Daughter Trilogy Bundle (16 page)

"Okay.  You have to stop.  The first storm is gone, but now a new one is stirring," Kry warns.

Devin's hands don't release me though.  His lips stay on mine, and he pulls me up to meet his kiss more passionately.  I can feel that new storm inside me beginning to brew stronger as a needy throbbing erupts from deep within.

I rip his shirt off, and his hands start burning up my sides under my shirt.

Kry rips Devin off of me and yells at him.

"Stop!"

My drunken state of mind has taken over me, and Kry just pissed me off.  The winds around him stir, and his eyes widen as they launch him through five trees, and several massive boulders shatter from the impact of his body.

Devin's eyes widen, too, as he notices my newly acquired state of mind.  He yells to Kry.

"Stay back.  Don't touch me or her.  She'll fucking kill you right now."

Kry mumbles back, "Yeah, kind of figured that out on my own.  Calm her the fuck down, please."

I slowly strut toward Devin with a sexy saunter, and he takes my hands in his.  His eyes meet mine, and the power inside of me burns to get out.

"Kiss me," an odd, hollow tone sounds out from my mouth.

"Please stop, baby.  Calm down.  Come back to me," he pleads.

I feel my body shaking, trembling, and weakening beneath his pleading tone.  The clouds shift, lighten, and almost disappear slowly to reveal the brighter sky.  My eyes roll back in my head to offer me nothing more than darkness as I collapse into gentle arms.

My eyes stay closed as
I feel the soft bed beneath me.  Fluffy, heavenly covers embrace me, offering me comfort.  My head is supported by the most incredible pillow I've ever felt.  My eyes finally dare to open and inspect my new surroundings.

The room is massive, white, and strategically placed items decorate it.  Obviously this is Devin's place, but where am I?

I stand and walk over to the gallant window stretching wide across the room, and I see the beauty of a glistening lake just in front of me.  There's a long, wooden dock with several speedboats attached.

I look out to see two more ridiculously large houses beside of us, identical in comparison.  I idly wonder if this house looks just the same from the outside.

I look down to see I'm wearing a satin pajama set, similar to the one I left behind in the crumpled SUV when the engine blew up.

I've destroyed two vehicles now. 
Perfect
.

I quickly try to think about anything other than the crazy.  I can't get upset.  I lose myself when I'm upset, and I don't know who comes out in my place.  I can't control myself.

I walk to the doorway, and I hear the whispers from voices that are trying to stay hidden from my ears.

"She's way too strong for a beginner.  What do we know exactly?

"Well I know I barely touched Devin, and she actually tried to kill me," Kry gripes.

"If she had wanted you dead, I don't think you'd be standing," Theia says softly.  "It sounds as if she's in love with my son.  He shouldn't be her trigger though.  He shouldn't be able to control her either.  Triggers don't have that sort of influence.  What does he know about her family?"

In love?  No.  I'm not in love.

I want to be done with him.  No second chances.  I just can't seem to keep my body in check around him because of this freaky
… whatever it is going on with me.  I'm not in love.

"He's pretty bound by her too.  He can't stop himself around her.  He kissed her to calm the storm, but he came close to sparking a new one when he couldn't withdraw.  If she hadn't passed out, he'd still be lost in her while the storms ripped apart the lands.  This is all new to me," Kry exasperates.

"Have you seen what color her eyes burn yet?" Theia interjects.

"No.  That's another pain in the ass conundrum.  Her eyes should be showing before her power.  What is going on?" Kry whines.

"I don't know that I've ever seen anything like it to be honest.  It's possible her eyes just haven't learned to shift yet.  Now, her family?" she prompts.

"Devin doesn't know anything," Ther interjects.  "The only thing Adisia knows is that her mother abandoned her twice."

I swallow hard to fight the demons of that statement.  I might need to quit eavesdropping before I rip the house to shreds.

"And her personal history?" Theia asks.

It sucks.  Point blank.

"None to share really.  He knows very little about her.  Apparently they haven't done too much talking in the short time they've known each other," Ther says far too casually without any respect for the situation.

Really?  You don't tell that shit to a mother, you jackass.

The wind outside begins to howl, and they all shut up in unison.  Theia sighs loudly.

"Would you like to join us, Adisia?"

Stupid, traitorous wind.  Thanks for selling me out.

I stand up with begrudged acceptance for my failed spying attempt and lightly make my way down the staircase.

"Sorry.  Just trying to figure out what's going on with me since everyone talks about me and not to me," I explain, as if I need an excuse to listen to a conversation about me.

"It's fine, dear.  We just need to be careful what we say in front of you," Theia murmurs.

"I know.  I wish I knew who I was.  I would tell you if I did."

"Tell us what you do know," she requests.

"My birthmother left me in the basement of a hospital when I was five.  They didn't find me for five days, and I should have died.  They nursed me back to health, and she walked in and walked back out with me in her arms.  Then, she dumped me at the orphanage and collected her check.  The Titan's, as ironic as that is, adopted me."

She rubs her chin and nods.

"The Titan's?  That is ironic, but it could have been the universe's way of trying to get someone's attention.  Perhaps, we should have given it better attention in the beginning."

I look over at Kry who's pouring a glass of a dark alcohol.

"I'm sorry about earlier.  I didn't mean to
…  It just happened, and I don't know why I did it.  That scares me the most."

He nods.  "It was my carelessness.  I knew Devin was a hands-off area with you.  I should have been more cautious in my approach."

