Any Price (21 page)

“No,” Yuri confirmed. “I did not focus on it, sir. Boris and I have discussed it casually in the past. It is my failing that I did not feel these things were a current threat. As we said before, we do not discuss our knowledge outside the very few of us we know of. This secret has been kept a long time.”

“None of it would have affected anyone if Kenna and I had never met,” Lore commented. “There was no need to discuss it.

“The best way to protect Celina is leave things just as they are,” Lore continued. “Her position as my secretary ensures she receives all the protection of the royal entourage without being singled out as a target.

“Her husband was not her One, was he?” Lore asked Boris cautiously.

“No. It seems not,” Boris agreed. “In all the generations in the north, we have never had one who responded as you two have. We think it’s because we are not where we should be.”

“I’m not so sure,” Lore mused. “Look at how far apart Kenna and I were. There is no way our paths would intersect in the normal train of events.

“Her grandmother made it her dying wish that Kenna attend the festival. Our faceless enemy used extreme measures to test her. I am beginning to suspect something about this time in history dictated the return of Keepers to the world community.”

There was silence. Thoughts were whirling as they absorbed the certainty that they struggled with an ancient enemy in a battle they didn’t understand. Being the target in a hunt and not knowing it was a distinctly haunting feeling. Not knowing exactly who the current hunters were made it intolerable for the men present.

Lore broke the silence. “We are responding to events, not causing them. We’re in a defensive position. I’m not comfortable with that. I want answers. We’ve been handed a great deal of power. We are not alone and must expect an equal and opposite power to oppose us. Gentlemen, time to stop reacting.”

Lore calmly regarded the intense faces in the room. “Make no mistake, there has been a declaration of war. War like this planet hasn’t seen since there were wizards and dragons. I don’t know if we’re the metaphorical wizards or the dragons, but we damn well are going to become the aggressors.

“There is something you need to know. You have called me the One. That term has been handed down through unknown generations and I believe its meaning lost. Kenna is your first daughter, there is no doubt of that, but we have not been clear on the reason her mate is called the One. Let me explain it to you.”

Lore’s eyes went to the large easy chair that was empty. There was a snapping pop and suddenly the chair condensed into a perfectly formed one-foot square of material. There was no flash of light or blurring of lines, it simply sucked into itself and crushed down.

Complete silence met his demonstration of power. Lore hadn’t even stood up to do it. This expression of the power thundering through him was a minimal example. It wasn’t something he’d planned to do, but he needed to impress on them what he was. Knowing he could do something like this wasn’t comfortable, but it was undeniable. Like so many other components of the changes he and Kenna were experiencing, the development seemed stealthy. Increases in abilities suddenly appeared and some part of him felt he should have known they would.

Kenna fought the urge to hold her breath. Lore was taking command but he wanted voluntary allegiance from the Keeper community. He wanted them to understand the dynamic that created this power. He needed them to accept it and him as its instrument.

“The startling truth is, it isn’t actually my power. It is yours. My connection to Kenna is simply the conduit through which all of you flow,” Lore explained.

This arrangement created the ultimate balance. She, the weaker sex, held the power. He, the physically stronger one, could only access his full potential through complete union with her.

“The royal first daughter’s mate is the focus of all Keepers. The One directs collective energy,” Lore finished to be sure they understood.

Into the silence Lore opened the common communication channel, expanding it with the full strength of his abilities. They had known they had the power to connect around the globe, speaking with Thomas had proved that. Feeling Keepers from almost every corner of the Earth was still surprising. It was not a huge number outside this country, yet it was enough to feel spread thin.

The ensuing chaos was quickly quieted as Kenna joined Lore. The two of them revealed themselves before the global community as what they were, the One and the first daughter of the gods. The truth of who they were flowed across the connection.

Though the entire history could not be condensed, it wasn’t needed. If a person could hear them, there was within that person recognition that could not be denied. Opening a mass communication channel powered by Lore’s control of energy ignited an explosion of knowledge that each individual had felt infiltrating into their reality in the last few days. Many had thought they were losing their minds. It was immediately apparent that this acknowledgement was necessary, and perhaps late.

Lore greeted them.
“Brothers and sisters, I wish I could offer you a choice to join us or not but the universe is not a democracy. Survival of the strongest is the only constant we can count on. Kenna and I can no more reject who we are than you can choose not to be born into this community
.” Lore paused as he gathered his thoughts and allowed others to calm their stunned reactions.

