Protector (10 page)

“Okay, hold on. Obviously your concept of danger differs to mine, and if you don’t mind I’d rather we speak than the other alternative.” I glanced with raised brows at the baton.

His gaze moved over my face. “I’m your father. Look into my mind and take the image I give you of my safe house. Fast.”

My skin rippled with goosebumps. Shoot. He hadn’t just said he was my father, had he?

“Faith, now. There’s no more time for thought. You have the ability to block this conversation once you’ve taken the image. Bring it forth later once you’re settled.”

I didn’t hesitate to send my mind into his at hearing his urgent tone. The image was there and I grabbed it, locking it away as his arms shook, as he closed his eyes for a brief moment and then swung.

“No, please, there’s no need to hurt me.” I jerked, hands clawing into grass. Grass?

“Are you all right?” Fingers tangled in my hair.

Where was I? Flinging my eyes open, I saw Davio leaning over me. “I’m okay.”

“Your heart’s racing too fast.” Moving his hands under my back, he pulled me up until I sat.

Oh my goodness.

I had a father–a father from Dralion. A warrior who was alive and had now made me his co-conspirator because of the impossible information he’d had me withhold.

I pulled in a lengthy breath, knowing that had to come to an end. “You can’t trust me. I’ve been withholding.” Bluntly put.

His gaze narrowed. “Because…”

I answered without hesitation. “My father– I’m sorry, but he is the warrior.”

Zac and Viv both stiffened, doubly alert.

“How do you know this?” Davio ground out.

“He told me.”

Slanting his head to one side, his gaze narrowed on mine. “Damn.”

Zac snorted. “Does she tell the truth, Davio? You’ll know if she lies. We cannot have an enemy among us.”

Two piercing eyes moving from mine to Zac’s. “You understand the bond as well as I do. She speaks the truth. Her father is the warrior who attacked her.”

Zac released a rumbling growl. “There hasn’t been a mated bond in over forty years between the offspring of Dralion and ours, or at least not since the dome containment field came into play. This changes everything if she has a warrior for a father. You are Prince Everio’s heir and as your protectors, we cannot allow you to take such a terrible risk. You cannot associate with one like her.”

“I do not care for your analysis, Zac.” He clasped his hand around mine, his attention back on me. “Faith, we’ve already spoken of this. Regardless of your parentage, no one can take you from me.” He stood, pulling me along with him.

“Did I say he was going to?”

“You intoned it.”

“Did not.”

“Hey,” Belle intervened. “As an empath, I don’t appreciate all this simmering tension. I soak in every emotion and right now I’m getting emotional whiplash bouncing off the two of you.”

I tugged on my captured hand. “He started it.”

The bell whistled out–the wrong Belle.

Davio turned to his protectors. “This warrior does not pose a threat when I have every intention of removing him. As such, none of my existing orders will change. The warrior will die.” His eyebrows rose with meaning, and Zac and Viv gave him a quick nod.

Silvie sniffed. “Faith, you need what the protectors can offer. You need all of them and I need you.” She swiped at her nose. “I know your inquisitiveness will get the better of you. I have a bad feeling about this.”

I wanted to reassure her, only class was starting. “Let’s pick this up another time.”

She drew in a heavy breath and released it. “Yeah, later.”

Glancing around me, I saw teachers walking from the staffroom. Students headed to class. Life continued, circling and moving all around us. Yet compared to here, Dralion and Peacio were a world away, a world that was now infringing more and more on mine.

Nothing felt quite right anymore.

I eyed Davio. “I want to go somewhere alone. With you.”

“Then let’s do that.” His agreement was without hesitation.

I strengthened my mind-merge soaking deeper into that spot I considered my own. It was a mystery, even after all that had played out, that I still felt as one within his mind.

“I’ve never played hooky. A prince rarely gets away with that,” he whispered in my ear.

I smiled at the thought, but before I could respond, he spoke to the others and tossed his keys to Zac. “I’ll meet up with you later in the day. Take care and be on the lookout for the warrior. He could blend in among the other students.” Davio paused, raising his brows at me. “Although not if you gave us a suitable description. Now that your full memory has returned, tell me what he looks like.”

Every instinct in me screamed not to give a single detail away. “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you. It’s not going to happen, not when he’s my father. I can’t give him up to you so easily. That doesn’t seem like a fair fight.” And deep inside me I knew, defective father or not, my decision was right.

Davio’s brown-gold eyes bored into mine. “Please don’t tell me you feel an allegiance to your father, not after he abandoned you at birth.”

My gut churned. “No, it’s hard to explain, only to say my knee-jerk reaction is to protect.”

His thoughts released, distracting me through the merge as they swarmed. It appeared he didn’t care for my so-called intuitive reaction, not when we spoke of a Dralion warrior.

“Class is starting. Let’s leave before it begins,” he stated. Without further warning, his arms banded about me. There was a small movement and a feeling of displacement through the darkness, but before I knew it, we’d arrived, my sandals sinking into crystalline white sand.

I gasped. We were at the beach.

“Okay, you just can’t do that so fast.” I glanced around, my feet sinking deeper until small grains snuck in underneath my toes. I lifted my feet and tipped the sandals off. “Except you’re off the hook since I love the beach so much.”

“We’re at Papamoa Domain in case you’re wondering,” he informed.

Just ten minutes from
Te Pukē, Papamoa Domain overlooked the vast Pacific Ocean on the East Coast. Behind us was a seaside restaurant and a fish and fries shop, and next to that, a camping ground. Usually this area was a hive of activity, but right now, with students in school,
there were only a dozen or so older people ambling along.

