Everywhere and Nowhere (Safe Haven Book 1) (11 page)

Dragon sighed and through the portal screen Hadrian could see him sit down on his bed. “She hasn’t been trained. There is so much need, it’s overwhelming her.”

Hadrian kept his voice cool and even. “That is what we assumed, and since she’s here in our family’s home, I thought perhaps it was a sign that you were supposed to be the one to help her. But as you said, you’ve had no visions of that.”

“It is, perhaps, a result of the fact that I’ve never been able to have visions of my own future.”

“I didn’t realize that was a problem for you, brother.” Damn, why had he said that?

“Not all of us are gifted with destinies that are so clear from day one.”

Dragon’s inability to be a Warrior had caused a rift between them years earlier and it seemed that chasm would never heal. Hadrian had long since stopped looking for anything from Dragon except barely veiled sarcasm.

Enough. “So will you be coming or should I look for help elsewhere?”

He’d put it out there, given Dragon ample opportunity to take shots at him, and now it really came down to this moment. Either Dragon wanted to leave Astor and come home to help Hadley or he didn’t. Just because he was the best person for the job didn’t mean anything when it came to their animosity toward each other and, since it was Hadrian asking for the help, there really was no telling what Dragon would do.

“There is no one who could assist her better than me.”

Hadrian nodded. “I am aware of that.”

“And you could have had Mom ask me or anyone else, but you asked me yourself.” “That is also true.”

“Big mistake, Hadrian. I would watch the whole world explode before I would offer you one bit of assistance.”

Hadley awoke to Hadrian’s gentle ministrations. He rubbed her cheeks with a cloth that smelled of aloe and another scent she couldn’t identify. It was too bad she was going to die from this craziness—she would have liked to have learned all about the plants and animals that were indigenous to Haven.

As she watched the fine lines of concern and concentration crossing his face, she couldn’t help but realize there were many things she would have liked to know in this place that she had never imagined existed.

She reached out and grabbed his arm. Her dizziness had passed. She didn’t need him to baby her, and it was quasi-pathetic that she enjoyed it.

“Feeling better?” His voice was low, hushed, and as she looked out the window she saw the dim light of the sunset on the horizon. Dear god, she had slept the whole day away. She tried to sit up, annoyed that he restrained her from doing so.

She nodded. “Yes, just a little upset that I apparently wasted an entire day asleep.”

He shrugged. “You were sick, you needed the rest.”

“Why won’t you let me move?”

“I don’t want you to get dizzy again. If you must sit, let me help you.” He reached behind her back and helped her, propping her against the cushions of the bed.

Who was this Hadrian? The man who’d tended her last night was so different from the one who had told her she was a means to an end. Even the thought of that terrible remark made her bristle with anger. “You have to stop helping me, Hadrian. People might actually think we’re friends. Don’t you have a job to do? My mother is still on Earth potentially getting ready to be impregnated again, right?”

“I will not leave your mother there to languish but neither did I bring you here to watch you die.”

When she could finally speak through the utter confusion that clogged her throat, she could barely vocalize the words. “I thought I was just a means to an end to you.”

His eyes were soft, gentle. He placed his hands behind his neck and sat back in his chair. “If I live a million years, Hadley, I’ll wish every day that I hadn’t said that to you.”

She sighed. He looked so sincere she had a hard time continuing to be angry. “If I live a million years I’ll wish you hadn’t meant it.”

He leaned forward, his hands gripping the side of the bed. He stared into her eyes and she decided she’d been wrong all along. His eyes weren’t the sea, they weren’t the stars—they were the color of the moss that grew on the outside of his family’s stone cottage. He was as natural here as the very plants that fed off the soil.

“Here’s the thing, darling, I don’t think I did.”

He pushed the chair backward when he stood and it toppled over into the side of the room. She swallowed. Whenever Hadrian showed strong emotions he frightened her and, she hated to admit, turned her on at the same time. Her breasts ached for his touch.

“What does that mean?” Maybe what she should have said earlier was that if she lived a million years she’d never understand why men did what they did and said what they said.

“It means I
wanted
to mean it. I thought if I said it I would
have
to mean it, because
not
to mean it, to allow myself to feel what I feel for you and think what I think of you seems like the worst kind of betrayal I could imagine.”

