She panted. “Hadrian?”
“Tell me you want me. Tell me you do. I’ll walk away if you don’t. No repercussions. This has to be your idea.”
Without warning, the boat shook violently, sending them both crashing to the floor.
What the hell is going on? He leaped to his feet only to be sent back to the floor, rolling uncontrollably to the left, and smacked into both Hadley and the wall. Her warm curves were a momentary respite from whatever was happening around them but he had no time to think such thoughts as he pulled her to her feet and braced her against the cabin’s wooden barricade, which separated his quarters from Jeremiah’s.
Acting on instinct, he held her tightly in his arms, determined to protect her from whatever—or whoever—had enough power to nearly capsize his ship. When he’d left Pettigrew’s group, there had only been a few soldiers who could have pulled off such a feat. But they were all changing quickly and he had no idea who had this kind of capability now. One hundred years could change a lot of things. Especially in this dimension.
“Are you hurt?” He could smell the vanilla scent that wafted from her hair even as he contemplated whether it was better to stay in the cabin or make for the deck. Hadley was his first priority but he had no intention of letting his crew die while he hid in his quarters either. They’d all be as pissed as hell at him when they regenerated.
She nodded, indicating that she was fine, but he could feel her shaking in his arms and he was acutely aware of how pale she had suddenly become.
The cabin door swung open and Hadrian leaped forward, dropping Hadley, and allowed himself to deny gravity for a few seconds and float above the floor, a position that would provide a better vantage point for attacking whoever came through. Jeremiah rushed into the room first, followed by three of his crewmen.
Taking a deep breath, Hadrian lowered himself to the floor. “Report.”
Jeremiah laughed, a hard, cold sound. “You have no idea how bad it is out there, my prince. It looks as if he’s sent the entire brigade.”
“Impossible.” Even Pettigrew couldn’t be that stupid. “The only person he’d be killing here would be Hadley.”
“I feared this would happen. She has a twin. Pettigrew must feel it’s better to sacrifice one than risk exposure of his dirty deeds. He’ll just wait and see if Hadley survives.”
Behind him Hadley made a choked sound that resembled the beginnings of a sob.
There was no way in hell he could let this get to hysterics. He turned around, pointing a finger at her. “Get control of yourself, Hadley. Show a little backbone.” Swinging around, he faced his crew again.
Jeremiah’s eyebrows pressed close together, his expression a mixture of horror and disbelief. “She’s going through hell, here—you could show some compassion.”
Rage fumed through Hadrian’s body and it had nothing to do with the attack happening on the deck above them. His ears rang and for a moment a red glow actually filled the room. He slammed his body into Jeremiah’s, forcing him against the wall.
“Don’t you ever tell me how to speak to her.” He tried to take deep breaths but he clenched his teeth together so tightly he could barely open his mouth. “Am I clear?”
Jeremiah’s eyes widened warily. He nodded in compliance. Hadrian was just about to release him when he caught a glimmer in the other man’s eye that he shouldn’t have seen there.
Satisfaction?
Just as suddenly as the first time, the boat shook violently, tipping to the right.
Everyone tumbled to the opposite wall and Hadrian lost all thought of punishing Jeremiah or figuring out what the strange emotion he’d seen meant.
His back stung from where he’d banged against the wall. He struggled to his feet, searching for Hadley. Jeremiah had helped her up. How dare he touch her?
“My prince, there is no time—we will have to make the transition now.”
Now? Hadrian shook his head. It was too soon. It had been over two hundred years since he’d opened the portal for the princess. It could be very complicated under the best of circumstances, and these were the worst possible conditions.
Not to mention that now they’d arrived at the moment, he didn’t want Hadley to do it. Clarity hit Hadrian like a Mack truck smacking into a brick wall. This entire endeavor had been a big mistake. He couldn’t hurt Hadley in any way. It went against his code of honor, his ethics, not to mention his very DNA, which had been encoded at birth to protect the royal family and everything related to it. Hadley was, morally perverse creation or not, Zamara’s daughter. Even though he’d known all this when they’d been making this plan, he found himself unable to complete it. Damn his conscience.
