Aurora's Promise (8 page)

His gaze settled on her hip and he frowned. “Are you hurt?”

She looked down to where he was staring at her birth-control
patch. “Oh. No. I mean not anymore. It was just a…scrape that started to get
infected. My doctor told me to keep the bandage on until it fell off by itself
and it would be fine.” She shrugged. “No big deal. It hasn’t bothered me at
all.”

Not looking wholly convinced, he turned and picked up her
bag and then handed it to her. “Go ahead and get dressed. Don’t worry, I won’t
leave without you.”

His insight was a little unnerving. Aurora opened her
suitcase and tossed her sleep shirt and panties from last night into the bag.
After a quick examination of her options, she pulled out a matching bra and
panty set, a pair of black, slim-fitting jeans and a bright pink sweater that
complimented her complexion and accented her dark hair and eyes. “So what
exactly happens with these mating vows you were so serious about last night?”

“Not
were.”
He had finished dressing and was watching
her fasten the hooks of her lacy cream demi-bra. After last night, she needed
to do what she could to keep as much control as possible. If he was distracted,
perhaps his obsessive need for control would fade.

Hooking her bra behind her back thrust out her full and firm
D-cup breasts, nearly pressing them over the edge of lace that came up just
enough to conceal her nipples. A demi-bra wasn’t meant for full coverage or
solid support. But it was sexy as hell and the tops of her breasts would softly
jiggle under the thin material of her sweater every time she moved.

“Okay.” She reached for her matching panties and stepped
into them. “Present tense on the importance of these vows.”

“They are the foundation of the prophecy our people are
depending on to return our world to peace and release it from the threat of the
Sleht.”

“That I know. Ellen explained about those with the Mystic
bloodline being matched with the Royal Ilyrian heirs to return your full powers
that were lost by the original five ruling brothers.”

He nodded. “Though our powers weren’t lost. The gods had
decreed from the beginning that these powers were given to guard and defend our
people. When the Original Five began abusing their powers and using them in
their civil war, the gods removed most of them. Our entire race would most
likely have been destroyed by our own people had the gods not stepped in.”

“So the gods saved you from yourselves? That’s good, right?”

“Yes, but it also weakened our ability to defend ourselves
from outside enemies as well. If the curse isn’t broken, we will not be able to
survive continuing attacks by the Sleht.”

“So what does this exactly mean now? I mean personally. You
and me and what happened last night.”

“Our bond allows children to be born who will eventually
fulfill the prophecy as the seventeenth generation. Also an unbreakable
telepathic link is formed between us.”

Aurora clutched her sweater to her chest. “
What?
” she
shrieked. The shock of his words crashed over her like an arctic wave. She
sucked in air, trying to calm down and control her thoughts. The next second,
she instinctively slapped the birth control patch on her hip. It was still
there. Great. Now all she had to worry about was having this sex-god
Neanderthal walking around inside her mind.

“You’re inside my head? Right this minute?”

Connyn’s gaze snapped up from her bare legs to her face. He
looked at her for a long, concentrated moment, his frown deepening. “No. We
must not be fully mated yet.”

Aurora quickly pulled the sweater on over her head. “Why is
that?” she asked, trying to sound concerned instead of incredibly relieved.

“I’m not sure. Perhaps it is because the Elders and Prophets
haven’t blessed our match.”

“You mean the ritual that is supposed to take place at a
Mystic’s first birthday?” She slid her jeans up her long legs, watching Connyn’s
expression, trying to figure out if he was a breast, leg or ass man for future
reference. So far, he seemed equally interested in all parts of her body.

He crossed his arms over his chest and continued to watch
her as she sat on the end of the bed to pull her boots on. “Ellyna seems to
have spoken with you at length regarding our homeworld.”

Aurora shrugged. “She told us what she could.”

“Us?” Connyn’s voice was sharp, the look in his eyes predatory.

