Open World (22 page)

A few more stage dances, several lap dances, and she’d be done and
moving on with her life. She planned to rectify her small issue, accept Den’s
proposal and at last be able to comm home. She missed her mom, sister and
cousin. It seemed like forever since she
had hightailed it out of Buzz’s and since she had spoken to or seen her family.
Th
e day was finally coming that she’d be free to
communicate with her family again.

“Soon.
Very soon,” she
whispered.

“And, now gentlemen,” the DJ crooned from his perch out on the
floor next to the stage.
“For your viewing pleasure, our very
own girl next door, Miss Opal.”

With a smile on her face, Hope, playing the part of stripper
Opal
,
proceeded out onto the stage to
entertain the crowd. All the girls performed under a stage name, and she was
glad for that. With the pseudonym, she was better able to pretend she was
someone else. The alter ego got her through the nights of her job. She didn’t
regret her time at Jems, though. Dancing was what she always wanted to do. Granted,
being an exotic dancer was not the profession she dreamed of as a girl in
ballet class, but it had been the quickest and easiest way for her to make copper
when she got stuck in the city without a clan.

She fought down her qualms and danced. Dancing was her passion.
Dancing made her who she was. Dancing had brought her to this moment.

Her
hips swayed as she strolled to the middle of the platform. To the beat of the
techno music, she swiveled, then dipped, and on the upswing, plucked off her
hat. The locks she had tucked up and under cascaded down about her shoulders.
She flung t
he hat behind her. High stepping down to
the front edge, she tossed her hair about with a couple of head shakes. She
yanked the sash and shucked it into the DJ booth. Cheers rang throughout the
hall.

As she sauntered back to where she started from, she loosened the
tie of her top. Once it was undone, she drew a deep breath. Each night this
part made her momentarily anxious, but she knew it was a necessary evil of her
job. Grabbing the ends of the ties, she inhaled, willing her mind to shut down
all emotions, to turn cold and unaffected. Due to all the practice over the
past several weeks
,
the whole process only took a matter of milliseconds.

She had become a master of desensitizing herself when need be.

She turned and flashed the au
dience.
Beyond the lights, whistles and woos called out over the music, and money appe
ared on the edge of the stage.

To continue her enticement of the crowd, she held the fabric of
her top over her tits and rotated her hands while turning in small steps and
circling her hips. She faced front again, bent over with straight legs and
tossed her hair about. As she stood, she slipped off the top and tossed it
behind her.

Hope pranced to the dancer’s pole at the front of the stage,
climbed it, twisted on it, and hung off it upside down by her legs. Sl
owly, she slid do
wn, rolled over and lay flat on her stomach. Rising to her
hands and knees, she flipped her hair out of her face and her eyes adjusted to
see who was sitting in the audience. She did a quick scan for her friend.

Her gaze settled on the man immediately in front of her. A pair of
dark, haunting eyes, eyes she never thought she’d see again, stared back at
her.

“Why, hello, Opal,” the voice drawled with sarcastic emphasis on
her stage name.

Hope gasped and fainted.

PART
NINE

Battle
Round—1

Chapter Nineteen

“Marry,” Hope said out loud and
faint.

“Good,
she’s finally coming around,” a woman’s crackly voice stated. “Come on, honey.
Open your eyes for Ruby.”

Hope
opened her eyes, noticing a few of the ladies were bending over and peering
down at her on the couch. Someone had been kind enough to dress her in her tee
shirt and shorts. She looked to Ruby,
then
glanced next
to her. Alden sat beside her with a concerned expression on his face.

“Buzz!
Oh my God, he’s here,” she
bawled, trying to sit up. Many hands pushed her back onto the couch. Her eyes
rapidly scanned the people in the room. “Where is he?”

“He
wasn’t granted access to this area,” Ruby supplied.

“Good.
I don’t want to face him quite yet.” She turned her head to Alden. “I want to
marry you, but first I have to divorce Buzz.” At his shocked expression she
added, “When he abducted me, I believed he used some kind of drug. I don’t
remember a ceremony, but from what he said we stopped off and got hitched.
That’s probably why he’s here. He thinks I’m his.”

“Um,
sweetie,” Ruby cooed. “I meant to tell you earlier that I intercepted a call
from my friend. There’s no record of a marriage between the two of you anywhere.
He lied. You’re a free woman.
Always have been.”

Hope
beamed at Alden. “Sorry about the wait, but I have my answer.”

“And?”
He questioned with mock
inquisitiveness.

“I’ll
marry you. Of course I’ll marry you.”

He
pulled her off the couch into his arms, giving her a tight hug.

“I
know why Buzz came,” he whispered into her ear. “And it’s time we confront
him.” He let her go to sit on the couch, closed his eyes and tilted his head
back. He moved as if he were listening for distant sounds, cocking his head one
way, then another. He opened his eyes. “He’s out back. Do you feel strong
enough to join me and go out there?”

“Yes,”
she said. “I can join you. I’m strong as long as you’re by my side.
”

Alden
turned to Ruby as he helped Hope up from the couch. “I ask that you and the
ladies wait here inside where it’s safe. Okay?”

She
and the other dancers nodded their acquiescence.

Outside,
they found Buzz pacing and seething.

“You
thought you could escape me, woman?” He bellowed.

Hope
took an automatic, fearful step back.

“You
will not address her anymore, Mabuz,” Alden’s strong voice boomed in the quiet
night.

She
watched the interplay between the two men. The scene reminded her of two
snarling wolves with hackles
raised
, circling one
another, seeing who would be the first to fight for territory. Wondering why
Alden called him by a different name, she stepped back again, not wanting to be
in the middle of the men’s interchange or entwined in the vibrant colors they
emitted.

