Origin (Eternal Sacrifice Saga Book 2) (31 page)

Cade’s amazing cerulean eyes glistened. If I didn’t know better, with threatened tears.

And my Gemini didn’t cry.

“Bella occhi blu ragazzo.”

“It’s you.”

Cade took a tentative step forward, but I ran to him, jumping into his arms. Tightening his grip as my body shook from excitement, Cade picked me up, and I wrapped my legs around his waist, burying my nose into his neck.

“My love,” he whispered. “You’re back.”

I nodded, whispering into his ear. “I love you, my beautiful blue-eyed boy. Damn, I’ve missed you.”

Cade, too, began to shake—though he held me steady, my protective, loving Gemini—because he knew it was really me. Not Zoe 2.0, as she called me, but my Origin. The woman he’d spent thousands of years loving.

Adam’s Eve.

Gabrielle and Lailah left the room, closing the door behind them.

Cade set me down, and I pulled back, running my hands through his silky chocolate hair. I traced along his face with my fingertips, exploring the curves of his jaw, the beard he’d grown on his high cheekbones.

I drank in his beauty, the length of his eyelashes, the green speckles hidden within his cerulean eyes. I ran my thumb along his lips then crushed mine to his, kissing him like I’d not seen him in years.

Because I hadn’t.

My beautiful Cade. God, how I’d missed him.

Zoe 2.0, my reincarnation hadn’t appreciated him as I did.

“Cade.” The pads of my fingers grazed along his shoulders, slowly moving down his arms, feeling the goose bumps rise over his taught muscles. “I need you,
bel ragazzo
.”

“Chayah.” He swallowed, shaking his head. “It could jeopardize everything.”

“No,” I said, low. “It won’t.”

My gaze locked onto his.

“Our future. Our destiny. It’s already written.” I touched his jaw. “It’s been written from the Genesis of time. That’s what I needed to accept. And I’m not afraid.” I held his cheeks. “Not of what could be, because our love is protected. We can’t be afraid of us.”

I ran my fingers through his hair, gazing into his eyes.

“I need to feel your soul within me. You’ve been hiding from it, too, and I won’t let fear control us any longer. I won’t let fear of what could be keep us from what we need. And right now, I need to Converge with my Gemini. We’re not at our strongest unless we’re together. Complete. And you know that.

“I’ve seen the war in my visions, Cade. It’s coming. A battle so massive, it could tear all of Genesis apart, and I can’t fight it without you. My Origin won’t be complete until we’ve Converged. And if it results in a child—if that’s the fate of our lives, our journey, then so be it. No more running. We lead Genesis. Not me, but us. Together.”

I took his hand and pressed it to my heart.

“Feel that? It’s my heart, and it beats only for you. You’re my world, Cade Adams. My heart. My soul. Don’t be afraid, blue eyes. As long as we’re united as one Origin, we can overcome anything.”

He understood.

Cade reached for my hands and pulled me closer. His gaze burned into me. Through me.

“Come.”

Cade’s heated tone sent a familiar tingling straight through to my core, to my very soul. He tangled his fingers with mine and led me out of our home toward the Chayah Fountain.

The scattered thoughts of the Firstborns and Eternals rang clear as they watched us rush to our secret hideaway.

All of Aravot knew where we were going and why.

A Convergence.

Preparing for war.

There were no words between Cade and me. There didn’t need to be.

We were at peace with our fate.

Cade stopped on the pink sands along the shore of the fountain.

I was always in awe of just how immense the fountain was, the size of a small sea.

He waved his hands, and our invisible bridge appeared, leading over the water. Cade pulled me across the fountain toward our waterfall, into our secret space hidden just beneath it.

The cavern was lit with prisms of iridescent lights bouncing between the shimmering walls.

Breathtaking.

An exact replica of our secret cave in Italy.

This
was our Aravot. Our very own version of
heaven.

Cade’s and mine.

He let go of my hands. Stepping back, his heated gaze scanned up and down my trembling body that stood begging for him to touch.

Man, how I’d missed him.

“Undress for me, Eve.” His commanding, yet gentle tone always sent shivers racing through my Origin.

In Aravot and out in the world, Chayah was in charge of everything.

She called the shots. It was her show.

And it was exhausting.

