Believing Binda (7 page)

Suddenly both
men stiffened, and their eyes glazed over with rage. She sighed heavily,
another damn telepathic message no doubt.

"Not
again."

Zane moaned the
words as Baxter rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"What's
happened this time?"

Binda was
starting to wonder if her friends were jinxed. She didn't remember any of them
getting in so much trouble on Earth.

"Skye and
Carina went for a walk this morning, and they've gone missing."

Binda stood in a
rush and went to move to the door. Her petty jealousy fell away as concern for
her friend’s safety overrode it. Before she took two steps she was pressed
between the two men. Their heat and scents enveloped her.

"No running
off this time, precious one. Six dragons are looking for them. From the air, it
won't take long. We can't risk you getting lost, too."

That shelf in
her mind was cracking. She shook her head trying to clear it. She squeezed her
eyes shut as she moaned. She desperately needed to keep everything bottled up.
Especially now, there was no time to deal with her internal crap. She couldn’t
detain these two wonderful men when they’d no doubt be needed to treat her
friends when they were found.

Chapter Four

Zane's heart ached as his
Desired
moaned in
pain. He cupped her face in his palms.

Her skin is pale and cooler than normal, Baxter.

She's fighting to keep her calm. We're cracking open
the shell she's been in, and she's scared. We've both seen this before.

Zane kept his
wince inside. They'd seen a lot of it after the liaths
were
killed. So many strong men doing all they could to survive without their
Desireds
. They'd tried to turn off their emotions, but it
didn't last.
So much unnecessary death.
But Binda
would not meet the same end. She had two males who would always give her
everything she needed.

He feathered
kisses over her face, across her closed eyelids, down her nose. He pressed his
mouth to hers gently before he lifted away.

"
It’s
okay, Binda. Let go of it all. Baxter and I will catch
you."

She opened her
eyes and gazed up at him. The pain in their depths cut Zane to the bone.

"But you
have to catch everyone in the clan. Not just me. You need to stay focused until
Carina and Skye are found. They’ll need you more."

Zane had no
words. His brain had frozen up on him. Baxter gently turned her around so she
faced him.

"You will
always come first, Binda. We're going to start training up more healers, so
we'll have more time to spend with you. Before you came, we didn't mind being
the only healers. It kept us busy so we didn't have time to dwell on past
regrets and pain. But that's all changed now. We want to spend all our time with
you, precious one."

Carina has been found and is physically unharmed. Skye
is still missing.

Zane looked into
his brother's eyes after hearing Dimitri's message with a little hope in his
heart.

"You just
got another silent message, didn't you?"

"Yes, from
Dimitri. Carina has been found and is fine. They are still looking for
Skye."

"That's
good. Carina's been through enough. I hope Skye's all right."

"I'm sure
she'll be found soon."

Baxter's brows
lowered in concentration, and Zane knew he'd been contacted directly by one of
the dragons. Zane scooped Binda up in his arms and moved to sit in the seat
she'd been in earlier. He hoped she wouldn't focus to Baxter's sudden mental
withdrawal. He moved her so she was curled up in his lap. He released a sigh of
pleasure as she rested her head on his chest and the tension began to drain
from her body. He ran his palm over her arm.

"You look
really good in this dress. I love seeing you in our colors, beautiful."

She made a small
noise but didn't say anything.

"I won't
push you to talk, but know you can tell me anything. Whenever you're ready,
I'll be here for you."

He felt her
fingertip trace the dragon that adorned his chest, but she remained silent.

Zane, I need to go prepare the clinic. Skye's fallen
down a ravine and is unconscious.

Will you need me to assist?

His brother
glanced at Binda, who was now dozing against him, with a wince.

It will be much quicker if you could.

Zane nodded.
They'd always worked as a team, especially on big cases involving complex injuries,
which Skye would have after falling like that. Zane rose smoothly and gently
settled Binda into the seat. She was so cute when she was all sleepy. He kissed
her forehead whispering that Skye had been found and he'd be back soon. Forcing
his feet to take him out of the room was one of the hardest things he'd ever
done.

The entire time
he worked with Baxter to help Skye, his chest ached. He felt terrible for
promising to always be there for Binda, then not long after abandoning her. As
soon as they had Skye’s injuries assessed and treated, he left Baxter to
monitor her. With Skye having hit her head, she needed to be watched by a
healer until she fully woke up. At that point they would see what the damage
was and move on from there.

Baxter, I'm going back to Binda. I can't do any more
here.

Okay. Good idea. I'll get away as soon as I can.

Zane slipped
quietly back into the library, but the seat was empty. He did a quick search,
but Binda wasn't here. He went back out into the hallway and headed for their chambers.
Maybe she'd realized how tired she was and went for a nap. It didn't take him
long to reach their rooms or to search each one. She wasn't here. With his
instincts firing and panic beginning to set in, he racked his mind for where
else she could have gone.

He sprinted to
the Dining Hall hoping she was there. He arrived to find the room half filled
with warriors but no females.

"You okay,
Zane?"

"No, Diego.
Have you seen Binda?"

"She came
in a while ago, loaded up a plate and left. We assumed she was going to back to
you and Baxter."

Zane began
thinking aloud, hoping by voicing things he could work out where to look next.
"She was in the library sleeping when Skye was brought in. Now, I can't
find her. She wouldn't have left the castle. She doesn't know that the rogues
are all dead."