“I wasn’t aware you knew of this place.” It appeared my mate was full of surprises, and they just kept coming, one after the other. “I take it you’ve been here before?” I quirked a brow, wanting to know everything there was to know about him.

“Let’s walk and talk.” He bent and retrieved my sandals and removed his own shoes, tucking them near the rising bank where the sand met the stringy grass. “To answer your question, I have been here before.” He came back to me, threading our hands together until his fingers were firm around mine.

We walked.

“Quite simply, it’s impossible for one to teleport without an almost identical image of the requested location. Teleporters store matching images within our minds so we can travel without any mishap.”

As interesting as that information was, it wasn’t quite what I was after. I pressed my thumb inside his palm. “The question was a private one. I was asking why you’ve been to this particular beach in the past, not
how did you arrive here. This is one of my favorite places.” Before us, endless white sand ran in a long line toward the majestic mountain known as Mauaō several miles away.

“For the past six months, I’ve been driven to come here. My father had the same inclination after he turned eighteen and searched for my mother. If one is fortunate enough to have a mate, as only half of our population do, then the male’s drive to find his female can become relentless.”

I lifted my gaze up to his, shielding my eyes from the bright sunshine. “Exactly how did you know when you first found me?” I recognized what I’d initially felt, the deep desire which had taken me, but had it been the same for him?

Now he truly smiled like I’d never seen before. “I knew I was getting close as I neared your classroom. Then there was the fact Carlisio chose to send me to where I’ve been compelled. Those two instances combined told me I was close to the one I’ve been searching for. When I first saw you across the classroom full of students, my heart simply stopped. My mate sat before me and every part of my psyche zeroed in on you. I knew who you were at first sight. So to answer your question.” He broke into a delicious grin. “I knew with the most insane urge that the woman before me was my chosen mate.”

I lowered my shielded hand and stared down the beach, my heart thumping. “Oh boy, I think I might have to muzzle you.” If pressed, he sure could answer just the right way.

Davio laughed, his eyes twinkling. “I haven’t finished yet. Remember after I first left you–my promise to stay away?”

“Uh-huh.” I nodded.

“Those of us who are fortunate to be given a mate have always found our other half to be completely distracting.” He drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “We know at adulthood if we are matched because our desires for any other never mature. There cannot be another for me, or for you–not unless we force our feelings to be swayed.”

Every muscle in my body tensed. “As you first decided.”

“Yes.”

“Hmm, I’ve certainly never desired another man, so obviously if I’d been raised on Magio, I would have known I had a future mate as you did?”

“You would have.” His fingers tightened around mine. “And I would have located you that much quicker had you lived on home soil.”

“So, tell me what happens to your unmated people? Do they let their hearts choose as we on Earth do?”

“In a quick answer, yes.” His stride slowed, and he came to a stop, drawing around me in a tight circle. “Or, if our mate is not found, life moves on and we choose another based on friendship. It’s not the same though. The mated bond is soul-bound. No other can satisfy as the one our soul calls to.” His arms enclosed around me, turning me so I faced out toward the sparkling, deep blue sea, his body behind me as he rested his chin on the top of my head.

The sun continued to warm me, just as his binding hold did. I relaxed, enjoying the peaceful moment.

“I can see why you love it here,” he said after a minute, softly rubbing his chin in my hair.

Strands of blond stuck in his bristles as I cranked my head around to see him. “It’s a beautiful country and one of the most isolated in the world.” Although it was not as isolated as I’d first thought, now that I knew so many could teleport here at their own free will. That strange thought had a gray cloud settling over me. I turned into him. “You can come and go at will. You can leave at any time and I’d never see you again.” I didn’t want him doing that.

He bent and kissed my forehead, his striking eyes not missing a beat. “Our bond grows stronger with each hour we are together. It holds a powerful foundation for us, and one I have seen the devotion of in my own parents’ relationship. Separation is difficult, and not something I will allow for any long length of time.”

I smiled, relief washing through me.

“I have my duties, but as you point out, I can come and go at will, so in that regard, I will never be far away from you.”

“Good.” My grin widened, and I simply stared into his beautiful eyes.

I was barely conscious of anything surrounding us. All I saw was his face–it filled my vision and set my heart racing. There was only him.

Chapter 5

I turned into his embrace, snuggling my head against his chest while he continued to gaze out over the Pacific Ocean. I felt so at peace as he held me, like we were two halves of the same whole, joined together as if one were indistinguishable from the other.

I wanted to know more about our bond. I wanted to know everything about him. “What’s it like for you back home?”

“You mean compared to here?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm,” he murmured then took so much time to answer I was ready to prod him again. He released me to bend and pick up a small washed up stick from the ground. “Let me draw the two countries of Magio for you in the sand.”

He moved away, closer to the damp area nearer the water line. I waited patiently, observing the perfect circle he drew with the craggy end then, inside of that, an extremely large, if somewhat bumpy shape positioned along the central Equator line–an area taking the shape of land.

“Right. Magio compares closely to Earth in size, but the two lands of Peacio and Dralion are in fact one continent–the only continent on our planet. In total, our joined land mass equals twenty-nine percent of the whole of Magio, and the remainder seventy-one percent of the area is The Great Orbiting Ocean. There are no physical breaks in the lands, only a central plateau of desert which separates the two countries as effectively as any divide of ocean could.”

He drew a central dividing line right through the large land mass. “We call this desert No-Man’s Land.” He chuckled lightly. “It’s aptly named because, no man could possibly live there.”