Memory of an Immortal Heart (Immortal Hearts) (6 page)

Besides,
after they delivered her to her Gens, she’d never see Brand Kade again. There,
if Eva still wanted too, she could imagine him to her heart’s content.

A
half-formed awareness tugged at Eva’s heart, whispering of a previously unknown
need. This need drew her, almost stronger than her desire to go home to Rainey.
Almost stronger than her desperation to push everything into the background,
into the past so she could pretend nothing had ever happened.

Eva
dismissed the awareness.

She
shoved back from the hot water, washing her body with the motel’s harsh soap.
Before Rohe had kidnapped her, her hair had been long and wavy, falling to her
hips like her sister’s. But Rohe’s guards had cut it off, so now all she had
was a ragged dark fringe that barely touched her shoulders. Before her mother
had died, she had loved Eva’s hair.

Eva
quickly worked the conditioner in, then finished cleaning the dirt and gravel
out of her back. It hurt and the washcloth came away stained pink with blood.

Eva
hesitated before she stepped out of the shower. When she returned to the
central hotel room, there would be more questions. Questions she didn’t want to
answer.

Coward
.
Darkness touched Eva’s vision: she should have fought Rohe from the beginning.
She had tried, but – she should have fought harder. But she hadn’t, and monsters
had taken her prisoner. Not monsters –
Sakai
.

She
didn’t deserve to hide now.

Eva
wrapped the towel around herself and unlocked the bathroom door to peer
cautiously out. There was the soft sound of the TV, and the loud growling
whirr
of the heater. Greenish light from the TV screen flickered eerily in the
semi-dark, and Eva studied the mirror’s reflection: Joshua was gone. Brand
leaned back on the second bed, stripped down to an undershirt and dress pants.
Eva traced the long lines of his body before her gaze rested on the corded
golden strength of his arms; she licked her lips, clutched the towel tighter,
then stepped into the room.

“I
don’t have any clothes.”

Maybe
Eva didn’t realize that – to him – this didn’t seem much of a
problem. Or that Brand had seen her watching him in the mirror. So Brand only
raised an eyebrow when Eva padded out of the bathroom, all long legs and silver
eyes, before he shifted off the bed to pull the remaining clean clothes from
his travel case. Underneath the grating scent of hotel soap he could make out
the clear spring rain of Eva’s own scent; if possible, his erection got even
harder. Brand forced levity.

“You
should have asked to borrow some soap. Gods know, I can’t stand the smell of
the stuff they use in these hotel rooms.”

Eva
wrinkled her nose at him as she came around the corner of the bed, clutching
the towel like a shield. But there was a faint smile on her face when she
looked up and asked, “Are you telling me I smell bad?”

Brand
grinned. “
You
smell great. That soap is another issue entirely.”

Those
silver eyes flashed with humor as Eva held out a hand for the clothes. “Then,
Brand, it’s a good thing I’m going home. Because I’ll be showering every chance
I get.”

Brand
hid a wince at Eva’s phrasing.
Home.
He had already lied to her. His
amati – who had been kidnapped and tortured by a Sakai named Rohe, and
who had lived in fear for her life less than twenty-four hours ago –
expected him to take her
home
. To
her
home. She expected him to
leave her behind in a godforsaken Gens in North Carolina, completely
unprotected.

He
wasn’t going to do that.
But now wasn’t the time to tell her.

“You
like water, do you?” Instead, Brand forced himself to relax back onto the bed
as Eva went to change. “I’ve known Kaspian who couldn’t stand to live further
than a stone’s throw from the ocean. And when the ocean’s lacking, a lake will
do just fine in a pinch.”

“It’s
not that,” Eva’s words drifted from the crack in the bathroom door. “But the
sooner I wash the scent of…that place…off my body…” her words dwindled and
Brand cursed himself. “Lemon scent isn’t that bad,” Eva finally finished, then
came out and around the corner, and held up her arms; she looked on the verge
of laughter. “You get used to it. But these clothes – they’re ridiculous
on me, Brand.”