But in here—our secret world—I surrendered myself to my Gemini, giving up that control, allowing Cade to take my body and soul to places I could never go without him.

Cade needed to retain a sense of control after giving everything up to me when I became the Eternal Mother, so in here, I was more than pleased to give it back to him.

And he was most eager to accept it.

Our secret deal filled a need within us both, setting our souls at peace.

I focused on Cade’s beautiful eyes as I pulled at the hem of my T-shirt, slowly lifting it up over my head, tossing it to the sand. I glanced down as I pushed my shorts and panties off, shoving them to the ground and stepping out.

“Eyes on me, Eve.” He snapped, teasingly.

I returned my coveting gaze to his and reached behind me, unhooking my bra and letting it slide down my shoulders.

Standing before my Gemini, naked and vulnerable, Cade’s need engulfed me. Exhilarated me. Just as it did over five thousand years ago.

Cade drank in every inch of me, from the dark curls on my head, to my straightened shoulders, down over my breasts, my waist. My thighs to my feet. He circled around me, appreciating what he’d missed for so many years.

My body tingled, anticipating what waited for it.

The energy between us hit a peak, growing stronger as Cade’s aura expanded throughout the darkened cave.

“Eve.” He stopped in front of me, and our eyes met. “So beautiful.”

Cade pulled off his shirt, tossing it aside. Next went his jeans, pushing them down past his hips and over his thighs, kicking the denim off his bare feet.

Oh. My. Gawd.

I bit my lip, ingesting Cade’s beauty—

The strength of his shoulders. Biceps. Bronzed skin. Firm, traceable muscles outlining every inch from his broad chest to his defined stomach. The curve of his hips that led to his firm ass, which, if I was being honest, was one of my favorite things to admire about his god-like form.

Cade Adams was truly a work of art.

He set his hands on my arms, fingers sliding effortlessly low, claiming what was his, forcing goose bumps rising across my sensitive skin.

One inch at a time, Cade’s lips rediscovered every fragment of his Gemini. Gliding like silk, they dragged lightly, his heated breaths whispering over my neck and shoulders.

Lower.

Closer.

Cade dropped to his knees, continuing his sensuous assault on my deprived form tracing every millimeter with his mouth. With his tongue.

I groaned, gripping his shoulders to support my shaky knees.

A juxtaposed mixture of heat and shivers sent my heart into a tailspin.

My body and soul woke to his touch.

Cade gripped my hips, fingertips sliding over the curves of my ass while his warm breaths blew across my thighs, to my very core that begged for his return.

“You’re body,” Cade whispered between kisses. “It calls to me.”

“Yes, Adam,” I cried out, trembling, while my Gemini discovered secrets held within me, secrets kept only for him. “Please.”

I closed my eyes and waved my hands in a circle, raising a shimmering light of protection around us, hiding our playtime from spying eyes and ears.

“Eve.” Cade whispered softly, his gaze searching mine.

I peered down, acknowledging his fear of what could lie ahead.

The possibilities were daunting, but it didn’t matter. We needed this.

Our souls needed this.

I closed my eyes briefly. Holding his cheeks I absorbed his fear.

“Don’t be afraid, blue eyes,” I whispered. “Have faith. In us.”

His fear visibly lifted, and my protective, loving Gemini returned.

“I do.” Cade gazed up. “I will always believe in us.”

I reached down for him, and he took my hands, rising to his feet.

I held his cheeks.

“I will always choose us, Adam. Above all else. For Eternity.”

His loving gaze burned into me. He grasped my chin, tilting it up, staring heavy into my eyes, then slowly leading my cheek onto his chest.

My eyes fell shut, letting Cade’s rhythm soothe me.

One beat at a time, our pulses linked, syncing together. One heartbeat.

Twin Souls.

One Origin.

“I love you. Bella ragazzo.” I lifted my cheek, gazing into his eyes.

My Gemini gazed down, his expression becoming heated. Desperate.

I recognized that look. I often longed for it. Craved it. Sought it out, our random, stolen moments.

And today—for this moment, we both felt its presence.

Gripping my hips, Cade lifted me into his arms.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, and my legs around his waist.

Holding me in his strong embrace, Cade waded deep into our private pool, prisms of light shimmering off his satiny skin. He moved gracefully toward a stone bench sitting below the surface of the water.

