Kindred of the Fallen (32 page)

A series of orgasms, spasming one into another, rippled through her in a vicious torrent.

“Serenity!” Cyrus tensed with a growl.

His hot seed flooded her, triggering an exquisite orgasm—crippling, blinding, painfully sweet. She came hard, screaming and weeping, lost in the climax, never wanting it to end.

Then the bubble blasted out in a quick, pulsating wave.
 

Just as the windows burst, she caught hold of the energy field and reeled it back in—along with all of the broken glass.

Still buried deep inside of her, Cyrus shielded Serenity with his body as glass sprayed everywhere.

Small shards covered the bed, nightstands and floor. Pieces slid off his back, leaving his warrior’s skin unharmed. He brushed some of the jagged fragments carefully from her hair.

The doors of the bedroom had been knocked open, but the windows in the office were still intact. One closet door swung from a single hinge. Thankfully, his weapons, including explosives, were locked away safely in a
barenpetium
compartment. A gust of wind blew through the empty frames, where the glass used to be, and rustled the curtains.

His heart pounded as his mind steadily comprehended the sheer force of her
ingenium
. She’d blown out the bullet-resistant windows made from an impressive mix of polycarbonate and thermoplastic, designed to sustain hurricane-strength winds.

He lifted her gently and carried her to the sofa in the office. “Are you all right?”

She nodded, but he inspected her with his eyes and hands. A mix of bruises and small cuts covered her sections of her arms and leg. He grimaced and stroked her face.

Abbadon burst through the office door, quickly followed by Cassian. Cyrus tried to hide her naked body with his own to minimize her embarrassment.

“Please give us a minute,” he said in a calm voice.

The others stepped out into the hallway and closed the door. He put on a pair of pants and handed her a robe. She slipped it on and tied it in a double knot. He opened the door and the others hurried in, staring at the mess in the bedroom.

“What happened?” Cassian asked.

Abbadon stared at Serenity.

“Nothing happened,” Cyrus said. “We just had an accident.”

She sat silently on the sofa, avoiding eye contact with everyone.

“Cassian, Serenity needs to be healed, and would you mind seeing to the glass? I’d like the windows repaired first thing in the morning,” Cyrus said.

“Sure, no problem.” Cassian darted over to her and held her hands. “I can’t wait to meet my
kabashem
,” he said brightly.

Cyrus shook out remnants of glass from his hair, sensing the easement of physical discomfort from his mate. “Why don’t we all try to go back to sleep?”

As Cassian stood Serenity smiled at the boy.

Once Cassian left the room, Abbadon turned to Cyrus. “She doesn’t know how to separate her energy from her emotions,” he said in an even tone. “She’s probably having difficulty differentiating between her own energy and yours. I suspected heightened physical sensation would amplify the problem.”

“I’m sitting right here,” she said.

Abbadon looked at her. “Physical sensation, emotion, thought and energy fuse into one pool of chaos for you. What’s worse is—”

“Abbadon!” Cyrus put a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Step into the hall with me.” He ushered him out and closed the door.

“If she doesn’t understand what she’s doing wrong, she can’t correct it,” Abbadon said.

“I can’t believe you told her about having a baby to break the curse.”

Abbadon raised an eyebrow. “I can’t believe you didn’t.”

“It’s not your place to speak of such things. I’m handling this in my own way.”

“It doesn’t seem as if you’re handling it at all. I’ve sworn to guide her as I’ve done for you. Any question she asks, I’ll answer. Good night.” He turned and strode down the hall.

Cyrus curbed the urged to yank him back and returned to the room. He took her by the hand and led her through the doorway to the adjacent bedroom and sat on the chaise.

“Abbadon is right,” she said in a low voice. “When we were making love, everything did fuse into one for me. I know I have to learn to control my emotions.”

He turned her chin so that she faced him. He kissed her cheeks, nose and lips, grateful she was all right. He brought her into his arms. She rested her head on his shoulder.

“What if I’d hurt you?” she asked.

“You didn’t,” he said in a comforting tone and stroked her cheek. “I don’t think you could have. By drawing off of my energy, we were linked. When you projected out, it radiated beyond us.” He smiled. “We’re going to work through this.”

“I almost hurt Talus earlier during training.”

He filtered shock from his face and their energy stream. “Almost, but you didn’t.”

“I don’t know what I’d do if I ever hurt any of you by accident.”

“You’d never hurt our family.” Holding her tighter, he rubbed her arm. He’d find a way to protect her from any and everything, including herself.

“I wouldn’t be any good as a mother. I wouldn’t know how.”

He caressed her cheek. “Instinct will show you how. It’ll come naturally.”

“My mother left me and never came back. Did instinct teach her that? Is it natural to leave a cub alone in the world, defenseless and unprotected? If those are the parental instincts in my gene pool, you’d be better off not having a child with me.”

“The salvation of our people aside for a moment, if you’re not the mother of my children, then I shall never have any of my flesh and blood.” He took her hand. “I’m bound by duty and a belief I’d die for. I won’t hide the importance of us having a child.”

“Why us? How many Blessed are there right now that you know of?”

Still, she wanted to run from their duty, their fate. “Besides us, there’s Neith, Lysandra,”—he lowered his head, suppressing his emotions to shield her from them—“and Caelius who left our House about ten years ago. Joshua, Scill and Junia are of House Aten. There’s also Darius and Evane of Sekhem.”

“So many of us, and we’re the only mates?”

He squeezed her fingers. “I’m sorry we didn’t discuss this sooner. Once we have a child the curse will be broken, then there’d be no reason for anyone to harm us. It’s the only way we’ll ever be safe. Once Sekhem knows we’re together, our days are numbered.”

What would he do if she never agreed to have a child?

