Aflame (Apotheosis) (15 page)

“Grayce, can you see this?” Nikolas asked, exuberant.

“What? What? No. I don’t see anything.” Because she wasn’t looking. Her heart shattered to a million pieces at the sight of Zander’s mournful expression.

“You’re focusing the particles. You’re focusing them at Z. The energy is surrounding you, and yes, it was hot, but the particles struck him. Only him.”

She moved closer to get a better look at whatever the hell he was trying to make her see. He pointed to a tiny spot on the screen and zoomed in on the image. There it was. Looked like a shooting star. Although the red energy had consumed most of the room, hundreds, maybe more, of minuscule shooting stars were aimed right at Zander.

Oh shit. “What does this mean?”

“It means, you can control this. The energy field around you isn’t the dangerous part. It’s what you can do inside that field.” Remote pointed at the screen again, he rewound the image and played it back. “Look Grayce, I’m caught in the red field. See that? At first it felt like a hot wind storm. There were a few zaps and zings like electricity, but it didn’t hurt me.” The picture paused again. “See here? You’re screaming and then a large burst radiates out of you. That’s when I decided to high tail it out of there. But you didn’t hurt me. You directed the dangerous fireballs right at Z.”

“My little firecracker.” Zander chuckled.

“Why didn’t Zander burn?” she asked.

Nikolas turned to Chelsea, who nodded and took a couple steps back. “Better to show you than try to explain.” Pulling a pair of scissors from a nearby drawer, Nikolas threw them right at Chelsea’s heart. As if a protective shield surrounded her, the scissors bounced in the opposite direction and fell to the floor. He threw a scalpel with the same result. “We can’t hurt our mates. It’s physically impossible. It’s one of the many perks.”

“What about the lake?” she asked, and threw her hands in the air. “I relocated a whole fucking lake in one shot. Never mind the fact that I turned a significant patch of forest to ash in an instant.”

“I don’t have all the answers yet.” Nikolas folded his arms and stared, eyes glazed with wonderment.

“For you to be this powerful before even consummating your...um, I mean connecting with Z, I can’t understand how some of this wasn’t present before.” Nikolas placed his hands on Grayce’s shoulders.

Wait a minute. What did he just say?

She shoved her face closer to his. “Consummating?” Her insides heated.

Zander wrapped his arm around Grayce and pulled her from Nikolas’ grip. “Grayce, we haven’t had time to talk about all of this. Please don’t get mad.”

“I assume you mean sex. Am I correct?” She looked at Nikolas. If she made eye contact with Zander, she’d be done for.

From behind, Chelsea cleared her throat. “Boys, if I may.” With a quick shove, she pushed Zander away and stood in the line of fire.

“Hi.” Head tilted, she pursed her lips in a playful manner.

Not funny, Grayce thought. Why was she making light of this?

Chelsea placed a comforting hand on Grayce’s shoulder. “Everything’s happened so fast for you, I know that.”

“No shit, Sherlock.”

“So you haven’t had time to learn everything. And with your anger issues...we’ve been trying to give you some time before throwing it all at you.”

“Just get the fuck on with it please,” Grayce growled under her breath.

“People like us. Or I should say, women like us, we are bonded with our soul mates.” She said
soul mates
with a careful hesitance.

Grayce was a blink away from losing it again.

“We are forever linked with them from the second we connect. Sometimes it’s a touch. For most, it only takes eye contact. Everybody is different.”

That much Grayce had figured out already.

“Our gifts emerge, or if they’re already present, grow stronger or reach their full potential after the first time we...” She scrunched her face. “You know, have sex.”

“Or consummate the bond,” Zander piped in, face full of playful grin. Why did everyone think this was funny?

“You make it sound like a marriage,” Grayce snapped.

“Grayce, for all intents and purposes, it is a marriage.” Chelsea grabbed her hand and held it to her chest. “Once we’ve bonded, we cannot be separated—physically, mentally or emotionally. We just can’t do it. You felt it today. He was only away for a few hours and you were having a hard time. We’re like a drug to each other. So yes, we call it consummating. We’re sealing the deal so to speak.”

Grayce seethed. “So, I’m stuck with him forever? I don’t get a choice in the matter?” Any woman would kill to be with this man. She should consider herself lucky, but fuck, this was a bombshell she hadn’t expected.

“So, the other night, when we...” She cocked her head and raised her eyebrows. “You knew we would be bound together, forever?” Still wearing the boyish grin, he nodded. “And you didn’t stop to think that maybe I should know what I was getting myself into?”

His smile turned to a pout. “Come on Grayce. Do you honestly think it would’ve mattered? Did you forget already what happened with your body?” He shrugged his shoulders. “I couldn’t have stopped if I’d wanted to.”

God he looked sexy. She wanted to jump into his arms and suck on those pouty lips. Grayce gave herself a mental slap across the face.
Pissed, remember? Stick to the subject.

Would there ever be a time when she’d be in control of her own life?

“So, why was I having Zander withdrawals after a couple hours, when most can last at least a day, like Chelsea said earlier?” She pounded her hands to her hips.

Riddle me this, Batman.

“I have a theory about that.” Nikolas closed the wall panel and stepped to the table in the corner of the room. A computer rose from the center. “And you should know, you lasted a couple hours. Z only lasted a few minutes.” A heavy crack echoed through the room as Nikolas slapped Zander on the back. “Poor bastard was going out of his mind down here.”

Nikolas typed on the keyboard and pulled up a clip from the news. “It’s him.”