Hadley looked down at herself. She still wore only his long shirt and she hadn’t showered. Not exactly in the physical state of beauty she would have preferred to have this type of conversation. She rolled her eyes. Who was she kidding? She’d never be that good-looking.

“A betrayal of Annabelle.” For her it wasn’t a question—the love of his life had died, and the woman also happened to be her sister. She could see how he would think his feelings for her, Hadley, were a betrayal.

“Of her, yes. Of my men. Of our cause. Of everything.” She nodded.

“Why don’t you just take me to Astor and leave me there? I’ll be out of your way, we won’t have to see each other anymore and whatever this is between us will end when we are out of each other’s sight.”

He slammed his fist against the wall. “No.”

“Why not?”

In lieu of an answer, he stormed across the room, sat on the bed next to her and claimed her mouth with his own. For a second she was so stunned she did nothing but sit there straight-faced and unmoving, but within seconds his tongue had skillfully forced its way into her mouth and she was lost in the sensation that was Hadrian.

His skin was rough—he hadn’t shaved—and his long black hair fell over her as they embraced. The feel of it, comparable to silk, sent shivers down her back and made her moan.

He pulled her closer until she was supported entirely by his weight. She wrapped her arms around his neck and met his tongue thrust for thrust, wishing it were his cock plunging in and out of her. His hands fisted in her hair as he pushed them both onto the bed. He pulled the covers down her body to expose her legs.

His right hand left her hair to stroke her leg. She shivered and he pulled his mouth from hers. They both panted heavily.

He grinned. “You’re wearing my Druggy T-shirt.”

She shook her head. “Who is Druggy?” Closing her eyes, she let the sensations of the moment fill her.

“Not a who, a what. It’s a game children play, similar to soccer. I’ll teach it to you. But not now.”

He kissed her again, hard, and she sighed. She could get used to this. Her eyes flew open and she pushed at his shoulders. That last thought scared the hell out of her.

Managing to pull her lips from his, she scooted backward even with him on top of her. “Stop—we can’t do this.”

His eyes, glazed over, looked confused. “What’s the matter?” He rubbed a hand through her hair and she almost relented.

“This is wrong. Completely wrong.”

He took a deep breath and she noticed that his hands were shaking. Hell, she couldn’t remember if she’d ever had a man so turned-on before that he shook. Pulling himself into a sitting position, he scooted off the bed. She had to give Hadrian credit— he had self-control.

Clearing his throat, he smiled weakly. “Why is it wrong, darling?”

“Because five minutes ago you told me all of this went against your memory of Annabelle, your duty and your promises to your men. I can’t just jump into bed with you knowing it comes with all that baggage.”

He put his right hand on his forehead. “Someday I’ll have to learn to not say everything I think and feel to you.”

Hadley sat up even further, straightening her back. She narrowed her eyes. “See, there you go again. You’re pissed so you get cruel. Just another reason I’m not sleeping with you.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and hoped she looked determined and not at all as if she was going to cry. He shook his head.

“I’m going for a walk.” He pulled the door shut behind him with surprising restraint. Hadley sank into the cushions. Was she the most stupid woman she’d ever met? How much had she lusted over Hadrian, and now that he wanted her she complained because he had reservations?

She jumped out of bed and rushed toward the door and pulled it open. The hallway was still and cold. Swallowing, she suddenly remembered the shadows from the night before. Had that really just been delusions brought on by whatever was happening to her?

Taking a guess that he would exit the cottage through the kitchen, she turned right to go out the door. Once again she wished she had clothes and not the meager T-shirt she’d been in since the morning. And she desperately needed a shower.

But she couldn’t leave things with Hadrian like that. She felt like the worst kind of shrew.

“He didn’t come this way, my lady.”

Hadley nearly jumped out of her skin, and pushed herself against the back wall.

“Who’s there?” Her heart pounded so hard she could hear it in her ears.

“We haven’t met yet but I was called to come and take a look at you, so look I shall.” A man stepped out of the shadows who looked as if he could have been a part of the darkness himself.

“Who are you?”

