Come Fill Me (The Prophecy) (22 page)

Before he could go to Jacob and tell him the score, his brother swaggered down the hall, eager for a fight.

Zeke suppressed a sigh.

Without as much as a
fuck you,
Jacob grabbed the knob to his room, turning it to go inside.

Not in this life. Zeke clamped his hand on his brother’s wrist, stopping him.

Fury darkened Jacob’s complexion. “Let go.”

“Keep your damn voice down,” Zeke ordered. “You’re not going in there.”

“Wanna bet? It’s my fucking room.”

“So it is.” He gripped his brother’s wrist even tighter, keeping him from opening the door. “But Liz is mine.”

Jacob pushed his face into Zeke’s. “She belongs to both of us.”

“She never belonged to you. She simply healed you at my request.”

Exaggerated surprise registered on his face, and then he grinned. “So that’s what she was doing with me while you were out of the room. I wondered why she was moaning so loud and begging me to keep fucking—”

“Don’t test me on this,” Zeke warned. “I’ll fight you for her, and I’ll win. She loves me.”

Jacob’s expression got downright ugly. He twisted his arm to get free. “She told you that? When? While you’ve kept her trapped in my room? While you’ve kept her away from me?”

Jesus. Zeke released him and stepped in front of the door, keeping Jacob from it. “Go back to Kele,” he advised.

“Or what? You’ll have me locked up? You’ll prove you’re the big bad leader of the clan?”

“You want the job?” Zeke countered. “Fine. Take it. I never asked for it. I sure as shit don’t enjoy it. Thousands of times I’ve wanted to take off and never look back. To have some goddamned peace for a change rather than all the crap I have to go through.”

“Because of me, right? That’s what you’re saying.” He curled his upper lip. “You don’t like what you do, then don’t do it, beginning with telling me what to feel, who to love.”

“I’m giving you some much-needed advice. Don’t be an idiot and ignore it. Kele’s a good woman. She adores you.” He rested his hand on his brother’s shoulder.

Jacob punched it off. “I want Liz.”

Zeke ordered himself to remain calm and reason, not to scream as he wanted to. “Why? You don’t love her.”

“Really. How do you know that? You see it in one of your precious visions?”

“I didn’t have to. I know you.” He pointed out the obvious. “Since Liz belongs to me, you want her, just like everything else I’ve ever had. She’s new, what you’ve never experienced before, unlike any of our women and that’s also why you want her. For the time being, that is, until you grow tired of her, which you will.”

“The same as you.”

This time, Zeke got in Jacob’s face. “That’s not true, and you know it.”

“The only thing I know is how I feel and what I want.”

“Then that’s too fucking bad—you can’t have her.” Zeke fished the room’s key from his pocket and locked the door, keeping his brother out.

Jacob fisted his hand around his apple. He took a step back. “This isn’t over.”

“Yeah, it is.” Zeke huffed out a sigh and tried his best to reach Jacob, get through that thick skull of his. “You—”

He stopped at movement in the corner of his eye. At the end of the hall stood Kele, hurt on her lovely face.

Shit. How much had she heard?

Zeke stepped around Jacob to go to her. She pivoted and ran in the opposite direction.

“Get her,” Zeke ordered. “Calm her down before she upsets the women even further.” Especially Isabel. “She’s been talking about Liz to them and they’ve been talking to the men. I don’t want her stirring up any shit that’s going to harm Liz.”

“Nothing’s going to happen to Liz while I’m around.”

Zeke advanced, crowding his brother. Jacob stood his ground for a moment, before stepping back. “Get her,” Zeke repeated. “Be nice and talk to her for a change. Notice she’s alive.”

“And then what? Marry her? Have a few kids so she’s okay with all this?” He bared his teeth. “I can’t change how I feel just to make you happy.”

“I’m not asking you to. Just speak with her. Convince her that this isn’t about Liz. It’s not about any woman. What you feel for Kele isn’t what she needs or deserves. She should move on and find another guy.”