Brand
examined Eva and chuckled. His blue sweater hung halfway down her thighs; the
sleeves sagged off her arms, enveloping her hands. His eyes traced the lean
curves of her body down to the hem of his sweater and stopped at a pair of
sleek bare legs.
Naked
. “No pants?”

“No.
I’ll have to wear the sweats again tomorrow.” She made a face. “Besides, if
your sweater fits me like this, can you imagine what your
pants
fit me
like? They’ll keep falling off.” He watched in fascination as a flush rose in
her cheeks. “God. I’m sorry. You didn’t need to know that.”

Brand
didn’t say anything immediately. He cleared his throat, and when he spoke, his
voice was rough, awkward as he tried to hide the sudden need of his body. “No
matter. We’ll get you new clothes tomorrow. I’ll have Joshua locate a place.”
He stopped, not sure how to get the image of Eva – and his memory of her
naked body – out of his head.

Eva’s
cheeks darkened as if she knew what he was thinking before she shook her head
and settled on the opposite bed. “That’s…thank you.” Beneath her grace of
movement she was limping, trying hard to hide it. Brand shifted to take Eva’s
ankle in his hand.

“
What
…?”
Her mouth dropped open. “What are you…no, you can just leave my foot alone.
It’s…it’s nothing…” She balanced herself against the mattress, trying to squirm
away.

Brand
ignored the question and the squirming, cursing as he examined Eva’s foot. “I’m
an idiot. I should have fixed this earlier. Are you sure you got all of the gravel
out?”

“Of
course I’m sure.” Eva said, sounding irritable. “It’s my skin after all. And
just what do you think you’re doing with
my
foot?”

“Fixing
it.” Brand probed the gouges, his self-anger growing. “Which I should have done
earlier
.
”

Eva
flinched from his touch. “It’s not going to get infected. I
told
you I
cleaned the gravel out. I might not be a Kade but that doesn’t mean I’m an
idiot
.”

“No.
Being a Kade has nothing to do with intelligence. I’m no healer, but I should
have tended these earlier. I should have
noticed
these earlier.” Then,
exasperated, “Lay still.”

Eva
hissed, her eyes flashing gold. “My feet are really none of your business. So
let
go
.” She jerked but Brand retained his hold, then reached to grip
Eva’s hip rolling her on her side.

She
struggled. “Brand!” Definitely angry.

“Hold
still.” Brand sank his thumb into the ball of her foot, then reached to trace
the raw gouge that ran down the fragile skin of her arch. Eva snarled, trying
to twist away, but Brand gripped her tighter, smoothing his thumb along the
outer edge of the wound as the healing ability rose in his blood.

“What
do you…
Brand,
” Eva’s voice rose in angry embarrassment. “I don’t need a
foot massage. Or whatever it is you think you’re doing. Just because you’re a
Kade doesn’t mean that you can… Just…let go of my ankle.” Then, as Brand
released his healing ability, Eva gave a startled gasp and turned against his
hold to see her foot. She froze, staring in shock at the surface flesh knit
together – and then stared at him.

“Healing
is my secondary ability,” Brand muttered, feeling the blood rise in his cheeks
and embarrassed by the stunned expression on her face. “I’m not very good at it
– I’m no Samuel Gaviros. Or Matthias Iah. But I have enough ability to
fix
this
.” Brand avoided her gaze and spread his power into the
lacerations, watching as the scabbed flesh smoothed and set together. Brand
couldn’t fix Eva’s wounds, not entirely – he wasn’t
that
good
– but at the least he could ensure there was skin or scabs covering the
injuries, not raw flesh. He could make sure she wasn’t in pain.

He
heard Eva swallow.

“Brand,
this is…amazing. Wait.
Secondary
ability? Tigers in my Gens barely have
a
first
ability. Or any ability at all. So if this,” she reached out,
touched her fingertips to the back of his hand as if somehow trying to feel
what he was doing, and his skin tingled, “is your
secondary
ability,
what’s your first?”

