CONCEPTION (The Others) (9 page)

Yes. It was. She took a deep breath. “Are you sure it’s
safe?”

“Yes.” His lips brushed her forehead. “Lie against me, relax,
take slow deep breaths, and all will be fine.”

“Relax, Eden,” Bohdan echoed in a voice as enticing as the
energy he projected. “Your mate is with you. He would never allow a betrayal of
your trust.”

She took the ordered breath and braced herself for the uncomfortable
intrusion. She bit her lip at the first tentative touch of the healer’s mind.
Inside her head, deep inside, the protest began—only a scream she could hear,
only denial she could feel.

“Your fear insults me.” The whisper was almost lost amidst
the protest of the “Voice”.

Eden attempted her first mental response mostly because she
was too tired to form words.
Deuce? You’re here, too?

Though her effort sounded garbled and muffled to her, he understood.
“I would not leave you alone with your fear.”

She caught his finger in her hand and squeezed, unable to
express the alien conflict inside that was so much more than fear. “I don’t
like this.”

“I know.”

“Think back now,” Bohdan interrupted in a swirl of color,
“as far back as you can. Think of what happened after Deuce was rescued.”

Memories rushed at her. Humiliating, painful memories. She
held them at bay. “Not with Deuce here.”

She didn’t want him to see her that way, to know what they
had done to her.

Deuce wrapped his fingers around hers. “There can be no
secrets between us, Edie.”

She had no trouble identifying the probe he sent forth. She
shook her head, pushing it back. Pain started at the base of her skull.

Bohdan saved her with a succinct “Leave”.

On a hard curse in a language she didn’t understand, Deuce
retreated. The pain receded.

“He is no longer here,” Bohdan murmured in a voice that
echoed her heartbeat. “Open your memories.”

“You’ll keep him out?”

There was a pause and then, “You will not cooperate
otherwise?”

“No.”

“Then I give you my word.”

She didn’t know if his word was any good, but as Deuce had
so succinctly pointed out, what choice did she have?

Chapter Six

Dusan held Edie carefully. She felt so fragile in his arms,
her breath a light brush on his skin, her scent a fragrant enticement. He had
wanted to be in her mind with her, shielding her from the memories that jerked
her body during the probe, but Bohdan was a man of his word. He would not let
him in and he could not force the issue for fear of harming Edie. It had been
the longest hour of his life, enduring her emotions without the ability to
help, trying to sort through the energy flowing from her, sometimes discordant
and wrong, other times clear and precise. He brushed his lips over her bright,
springing curls. It was not his nature to sit back and wait.

He wanted to hunt down those who had hurt his Eden, tear
into their flesh, hear them scream the way they had made her scream. Only
worse. For them it would be so much worse before they died. They had dared to
touch the mate of a Chosen. His mate. Their fate was sealed.

Edie whimpered and twisted in his arms, murmuring a protest
against the memories he could not protect her from.

“Easy, my mate,” he whispered in her ear. “Nothing can harm
you. You are a Chosen mate. My heart for yours. My life for yours. My soul for
yours, through this time and the next.”

The formal joining words spoken aloud, soothed his nerves
and reminded him who he was. He was a Chosen in his prime with a mate who
needed all his patience and skill.

If Bohdan’s findings were correct, the damage to her body
was reversible, but they would have to proceed slowly, cautiously, and let the
change occur as slowly as it had been perverted. He touched her too cool cheek,
the smoothness of her skin a kiss of joy to his senses. No matter what it took,
he would not allow Bohdan to be wrong.

“Wake, Edie.” He waited for the order to drift through her
memories. She came to with a slow twist that knotted his insides with a
wrenching lust. He bent to breathe in her sleepy sigh as she turned her face to
his bare chest, as if instinctively acknowledging the relationship between
them. His cock, already hard, jerked against the confines of his jeans. For a
heartbeat he enjoyed the incredible pleasure, before her eyes popped open and
she stiffened, pushing away, a frown on her brow and dread seeping from her
pores.

