Aurora's Promise (11 page)

“This is not a discussion. This is me
trying
to
discuss and you using your brute strength to substitute for an intelligent
reply. A typical male response.” She arched her back in an attempt to break
free and her thigh pressed against his erection. For a moment, she froze. And
then a decidedly haughty expression settled on her face. “Another typical male
response.”

Connyn brushed her hair out of her eyes. Watched the ebony
strands fall softly back into place. He found himself smiling down at her for
no good reason he could think of.

“It’s not funny,” she said.

He forced the smile away. “I’m not laughing.” Looking into
those endlessly deep eyes, he saw emotion flicker beneath the anger. Fear or
uncertainty. He couldn’t be sure as she refused to hold his gaze but instead
turned her head to the side. It surprised him because since the moment he met
her, she’d never swerved from a challenge.

Replaying the conversation in his mind, he searched for the
moment when he’d first heard worry underscore her words and found it when he’d
asked her if she was blocking him from her mind. Suddenly her outbursts made
sense to him. Whenever something frightened her, she reacted by lashing out. He
looked down at her beautiful face set in anger as she refused to look at him
and instead was apparently trying to glare burning holes through his chest.

He was glad for one thing. At least she hadn’t run, unlike
his cousins’ mates. He might have to tame a wildcat, but at least he didn’t
have to chase one across the country.

A peace feathered through him. Now he understood her
emotional eruptions. They had all been rooted in her insecurity regarding
different facets involved in being the mate of a Royal, the challenges her new
life proposed and the possibility that he might consider her lacking and unable
to fulfill her position by his side.

With two fingers gently but firmly on her chin, he tipped
her face up to his.

“Don’t worry about the telepathic bonding. I’m sure it will
happen. Your sisters had been through the official Matching Ritual before your
mother took you away. Perhaps there’s something in the ceremony that looses the
telepathy ability. Or perhaps you just need to learn to unlock whatever it is
that is keeping me out.”

Her scowl darkened. “Maybe I don’t want you in.”

If he didn’t know it would set off another outraged barrage,
he’d have laughed. Knowing what was behind her anger, he felt confident in
deflecting it and working on reassuring her of the absolute rightness of her
place in his world.

She was still wrapped in the sheet, arms and legs tangled,
though she had stopped struggling and was contenting herself to glare at him.

“Then I’ll change your mind,” he whispered as he leaned down
to kiss her lips. She twisted her head to the side and he chuckled. Ran his
mouth down her throat and licked at the pulse beating at the base of her neck.

Aurora shivered but then jerked her shoulder to push him
away. “I doubt it.”

He nipped her shoulder and made her gasp. “I accept that
challenge.” He sat up and rolled her over his thighs.

“What? No! That wasn’t a challenge.” The mattress muffled
her last words as he adjusted her to lie face down on the bed with her
sheet-clad ass bent over his lap. Redoubling her effort to break free, she
succeeded in kicking her legs out of the covers, but by that time he’d
tightened the material around her upper torso which kept her hands and arms out
of play. After that, it was an easy thing to hold her in place with one hand
splayed over her lower back while he pulled up the extra blanket and wound it
around her lower legs.

“God damn you, Connyn!” She twisted her head around to see
him, but her hair had fallen in a thick curtain over her face. Shaking her head
furiously only served to shift more layers over her eyes.

Connyn didn’t bother to brush it away this time. Instead, he
shoved the rucked-up sheet at her thighs to her waist, exposing her ass.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? I swear if you so
much as—”

Aurora’s rant cut off with a gasp when Connyn thrust two
fingers deep and fast into her cunt. She wasn’t as wet as he’d like, but she
was hot and slick enough to accept his fingers. After her initial tensing, her
body immediately softened and then gripped him.

“If I so much as what?” he asked, sliding his fingers out
and then back in deeper. Pulled out, thrust in again. “Do this?” He twisted his
wrist, found the soft, little spongy spot at the front of her vagina and
pressed.

“God!” Though Aurora hissed in anger, her liquid heat
quickly coated his fingers.

Scissoring his fingers inside her cunt, he tapped and rubbed
the little spot that drove her wild until her pussy was swollen and dripping
and she was moaning her curses at him instead of hissing them through clenched
teeth.

He withdrew his fingers and inserted his thumb. “Or this?”
he asked, parting her folds with fingers slick with her cream as he caressed
her clit, rubbing tight circles around it. Spreading her pussy lips wide, he
exposed the dark pink nub of her clit and blew a cool stream of air over it.
Her body jolted and her cunt contracted around his thumb.

