MoonLife (3 page)

“So what do you think?” Sebastian asked while watching me, looking a little smug with his amused smile.

“This is crazy. I have been to this airport a hundred times and never knew this part of it existed.” I smiled at Sebastian. He had opened so many new doors for me with countless new experiences, and our life was just beginning. I couldn’t even imagine all the things we would do together, forever. That though made me grin even more. I knew a lot of things in my life and I was unsure of many, but I had never been so certain of my love for Sebastian. He was my constant, my one thing in life I would never want to change. I smiled at him even wider, certain that I must look like the
Cheshire
cat from
Alice and Wonderland
at this point, and sent him my thoughts.
I love you Sebastian. Thank you for loving me.

Sebastian smiled down at me. He pulled me closer and I felt his thoughts in my head.
My love, I have always loved you, will always love you, now and forever.
He leaned down and gently kissed my lips. Softly at first, lingering a little longer as my lips parted and his tongue found mine. We had not made love yet. Not because we didn’t want to or I was a virgin or anything like that, but because Mandurago’s mate for life. Once we make love I will begin
the Turn
. We had been close many times, but it won’t be until our wedding night, tomorrow night, that I will finally get to be with him intimately. We have been waiting so long for this night, yet now that the time is getting closer I was beginning to get nervous. Not just for
the Turn
,
but for us to make love. He is a supernatural force of nature and I am just some chick from Sacramento. How in the world am I going to stack up to what he must be used to? We can’t make love because when a Mandurago is in love, they mate for life. But he can make love to other women he is not in love with and not have a problem, kind of a catch 22 if you ask me. So basically he can go whoring around before we’re bound but if he tries to make love to me, we automatically mate. Okay not that I want him whoring around, but you get what I mean.

“Uh, hum… pardon me
,
but your car to the plane is ready.” I heard Jonathan say as I shifted away from Sebastian’s embrace, but he held me close while Jonathan continued on. “Your other two colleagues are already on their way to the plane as well. When you are ready, the car is through the double doors. Is there anything else you will be requiring
,
Mr. Knight?” he said
,
looking at Sebastian.

“No Jonathan
,
thank you for your help. We can find our way to the car from here.” Sebastian grabbed my hand and ran his fingers over the wedding ring as we walked to the doors. I would have to take the ring off soon, but I thought it would be safer on my finger for the trip than in the luggage.

“Oh wait, I need to grab a soda from the bar and run to the bathroom really quickly
,
” I said to him. Hoping he understood. I hated airplane bathrooms. They were so tiny and the blue water freaked me out a bit.

“There is soda on the plane but I’ll wait here while you use the facilities.” He pointed to where the entrance to the restroom is.

“Mr. Knight
,
you have a call at the VIP lounge phone
,
” said Jonathan as he walked towards us from out of nowhere.

“Have them
transfer
it to the bar. Sadie
,
I will be waiting here for you
,
”
h
e said and kissed my hand as I walked away.

The hallway to the bathroom was just a 100 yards or so away from the bar area. I hurried down the passage into the women’s bathroom. As
I
pushed open the door I already knew this was not your average public bathroom. Walking into the room there were three couches, I’m sure the upper-class would call it a lounge. To me it looked like a living room off the bathroom. Seemed strange to want to hang around in the bathroom
,
but who am I to say.

I walked through the room and into the main bathroom area. There were several stalls each enclosed with their own sink, mirror and towels. It was very swanky for a bathroom. I used the bathroom quickly, washed my hands, checked my makeup in the mirror and hurriedly fixed my hair. I headed out the door eager to meet Sebastian again. When I opened the stall door, I found a tall, thin woman with dark red hair just hanging around the bathroom area. She seemed out of place, as if lost or maybe on something. I smiled and headed past her. With super speed, she was in front of me, right in my face.

“You will come with me
.
Master is waiting
,
”
s
he said, no longer looking lost as she grabbed my upper forearm and started to drag me along with her.

Pulling away from her, I backed up and looked her over. “I am not going anywhere with you.”

“You are and you will. You can fight me all you like, but I will win. Now come, Master is waiting and he does not like to wait.” She grabbed me by the arm again, this time even harder and I could not get away. She continued to drag me towards the door as I tried to tug her back. “Kali
,
you need to accept that this is your fate and not fight it. Master is outside the door, he will make you see things in his way.”

I knew then that I had to get help. I sent my panicked thoughts to Sebastian
. I am being kidnapped in the bathroom. Come quickly but watch out. I don’t know how many there are outside the restroom.

I smacked at the woman with my free hand, scratching and hitting at her hand. She must have been some sort of supernatural because the more I heaved and scratched, the
stronger she became and
more determined
she was
to get me to the door. With one last strong tug, she threw me against the wall and pulled open the bathroom door. On the other side of the door was Lars, standing in his full glory. He was a
n
immensely tall man, built much like a football player. He had long, black hair that I had only ever seen pulled back in a low pony tail. He was very handsome and had the most intensely vibrant green eyes with a lighter ring of yellow around the edges. He smiled at me, smugly about to take my hand when Sebastian flew up behind him and threw him to the ground.