Shit.
Aurora bent over, tugging unnecessarily hard on
her boot to pull it over her heel. “Brooke and I,” she managed without missing
a beat. “She told me that Brooke tracked her down and about their conversation.
I’d known Ellen for a while, but it was Brooke’s visit that made her decide to
tell me about Ilyria.”

“She hadn’t told you of your heritage before that?” he asked
skeptically.

“Until Brooke showed up and warned Ellen that you guys had
come back, she didn’t think we’d ever have to know about the
born-in-another-world thing.”

He was still watching her closely when she looked up. His
eyes didn’t stray from her face. “You seem to have adjusted to the news well.”

She smiled. “Believe it or not, I’ve been told stranger
things. Besides, when I heard the truth, it just seemed to fit. I can’t really
explain it any other way.”

He nodded and seemed to relax a little. She stood, placing
her hands on her hips. “So what now?”

Connyn glanced over her outfit. “We get you some decent
clothes.”

* * * * *

Apparently, decent clothes to Connyn meant sensible running
shoes and pants and sweatshirts that concealed her figure as much as possible.
She agreed on the shoes but left him fuming in the aisle to find some more
fashionable and flattering tops and pants that would still be easy to run in
since that seemed to be such a high priority on his “acceptable” list. To her
considerable pile on the checkout stand, Connyn added a coat, gloves and a hat
for her and also a duffle bag with some spare clothes for himself. Once they
were finished with the outdoor sporting goods store, he insisted on putting a
couple hundred miles behind them before they stopped for lunch.

The farther north they drove, the more Aurora was glad for
the warmer clothing. At the store, she had switched her sexy but thin sweater
for a zip-up fleecy top. Though her home state of Texas was still experiencing
mild weather, Old Man Winter had been making himself right at home in Oklahoma.
By the time they stopped for lunch in Boise City, she was even considering
thanking Connyn for insisting on supplementing her wardrobe, regardless of his
reasons.

She didn’t of course. The man had enough ego to sustain a
revival of Sparta without her adding strokes to it. She eyed Connyn over the
top of her cheeseburger and wondered just how closely an Ilyrian could be
compared to that ancient civilization. Were they all merciless warriors who
considered themselves unbeatable and the gods’ gift to all things military?

Connyn’s right eyebrow arched. “Yes?”

“I was wondering about your world.”

“
Our
world.”

“Right. Exactly my point.”

“You haven’t stated a point my comment could either support
or negate. And I have been tutoring you in our traditions, lore and history for
the past several hours.”

True. He’d been lecturing her in the car since Lubbock and
would have made a great professor. He had the arrogant didacticism down stone
cold. She appreciated the information, just not the delivery. However, at this
point, she would take what she could get. Aurora put down her cheeseburger. “Are
you the norm for Ilyria?”

“Excuse me?”

“The norm. Usual. Are all the men and women like you?”

“Your question is too vague to be answered adequately. What
exactly are you referring to?”

Aurora picked up a french fry and waved it around in an exasperated
circle. “Just like that. The way you talk—”

“What’s wrong with the way I speak?”

She bit the fry in two. She had his complete, if irritated,
attention. “It’s very…
royal.
”

He sat back against the booth and crossed his arms over his
chest. “Of course. I am a Royal. Heir to the Third House of Kilth.”

“I mean you tend to be condescending.”

“I do not.”

Forgetting the other half of the fry she had just stuffed
into her mouth, she snorted and nearly choked herself. Connyn started to rise,
but she gestured him down and eased her coughing fit with a drink of Diet Coke.
When she could breathe again, she nodded her head. “Yes, you do. For example,
you assume you’re always right.”

“Being right is not the same as being condescending.”

“No one is
always
right.”

He simply responded by smugly raising his eyebrows.

“See? Right now. You’re doing it.”

He frowned, but it cleared as quickly as it had come. “Ah.”

“Ah? What the hell is
Ah
?”