There was something about this man that was familiar to her. He seemed somehow like Hadrian. Was it his height or something else? She hoped she wasn’t making the comparison based solely on his dark hair. As he approached, she became more convinced that he was completely different from Hadrian. His eyes, even though she could barely make them out in the darkness, looked cruel and distant. Even when he attempted to be mean, Hadrian didn’t look like that.

The man bowed slightly from the neck. “My name is Dragon, Madame, and I have the dubious distinction of being Hadrian’s older brother.” Her voice shook as she laughed at his bad joke.

He stood inches from her, his face looming over her. “What is funny?”

“I thought… I mean when I first saw you, I knew you looked like him.”

He shook his head. “With the exception of the dark hair, there are no similarities between us.”

A trickle of sweat formed on her neck. Wow, Dragon really made her uncomfortable.

“Why don’t we go and find Hadrian together? I’m sure he’ll want to know you’re home.” She tried and failed to smile as she wished she could back even farther into the wall.

Dragon’s nostrils flared. “Are you sleeping with him? Is that why he’s kept you here, hidden you away from your family and your rightful place in Haven? What is his real agenda?”

“I’ve been sick.” Her hands started to shake and she felt a headache starting.

Pushing against Dragon’s shoulders, she tried to get him to budge from his position so she could get some air.

“I’m not moving until you tell me what’s going on.”

Her head throbbed hard and heat fumed within her body. As the hall started to blur, she realized she might faint. God, did she not want that. Calling on every ounce of strength and willpower she possessed, she tried desperately to regain focus and at least make it back it to the bed before she fell over. Dragon’s stubbornness greatly hindered her plan.

The shadows on the wall began parading again. They danced in strange movements that she could only compare to the arrangements of marionette dolls. Closer and closer they approached until one nearly touched Dragon’s back.

His eyes widened. “Are you unwell, Madame?”

She nodded. “Can’t you see them? Can’t anyone else see them?” Her words came out as a sob. They were going to get her, potentially harm everything in their way, and she was the only one who could make them out.

“Hadley.” Hadrian’s voice was hard as he stormed down the hall and into her line of vision. But it was too late. The shadows jerked and jumped. Nothing felt solid or real. “What have you done, Dragon?”

Hadrian shoved his brother away and pulled Hadley into his arms. He felt like tissue paper. Solid but unsteady. Or maybe it was she who wasn’t quite solid. She couldn’t tell anymore.

“I was merely trying to test her, to see if what was happening to her was real. I intimidated her a little bit.”

“Does she look as if she needs to be harmed? Hadley, can you hear me? What is happening to her?”

Dragon stepped forward again. “Her eyes, they’re glowing.”

“I can see that. What I don’t understand is why.”

Dragon grabbed her cheeks roughly in his hands and Hadrian snarled at him.

“Keep your possessiveness in check. Something very bad is happening here and I can’t attest to what it is, which is what disturbs me the most.”

Hadley saw Hadrian rub her forehead, although she couldn’t actually say whether or not she felt the sensation. It was bizarre, as if she were aware of things happening around her but unable to connect with them.

She tried one more time. “Can’t you see them? Can’t either of you?” The shadow creature in front of her reached out its hand as if she was to grasp it. She hissed in her breath. No way would she go with that thing voluntarily. It would have to come and take her by force.

“See what?” Dragon frowned.

Hadrian shook his head. “It’s delusions from the fever brought on by the healing. Last night she kept going on and on about the shadows.”

Dragon took a step back into the shadow behind him and the creature that only Hadley could see made a sigh that sounded like nothing more than a door creaking. It was now directly in front of her.

Turning in a circle, Dragon examined the walls. When he turned back to her, his whole body glowed with a warm white light. “Hell, Hadrian, I thought she was half Earthling.”

“She is. Can you help her or not?”

“I’m afraid you’re mistaken, brother. All of our Seers are wrong. Not only is she one of us completely, she is possibly the most talented of our kind to be born in over a century.”

Hadrian’s grip on her tightened until his knuckles turned white. “Not possible.”

“Things finally make sense to me, but there isn’t time for explanation. She is indeed in terrible danger and I suspect she can see the shadows moving even if I can’t. And the fact that they approach her is very bad indeed. Cover her eyes. We mustn’t let them take her.”

Without question, Hadrian placed his hand over her eyes and pushed his body in front of hers to block out more light.