“Forget it. This was a mistake. I can’t do it.”
Jeremiah’s eyes flared with heated anger. “After all this, everything we’ve done to get here, suddenly you can’t do it?”
“Could you?”
“If I could open the portal, I would. No, my prince, as your second it’s my job to make sure you do your job. Open the portal.”
“I’ll open it but I’m not pushing her through.” He and his men would all go back in shame and disgrace but he wouldn’t hurt Hadley—he wouldn’t make her go through the conversion.
“Have you forgotten that if she stays here she will die in less than six months?”
Jeremiah’s logic was faulty and Hadrian wasn’t going to fall for it. “She might die in six months over there too.”
“But at home they may be able to save her.”
“If there is the slightest possibility that someone can fix this, then I want to go.”
Hadley’s stern, determined voice startled him and he swung around to look at her. “You don’t have the slightest idea what you are talking about.”
The boat vibrated like a piece of popcorn in a kernel popper. In another moment they might implode. Hadrian couldn’t even be sure exactly what the attack consisted of unless he went up top to look. If he had to guess, he’d say that at least three of Pettigrew’s men were converting themselves into pure energy and striking the ship with the force of lightning. Eventually they’d take too much of a pounding.
Ten of his men rushed through the door. It was a small cabin for so many people and he felt like a squished sardine.
Stone reached him first. “My prince, we’re sinking.”
Glaring at the window showed him the grim truth of the situation. They were, indeed, going down.
Hadley threw her hair over her right shoulder and Hadrian would have sworn a red hue followed in the air behind it. “I know the rest of you can live through anything, but I’ll drown, so let’s do whatever it is we need to do. I can’t give up this opportunity—not just for me, but for Hailey too. She’s my sister. If there is a chance I can save her from whatever was done to us, then I have to do it.”
Hadrian clenched his fists at his side. “I said no.”
“Open the damn portal, Hadrian, or I’ll throw myself overboard and drown, and you’ll be responsible for ending my life instead of potentially saving it.”
Hell, the woman was insufferable. What was he supposed to do? He glared at Jeremiah, who stood stone-faced as if he had nothing to say.
Water rushed through the door. There was no time left to waste. Stone cleared his throat. “We never agreed about who would stay behind to close it.” “I will.” Jeremiah spoke loudly as if he expected no rebuttal.
Hadrian shook his head. “No, I will. I’ll open it, I’ll close it, you’ll take her to Astor and tell the king what happened.”
Nodding, Jeremiah walked forward. “Are all the men wearing the beacons?”
Hadrian had never seen Jeremiah agree to anything so quickly. He raised one eyebrow.
What had prompted him to get so compliant all of a sudden? The boat shook again and Hadrian nearly fell over as he attempted to pull his pocketknife out of his back pocket. He hadn’t been prepared to do this and he was bungling it in the worst possible way.
; Hadley’s arms wrapped around his waist, and although he knew she was only trying to steady herself against the shaking of the boat, he couldn’t say he was sorry to have her arms there.
In a few moments he might never see her again. He hadn’t lied when he’d said they couldn’t die here, but they could be contained. Burned into ashes and stored in a small confined place, like an urn or a box, where they didn’t have enough room to reform.
Hadrian could only imagine the pain that would cause. His cells forever trying to reform and never being able to would be eternal agony. Confident that was exactly what Pettigrew and the warriors who refused to end this nightmare would do to him as soon as he’d closed the portal, he would take whatever small pleasure Hadley’s body pressed close to his provided.
His cock hardened and he tried to ignore it. Dimension travel had never made him horny before. It had to be Hadley. Had Pettigrew done something to her to make her so damn attractive? They were in a life-and-death situation.
“What are you doing?” Her gaze never lifted from the weapon in his hand.
