Reawakening (32 page)

She had no idea how long they’d been there, but the light in the sky, which wasn’t the sun, started to fade and she knew consciousness was calling her name. No, please. She wanted to stay.

“I’ve missed you, Jack,” she said on a choked breath as she let the swing slow.

The smile he gave her nearly broke her heart into a million pieces. “I’ve missed you too, but I made a fwiend. She’s nice.” The happy-go-lucky way he acted, like they were on an outing to the park, was hard to wrap her head around. But at the same time it warmed her heart that he seemed genuinely happy.

Looking around, she spotted no one. “That—that’s great, Jack. What’s her name?”

“It’s hard to say. I always mess it up. Sewa, Sewa …”

Oh God.
She could hardly breathe.

“Seraphina?” she supplied quietly.

“Yes! Sewaphina. She takes cawe of me. I like hew. She said she knows you, Sawa! Hey, youw names awe alike!” He hopped off and flung his arms around her waist.

She swallowed hard, a thick lump now threatening to choke off her precious air supply.

“Where is she?”

“She said she wanted just us to play fow a while.”

Just then Jack let go of her waist, got the biggest smile on his face and started running back toward the tree. She was just about to yell at him to be careful when Seraphina stepped out from behind. The sight of Jack running straight into her arms, like he’d done it a hundred times before, was one she would never forget as long as she lived. Pain and joy equally threatened to suffocate her.

Seraphina wrapped her arms around Sarah’s brother and smiled at her as she held him tight. Sarah could see the love flowing between these two and for the first time in six years, she wasn’t worried about Jack.

“Take care of him.” The words came out strangled and pained.

“And you take care of him,” she replied. Seraphina didn’t have to say which him, she was referring to.

“I won’t see you again, will I?”

“There is no need, Sarah. I’ve done what I was meant to do.”

“Who were you to Romaric?” She desperately needed to know. There would be no closure unless she did.

She smiled gently. “All of our lives are intertwined, as the Fates directed. Who I was to Romaric matters not any longer. He is yours, as it should be.” She gestured to her mating bond.

They turned to go and Sarah called after them. “Wait! How am I supposed to save him?”

“You already have, my dear. You reunited him with his brother. Taiven could not make himself known to you until you completed your bonding with Romaric. Two brothers united cannot be defeated.”

Seraphina turned again, this time with Jack, and wrapped a delicate arm around his small shoulder.

“Bye Sawa. Love you to the moon and back!” Jack waived as he spun his head, a goofy smile plastered on his beautiful face, blue eyes shining bright.

Sarah stifled a sob with the back of her hand. They’d said that to each other every night before he went to bed. “Love you to the moon and back, baby brother.”

They’d gone a few steps before Seraphina turned around one last time. “I’m proud of you for all you’ve endured and the strong woman that’s made you. This is the life you were always meant to live. You’ll make a great mother, Sarah Dietrich.”

As she watched them walk away, taking another piece of her heart with every step, the words Seraphina spoke churned over and over. And a sudden peacefulness washed over her like a warm, fluffy blanket.

She knew she’d see Jack again someday. Maybe not often, but he’d visit her when she needed it. And in the meantime, Seraphina would take care of him.

She’d made the right choice bonding with Rom. She was his Moira and they were meant to be.

And as she slowly came awake, for the first time in months, she knew with one-hundred percent certainty everything would be okay. Rom would defeat both of their fathers and they would go on to live a long, happy life, blessed with children and grandchildren.

She felt light and happy and almost …
free
.

Chapter 52

Rom

Nothing sounded better than to be in
their
bed, in
their
house, making love to his mate, but she slept so soundly, he couldn’t bear to disturb her. Instead, he climbed into bed in what was quickly becoming their part of Devon’s mansion and gathered his mate into his arms, settling her in the crook of his shoulder.

