Kierra's Thread (Argadian Heart Trilogy Book 2) (3 page)

“I don’t think I can move forward until I can exorcise that
room. I can keep it locked, but until I find a way to come to terms with the
fact he still lives, still causes pain—
and enjoys it
—I cannot rest.”

“His time will come. I vow to you, all of the Tribunal will
pay for their crimes.”

“How does Eluria bear it? Knowing her father is one of those
who causes the destruction and misery of our people? Knowing that to free them,
she must destroy him as well.”

“She’s made a great sacrifice,” he said. “But from what I’ve
heard, Guardian has rewarded her for her dedication. Guardian has made her
strong and given her balance in her Union, blessed in ways few are offered.”

Kierra nodded. “You’re right. She and Devon were always
meant to be together. Even I knew it when I first introduced them. She became
only half a person when he was ripped from our lives by the Tribunal.”

Jarek cupped her face. “And is that what you would ask of
me? To make me live as half a person without you? Because that’s what it would
be. Without you, this sanctuary would be nothing.”

Tears flooded her eyes. “In here I can love you, but out
there… It seems I’m frightened all the time. I can’t control it. The doors
won’t stay closed.”

“Then you will clean them—one at a time. And I’ll be there
to help you. And out of those rooms we will create a sanctuary of your own
design, like this.”

“I fear I haven’t the strength.”

“You have,
na nivia
. My love. It will come when the
time is right. But for now, come into my garden and let me love you in my way.”

Kierra took his hand and let him guide her inside. “In here,
I am happy. I feel pleasure and joy—all the things I can’t feel in the
physical.”

“It’s why I’ve brought you here now. To remind you that
you’re not alone. I’m here with you always. We are together and this is Now—no
Before, no Beyond. And this bliss is your right.”

He turned and closed the gate, locking out the Before and
Beyond, containing the Now. The shimmering waves of color grew brighter, soon
reaching from above to enter her energy and the heat radiated through her.

“Remove your clothing, Kierra,” Jarek asked as he shed his
own. “Let there be no barrier between us. Not here.”

Jarek was a magnificent male, his contours honed in solid
marble like none other. Kierra knew the sheer strength harnessed beneath the supple
skin stretched tight over bulging muscle.

Yet Kierra also knew he would never use that strength
against her. In this dimension there were no scars on his body, but she was
aware his physical form held deep, ragged reminders of his bondage.

Long, thick dark brown hair hung to his shoulders, his
features chiseled, and his eyes, so unlike Argadians. They didn’t change shades
with his moods or the phases of his lifespan, but remained a steady, vibrant
green.

When his passions were high, the rich deep color turned
bright, almost vibrating in luminosity, and seemed to reach out from within,
mesmerizing to the recipient of his gaze. Like now.

“You shimmer,” Jarek said softly.

“My radiance.” She smiled. “For you.”

Kierra removed her overdress and dropped it to the ground.
His gaze followed her movements, narrowed as her breasts were freed. She looped
her thumbs into the waistband of the silken leggings.

“Slowly.” His voice had turned guttural, infused with need.

And with infinite care she lowered the leggings and stepped
from them, leaving her naked.

“Take down your hair.”

Kierra raised her hands and removed the pins. Two
caramel-colored braided plaits fell free along her back. She reached around to
drape one over her shoulder and released the intertwining strands, then did the
same with the second.

“Mylonna, you’re so beautiful,” he said as he stepped toward
her.

Her nipples tightened at the thought of his touch, his heat
meeting hers. No Before, no Beyond, only Now.

This minute.

That’s all that mattered.

Jarek touched her hair and she leaned into his caress. As he
drew closer, she felt his energy color—rich, deep vibrations of blues and
greens enclosing them both. The glaze of color stroked her body, his mind
directing the radian path. It felt like fingers erotically massaging every
inch, bringing her skin to a life of its own.

“Jarek,” she couldn’t help the aching desire as she uttered
his name. Her radiance grew brighter, a green fire matching the luminous green
of his eyes. Normally, an Argadian female’s radiance shimmered red, but
apparently this mating with a Serdionese changed it somehow to match the
burning intensity of his eyes. One day she would ask him to explain.

Jarek placed his hands on her hips and drew her flush with
his naked skin. She felt his khout, hard and thick, press along her shax,
opening her. Her shax-ra released her passion, and she undulated against his
body. The fingers of color were everywhere, seductive, addicting, driving her
higher and higher. His guided her gently along his shaft as her passion
lubricated him, preparing him for her.