“Who
says?” Buzz asked caustically.

“I
as her lifemate and bonded partner say. She is mine and is protected under my
power,” Alden stated boldly. A beautiful turquoise encapsulated him.

The
rich and intense shade of orange surrounding Buzz expanded and pulsed. “You
lie,” he roared.

“Nay,
I do not lie. You may ask her yourself. She is still under the protection of our
clan. You and your deranged father, Marcab, the king of clan Caesachapel, will
not have this family’s power for your mad rule. You will never be king.”

Buzz
screamed in rage. His arm shot up, and the turquoise color around Alden snaked
out toward the vexed man.

“No!”
Hope charged Buzz. Before she could reach him, he held up his free hand. She
hit an invisible wall, which knocked the breath out of her. Hope dropped to all
fours. In her peripheral vision, she watched Alden buck and shake and fall
himself. She didn’t know how she knew, but she realized his life force was
being drained. If Buzz were to continue, Alden would be dead in minutes.

She
squeezed her eyes shut against the scene, willing her mind to think of something
to do to help. Within seconds, images, thoughts, feelings and an overwhelming
knowledge bombarded her mind.

A
cackle from Buzz brought her back to the present.

She
rose from the ground, staring at Alden’s unconscious body on the concrete. Mustering
every bit of anger she could, she
directed a powerful
glare
at Buzz. Slowly and quietly she
began to recite the prayer as Aithne told her to do while she rubbed the stones
of her necklace.

Buzz
slammed his head back with a hearty laugh. “You have no power over me, wench!
You have shunned your old ways and have not been enlightened so don’t think you
can even try to fight in this battle.”

She
paused in the prayer and said, “Oh, but I do know who I am. When I was on my
knees just now, it all came flooding to me. I am Quies, a mystic and dancer for
clan Aliachapel. Alden, or Armino as he’s known in our clan, and I were bonded
mates before we lost our way from each other.
But no longer.
Alden and I have bonded again. You and the rest of your enemy camp will not
succeed in obtaining mine, or my family’s, power.
Ever!”

She
held up her right arm, fingers up and palm out to Buzz. A bright white glow
encompassed her extremity. With a keen eye, she watched fear creep into Buzz’s
features, his countenance morphing from pride to intimidation, his color from
orange to sulfur.

The
white glow increased. Her arm shifted into that of a bear’s—thick, hairy and
with sharp, curved claws at the end. “And lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil,
for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the
glory, forever!”
The
angelic-like brilliance, which had been accumulating around her hand, streaked out
of the tips of the claws and hit Buzz in the center of his forehead.

Buzz released an ear splitting howl
. Grabbing his head, he sank to the ground and
turned a death-pale gray. “You have won this round, my dear Quies, but you and
your family will not be forgotten. I will return and exact my revenge.” He let
out a second wail, and in a flash, was gone
.

“Well done, love,” Alden said in a hoarse voice from below. “You
dispatched him quite nicely. Seems that you broke the hold he had on you. You
won’t have to drink any more of that herbal stuff
Aithne
gave you. Though I’m proud of you, I’m embarrassed for myself. I wasn’t
expecting him to be so powerful. His skills have increased considerably this
time around, and I must say he took me by surprise.”

“Is
he dead?” She dropped to the ground next to her fiancé.

“No, unfortunately not.
He’s just gone to lick his
wounds and wonder where he went wrong. He’ll probably step up his attacks on
Faith.”

“What?
You said she was safe. We have to go help her.” Hope jumped to her feet.

“Be
calm, my love. She is safe.
Quite safe with her protector.
They’ll give Buzz a run for his money. As for you…” He grabbed her hand and
pulled her into his lap. “It pleases me you’ll be my wife. Now, I will always
be able to keep an eye on you, help deliver you from the bondage of your past
and keep you safe into the future. But don’t keep secrets from me. Like that
business about you being married? We’re in this life together. Okay?”

“Okay.
No more secrets. I’m glad we’re together. I love you.” Hope willingly submitted
into his embrace with a smile.

PART
TEN

Last
Battle

Chapter Twenty

Faith stirred in
Tavis’s arms. She rolled to her side, draping his arm over her and holding his
hand with hers close to her chin. When he snuggled up next to her in the spoon
position, she felt a surge of protectiveness. Possession welled up inside of
her. She knew she’d do anything to keep her love close to her and safe.

“You know we’re
going to have our work cut out for us now that Buzz failed to claim hope,”
Tavis murmured into her hair.

“Mmm, I suppose so,”
she responded without agitation or fear, naturally knowing he referred to their
upcoming battle with Buzz, otherwise known to the clans as Mabuz.

“Alden and I
believed he hoped to capture one of you. He wanted to bring you back to his clan
and exploit your powers. We’ve been lucky up till now.” He embraced her
tighter. “We’re going to have to be extra strong against Buzz. He won’t be too
pleased that we’ve bonded.”

She brought his hand
to her lips and kissed a knuckle. “What about my sister?
My
cousin?
I know Alden is with Hope, but what if Buzz still has a hold on
her like he had with me in our dreams? What about Cassandra? There are only two
of you. How are we supposed to protect her?” She rolled to her back, trying to
quell the disquieting thoughts about her family being in danger.

Tavis found his
pants at the end of the bed, put them on and stood. After Faith followed suit,
he encircled her in his arms again. She leaned her cheek against the soft,
cotton fabric of his shirt, enjoying his musky male scent brought on by their
lovemaking.