“You think I haven’t made that clear already?”

“Try again. Please.”

“And if it doesn’t work, then what?”

Zeke hadn’t a clue.

“That’s what I thought.” Jacob turned on his heel and spoke over his shoulder as he headed in Kele’s direction, “Like I said, this isn’t over.”

Liz opened the nightstand’s bottom drawer and searched through Jacob’s underwear, just as she had his socks and tees in the other drawers. No key here either. Damn.

She’d awakened a short time earlier, hearing him and Zeke going at it, arguing about her and Kele. When they finally fell silent and moved away, Liz had gotten dressed and tried the door, confirming what she thought she’d heard but hadn’t quite believed—one of them locking her inside.

This lunacy had to stop before Zeke and Jacob beat each other to a pulp over her, or their people locked them both up for acting like testosterone-addled teens. She rounded the bed, heading for the bath. There had to be a piece of metal in there that she could use to spring the lock or pry open the door.

With one touch, she had the walls glowing and scanned the area, not finding anything she could use.

Returning to the bedroom, she bounced in place, finally focusing on the lamp nearest her. She removed the prong that supported the shade and fell to her knees at the door, working its metal end into the lock, making her plans.

Once she was in the hall, she’d retrace the steps she’d taken upon first coming here. She’d reach the garage. Hopefully, the metal door would be open, and she’d slip into the tunnel, running down it and into the desert, heading for Carreon’s stronghold.

Wherever in the fuck it might be.

Don’t think about that.
She had to concentrate on getting this freaking lock open first. Every time she turned the prong or applied the least bit of pressure, the stupid thing jerked out, causing her knuckles to ram into the wood.

“Shit.” She sucked her scraped fingers, then froze at the sound of a key on the other side.

As fast as possible, Liz backed up, falling to her butt.

The lock clicked; the knob turned; the door opened.

On her feet, she caught a glimpse of Zeke before she darted past him into the hall.

Halfway down it, he caught up with her, his hand gripping her upper arm. “Hey. What do you think you’re doing?”

Liz turned to him. “Let me go. Please. I have to go back now.”

He regarded the hall past her and the area behind them. They were still alone. Rather than acknowledging what she’d said, he pulled her toward Jacob’s room.

“Zeke, no.” She fought him as best she could, pressing the balls of her feet into the floor, slowing his pace.

At last, he stopped, sucked in a deep breath, then swept her into his arms.

“Dammit, Zeke.” She punched his shoulder.

“Stop it,” he growled, bringing her back into Jacob’s room. He kicked the door closed with his foot and let her down.

She staggered back, her legs hitting the bed. On it was a tray with lunch for two—plates heaped with fresh fruit, what looked to be turkey sandwiches, coffee, milk. The tall glasses clinked against each other. The utensils jiggled.

What in the hell was this about? Zeke expected her to start eating in here to keep her away from his brother and their people? For how long? Did he honestly believe his clan would ever accept her or that Jacob was going to back down and be a good boy?

Not about to debate the subject, Liz headed for the door. Just as quickly, Zeke grabbed her arm again. “You’re not going to win this fight,” he said.

“Neither are you.” She pried his hand from her and faced him. “I have to go back. Now. This very minute.”

“No.”

She glared at him. “You can’t stop me.”

“I just did.” He planted his hands on his lean hips and got so close Liz could smell coffee on his breath. “What’s this about?”

“Isn’t it obvious to you?”

“Would I be asking if it was?” His frown deepened as he noticed the metal prong and the shade she’d removed. “Did Kele try to bother you while I was gone? Did she say something through the—”

“I heard you and Jacob arguing, Zeke.”

Surprise and then concern erased his irritation. Still, he shrugged. “So, we fight. Big fucking deal. Brothers do that all the time.”

“Not over me. I won’t have it.”

