Lifebound (16 page)

However, this jump terrorized him to the core. This time he didn’t just risk his life. He also risked hers.

If he passed out on the way down, she’d be helpless. The winds could carry them anywhere, into any danger. If she somehow managed to bind her energies to his and he still died, she’d die too.

When he’d given her that little speech about knowing who you are at the door of the airplane, he was unconsciously inviting her to think twice about doing this, to think twice about choosing him at all.

But when she said the words, when she told him she loved him for the first time, he knew he had no intention of turning back. He belonged with her—he belonged to her. He wanted to be bound to her side for the rest of his life.

And if it took jumping out of an airplane with her, so be it.

So he jumped.

As the wind roared past his ears like a crazed animal, he concentrated on two things—the altimeter on his wrist and the pounding of his heart.

Terror for her life gripped him, and he counted on that terror to give him the strength he’d need to overcome the hold her powers had on him. He patted her hands to signal her to hold out her arms. On any other jump, he’d use those exquisite moments of freefall to do flips and swoops—to show her how it felt to fly.

Instead, he steeled himself against the way his very nature began to ebb and flow, passing back and forth between them through the brush of his skin against hers. He tried to relax his body to keep their fall stable, but the feel of her against him took over his focus. He pressed his legs closer to hers, eager to get even closer to her as they fell.

A part of him tried to remain detached, to explore the sensation of having his life drawn away from him, but the rest fell into a sort of hypnosis as he grew weak and dizzy.

Meanwhile, the ground rushed up for them like an oncoming train, the greens and browns of the landscape running together like paint as his vision began to blur.

He blinked and tried to read the altimeter, but dizziness had given way to complete vertigo and he began to feel like he was spinning end over end, cartwheeling them to the ground.

Adriana grabbed his hands and held them out like he’d taught her. She’d begun to glow with that unearthly illumination like she had at Wiccan Haus the night he kissed her for the first time.

Her hair snapped and sparkled, freeing itself from its barrette to fly around him, into his eyes and across his face. He tried once more to shake free of her spell and read the altimeter. They had to be getting close.

Falling beside them, Tim and Snowball threw their drogue chutes and the logical, detached part of him encouraged him to do the same. The ensnared part of him simply wanted to fade away into the incredible glowing life force in his arms, to let her take him completely into her.

A sudden beeping in his ear warned him that the drogue had to be thrown. For her sake. He needed to make sure she got on the ground safely. He had to pull the chute.

He somehow reached up behind him and pulled the little drogue chute out of its pouch where it caught the air and pulled the pin that released the main chute from its container. The straps of his harness pulled tight against him as the nylon fabric billowed open in a rainbow above him, slowing their descent from one hundred twenty miles an hour down to thirty in a matter of seconds.

But if he believed the worst part was over, he quickly found himself mistaken.

The parachute bloomed over her head and Josh’s arms tightened around her as if to hold her to him by force if necessary. The terrifying yet oddly exhilarating fall slowed to a float.

She felt so alive. She’d never felt more alive than in that moment. Josh’s life coursed through her, and the push and pull of the earth’s vital energies suddenly channeled into something overwhelmingly orderly and forceful.

His strength poured into her and she returned it with all the power she could muster. At first, the adrenaline that fueled him made him invincible to her. During that entire heart-stopping plummet, she’d drawn on him much more than she intended through sheer terror, but his bottomless vitality had buoyed her up and carried her over and beyond where she’d ever been.

Life sizzled in her veins and down her nerves. She’d never felt stronger or more completely whole.

However, as they began to float toward the ground, she began to sense a limit to Josh’s life.

“Let go of me,” she begged him. “It’s not going to work!”

But he held her tighter and pressed his cheek against her forehead. “Keep going,” he said. “We can do it.”

“We’ll do something else.” She tried to pull her hands free of his while she still could.

“Just breathe with me.” His voice in her ear was confident and soothing. “Close your eyes and feel me with you.”

They rocked in the gentle motion of the falling parachute like leaves falling from a tree in autumn. His arms held her tightly, his hands so warm around her. His life rippled back and forth through her like the tide, always going out a little bit further each time.

But instead of fighting the pull, she began to work with it. She drew on him more heavily, more purposefully than before.

With each surge out of him, his grip loosened a little and he leaned into her. But on the return push, a larger store of energy went back to him.

“Take the steering toggles,” Josh said, his voice rough, as if he’d been running a marathon. “When we get nearly to the ground, pull down on them as hard as you can to break your fall.”

“Why?”

Fear added its own surge to her life force. She reached to take the handles on either side, and he wrapped his fingers over hers.

“I’ll try to help,” he said, his voice rough and tired, “but I’m not sure I’ll be much use when we hit the ground.”

“No! Josh, stay with me! We’re almost there!”

Sure enough the ground grew closer every second, but even more important, the cycle that ran between them had almost caught a rhythm of its own like an engine beginning to thrum into life.

“Whatever happens, it was worth it.” His voice grew so soft she could barely make out the words. “I can’t do without you.”

Then the green grass loomed right in her face and she pulled down as hard as she could on the toggles as Josh’s fingers fell away from hers.

Somehow she staggered to the ground as the parachute billowed down softly, breaking their fall.

They lay in a tangle of nylon.

“We made it!” she called to him. “We did it!”

But to her horror, Josh didn’t answer.

Chapter Seventeen

T
im and Snowball dashed across the field toward them, and in the distance Alicia also ran to intercept.

Snowball grabbed the open chute and released it from Josh’s harness as Tim worked to unclip her.

“Hey, Josh!” Tim called over her shoulder. “You okay?”

Together they rolled the unconscious Josh onto his back, and Tim slapped him lightly on the face. “Man, he’s out cold. I’ve seen tandem jumpers pass out but never the instructor.”