“Is it over?”

“Yes.” He shifted her naked thighs until his cock nestled
into the crease, his fingers curving around the gently rounded muscles as they
flexed under his touch.

As tuned in to her as he was, he could not miss her hitch in
breathing or the delicate scent of arousal that drifted up in the wake of the
move.

“Did it work?”

“Bohdan feels he knows what has happened.”

Her big blue eyes filled with a desperate hope. “He fixed
the problem?”

He ignored her efforts to shift away and kept her where she
was. “The fixing is not under his control.”

He rode the edge of her mind, calmed the scared stutter of
her heart, caught her fear and tucked it away out of her experience, as always
shocked by the strength of the emotions she endured. The Chosen were not prone
to so many highs and lows.

“Breathe, Edie.” She did, her breath catching until he
relaxed the emotion-tightened muscles for her. With a frown, he slowed the rush
of adrenaline pumping into her system. “You need to be calm.”

Her “I’ll work on it” was dry.

A
tugging alerted him to the fact that she was trying to get the comforter out
from under them. “You are cold?”

She
shook her head, sending curls dancing down her back, and her gaze ducking his.
“Just feeling a little exposed.”

He
sighed as she yanked on the comforter and a blush crept over her chest. He
stood so she could move it. “You will get used to being unclothed with me.”

Her
breasts stretched with the pull of gravity, bouncing with the effort she put
into covering herself, drawing his eyes and his desire.

He
leaned away from the bed, totally freeing the comforter. As charming as he
found her modesty, he hoped she would get over it soon. He did not intend to
deny himself the pleasure of her beauty. She was a feast to his eyes with that
white skin that flowed like rich cream over her lush curves and delicate bones.
Her blush intensified to a deep pink beneath his stare. The intriguing color
spread across her chest, ending at the paler flush of her areolas and nipples.
Nipples that plumped in invitation under his attention. He tightened his grip
on her thighs as she curled against him, gathering the excess material up from
the floor, her distress palpable.

Deuce
nuzzled her hair as he sat, absorbing her scent. She was such a delight to him
in all ways, right down to that inappropriate independence and wit that amused
him as often as it frustrated him. He ignored her efforts to slide out of his
grip, smiling internally as, with a huff, she settled for pulling the comforter
over her shoulders until his view was limited to the tumble of curls
surrounding her face.

He
did not really mind. It was such a lively, beautiful, revealing face,
telegraphing her every emotion with vivid clarity. Like how vulnerable she felt
in his presence.

“There
is no need for the embarrassment you feel. It is right that your body respond
to mine.

Her
gaze fused somewhere in the vicinity of his chin. “As you see it.”

He nodded, conceding her point. “As I see it.” Which was the
way it would be. Such things were inevitable between mates.

“Was Bohdan able to give me more time?”

“The process can be reversed.”

“Thank God!”

He again had to steady her heart, and quell the adrenaline
rush that came with the news. No wonder humans had such a short life span. They
wore their bodies out with excessive emotional responses.

“How?”

“Your captors tried to convert you to one of the Chosen.”

“They tried to make me a vampire?” Her shudder merely
confirmed his fear that she would not like what he had to say.

“They tried to make you Chosen.”

He felt her hesitation and admired her control as she asked,
“Did they succeed?”

“Such a thing is impossible.”

She paused, the surge of relief pouring off her making him
lightheaded before he contained it.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No.”

“You mean hundreds of hours of late-night TV has steered me
wrong?”

He smiled, letting one of her curls wrap around his finger.
“I am afraid so.”

Her laugh was shaky, but there. He felt the weakness still
dragging at her. He shifted, leaning back against the bed’s headboard, taking
her with him.

“I can support myself,” she grumbled as he rearranged the
comforter to her modesty’s demand.

“I am aware of what you are capable.”