“Liz.” He gave her one of those puppy-dog looks that said she was overreacting, then reached for her.

She sidled away. Zeke followed. Liz kept backing up until the bed got in her way again. The glasses chinked.

“Keep doing that,” he warned, “and there’ll be more milk on the tray than in your glass.”

“I want to go back to my father. Listen to me,” she said, interrupting him. “I don’t belong here. I’m the enemy. The men don’t trust me, and the women resent me, especially Kele.”

“She’ll get over it. They all will. They know you healed Jacob and me. You’ve seen to the children.”

“That doesn’t make me one of them, Zeke. Keeping me here isn’t going to change that or fix this mess.”

“It’s not a mess. I’ll take care of everything.” He cradled her face in his large hand. “Trust me. Please.”

Liz wanted to resist, but his hopeful smile and gentle touch defeated her. She sagged into him, her fingers gripping his tee. These last moments together were all they had, and Liz couldn’t deny herself that even as she continued to argue. “This isn’t going to work out.”

“It will.” He kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back. “You’ll stay here with me and my people. We’ll find your father, and we’ll bring him here to be with you.”

“What?”

“Don’t leave me,” he begged, pulling her back into him, wrapping his arms around her. “You’ll never make your father safe by returning to Carreon’s stronghold. He’ll always use him to keep you in line, at least until he finds someone else in your clan with the same healing powers you two have. It’s inevitable for that to happen. The only way both of you can have a future is here.”

“With a clan that hates us, with that getting even worse if any of your men are killed trying to rescue my father?”

“Shhh.” He pressed his lips to her temple and squeezed her gently. “My men aren’t fools, Liz. They rescued me. We’ll make our move when Carreon least expects it. As far as my people hating you and your father, you’re wrong. They detest Carreon and his men for what they’ve done. You and your father have never been a part of that. My people are reasonable, Liz. You know that. You’ve seen them. Have any of them threatened you? Has even one of them said an unkind word? Except for Kele,” he added quickly.

Liz pressed her face into his shoulder, sighing at the sweet scent of his freshly laundered tee. “No.”

“That’s who they are,” he said. “Good people.”

As honorable as him. He made the thought of being here sound so wonderful, so doable Liz was almost convinced.

Almost.

A thought nagged. “Have you seen our future in your visions, Zeke? Did they tell you everything was going to be all right?”

His body tensed. It was just a bit, but enough for her to notice. “Have they showed how you and Jacob would fight over me or how that’s going to end?”

“It’s already ended. You’re mine. I’ll accept no other outcome.”

“Zeke, you can’t—”

He did, stopping her from offering another protest, slanting his mouth over hers, defeating her best intentions.

She whimpered at how good he tasted, better than Liz recalled. His promise to rescue her father was more than she’d ever expected, if it worked out. If it didn’t… His people would hate him for bringing any of them to harm. Her father would still be Carreon’s prisoner or worse, he’d be dead. She stiffened at the thought.

Zeke pulled his mouth free and cupped her face in his hands. “Everything’s going to be all right, I promise you. I’ll make it that way. My visions haven’t shown any of my people being harmed. The only thing I’ve seen is Carreon hurting you. I won’t allow that to happen by bringing you back. You’re staying here, and so will your father so I can protect you both.”

He directed her to sit on the mattress, offering her a glass of milk. Liz put it and the tray aside, not needing food or drink. She had to have him.

Together, they fell to the bed, pulling off each other’s clothes, their haste adding to the excitement. At last, he was on top of her, his cock sinking deep inside, his hands wrapped around her wrists, keeping her his willing prisoner.

For a long moment, they regarded each other, and then Zeke smiled. It was luminous, softening his rough features, making him seem so very young and happy. “Say you’re mine,” he whispered.

“You know I am. You’ve known from the beginning.” She sighed at his mouth brushing hers. Her lips moved against his with her promise. “I’ll never belong to another man.”