Cult of the Hexad (Afterlife saga Book 6) (23 page)

I thought back to when he asked me who I had been searching for and he didn’t seem surprised when I gave him Mr Draven’s name. I took this as a good sign that he knew him and might be able to find him for me. Because as much as being in his presence was like finally living my dreams, I had to remember why I was here. My first priority was saving Ari and nothing could get in my way of that, not even my dream man. But what if when everything was over…no, I couldn’t think that way! Those were dangerous enough thoughts to even dream of but to actually make them a reality, well in truth I would be falling for a man who was already in love with someone else…it just so happened that she looked like me.

No, I was making the decision now to back off and keep my dream man at arm’s length, which reminded me, I still didn’t know his name. As I thought on this, two things happened simultaneously and that was one my stomach growled and two my bladder screamed out at me to be emptied. I stood up feeling the slight twinge from the cuts on my leg and decided to take a look once I found the bathroom.

“It must be here somewhere?” I said as I scanned the room. Actually to call it a room was a bit of a joke considering it was more like a suite. It had its obvious sleeping area in the biggest bed I had ever seen and I knew now from experience that it was the comfiest bed I had ever been in.

Then there were the glass doors that led onto a massive balcony at least that was if my dream had been correct. I couldn’t see why not considering everything I had seen so far had been pretty spot on. I ran my eyes along the same wall as the glass doors and found a huge, solid wooden desk pushed up against the wall that looked to be a carved antique.

Then there was the area I was sat in that seemed to be a sitting area full of comfy plush chairs and sofas. Small highly polished wooden tables were dotted here and there, holding candles and some with beautiful tiffany lamps. There was also a carved grandfather clock with what could have been a battle scene up the sides. Tapestries and paintings broke up the bare stone walls and it was behind one of the biggest ones in the corner that I seemed to be drawn. I knew surely in a room such as this one there must have been an en-suite bathroom somewhere and unless my mystery man found solace by taking a leak, I knew it wasn’t through the door he had just used. That only left one option.

The tall tapestry was embroidered on the front with a magnificent goddess that looked to be half turned to stone. I don’t know why but it felt like I had studied this once before in my life and with frustration I whipped it back, sick of continuously feeling as though I was living a double life.

I knew on so many levels it made sense what people were trying to tell me but it was also like my brain just wouldn’t let me find the answers or even admit them when presented with what people believed was the truth. It was almost like my brain had been programmed to deny everything and it continued to do so even if I didn’t like it.

I shook my head at myself, ridding these disturbing thoughts from my mind and looked up, unsurprisingly to find a door. I hung the tapestry over the wrought iron holder that I found sticking out from the stone so that I wouldn’t be walking back into it when coming out of the bathroom.

I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder before stepping cautiously inside as if I was doing something wrong. But hey, when a girl needed to go then a girl needed to go! By the time I got inside I was close to walking with my legs closed to stop any pee coming out so I didn’t take anything in around the room until I was in a safe position. So it was only when I was sat down did I realise I was in the most luxurious bathroom I had ever seen.

“Crikey, what does this guy do for a living?!” I asked myself looking around and finding something that could have been a bath or a small swimming pool!

I finished doing what I needed to do and before I pulled up my trousers I checked my bandage was still in place. It really needed replacing so I decided when the guy came back to ask him if he had a first aid kit as it could do with a good clean before it got infected. I gingerly pulled my trousers back over the damaged area and zipped up before checking out my face in the mirror.

Unfortunately, the reflection didn’t match the beautiful gilded frame the glass sat in. I winced at the mess of my hair and tried the best I could to contain the knots, folding them into another plait. Then I washed my face and was surprised to see there were no bruises around my eye or forehead from where I had hit my head on the side window of the bus. I also washed my hands and remembered the cut I had there from the glass I used as a weapon but where was it now?

It made me wonder how long I had been asleep because no one could heal like that overnight! I left the bathroom wondering what the hell was going on and because I wasn’t concentrating on where I was going I walked straight into one of the side tables.