Feeling a huge weight lift, he sighed. Sarah had been safe these past two days, he knew, but he still couldn’t breathe easy until he held her once more. He’d been loath to shut one eye in the last two days and he was exhausted, so he shouldn’t have been surprised that sleep quickly pulled him under.

Coiled and ready to fight, he came awake with a start when he felt someone watching him.

“Back it down, buddy. It’s just me.”

Sarah sat cross-legged at the foot of the bed in a hideous nightgown of some sort that looked to be two sizes too big. He’d been none too happy to feel clothing covering her body when he slide into bed, but was too tired to care at that moment. “What the hell are you wearing?”

She looked down at the white polyester fabric covered with tiny yellow birds. “Clearly it’s pajamas.”

“And why, pray tell, are you wearing them? You should be in your birthday suit, beauty, not covered in some dreadful garb like that.”

Crossing her arms with a frown on her face, she said, “I used to wear a nightgown like this when I was little and it reminded me of home.”

Well shit.

Sitting up against the headboard, he replied contritely, “I’m sorry, Sarah. I didn’t know.”

For several seconds, he couldn’t decipher the stoic look on her face. Then she burst out laughing, falling onto her side and cackling so hard tears leaked out of her closed eyes.

He’d been punked.

“Why you little brat.”

Seconds later she was under him, his mouth greedily upon hers. Her laughter quickly softened to moans as their lips and tongues and hands were all over every square inch of each other. The hideous nightgown was quickly torn clean down the middle and discarded.

Her moans changed to pants when he ripped off her lace panties and plunged deeply into her wet pussy. Intertwining their hands, he raised them above their heads and looked upon the delicate, beautiful face he’d missed so much. He was so whipped for this woman, he could hardly think straight.

“Look at me.” His body had a mind of its own, hips thrusting of their own accord. Her lids cracked, but he could tell it was difficult for her to keep them open and his ego swelled at the hazy pleasure he saw swirling in their depths. “You’re a very bad girl,” he punctuated between rough prods.

Her lips turned up slightly. “I guess I need punished then,” she uttered with a breathy sigh.

“No, my beauty. You clearly need to be pleasured.” Her blood called his name loudly, begging to be taken by its mate. Not able to wait a second longer, he slowly sunk his incisors into her supple flesh, drawing her essence into his body, which set off her climax and subsequently his. Their joining had been hurried and rough and exactly what they’d both needed.

Christ, he’d missed her.

Several minutes later, still naked, inside her and ready for round two, she asked, “How did the meeting with your brother go?”

The meeting with his brother had been …
interesting
and he daresay they’d even formed a loose alliance. At minimum, they had the same objective. But what he was more interested in right now was Taiven’s comment alluding to his familiarity with Sarah beyond her one dream. He was not used to such feelings of jealousy. And he never did get a straight answer on why Taiven had been able to talk to Sarah in her dreams either, which still bothered him, more than he wanted to admit. It was an unheard of skill and his brother did a very good job on hedging.

Rolling over and never separating their bodies, he pulled her astride him. “It went well.”

A broad smile spread across her face, reaching her brilliant eyes. “I’m glad.”

“Tell me about your dreams of Taiven.”

Her smile fell quickly, brows drawing in feigned confusion. “I don’t know what you mean. I already told you about it.”

His jaw ticked, that knot of jealousy growing bigger by the minute. “I mean the others.”

She tried moving, but he grabbed her hips, holding her firmly in place.

“Did I happen to mention that one of my skills is the ability to detect a lie, Sarah?”

Lips pursed, she asked, “What did Taiven tell you?”

“Not a fucking thing. So you can imagine the shit I’m conjuring up about now. Next time I see the fucker, I may just kill him on principal alone.”

She looked away and the pain in his heart couldn’t have been any greater than if she’d stabbed him with his own Kilij. Looking back, instead of answering his question, she asked one of her own that took his breath away.

“Who is Seraphina?”

“What?” he muttered softly.

“Seraphina? Who is she? Or
was
she?”