“We have no alternative except to be what we are. It’s the same lack of choice we had in what color our hair was at birth. Genetics made us. In light of that fact, I propose we join together to face the dangers before us.

“We are different. Some will call it gifted while others will have less charitable names for us. Mainly we will be feared. Each of you has felt a difference occurring within yourself. Something you’d always had a slight connection with but no control over. Suddenly you have abilities that far exceed the norms for humans. If the rest of the world population learns of our differences, we will be hunted.

“I want each of you to understand, you are in danger. If what we are becomes known, almost every power on Earth will seek to capture us in the name of science. They will call it a need to study you. I promise you, the study will involve an autopsy. Obviously you will not survive. I cannot impress on you enough how certain this outcome is if you are discovered. Your life and, more importantly, your children’s lives depend on concealing our community.

“Acknowledging us all in this way, I give you the one choice left us, the choice to unite. Those of you who did not know of your heritage would be easy targets were you left unaware and our existence become common knowledge in certain circles. I refer to governments and organizations that will see our differences as assets to be exploited.

“The bad news is there is at least one powerful organization that is aware of us. We don’t know the extent of their knowledge. The possibility exists that you are already targets. I urge you to hide your enhanced abilities.

“As a group, we can survive. We can assist each other in ways the rest of the world will wish they could possess. That is our greatest strength and our most deadly weakness. It will make us and mark us, but it is also our only hope for freedom. Again I say, we are what we are, that choice is not given to us. What we do with it is.

“I ask you as the One, choose to stand together. Together is our only opportunity to determine our destiny instead of letting others force one upon us. Making the choice to unite means we extend ourselves for the greater good. Once again, this is not a democracy, your leaders cannot be exchanged and neither can your heritage.”

Lore looked into Kenna’s eyes and asked her privately to disconnect from him. He intended to open his mind to the collective in the one gift he could give them. It was the only proof he had to offer of his intention to serve them. He was the focus of their energy, the seat of power, and he wanted their confidence. Lore had no idea if it would be painful, it certainly would be an invasion of personal space and he intended to endure it.

What he couldn’t handle was sharing her. Taking up the crown had not been a lightly thought-through choice. This leadership position did not offer him the luxury of a choice, that didn’t change his convictions on where his responsibilities lay. It was to the people. She was the only thing he could not share in any way.

Her deep desire to stand beside him through this was brave and exactly what he expected of her, but was the one thing he could not bear. His need to protect her was too strong and it was bound up in their intimate relationship. She was his only possession. He implored her to give him that. Even though she was the conduit of each soul represented, they had no power to see her as he intended to let them see him. She was the only thing he’d hold back from them.

Still sitting on the sofa, Kenna shifted her body to sit across his lap, wrapping her arms around him and her whole self across him as he held her to his chest. Her mouth came to rest on his neck and her lips parted to allow blunt little teeth to gently close over a portion of his skin so she was holding him in every possible way. Then she pulled out of him mentally. His arms tightened fiercely and he continued.

“This is your One, the hand of your power. Know me as I am and know my duty is to you. The first daughter who unites us is my first responsibility and our greatest treasure. Beyond that, I am yours,”
Lore finished.

* * * * *

Simon Dahshur stiffened as he felt the distinctly male power snaking through the atmosphere. The power signature was Keeper but a male voice wielded it. And it was not the wispy shreds he was used to picking up. This voice thundered with strength. He could not distinguish the words but he felt the movement of many joining the male.

At thirty thousand feet on his way to Covia in the Dahshur corporate jet, he already knew what the displaced advisor wanted. He’d known it during their phone conversation. The fool was handing over the only known daughter of the gods since the other bitch disappeared seven hundred years ago. Simon’s plan was simple. Take her and get what he needed from her. He was outstanding at extracting what he needed, especially from females.

She would be something of a treat even though he liked them bigger and stronger. Much more entertaining to break the strong ones, but now there was this male. Could it be the king she slept with? Had they found a way for the power to be wielded by her bedmate? Oh, that could be exceedingly interesting.

He’d known she held the key to power. He hadn’t known she could bestow it on another. This just got better and better.