“I’m going to cut myself deeply until I bleed, and then I’m going to cut you. We’re going to combine our blood. The uniting of our two life forces should open a portal. Jeremiah will walk through it, holding you. He holds on him a beacon that will pull everyone else who wears the same beacon through the portal with him. When everyone is through, I will cut myself again. This time, since it is my blood alone, the portal will close.”
Hadley shook her head. “At another time I might be fascinated by the physics of this. But for now, I thought you said I was human. More like my father, which is why I will die. Why will my blood open a portal?”
He had to shout to be heard over the loud buzzing noise that had started on deck above them. It sounded as if someone had started a huge machine. Hadrian didn’t even want to begin to imagine what kind. “You have trace elements of the princess’ blood in you. We know this because we tested the other seven sisters when they died. It should hopefully be enough. My blood can open the portal. The royal family’s—in other words, yours—keeps it open.”
Her eyes widened. “But…”
He had no time to continue to argue with her. Grabbing her hand, he sliced her perfect peach skin with his old but still sharp knife and tried not to wince when she screamed. He needed to remind himself that she was nothing but a spoiled Pettigrew and it was time she accepted her fate. So why did he feel so sick and worried and why didn’t it particularly bother him that his concern was not for his own men or his own safety?
Drops of red blood, the purest of its particular color, dripped from her hand as she bellowed as if she’d been stuck by a sword and not merely cut on the hand. Without a second thought, he sliced deeply into his own hand, barely feeling the pain, as if it were no more than a bee sting or an annoyance he could quickly forget. Grabbing her hand, he pressed it against his and felt the surge of power enter his veins.
Soon. The portal would open soon.
Hadley gasped, her skin turning even paler. “Hadrian, is this the pain you promised me?”
He shook his head. “So sorry, sweetheart—you haven’t even begun to know the torture that is to come.”
Chapter Five
Hadley watched in awe as a giant hole opened in the air to the left of where she and Hadrian stood. It didn’t look like anything she’d seen on television or in any science fiction movies. While it was clearly an opening, nothing dark or ominous seemed present, either lurking inside it or flowing through it. Rather the brightest white light she’d ever seen clouded her vision.
Several of the crew around her gasped and applauded. She’d never learned their names, but in her defense she’d been their prisoner and there certainly hadn’t been time.
She pushed herself closer in Hadrian’s embrace. It was silly, really. He was the leader of the bunch, and they’d all set out with one intention and that was to kidnap her and shove her through that opening in the universe, but somehow Hadrian made her feel safe. Or at least safer than she was outside his embrace.
And unless she was very much mistaken, he was hard. Was that for her or some kind of result of the portal opening? Her mouth watered—she wanted to find out.
“Jeremiah, move—you need to take her through the portal.” Hadrian sounded annoyed.
His facial features were all scrunched up and it felt as though his body temperature had risen in just the short time she’d been pressed up against him.
“Send out the girl and we won’t box you, Hadrian.”
A voice from the top of the stairs filled the room and Hadley gasped. There was something so inhuman about the way it sounded. Robotic in its makeup, as if it had never drawn a real breath. Hadley wasn’t sure what it meant to be “boxed”, but she was sure that these men, who were going to make her go to another dimension but who seemed to be genuinely concerned for her and her mother—except for the whole pain thing, she had to remind herself—did not deserve to have whatever it was happen to them.
An orange glow filled the room and Hadley cocked her head to the side, wondering how much weirder this whole experience could get before her head literally exploded.
Hadrian shoved her to the ground. She hit hard and her entire form shook from impact. Her body, already overdone from the heat in the room and also from Hadrian’s touch, felt as if it might implode from the sheer frenetic energy created by Hadrian’s body on top of hers.
Smoke filled the room. Hadley tried to raise her head but Hadrian pushed it back down to the floor.
“Jeremiah, for all that is holy, come here and get Hadley and go through the entrance.”
