The Inner Circle (Return of the Ancients Book 3) (25 page)

I
was
kind of hungry. Once I thought about it, it was kind of surprising that I could still be hungry in spite of everything that was going on.

Snooping in the cupboard for something quick and easy, I spied a box of generic corn pops on the top shelf. And standing on my tiptoes, I tried to pull it down by grasping the bottom of the box between my fingertips, but to my disappointment, I only succeeded in pushing it farther from my reach.

Rafael’s strong arm stretched past me, and I felt his hard chest against my back. I held still as he easily snagged the cereal and handed it to me, but he took the opportunity along the way to smell my hair.

I caught my breath, surprised at the intimacy. Excitingly surprised and highly aware of every physical inch of him. But it did feel a little strange to relax enough to think of such things.

I supposed I was learning to live in the moment just a bit. Maybe because at the moment, there was some advantage to that.

After a few seconds, he moved away, leaned against the kitchen counter, and tapped his fingers.

I was a bit flustered and not really sure what to say, so I concentrated on shaking the cereal into two bowls. But then he defused the tension by casually reading the back of the box as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.

“Simply natural corn pops, so tasty, they’re tops,” he read aloud, sending me a look of veiled amusement.

Pouring the milk, I grabbed two spoons, thinking that I could listen to the soft lull of his voice forever. I’d just set our bowls on the table when I realized that I’d gotten him a spoon.

Feeling a bit foolish for forgetting so easily that he couldn’t touch it, I quickly replaced it with a set of Al’s chopsticks.

It only served to remind me that though he
looked
human, he truly wasn’t.

There were a lot of differences between us. But then who is to say what differences are good and bad? Differences should be viewed for what they really are: unique strengths.

Biting my bottom lip, I wondered if a relationship with him could truly work.

One look at him in his black coat, and the glimpse of a gray-netted tank top underneath which revealed tantalizing muscles made my heart say ‘
Yes’
with a capital ‘Y’.

He was breathtakingly gorgeous. And kind. And trustworthy.

And he wasn’t perfect.

I liked that. It leveled the playing field.

He had downsides just like the rest of us. He turned frosty when he was mad,
and
his family was even more dysfunctional than mine.

Not to mention that he was a tad obsessed with his looks. Although I’d noticed lately he hadn’t been looking into as many mirrors. I studied his face. And, he was definitely wearing less eyeliner. But I honestly kind of missed it. I thought he was handsome with just the right amount.

None of us were perfect, so who cared if he wasn’t human?

There wasn’t a single good reason to prevent me from falling completely in love with him.

He surprised me by reaching over to tweak my nose. “Where has your mind gone, little pixie?”

I blushed in a dead giveaway to what I’d been thinking. Rattled, I said the first thing that came to mind. “What about love?”

Immediately wincing, I jumped to my feet under the pretense of placing my bowl in the sink.

Why had I asked him that? And why could I not control my mouth in these situations? Searching for a way to recover, I turned, but then drew back sharply.

He’d followed me.

Raising a curious brow, he repeated, “Love?” And his gray eyes smiled.

I swallowed. Averting my eyes, I attempted to move sideways, but he planted his palm on the countertop and blocked my escape.

“I mean, your home-and-family type of love,” I said quickly, a little pleased that my thinking abilities had returned. “Your mom, and that kind of stuff. It’s important for a girl to know that about a guy, you know.” I scowled. Even though true, that last sentence was better left unsaid.

Someday, I was going to learn the art of slowing down and organizing my thoughts
before
speaking.

“Home and family,” he repeated gamely enough. He pursed his lips a moment as if in thought, and then said, “I’ve never felt at home anywhere, really. At least not what I think you mean by that word.”

He looked a little sad, and I felt a twinge of sympathy.

“I can relate,” I said. Or could, anyway. Of late, I’d actually
found
a home.

He gave me a wan smile. “My mother loves duty. And to her, I’m a duty to her bloodline. Nothing more. To be honest, I believe the only being that truly loves me is Ajax. I would consider him to be the extent of my family.”

Great. Ajax. But I supposed I should be grateful that at least Rafael’s closest family member no longer loathed me entirely. At least I’d graduated to the next step of begrudging tolerance.

