Soul Awakened (26 page)

Although her breathing slowed and the tears dried, the emptiness remained. She leaned her forehead against his chest. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

Bomani pulled back, but didn’t let go of her. His rough fingers brushed the tangle of curls stuck to her cheek. A mix of compassion and worry flickered in his gold eyes. “You of all people have nothing to be sorry for.”

“I really don’t mean to direct all my hysterics at you.” She wiped her cheeks dry.

“Like I said before, I am here for you.”

A small amount of coldness bled away from her heart. She absently traced the line of his scarification tattoo through his shirt. Finally, she looked him directly in the eyes, so he could see her sincerity. “You are a good man with a good heart.”

 “I am glad
you
think so.”

Kendra got lost somewhere between the tone of his spoken words and the darkening of desire she saw in his eyes. Bomani wanted her, unlike Bakari. Seeking something other than pain, she leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. She pulled away after the brief contact, but only a fraction. She wanted to forget all that had happened and distract herself from the sting of Bakari’s rejection.

Bomani hesitated, but then reconnected with a deeper longer kiss. Warmth swept through her. The graphic
what if
pictures faded from her consciousness. She closed her eyes and savored his hungry kiss. Her reality evaporated into a mist of gray, leaving only the throb in her chest.

The only painful reminder that she was in love with someone else. 

Bakari clasped his cherished prize in the palm of his hand. He painstakingly wiped away the blood staining the flashlight handle. His welcoming party lay in heaps upon the ground. Not a complete heathen, he at least let them live. He blinked a few times to clear the blood that had spattered into his eyes. Whether his own or the warriors he did not know or care. What mattered, he recovered his focal point.

Disregarding the silent stares from the legion warriors, he kicked away the broken cot frame and flipped the mattress onto the floor. With a draw of energy into his body he extinguished the torch overhead. Peace. Quiet. Darkness.

Sin sat on his mattress across from him. After the crowd dispersed, his bunkmate broke the silence. “Watching you fight triggered a tomb full of repressed memories in this mental soup.” Sin tapped his temple. “I have been told by other warriors that we retain the memories of our fallen brothers when we are remade from their souls.”

Bakari pinched the brig of his nose. Fate had bunked him next to a chatter box. Would his punishment ever end?

Sin continued despite Bakari’s warning glare. “Makes us easier to train supposedly, but it also leaves us with nightmares. How messed up is that? I wake up screaming like baby every night. Believe me, I feel like sissy.”

“Do you want to know what my nightmare is?”

Refusing to be goaded, Bakari flopped his forearm over his swollen and bloody eyes.

“I am on the battlefield of Thebes being crushed by this enormous, stinky, gods ugly Minotaur.” Sin shook his head and wiped the beaded sweat from his brow. “In the dream I can feel my bones snapping and my chest crushing. The pain is so real I vomit in my sleep.”

Sin chuckled. “And then I see my angel. Beautiful. Blonde hair. Green eyes. Wicked body. She kisses me on the forehead and I forget all my pain. Somehow I know everything will be okay.”

Bakari moved his arm and cracked an eyelid. His bunkmate’s gaze shimmered and he cleared his throat. “Well, anyways. When I woke up here, I was out of my mind. Insanely messed up, but then I saw my angel again. Here.” He laughed and shook his head. “The Lord’s mate, no less. That’s when I knew.”

Bakari sat up when the warrior did not finish. Inextricably drawn to Sin’s story, not dissimilar to his own. “That’s when you knew, what?”  

The warrior’s golden gaze settled on him. His smile retained satisfaction with his discovery. “They are here to give hope to those that have none. To save us from ourselves.”

Bakari swallowed against the constriction in his throat. A single tear slid down his cheek. He caressed the cold metal of the flashlight. The Mother Goddess sent Kendra to save
his
soul. He wondered if it was the will of a god that coaxed him into binding Kendra’s soul to him, ensuring his survival for without her he would be dead.

Sin lay with his hands tucked behind his head. He glanced at the green metal cylinder in Bakari’s hands. “Hope can be found in the strangest places. It is worth fighting for.”

Hope?

Bakari gripped the thin metal lantern in his palm. So fragile. So easily taken away, but it was as good a place to start as any. 

Bomani fell into complete and utter oblivion in Kendra’s sweet kiss. He had to force himself to pull away and break the spell. It was wrong of him to take advantage of this situation. Her vulnerability and erratic emotions flowed off of her in crashing waves. If he was a lesser man she would be beneath him by now. Innocence lost.

“Kendra,” he said barely above a growl. She leaned forward again and captured him in another kiss. He did not refuse her demands, but kept his eyes open, watching. Her brows furrowed into deep lines to match the pain she must be feeling. It screamed desperation. He closed his eyes again and tried to deny she was kissing him for any other reason. Her hands that slipped under his shirt trembled almost violently.

“Stay with me,” she whispered against his lips.

He groaned and pulled her tighter to his chest. He wanted her, but not like this. This was not Kendra. She would never be this aggressive and would regret her actions in the morning.

Damn the gods.

He kissed her hard one last time before he pulled away.