“Arghh! Oww, oww, oww!” I said holding on to the top of my leg where the table had hit my bandaged area.

“Are you alright?” I jumped at the sound of his voice coming back into the room and finding me on one leg hopping around with the table on its side and smashed glass all around me from the now broken lamp. After seeing all the damage, I had caused I looked back up at him in horror.

“Oh shit! I am so, so sorry, I will pay for it…
somehow.”
  I muttered knowing I would probably have to work for half a year to pay for it. I bent down and started picking up the pieces of broken glass when I felt his hands come to mind. I yelped in shock, as once again he had shifted across the room insanely fast.

“Don’t… you might hurt yourself on the glass.” He removed the coloured glass I held and dropped it back to the floor. I was about to take a step back when suddenly I was up in his arms like some damsel in distress. The way he held me was as though I weighed nothing at all and I was quickly reminded of the extreme differences between Dex and this man. When Dex had carried me you could see it hadn’t looked like an easy feat but when my dream man did it the only word to describe it was…
effortless.

“Whoa! What are you doing?” I asked as he crunched the rest of the glass under his heavy foot, as he carried me round the other side and set me down gently on the sofa like I was something utterly precious to him. Then before moving back he leaned further into me and spoke,

“I care little for the lamp… I do however care about your bare feet getting glass in them.” He said and I couldn’t help but sigh, taking in his scent, something that only made me want to sigh again. He smelt like…well like I imagined a real man should. He lingered a moment too long which told me he didn’t want to move away when he did. I lowered my head and allowed myself a small smile at the thought of him needing to be close to me.

“Have you cut yourself?” His question caught me off guard and I looked at my feet to see I was fine.

“No, why?” I looked up at him to see he was frowning down at me and it was a sight I was quickly becoming used to…but that was a strange thought, had I really seen him frown at me that often?

“I smell blood on you.”

“Uhh…okay.” I said finding that an odd talent indeed.

“Well I’m fi…”

“Your leg.” He said interrupting me nodding down at where I had hit it and I saw that he was right, there was a wet patch which was most likely blood.

“Oh that.”

“Yes,
that.”
  He said folding his arms as if I had done something wrong.

“It’s nothing really, but I was going to ask you if you had first aid kit or something I could use?” This was when he sat down beside me and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. 

“Do you have a headache or something?” I asked leaning forward to look at him.

“I’m getting there.” He replied dryly and then before I could comment on his sarcasm he asked,

“I gather my table didn’t do all that damage?” This time I let him see my small smile and then shook my head.

“No, your table didn’t attack me. I got this from the…”

“Accident, yes I thought so. I must have missed it.” He said to himself cryptically, looking down at my leg but then it clicked, so I asked,

“Oh, did you give me first aid when I was passed out?” He raised an eyebrow up at me and said,

“You could call it that.”

“Would you call it that?” I asked back folding my arms at the way he kept avoiding my questions by giving me half answers.

“I would call it healing you. Now take off your trousers.” At this I jolted back and coughed out an,

“Excuse me?!”

“You heard me little dove.” Okay so the endearment did make me melt a little but not enough to strip off in front of him. For a start I hadn’t had chance to change my underwear since setting off on this trip! Which reminded me, I really needed to ask him where my bag had gone and if I could use his awesome shower.

“All in good time pet, now take them off.”

“Seriously am I saying these things out loud without knowing?” I asked the room.

“Yes, now do as you’re told.”

“Excuse me! I am not a child and will not… Ahhh!” I screamed when he muttered,

“Very well’ before grabbing my trouser’s leg and tearing it right down the centre to the very top of my thigh.

“What are you…?”

“This is a mess…your handy work I take it.” He sounded pissed off but then again so did I.

“Look, Mr Grabby, you can’t just…”

“Did you seriously just call me ‘Mr Grabby’?” He asked looking up from my leg and interrupting me yet again.

“Well if the shoes fits.” I snapped back and tried to pull my leg back. He grabbed out at me and pulled it back, straightening it and then holding it down.