Picking her up, he set her down on the bed and strode into the bathroom. Of course, her stubborn ass was right on his heels.

“I don’t know a Seraphina.”

She barked a laugh. “Did I tell you that one of
my
newly acquired skills is detecting a lie, mate?”

Touché.

“I can’t talk about it, Sarah.” Walking to the shower, he turned on the water and stepped under, not waiting for it to warm. Right now he needed the shock of the freezing cold water to clear his clouded mind. How the fuck did Sarah know about Seraphina? No one, outside of himself, knew of her. Not one single human or vampire alive.

And why wouldn’t she tell him about what happened with Taiven? Could it have been that bad? Or that
good
? The thought literally made him fucking murderous and truce or not, if Taiven laid a finger on her, even in a dream, he was as good as fucking dead.

“Can’t or won’t?” she asked, standing in all her naked glory outside the black marble walls of the shower.

How dare she give him the third degree when she wouldn’t answer
his
goddamned questions? Grabbing the soap, he scrubbed his body in short, angry motions.

“Won’t,” he bit out, daring her to challenge him.

Pain stabbed his soul. It was hers. Why was he so loath to talk about Seraphina when she was his past? Everyone had a past, including Sarah. Would she understand? Or would it just unnecessarily hurt her?
No
. The past was the past for a reason. And that’s exactly where it should remain. It was done and over with and couldn’t be changed.

Turning on her heels, she retreated to the bedroom. Shutting off the water before he’d even rinsed, and not bothering with a towel, he chased after her. “Tell me about Taiven. Now.”

“Wow.” She laughed sardonically. “You must be delusional. Tit for tat, vampire.” She hastily dressed, minus her shredded panties, and sat on a chair to buckle her sandals.

“That’s not the way this works, Sarah,” he gritted.

She stopped to pin him with a hard glare, but softened as she began speaking, the hurt clearly reflected in her teary eyes and her broken voice. “It
is
the way it works, Rom. We are a team, you and I, and now we’re tied together for all of eternity, however long that may be. We’ll never make it if we don’t trust each other. And once again we are back to you not trusting me, and it’s beyond devastating.” Her strained voice cracked on the last few words and he’d never felt more like shit than he did at this moment.

Finishing her task, she stood and walked to the bedroom door, pausing before she opened it, but not turning back. “In my dreams, Taiven watched over me, protected me, my whole life. I don’t know why and I didn’t know it was him until after we’d bonded and he appeared to me in that last dream.”

“Did you fuck him?” He didn’t miss the tensing of her shoulders at his crass and, frankly, uncalled for words. But they were out of his mouth before he could pull them back, his calm demeanor completely and totally blown to smithereens.

“No.”

“Did he
want
to?” Sarah was a beautiful, desirable and irresistible female and Taiven was simply a male. Of course he’d want her. He didn’t know why or how Taiven had been tied to Sarah and jealousy burned hot like acid through his veins at the thought of
him
watching her grow, of
him
protecting her when it should have been Rom and especially of
him
putting his hands anywhere near what was his.

“Maybe. I don’t know. Since the morning you returned for me he’s been absent, except for this last dream.” He could feel how difficult it was to speak the truth because she knew it would hurt and anger him.

“Did he kiss you?”

Please, for the love of Christ, say no. Taiven was so dead if his lips had touched hers.

“No.”

She cocked her head slightly. “I always thought it was you,” she whispered. He and Taiven could pass as twins, so it’s understandable how she could think that, but he wasn’t sure if that made him feel better or worse.

Worse, definitely.

She opened the door, taking two steps before swinging back around, eyes locked with his. The water streaming down her face gutted him, but he couldn’t make himself go to her and provide the comfort she both craved and deserved. She hadn’t invited Taiven into her dreams. None of this was her fault, her doing, but it didn’t make the sting of the situation lessen any.

“She told me to tell you she’s sorry. That it was always meant to be me. And even if I’m in the dark, I’m sure you’ll know what that message means.”