We reached the wall then Cade twisted us around and sat on the bench.

I straddled his hips, our bodies immersed in the warm water, letting it envelop us. Hovering above him, I appreciated Cade’s beauty.

“You’re so gorgeous, blue eyes.” I lightly traced along his jaw. “Ti amo, Adam. I’ll never take what I’ve been given for granted.”

“I adore you, Eve,” he whispered back.

Gaze fixed on mine, Cade lifted my hips and with a beautifully synced heartbeat, our bodies Converged, uniting with a force of gravity drawing our souls together.

One true Origin.

Immersed in the Fountain of Life, I closed my eyes, and our souls Converged. Our bodies savored the pleasures of the earth, but our Origin transcended to another plane.

Weightless.

Uninhibited.

Free.

Cade’s body and soul consumed me as our Origin drifted away, projecting into the universe around us. And just for a moment, all the agony of the past five thousand years and the fears of what lay ahead were abandoned.

Cade and I were united. At peace, focusing on this moment and nothing more.

Twin Souls.

Complete.

Cade

“I’ve missed you.” I laid beside Zoe, running my hands through her soft curls, twisting them between my fingers.

“I’ve missed you, too.” Her blue-green eyes shone brighter today, even in the darkened cavern.

Chayah had returned.

I’d sensed her in the dark realm, her body and soul called to my very Origin. Spoke to me.

My Gemini was just as she’d left twenty-one years ago. No longer the insecure human girl Zoe had succumbed to due to her incarnation, but the strong, confident leader Chayah had evolved to from five thousand years of living and leading an immortal army against the darkness.

Zoe’s entire demeanor was strong. There was power in the way she carried herself, the intensity in her wide eyes.

And although fear of the unknown lingered in the air around us, Zoe would not allow it to control us. She believed what we needed to be strong, to strengthen our bond and return the power to our partnership, was to Converge.

I trusted her beyond all others.

Deep within my soul, I believed Zoe’s courage and wisdom would always lead us out of the darkness.

All she ever asked of me was my love and trust. And I would always give her that, because the rewards of the love she gave in return were insurmountable.

All relationships were about trust. Without it, we had nothing.

Zoe and I made love for hours in our
Cave of Secrets
, as we called it. It was our special place, connected to the fountain of life, or youth, as humans often called it, where we would go to escape the duty and sacrifice this life tied us to.

As much as we both wished this private moment would never end, it was time to return to duty.

“Do we have to go back?” Zoe’s voice cracked. “Can’t we just lay here, naked, playing lovers games for Eternity?”

“If only.” I leaned in, leaving a kiss to her lips. “Oh, Chayah. I can’t believe it’s truly you.”

She smirked. “It’s me, blue eyes.” She covered my hand with hers, kissing me softly. “I apologize for vanishing for so long. I needed to disappear. To find myself again.”

“You even speak differently.”

She let out a laugh. “It’s still me. Zoe. 1.0, 2.0. Maybe we should just call myself Zoe 3.0. Third time’s a charm?”

“Or rather, Fifth?”

“See, you do have a sense of humor.” She grinned. “One only I understand, and that’s fine by me.”

“You notice nobody is contacting us?” I looked about the room, realizing Zoe’s shield was still up.

“Oops.” She laughed. “Sorry… not sorry.” She winked.

“They realize we need this reprieve.” I sighed. “Given what lies ahead.”

Zoe exhaled. “Yeah, we’re in for some rough waters, blue eyes.”

“What did you learn while in the dark realm?”

“Definitely not enough.” She pursed her lips, running her hands through my hair. “And what I did learn, I need to keep to myself for the time being.”

“What do you mean?”

“My mind is the only one protected, Cade. I can’t give you all the details, but I need you to trust me.”

I pursed my lips.

“There are things at work now, things set into motion before my rebirth that are necessary to protect our family. To save humanity. I can’t share everything with you yet. Your minds are vulnerable to prying ears.”

“I don’t like this.” I sat up beside her.

“I know, and if there was any other way around this, I’d use it. But there’s not. The only way is to follow through with my plan as laid out.” She sat up beside me. “When I can share it with you, I will. Just know I want to, more than anything.” She ran her hand along my cheek. “I can’t stand keeping things from you, but if the plan’s revealed, well. Genesis
will
fall. All of us.”