“You’re obviously upset because you’ve been wrong about
nearly everything since we’ve met and are feeling embarrassed about it. So your
typical feminine response is to try to find fault with me.”

Aurora’s jaw dropped.

“Don’t worry,” he continued when she couldn’t force sound
past her indignation. “I am well able to handle your emotional variability and
occasional irrational outburst.”

“Emotional var—feminine re—
embarrassed?!
” Slowly she
lowered her hands to lie flat on the table and leaned toward him. “Listen here
you arrogant son of a—”

He cut her off by standing abruptly. “We can continue this
conversation in the car. You are drawing attention to us with the rising tone
of your voice.” Before she could say another word, he turned and walked out of
the fast food restaurant, leaving her staring at his back, completely furious
and completely stunned. Mentally groping for a word beyond supercilious, and
asshole, and bastard, and…well hell. The English language didn’t have one that
she knew of that did him justice. Perhaps she’d find a new word in Ilyria.

She glanced around the restaurant. A couple of other patrons
were giving her curious glances. Grabbing her jacket and jerking it on, she
stalked outside and opened the car door. She didn’t get in. “You left me.”

“No. I left the restaurant. Get in.”

The freezing wind cut through her pants and whipped her hair
into her eyes as she struggled with the desire to slam the door and leave the
bastard forever. But he was in her car and he was her ticket to Ilyria and to
her family. Not to mention away from the Predators they had fled from at the
Riverwalk .
Shit.

She got in the car and closed the door. After snapping the
seatbelt in place, she rested her head back against the seat and closed her
eyes. With a few deep, cleansing breaths she forced herself into her happy
place. A peaceful, sunny meadow. Spring flowers, warm breeze, bright blue sky.
Fluffy white clouds slowly drifting overhead. Birds chirping sweetly next to a
bubbling, sparkling brook
whose crystal-clear water she held Connyn’s head
under until his eyes bulged
.

“You don’t need to fear that I would have left you.”

She opened her eyes and stared at him. “What?”

“Regardless of how unreasonable you might get, I will never
leave you. Ever.”

Closing her eyes again, she let her head thump back against
the headrest. “Hmph. If I were you, I’d worry about me leaving you.”

Suddenly she was thrown forward, stopped from flying through
the windshield by the seatbelt.

“What the hell are you doing?” she yelled, grateful that she’d
made sure to buckle the goddamn safety harness into place. Connyn brought the car
to an abrupt stop on the road’s shoulder, the small roadster fishtailing a
little on the snow-covered asphalt. After slamming the car into park, he
gripped the steering wheel tight enough to make his knuckles pop white. He
glared straight ahead, ignoring her question and the cars and trucks whipping
past them on the highway fast enough to rock the little car with wind tremors.

“No.” A flat, bit-out harsh word. And still he didn’t face
her.

“No?” she asked. “No what? Are you saying, no, I didn’t just
try to kill you by throwing you head-first through the windshield? Or no, I
shouldn’t have walked out on you in the restaurant? Maybe, no, I promise to
quit being such an asshole.”

When he finally turned to look at her, she wished he hadn’t.
His eyes were a penetrating, dark silvered gray, flashing with a hard
brightness like flames off polished slate.

“No. You will not leave me. You are my mate. You completed
the vow.” He picked up her hand. Held it upright. “You wear my ring.” He set it
back down and put the car into drive. “We will not have this discussion again.”

The trip had not been fun. Aurora had calmed down enough to
think and sort through her options. There weren’t many. Not if she wanted to
get to Ilyria. She comforted herself with the hope that once she did get to
Ilyria, her options would expand.

They had stopped for a silent dinner before continuing the
trip into Colorado. About ten hours after they had started that morning, they
pulled into the outskirts of Denver. It had begun to snow about twenty minutes
earlier and now the heavy flakes swirled in a frenetic dance before them in the
dark.

Connyn veered off the highway onto an exit ramp and Aurora
twisted around to see the name of the exit’s road. She missed it. “Are we here?
I thought you were staying somewhere more rural. Ellen mentioned a farm.”

