Protector (6 page)

* * * *

Silvie’s voice bounced within my fuzzy head. “Did you find anyone or even any sign of anyone?” she asked in a strained tone.

My brows pinched together as I tried to lift my heavy eyelids. Gingerly, I patted the comforter underneath me, finding the familiar pattern in the stitching and figuring I was on my bed.

“No.” That someone, an unknown man, answered her. “There’s no evidence and nothing to track from where we found your friend lying, either. Clearly, whoever it was teleported to that exact spot and then left the same way.”

“It had to have been the warrior from Carlisio’s forewarning, Zac,” a female hissed, interrupting the male. “What do you feel
,
Belle?”

Belle was here? Besides her and Silvie, who were the others?

“There were no residual emotions in the air. I can’t give you any additional intel, Viv. I’m sorry.” Okay, that was Belle all right, so who were Zac and Viv?

I scraped one eye open, stunned as I heard yet another man’s low growl in response to that information. I tensed. Then every drop of blood in my body heated, beginning to boil, followed by a shimmer of pain.

Oh boy. There it was–that internal reaction to the one man I’d been thinking constantly of for the past night and two days. He was close–too close. Still, I couldn’t help myself and even with a leadened head, my mind reached for his, linking and merging to find relief from the pain.

“Davio?” I murmured his name groggily, now needing to physically touch him.

So wrong.

I heard a fast rustle across the room.

“I’m here.” The bed beside me dipped.

I pushed my eyelids open the rest of the way just as his hand smoothed over my forehead. I sank into the mattress, releasing a soft sigh. Oh, skin-to-skin contact was so soothing–like I’d been wrapped in my favorite blanket and tucked into bed by the most caring of hands.

Then I jerked.

“Why is there pain when we don’t touch?” Now that had to be said. It didn’t make any sense, but the only relief I found from the discomfort was to touch him or be more than five feet apart.

In frustration, I rubbed the side of my head which had taken the impact of the baton’s brutal blow, expecting to find a solid, full-sized lump. There was nothing–even the ache I’d woken up with had receded. “Okay, do I fast-heal or something?” Because what other possible scenario could explain this?

“Yes, you do. The wound and subsequent bruising is almost gone. You healed within the first twenty minutes you were down.”

“I’ve been out for twenty minutes?” I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them. “That’s not good.”

His gaze captured mine. “No, and it’s unacceptable that someone harmed you.”

I cleared my throat and edged closer toward him, detesting that I sought more of his comfort. “Okay, how come you’re back? Didn’t you decide we weren’t going to reacquaint ourselves with each other, like ever again?”

Davio’s honey-gold hair fell forward over his wide brow as his gaze heated. “I did. I had to come. Carlisio was forewarned about the danger to you. He could not get a complete fix because your attacker used the cloaking strength skill. Do you recall who approached you? Who knocked you out?”

My heart raced, and not from his multiple questions but from the way his hand cupped my shoulder. His touch caused a whole other kind of friction. A friction I was becoming fast fixated with. I stared at his lean fingers. There was only him. He made me feel strangely safe and protected by physically tying me to him. Him!

At no other time in my entire life had a man had that impact on me. Just being surrounded by him somehow soothed me. The reality hit me hard, the truth of my thoughts astounding. For some reason–or for every reason–I no longer felt so lost and alone.

He was back. My soul-bound mate was back.

I couldn’t fathom being here without him, and with more certainty than I thought possible.

“Davio,” I murmured as I stared straight into his deep-set gaze. There was equal determination reflected in his.

It gave me the strength I needed. “Don’t leave again–like you did before.” The words easily slipped out. Then I said it again, the second time with striking force. “If we’re mated, we should be together. Belle said I could make such a stand and I am.” I stood up for my rights, giving him no further choice.

Silvie gasped from across the room, causing my gaze to ping over Davio’s shoulder to her. There I saw Belle with a soft smile of relief on her face.