The power emanating from Covia was a compelling perfume. The feel of it made him hard. He savored the sexual rush, allowing it to burn over him at the thought of possessing her in every way. He had no doubt he’d obtain everything she was, but he needed to remind himself of the first goal. Taking this from her would be gratifying, but obtaining the secrets of the gods must be accomplished.

Consciously relaxing his body, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. The heady mix of being so close to his goal and the power he felt the little fool gathering, coupled with the knowledge that it would all be his, made his body hum with anticipation. This was foreplay at its best.

They didn’t know what or who they were dealing with, but that didn’t matter. This was a response to the move he’d made in searching her possessions. He knew he’d failed to obtain whatever it was she’d sent the lapdog to New York for. That game wasn’t done yet. He was confident he’d secure the item she had sent for.

The richness of entering battle was a high he’d not felt so keenly previously. Its sexual force had been vaguely enjoyed before, but this was a consuming pleasure. Simon smiled and opened his eyes.
I’m coming, my sweet witch. Coming for you.

* * * * *

Lore closed the common path but the expanded flow of energy hummed with a pulse that each of them felt. His natural instincts as a leader had led him to this action. Its unleashing of power had been an unexpected side effect.

Kenna’s mouth released him as she sat back and looked into his face. He was magnificent, fierce and strangely calm. She saw a revitalized face whose subtle signs of age were refining in a way that added authority to an already striking visage. Her soul felt his energy as she slipped back into the place in his mind that was hers.

“Time to take you home, baby,” he stated calmly.

“What?” Yuri questioned sharply.

Lore glanced at him. “To the home of her ancestors, Kersonov. We are not in the right place. We can feel it. There are secrets here but no answers. We need to go where the answers were born. The place they began, her ancestral home.”

New York City

Thomas walked out of the Chinese Consulate and glanced down the brightly lit street. He could feel his watcher as he hailed a cab.

Remaining stationary would accomplish nothing. The need for information was paramount, not just for his lady liege but for the community at large. The king’s actions had highlighted what a huge responsibility rested on a very small group’s shoulders. Previously the small military contingent had been guardians of a remote European kingdom that no one really wanted. Now they were protectors of a people who possessed treasures every other power would seek to attain.

At this moment it was a secret war and they all hoped it remained so, but it was still war. Even if he had only a few hours left, he was in a unique position to gather information that could prove invaluable.

Being a martyr wasn’t his aim. Thomas intended to live. More than that, he intended to exact a high cost for his soul if he had no other choice. The opposing force was about to learn none of them would go down easy.

Heading to the Waldorf, Thomas savored appearing the prey in this game. He was very much a wolf in sheep’s clothing. By leaving the consulate he’d indicated ignorance of the extent of the threat. He was reasonably sure those following him would assume his knowledge of them was limited. It was, but he intended to change that.

The Waldorf had a lobby dress code and he’d barely get in wearing the dress shirt, tie and dress slacks. Scruffy spy-boy would not. Thomas assumed they’d scramble and find another entrance but still, they had to change clothes.

Thomas checked in and rented a safe deposit box just to worry them. The Waldorf’s plush surroundings were designed to be soothing, but he wasn’t ready to be soothed. A stroll through the hotel boutique supplied him a change of clothes. A black silk shirt would disappear in the shadows just as well as a standard turtleneck, but he’d look more like a lurking gigolo.

Changing in the shop, he was sure no one watched from the lobby yet. Swiftly making his way out the employee exit, it was easy to find his quarry parked on a side street. They were in a different car and should have blended in. The only reason he easily picked out the correct vehicle was his newly enhanced senses. Tension radiating from their car drew his eye.

As Thomas watched the two men sitting in the nondescript sedan, another man strolled up and slid into the backseat. The three appeared relaxed but the spike of tension told a different story to extended senses. Abruptly one of the men in front turned to face the back. The man in the back slumped over as the car sedately joined traffic.

There were three bodies in that car but only two souls remained. The murder had been casually accomplished in public. It told Thomas more about the adversary than his own capture would have.

With this group the price of failure was death. They displayed the fanatical thinking of a religious sect, not a military unit. Giving up on their target too quickly and wasting an asset for a minor failure was all about someone’s impatience. It was a personal response that no professional would ever make. Now he suspected they were headed to the one place they knew they could pick him up again. He had to return to the plane.