When Rafael didn’t say anything else, I realized that he really was done. He’d pointedly avoided mentioning his father. Of course, I couldn’t blame him.

“I don’t have a very big family either,” I said then. “I just have Jerry. Or, I did, I suppose. Now, I’ve got Al and Betty, too.” That made me smile. It made me feel warm and fuzzy inside to actually verbalize how I felt about them. They really were my family now.

“We’ve a lot in common,” he said softly as the look in his eyes changed. The corner of his lip curved.

I knew what it meant.

He wanted to kiss me. And even though I wanted nothing more, I was suddenly tempted to run.

He must have read it on my face.

I hadn’t even moved an inch before he placed his hand on the other side of me and effectively boxed me in.

I held still then, holding my breath as he pressed me back, slowly trailing his fingers up my arms to cradle my head between his hands. Looking directly into my eyes, he leaned forward and brushed his lips against mine in the lightest, most gentlest of touches.

“I shall no longer fear what my fate brings me,” he whispered in my ear. “I don’t believe I could have done better. And now the fates have judged me and moved on. There’s no reason for me to deny it or to run anymore.”

I just stared at him.

The smile fled from his lips, and his expression grew serious. “Let’s stop this.”

Those words made my heart sink in an instant.

But he was still speaking, “Let’s stop pretending.” He paused, and then said, “I love you, Sydney.”

Just a moment ago, my heart had plummeted, but now it soared. Higher than I ever could have imagined as my lips parted in surprise, but no sound came out of them.

Rafael smiled, clearly reading my emotions easily enough. Lowering his long lashes over his eyes, he murmured, “When a Fae asks another to ‘take their hand’, it means they’re asking them to share their life, to walk with them.”

I froze.

He looked deeply into my eyes. “Will you take my hand, Sydney?” he said in a soft voice.

My mind went numb.

I wasn’t sure how long I just stared up at him, and then he dropped my hand to caress my cheek and thread a finger through my hair. The gesture was so simple, yet so intimate. So loving. He dropped his head, and his warm breath on my ear made me shiver.

“I’m going to kiss you.” His voice was a mere whisper now. “But I’ll give you fair warning. I’ll count to ten. You can leave before I do, if you want.”

He stepped back then, and slowly began to count.

There was plenty of space.

I could easily dash away.

But I didn’t. I stood still, struck by the sudden, undeniable revelation that he was right. It was time to stop pretending. Time to stop lying to myself that I could let him go. That was impossible. I already knew that I was going to love him forever.

His velvet smooth voice had only reached the number five before I sealed my fate.

Closing the distance between us, I put my hands into his. And l
ooking up at him, I asked, “Will you promise not to let me go?”

There was raw emotion in his gaze. “I will never let you go,” he swore.

It was the most natural thing in the world to lean back and kiss him. I ran my hands over his
sculpted biceps and into his hair as he deepened the kiss.

And then I heard,
“Rawrrrrrrrr.”

I jerked back as Ellison entered the kitchen.

Grace was right behind him. Grinning, she put a finger to her mouth and pretended to throw up.

It was impossible to prevent the hot flush spreading across my cheeks.

“We were just leaving,” Grace said quickly.

“We were?” Ellison asked, looking down at her in confusion.

Grace elbowed him in the ribs.

“I’m afraid that it is I who must go,” Rafael said, resting a gentle hand on the back of my neck.

He leaned down and murmured, “I’ll speak with you later this evening.” With a light kiss on my cheek, he bowed and left.

“Ok,” I managed to say as the front door clicked shut behind him.

Ellison snorted at my delayed reaction, but Grace sighed and fanned her cheeks, “How romantic!”

At that, Ellison’s brows yanked up, but then in a loud stage whisper he said, “Then I’m afraid to tell you that it is I who must go next, Lady Grace.”

And grabbing Grace’s hand, he covered her fingers with theatrical kisses.

As she snorted in laughter, I ducked away and escaped to my room. And just as the door closed, Ajax zipped past me to stand in the middle of my room, watchful and protective.

