Shadow Revealed (The Enlightened Species Book Two) (27 page)

Every word she spoke struck his heart with joy. Her insight brought an unarguable truth with it. He’d been prepared to earn her trust and win her love, never realizing the battle for Brae’s heart had been won before he’d met her. Focused on the marvelous gift of her, he’d failed to consider that he was also a gift to her. She humbled him, her gray eyes full of love. She believed in him, in them, unwaveringly.
This
was his story, and when he saw Innanna again, he would thank the Oracle.

Enlil took her tiny wrist in his hand. Brae’s swift intake of breath laced with fear caused his chest to constrict. Had her offer been the result of liquid courage? He rubbed his thumb along the strong pulse beneath the scar tissue. Did she have nerve damage? “Do you feel this?”

Brae shrugged and her tiny tongue peeked out to lick her lips. The pulse beneath his thumb jumped in contradiction to her calm appearance. “Sort of.” Her gray eyes held his. She was lying. He rubbed over the spot again; Brae dropped her eyes in shame and shook her head. “I only feel pressure … no sensation.”

Bonding would make lies between them impossible. Did she realize that? Part of him knew she downplayed to keep people from knowing the full extent of her abuse, to protect others from her pain and protect herself from something she felt was shameful. He needed to break through that. She could not have a real relationship with anyone like this. Not him—not her family.

He gently turned her wrist over. With his fingers monitoring her pulse he ran his thumb along the outside. Brae’s swirling gray eyes leapt back to his face. “Here?” She swallowed hard and nodded. Enlil smiled and brought her palm to his lips, tickling the center with his tongue before pressing a kiss into it. Brae’s squirm and smile answered his question. Not good enough; she needed to tell him. “Here?” With a giggle she nodded. Enlil swirl her thumb with his tongue and sucked the digit deep into his mouth. Her lashes fluttered, her breath quickened, and she nodded.

He received similar responses with the other fingers until he reached her tiniest one. When Brae tried to tug her hand back, Enlil knew what he would find. He held tight and sucked her finger into his mouth without ceremony. He’d felt small, badly healed breaks along the bones in two of her other fingers, though they hadn’t seemed to affect her strength or sensation. This one had been crushed inside. He’d noticed it before. Seen it move. There could be no possible way she had any strength with it. If anything it probably hindered her. The slight crook to the finger did not reflect the extensive damage he could feel with his tongue. “Here?”

Brae cocked her head as if she couldn’t believe he’d have to ask. But he did have to ask. Much as he hated the idea of reminding her of her past, he needed her to be
willing
to talk to him. Really talk to him. He gave her a grin before he drew the destroyed digit back into his mouth. She needed to know her past didn’t … turn him off.

Brae plunged her other hand into his hair, holding his head still while she pulled her pinkie out of his mouth. “Unfortunately yes, I still have feeling. I can’t grip with it and it will cramp up quite painfully at times.”

Oh, Fates, he’d been hurting her. “Brae, I’m sorry, I—”

She held up her hand and wiggled her crooked pinkie. “It doesn’t hurt
right now.
Weather changes, hours of training … the way I grip my fists at my chest when I’m unsure or afraid.” Her voiced trailed to a whisper as she spoke. “What you just did … felt good.”

Yes! Enlil felt like whooping in joy. She’d not only given him honesty, she’d more than answered the question. The chest/fist thing obviously bothered her, yet she’d served it up to the discussion without his prompt. Progress. He drew her pinkie back into his mouth. She gave a soft moan of pleasure. “Well, next time it cramps, we’ll know how to make it feel better.” Enlil placed another kiss to her palm. “Any other cramp spots I can help with?”

Brae’s mischievous grin brought Enlil one-step closer to making her his forever. She held up her other hand. “No feeling in my wrist or the pad of my thumb. My pinkie and ring finger were crushed, but I have some feeling and strength in them. It cramps up in the center of my palm sometimes.” Enlil proceeded to give her a thorough hand massage. Brae laid her head back, eyes closed, and completely relaxed for him. Even when he’d held her sleeping body last night, Brae hadn’t been as relaxed as she was right now. To survive what she had and still be full of innocence amazed him. She amazed him.