“Hold still.” He demanded and this time I did as I was told thanks to his stern voice, one I knew not to mess with. He started to unwrap my makeshift bandage and I saw him frown when part of the material was stuck to the cut thanks to dried blood. I knew this had happened when checking it out back in the bathroom but I would have thought the new blood dripping from it would have helped when trying to peal it off. Obviously no such luck, I thought bitterly.

“I need to clean the wound. I will be back with a first aid kit.” He got up off the sofa and told me not to move. I thought this might be a perfect opportunity to ask him to tell Mr Draven I was here, in case he bumped into him.

“Uh…Can I just ask…?”

“Go ahead and ask Katie.” He said and the sound of my name coming from his lips once again did strange things to my girly bits.       

“I was just wondering if you happen to see this Mr Draven, will you tell him I’m here?” I asked in a hopeful tone.

“He already knows.” He answered with a slight grin, surprising me.

“He does? But how? Did you already speak to him?” His answer surprised me even further,

“No but you did.”

“I did? I’m sorry I don’t remember, who was he?” Was I that out of it when I first arrived? I think I would surely have remembered something like that!

And then before he left he ended up giving me the most shocking answer so far…

“He’s your husband.”

Chapter 21

Hidden Beauty, Exposed Fears

“Holy shit!” I said letting my head fall back onto the sofa and looking up at the ceiling thinking how the hell had I missed that! Once again I was left feeling dumbfounded but at least I could say I hadn’t fainted like I had last time. But seriously, how did I miss it as now he had said it everything seemed so obvious. I even now recalled his sister calling him Dom when I was coming round earlier,

“Duh Katie, Dom is short for Dominic.” I said this time freely smacking my forehead with how idiotic I felt. And why didn’t he tell me when I had been asking about him? I would have thought that would have been the perfect opportunity to introduce himself as the man I had been looking for.

It was only when I heard the man himself clear his throat that I knew he had been witnessing this little meltdown of mine. I whipped my head back down to see him stood casually, leaning against the door frame with his legs crossed at the ankle.

“You could have told me.” I accused making him merely shrug his shoulders before saying,

“I could have.”

“But?” I snapped crossing my arms and giving him a glare.

“But, I first wanted to know where I stood.”

“I don’t understand.” I told him and watched as he pushed himself from the frame and came over to sit next to me. I hadn’t realised until now he carried with him a green box with First Aid written in white lettering across it.

“I wanted to know if you knew who I was and if it was actually me you were looking for.” He stated and I instantly felt guilty that the answer to both of those questions was a no…and worse yet, was that he knew it.

“Ah.”

“Yes, Ah indeed.” He repeated making my guilt double. He didn’t look pleased at all so I let him focus on sorting out my leg thinking this would give me some time to think of how to explain. What exactly I was supposed to explain I didn’t yet know considering the only way I had recognised him was that I had been dreaming of him for the last eight months…now how the hell I was going to tell him that without sounding bat shit crazy, I had no clue!

“So if you don’t remember me from our past together then pray tell, how did you recognise me?” He asked this like he knew I was struggling with trying to find a viable reason to give him. Damn him but pretty soon I was going to believe he had the power to read minds after all. He looked up at me, giving me a bad boy grin and a wink before continuing with his medical work.

“You look as though you know what you’re doing.” I said trying to bypass the question. One raised eyebrow and an order of,

“Answer the question, Katie,” and I had no choice but to come clean.

“I see you in my dreams, okay?” I snapped and then jumped when he opened a packet. He looked at me and said,

“See, that wasn’t so hard was it. Hold very still…okay?” He said gently and something inside me was quickly getting lost. It felt like I had a line to say in this drama we were acting out so I went with it and asked,

“Will this hurt?”

“Do you really want to know that?” He asked me back and then he too seemed to realise what I was doing and he had automatically done the same by saying the next line.

“What did you say?” 
I whispered stunned by the impact that sentence had on me. I had been hit by abnormal amounts of Déjà vu ever since leaving the Colony but this was something else.

