“That’s open to interpretation,” he replies through gritted teeth. When he spots the alarm on my face, he quickly adds, “But he’s alive. Don’t waste your breath worrying over a piece of shit like that.”
“But I—”
He places his finger against my mouth, and delicious tingles trickle over my lips, spreading to my skin. His touch is, literally, electric. He peers into my eyes, a look of awe ghosting over his features this time. “My brothers are dealing with Jack. Don’t give him another thought.”
Very slowly, he removes his fingers from my mouth, circling his arm around my back, tucking me in to his side. “Is this okay?” he whispers. “If I’m right, it comforts you to be close to us, and I want to do everything I can to help make this easier for you.”
“It shouldn’t be all right,” I mumble, “but it is.”
“There’s a natural way of things, Tori, and this is one of them.”
I deliberately ignore the connotations, needing to focus on more practical stuff. “You called me Alinthia back there, and that’s not the first time I’ve heard that name. That guy who attacked us on the road called me the same thing. What does it mean, Cooper?”
“It’s your real name,” Dane says, popping into the room unexpectedly. A scream leaves my mouth of its own volition, and my heart is pounding in my chest. I snuggle into Cooper, wrapping my arms around his waist and willing my racing pulse to slow down. His sigh is a happy one, and he hugs me even closer to his chest. Dane glances between us, an unapproving frown furrowing his brow. Cooper hisses at him, and I look between them, worrying what’s going down but not enough to deflect from Dane’s statement.
“What do you mean?” I ask him, jumping again as Beckett pops into the room out of thin air. “And can you all teleport?”
“Yes,” Beckett confirms, striding to the couch and sitting down with a tablet on his lap. “You should be able to do it too.” He shoots an anxious glance in Dane’s direction.
Dane’s eyes hold considerable warning as he stalks to the other end of the couch, dropping down onto it. “With time and practice, you should be able to teleport too.”
I look around for Maddox, pretty sure my heart can’t take a fourth shock.
“Mad Dog is attending to your friend,” Dane says.
“Mad Dog?”
The smallest of smiles, only a hint of one really, graces his mouth. “You’ll see.”
“In case you didn’t notice, Jack’s no friend of mine.”
He doesn’t reply, shifting his gaze to the flames licking the top of the fire.
I ease out of Cooper’s arms, not missing the little whimper of dissatisfaction he lets slip. “What are you?” My gaze dances between them. “And are you saying I’m the same?” I direct my question at Dane, drilling a hole in the side of his head, because it’s obvious by now that he’s in charge.
He gives me his full attention. “We’re not of this world, and neither are you,” he coolly replies, confirming my suspicions.
My heart is jackknifing through my chest. “And that guy who attacked me, he was an alien too?”
Beckett winces, and I turn my head to him. His cheeks flush a little. “We don’t like that term, and it’s only one humans use.”
“We prefer superior beings,” Cooper cuts in. “Because our intelligence, our technology, our abilities, hell, pretty much everything, are vastly superior to the human race.”
I attempt to smother the panic building to crescendo levels inside me. “So, what you’re saying is that I’m not” —I pause momentarily, drawing a brave breath—“I’m not … human. I’m like you.”
“Yes,” Dane confirms.
“I’m not even a little bit human?” I hear how stupid the question sounds, but I’m hanging by a thread here.
“Nope.” Cooper hauls me back into his side, and I go without protest, still hung up on the whole “not human” thing. He squeezes me closer, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. Dane levels a look filled with so much venom at Cooper I almost expect him to shrivel up and die, but he merely smirks at his brother.
“Are your names your real names or …”
“We assumed these names to help us fit in,” Dane explains.
“I’m Carpov,” Cooper confirms with a wry smile. “Dane is Dekten, Beck is Brint, and Maddox is Manzar.”
“I think I’ll stick with your human names,” I blurt.
Coop smiles. “I’m rather partial to my human name, so that works for me.”