Tyr’s face filled the screen.

“For the holy fucking love of everything.” Grayce clapped her hands over her mouth. “Please, not him.”

“He’s the reason.” Zander inhaled sharply. His jaw clenched tight and a pulse of heat emanated from his body.

“What in fuck’s sake does Tyr have to do with this?” Would she ever be free of this monster? He needed to die.

“It’s quite simple really.” Nikolas tapped a key on the keyboard and the image enlarged. “You’re in danger. As long as you’re in danger, the two of you need to stay close to each other. Remember, you’re stronger together than you are apart. Your bodies know that, your brains just need to play catch up.”

“What do you mean, danger?” Grayce was afraid to ask. “If we have these powers, how can we be in danger?”

Nikolas enlarged the picture and zoomed in on his face. “Look at his eyes.”

Holy shit. They were black as coal, but his irises were outlined in red. Blood red. His favorite color.

“He’s one of us.” Grayce shook her head. How could this be?

“I’m going to kill the motherfucker.” Zander disappeared in a frenzied gust of heat and wind.

“I’ll never get used to that,” Chelsea grunted and patted her hair back into place.

* * * *

Ready to burst with rage from the information that’d just been vomited all over her, Grayce excused herself to her new room. She assumed it was her room, anyway. It was the one she’d been sleeping in with Zander. Her heart swelled. Yeah, she could share a bed with someone. Enjoyed it even. Although, if what she’d learned was true, it couldn’t have been anyone else. Her body knew better than her brain. How fucked up was that?

Zander had been gone for hours. No idea how long exactly, but it drove her crazy to watch the clock tick. Her agitated stated made it impossible to sit still. She decided to visit the home gym. If she could find it again.

The workout room felt empty and stark but Grayce needed to burn off the negative energy that boiled to a steamy crescendo with Zander’s absence. She couldn’t let her cork pop inside the house, so she put on her headphones and cranked the volume. Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” seemed a fitting way to start her workout. It was precisely what she needed to do, get lost in the pound and hum of the music and push through the horrendous burning itch that devoured her sanity.

She opted for the treadmill. Running seemed the right thing to do. Running, although not in the literal sense, was what she did best. The faster she pumped her thighs, the better she felt. So, she pushed on and soon became lost in thought as she pondered the events in her life that brought her to this mansion. This room.

Grayce was eighteen when the monster had sucked her into his black hole of a soul. She hadn’t been hard to catch. She had been so damned easy to manipulate and deceive. A product of an alcoholic mother who somehow managed to hold down two jobs and shuffled through men faster than Grayce changed panties, she never stood a chance. She’d always felt alone, unworthy, and she had, for the most part, raised herself.

When she met Tyr with his striking handsome features and obvious wealth, which he brazenly flaunted, it had taken all of two seconds to fall head over heels. The man had spoken exactly what she needed to hear. Master manipulator and seducer, he’d filled her head and heart with promises of fairytale romance, unyielding love and rescue from her desolate life.

What a stupid fool she’d been.

She hadn’t protested when he moved her into his penthouse, nor had she bothered to tell her mother in person, figuring a note would suffice. Who would turn down the chance to move from a rodent infested motel to a castle in the sky?

Her virginity was the first thing he’d stolen from her; her freedom was the second.

Mere days passed before the obsessive behavior started. He controlled her meals, clothing, even trips outside the home. Buffed, shined and polished to perfection before put on display in his social circle, Grayce hadn’t time to notice the subtle shift from fairytale princess to prisoner.

Their first evening, and incidentally last time out as a couple, she’d been surrounded by rich, prominent men. Wanting to please her prince, Grayce had smiled, laughed and made polite small talk with the gentlemen. Tyr had appeared to be proud of his shiny new trinket. However, his bright mood shifted to darkness the moment they’d returned home. Out of the spotlight, out of the public eye.

“Did you like those men? Did you like the way they made you feel?” He’d chastised her in a jealous rage. That was the first time he’d forced himself on her, then introduced her to his playroom. The following night, he had thrown his first exclusive Grayce party. Only the most distinguished members of his social circle had been invited. The men that wanted Grayce, that paid her the most attention the previous evening, were the ones that paid a small fortune for a tiny amount of time with her in the privacy of his playroom.

To these men, for reasons she couldn’t begin to understand, she was more potent than any drug. Tyr knew that if he controlled her, he controlled the most powerful men in the state. There was nothing he couldn’t gain by dangling his little dove in front of them.

Fuck, enough reminiscing. Grayce looked at the clock. Two hours had passed. What the hell? Thirty, maybe forty minutes of cardio usually kicked her ass, but two hours? Impossible. Stranger still, she wasn’t shocked to find the red glow hovering over her skin.

She stepped off the treadmill and was hit with the familiar buzz through her bloodstream. He was back. She turned to find Zander leaning against the door jam, arms folded with a hungry grin stretched across his face. Holy fuck, he was a sight for sore eyes.

“How long have you been standing there?” Grayce asked, a little too loud over the thump of her headphones. Her legs wobbled underneath her. Not because of the two hour run, but because he was so overwhelming to look at.

He laughed. “Too damned long.” He ran his hand through his tousled hair. “Firecracker, you look so sexy right now.”

Grayce removed her ear buds and took a slow step toward him. With a malevolent smile, Grayce took aim, threw her energy and hit him dead center. The beast didn’t budge. A low, sensual growl rose from his chest as the red heat fizzled and disappeared into his skin.

“What was that for?” He glared through lowered lids.