“We’re still about two hours from there.”

“So are we stopping for dinner?” She glanced out the side
window. “If so, you’re passing up a lot of good restaurants.”

“We’re stopping for the night.”

“Why? It’d only be around nine or ten if we kept on going.
Are you getting tired of driving, because I am completely capable of driving my
own car.”

“You don’t know where you’re going and the portal doesn’t
open until tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” That her plan would so suddenly manifest sent a
jolting shock through her. “But what about Ellen and Am—” Aurora snapped her
mouth shut to cut off her incredibly stupid blunder.

“Amdyn?” Connyn asked.

Aurora nodded, glad his attention had been on the road
rather than on her face.

“What about them?”

“Don’t we have to wait for them? All do the leaping world
thing together?”

“Of course not. If they’re there, they’ll go. If not, we’ll
leave without them. They’d do the same if the situation was reversed. Our
primary objective is returning our mates back to our homeworld safely and
immediately. Together or separate is no matter.”

“But—”

“Don’t worry. Your other two sisters are already there. And,”
he said, pulling into a parking lot, “we’re here.” He pulled under the hotel’s
portico and put the car into park. “I’ll check us in and then we can get
something to eat.”

“Leave the car running,” she said when he reached for the
keys. “It’s too cold to sit out here without the heat on.”

He gave her a hard stare. “Don’t go anywhere.”

“Jesus,” she said, looking out into the swirling snow. “Where
would I go?”

“Nowhere I wouldn’t find you,” he stated flatly as he got
out of the car.

“Royal,” Aurora mumbled under her breath, perversely
welcoming the brief rush of irritation at his blatant egotism that pushed her
nervousness off center stage. “Royal pain in the ass, you mean.” Things were
happening a lot faster than any of them had planned. The wild, spinning feeling
of being so out of control left her chilled as she watched the hotel’s automatic
doors slide shut behind Connyn.

There was one thing she could take control of right now. She
could at least drive her own damn car. Unclipping her seatbelt, she maneuvered
herself into the driver’s seat. Not such an easy thing in a little sports car
when being nearly all legs of a five-foot eleven-inch frame. She couldn’t
remember the last time she’d scrambled over car seats when it didn’t involve
getting at least partially naked.

By the time Connyn returned she had soothed her doubts with
a focused, deep-breathing chant, adjusted the seat and mirror and securely
rebuckled herself. She had also made sure that only the passenger side door
remained unlocked. She smiled sweetly into his glare, wondering if he would
refuse to get in and knowing if he did, she’d go to dinner alone.

“Even if you don’t have the same eye color,” he growled as
he got in the passenger side, “you definitely share with your sisters the same
ability to drive a reasonable man insane.”

Though her smile deepened, Aurora didn’t comment as she
headed for a steakhouse they had passed earlier. Dinner was civil without any
major verbal clashes and when they came out of the restaurant, he didn’t even
ask for the keys. Aurora enjoyed a tiny thrill at her small victory as she
purposefully raced the engine and took the first corner fast enough to spin the
tires a bit, but was in no way convinced there’d been any lasting ground
gained. Yet.

He directed her to the left side of the hotel and then
carried their bags up to a room on the second floor. Though expecting that he’d
chosen a room with a single bed, seeing the solitary, king-sized proof
dominating the room’s space sent a nervous shiver through her stomach. She
closed the door behind her but stopped at the open closet beside the door to
hang up her coat. Not sure of how the next part of the evening should or would
play out, she took her time arranging her coat on the hanger. Out of the corner
of her eye she watched Connyn set their bags on the end of the bed, flip on a
table lamp and then turn to stare at her.

When she still didn’t move further into the bedroom, Connyn
asked, “Are you still angry with me?”

“No,” she said, facing him. Surprising herself to find it
was the truth. “More like exasperated or irritated.” And really starting to get
turned on watching you advance on me with the focus of a hunter intent on his
target.

