About what?” I said, confused.
“About what you think is the second best thing you’re great at,” she said, shyly. “You’re a phenomenal kisser… maybe the greatest.” My heart soared. It was heaven after all… my own personal heaven. “Are you going to tell me what you think the very best thing you’re great at is?”
A slow smile crept across my face. “Maybe I’ll let you figure that one out on your own.”
Friday, February 6th 2015 4:56 a.m. PST
Las Vegas, Nevada
Clay
It wasn’t like his life had all been cake and gravy but, for some reason, he had a really nasty feeling about this whole ordeal. His gut instincts were usually spot on. Maybe it had something to do with him being a mage, maybe it didn’t. His affinity was Earth. Anything beyond helping plants grow was pretty much out of his realm. Clay’s passion had always been music. It didn’t matter if he had a crowd of three or thirty thousand; he just wanted to sing and play.
Rainey was the psychic in the family, but she couldn’t see anything she wanted to, any time she wanted to. It was like the visions chose her. Her affinity was Water, though Clay hadn’t ever seen her do any magic with water, other than use it as an ingredient in potions that called for it. She wanted nothing more than to stay on Eternal Island to be the King’s personal psychic assistant.
Em was Fire. Clay wouldn’t exactly call her a dark witch, but she was damn mischievous and full of herself most of the time. Very few people got to see the real her, not the girl who was snarky and vain, but the woman who was beautiful, inside as well as out. Clay also knew her deepest, darkest secret: she was scared to death of falling in love. She craved attention and had caught the eye of several upstanding model agencies in and around California.
Zephyr… Zephyr was a tool. His affinity was Air, and he was a master at anything he’d ever put his mind to, including magic. Although Clay and all three of his siblings were quadruplets, Zephyr had always seemed older, wiser and better organized than his other siblings. If the guy had a passion at all, it was money and control. He had to be better than the rest. Second best was only the first loser in his book, and he never passed up a chance to let his siblings know just how much they didn’t, and never would, measure up to him.
“Earth to Clay…” Clay blinked, and then looked up to see that Rainey was waving her hand in front of his face. “We’re about to cut out of here.”
Panicked, Clay shot to his feet from the chair he was sitting in. “You can’t leave yet, Rain. We need you. I have a bad feeling about this.”
Unfazed, she grabbed her satchel from the couch. “There’s nothing to be worried about. She’s just a human girl who escaped from a bunch of shifters. We’re the monsters, Clay. Relax.”
He shook his head. “I’m serious, Rainey. I don’t feel right about this. She may be human, but if you will remember, humans used to burn us at the stake just for being different. The first crew has been gone almost an hour. We should have heard from them by now.”
Rolling her eyes in a dramatic fashion, Rainey huffed in annoyance. “We can’t stay, Clay. The sun comes up in less than an hour and a half. No matter how good of a witch I am, there’s no way I can stop that from happening.”
“Stay in the den,” Clay said quickly. “It’s in the center of the house, with no windows. The sun can’t hurt you in there.”
“Clay—”
“Listen, just stay until someone from the first crew calls to say they found her and that they’re bringing her back. That’s all I ask. If it’s too late for you to leave after we’ve heard from them, the three of you can sleep in the den and leave at dusk. I won’t ask you for anything else ever again. I swear it.”
Rainey sighed. “Ace didn’t appear to be too worried—”
“He doesn’t realize how dangerous slayers can be, Rain,” Clay stressed, and then took in a calming breath as he placed his hands on her shoulders and looked in her bright blue eyes. The sense of doom increased even as he tried to impart a sense of urgency with his words. “But you do. Do you remember what happened to the island seventeen years ago? You were the one who saved us. I can’t let you leave, not while I have this feeling plaguing me. If you leave now, you won’t have time to get back before the sun comes up if something does happen. Em and I will have a better chance of helping my friends if you stay. Our magic is stronger with all of us together.”
Rainey’s mouth pulled to the side, and she blew a puff of air through her nose. “Zephyr isn’t here.”
Clay let out a breath of relief, knowing he’d won. “Maybe we won’t need him.”
“You’d better hope we don’t. Nothing short of telling him Toni is in trouble would get him here.”
Clay shrugged. “If it turns out that we need him, then we’ll use that as an excuse to get him here.”
“He’ll just get on a plane and fly back to New York when he realizes you lied to him.”
“Then we won’t lie to him,” Clay said.
Rainey’s eyes popped wide. “You are not putting my best friend in danger just to get Zephyr here!”
“My best friend is here, and we’re all in trouble, Rainey. Do you think that if there are really slayers hunting shifters in Las Vegas they will just stop after they’ve defeated them? We have no idea what they know. The island may be their next target.”
