Soul Awakened (19 page)

His silver gaze kept her from blinking. Her heart ricocheted against her chest. With him so close she caught the scent of wine on his breath.  

“I…” Kendra swallowed nervously unable to finish. With him looming over her an invigorating rush bloomed warmth in her belly and spread out through her chest and lower abdomen. The mix of danger and the position of his hips between her legs sent an effervescent tingling across her skin and settled in areas that both shocked and excited her.

He narrowed his eyes and leaned in closer to her face. Her breasts pressed into his chest with each rise and fall of her rapid breaths. The friction caused her nipples to tighten into small peaks under her bra.  

“Either you are incredibly brazen or simply daft, Parvana. You should know better than to disturb a god while he is sleeping. Why have you come? Certainly not to molest me during my sleep.”

She inhaled sharply at the insult, but couldn’t help the burn of her cheeks. She caught herself staring at his lips again, which only worsened the flush feeling. “I would do no such thing,” she snapped, trying to stay focused on her anger. “You were having a bad dream, I only wanted to check and make sure you were okay.”   

The side of his mouth twitched. “Do you make it a habit of caring for wild animals without a concern if they might bite?”

Damn him. After the horrible past few days, she wasn’t going to put up with his taunting. “Why, do you?” Asshole, she added but didn’t speak out loud. Swear words didn’t come out right when she said them. Frustrated, she tried to pull her wrist out of his grasp. Her struggle seated his body deeper into her pelvis and rubbed against the warmth that had found its home between her legs. She prayed he didn’t notice her body’s reaction.
Bad body.

He grinned and shook his head. His pupils dilated and minimized the silver halos. “You must be daft to ask such a question to an Underworld god.”

Her body stilled instantly. She remembered Lilly talking about Asar drinking her blood and she his.
Oh, stupid.
She had to ask.

Angry at herself for letting her emotions speak before thinking, she glared at him. “I’ve already donated to your cause. I think that was enough.”

The line of his grin flattened. He released her wrists, but pulled her left hand into his. The pad of his thumb stroked the silver scar on her palm. The thin line tingled at his touch. “Yes, you have.”

Her retort came out much harsher than she intended. She sighed and laid her other palm on her forehead. “I’m sorry.” A tear pooled at the corner of her eye. “It’s been a rough couple of days.” Closing her eyes, she groaned. “Forget I said that.” He had one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five bad days compared to her measly three.

Her tear slipped down her cheek into her ear. His warm fingertip traced its path from the corner of her eye to her neck. She opened her eyes to find his wide astonished gaze.

“You are not brazen or daft, are you?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.

She didn’t know how to respond. So many emotions fluttered around in her head and heart. He continued to stroke her palm, his gaze now intent on her scar. His brows furrowed, as if he was distressed she had hurt herself for him.

He rolled his body off of hers. Never letting go of her hand, he pulled her forward against his chest, placed his arm underneath her head and wrapped the other around her shoulder. Kendra went with it unsure how to even extract herself from his intimate embrace.

Did she want to go?

As crazy as it sounded, she reveled in his protective cocoon. Safe from the world outside and the war that raged on their doorstep. No one could hurt her here.

“Stay with me,” he murmured.
i
With his face buried in her hair, he inhaled a deep breath. His whole body shuddered and then relaxed.

God help her, she really wanted to stay and never leave.

But, she couldn’t very well get away with it. She ordered her body guard to stand outside and he gladly obliged. Someone would notice eventually. She hadn’t planned on staying but a few minutes. And what of her getting her questions answered?

In the warmth of his embrace somehow all that didn’t matter.

Bakari awoke to the sweetest of scents tickling his nose. Surprisingly, he felt incredibly refreshed and without one dream permeating his sleep. Based on the glowing embers in the fireplace, he had slept for a significant amount of time with his Parvana tucked snuggly at his side. Curled into his chest, Kendra lay sleeping. A thick spiral strand of hair fell over her face. He gingerly brushed it back.

Her soft rhythmic breaths skirted across his bare arm. Like her skin it smelled sweet and enticing. Her skin had returned to its original peach glow. A pronounced scattering of freckles dotted her nose and cheeks. The white locks had diminished in her long mane.

Her cream shirt clung to her breasts and a small amount of her white lace bra peeked out. His gaze followed the delicate curve of her shoulder to her narrow waist and round hips. The clothing did not detract from the beauty hidden beneath her clothes.

Breathtakingly beautiful.

His gaze settled on her lips. He remembered how they quivered in fear of him. And here she was? A total conundrum. To be so small, but so brave and vulnerable at the same time. He accused her at being daft and silly, but he realized that was not the case at all. Naive— absolutely, but there was something brewing underneath this deceptively small human. A suppressed and muted power to match her bravery, waiting for the right trigger to flourish and bloom.

The three females had to be extremely important to safeguard in the Underworld. “What are you?” he asked quietly. He could not resist the urge to brush his thumb over her pink lips. She moaned softly and parted her lips against the pad of his thumb.

“Isis,” he cursed. He should have a raging hard-on right now, considering the mental pictures of her sucking his thumb into her mouth between those soft plump lips. That part of him was disconnected and lifeless, but that did not mitigate the desire in his chest. To taste her would be extraordinary.