I squirm a little.  They're all under the impression I'm in love with a man who is still a complete stranger, more so now than when I first met him.  He has broken my heart, and now I've been thrown into a world that is so surreal... I don't even know where to begin in trying to understand it.

"I think I've figured it out.  I want to lay the facts out for you, and let you draw your own conclusions to see if I'm not completely crazy," Devin's voice interjects from nowhere.

I turn to see him in a dangerously low pair of jogging pants, and he's pulling on a sleeveless shirt as he stalks toward us.  His perfect, toned, deliciously defined abdomen is slowly hidden as the shirt cascades down.  My quivering bottom lip seeks refuge between my teeth, and my body starts to heat while the wind stirs.

"Adisia," Theia says in a warning tone, and I realize the lights are flickering.

The embarrassment from his mother's observation is enough to snuff out the small fire before it becomes the raging inferno that leaves me drunk and out of control.  Devin smirks a little and avoids making eye contact with me so he doesn't entice the flames to return.

"Starting from the beginning, her mother's abandonment was the first trigger, but she was too young to change at the time.  The fear of being left alone has forced everyone around her to love her almost too much.  She's been radiating that energy since she was an infant."

"That would mean a very powerful source.  Radiating such energy takes more power than I've seen since you," Theia says to her son.

"Men go mad around her, leaving them completely beguiled and often obsessed," he continues.

"That's not really what you think, is it?" I question.

He ignores me and continues.  "When I met her, something between us sparked.  I think that was the second trigger.  That explains her sickness and the boiling water in our shower.  When I left her, the abandonment issues struck full force, and several breaker boxes blew up in her apartment building.  Then, of course, there was the engine combustion when were sharing a dangerous look.  I triggered something because of my passion for her and hers for me."

Why emphasize the word
passion
when speaking to his mother?  Fuck. Now I'm mortified.

"I think that's crossing a line of over-sharing," I whisper to him with a red face full of humiliation.

How can a guy tell his mother shit like this?

Devin grins too big to suppress it after hearing my voiced embarrassment, and he finally acknowledges I'm in the room.  He shakes his head and steps lightly toward me as he speaks.

"It's pertinent information to discovering your origins," he murmurs.

Then he turns back around to meet the hesitant eyes of his mother.

"I think know where you're going with this, but you know as well as I do that it's preposterous.  There's no way.  Especially with her sky opening act.  That never came about with her."

Her?  Me?  Someone else perhaps?  Irritating cryptic immortals.

"Here's the deal sealer.  Every mortal that ever dated her cheated on her.  They always came back within a week.  Now what do you think?"

Her eyes widen in shock.  Everyone is silent, and now mortified is in the rearview mirror for me.  They haven't yet created a word that fully describes how incredibly humiliated I feel.

"Seriously?  Would you like to post my personal life on the internet as well?  You asshole," I exclaim.

He steps toward me, but I move back.  I don't want to look at him right now.

"I see… I don't know… it's just too… What else brings you to this conclusion?" Theia stammers.

"Well, if that's not enough, my leaving her triggered even more of a stir when it-"

I interrupt his imperious speech.  I'm sick of hearing how he's my trigger, how he left me, and how tragic I was when I was so helplessly destroyed.

"I've been left before by men I've spent far more time with than you.  I've been destroyed and left with thousands of pieces.  I knew you for a hot minute before you decided you didn't want me," I grumble.

"I never decided I didn't want you.  I was trying to keep you safe," he argues.  "I've never stopped wanting you in the least bit since the day I met you."

Oh no. 
Look away.  Look away
.  This is not a conversation to have in front of his mother!

"Anyway, like I was saying, he's not the first guy to dump me, so I don't see what this has to do with anything."

"You never loved anyone like you do my son," Theia bluntly states.

Fuck!  Really lady?

Devin looks down bashfully, and I glare at his smirking face.

"I barely know him.  I don't love him.  I've been engaged before, so I think I know what love is."

Devin sits down casually on the couch, and his eyes reach up to pull mine in.  Fucking immortal.  Damn him and his eternal hotness.

I break eye contact when Theia speaks with a condescending smile.

“Immortal love is far different.  He's your trigger, which is surreal for our kind.  He has a connection with you I've never seen before.  This is far stronger than you're giving it credit for.  It's actually too strong.  This sort of bond is much more-"

She stops, pauses, and turns to Devin.

"That's where you're going with this.  You know this is who she is.  I see a little better.  What happened after your abandonment?"

"Every guy in the entire town sent her flowers.  I didn't really think that much about it.  I thought the possible infection had heightened her sex appeal to the mortals.  They were obsessing over her, though, in a mindless, helpless sort of way."

Theia takes a deep breath.  "I can't believe this.  This has never been heard of.  If this is true, they're going to be after her more than they're after the rest of us."

"I know.  Believe me, I know," he almost mumbles, his smile vanishing.

"What are you talking about?" I insist, my foot stomping the ground to accentuate my adamant demand.

"We believe you to be a daughter of Aphrodite," Theia says with a tone of awe.

Kry's glass drops and shatters against the ground.  I squirm uncomfortably as they all stare at me - gawk at me rather.

"That makes sense," Ther exasperates while gripping his head.

"A lot of sense," Kry adds with the same exasperation, relief seeming to find his eyes.

"Why?" I ask, still drinking in all the crazy.

"Because we couldn't fucking get you out of our heads," Ther grumbles, and I flush instantly.

This is so absurd.  Surely I'm not believing any of this.  I'm getting a migraine.

"So, wasn't Aphrodite all about love and flowers?  How is this such a big deal?" I ask while completely ignoring Ther's last remark.