She arched her back and her ass rose higher into the air, an
invitation he wasn’t about to deny. While he continued to tease her clit with
his fingers, he slid his other thumb into her pussy and worked it in tandem
with the other, in and out until she was hot, soaking wet and writhing. He
wanted her mindless to everything but cresting the carnal cliff of ecstasy he’d
driven her up so quickly. That she was an incredibly responsive woman was just
one of the many things he appreciated about his mate.

She started rocking with the rhythm of his thumbs pressing
in and out of her pussy. Heat built under her skin until she was fever hot,
murmuring his name and gasping for air. He pulled one thumb out of her cunt and
pushed it into her anus, twisting it in deep. At the same time he pressed and
rubbed her inner walls with his other thumb while squeezing her clit between
two fingers.

Her body bucked wildly though her scream was muffled by the
blanket. He continued to twist, rub and squeeze until she collapsed into a
shuddering boneless heap across his legs while a series of orgasmic aftershocks
echoed through her muscles. Slowly he unwound the sheet from her body and
pulled her upright to cradle her against his chest. Without protest she sank
against him, with her eyes closed and her long lashes lying in two thick
fringed half-moons against her fair skin.

Brushing the damp strands of hair from her flushed cheek, he
skimmed his fingers over her shoulder. “You never finished your threat. If I so
much as what?”

Her eyelashes didn’t so much as flutter. “Shut up and let me
breathe.”

Connyn held his woman in his arms, in his gaze, in his
heart. Held her closer as he smiled and rested his cheek on the top her head,
inhaling the sweet scent of his sated mate.

* * * * *

Ellen was standing on the front porch when they arrived.
Connyn had assured Aurora that Amdyn would most likely have her there in time
for the transfer, but until she saw the sharp winter sunlight of the Colorado
morning glancing off Ellen’s short golden spiky curls, belief had held her at
arms’ length. From the moment Ellen, Amy and she had decided to put their plan
into action a knot of tension had been steadily tightening in her stomach.
Seeing with her own eyes that Ellen had arrived unharmed began to finally
unravel that knot. A tiny bit.

Aurora had nearly come unglued in the hotel when Connyn had
mentioned that the portal was opening at noon. After showering and packing in
record time, she had not been able to get Connyn to speed up his timetable by more
than an hour. On the way here Connyn had explained how the schedules for the
intra-world portals had become a well-guarded secret, kept even from the
auxiliary members of the retrieval team. A precaution put in place after the
recent Predator attacks on Bethany and Brooke. Only the five heirs to the
thrones knew the exact time and location of the portals to be used and Connyn
was unwilling to tip their hand with their arrival any sooner than necessary.

As the car pulled in front of what appeared to be a
renovated farmhouse, Ellen was joined on the porch by Amdyn. When Ellen moved
toward the stairs, Amdyn put a hand on her arm to stop her. She hadn’t known
Ellen well or for very long, but her immediate concession to his unspoken
command surprised Aurora and contradicted all the sides of Ellen she’s seen so
far.

Aurora glanced at Connyn and then back to Amdyn. In size and
build, they looked to be a close match, but in all other ways they’d never be
confused. Connyn’s darker coloring and changeable gray eyes looked more like a
Midwestern thunderstorm about to break while Amdyn’s fair-haired good looks
might have reminded her of a sun-bleached surfer boy, but there was nothing
less than “manly” about any of the Ilyrian males she’d met so far.

She’d just shaken the idea that they didn’t have much in
common after all when Ellen said something that drew a look from Amdyn that she’d
regularly seen on Connyn’s face in the last couple of days. The I’m-right-woman-don’t-mess-with-me
look that poked her patience like a pin to an overinflated balloon. Immediately
a cold detachment settled over Ellen’s features. Even without knowing the words
that had passed between them, Aurora knew just how Ellen felt.

The automatic locks popping up with a loud click in the
silent car jerked her attention away from the interchange on the porch.

“I’ll get the bags,” Connyn said. “You go straight inside.”

Aurora gave him a mock salute. “Yes, sir!” Ignoring his
glare, she pushed the door open and took a moment to stretch stiff muscles in the
fresh mountain air. The very
cold
mountain air she discovered a second
later as a frigid rush of winter wind spun errant snowflakes through her hair
and pressed them to her exposed skin in tiny, biting pricks.

After turning back to the car just long enough to grab her
purse, she bolted up the steps. Ellen’s hug was hard, fierce and quick. Though
nearly as tall as Aurora, Ellen’s curves were much more elegant and understated
in her slender form. Her beauty was the exotic hothouse flower kind, providing
the hothouse flower had a core of steel.