“No,” she protested and tried to pull herself back in.

He grasped her thin bicep and held her in place. “Kendra.”

She struggled against his grasp, anger morphing her features. “Why? Am I not pretty enough? Because I’m a… a virgin?”

The anguish in her voice about knocked him over. “It is not any of those.” She was the most gorgeous creature he had ever seen, even in her manic state. He could only guess it was a result of Bakari’s state of mind bleeding over their blood-bond. The physical separation would not garner this response, only an emotional one. The possibility that Bakari and her shared more than mutual concern made his blood run cold. His brother had never shown the level of control or respect for a female as he did Kendra.  

“I want you, but not like this. Listen, this is not you. In the right frame of mind, you would not want this. Not like this. Not now.”

“How do you know what I want?”

“I do not want to be the object of your regret. This thing between us, hell, I am just getting use to the idea.” He could not believe the words that came next. “Let us take this slow. There is no rush.” Lies, all of them. He needed a dunk in the cold river after this. She needed to settle from her emotional and physical trauma. There was the little issue of her bond with Bakari. Deny as she may, there was more between her and Bakari than blood.

Bomani cursed in his head. For once in his life, he wanted to take what he wanted, consequences be damned. He was sick and tired of his brother getting in the way.

The energy of her anger flip flopped to fear, anxiety, sorrow, and back again. With wild eyes she jammed her fingers into her hair and fisted her hands. “I feel like I’m out of my mind.” With labored breath she turned to leave. “I need to get out of here. I want to go home.” She jogged down the hallway and stopped at the intersecting hallways. Whipping her head around, she took a few steps in one direction and then turned and headed the other direction. Bomani jogged after her and grasped her arm.

Kendra whirled around and struck him. “Get your hands off me,” she hissed.

Bomani backed off a step. “You need to calm down. Let us go back to your room. You need to rest.” He held out his hand for her to take.

She slapped it away. “Get away from me.” Her voice boomed off the surrounding sandstone. “I want to leave this place. I hate it here.”

The door at the far end of the hall opened and Asar stepped out. Bomani threw up his hands beseeching some assistance from his Sire. “Did you hear me?” She screamed, her eyes wild with panic. She dashed the long corridor trying to open the doors on either side. He stopped midway, knowing she had nowhere else to go.

“Kendra,” he begged and followed her. He looked over his shoulder. Servants had filled the hallway at the sound of the commotion. Asar stepped up beside him.

“What the hell is going on?”

The sound of Kendra’s screams pierced his eardrums, and worse, his heart. Bomani winced. He had never seen her so unraveled. “Honestly? I think it is the damn blood-bond.”

Asar shot his gaze toward Kendra. “Isis.” He turned and bellowed at the spectators. “Get back to your rooms.” His father took a few steps toward Kendra. “You need to calm yourself, little one. We are here to help you.”

“I don’t need your fucking help. I want to get the hell out of this place.”

Bomani raised his eyebrows and met Asar’s gaze. Kendra never spoke an ill word to anyone, let alone use cuss words.

“Let us get her back to her room,” Asar said.

“How do you propose we do that? She will not let me near her.”

“Leave that up to me.” Asar stalked forward wasting no time. One touch of his finger to her skin and she collapsed into his chest. Her reddish brown curls fanned out in all directions.

The picture of her almost lifeless in Asar’s arms kindled his already smoldering anger toward Bakari.

She didn’t deserve this, of all people.    

After what had happened earlier in the week Kendra was convinced she would become some catatonic crazy person. Her cheeks flushed remembering how she acted. Worse, she had watched it play out in first person and there was nothing she could do to stop it, except be the stock raving lunatic.

“Kendra, this works best if you try to clear your mind. No one thinks any less of you because of what happened,” Inpu said while he brushed her hair from her forehead. The spot where he laid his palm tingled.

She let out an exasperated breath and closed her eyes again. “You make it sound so easy.”

“Blood-bonds have never been established in a human before which makes the side effects very unpredictable. You have been placed under an extraordinary amount of stress both physically and emotionally.”

“I guess you’re right,” she conceded. “I’m feeling better than I did yesterday.” In fact, she had lost the last white strands of hair and the color returned to her skin.
Self-healing
, Inpu had said. The priest had spent the last few days teaching her how to channel her energy inward, visualizing balance and serenity. She needed a huge dose of both right now because she was still furious at Bakari.

“Yes. I am embarrassed to say that what you have done in two days took me five.”

She opened one eye to look at the priest, who sat cross legged. Her position mirrored his with their knees touching. “Five days?”

“Five years. You have amazing talent, Kendra.” He dropped his hand and shook it. “The blood-bond is incredibly strong. I dare say it is rejecting my interventions.” He looked at her thoughtfully. “It is not my place to ask this, nor do I want to embarrass you in any way, but were you intimate with Bakari?”

He said in such a matter of fact tone, no judgment. Her face normally would have brazened red considering it was another male asking if she had sex, but she felt oddly at ease with this god. She met his gentle brown eyes. “No. When I spent the night, we slept. It didn’t go further than that.” Rubbing her temple she sighed again.