“Ajax.” I heaved a sigh of relief. “I’m glad you’re here.”

I’d never meant it more.

Moving to my bed, I sat down. And to my surprise, Ajax jumped up next to me.

I lifted my hand to pet him but stopped midway when his lips twitched.

“There now,” I said a little nervously. “Good doggie.”

At the word ‘doggie’, the fur on his spine lifted a fraction, and his lips curled back to expose his wicked-looking teeth.

But then I glanced into his dark eyes and suddenly knew it was all show. Reaching over, I swallowed him in a great big hug.

And for a brief moment, I felt his Twinkie-size tail wag. Just once. But it was a wag all the same, and we both knew it.

I couldn’t help but grin. “Am I growing on you?”

This time, he showed his gums along with his teeth, and I quickly drew back.

“You’re a brat,” I said with a scowl. I knew he’d never really hurt me, but apparently he wasn’t in to the warm and fuzzies. At least not yet.

Clearly, our relationship required baby steps.

All at once tired, I lay back on my bed, supposing it wouldn’t hurt to close my eyes for a bit.

I woke up much later.

I’d slept straight through dinner.

Everyone was in the family room watching a movie. Even Al. But when he saw me poke my head through the doorway, he got up to join me in the kitchen.

“We’ve made some progress this afternoon,” he said. Pulling his Mission Control notebook out of his pocket, he gave me an update of each operation, ticking each one off with a jab of his finger. “Jack’s already briefed on Operation Takedown and is on the case. And Operation Defense is under control. Those Protector boys have fanned out to cover the area, so nothing is going to sneak by them. They’re quite the soldiers.”

He nodded several times, clearly impressed, and I couldn’t help but smile that he was calling the highly trained Fae Protectors “boys”.

Flipping the page, he continued, “Operation Gumshoe. That’s a tricky one, and we’re attacking from all angles. Jareth dug up a few historians of the supernatural this afternoon, and they’re looking into it, but I’m going to turn Jack loose on that, too. It’s right up his alley.”

Taking out his pencil, he scribbled something on the page.

After a minute, I prompted him. “And Operation Bloodhound?”

Had they found Melody?

Al shook his head. “No progress. She’s gone completely off the radar.”

That apparently spurred another thought, because he scribbled a new note.

I smiled a little. Al was certainly in his element. As he continued to write, I took a peek at his notebook.

On each page, he’d written ‘Highly Classified Documents – For Your Eyes Only’.

I grinned.

Al wasn’t afraid to have fun and to be himself. No one could ask for a better role model.

We talked for a little bit after that, and then missing Rafael, I decided to go look for him. But first, I headed back to my room for my sneakers and sweatshirt. Hopefully, he’d be across the street and not bopping around in Avalon somewhere where I couldn’t find him.

But as I opened the door to my bedroom, I pulled up short.

Rafael was standing there in my room.

The mist swirling around him betrayed the fact that he’d just arrived.

“I was just—” I began, but then seeing the stricken expression on his face, I stopped abruptly. Dashing to his side, I cried, “What is it? What happened?”

He looked down at me, unseeing for a moment.

In a choked whisper, he managed to say, “Sydney, I … had a …
dream
.”

I just stared blankly at him. I didn’t have a clue what to say.

I don’t think he did either.

Finally, I cleared my throat and asked, “Are you sure it was a real dream and not some kind of memory or something?” After all, he’d never had one, so he could have made a mistake.

His gray eyes shifted to meet mine, and the corner of his lip twisted into a wry smile. “Do you think watching myself play your Earth game of ping pong in Samantha’s coffee shop with your mouse, Jerry, is a memory?”

I grinned. “Sounds like a bona fide dream to me,” I said, heaving a sigh of relief. Having a dream wasn’t that bad. Nothing worth freaking out over, anyway.

Walking up to him, I stood on my tiptoes and slid my arms around his neck. All at once, I felt awkward and shy. I was new to this whole romance thing.

I almost bolted away.

But he didn’t give me time to lose my confidence. He responded at once. Placing his hand on the back of my neck, he rubbed my cheek absently with his thumb and pulled me closer into his arms to rest his chin on the top of my head.