Absolution (Delroi Prophecy Book 4) (7 page)

She shook her head, trying to clear
the fog of lust from her mind. “What?”

Instead of responding he helped her
out of her clothes. Before she knew it water poured over them. He pushed her
against the tile wall, held her hands over her head, and took her mouth. He
was…unleashed. Wild. Everything he’d hidden while speaking to Mikail poured
into her mind. Fury, regret, sorrow. Emotions she was well versed in. She tried
to get closer. To offer succor. But he refused to accept it. It frustrated her
and she bit his bottom lip so he’d let her go. He stared down at her, surprise
written across his face.

“What was that for?”

“You know.”

Sighing, he tucked her close. “I am a
warrior, sweetheart. It’s my job to protect you not the other way around.”

She resisted the urge to smack him. “I
refuse to be in such a one sided relationship.”

He leaned back to enough to look down
at her with narrowed angry eyes. “There is no way out.”

“Then I suggest you learn to
compromise.”

Understanding dawned in his
expression. “This is why you’ve been holding back.”

She hadn’t considered that might be
the reason why until he said it. “You insist I show you all of me. Not just
what I’ve done and what I’m capable of, but…my fears. My weaknesses. Why won’t
you share yours? You want everything from me, but you refuse to give the same
in return. I promise I can handle it.”

He shuddered, so briefly she might
have imagined it, then buried his face in the curve of her neck. She wrapped
her arms around his head and waited for him to speak.

“I’m
not comfortable with this kind of emotion. Guilt and regret. I should have made
sure Xiri was safe. I thought Goran could protect her,”
he whispered telepathically.

“You
were on Earth. The blame for this falls on your cousin not you.”

She sensed his smile in her mind.
“You know I won’t excuse myself.”

She did. He took complete
responsibility for those under his protection.
“We need to work on that.”

The smile became a chuckle and he
lifted his head, brushed his lips along the side of her face. Tiny, teasing
kisses. He slid his palms over her ass and lifted her onto his hard cock.

“I’d
rather work on something else.”

It was a long slippery ride that had
her panting and demanding release in mere minutes. He refused to give it to
her. Instead he pulled out, turned off the water, and hurriedly dried them both
before tugging her into the bedroom. She found herself on her hands and knees
on the bed, Xan thrusting into her from behind in a rough quick stroke. One
thrust and she was lost. The leash of his control snapped, he fucked her. Hard
and fast. She let herself go. Let the rapture take her over as she convulsed on
each plunge of his cock into her. One orgasm merged into two and then three. By
four she was screaming in ecstasy. With the fifth she stopped thinking, stopped
breathing. Her mind splintered, her body flew apart. She was distantly aware of
him coming with her the last time. She didn’t care. She floated in a space
beyond bliss, beyond ecstasy. This was dangerously close to completion.

His weight sagged against her, pushed
her to her stomach. Somehow he managed to maneuver them fully onto the bed
without her help, rolling to his side and pulling her close. It was becoming a
comfortable, familiar position. A part of her thought she should be concerned
about that but she was too satisfied to care. She closed her eyes and enjoyed
the warmth of him. The strength of his hard male body curled around her. He
pressed a soft kiss to her nape, just a breath of air really.

“Rest, love. Sleep easy in my arms and
know you’re safe,” he whispered so softly she could almost ignore the yearning
for more.

Chapter Six

A couple of days later, Xan stood in
front of the stronghold’s main entrance with his mate and watched the party
from the Keep land. He was tempted to put a halt to the upcoming meeting. He
could simply demand Zola be released into his care and not subject her or Anna
Leigh to public spectacle. He didn’t because of a conversation he’d had with
Kaje Stian the previous afternoon. The Keep’s Steward had implied that Zola was
Jarek Idis’s
der’lan
. Since Zola was
now his daughter, too and Xan had fathered no children, any son she had would
be his heir. He needed to see for himself if Jarek was up for that kind of
responsibility. Still…

“I should have stipulated Zola and
Jarek only for this visit.”

Anna Leigh shook her head. “No. That
would put too much pressure on her. This way she gets to judge my intentions
with the support of her friends if she decides I’m just going to disappoint her
again.”

Though she looked calm and serene--no
one else would notice anything wrong--he was in her mind. He knew how much the
idea unsettled her. She was anxious about seeing her daughter again after so
long. Seconds later Zola exited the shuttle, Jarek close on her heels, and made
her way towards them. Her power lashed, a whip barely contained, and again he
was reminded of the prophecy.

“Zola. You look good.”

“If you came to kill me, I promise
I’ll take you with me.” Her words were thick with fury, but he heeded Anna
Leigh’s urging to let her handle it.

Anna Leigh shook her head. “I’m not
here to kill you. I’m here to help.”

Zola laughed. The sound was bitter and
harsh with old anger. Jarek leaned close to whisper in her ear and her
expression transformed into something soft and hopeful. Xan was grateful to see
it, to know that with her mate’s help she would be able to move beyond the past
and perhaps form a healthy relationship with him and Anna Leigh. The others
joined them, surrounding Zola, and he realized she wasn’t as alone as he’d
worried.

“We need to talk, Mother.”

Anna Leigh stepped aside so the others
could enter, but Xan stopped Jarek and Zola.

“You’re wearing Idis colors,” he said,
unsure if he should gentle his tone with the hard eyed young woman who faced
him.

“She’s my
der’lan
,” Jarek said.

If she was the bond wasn’t complete.
How did Jarek expect to protect her if it remained so? Xan could see she had
her mother’s strength and will, however. It was an odd position to find himself
in. He didn’t know how to deal with a child much less a grown one.
 