She turned her head to look at Déus. “Do you think he’s overreacting?”
Déus shrugged. “Isn’t it better to be safe than sorry?”
“I knew you wouldn’t be any help,” she retorted.
Déus chuckled. “Why did you insist that I come then?”
Rainey smiled. “I needed someone to hold my purse for me.” She laughed as he shook his head, and then she looked back at Clay. “We’re leaving at sundown.”
Clay threw his arms around his sister and hugged her hard. “Thank you.”
“Shit!” Slade said under his breath as he walked back into the room, and Clay looked up to see the guy punching n
umbers on his phone. Slade put the cell to his ear and, after three seconds, cursed again.
“What is it?” Clay said, and watched Slade repeat the act, only to end it the same way.
“I can’t get hold of anyone who went out with the first crew. Every number I’ve tried has gone straight to voicemail.”
Clay exchanged a look with Rainey, and then with Embyr, before saying, “When’s the last time you talked to any of them?”
Slade lifted his head to meet Clay’s stare. “Two minutes ago. I was talking to Kai when the call dropped.”
“I thought the cell reception was good in the city,” Clay said.
Slade nodded. “It’s perfect. That’s why it doesn’t make any damn sense for nine cell phones to lose reception at the same time.”
Clay took a few steps closer to Slade then sat down in the chair across from him. “Where did Kai say they were?”
“About to go into a warehouse on the block where you said the human girl was located,” Slade said.
Clay pursed his lips, but Embyr was the one who spoke. “Sometimes my cell doesn’t have reception in metal buildings. Maybe that’s it.”
Maybe, Clay thought, but he had a feeling it was a maybe not.
“What if the slayers have some sort of cell reception blocker?” Katrista said, and Clay looked up to see her jade green eyes staring at him.
His stomach fluttered, and he couldn’t form words. Words were his life, but, when he looked at her, speaking became the hardest obstacle he’d ever encountered. He nodded instead.
“Oh, don’t tell me you believe all this, too, Katrista,” Rainey whined.
“After my maker brainwashed everyone on your island a month ago and attempted to take over the world, do you really want to question anything that could go wrong, Rainey?” Katrista said.
Rainey puffed in irritation. “Ansel was hella strong, and crazy to boot, Katrista. A bunch of humans with silver daggers and cell reception blockers don’t have shit on your maker.”
Katrista stood and walked over to stand beside Clay. “A threat is a threat. I’m with Clay, for however long he needs me to be here.”
Clay looked up at Katrista, totally stunned. “Y-you are?”
She smiled as she looked down at him. “Of course I am,” she said, and then let her gaze move back to Rainey, and frowned. “Of course we are.”
Rainey threw her hands up in the air, exasperated. “Oh, for cryin’ out loud! I suppose,” she said, and then shrugged as she grinned. “To be honest, I was getting a little bored. We haven’t had any excitement on the island since we killed Ansel. Watching Abe fuss over Ariana about what she shouldn’t be doing while pregnant was getting a little annoying.”
Déus nodded as he rubbed his chin. “A lot annoying. I’ve threatened to pull his man card.”
Clay scooted to the edge of the chair cushion, excitement filling his features. “Do you think Ariana—?”
“No!” Rainey, Déus and Katrista yelled at the same time.
Clay frowned. “Why not? This could all be over in no time with her help.”
Rainey sighed. “After what happened with Ansel, Ariana promised Abe she wouldn’t do any magic until after the baby was born. He’s holding her to it.”
“I’m not saying I believe this will get out of hand,” Déus said, “but Ethan can do anything Ariana—”
“No!” Clay and Embyr shouted in unison, and then looked at each other, before quickly averting their gazes.
Déus’ brow rose. “Okay, no Ethan.”
“Look, I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves here,” Embyr said. “It’s probably just the building they’re in causing them to lose reception. They’ll find her and call as soon as they get back outside. You’ll see. We shouldn’t worry until we know we have something to worry about.”
Rainey nodded. “Good thinking, sister.”
“I’m going to go back outside to see if the crew out there has heard from them or seen anything out there,” Slade said. “I’ll let you know if anything changes.”
“Need some company?” Embyr said with a seductive grin.
The corner of Slade’s mouth lifted in a half smile. “Sure.”
Clay’s gut roiled as the sense of impending doom grew. With a sigh, he resigned himself to waiting. Something he hated.
Chapter 36
Friday, February 6th 2015 5:17 a.m. PST
Las Vegas, Nevada
Andromeda
Andra pulled her hands from Ace’s and shook them. “I can’t do it. I don’t feel anything you’re telling me I need to be feeling.”
Ace sighed, but he didn’t sound frustrated. He should be. They’d been at this for almost an hour, without any progress. “You’re not relaxed. You have to clear your mind of everything, Andra.”