Diego cleared
his throat roughly. "I think she does, Zane. We were talking about it when
she came in. Sorry."

Baxter! Binda is gone.

Zane gripped
Diego's shoulder. "It's not your fault. We'll find her. She's touched both
Baxter and me in dragon form, so it shouldn't take long."

He turned to go
outside but stopped as Baxter came running down the hallway.

"What do
you mean
gone
? I was just coming to
have dinner with you both. It'll be dark soon."

"I'm going
to shift and go get her.
Shouldn't take long."

Baxter sighed. He
knew as well as Zane that they couldn't both leave.

"I'm
starting to think we need to tie up all five of these females.
For their safety and our sanity."

Zane couldn't
agree more but didn't waste time with more words. Even with all the rogue
dragons taken care of, he didn't like her off on her own. He couldn't help the
injuries that kept coming in, or the fact he and Baxter were obligated to
attend to them.

Once outside he
flashed to his dragon and instantly sensed her presence. Her emotions were
conflicted, and frustration and worry came through strongly to him. He frowned.
She'd shut all her emotions down earlier and was battling hard to keep them
that way. What had triggered her? Had she started opening up to the idea of
accepting them,
then gotten
angry when she woke alone?

Quickly he flew
to where he sensed she was. He landed some distance from her, so he could flash
to human form without alerting her to his presence. His nerves calmed as he
walked toward the cliff top where he could make out her form sitting and
looking out over the land. He sighed in relief. She was safe.

As he got
closer, the scent of honey hit him on a strong breeze. Fear froze the blood in
his veins.
No. The Goddess wouldn't!
He began to run and skidded to a halt as he saw Binda become surrounded by the
Great Wind. She'd stood up, and he caught a glimpse of her panicked face as she
saw him. As the wind picked up speed and collected more debris from the ground,
he could no longer see her, but he saw when the lightning started sparking. He
heard her scream as it must have struck her. His need to protect his Desired
took over, and he threw himself forward to try to break through the wall of
wind. She couldn't be gone. The Goddess wouldn't be so cruel as to give him and
Baxter their Desired, just to rip her away from them.

With his
instincts screaming at him to protect his Desired, he attempted to pass through
the fast spinning wind. He didn't see the lightning strike, but he felt the
force of it hit him. He tried to scream out to Baxter for help, but he slipped
into darkness before he could.

****

Binda woke with a gasp and sat up from where she'd been lying. She
frowned as she looked around. There was a sky-blue mist surrounding the space
she was in. She couldn't tell where the walls ended and the ceiling started—or
even if she where she was in fact a room. She glanced down at her hands to see
them resting on smooth timber. Each piece of wood had been perfectly crafted
into a hexagon shape, and they all rested together to make the mosaic flooring.
The rich brown color had been buffed to a high gloss. It reminded her of dragon
scales. Guilt swamped her as she thought of what Zane had looked like as the
Great Wind took her.

She'd not been
asleep as he'd thought when he and Baxter had left her yet again. They'd worn
down her resistance to them with their promises and lovely words.
Then left her alone.
Again.
Unable
to deal with the emotions that were threatening to break free from her hold on
them, she buried herself in the book. She'd not really paid attention until she
got to the chapter on the Great Wind. Turned out, anyone could summon the Great
Wind. Well, anyone that could handle the requirements.
One must be pure of heart, as ill intent will cause the wind to flee.
To seat thyself as close to the Goddess as thou can be, thou must empty thy
mind and seek the Goddess's assistance.

It hadn't said
how to control where it took you.
Which she found
interesting.
Maybe it took you to the place you held in your mind as you
called out. She also wondered how the
liaths
had managed
to use the Great Wind as their intent had been pure evil. The text had gone on
to say things like going barefoot while wearing her family's colors and bearing
gifts would also help sway the Goddess to help.

At that point
she’d started planning. Initially her homesickness had her wanting to return to
Earth, but she couldn’t do that. Despite her efforts to remain unfeeling toward
Baxter and Zane, she cared for them. There was also the fact that back on Earth
she’d have to deal with Dean’s
stalkerish
ways once
more while her closest friends were all here in Feury. No, she definitely
wanted to stay here.

That got her
thinking about how she could help make life better here. She wondered if she
could call out to the Goddess herself, instead of a place. If she could get the
Goddess to agree to use the Great Wind to bring some doctors from Earth, that
would ease the load on her men a lot quicker than if they had to train up younger
warriors from scratch, and that would help the entire clan, especially her
friends, by having human medical experts close by.

Already barefoot
and wearing a dress in the colors of the dragons
who’d
claimed her as theirs, she'd headed to the dining hall. She'd cornered one of
the younger men and asked where things like honey were stored. The poor man
hadn't known what to do with a female talking to him at first but soon opened
up and told her. He'd also bragged to her that all the rogues were now dead.
Feeling relieved she'd be safe on her little
adventure,
she'd prepared herself a plateful of food and had taken it with her when she
left. She hadn't wanted to cause alarm by leaving without dinner. She didn’t
want to tell anyone about her plans yet, not until she knew if she could
actually call the Great Wind to her or if the Goddess would be willing to help.
She didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up, or be barred from trying to help by
these overprotective warriors.

It didn't take
her long to gather apples and some honey before she'd snuck out of the castle.
Finding the cliff had taken longer, but the walk had been refreshing. By the
time she'd sat down, her mind was clear of all things but her need to help.
She'd laid out her offerings, closed her eyes, and sent out her request.