“Is that so, daughter?” he asked her
but watched Jarek. He would not risk the life of another of the females under
his protection. The longer she delayed answering the more concerned he became.

“He is,” she finally answered.

It would do for now. He led everyone
inside to the room he had brunch waiting in. After they’d filled their plates,
he and Anna Leigh sat facing Jarek and Zola. He brought up the subject
bothering him.

“You’re bond isn’t complete.”

“You know how it is in the Keep,”
Jarek said. “She’s mine. We both know it. No need to hurry.”

Xan had always thought that
tradition--waiting for the female to indicate acceptance--ridiculous. It
couldn’t be changed. There was only one mate for any them, so why delay the
inevitable? But he found his mind changing. He didn’t want his daughter forced to
accept a male she didn’t want. And Jarek’s words angered Zola. She may not have
denied the connection, but she was far from accepting it. Maybe that was for
the best. He could offer her a father’s protection while she decided. No one
would deny his right in the absence of the
der’lan
bond. He would watch and wait, decide the best course of action before they
left. Zola stood and went out the doors to the conservatory. A few minutes
later Anna Leigh followed. Xan didn’t listen in on their conversation but he
felt her distress.

“I’m
fine,”
she said.
“She’s
angrier than I expected and she has every right to be. I’m giving her the
information I collected and coming back inside.”

Once they were back inside, Anna Leigh
returned to his side, slipped her hand in his in an unspoken request for
comfort. He was happy to provide it while he watched Zola become excited and
insist two of the names on Anna Leigh’s list were actually her allies not her
enemies. When she attempted to make arrangements to meet with them, however,
Jarek forbade her to go. While Xan might agree with the sentiment, even he knew
the younger man should have approached it more diplomatically. He may not know
his new daughter well yet, but he could see she had her mother’s stubbornness.
He refused to even contemplate what would happen if he tried to forbid Anna
Leigh from doing something. She couldn’t leave him but she could sure as hell
make him miserable. That was the only reason he didn’t prevent Zola from
leaving with them a few minutes later. This was a lesson Jarek would need to
learn on his own.

***

A couple of days later Xan worried
about his own resolve to respect his mate’s ability to protect herself. On the
way to the Keep to attend the goddess cult’s Rebirth Celebration, they’d
received word two Tel agents had been cornered at the site of a staged training
accident. They’d quickly changed course and had arrived in time to watch Zola
calmly execute the first. Anna Leigh joined her when she approached the second.
The man’s hatred and diseased mind leaked past his shields, and it took
self-control Xan didn’t know he had to let his women handle it and not step in
himself.

“Thank
you,”
she whispered in his mind in a combination of
amusement and testiness.

He couldn’t hear the conversation from
where he stood, but understanding how tense he was with his mate so near the
enemy, she invited him into her mind to listen in.

“We should have known. A family of traitors,”
the Earthling said.

Xan felt Anna Leigh’s contempt, shared
it. “That’s the best you have?”

“Clark will kill you. If you think you
can hide here, you’re wrong.”

“Clark can’t touch us. He’s dead.”

The enemy didn’t believe her so she
showed him Clark’s death. Xan had already seen it and approved of her actions
to seek vengeance for Zola’s imprisonment and torture.

“Zola
is suspicious,”
she told him sadly.

He knew she worried the rift between
mother and daughter could not be healed. It twisted something inside him that
he didn’t have the words to reassure her.

“She
just needs time.”

“Perhaps.
I wonder who’s impersonating Clark. There shouldn’t be anyone left who could
pull it off.”

Their daughter had tired of questions,
however, and moved on to other means of extracting information. Her blade
sliced a wound across the male’s stomach that unattended would leave him dead
within the hour. Then, in a low mocking voice, she asked if he’d researched the
planet’s wildlife.

“They have a big cat called a saber.
It’s a lot like a tiger. Interesting beasts. They like to eat their meat live
and they’ve evolved smart enough to know just how to keep their meals alive for
days.”

Her voice was chilling as she
continued. He approved. This man would have killed her if he could. He deserved
to die slowly.

“Course it wouldn’t take much to spill
your guts all over the valley floor. Wonder how long you’d live then? It would
be a shame if you found mercy too soon.”

“Oh I don’t think that will be a
problem,” his mate said.

She didn’t try to block Xan from her
mind, but he sensed her withdrawal and wondered what she had planned that made
her fear his continued acceptance of her. Then he saw it, a small flame resting
just over her palm. The scent of burning flesh filled the air as she cauterized
the wound. Not to aid the Tel agent, but to scare him into talking.
Surprisingly it worked. He swore he didn’t know where the others were.

“Do
you believe him?”

“Unfortunately,
yes,”
Anna Leigh said.

As the agent continued, he felt his
mate’s surprise. He claimed five teams, not four had been sent to Delroi.

“Could
he be lying?”

“I
don’t know. Clark didn’t lie, but if someone is impersonating him on Earth
maybe they were able to slip in a fifth team.”

The interrogation continued with the
agent insisting he knew nothing of the other attacks or the other teams. He and
his partner would report by coded message and received orders the same way. He
didn’t have a comm unit on him however, and refused to tell them anything else.

“Rip
it out of his mind,” Zola said to Anna Leigh.

“I
can do it,”
Xan offered, feeling Anna Leigh’s
revulsion.

“No,
I’ve got it.”

She was precise and emotionless as she
extracted the address the agents had been using. He fought her though, putting
enough pressure on his brain to cause blood vessels to rupture. It trickled
from his nose and ears.