Dane rolls his eyes.
I clear my throat. “The ceremony, when we were babies, that was—”
All three of them sit up straighter at my words. “Wait, you know about that?” Beckett interrupts, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his finger.
“I’ve been having some strange dreams.”
“Not dreams,” Beckett quickly supplies, his eyes alight with excitement. “Memories. What else have you recovered?”
“Not much, really. I remember a woman with green eyes and a man, I think he was some kind of army general or something, and they were running through a tunnel with me.”
Beckett reins in his excitement. “It’s a good sign that some of this stuff is coming back to you. We can work with you to bring the rest to the surface.”
“The man and woman … were they my … real parents?”
“Yes, and they sent you to Earth to protect you,” Dane confirms.
I smooth a hand over my aching chest. “Protect me from what?”
Beckett, Cooper, and Dane trade concerned looks. Dane leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Shortly before we were born, an invading enemy occupied our home planet, committing all manner of atrocities against our people. In order to protect and preserve our race, several brave souls took matters into their own hands, and they managed to sneak some of us off the planet. We were among that group.”
My mind is churning with a million questions, and various images are flitting around my head again, still out of reach.
The crackling of the fire is the only sound in the room as the boys watch me grappling with my thoughts.
“Are my birth parents still alive?”
Cooper gently grasps my chin, forcing my face to his. His warm breath leaks across my skin as he speaks, lowering my defenses and relaxing my tense muscles. “We don’t honestly know what happened to any of our parents. We’ve only received limited intel of life back on Verron—our home planet—and our primary concern has been finding you.”
“All we know is that your parents haven’t been seen since that day,” Beck adds. “Whether that means they too went into hiding or …” He trails off, but no one needs to complete that sentence.
“If you’ve been here this whole time, why are you only seeking me out now?”
He scratches the back of his head, his gaze swinging around to Dane. “Why do you all do that?” I ask. “You all look to Dane for answers. Don’t you have a mind of your own?”
Cooper chuckles, squeezing my side. “You have so much to learn, beautiful, and I’d like to see anyone try and force any of us into anything. The truth is, Dane is better at explaining this stuff, and it’s his role.”
“His role? Like it’s all official and stuff?” My eyes widen.
Beckett responds again. “If you remember the bonding ceremony, then you must remember the light?”
“The bonding ceremony?”
Beckett nods. “The ceremony of light is one of the oldest, most revered traditions of our kind. That ceremony bonded our lifeforce for infinity.”
“That’s what all the strings are?”
He frowns. “Strings?”
A red flush creeps up my neck. “Those, um, invisible strings of light that shot out of all our chests? Mine goes crazy whenever I’m near you guys.”
“Strings.” Cooper chuckles in amusement. “I like it.” He messes up my hair.
“Don’t make fun of me. Until a week ago, none of this existed for me, and I still d
on’t have a clue what I’m dealing with.”
“I’m sorry, and I wasn’t making fun of you. I’m just trying to lighten the mood. This stuff is a lot to take in, although you’re coping well so far.”
Beck cuts in. “At the ceremony of light, our lifeforces were joined together. Those strings are life connectors, entwining us to each other for infinity. We all have the same color aura with a unique identifying strand which marks us as one.”
My mouth hangs open as his words start to sink in. “Wait up? We’re connected for infinity?”
“Yes, beautiful. You’re stuck with us for the rest of your life,” Cooper happily confirms.
I rub a hand over my brow, struggling with the enormity of what’s just been said. “Why?” I look at them again. “Why were we bonded? I don’t understand.”
“Males vastly outnumber females in our world, and that’s of huge concern for future generations. Females are precious, revered, worshiped in Verron, and for the past one hundred years, every female has been assigned protectors upon birth.” Dane looks down at the floor, a muscle flexing in his jaw.
“Hang on here a second,” I say, pulling away from Cooper as the most hideous thought occurs to me.