She finally gave up fighting her body’s weakness and allowed
her head to rest against his chest. “So what did they actually do?”

“They made a mess.”

“What can you do?”

This was not a subject he wanted to plunge into. “A mating
between a Chosen and a human is a rare thing.”

“How rare?”

“I can only remember one other.” He could barely feel her
arm through the thickness of the comforter, but with his senses, he was aware
of every goose bump, every shiver, the almost imperceptible drop in her body
temperature.

“What happened to them?”

“They died.”

“Because they married?”

“Not directly, no.” Her curiosity built with lightning
speed, projecting outward, questions flying about in the blink of an eye, with
no discernible order. He did not know how she ever concluded a thought, so
pell-mell was her method of analysis. He stepped into the mental melee with the
truth. “They were murdered.”

“Oh.”

Trying
to track the spill of speculation that followed that “Oh” was almost enough to
give him a headache. He would have to teach her how to shield her thoughts
rather than project in moments of emotion.

“By whom?”

“People who wanted to steal what would not be given.”

Her sigh was as exasperated as her “That’s as clear as mud”.

“You cannot learn everything at once.” Nor could he reveal
everything without overwhelming her.

“I’ll settle for what’s wrong with me.”

“There is a process a Chosen and his mate go through when
bonding. It must be completed with all its elements to be successful.”

The comforter bunched beneath the tightness of her grip, but
her voice remained steady. For such a small, frail human woman, she had
incredible strength. “You’re saying my grandfather did a halfass job on me?”

“Yes.” Likely through ignorance more than design.

“But you can fix it?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

He
tightened his grip, pulling her close, illogically trying to shield her with his
body from the pain of his words. He rubbed his fingers over her shoulder,
soothing her panic. Even if she never grew completely comfortable as his mate,
he could insure she never regretted being his. One would compensate for the
other.

She snapped up straight in his hold, yanking at her arms
trapped in the comforter’s folds. “I am not becoming a vampire.”

“Be calm.” He lowered her heart and adrenaline rates again,
easing her blood pressure back to normal as she struggled against him. He took
the pain from her abdomen into himself as he caught both her arms and turned
her to face him. “I have already said that is not possible.”

She
slowly settled in his grip, her gaze locked to his, her mind taking a
subconscious, tentative foray toward his before retreating behind the defensive
wall she’d erected. Her eyes searched his face.

He
did not know what she saw in his expression that calmed her, but her muscles
went lax. She panted against him, her small reserve of strength critically
depleted by the emotional outburst. “I’m sorry.”

He
allowed her to feel just enough of her body’s discomfort so she would not try
such behavior again. “Do not fight me, mate. You do not have the strength for
it.”

Depleted
or not, she still managed to put enough distance between them so that he could
see her frown. Confusion shimmered around her as she asked, “Which reminds me
of something that’s been bothering me—how did my grandfather know you would
think I was your mate?”

That
was one of the things he had his people seeking to answer. “I do not know.”

The
Coalition, which they’d thought weakening, had actually grown more powerful,
keeping their increasing strength a secret. He did not like that any more than
he liked Eden’s phrasing of her question.

He
felt the wave of weakness come over her before she leaned against him. Her
strength was fading past the point her will could sustain. She needed to get
beyond her resistance. She needed to accept their relationship. “We do not have
much time to start the process, Edie.”

“Is
it almost time for you to go into your hole?”

“Yes,
but that is not what concerns me.” Eden was a strong woman, but he did not know
if she could get past her human fears in time to do what must be done. He would
prefer to leave her the illusion of choice. Her resentment at the changes being
his mate would forever make in her life would be less that way. But if he had
to, he would take the choice away. He would not go back to his aching, hollow
existence without her. Nor would he deny his claim and leave her unprotected.
“The damage to your body is reaching the point of no return.”

She
shifted on his lap, her legs stretching and retracting as the indecision in her
mind moved through her body. “What does being your mate entail?”

“It
is a marriage in all ways.”