The next thing happened so quickly it was a blur. I saw Lars being tossed around, he and Sebastian fighting furiously. Then Sebastian was thrown into the ceiling, he flew back at Lars, hitting him hard and throwing him against the far hallway door, rendering Lars unconscious.  The woman in the restroom ran off during the scuttle.  My head was spinning as Sebastian scooped me up and ran me to the car. It all happened in just a breath, an instant
,
and then I was safe sitting in the car heading to the plane.

“Sadie
,
are you okay?  Did they hurt you?  I am so sorry I let you go alone. I didn’t think Lars would dare follow us here.”  He looked me over as if looking for fingerprints.

“I’m fine, are you okay? That was some fight back there. You know that red headed chick wasn’t in the bathroom when I went in, I was alone. It happened so quickly. She kept saying her Master was waiting. It was really odd Sebastian.” I curled up into his arms.

“
We will have to be more careful from now on. We must not be separated until we have reached the Mandurago compound, it is just too dangerous.” He stroked my hair, slowly pushing my bangs out of my eyes. I could tell from his demeanor that he was more worried than he was letting me know.

The car arrived at the plane
.
Ludwik and Wendy were waiting for us there. I took a second to catch my breath, and think about what just happened. “Sebastian
,
does Lars have a large clan of Draccos? Could they be anywhere? All around us?”

“Yes
,
there are many Draccos
,
”
h
e said
,
sensing my worry.

“How do we know that the pilot isn’t a Dracco or someone else on staff? How do we know we are safe anywhere?” I took another deep breath. This was starting to freak me out. I don’t want to be kidnapped and taken away from the one man I love more than I life itself. I started to hyperventilate.

Sebastian grabbed a little paper baggie from inside the door pocket. “Here
,
breathe into this deeply
.
I
t will help you catch your breath. My Love
,
it is going to be okay. We Magicals can tell other Magicals. You will be able to as well once you have turned. In the meantime, I am only letting people around us that I deeply trust. We only have to make it for another 24 hours and then you and I will be safe for all eternity.” I breathed into the bag and it seemed to be helping. My breathing slowed a bit and I began to feel normal when he touched the side of my face and turned it toward him. I could see the fear in his eyes, fear of almost losing me. I lowered the bag and bent up towards him. I looked him in the eyes and said, “I love you more than anything in the world. I want to be with you forever. It scared me to think that someone could take me and threaten our life together. I never want to be without you Sebastian. Promise we will make it through the next 24 hours; promise me it will be okay.”

“I promise my Kali, my
p
rincess,
m
y
l
ove.
I will protect you and make you my beloved for all eternity.” He leaned down and kissed me and a tear ran down my face.

Chapter Three

“The plane will be taking off shortly. Please be sure to hook your seat belt. Would you like some champagne
,
Ms. Jones?” asked the short
,
little
,
dark haired airline stewardess smiling down at me.

“Diet coke?” I asked smiling back at her.

“Yes of course, seems that is the only diet product on the plane
,
”
s
he said sashaying away.

“How very strange
,
” I said
,
turning my head to Sebastian with a giggle. He’s so cute, I thought to myself, he knows of my diet coke addiction and has made sure it’s taken care of even on the plane.

He smiled as he reached over to hold my hand. “Well
m
y
l
ove, keeping you
sup
plied with diet coke is the least I can do for my soon
-
to
-
be bride. Would you like one of those
P
op-
T
arts you seem always to be eating? We have those
,
too
.
” I laughed and
graciously
declined.

“So what are the plans?” asked Wendy as she leaned in closer
,
as if to hear our secrets. “I know we’re going to Buffalo but what can we expect once we get there?” I was glad
she
had
asked. It
had all been such a whirlwind I hadn’t even thought that far ahead.

“We are being met at the airport by several of my brethren. They are the ones who have been gracious enough to arrange our binding ceremony. We will be escorted by them from the airport to the Mandurago compound in Buffalo, where we can rest and get ready for the ceremony tomorrow night. The location has immense security, and once we are on the grounds we have been assured of our safety. So Sadie you can rest easy, Lars will not have another chance at you
,
” Sebastian said as
he
squeezed my hand to reassure me.

I knew he was
right;
he was always right about things regarding the Mandurago. The problem was I had this strange feeling in my gut, and unfortunately, my gut is always right as well. I tried as hard as I could not to let the feeling bother me, but it kept getting stronger. Stronger until I knew I had to let Sebastian know.

I know you say that you think we’re safe, but I have to tell you my gut feeling is screaming at me that we need to be extremely careful. I think there might be something majorly wrong going on. We need to seriously watch what we do, I’m pretty sure we haven’t seen the last of Lars.

I have that feeling too
,
m
y
l
ove, but I believe I have thought through everything. We have four of the most resilient Manduragos I know meeting us at the airport. The Mandurago Lair has the utmost security, and once we are in the compound there is no way for the Dracco
c
lan to attack. We have it all covered. Try as they might, they will not succeed.

“Hey guys, think you might want to share that conversation with us? It looks pretty serious
,
” Wendy whispered
,
watching us communicate without speaking. She was getting adept at knowing when we are talking to each other. Ludwik gave her a look as if to say intruding on us was wrong, but she just gave him a it’s-my-best-friend-and-I-want-to-know-what’s-going-on look right back.