A spiraling heat began to build inside. She arched backward
and Jarek bent to take a breast in his mouth. Shafts of light and color broke
apart inside her as wavering release soared through her.

Kierra twined her fingers in his hair, pulled him tighter to
her as her radiance consumed them both.

The lips of her shax were engorged and sensitized from her
release. Jarek had stopped all movement allowing her time to recover from her
climax. Now he began a long, slow rhythm again. She gripped his back, a primal
instinct to feel him buried deep and riding him hard and fast rushed through
her.

“Jarek, please. Fill me.” Kierra shook with the need, her senses
so sharpened by the colors he commanded, unceasingly stroking, never with the
same touch, soothing one minute, erotic the next, each sensation different from
the last. First at her thighs, then at her bottom, along her arms, her face,
her neck. An erotic stroking at her nipples. She was bathed in his passion, his
desire. His approval.

He lifted her and impaled her. She wrapped her legs around
his taut waist, her arms anchored around his neck. He thrust deeply, withdrew,
thrust again, and again and again. She didn’t want him to stop.

“Yes. Oh, Symion, this is what I want to feel. You are what
I need, Jarek.” Tears streamed down her cheeks at the depth of pleasure having
him inside her made her feel.

A fierce blue fire surrounded them, a cleansing heat that
fused them into one being as Jarek took them both far beyond any known
boundaries of the mind into the very core of heartfire, where bodies did not
exist, consciousness did not exist. Only love in its purest undiluted energy
existed.

*         
*          *

Jarek gasped as he returned to his physical form. He groaned
at the knowledge he was in his ship. And Kierra wasn’t with him. His body now
ached and he shook from the physical need for her.

He could not let her know how painful it was not to merge
with her completely in both the physical as well as the spiritual planes. It’s
why he only allowed her to know sanctuary. In that place, on that plane, they
were one. One day they would have the complete oneness of physical unity as
well as that of the mind.

He felt Kierra’s echoes in his thoughts. He’d urged her back
to her conscious mind before returning to his physical self. For a time she
would be well. He sensed the void in her mind receding. When he returned to the
planet and met with Devon Andromeda, they would determine how to proceed and
minimize Kierra’s fear of his demeanor as an Enforcer.

Odon had practically destroyed her. The only reason he’d
kept her alive was to control Jarek, but he’d allowed the trainees at the
compound to do as they wanted as long as they didn’t kill her. They had tread a
very fine line and there’d been little Jarek could do to protect her physical
self. The knowledge of his failures always haunted him.

Serdion had been a planet of peace. This solar system
thrived on the colors of life, the conscious, and the unconscious. Each race
lived differently within the colors. Argadians’ emotions were reflected through
the changing colors of their eyes, and the radiance of their females.
Serdionese were reflected in the colors of emotions, reaching out at the spirit
level as mindwanderers. There’d been a time when they had co-existed
peacefully. Until the Tribunal. The Tribunal sought to control and to destroy.

It was his fervent hope that the Freelion forces would be
successful. But in any event, he had made a sworn oath to himself that Odon and
the whole compound would be destroyed and turned to ashes. Not only for what
Odon and his “trainees” had forced on Kierra, but for the many others who had
died beneath their masochistic acts in the name of “training sessions” in order
to maintain the Tribunal’s stranglehold on Argadia.

Jarek’s planet was gone forever, destroyed by the Tribunal.
There was no going back, only forward. Hate and vengeance fueled him. He fought
with the Freelions because the Argadian culture would be part of his Beyond. It
was a part of Kierra and she was part of him. To protect Kierra he would do
whatever it took. And Odon would die.

“Captain Bakari?” a voice interrupted his thoughts.

He turned to the communication terminal and pressed a
button. “Yes, what is it?”

“We’re nearing Ednos. I thought you would want to be
informed.”

“Yes. I’ll be there directly.” He rose from his chair. The
aching desire he felt had lessened. It never totally went away. One day Kierra
would be his completely. He only needed patience until that day. For now, the
spiritual oneness must be enough.

*         
*          *

“Bakari.” Devon held out his hand and after a moment’s
hesitation, Jarek accepted it.

“Andromeda.”

“Stop bristling—both of you. And sit down.” Eluria commanded
as she took a seat next to Devon at the polished table in the meeting room. “I
thought we should get together before Kierra and Devon meet again. Gavrielle
has arranged dinner for tomorrow evening. What do you think, Jarek?”

Jarek studied Devon. When he’d first entered the room, his
first thought was to draw his weapon upon seeing the ex-Enforcer. He was pure
Enforcer, except for the eyes. He understood what had terrorized Kierra, and
raged at the knowledge she’d confronted her nightmare alone.

