As You Wish (7 page)

“Now?” The idea made her both nervous and excited.

“Only if you want to try. Simply close your eyes and think about her.”

She nodded and followed his instructions. She pictured her mom’s beautiful face and an image began to slowly to take shape in her head. The distorted vision grew clearer and clearer as she gasped. She could see her mother, standing in the centre of a dark room! The surroundings were fuzzy, but Karis could see her mom’s defiant stance and the tiredness in her light eyes.

“Oh, my God!” Opening her eyes, she sat up, clutching the sheet to her chest. “I saw her, Vander. I just connected with my mother.”

“Are you okay?”

“She’s being held captive somewhere,” she said, oblivious to his question. She stood, fighting back a wave of dizziness as she pulled on her robe and cinched the belt around her waist.

“I know.”

Karis whipped her face around to him. “You
know?
Know that my mother is being held captive?” She folded her arms across her chest as he stood.

“There has been talk about the persons responsible for her disappearance and others like your mother.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about this?”

“You were having a little trouble accepting the basics…I decided to share what I thought you could handle.”

She stared at him in silence. “All of this,” she gestured between them, “is a lot to take in, but I’m doing my best to deal with it. You should’ve told me.”

“I’m sorry.” He held her gaze until she looked away.

“This is my fault. If I had of listened to her all those years…learned how to use my gift…“ She shook her head, walking to her bedroom window. The street was virtually quiet in the early morning hours.

“You are not to blame for what has happened, Karis,” he said, coming behind her.

“I never wanted to believe in her gifts or mine.” Tears blurred her vision. “Now, she’s in trouble and I’m powerless.” Her voice trembled as she struggled to control her emotions as Vander wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

“You are far from powerless and you will get stronger. I promise you that but you must be patient.” He turned her around to face him.

“There’s no time!” Karis yelled, her heart wrenching at the thought of harm coming to her mother. “You said so yourself. So, why can’t you just take me now?”

He held her tighter, the darkening gold of his eyes the only visible sign her words had affected him. She shivered despite his warm embrace.

“We can’t push you too fast. To do so could be dangerous for us both.” He rested his chin on the top of her head.

She drank in the subtle smell of his skin, marvelling at how good it felt to be in his arms and how easy it was to just be held with him. Usually self-conscious of her height and curves, his incredible height and build made her feel like a china doll…a protected china doll.

“What if we’re too late?” she asked, a single tear falling down her cheek.

“Worrying is unproductive and will only taint your energy.”

Didn’t he realise telling a woman not to worry was like asking her not to breathe?

“I understand how difficult it is, but you must try to keep those negative thoughts at bay. Can you do that?” He pulled away from her to cup her face with his large hands.

“I don’t know.” She answered honestly, averting her gaze from his. Heaven help her, but she wanted to run her hands over his sexy beard. “When will I be able to block you from reading my thoughts?” she asked, meeting his eyes again.

“We could try now.”

What she really wanted to try now had nothing to do with testing her physic abilities. Her gaze dropped from his intense stare to the full sensual lips that only moments ago had given her the most incredible orgasm she had ever experienced. She could see the imprint of his dick straining against his shorts for her. Heat flamed her cheeks, knowing the beautiful release he had given her while he remained unsatisfied.

“It gave me pleasure to give you pleasure,” Vander said, the corners of his mouth curving upward. He placed his hands on her shoulders. “Now, close your eyes and see if you can feel me enter your thoughts. When you do I want you to push back from me in your mind.” He tipped her face to his. “Only for a moment though, I still think it’s too soon.”

Karis took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m ready.” She closed her eyes again and imagined a bowl of strawberry ice cream topped with real strawberries. Seconds slipped by as she focused on her favourite dessert before she began to feel the tiniest prickle of pressure behind her eyes. She squeezed her eyelids tight as the intruding sensation intensified and channelled all her energies on blocking it out. A sharp arc of pain ripped inside her head and she gasped in shock.

She swayed, enduring waves of nausea as the numbing ache radiated from her head down to her toes. With a weak protest, she let Vander swing her up into his arms.

“You need to rest,” he said, depositing her gently on the bed.

“I’m okay.” She yawned as he pulled the covers up over her quivering body. “Will you leave?” she asked, suddenly too tired to keep her eyes open.

“Do you want me to stay?”

“Yes.” She waited for him to slip into the bed beside her, fitting her body snugly against his before giving in to sleep.

Warm rays of sunshine slipping through her blinds woke Karis. She stretched, feeling rested for the first time in months after having no nightmares to interrupt her sleep. With Vander’s ultra warm body lying so close to her all night long, she hadn’t awakened once when she usually did at least three or four times before sunrise.

Turning on her side she was disappointed to see his side of the bed empty. She was certain she’d asked him to stay.

“Vander?” Swinging out of bed, she blushed, realising she was completely naked.

He could have tried anything and I would have been completely at his mercy
¼
Wait a minute.
Was that bacon she smelled? With a delighted laugh, she put on a pair of purple pyjama bottoms, matching tank top and robe before heading down to the kitchen.

“Good morning.” He handed her a breakfast plate filled with fresh strawberries, bacon and a delicious smelling omelette. “Hungry?”

“Starved,” she admitted as she sat at the bar with her plate. “Did you cook this?”

He cocked an eyebrow in her direction. “Not exactly.” He sat down next to her, digging into his food with obvious pleasure.

She watched him chew, her eyes travelling from the chiselled features in his face to the impressive display of mahogany muscles visible under the fitted white T-shirt he wore with his dark jeans.