Thomas contacted Yuri with the new information. The enemy was wildly unpredictable. A religious sect could not be counted on to do the logical thing. Not even the thing that was best for their cause. This type of opponent was made up of martyrs, which meant every person involved actually wanted to die in battle.

Martyrs made stupid soldiers, but their inability to retreat gave them a certain advantage. They had no moral code, no decision-making process. They did as instructed and could not be moved from that goal. There were few opponents more difficult than this type of mindless force.

* * * * *

Covia

Limos glided out of the city. Early morning sun glinted off tinted windows as they disappeared, heading north. The story left behind was they were going for a short day trip to a hunting lodge just north of the city. Since the king still needed to be in contact, his senior secretary accompanied them along with the second chef to take care of the noon meal.

Lore and Kenna were alone in the back of the second limo. He’d made sure of it as the required players entered the vehicles. Sometimes it was good to be king, Lore mused with a smile when Kenna glanced around at the arrangements.

“What do you think we’re looking for?” Kenna wanted to know as they exited the capital.

Lore depressed the button, raising the privacy glass between them and the three men seated in front. “We’ll find what we are meant to find. It’s of no interest to me at the moment,” he stated calmly. Turning, he lifted Kenna, holding her above his lap a second. “Open the legs,” he ordered to have her straddle him.

“What are you doing?” Kenna settled on his lap in the gently rocking car.

“I’m doing it right,” Lore stated as he bent to nuzzle her breasts. His hands were busy behind her, unhooking her bra. Quickly he reached into the sleeveless summer blouse and pulled the straps down her arms, extracting the bra expertly.

“You’re quite good at that,” Kenna observed as his mouth moved across her breast bone. His heated breath through thin cotton was an exquisite sensation as he ignored its obstruction.

“Mmm.” He pulled the blouse out of her peasant skirt. Large hands moved over her slowly, drawing out each touch as enhanced nerves trembled. Slowly the cotton was drawn up, his fingers gliding over her rib cage. Her hands gripped his forearms for balance as he shoved the material to her neck and lifted his head to survey what he’d uncovered.

Kenna took a deep breath as he looked at her. Their connection told her his emotions were churning as he drank in the sight of her breasts. Possession and passion swirled through him, tenderness and desperation a close second.

“Why the desperation?” she asked as she caressed his tense face.

His big hands moved up and down her back as if he could not get enough of her skin in them. “You know I’ve changed,” he stated as his head tipped back to the leather seat so he could look her in the eye. “As have you, but my changes are different. I’ve become stronger and you remain the fragile woman I met. Your changes empower me and the Keeper society, but you stay vulnerable. I can feel what you feel, my little witch. The forces moving toward us, both of them, are aimed directly at you.

“How am I supposed to handle that?” he asked softly. “This desperate need to protect is swiftly becoming rage at whatever they are.” His hands glided up and down her sides, grazing the swell of her breasts as he tried to explain.

“Baby, I wasn’t lonely. There was no empty hunger in my life. Then there you were and everything I thought was true became false. I need you, Kenna. I hunger for you. There is no collection of things, no title, no birthright I wouldn’t give up. I will die before giving up you.”

They were both silent as the deep truth of his sentiment filtered through her. Kenna framed his face and she smiled a little sadly. “Your death would dictate mine. We are not separate, apparently death is our ultimate embrace,” she reminded him. “Try to control the beast with that, will you?” Her gentle teasing was all surface. The forces entwining them created in her the same needs though the face of them was different.

“Even though you can see the beast in me, don’t fear it. You never need to fear it. After this morning, I’m not sure I can prove that but I’m giving it a shot.” He smiled at her.

Kenna shifted, pressing her damp mound against the hard evidence of his desire beneath his pants. The skirt was full and allowed her to easily stretch open over his lap. She wasn’t wearing panties because he’d asked her not to back when they were dressing.

His look had been intense when he glanced at her stepping into pretty panties, and he’d said softly, “You know I’ll have to rip those off. Why don’t you make it easy on us both and leave them?” He’d been referring to the fact that their sexual needs were becoming more frequent and intense.

Now his face turned serious. “Honey, I don’t know why you’re in physical pain when it’s been too long. I hate that you face the risks and consequences. Neither of us had a choice in becoming what we are, but damn it, you keep getting pain.” Lore searched to find the words to convey his rejection of this arrangement.