“Been here long?” Aurora asked.

Ellen shook her head. “Just since this morning.”

“Have you heard—”

“Come on. It’s freezing out here,” Ellen interrupted. She
grabbed Aurora’s arm and pressed her toward the front door, past a large, sexy,
scowling alien that looked none too pleased with his mate. But Ellen passed
Amdyn without so much as a glance in his direction, giving the covered porch a
much colder atmosphere than out in the unprotected yard.

Aurora found herself being ushered through an entryway, past
a living room, down a hall and into the kitchen. Though she preferred the clean
lines of modern design, the warmth of the kitchen was calming and welcoming.
The deep red and dark wood of the cabinets and large, informal table that
dominated the space seemed more fitting for a spread in a decorating magazine
defining the best elements of country style rather than the cafeteria for an
alien outpost.

A petite woman wearing an old fashioned flour-sack apron and
pulling a cake from the oven only added to the weirdness of the situation for
Aurora, though the smell of cinnamon and apples made her mouth water. When the
woman glanced up and saw them entering, a beaming smile lit up her face.

“Aurora,” Ellen said, “I’d like you to meet Kirry, Amdyn’s
chief household administrator. Kirry, this is my sister, Aurora.”

With a quick toss of her head that sent her dark curls
bobbing Kirry said, “Such impressive titles in this world for someone who keeps
food on the table.” After setting the cake on the counter, she closed the oven
and pulled the oven mitt off her hand. “Welcome,” she said as she wrapped
Aurora in a firm, grandmotherly embrace.

Taking a step back, Kirry held on to Aurora’s hands and
tilted her head to one side and regarded Aurora with a deep, penetrating gaze,
giving Aurora the distinct feeling of being peeled and inspected layer by
layer. But Kirry’s smile remained warm as she released her hands and said, “Connyn
has been waiting for you for a long time. I’m sure his parents are beside
themselves with joy.”

“His parents?” Aurora glanced at Ellen nervously for an
explanation.

“Shyrana, one of Amdyn and Connyn’s cousins here with the
retrieval team, is an intra-world telepath.” Ellen’s eyebrows rose slightly. “Apparently,
we are big news in Ilyria.”

“The discovery of another unmated Mystic is not big news,”
Kirry said. “It’s the
best
news.” She turned to attend to a teapot that
had begun its shrill whistle from the stove. “And it comes at a very needed
time for our people. Many were losing hope that Magdalyne’s daughters could be
found. Worse, they were starting to lose faith in the prophecy.”

Ellen’s voice was tight with scorn when she asked, “And
would that be so bad? For people to live in the real world instead of spending
their days hoping for some promised land based on myths and fairytales?”

Setting the steaming kettle aside, Kirry switched the flame
off before she turned back to Ellen, her voice soft in spite of Ellen’s
sarcasm. “In my experience, it’s hope and faith that keep love strong.” Her
voice softened. “And love makes the real world, and its pain and
disappointment, worth it.”

Ellen’s expression remained cool and outwardly composed, but
Aurora guessed there was more going on under her comments from the emotion that
flickered hot and deep in her dark jade eyes.

Kirry laid her hand on Ellen’s arm. Ellen jerked at the
touch but she didn’t move away. “You hurt only as deeply as your love has
already gone. And love returns the favor to hope and faith. It gives us hope
for a better world for those we love and the faith that what we do for them won’t
be in vain.”

Aurora stared at first one and then the other, feeling like
she had just stepped in the middle of a long, ongoing debate. The kitchen was
silent for a drawn out moment as Ellen glared at the older woman. Kirry smiled
in patient tolerance, unoffended and waiting. The hard shell of Ellen’s
demeanor cracked slightly.

“How can you be sure?” Ellen’s strained whisper could barely
be heard above the ticking of the cooling teakettle.

Kirry’s bittersweet smile was gently bestowed on Ellen. “The
only thing I’m sure of is that I don’t want to live in
any
world without
love. Real or not.” She patted Ellen’s arm. “Follow your heart, child, to its
own place. That’s all any of us can do.”

With a final pat, she turned back to the stove. “But for
now, you two sit and rest for a moment while I fix your tea. Neither of you
look like you’ve had a decent night’s sleep in a week or more.”

Feeling like an extra on the set of
The Twilight Zone
,
Aurora followed Ellen to the table and took a seat across from her. Kirry
pulled two stoneware mugs from the upper cabinet next to the kitchen sink.
Looking over her shoulder at Aurora, she asked, “Unless you’d prefer coffee or
hot chocolate?”