“Because I walked out of the restaurant without you or
because you think I think I’m always right?”

The intensity of his gray eyes reminded her of several early
adolescent experiments with a magnifying glass borrowed from the science lab.
She had spent a lazy afternoon with Lucas Rojo seeing if a fire really could be
started by zeroing the sun’s rays in on different objects. It could.

Sliding her fingers into the back pockets of her jeans, she
leaned her shoulders against the door as he took a couple of steps toward her.
The door felt cool and solid behind her. A balancing comfort to the swirling
heat in her body. “Both, now that you mention it. But when a person thinks they’re
always right, it tends to get very annoying.”

“Would it help if I told you that I know I’m not always
right?”

She eyed him warily. “Is that an admission or a fishing
expedition to see what it’s going to take to get me in bed with you tonight?”

A quick, half smile curled up the left side of his mouth. “My
mother is going to love you.”

“That’s not an answer to my question.”

“I’ve been wrong. Occasionally.” Moving in closer, he
blocked her back against the door. “About some minor things.” He reached for the
tab of her shirt’s zipper. “Never when it’s important.”

The soft clacking of the zipper moving down its plastic
teeth underscored his last words. As her shirt parted, his gaze focused on her
breasts pushed up in her lacy demi-bra. “Too many lives depend on me being
right.” His words were solemn but had begun to roughen with the lust she
recognized. It roused her own from beneath the shield of anger she’d worn most
of the day.

He settled his hands on her waist. They weren’t gentle,
holding her. Catching her eyes with his own, he stepped close. And closer.
Until she was breathing in the warmth of his body and she had to tilt her head
back to keep his gaze.

“I’m right about us, Aurora.” He kissed her with a kiss
dramatically different from how he held her. His kiss was soft, a tender
summons that let her come to him.

Before her mind could react, instinct took over and lifted
the barrier caging in her desire. She arched up to press her lips harder to his
and wound her arms around his neck, searching to satiate the craving he ignited
in her with such little effort. Her full-body yearning was prodded by the sheer
necessity to silence the panic his earlier announcement had generated. It
terrified her to think that this far into their plan, she might lose her nerve or
do something that jeopardized everything.

She needed this. Him and what he could do to her. Needed him
to consume her body in his lust and make the questions, uncertainty and fear
all go away. Needed him to be right about this one thing even when she knew he
was so very wrong.

Twisting her fingers in his hair, she tugged his head down
further, took command of the kiss and drove them toward a passion both frantic
and consuming. Her tongue plunged into his mouth, swirling and tasting as her
body undulated in blatant invitation. Her breasts and hips rubbed against him
and when she felt the hard length of his cock, the sexual heat rolling through
her rushed to her center. With a moan, she wrapped her leg around him and
squeezed.

His hands gripped her ass and lifted her off the floor.
Following his direction, she brought her other leg up and encircled his waist,
locking her ankles together behind his lower back. Her writhing turned wild yet
the ache building inside her was only teased to a higher level. When he pressed
her more solidly against the door, the hardness of all that man pinning her in
place had her digging her nails into his shoulders and struggling to get
impossibly closer.

Connyn lifted her higher, breaking the kiss. She gasped and
tried to wiggle back down, but he had other plans. Supporting her ass with one
arm, he reached up with his free hand to yank one side of her bra down and
expose her breast. Immediately his mouth covered her nipple, sucking it in
deep. Sensation streaked through her. Fiery bands snapped under her skin,
sensitizing it until every last inch of her body throbbed to the rhythm of her
rapidly beating heart.

“Oh my god, Connyn. I need—” she sucked in air so sharply,
so suddenly, her head spun as Connyn turned his attention to her other breast.