Enlil finished her hand and rose from the bath, lifting Brae firmly to his chest. Her arms came around his neck, and gray storms full of trust clashed with his gaze. He kissed her hard and demanding. Brae responded in kind. Tangling her tongue with his, giving and taking equally, she held nothing from him.

He fought the temptation to lay her back into the tepid water and bury himself in her. He broke the kiss and pressed his forehead to hers. “I love peppermint.”

“I love you,” Brae whispered, her gaze never wavering. The words
I love you too
caught in his throat. Oh, he loved her. No question. Saying it out loud …

He smiled instead and grabbed a bottle of Jess’s lotion on the counter as he headed to the bed. “Let’s see if we can find anywhere else that requires … special attention.” His voice was throaty with desire, and Brae’s enthusiastic nod spurred him on.

Both her feet had been crushed at some point. She only had feeling in one of her toes. He massaged her right thigh where she’d once had a nasty break. He worked her back, especially her lower back and hips, when she told him they’d been dislocated (a couple of times!). Pretty much all of her ribs had been broken at one time. Two of her ribs had been completely shattered. The SOSC healers had removed the fragments surgically after her rescue.

His hands flowed over the ridges of crisscrossed scars that had once no doubt been silky skin. They testified to her strength, making her far more beautiful than if they didn’t exist. With every scared ridge he touched, he fell deeper in love with her. With every injury she’d endured, survived, and told him about, his awe of her grew. A female who knew what it meant to face fear head on, who would fight, sacrifice, and even die for what she believed in … for what she loved.
The heart of a warrior.
Her soul was aged beyond her years by trials that would kill most yet her spirit remained innocent, pure. The Fates had given Enlil a second bloodmate of courage, honor, and worth. For the first time in centuries he felt blessed rather than tortured by the Fates.

Enlil placed a loving kiss to Brae’s shoulder. “I love you, Brae. Be mine.” His voice shook with emotion. “Will you be my bloodmate?” The words he’d stumbled on earlier felt right now.

Brae rolled to face him. Small, perfect breasts pressed into his chest. “I’ve always been yours, Enlil. I lived through everything to become your bloodmate. And I’d do it again.”

Enlil kissed her and surrendered his control to the rapture he’d find in her blood, that explosive connection found only with a destined bloodmating, which he was blessed to find for the second time. A gift beyond measure and a love beyond this realm. He rolled her beneath his weight as Brae undulated her body and clung to him. Out of pure need for both of them, Enlil slid into her tight, silken folds. She was so wet, so wanton, her muscles gripping him perfectly, her moans of pleasure music to his ears. In a slow, controlled upstroke, he slammed to his hilt, paced for climatic anticipation.

Trailing kisses across her cheek, he whispered in to her ear, “I take you as my bloodmate.” Using his hand to guide her head into a mirroring placement at the curve of his neck, he sunk his dentes into her pulse. Her pleasure careened into him, his release rushed to the forefront. He stilled within her, his body trembling with the need for her to join him in release.

A groan escaped him as Brae’s tongue followed the pulsing line along the juncture between his shoulder and neck, once, twice. Surely she teased him intentionally. Her soft voice echoed the love he’d seen in her eyes. “I take you as my bloodmate, my forever love.” The pinch of her untried dentes lasted mere moments, vanishing with the sweet taste of her blood on his tongue. The essence of her fortitude, her spirit aligned to his. His body took over, with primal, hard thrusts into her in time to the draws off her life force. They shared the ricocheted ecstasy between them in the way of bloodmates. Lifted toward release by the bonded rapture of the other, they crested together, Brae’s climax driving his higher. She broke from his vein on a mewling scream, writhing beneath him. Enlil’s roar of release was muffled at her throat. He stayed at her neck to ensure her iron levels were safe before sealing the wound. Her tongue laved his closed as her orgasm reduced to residual tremors.

He rolled his weight off her, bringing her with him, giving his mind a moment to assimilate the new connection with Brae. Her thoughts and emotions flooded into him.
“My bloodmate. I have a bloodmate. Enlil loves me, I can feel it. I feel him.”
Enlil smiled. He knew she had yet to realize the power of their bond. He wouldn’t invade her private thoughts this way normally; right now she was broadcasting them to him. She touched on the memory of a conversation with Etana, her voice crystal clear.
“Find what makes you come alive inside, and hold to it with everything you are.’”
Hearing Etana’s philosophy on life in Brae’s voice was surreal. How many times had Etana said the same words to him? This was the first time he fully understood the sentiment. Perhaps it took a part of your spirit dying or breaking to appreciate it coming alive.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Shadowed and shielded he’d stowed away on Ten’s flight from the mainland. Having to sneak onto the island galled him no end, but it was the only way to get here without detection.