Aurora shook her head, feeling the strong under currents of
Ellen’s emotions still swirling in the room. “No. Tea is fine. Thank you.”

Nothing more was said during the few minutes it took Kirry
to finish the tea preparation. Throughout the soft-sounding process going on
behind her, Ellen sat stiffly in the old oak chair, staring at the wall over
Aurora’s left shoulder. Her gaze didn’t waver as Kirry placed the full cups on
the table in front of them.

“Is there anything else I can get for you?” Though the
question was directed at both, Kirry looked at Aurora.

“No, this is perfect,” Aurora answered, curling her fingers
around the heavy cup.

Kirry turned her attention to Ellen, putting a kind hand on
her shoulder. “Even as a small child, you had a very willful way of following
your own heart. Don’t stop now.”

Aurora was surprised to see Ellen, still rigid in the chair,
blink back a rush of sudden tears.

“And if I’m unsure as to which direction my heart is
leading?”

Kirry squeezed her shoulder and straightened. “You will
know, child. When it comes to it, you’ll know. You always have.”

She untied her apron and pulled it off. Hanging it on a hook
beside the pantry she said, “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll leave you two alone to
chat while I find someone to run me to town for supplies. These boys eat like
they haven’t been fed in a week and might not get another meal in a month.”

Aurora smiled at Kirry referring to the Kilth heirs as boys,
but figured if anyone could pull it off without repercussions, Kirry would be
the one.

After the older woman had bustled out of the kitchen Aurora
asked, “She’s their housekeeper?”

Ellen frowned and refocused on Aurora. “What? Oh. Yes and
no. She’s much more than that.” A slight flush rose in her cheeks. “As you can
probably tell.”

Taking a deep breath, Ellen picked up her cup and took a
tentative sip. Mentally, she seemed to set aside whatever she had been
struggling with as she turned to glance out the kitchen windows. Turning back
to Aurora, she set down her cup and leaned in over the table. “I can’t say
much. I’ve been keeping Amdyn out of my mind for the most part. It’s not easy,
so I avoid thinking about you and Amy to avoid any slip-ups. But so you know,
things are fine and going as intended. Amdyn’s and Connyn’s actions have been
as expected. I have not met Siriyn.”

“Siriyn?”

“The other heir to the five thrones. He’s the eldest son of
the Fifth House. I haven’t met him yet. Amdyn said he’s on his way back from
Israel but I doubt he’ll arrive before the portal opens.”

“What was he doing in Israel?”

A hint of a smile teased Ellen’s lips for a moment before
disappearing. “When I realized there were no good guys coming to our rescue all
those years ago, I also came to the frightening conclusion that
someone
knew where we had landed. That much was obvious from the Predator attack in the
cave. Anyway, as I got older I worked hard at making it extremely difficult for
anyone to track us down in any way I could. My computer degree was for that
very reason. To learn how to seed false leads, incorporate inaccurate
information into databases. To throw up smoke screens where we were concerned.”

“You’re an antique-shop-owning hacker?”

“Something like that.”

“Does Amy know this?”

Ellen shook her head. “That’s not something a person brags
about unless they are really curious about what life is like in a federal
penitentiary. Besides, we were all safer not knowing each other still existed.”

“But you knew.”

Looking down at her cup, Ellen circled the edge with her
finger. “I had to know. Had to make sure everyone was kept safe.”

“So what happened?”

“Wyc found Bethany.” She let out a deep sigh and looked up
from her cup. “Call it fate, serendipity, luck or a miracle. Whatever. It
worked for Brooke and Bethany. For the rest of us…I don’t know.” There was
something almost tortured twisting in the depths of Ellen’s green eyes. “Are
you sure you still want to do this?”

Aurora nodded. They’d been through this before. Long days
and nights talking about the implications and options. “Yes. I’m sure.” She
picked up her cup and rested her elbows on the table, taking a sip of her tea
as she did so. As she cradled her mug, she hoped she’d be as sure once she’d
jumped through a portal into a different dimension and new world. She found no
reassurance in the clear brown liquid filling her cup.

Looking back up when Ellen’s cup clicked on the tabletop,
Aurora found Ellen’s bright green eyes studying the ring on her middle finger.

“How are you and Connyn getting along?” she asked.

A wry smile twisted the right side of Aurora’s mouth. “Getting
along might be a bit optimistic.” She shrugged. “But he’s accepted me as his
mate so I guess—”

“What?” Ellen’s face paled and her knuckles whitened with
her grip on her cup’s handle. “What exactly do you mean?”