Now this was the way to have breakfast!

“Aren’t you going to taste your food?” he asked with a slight grin.

Blushing, she silently cursed herself and her wayward thoughts. Lifting her fork, she took a small bite of the omelette. “Mmm,” she said, eating more of the fluffy eggs. “So, you just came down here and magically whipped up breakfast?”

“One of the many advantages of being a genie. You had all of the ingredients. All I had to do was add a little bit of magic.” He poured her a cup of coffee. “I’d almost forgotten how good breakfast could be.”

Karis frowned. “What do you mean by that?” She took a sip of the strong brew. “Don’t you eat breakfast where you are from?”

“Djinn don’t have to eat in the same sense you have to here.”

She watched him get up to take his empty plate to the sink. “Tell me about where you live.” She popped a small strawberry in her mouth and savoured the tangy sweet flavour.

“To understand where I live, you must first accept the fact that there are many dimensions in the world we live in. Each of these dimensions can only be entered by portals.”

“Portals?” She imagined the tiny windows on an ocean liner.

Vander smiled. “Think of them as doorways. Only these doorways are constantly changing places and the locations are guarded and regulated by the High Council.”

“The High Council being something like our government here?” Karis asked, completely fascinated as she took a bite of her crispy bacon.

“Correct. There are many who have tried for years to gain the knowledge of these portals which would allow them to move freely, unchecked from dimension to dimension,” he explained as she finished eating. “Your mother was taken because of her ability to sense where these portals will show up.”

“But who is trying to use her? And how does the High Council know where these portals will show up?” Karis asked, taking her coffee into the living room.

“There are others with the ability to sense portals who work for and are protected by the High Council. I believe another genie has taken Nadine. I think he will try to wear her down to the point where she is willing to use her gift to show him where the next portals will be. With that knowledge, he and many others would take advantage, crossing dimensions at will.”

Karis sat down in her mother’s rocking chair. “How…how would he ‘wear’ her down?” She could see the telltale sign of fierce emotion from the darkening hues of gold in his narrowed gaze.

“There are many ways,” Vander answered quietly.

“Tell me.” She stood, putting her mug on the coffee table. “I need to know.”

“Karis—”

“Tell me!” she demanded, letting out a deep breath. “I’m trying to understand my gift and all that goes along with having these types of abilities. You can’t shield me from the ugly side of this.”

“All right,” he said with a slow nod. “Your mother is full of positive energy and love. The best way to break her down would be to poison her spirit with negative energy.” He held her gaze. “I would not hazard to guess what his exact methods would be.”

Karis started pacing the floor. “Who’s doing this? Do you have any idea who’s holding my mother captive?” The phone interrupted his response. “It’s my assistant, hang on,” she said, upon checking the caller ID. “Hello?”

“It’s Oscar.”

“I know. What’s going on?”

He huffed. “Sorry to call you so early, but are you still planning on coming in today? Katherine Barber is insisting she needs to see how far you’ve gotten with her foyer piece on Monday.”

Karis sighed, shaking her head. Thank goodness she’d worked on the painting yesterday. “Set up a meeting with Mrs. Barber for tomorrow after lunch. I’ll get over there and make sure I’m ready for her.” Hanging up the phone, she turned to Vander.

“We don’t have much time, Karis.”

“I know.” She walked back into the kitchen. “But in this dimension, you need money. I’ve spent all of my savings on private detectives and anything else I thought would bring my mom back home.”

“You don’t need money now.”

“An hour…that’s all I need to take care of some loose ends. I trust Oscar to handle everything else for the next couple of days.” She rinsed out her coffee cup, pivoting to find Vander standing only an inch away from her. “Whoa! Don’t do that.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“Why?” She searched his face for answers, wondering how she would get any work done with him serving as the perfect distraction. At least Oscar wouldn’t be there to ask her a million questions concerning her sexy escort.

“I don’t like the idea of you being alone. You won’t even know I’m around.”

Karis scoffed. “I’m usually always alone, Vander.”

“I can’t leave you unprotected,” he said, touching her cheek.

“Protect me from what?” she asked, her heart fluttering and her nipples tightening in response to his heated caress. She moved away from him, trying to clear her mind of the wickedly delicious images swirling around in her head of the two of them intertwined…naked, sweaty and…

Stop it!
She shook her head as if the motion alone could clear her thoughts and whipped around in time to catch Vander’s sexy wink as he cleared his throat.

You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?
The slow smile he gave her should have stopped her heart from beating altogether.

Absolutely.

She glared at him and rubbed her temples. “Why would I be in danger? I can’t even fully use my gift yet.”

“That doesn’t matter. The fact remains you have the power and it’s only a matter of time before you understand how to use it. Your mother knows of your strength and now, being with you, so do I.”

“So, the same rogue genies are, like, hunting me down as we speak?” She couldn’t hide the tremor in her voice. There was so much happening to her, around her all at once.

“There is a chance, yes.”

She took a deep breath, trying to wrap her brain around the last bombshell he had so calmly dropped into her lap.

“Karis, I don’t want you to start freaking out on me. I’m here with you and I will not allow anything to happen to you.”

“You may be unable to stop it.” She watched the honey gold of his eyes deepen as he approached her. His hand on her face calmed the fear rising up within her.

“I will do everything within my power to keep you safe.” He pulled her into his ultra warm embrace and she relaxed against his hard chest, taking comfort in the steady beat of his heart.