Only they weren’t the only ones present. Beyond them were the other two I’d first heard. A woman with dark brown hair who stood to the side of the window, her face half cast in shadow as she scanned the section toward the road front. She was fully armed, a nasty looking blade hooked into her belt on her right. She appeared battle ready, her tight leather vest secured with straps over a ruffled white shirt and inky skintight pants. Wearing knee-high, black leather boots, she was ready for some serious action.

“That’s Viv, one of my best protectors,” Davio offered as he watched my gaze wander. “Over by the door is Zac, another of our best.”

My heart stopped. Zac was huge, a tall, broad-shouldered man whose body rippled with lean muscle. A fighting machine with his sword clasped between both hands and resting point down to the carpeted ground. He was dressed similarly to Viv in dark leathers, but half his chest was bare where his white shirt remained loose and free.

I gulped and swung back to stare at Davio. Now that I was focused, I saw he was dressed in a similar fashion with dark leathers and a white shirt fluttering underneath a finely made sleeveless leather half-coat. My mate appeared to have stepped out of an ageless time, his attire nothing like the teenage clothing he’d worn the day before.

“Well,” I said, drawing in a deep breath. “I’m very glad I didn’t see you like this yesterday.” One look at his combat leathers would have made me freak.

He withdrew his sword, sliding it out of the weighty scabbard belted low on his hips.

“Hey, hold on.” I scuttled back, actually cracking my head on the white painted headboard behind me. “Whoa.” I held up a placating hand as I rubbed my twice-beaten scalp.

“Would everyone leave the room? It seems it is necessary for me to speak to my mate. Privately.” His deep gaze was determined.

“Ah, is that a wise idea?” A rush of air left my body at the way he slowly propped his sword beside my headboard.

“It is when you are all I’ve thought about this past day–when I’ve been so unsure whether I could’ve ever kept my word and stayed away. The bond builds fast, and even I have not been able to dismiss it.”

The others filed out, the door gently clicking shut behind them as the man who was my soul-bound mate continued, “As is the way with mates, I need to be close to you, to see to your welfare and quite obviously your protection.”

He paused, his large hands gripping my waist as he lifted me. Seating himself, he set me onto his lap. “Although I cannot and will not shirk my duties. Not even for you, or for any other. Carlisio has a large country to govern, and he cannot do so alone. My father aids him and for the past year I have too.”

“Um…okay?” I was on his lap? It felt strangely right, yet odd. Touching a finger to his bristly jaw, I offered him a slight smile. “Sure, you aid your father, grandfather and your country. Except don’t forget me in the vast scheme of things.”

“I will not forget you, not after you’ve haunted my mind this past day. Even now, I can sense your connection and the ability you have to merge when we are together. If it were not for that, I would feel discomfort.” His arms banded tighter about me, enforcing a closeness which continued to surprise me.

“So, now what do we do?” I snuggled, discovering my need of him intensifying just as his obviously was. I watched the play of sunlight dancing through the window, crossing his face and highlighting his strong jaw and his mouth.

“Someone harmed you. Zac, Viv and Belle are just three members of the team I keep quite close to me. No one else will ever get through all of us to you again. But there will be rules. To ensure your safety I want you to–”

“Hold on.” I cut off his words by pressing a finger to his lips. Ooo, so soft. And what was with my fascination with his mouth?

His brows drew down, his forehead furrowing deeply. “Are you still not feeling well?”

“Oh, I’m more than well.” Then I slowly grinned and leaned in. “It seems I want more than your protection. I want you to kiss me.” That was the complete and honest truth.

That comment stopped him dead cold.

Then he inhaled, slowly, the sound so sweet as his breath stuttered a little. “Kiss you?” he murmured, his eyes now turning a melting hue of delicious brown.

“If you want?” I somehow managed to shrug my shoulders like it didn’t matter.