Strands of anxiety knotted in their shared stream. The light caught her startling violet eyes and sadness dimmed their natural sparkle.

Lovely, lovely violet eyes.

His thoughts spun to Ereba and her final prediction of death. As much as he wanted to protect his mate from what was to come, he couldn’t. “There’s something else I need to tell you.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

The big night of the symphony gala finally arrived. Anxiety swarmed through Serenity, prickling her nerves. Cases of blood frenzy and trying to track down the elusive mercs had overwhelmed Cyrus, keeping him from their bed at night. When he returned usually around dawn to rest, she’d made it a point to be up, fully dressed and in a communal room, where she could easily skirt his unfailing advances.

Tonight he planned to take a break long enough for the family to enjoy a few hours of diversion together. She couldn’t dodge the sticky issue of him entering her and spilling his seed much longer, but she hadn’t warmed to the blood-chilling idea of motherhood. Even learning of the crazed prediction by a psychotic oracle hadn’t swayed her.

She glanced at the clock. Three hours before she needed to get ready for the gala and around seven hours until she had to face Cyrus, alone, in the bedroom. But right now she was late meeting Cassian. With Talus hiding out in the city, she’d found a way to bond with him.

“What’s the movie?” she asked Cassian as she entered the luxurious theater room. A full screen took up one wall and there were enough reclining leather seats for twelve. “Please tell me it’s not black and white.”
 

“You have too many biases when it comes to cinema, no black and white, no sad and depressing love stories.” He hit a button and a panel of black glass slid into the wall, revealing an impressive array of equipment—Blu-ray, DVD, Xbox, the latest PlayStation, and stacks of movies plus games. “The most beautiful love stories are tragic, by the way. No eighties movies, which would rule out some great ones:
Terminator, Empire Strikes Back
—”

“Point taken,” Serenity interjected, holding up her hands.

Talus skulked into the room, motorcycle helmet under one arm, leather bag in her hand.

“It’s good that you’re back,” Serenity said in an effort to start on the right foot. “We all missed you, especially Cassian.”

Talus pinched her lips and lowered her head. “Please forgive my behavior. I have no excuse,” she said, clutching her helmet, “but the reason…I’ve been so horrible to you is…”

“You love and adore Cyrus. You’ve placed him on a pedestal,” Serenity said, “and it’s hard for you to see him with another female, especially one who acts human.”

Talus blinked, tightened her grip on her bag and nodded.

“My behavior hasn’t been above reproach. It’s unrealistic for me to expect us to become friends overnight, but I hope in time we can be more than housemates.”

Talus gulped. “Thank you. You could have made this a lot harder for me.”

“And I think you should have, if my vote counts,” Cassian said.

Talus smirked. “Glad to see you too.”

“Now that the gang is reunited, let’s get started, shall we?” Cassian said.

Talus set her stuff down as Cassian put on the film.

“Does Cyrus ever watch movies with you guys?” Serenity wondered.

“Every now and again,” Cassian said.

“What about Abbadon? I know he’s lurking around somewhere.”

Cassian and Talus exchanged a glance and laughed. “He watched
Gremlins
with us,” Cassian explained. “After that, he pleaded with Cyrus to ban movies and TV.”

Talus sighed. “He said the human ideas transmitted to us through mass media would only make us wayward by-products of their misguided culture.”

Sitting down, Serenity smiled. “I guess we’re a trio of wayward misfits then.”

Talus stared at her. The pistachio green gaze lingered, then she took a seat.

Cassian turned off the lights and plunked down in a plush recliner, sandwiching himself between them. Clouds drifted across the black and white screen. Serenity clenched her hand into a fist. Something about black and white movies always gave her the creeps. As the title appeared, she relaxed a bit. It was the
Wizard of Oz
. At the least the majority of it would be in color.

Cassian and Talus sang along to all the songs. She imagined what it would’ve been like to grow up with them. The unfulfilled longing for siblings rose up in her with such force she wanted to cry. Although she didn’t have a childhood with them, she now had more of a family than she’d ever thought possible.

Finally time to get ready for opening night at the Philharmonic, she took a long, luxurious bath in her own room, which now seemed too simple, lacking the decorative mosaic and jaw-dropping shower of Cyrus’s.

Her
kabashem
had returned. She could hear him in the other room, sense his energy stream just out of reach, but she wanted to dress in private so when he saw her it’d feel like a real date. And to avoid starting the evening with an unpleasant discussion she’d rather not have.

She wore her hair in a chignon, her birthmark now a symbol of love she was proud to display despite their issues.

“Serenity,” Cyrus called.

She walked out of the bathroom, knotting the belt of her silk robe. He stood next to the bed, looking so sexy in a black suit her lower belly quivered with longing.

As he strolled over, she licked her lips, but adjusted her robe to prevent any cleavage from tempting him. The way he moved—utterly masculine, splendidly sensual, divinely fluid—still threw her off balance. She rubbed noses with him before he engulfed her in his arms.

In his embrace, she felt delicate and sexy. She pressed her head against his chest. His heart thumped loud and steady as a drum. She reached out to him, with her spirit beyond their shared stream of energy, and drew his essence in as she would air into her lungs. A hot charge rippled down her spine and she shuddered.

He jerked away. “You’ve never done that before.”

“I didn’t know I could, unless we were kissing or making love.”

“No, that was different. Normally, I give energy and you willingly receive it, allowing it to flow through you, almost unconsciously. This time you took it,” he said, smiling.

“Is that okay?”

“It’s great. I’ve never known of any Kindred who can do that.”

She nuzzled his neck with her nose up to his ear where he was ticklish.

Cyrus chuckled, giving his mate’s body a tight squeeze. “I came to see if you’re ready.”