Hadley squirmed under Hadrian. There had to be something she could do other than lie on the floor while Hadrian guarded her body as if she were some sort of valuable commodity he needed to get through the portal.
As she watched, Jeremiah rose from the floor and ran toward them. He dropped to the floor and rolled next to Hadrian. Pulling the pin…no, beacon—that’s right, it was called a beacon—from his shirt, he shoved it onto Hadrian’s.
Hadrian jerked as if Jeremiah had just stuck him with a sharp object. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Making you fulfill your destiny.”
Hadrian snorted and coughed as he inhaled a ton of smoke-filled air. “What are you, some kind of prophet now?”
“Exactly.”
As they lay on the floor, she could tell by the sheer number of footsteps she heard that an army was amassed above them. The boat was sinking and the room they hid in had been fire-bombed. Hadley wasn’t sure how much more of this she could take.
“Hadrian, while the two of you discuss these life-altering issues, may I remind you that I am still perfectly capable of dying?”
“That’s why you have to go right now, my lady.” Jeremiah bowed his head. “And there is still the matter of your sister. We can’t let her die. This is where it stops.” The black smoke had gotten so thick she could barely see him. It was a good thing she could feel Hadrian’s heart beating or she would have thought it had stopped. “I’ve altered, Hadrian—I’m changing like the others started to. I’m seeing pieces of the future and I know you are supposed to take this woman through the portal. You, not me. So get moving before she dies in this heat.”
“Jeremiah, how will you avoid being boxed?” Hadrian’s voice sounded rough.
“Don’t worry about me, my prince—I’m more resourceful than you can possibly imagine.”
For a moment silence filled the room, broken only by the sound of wood smashing as it split from the pressure of the water and the heat and flames of the fire. Hadrian cleared his throat.
“All right, Hadley, I’m going to roll you under me and then you hold on to me tightly.” His strong arms maneuvered her under him. “Harder, Hadley.”
Hadley wasn’t sure how much tighter she could hold him but she squeezed her fingers into the back of his shirt despite the pain in her gashed hand, hoping her nails didn�
�t cut into his skin.
“I’m going to lift you onto your feet. Follow me.”
She nodded. “Okay.” Whatever was coming her way, she was ready to move on to the next part, because her current situation was dire at best.
“This was the bit I said would hurt.”
Hadley closed her eyes and did what he asked. He lifted her off the ground. His embrace was strong and she couldn’t believe that anything would be too hard to handle if she just held on tightly enough. He pushed her head down onto his shoulder.
“Hadley, can you hear me?” He was shouting—why hadn’t she realized how loud the buzz in the room had gotten?
“I can.” She coughed when she spoke but at least she’d answered.
“Know this. If I had this to do over again, I would have left you alone.”
His words caused a pang in her heart and she wasn’t sure why they’d bothered her so acutely.
“But then I’d be dead in six months.”
“I can’t promise they can fix you on the other side of the portal.”
She appreciated that he wasn’t lying to her. “I know they can’t fix me here.”
While still safely ensconced in Hadrian’s arms, she felt him push them through what at first felt like nothing more than a thick batch of foggy air. It was dense and difficult to breathe.
Hadrian pressed his mouth down on top of her head. “Hold on to me.” He’d already given her these instructions and since he didn’t come off as a man who repeated himself very often, she felt sure what he said was very important.
Wondering if she was about to die, she pulled his mouth down to hers. She wanted that heat again. One more time. He kissed her back and for the mere seconds their embrace took, the troubles that had befallen her seemed to disappear. Her pussy wept. How could she be so turned-on just from the touch of his mouth? His lips were warm and his breath sweet. Sparks of pleasure surged through her body.
Wishing it could go on forever but knowing it couldn’t, she pulled her mouth reluctantly from his. He hadn’t asked for an explanation but she felt compelled to give one. “If we’re going to die, I needed it one more time. I should be embarrassed to admit this, but what the hell. You must know how much I want you from three little encounters. I just wish I could have had the chance to know what you could do to the rest of my body.”
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