Aurora licked her lips. “One time when we were…umm…you know.
These men are sexual fantasies incarnate.”

Ellen nodded, a grim smile on her face. “Yes, I know.”

“Well, during that, he put this ring on me,” she lifted her
hand and wiggled her fingers, “and gave a short speech about us being mates.”

“I had no idea he’d move so fast with the Mating Rite. Wyc
and Rordyc took much longer.” Ellen clicked her short fingernails on the side
of her cup. “Did he claim you? Did you accept him as your mate?”

“For now.”

“For now?” Ellen blinked. “Really? And he was okay with
that?”

“Not exactly. But I wasn’t sure what else to do. Just going
with the flow until we all get to Ilyria, right?”

A long moment passed. Ellen seemed to withdraw into herself
while she finished her tea in silence. She stood and placed the empty cup in
the sink. Crossing her arms under her breasts she leaned back against the
counter and nodded. “Yes. That is exactly what we need to do.”

Amdyn stepped into the kitchen with Connyn close behind. “What
exactly do we need to do?” he asked.

Ellen tilted her head to the side and, without missing a
beat, replied, “Whatever it takes to all arrive in Ilyria safely.”

Though Amdyn looked at his mate with a slight suspicion that
creased the corners of his eyes, he didn’t question her further. Instead he
turned to Connyn. “If you—”

The front door banged open and both men moved between the
women and the front of the house.

“It’s Shyrana,” Connyn said.

Aurora turned to look at him, then back toward the front of
the house. There were at least three walls between where he stood and the front
door. “How—”

“What’s going on here?” A beautiful, petite woman with long
black hair and flashing blue eyes burst into the kitchen like a whirling
dervish. Even though she was nearly shouting, the sound of her voice reminded
Aurora of lacy curtains blowing on a summer breeze.

“Well?” the woman demanded.

Make that a
stiff
summer breeze.

Amdyn stepped sideways and indicated Aurora. “Shy, meet
Aurora, Connyn’s mate. Aurora, this is Wyc’s sister. She keeps us connected to
our homeworld through her telepathic gift.”

Briefly, Shy turned to Aurora. “Hello.” A quick lift of her
lips softened the abruptness of her greeting but disappeared again as her
attention returned to Amdyn. She scowled up at him. “So?”

Amdyn’s brows rose slightly. “So what?”

“Why wasn’t I told Ellyna and Esraina had arrived? Kirry
said Ellyna’s been here for hours, yet no one felt it important to notify me?
Are you hiding her from everyone, the Elders and Prophets, or just me?”

Standing behind Connyn, Aurora could feel the irritation
radiate from him as he settled his shoulders back and crossed his arms over his
chest. Amdyn affected a similar stance, but she doubted Connyn’s expression was
as accommodating as his cousin’s.

“You know we are only sharing necessary information since
the last attacks on Bethany and Brooke,” Amdyn explained.

The fists Shy had balled up on her hips dropped. She jolted
back as her blue eyes rounded widely. “You don’t trust me?”

“It’s not a matter of trust.”

“How am I to keep the Elders informed if you don’t let me
know what’s going on?”

“The Elders will know we’ve returned when we show up at
Council,” said Amdyn.

“Council?” Aurora asked in surprise.

Connyn turned to Aurora. “We’ll talk later.”

Before Aurora could respond, Connyn turned back to Shy, who
was ignoring everyone but Amdyn. Her hands were back on her hips and she
hissed, “It is my
job
to keep the Elders informed.”

Tension in the kitchen rose as Amdyn took a threatening step
toward Shy. Aurora decided that if she were Shy, she’d probably be intimidated
as hell at the solid mass of muscle advancing on her.

“And these are our mates.” Amdyn’s accommodating nature
apparently had a limit judging by the harsh edges of his words. But if Shy was
unsettled by Amdyn at all, the only outward sign she gave was a glare that
heated her eyes to blue fire as he continued. “The Elders’ opinion over whether
you’re doing your job well or not means nothing to me where Ellyna is
concerned.”

Aurora glanced at Ellen. She was standing stone still, her
expression cold and closed.

A man who looked extraordinarily like Amdyn sauntered into
the kitchen. Except for the cleft in his chin and the slight but definite
difference in age he could have been the oldest cousin’s twin. His blond hair
was cut short and his clear, ice blue eyes held a calculating arrogance that
contrasted the casual manner in which he surveyed the situation. “So…Shy,” he
said, leaning against the counter, “having a problem with the Perfect One?”