He had never spent the night with a woman without having sex. What was the purpose otherwise? The fact that Kendra still had her clothes on was a first in his long history of fulfilling his urges. 

He rolled onto his back, careful not to disturb his sleeping beauty. Sex had gotten him into trouble in the first place. His memories were fragmented at best, but one assaulted his mind in clear detail.

Five years ago, Kepi had weaved her way into his father’s bed. Charges had been levied against her from the Creation Pantheon. Kepi had pleaded her innocence and Asar had ignored her infractions in favor of fulfilling his own dark hunger. His father was not the only one who had fallen into her clutches. Kepi played them all. All but Nebt, who warned them against her.

When Asar was not around, Kepi’s displays of affection toward Bakari had increased over time to the point she touched him in places that could not be mistaken for anything else but sexual. At that point he should have stopped her or told his father, but he wanted her and what she could offer him. Bondage. S&M. Ménages. Everything his father had, he wanted for himself.

How sorry was he for that now.

He knew Kepi was wicked, but he had been mistaken to think that he could handle her and still get what he wanted. He tried to play her game, but she was so much better at it than he, weaving her darkness into his soul and pitting him against his father and the others. She had whispered in his ear how much better he was than his father. He should rule the Underworld. Her plan worked seamlessly. He did not realize how deeply he had fallen until the day he attacked and almost killed Asar, turning his power against the man who had given it to him.

If Bomani had not interceded, his father would have very well been dead. He had betrayed his father on a level that he could not recover, but he saved his ass by claiming he was innocently seduced. No one disbelieved his claim, except for one. His brother.

Bomani wore his integrity, like a badge of honor on his skin in the form of his scarified tattoos. His brother had always seen Bakari for what he really was— flawed and corrupt. Bakari used Kepi as an excuse to exert it. Funny how it took five years of torture to see what Bomani saw so clearly. Now his inflated narcissism was nothing but a pit of self-hatred.

He looked over at Kendra who exuded a purity that healed his body, fed his soul and inner beast. A purity and second chance he was unworthy of receiving. No matter how much he wished to kiss her lips, caress her body, and wake with her in his bed every morning, it was not going to happen. Ever. Jealousy rose in his chest. Someone else would have the chance to love her and not him. He laid a hand over his heart, astonished he would feel such a thing for a human he barely knew. Did he simply love the idea of her?

Did it really matter?

The end would be the same. He prayed whoever she fell in love with would be worthy of such a gift.

He swallowed against the dryness of his throat. A gnawing cramp developed again just below his ribcage. The sound of Kendra’s heartbeat pounded in his ears, calling to him. He quickly extracted his arm from under her head and rolled his feet onto the floor. He needed more wine. He growled and pushed himself toward the bathroom to create some distance between him and his fetish. He hated how it always hit him out of nowhere. There was never a gradual build up. No, it came like a punch to the gut.

He stared at the reflection in the mirror above the sink. His black shirt stretched tight against his chest, as if it had shrunk overnight. The short sleeves wrapped snug around his bulging biceps. Kendra’s energy healed him completely. His eyes still retained the silver cast and probably would remain that way. A constant reminder of his captivity.

He filled the sink with cold water and splashed his face. With his hand cupped he brought some water to his mouth to drink. The coldness traveled down his throat into the pit of his stomach. Pain shot through his belly. He groaned and grasped his hand over his now ridged abdomen. A wall of sweet nectar hit his senses and knocked him off balance. He leaned forward against the sink.

“Are you okay?”

Bakari ran his tongue over the tips of his incisors that had punched through his gums. He cursed low and hard. “You need to leave.” He gripped the edge of the sink so hard the black marble cracked along the edge. Her scent did not dissipate quickly enough. His gaze snapped to the reflection in the mirror. She hesitated at the door, concern filling her wide brown eyes. “Now!” Before he did something he would regret.

She recoiled. Her large bouncy curls fanned out in a circle when she turned on her heels. He leaned his heavy forearms on the sink and grabbed his head in his hands.

Hurry, my butterfly. Fly fast.

The next groan evolved into a deep growl. His predatory urges took control. He pushed away from the sink and headed to intercept her. His beastly hunger drove him, despite him willing himself to stop. Desperate, he threw his arms out against the archway walls and locked his elbow. The jolt sent shards of pain into his shoulders.

Kendra stopped at the chaise to collect her book and took a couple steps to the door.

His arms shook under the strain. His beast demanded he feed and he could not refuse it. She was not going to make it. He hissed through bared teeth.

“Get out.”

 She flinched but kept moving. Thankfully, she kept her eyes on the door. If she looked up, she would see the monster he truly was and would always be.

The door parted and she left the monster to his cell.

Bomani stared at Bakari’s door for hours. It took all his restraint not to bust through the barrier between him and Kendra. The fear of what he might see kept him parked on the far wall. He needed to respect Kendra’s privacy, if he was ever to obtain her trust. No matter how much it killed him to sit idle. He relieved the body guard who had been assigned to Kendra. The guardian should have never let her go in there by herself.