Bile swims up my throat. “What exactly is the role of a protector? And if you say it’s to knock me up, I’ll knock you flat on your ass.”
Cooper bursts out laughing, Beckett can’t contain his grin, and even Dane is struggling to hold on to his impassive mask.
“No,” Dane confirms, his lips twitching. “Although that does happen in a lot of cases, but only where it’s completely consensual.”
“With all four protectors?” I screech.
Cooper stops laughing instantly.
“The number of protectors assigned varies from individual to individual,” Beckett adds. “Most don’t have four.”
Dane levels a sharp look at Beck. Before I can ask why, Cooper reaches out, lacing his fingers in mine. “The bond between protected and protector is strong, and sometimes it means the relationship evolves beyond the platonic. And, yes, it can be with more than one protector. It’s actually encouraged, because it means more babies born, and while males are forbidden from marrying more than one female, females are free to marry as many males as they wish on Verron.”
My jaw opens and closes, but no words come out. Cooper lifts me up, sliding into the seat and hauling me into his lap. Surprisingly, I go willingly, both of us ignoring Dane’s exasperated sigh.
I desperately need to switch topics, so I return to one of my original questions, still left unanswered. I clear my throat, subconsciously resting my arms around Cooper’s neck. “You mentioned roles but didn’t explain. What does it mean, and how does that link to the ceremony of light?”
“Each person in the bonded unit has a unique gift bestowed upon them, and that gift determines which role that person fulfills in the team,” Dane explains.
“But it’s more than that,” Beckett adds. “It’s not just about the team being able to perform as one; it’s about the team meeting the needs of the team and the leading light.”
“What’s a leading light?”
“The whole purpose of the team. The reason the connection exists.”
“I’m not following.”
Beckett smiles. “The female is at the center of our entire society and the reason there is a need for a ceremony of light. Protecting the leading light is at the core of the team. Our existence, our entire focus, is centered around you.”
“You’re our leading light, beautiful,” Cooper whispers. “We exist to serve and protect you.”
Chapter 23
“You can’t be serious?” I croak, drowning under the magnitude of what Cooper’s just admitted.
“Oh, we’re one hundred percent serious. And it’s not entirely selfless,” he adds.
“Explain that please.”
“Our lives are intertwined,” Beckett says. “If you die, we die.”
“What?” I splutter.
“It’s true,” Dane says. “The reason we were born was to protect you. If we fail you, if you no longer exist, then neither do we.”
“So, it’s a punishment for not performing your role?” I’m grasping at straws here because this is some crazy weird shit.
“Yes, and no. If you no longer exist, then neither does our purpose,” Dane adds.
“Put simply,” Maddox says, and I screech at his unexpected arrival. Cooper chuckles, nuzzling my neck, helping to calm me down. “We were born to serve and protect you, and if you no longer exist, then there is no need for us to exist either.”
“If that’s the case, does that mean you were already chosen for this before you were born? And how is that even possible?”
“It’s a little complicated to explain,” Dane says. “And perhaps best left for another time, but, yes, we were chosen for this a long time before we were born.”
I can’t grasp that concept at all, but I don’t verbalize it. I just add it to the new mental checklist of questions in my head.
“It’s why we all share the same birthday,” Beckett adds. “This was already set in place before any of us were born.”
“Sweet Jesus.” I clamp a hand over my mouth.
“Brain overload?” Cooper surmises, wrapping the blanket more tightly around my shoulders when I shiver.
“A bit, and I don’t even know the half of it, do I?”
“You don’t need to worry about everything at once. It’s already a lot to take in, we know that, and we’ll explain everything in the coming weeks. For now, I think you should clean up and then rest.”
I let him help me to my feet while I’m contemplating the latest bombshell. “Does it work in reverse? Does that mean if one of you dies, then I die too? We all die?”
“No,” Maddox says, rubbing his hands together in front of the fire. “If one of us dies, it doesn’t affect anyone else.”