“I want to.” Then he closed that last little gap and there was nothing but his warm lips against mine. Every sound around me vanished as my world centered and became only him.

He had come to me at the first sign I was in trouble–no man had done that in my life.

My soul lifted and my heart soared.

Desire flared, and he pushed me against the soft comforter. He surrounded me, my mind captivated as we shared breath.

Slowly he eased away. “Faith, where you are concerned, my corporal need for you will rally just as greatly as my need to protect you. I believe we need rules.” His liquid gaze turned me into a pile of goo.

I inhaled slowly, remembering to breathe. “Yes, I can already tell you could use a few. Do you want me to start?”

He grinned and curved a hand around my neck, maintaining our skin-to-skin contact. “I’ve been raised by my parents and my grandfather, taught to assert myself strongly, and you must do the same with me to ensure you’re heard.”

I tapped him on the chest with my finger. “Yeah, I’ve already done that. You need to pay more attention, big fella.”

A smile twitched his lips. “Big fella?”

I tilted my head. “That’s right, so what else do I need to know about you since we’re being all honest?” Because I could sense there was something else, an element of truth below the surface in every word he spoke. I almost had my finger on it.

“You already feel the awareness of it. We cannot lie to one another, or should I say, we can, but the other will always sense it.”

Now truth, there was a bonus, because that’s what I desired most.

Davio caught my tapping finger and brought it to his lips, kissing the tip. “These last few months of your education are important, and I do not wish to take that away from you. Only, I will rarely be here. I will do what I can to give you what you need, but there will be times of separation. It cannot be helped.”

I stared at him, strangely not liking the idea of separation. Ah, and here I thought I was an independent woman. Even my mind cringed at the thought of dropping this mind-merge I had created with him. “There is a place within your mind I’m linked and locked onto, where I’m resting.” I looked at my hand in his. “With skin-to-skin contact, our tension dissolves.”

“I’ve felt it, but we must be touching.”

I nodded. “The pain is like a brewing heat coursing through my veins. I merged my mind with yours and with touch, the aching sting disappears.” My explanation was real–unnatural and impossibly bizarre–but still real. “Is this normal for mates? Or has it something to do with forethought?”

“Merging your mind with mine has nothing to do with being soul-bound. Being mated is a relationship, a union of the two souls and is separate to the skills we hold. And it’s only you who is forming the mind-merge. It’s not my skill.” He frowned. “Forethought? Carlisio certainly does not mind-merge like this and bed down as you are doing. He simply reads others’ thoughts when they’re near, as they project them. Although, it is your father and his line which is unknown. This strange ability may have come from him. We will simply have to work around our unusual pairing.”

I could sense the truth he spoke of from our bond–could feel it resonate with unerring accuracy.

“Finding out who your father is will be a priority.” Davio stroked my hair, his touch so gentle. We barely knew each other, yet were still bonded so closely.

Thinking of my unknown father, I stared into Davio’s eyes. “It’s never bothered me, to not know of the man who aided in conceiving me. I’m very lucky–I have a wonderful mother who has single-handedly raised me, without even the aid of grandparents or aunts or uncles. There has only been Silvie and her mother, Seriah.” I sighed. “I’ve only ever needed them. My father means nothing to me. No man ever has.”

He smiled, giving me a wink. “Ah, but I will.”

Then he kissed me deeply, and I kissed him back, overwhelmed by the new emotions stirring within me.

He broke away first, his head coming up. He looked at the door. “Silvie’s coming. Down the hallway. I can hear her.”

So could I–that precise hearing of ours being immensely helpful.

The door flew open and slammed against the wall. Yeah, that was Silvie, all right.

“Ten minutes is enough you two–now break it up,” she admonished as she stormed toward the bed, red-gold curls flying about her face. “Let’s remember we still have a villain to unearth and apprehend.” She turned, giving Davio a fierce glower. “What do you think you’re doing on my best friend’s bed? Get off. Off. Off. Off.”