“Easy now, just breathe.” He said forgetting about my leg for the moment. He placed both hands on the side of my head and forced me to look at him. I could feel my eyes darting around as if searching for something more. I needed to grasp it back, I needed for him to say the next line.

“What’s happening?” I asked him feeling as though I was going to lose consciousness any time soon.

“No, no! Katie, listen to me, you’re having a flashback. Just stop reaching for it and come back to me. Listen to my voice Katie.”

“That’s not my name Draven.”
  I felt my lips moving but had no control of the sound they made. I heard his sharp intake of breath before he uttered a different name,

“Keira?”
And once more on hearing that name spoken something snapped! Like my reaching arms touched the flames and recoiled back from the pain of getting burned. But I could see her through the window now, no, not a window but a two-way mirror. Yes, I could see her there lay on the sofa I lay on now. She was bleeding from her side and I felt my hand go to the same place and when I looked down at my hand it was sticky and wet with my blood.

“Why is she bleeding?” I asked the void and heard his voice in the distance,

“Come back!” I winced at the sound of being told off for just looking at her. But then a figure turned around and was placing a glass to her lips for her to drink.

“It’s you Draven. I can see you now.” I told him and I heard the pain in his voice when he spoke,

“I was there with you as I am now but you have to let it go.”

“I don’t want to. I want to know who she is, Draven.” I told him as a tear fell down in frustration.

“She’s you sweetheart and she is perfect…
she always will be.”
  Hearing him telling me this made me cry out a sob and that’s when I started to turn away from the sight and run back into the darkness where I knew he waited for me. I ran and I ran until I couldn’t breathe. Then I jumped when I knew the end was near and gasped rising up from where I landed.

“You’re okay, I’ve got you…I’ve got you now.” Draven’s voice soothed me like I had never known before. His arms held me in an embrace and I had never felt so safe. His lips kissed my forehead and I had never felt so loved. It was in this moment that I knew he was my never-ending story and one day I would get it back. I would find my way home.

“Ssshh, easy now. That’s it, just breathe… deep breaths with me, that’s it.” I finally calmed enough to pull back and look at him. He used both his thumbs to clear my cheeks from tears and I saw the same emotion staring back at me in his eyes.

“Now let’s sort out this leg of yours.” I nodded thankful he wasn’t bringing up what had just happened. We were both quiet for a moment and I watched him work as if he had been a paramedic in a past life.

“You look like you have done this before.”

“Easy now, best not to let your thoughts drift down that road again.” I guessed he was right and besides, hearing his answer was confirmation he had definitely done this before and if my flashback was anything to go by, then it had been with me.

“Do you think these visions are tied to why I pass out?” He gave me a cautious look and I said,

“I think I’m good.” And then I laughed trying to at least make light of the situation.

“Yes, I think that whenever you are faced with something your mind doesn’t want to accept, it simply shuts down.” I thought about that for a moment and well, it kind of made perfect sense.

“I didn’t pass out when you finally told me who you are.”

“You mean your husband?” He said and this time instead of teasing me he was
testing
me. I could see what it meant to him in his eyes and he could see what it meant to me by my blush.

“I think it means on some level you are starting to trust me.” I didn’t want to argue with him for reasons that were both to do with what it obviously meant to him and that I couldn’t actually be sure he wasn’t right.
I was starting to trust him.

“Oww! Well that was until you did that!” I shouted as a stinging pain burned my flesh.

“Baby.”
He said, affectionately teasing me. 

“I had to clean the wound and then use antiseptic to prevent any infection. Although I will have to keep my eye on it given the appalling job you did in bandaging it.”

“What! I cleaned it!” I shouted defending myself.

“With what,
dirt?”
He asked scoffing at my survival skills.

“Well excuse me Bear Grylls, but I didn’t exactly have time to build a camp, set up a triage tent and get into a nurse Betty outfit as I had more important things to think about, like the police finding me and charging me as the only survivor in a roadside massacre!”

“And there’s my girl.”
He muttered sucking the wind from my sails purely because of how good him saying that sounded.