“That hardly seems fair,” I blurt.
“You’d prefer if one of us dies, then we all die?” Dane asks, his tone incredulous.
“No, of course not.” My cheeks heat up. “I just meant it seems unfair that more importance is placed on my life. That you all die if anything should happen to me.”
Dane stands up. “Fairness doesn’t come into it. Protection of the female species is of paramount importance on Verron, and that’s all that matters.” He looks behind me at Cooper. “You should retrieve her things now.”
The subtle movement of air, and the loss of body heat, confirms Cooper has left the building. I wrap my arms around myself, drawing the blanket more firmly around my body to ward off the incoming chills. Cooper’s comfort extends beyond the physical, and now he isn’t here, the multitude of worries and fears I’ve been keeping a lid on are resurfacing. Dane nods at Beckett, and he puts his tablet down and rises. “Beck will show you to your room, and Cooper will leave your things out for you. I imagine you have plenty more questions, but try to sleep, and we’ll do our best to answer them in the morning.”
“I can’t stay here. My mom will flip.” Not to mention Jensen.
Dane stares at me. “I’d really prefer if you stayed here. It’s easier to protect you if you’re close by.”
“There’s no way my parents would be cool with that. I’ll take a shower and clean up, if that’s okay, but I’d like to go home then.”
A muscle pops in his jaw, and he purses his lips as he reluctantly nods. “Fine, but we need to discuss this tomorrow. There are lots of things to be decided.”
Beckett reaches my side, offering me a sweet smile as he shoves his hands in his pockets. “Just follow me.”
We walk out of the living room, past the large kitchen and formal dining room, and out into a porcelain-tiled hallway that’s familiar. The large chandelier overhead is one I remember, but the beige carpet on the stairs and landing is new, as is the freshly painted cream color on the walls. “How long have you lived here?”
“A week,” Beck says, striding do
wn the long corridor.
“How did you find the time to redecorate already?”
He stops in front of a closed door, smiling. “You remember the day you speed-ran from the field to your house?”
My jaw slackens. “You were there?”
He nods. “We’re here for your protection, and that applied from the minute we stepped foot in Eaton Lake. We take turns watching over you, and I was there that day.”
“That sounds remarkably stalkerish and like I need to apply for a restraining order.” My eyes narrow suspiciously.
His cheeks flush in embarrassment. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. We respect your privacy, but our job is to protect you, and that means keeping a close eye on you at all times.”
I have tons of questions more about that, but I park them for now. “You guys can do that too? The run fast thingy?”
His lips twitch. “Yes. We all have common abilities as well as our own special gifts. Being able to move fast comes in handy when you need to renovate a house of this size,” he admits, chuckling at my shocked expression as he opens the door to the bedroom.
I step inside and gasp. The room is massive, at least four times the size of my bedroom, and painted in contrasting shades of coral and brown. A humongous modern four-poster bed, with light beige gossamer curtains tied off to the side, occupies center stage. The bed is draped in a luxurious soft coral silk comforter and a myriad of cushions in different sizes and colors. A cushioned window seat has been built into one of the ledges, offering fantastic views over the rear of the property. I walk to the window and glance outside, spotting the stables and several outbuildings in the distance.
Turning back around, I stroll through the room in awe. A large desk rests alongside the far wall with overhead shelving and a mounted bulletin board. Posters of some of my favorite athletes are in framed pictures on the walls. Over on the other side of the room is a living space of sorts with a beige velvet-upholstered couch in front of a wall-mounted TV and a floor-to-ceiling bookcase, loaded with some of my beloved books. A collection of the latest DVDs and some of my all-time favorite movie classics occupy one shelf.
I wander into the walk-in closet, mouth agape at the rows of running clothing and paraphernalia. Apart from that, the shelves are bare. Beckett hovers anxiously by my side, watching my reaction carefully.
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