“I’m trying, but every time I try to think of nothing, something pops into my head. I’ve never been very good at turning my mind off. Getting to sleep every night is an obstacle for me. You’d laugh at some of the things I think of while trying to fall asleep,” she said on a light laugh.
Ace chuckled then. “I’m pretty sure I know all the things you think about before sleep takes you under, Andra.” He tapped his temple with his pointer finger. “You lose the ability to block me out of your mind when you get tired and your subconscious tries to take over. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not at all complaining about your fantasies of me and you in that jetted tub in there,” he said, with a nod toward the bathroom.
Heat rose to her face, and he laughed. “I wasn’t talking about the time since we met, Ace,” she snapped, embarrassed that he knew about the thoughts she’d had last night before she’d finally gotten to sleep. “I’ve always had trouble turning my mind off. Will you please help me learn how to do this? Us not feeling each other’s every emotion has been rather nice since you started meditating.”
He frowned, and then exhaled through his nose. “Do you hate it that much?”
She rolled her eyes, grateful that he couldn’t see her do it. “I don’t hate it. Some things I would just like to keep to myself, that particular memory being one of them.”
He sat up a little straighter. “Fine. Why don’t we try it without touching? The contact may be keeping you from shutting down.”
“Okay.” Andra placed her hands on her knees and let out a long breath as she closed her eyes.
“Try to let everything in your mind go and start counting. It’s easier for me if I count backward from one hundred, but you can try it either way. It’s just to keep you focused on banishing all other thoughts from your mind, besides those numbers.”
Andra nodded as she inhaled deeply then let it out, starting her counting at one. When she got to eleven, Ace spoke again, but he had either lowered his voice to almost a whisper or this meditating thing was working, because he sounded distant.
“As you’re counting, focus on your heartbeat,” he said. “Once you’re thinking about nothing except your heartbeat and the number you’re on, go deeper still and focus on where you think your soul might be. Deep breaths, in and out.”
When she heard or felt nothing besides her heartbeat, Andra matched her counting to each beat of her heart. Thirty-two… Thirty-three… Thirty-four. There was nothing else, no other thoughts, just… nothingness. She delved deeper until she discovered her soul. She imagined that it was just a small, glowing orb, hovering in the very center of her body. Thirty-eight… Thirty-nine… Forty…
What did he say earlier? Wait for it to tingle? The moment she thought it, a warm tingling started in her chest, and she sighed at the blissful feeling it was imposing upon her. Never in her life had she felt anything so relaxing.
When Ace spoke again, it sounded like he was in a tunnel, but it was soothing and made her relax even more, instead of pulling her out of whatever glorious mind trip this was. “When you feel the warm tingling, focus on only your counting and that feeling alone. Forget about any thought you had before then. Go slow and try to push the tingles th
roughout your body. Another way of thinking about it is to imagine your body glowing. You’re getting brighter and brighter.”
Andra’s brow furrowed as she tried to push the feeling out.
“You’re trying too hard,” he said. “Relax. Count some more, and then try it again, but slower this time. Don’t over think it. It will do it on its own if your mind is free.”
Fifty-five… Fifty-six… Fifty-seven— She gasped for breath as the warm tingling engulfed her whole system.
Ace chuckled. “That’s it. Now, push it out farther and imagine it surrounding you, like a sphere or a bubble. Tell it that it is impenetrable, that nothing can break it or get through it to you, and it will happen. It’s only as strong as you believe it can be. The sphere is you.”
Easier than she could have ever imagined, Andra pushed the warm, fuzzy feeling beyond her body and imagined herself sitting in a glowing bubble. “Nothing can get through to you,” she heard herself say, and then she opened her eyes as the number eighty-two floated from her mind.
Ace was smiling and looking at her with unseeing eyes. “It worked. I can’t feel you at all.”
Excited, Andra squealed as she lunged forward and threw her arms around his neck, knocking him to his back. His arms came around her as his breaths fell heavy on her face. She froze as her eyes flicked down to look at his mouth. He was smiling proudly. She couldn’t feel his emotions or read his thoughts, but she could feel the hard bulge though his jeans at the apex of her thighs. Suddenly nervous, she swallowed then rolled off him, onto the floor and out of his reach.
Ace didn’t move. His eyelids closed as a puff of air escaped his lips. It was obvious to her that he’d been hoping for another reaction than her bolting out of his arms. And then she remembered how they had been laughing and talking earlier, playing the movie quote game for clothes, and how he’d managed to turn her on just by taking off her shirt. Then again, downstairs, when he’d promised to kiss her. And then… and then when he had kissed her just before he’d taught her how to meditate.
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