From the empty commandants office he watched the action. The SOSC had outdone itself for this event. A slow smile lit Osiris’ face as he watched Jess and her mate stride across the expanse of lawn to Ten and the Tellus pyrotechnic engineer. Her smile was large, her hand extended in friendship. Osiris pivoted his ears to hear the conversation.

“Mr. Gavin, I’m Jess. Sorry I wasn’t here last night when you arrived. I hope your flight was comfortable.” Osiris’s smile grew when Jess’s mate stiffened from her hand being grasped by the male. You couldn’t blame the guy for being on edge after his mate was taken right out from under his nose.

The engineer was a perfect gentleman. Osiris always hired solid representation for things like this, people who believed in what they were doing without his influence. “Mrs. Einar, it is so nice to put a face to the voice on the phone. The private plane was very comfortable. Thank you for making it available to us. It made it far easier to transport our equipment than the chortals. Everything is just how your initial diagrams showed. Things are going wonderfully, thanks to you.” The Tellus turned to Ten. “This young man is one of my apprentices, Mick Tenor.”

Osiris held his breath. Would she detect anything? Jess’s smile never wavered. “Ah, yes, you’re from England, right?”

He was not surprised to hear her mention Ten’s background-check information. Osiris had created Ten’s credentials himself, aware that the planners of this first event would show extreme diligence. Osiris had not planned on doing anything at this event except watch and learn … unless, of course, an opportunity arose where he might change that plan. Now, he would retrieve the chain. Even if it meant killing everyone here. There’d been no sign of Umbrae yet, but she would arrive. When she did, Osiris would be ready.

Ten’s voice was soft and polite, his accent perfectly honed. “That is correct, Eastborn to be specific. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

A young female called to Jess from the balcony of the main house. Jess excused herself to return to the house. Her mate trailed behind her.

****

There were three offices in the commandant’s house. Eros found he was most comfortable in the den-styled one Enlil had first brought them to. The SOSC-event plans and martial-arts awards showed that the domain was Jess’s. Her organized desk welcomed him. He’d set up his laptop to work theories the way he did best, setting it down on paper. The invention of computers aided tremendously. Often he would contemplate a dilemma and then look down to see he’d written the solution. That was how he’d originally created the metal composition for shadowing.

The rippled energy of port arrivals interrupted him for the second time. Irsu had called a male named Sam to take Jerika and Aymee to the airport earlier. Aymee would be sick enough from her hangover; the chortal would do the attractive girl in.

Eros shadowed, hearing voices draw closer, and Jess and her mate walked into the room, another couple trailing behind. “—my camcorder for the interrogation—” Jess gave him a momentary pause and then continued. Sharp female, she didn’t make his presence known to anyone else—very considerate of her, especially since this was her house.

Eros dropped his shadow and the unfamiliar male growled. He had to be the size of a refrigerated truck. The female had to be Enlil’s twin sister, which meant the giant was Sargon. Enlil’s twin placed a restraining hand on her mate’s arm, glaring at him. “Don’t be rude, Sargon.” Her voice held a natural soothing compulsion. Sargon had lived up to the deep voice on the telephone yesterday while getting SOSC endorsement to participate in the Lake Powell compound.

Enlil’s female reflection smiled and pushed past the bulk of her mate, extending her hand. “I’m Ninlil, so nice to meet you. On behalf of the SOSC, let me welcome you to our ranks.”

Eros rose respectfully to shake the female’s hand, followed by Sargon and Jess’s mate Shane. Jess’s intake of breath reminded him again that he wasn’t the only person in the room aware his sons had entered. Eros smiled over to the powerful little bit Jess appeared to be. “May I introduce my sons?” They dropped shadow when he spoke their name. Had he left any out, they would know to stay shadowed and protect the others. “Daniel, Jacob, Victor, Othos, Baden, and Brock.”