Shouldn’t
have mentioned it
. “Nothing you need to concern yourself about,” he
said curtly.

Which
was a lie. If Eva really was his amati, he would have to tell her…sooner or
later.

Eva
tensed. Her clean scent stained with irritation, and Brand glanced up in time
to see her irises flash gold. “What?”

“Just
when I think you might be nice, you say something and come off as a complete
ass.”

Brand
grimaced and looked back down at her injures; he switched feet. There was a
pause. “My sister might agree with you.”

Eva
straightened. “You have a sister?”

“One.”
Then he shook his head, correcting himself. “Two. Well…three, in a way. Elisaie
died long before I was born. The other…”
…the other was Lis, Khael’s amati
.
Not his blood-sister, but his heart-sister. But Lis wasn’t someone he talked
with anyone about. “My second sister died many years ago. As for Nikandria
– we practically raised Nikandria.” Brand smiled as he pictured his
youngest sister. “She would have called me an ass to my face. She might have
been right, too. Occasionally she is.”

Eva
laughed, relaxing beside him. “Not ‘might’ have been right. ‘
Would
’ have
been right. I have a sister too,” she said softly. “Rainey.”

“Any
brothers?”

“No.
Just Rainey and me. We were close, even before our mom…died. Rainey would do
anything for me. And I’d do anything for her,” Eva finished softly, and Brand
studied her face. It was troubled, pensive. “We used to dream about leaving the
Gens together. Rainey wants to go to Seattle. But I,” Eva shrugged, “I don’t
care where we go. So long as we were gone. But now I’ve left, and Rainey…”
Eva
shook her head, falling silent as she stared at the wall of the room.

Brand
drew back when he had healed the skin of her feet enough that Eva could walk
with a minimum of pain. “Your back, Eva,” he said quietly, not wanting to break
the mood between them. “If you’ll let me, I can heal that too.”

Eva
didn’t protest, just shifted onto her front, pulling up the long blue sweater
from her body. Brand stifled a growl at the smooth curves of her backside
– the lush bottom, the lean waist and delicate arch of her spine.
Exquisite legs, made to wrap around a man. He wanted – no,
craved
– to run his hands down her smooth skin. He craved to taste the softness
of her curves.

A wave
of possessiveness crashed over him – a wave that he tried to deny, to
hold back. Except, surreal as everything felt – she was his.
Eva
was his.
That
he felt to the center of his soul.

Hell,
she belonged to him. She just didn’t know it yet.

A
little seduction wouldn’t hurt. Would it?

Eva’s
face rested on her arms, her dark wavy hair tumbled around her shoulders. Her
pure, spring rain scent surrounded him.

Fuck
. Brand
gritted his teeth as his cock hardened. He had it bad for this female.
Painfully
bad.

Was
that normal? Hell, he supposed it was. He’d teased Seth about the bond often
enough over the years.

But
fuck. He stared at the abraded stretch of her back. At the moment she was
relaxed – at the moment she trusted him.

That
wouldn’t last for long. Not after he told her that she wasn’t going back to
North Carolina.

He
didn’t know if he wanted her, he didn’t know how she was going to fit into his
life. Everything about him felt tentative in regards to Eva, and yet…like hell
he was going to leave his amati wandering around in the world to die, as Khael
had done.

That
was a
mistake he would never make.

That
was a pain he never wanted.

Brand
sighed and carefully settled his hand over the fine arch of Eva’s spine. Then
he gently ran his fingers down the abrasions as he summoned the remains of his
healing ability. Eva shivered beneath his touch, goosebumps springing up along
her skin.

Then,
the faint clean scent of sweet arousal.

Need
– and Khael’s memories – hit Brand like a sledgehammer.

…and he
knew: my amati. She
is
my amati. By all that is holy – I must
keep her safe. Must
find
her. She is alone. Ill-trained. Travelling
through mortal rabble and blood-mad Sakai. By gods, I will throttle her when I
find her! No, I will kiss her. I will take her, and I will Marque her, as she
Marqued me. She is
mine.