“What it does is create an unholy drive to protect and defend. We, as a people, have been given the gift of valuing our women above all else. But you, our dearest treasure are the weakest of all. It’s not right. The other women are strengthening, physically. You and I both feel it, but not you. Why not you? Why would one who matters most be the most vulnerable? You share the increased abilities and yet your body does not have the tools to handle them. For you, need becomes pain when it should be pleasure.”

“I know,” Kenna agreed, her fingers covering his lips to hush him. “It makes me very dependent. That could be the reason. Who knows?” She smiled at him as her fingers drifted down to work the buttons of his shirt. “Keeps a person from becoming full of themselves. Perhaps that’s what it is, a natural balance.

“On the other hand, consider the payoff for me, all of us women. We get our men’s full attention. I mean, who wouldn’t want you doing this?” she asked as his hands glided around to cup her breasts, his thumbs slowly sliding over pert nipples in gentle, maddening caresses. “I’m in your mind. I know your thoughts. You don’t look at other women, ever. You do in the sense that you feel this insane need to protect all of us, but I know your desires, where they are centered. It’s intoxicating to be the center of your world and know it.” Kenna moaned as his touch intensified.

Lore felt the sincerity of her words and yet he couldn’t find peace in them.

Her hips thrust on his lap in rhythm with his thumbs’ movements over her breasts’ swollen peaks. The desire to talk was fading as he met her erotic needs with needs of his own. She felt his determined control of the demanding lust between them. He intended to spend the entire hour making her crazy, just to prove he could. At this point, she had no arguments with that plan. Their situation was growing more serious, and time in a secure environment was stolen at best.

His dark head bent to her breast and his tongue flicked out to leisurely circle an engorged nipple. He gave her a low hum as he did it, almost an animal purr that entered her flesh and dragged its sexual approval across every nerve.

Kenna’s head dropped back and her eyes squeezed shut. She hadn’t thought he could up the sensuality of his touch, she’d been wrong. The slow licking was wickedly consuming, it pushed all else out of her mind. There was only Lore, his mouth moving over her in achingly tender homage.

He lifted her gently under her arms and laid her on the wide seat. Slowly he drew the skirt off her, his hands caressing the outside of her legs all the way to her toes. He didn’t say a word, just looked at her reclining form as he swiftly removed his unbuttoned shirt and straining slacks. Socks and shoes followed. He didn’t spread her legs as he then crouched over her, his body suspended above hers, one knee on the seat, the other foot on the floor, his hands on either side of her.

Lowering his mouth, he continued the nibbling, licking investigation, only touching her with lips and tongue. It was unhurried and deliberate. He sampled, tasted, kissed and nipped every inch of her neck, upper chest and finally down over soft, round mounds of trembling breasts. Reaching the apex of her breast, his mouth opened over a straining berry nipple and he sucked in hard.

Kenna’s back came off the seat as her body jerked in shock at the demanding suckling of her teased flesh. She’d been so enthralled she’d not seen it coming, and the corresponding gush of liquid onto plump folds filled the back of the limousine with the scent of her arousal.

He allowed her breast to pull out of his mouth with a pop and went directly to the other. This time she knew it was coming, but that didn’t curtail her reaction. Her body’s sensuous approval dripped down her shifting thighs onto the seat beneath her. Acute embarrassment flicked through her mind at the thought of others seeing a puddle when the door was opened, not to mention the thick aroma of sex in the closed vehicle.

Lore chuckled as he nibbled down the sensitive underside to her trembling midriff. “The privacy partition is up. I assure you, they don’t think we’re back here discussing the theory of relativity,” he chided her embarrassment.

Suspended above her, his thick erection dragged its tip over her body as he moved. The silky evidence of his arousal trailed across her, adding his scent to the mix in the air.

In his mind she could see his satisfaction at marking her newly washed skin with his intimate scent. He wanted the knowledge of his possession to be evident to every male she came in contact with. That embarrassing and animalistic desire to mark her was making her squirm. Her hips rocked and her legs shifted as his tongue now ran around her left hipbone. His stance would not let her open more than a little as he licked across the top of her pubic mound.

“You’re planning on torturing me, aren’t you?” Kenna moaned as his mouth moved over her.

“Torture? If worshiping every inch of the woman whose heartbeats are the measure of my existence, then yes,”
he returned mentally, unwilling it interrupt his busy mouth.