“I take it your wife has a sarcastic streak?” I asked as he continued to swipe a piece of soaked cotton across the surrounding area. God, but why did it feel so damn good having his hands on my bare skin.

“Just a tad, yes.” He said winking at me and I had to clear my throat just to hide a moan. Seriously did everything this man did turn me on?!

“Did it not get annoying?” I asked honestly curious. He raised his eyes at my question and then took a moment as if giving it deeper thought before answering me.

“I think before I answer that question you must first understand that I am not a man to be challenged…
by anyone.”
  He added this last part after snapping the box shut when he had finished the job. I was about to speak but he beat me to it.

“That was until I met
her.
She changed my life and every change she made was for the better. I found I liked to be challenged by her and even more so when learning quickly of her weaknesses.” I frowned when he said this.

“You took advantage of her weaknesses?” I asked in a horrified tone, one that made him smirk.

“Most certainly, especially when I learned her main weakness was my lips upon her body and my hand firmly embedded in her hair so she was going nowhere…oh yes, I found this worked perfectly to my advantage considering I benefited from the act in all aspects.” I swallowed down the hard wet lump that was clearly labelled…

LUST.

The picture he painted was one I just wanted to jump straight into and immerse myself into each stroke.

“You’re…you’re teasing me.” I said stuttering as I tried to regain my composure.

“That depends.”

“On what?” I definitely made the mistake of asking.

“On if you are up for the challenge?” Oh Holy Mother of God at the Disco! Why, oh why, did he have to paint that erotic picture in my mind.

“Don’t look so worried Sweetheart, I can be gentle…there, all finished. Now time for a bath I think.”

“Uh…sorry?”
I muttered as if I had heard him wrong. Because in one minute he had me almost begging him to be whatever he wanted to be with me, gentle, rough, soft, hard, generous or just damn well take whatever he wanted! I didn’t care, I only wanted the picture he painted but then he wanted to dump water all over that dream…literally!

I heard him chuckle after he got up and I wondered if my face had said as much because he seemed to be reacting to what I was thinking.

“All in good time sweetness, now time to get you clean little bird.” He said coming back to me and taking both my hands to pull me up. I shrieked when he kept pulling my arms straight and then placed his shoulder into my belly to heave me up over his shoulder.

“What are you doing!?”

“There is still glass on the floor.” He stated and as he walked around the sofa I looked down to where the smashed lamp should have been to see nothing there.

“But wait a minu…Umpf!” I was cut off when I got pulled upright and was now sliding down the length of him.

“I uh…” I didn’t know what to say when he kept me to the height of his face, with his arm firmly wrapped around my waist.

“You are so beautiful.” He told me softly and he pushed a stray bit of hair back behind my ear. I didn’t know what to say but I know my mouth opened a little as if trying to find a way to thank him.

“No…nobody has ever told me that before.” I admitted to him shyly. My eyes were drawn to the corner of his mouth when he gave me a half grin. Then he tightened his hold and bent his head to whisper in my ear,

“Trust me beautiful,
they have.”
  Then he let me slide the rest of the way down and I bit my lip all the way. He stepped away from me and held out an arm towards the bath that I was amazed to see was now full of steamy water.

“But I was just in here and…”

“Here, let me help you.” As soon as his hands framed the bare skin at my belly I forgot any coherent thought.

“Uh…I don’t…oh but I…” I tried to say, what I don’t really know, but before I discovered what he pulled my t-shirt above my head, leaving me in just a borrowed bra that was clearly a size too small for me, if the bursting cleavage was to go by. Remembering this made me react and I hugged myself over my chest, hiding myself from view.

“Turn around.” He ordered in that authoritative voice of his and suddenly Dominic Draven’s teasing tone was long gone. My heart beat wildly in my chest and I could feel myself shaking from the inside out. I started to chant my doubt in my mind, saying over and over, I couldn’t do this…I couldn’t do this…I couldn’t do…

“Ssshh, easy now.
You
need not do anything but let go.” He said tilting my chin up so he could see the fear in my eyes.