Her nipple, scrunched up tight from both arousal and the
cold hotel room, had been trying to poke its way through her lacy bra since he
first started kissing her. He didn’t move the bra aside this time. His mouth
came down hard and scorching hot as he laved her nipple through the thin
material, using the lace to add extra friction as his tongue pressed and
circled. By the time Aurora had found her breath, she was moving, spinning
through the air with her head falling back and her hair flying around her
shoulders in dark waves. She opened her eyes to find Connyn walking toward the
bed with her still wrapped around him.

Anticipation thrilled through her as she saw the raw lust
cutting across his face. It was a harsh emotion, stripped of polite pretenses.
As elemental in its ferocity as the original volcanic eruptions spraying the
sea with molten lava and changing the face of earth forever. So lost in the
moment, she was taken by surprise when he abruptly set her on her feet, still a
distance from the bed.

“Wait. Aren’t we going to—”

“Yes.”

The gruffness of his answer shot a new burst of need through
her. Connyn unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans and then yanked them down to her
knees. Straightening, he took her in another mind-melting kiss. He used one
hand to hold her head in place while he ravaged her mouth. The other hand moved
down to her ass, squeezing and pulling her to him. The texture of his jeans and
shirt felt rough against the bare skin of her stomach and thighs.

She wanted him naked. Now. She tried to push a hand between
their bodies to reach the fly of his jeans, but he held her too close. She
wanted to protest, her thoughts were abruptly scattered as his fingers slipped
intimately between her buttocks.

Her mind froze as the erotic tension in her body instantly
dominated all else. Some women’s nipples or inner thighs served as their sexual
hotspots. Hers was right where his fingers were grazing at the moment.

Connyn continued kissing her, stroking his fingers downward
until he reached her cunt. With shallow movements in and out, he spread her
juices around her pussy and drove the need inside her to almost begging level.
She’d felt the dampness on her panties when he’d pulled them down and now each
second he played with her she got wetter and hotter.

She was close to coming when he drew his fingers completely
out to spread her cream up to her anus. She couldn’t catch her breath and dug
her fingers into his shoulders, breathing again only when he slid his fingers
back down and into her. But then he repeated the process, and again a third
time. Her knees started to tremble as her own juices cooled over her heated
skin. The fourth time, he pressed his fingers deep into her swollen pussy and
her inner walls started to contract. Immediately he pulled them back out.

Frustration running high at her denied climax, she tore her
mouth from the kiss. “Damn it!” she hissed. “Fuck me! God damn it, just fuck
me!”

He spun her around. Though thinking he’d been short of his
mark when he’d put her down a minute ago, she realized he had her exactly where
he wanted her when she saw the back of the overstuffed chair right in front of
her. She heard his zipper being lowered and felt the pressure of his hand in
the middle of her back, guiding her in bending over the chair. Instinctively
she cushioned her head on her arms, keeping her face from being pressed into
the chair’s nubby brown fabric.

She held her breath as his cock pressed against her
entrance. The air in her lungs rushed out on a moan when he thrust deep and
fast inside her. Long and large, his cock had filled her before, but in this
position it stretched her to her limit.

Her cunt contracted sharply around his cock and she quaked
at the onset of an orgasm that started deep and rolled through her like a giant
wave. Suddenly it spiked to explosive heights when Connyn pushed a finger into
her ass and began a hard driving rhythm, thrusting his cock into her.

Glinting like sun-drenched gold, her magic whirled through
her mind as her need became a clawing, fighting demand and sensation after
sensation whipped through her body. His finger twisted deeper into her ass and
Aurora arched up, crying out as ecstasy tore through her. Connyn’s free hand
landed firmly on her hip, holding her in place as he kept up the pressure,
pounding into her and prodding her unrelentingly higher. Her body flashed white
hot as living fire coursed through her, racing through her veins and sparking
every nerve ending. Her release broke apart inside her like a New Year’s
fireworks finale. With an explosion of light and color inside her that easily
eclipsed all previous displays, Aurora fractured into the incandescent bliss as
Connyn pushed in and held himself hard against her.