Eluria twined her fingers with Devon’s and Jarek found
himself envying their physical connection. He turned his gaze back to clash
with Devon’s turquoise stare.

“My first instinct when I saw you was to pull my disrupter
and send your molecules scattering to the winds. I can only imagine what Kierra
felt.”

Devon glanced at Eluria. A fleeting look of pain crossed his
face.

“It’s all right, Devon. It’s natural to feel pain for what’s
happened to Kierra.” Eluria reached up and brushed a lock of his hair back.
“We’ll find a way to get through to her without hurting her further.”

“The emotion is still difficult to control. So many years
without it.”

“What if you change the color of your hair artificially?”
Jarek asked.

“We tried. Whatever process they used, the follicles have
been stripped in some way. It won’t hold artificial color. It’s the one thing
we’ve been unable to return to normal.”

“Well then, I guess that’s that. Too bad. It means those who
served as Enforcers will be readily identifiable when the fighting is over. It
will be difficult for them to return to their former lives.”

Eluria pinned him with a steely look. “Thank you for that
enlightening observation, Jarek. Your assumption was that we didn’t realize the
difficulties when this is over?”

Jarek turned back to Devon. “Tell me, Andromeda, how many
people did you personally torture during your training sessions?”

Devon sprung up from his chair. Jarek was on his feet and
prepared to meet him, with his diffuser out and aimed squarely at his chest.

“Stop it!” Eluria shouted as she forced Devon back and
protectively stood in front of him. “Put that away, Jarek. Now!”

Hate surged through Jarek and he’d almost lost control. Had
fully meant to send Devon Andromeda into little molecules. If Eluria had been
one second slower—

“Step aside, Eluria.” Devon put his hands on Eluria’s
shoulders and eased her away. “This is between Bakari and me. I won’t have you
hurt.”

“Devon,” she lifted a hand to his heart. “We are bound. I
cannot stand by and watch you killed. You know that.”

Devon’s steel-blue gaze met Jarek’s and silent understanding
passed between them. Neither one wanted Eluria or Kierra hurt. Jarek slowly
reholstered his diffuser and sat back down.

Devon again eased Eluria aside and into her chair. “I think
we understand each other now.” He turned back to Jarek. “I tortured no one.
Odon’s is the only compound where bound servants are used, the rest are trained
with simulators. There were many stories spread throughout the ranks about his
tactics. Enforcers trained by Odon were very easy to spot. I may not have had
all my emotions available, but causing unnecessary pain was never my way.”

“Then I guess you better make sure Kierra knows that.
Because the thought of her brother causing the same torture she was subjected
to is part of what’s destroying her.”

Devon’s head dipped low and Eluria leaned toward him. He
turned to her. “She’s always going to think that, isn’t she?” He turned to
Jarek. “It’s what you see. You can’t see the male—only the Enforcer. What is it
going to take for you to forgive the Before?”

Jarek locked stares with him for long moments before
answering. “I don’t know, Andromeda. Turning Enforcers is going to be the only
way to breach the security of Argadia. We’re going to have to find a way to get
along. The Beyond depends on it.” He brushed a hand through his hair. He was
tired of the fighting, tired of the hate and the rage. “We’ll have to take it
one step at a time. When Kierra sees you and Eluria together she might come to
understand. And it may aid in her healing.”

“Try to talk with her, Jarek. You have a way of reaching her
when none of the rest of us can.” Eluria said.

He nodded. “We are bound in ways you cannot understand.”

Eluria looked at Devon. Jerek saw her devotion reflected in
her eyes. “I believe we understand.”

It came to him in that moment that Eluria was different. She
no longer held the look of a woman ravaged by her past. There was a glow of
peace about her. Jarek’s gaze dropped to her wrist and he noticed the mark of
Guardian.

“I heard of your Union. You have healed, Eluria.”

Eluria turned to looked at him. “We have been blessed with
another chance at what was lost. Do not give up hope, Jarek. Kierra will one
day be healed.”

“I would never do that, Eluria. You know that. Kierra’s
welfare is everything to me.”

“Go to her. We have kept you long enough. Try to prepare her
for the meeting tomorrow.”

He rose from the table. “I’ll do what I can to ease the way.
She needs her family. I’ll try to help her to see through the facade of the
Enforcer to the brother she lost.”

“Thank you, Jarek. Devon needs his sister as well. Now, if
we can just find Alekos.”

“I believe Alekos may be beyond redemption. There are many
stories of his exploits.”

“There is always hope, Jarek. Remember that.”