Ice settled over Adriana. “Josh, wake up, please!” She stroked his hand and his face, willing him back to her.

Alicia dropped to her knees on the other side. “Did it work? Is he okay?”

“I don’t know.” Tears poured down Adriana’s face.

At that moment, the two strange men arrived beside them.

“Ma’am, excuse me,” one said, gently but firmly pushing Alicia aside. He quickly checked Josh’s pulse and leaned his cheek over Josh’s face to ensure he was breathing.

“CPR?” the other asked as he knelt beside Adriana.

“Let me get a couple of breaths in him first.”

But before the man could start rescue breathing, Josh took in a deep gasp of air on his own.

“I don’t think he wants you to, Kaleb.” The second man laughed.

“Fine by me.”

The two men leaned back to allow Josh room to stir.

“Are you okay?” Adriana asked him when those beautiful cerulean blue eyes opened to look for her. “Josh, baby, please tell me you’re okay.” She cupped his face in her hands until his focus rested on her.

“I’m good, I think. Did it work?”

Adriana stopped in mid-caress. “I can touch you,” she whispered. “I still feel you, but I don’t have to draw on you.”

She grabbed Alicia’s hand. “I don’t feel you at all, Alicia.”

Next, the nearest operative became her target—Kaleb, his buddy had called him. “You either. I don’t feel your energy at all.”

“Serena will be glad to hear that,” Kaleb said.

Adriana took both her hands and placed them squarely back on Josh where they belonged. “It worked!”

His arms went around her tightly as she fell into his embrace. They lay on the ground wrapped in each other’s arms, enjoying the luxury of the unhurried touch, the freedom to just be close.

Finally, Josh took her hand and helped her to her feet. As they walked hand in hand back toward the hangar, he asked, “What did you think about skydiving?”

“I was scared out of my mind,” Adriana said with a laugh. “At first. Then it was exciting and adventurous, even though I was still terrified that I was going to kill you before we hit the ground.”

“So you think you might want to do it again?”

“Maybe.”

“Good.” He grinned. “Because I won’t get to jump again unless you jump with me.”

“What about Rob?” Adriana felt a horrible sinking feeling. “He can’t jump without you.”

“He jumps with the other guys all the time. You’re the only diving partner I need.”

“Will you teach me so I can be on top sometimes?”

Josh pulled her into his arms and kissed her so thoroughly her own knees began to buckle. “You can be on top any time you want to,” he murmured warmly into her ear, then kissed her again.

Back at the hangar, the two strange men introduced themselves as Kaleb and Justin.

“The Lamia Council reported that you were missing and possibly abducted,” Justin said. “However, it looks to me more like the Rowans told it.”

“Were they the ones who told you how to find us?” Josh asked. “I promise you if Cemil has been giving out Adriana’s information when he wouldn’t give it to me, I am really truly going to kick his ass.”

“Actually, it was Myron who gave you away,” Kaleb said with a laugh. “She said she owed you guys one. And she asked me to tell you, Josh, that the answer is ‘Yes, you’ll see Adriana again.’”

Before the two operatives drove away in their unmarked gray sedan, Adriana hugged them. “It’s just nice to be able to touch people,” she said to Josh as he gave her a very questioning look.

When they returned to Josh’s car, Adriana turned on her new phone. It rang almost immediately. Before she could even answer, Josh’s rang as well. They each looked at the caller ID and said in unison, “It’s my mom.”

“I think we’ve both got some explaining to do.” Adriana laughed anxiously as she ignored the call.

Josh did the same and grinned at her again. “As far as I’m concerned, the two of us are about as married as a couple can get.” He brought her hand to his lips to plant a warm gentle kiss on her fingertips right beneath her engagement ring. “But for my mom’s sake, I think we’d better go ahead and plan a real wedding.”

“Sounds wonderful. I want to meet and hug your entire family—all twenty-five cousins.”

“But after it’s over, let’s run away somewhere really good for our honeymoon. Some place peaceful and quiet where we can breathe and light candles.”

“Gee, where on earth could you possibly mean?”

That evening, tangled together in Josh’s bed, Adriana didn’t feel any need to rush to make love. Instead, she simply lay beside him, savoring the way she fit against him, like two halves that had made a whole.

The energy of the earth vibrated between them with a soft hum. Josh gazed into her eyes and ran a finger down her cheek. “I love your stormy eyes,” he whispered.

“You better love me. You’re bound to me.”

“That means you have to stay with me,” Josh whispered into her ear. “No more running away.”

“Never.” She cuddled even closer into the warmth of his chest and ran her fingers across the tight muscles of his stomach.

“Good.” He tightened his arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss onto her forehead. “I don’t ever want to be without you again.”

Adriana lifted her face to his, and his lips met hers, softly at first, then more intently as she roamed her hand freely over his stomach.

The hum between them increased as he stroked her back, then cupped the curve of her hip in his hand. She sighed and melted against him more closely, letting her fingers explore the strength of his shoulders as he pressed passionate kisses into her neck.

Beside the bed, the lamp began to glow ever so slightly. She nibbled at his ear and delighted in the shiver that ran through him. But when his exploring mouth found a sensitive place just beneath her collarbone, she was the one who couldn’t help but tremble.

As their leisurely exploration became more purposeful, the bedside lamp shone brighter and brighter in the overflow of the energy that thrummed between them. Without warning it gave a loud pop and went dark.

Adriana squeaked in surprise, but Josh continued to fondle her.

“No more light bulbs in the bedroom,” he said, then bent his head to tease her breast with the tip of his tongue.

“I wonder if we can make the entire city go dark?” She arched her back with an exhalation of pleasure.

“We’re going to try,” he promised.

The hum between them reached a crescendo, and across Mobile, lights flickered and went out.