Love Beyond Expectations (14 page)

Loraine squeaked and jumped off Drew, moving to Colin. Ruby rushed to his side. If nothing else, she could make Christophe's brother feel better.

"Are you doing okay?" She touched his side, unsure if she should. He winced, which confirmed her worst fears. He really was in too much pain to be handled very much.

"I'm doing better now that I know you've stopped torturing my brother."

"Funny. He tormented me as well."

She couldn't help her smile. He looked too much like Christophe for her not to respond to him. An older, less civilized version of Christophe. Someday she'd know Colin's story.

Loraine chewed through his restraints, and he slumped toward the ground. She grabbed his arm, hauling him upward so he wouldn't fall down. Isabelle had Drew.

This was good. They'd saved their friends so they could get out of there.

Christophe just had to send them back. Gabriel came to her side, nodding at Loraine who transformed back into herself.

Loraine panted. "That was a rough one."

Gabriel nodded. "Give them to me. I'll shove them back. I can't do the whole group but I'll get Jason and our injured back home."

That was good. Marina had been left completely unprotected.

Drew shook his head. "No. Let me stay here with Sebastian. He's won anyway. Maybe he'll kill me and then I can join her. If the fates let me into a dimension that good."

Gabriel hoisted the barely standing Drew over his shoulder. "What are you going on about?"

"With Marina dead, we can't win. Even if the prophecy can be beaten and we don't need the joinings to win, we certainly need her power. It's pointless now. All of it. Maybe it always was. And you can all blame me. It's entirely my fault for not being good enough for her."

"What are you ranting on about, boy?" Gabriel's voice brooked no argument. This was a man who had been through hell and come out the other side. He'd get Drew under control.

"Marina is dead." Drew sounded so despondent Ruby wouldn't have been surprised to see him crumble into a million pieces that couldn't be put back together.

"She's not dead, fool." Gabriel shook his head. "Don't you know yet not to believe anything the demon tells you? Go home and see for yourself. Maybe you can tell us what's wrong with her."

With a shove, he chucked Drew forward. One second Drew flew through the room, the next he vanished. Gabe could move people through space, as long as he knew the location or a person who was at the other end. Different than Christophe. Gabriel could only do it one person at a time.

He moved over to Colin. "Your turn."

Christophe's brother raised his head. "Does it hurt?"

"A little bit." Gabriel lifted him, shoving him forward. He vanished just like Drew had. Ruby never ceased to be amazed by her fellow Outsiders' powers. With one more shove, Jason disappeared, following the two men wherever Gabriel had sent them. He'd be able to make them better in no time.

Gabriel took a couple of deep breaths and grabbed Loraine's hand. Samuel moved into view. He could take anyone's face, look however he wanted, but at that moment none of his talents were going to help very much.

"Leonardo, Christophe, Kal—let's get out. We're not beating him today."

Leonardo cursed, sending Samuel a look that let him know what he thought of his opinion.

Ruby bit down on her lip. She really didn't want to interfere with the demon but she wasn't going to stand around while they endlessly fought with the thing.

She grabbed onto Christophe. "Remember the goal here: Colin. He's home. Unprotected with just an unconscious Marina, a hurt Drew, and Jason. We have to go back." Shaking his arm, she hoped he listened. "Come on."

Christophe's pupils were dilated; he had clearly gone into true Outsider fight mode. She really had no idea if she could bring him back.

"Merde." Christophe ran a hand through his hair. "I wish I could bring everyone back to where we came."

Nothing happened, and he made a sound close to a growl. "Ruby, put your hand on me."

She nodded. That made sense. Their powers worked better when they touched each other. "I'd like to bring us all back to where we came from."

The same overwhelming sensation that had thrown her the first time she traveled happened again. This time, however, she prepared for it and managed to land on the floor without hitting her head. It was like freefalling. She just needed to figure out how to stop less forcefully. There had to be a way. Christophe managed to jump right back up each time.

Ruby hit the floor and rolled. She jumped to her feet, doing a quick head count. Everyone was here, and hopefully, they had managed to leave the demon behind them. Christophe helped her to her feet, and she squeezed him when she stood up. He took her hand, and they left the others who were all getting back on their feet.

When they reached her rooms, she finally spoke. "Can you see him? Did you come back with us?"

"Should he be able to do such a thing?" He rubbed at his forehead. His eyes had a glazed look, and she wondered if the moving everyone back and forth bit had exhausted him.

"I don't know. He got in before. Hassled me for a while. Marina is unconscious so her wards are probably not very strong at the moment."

"Great." Christophe moved away from her to pound on the wall. She raised an eyebrow. Isabelle had warned her that the joining of soul mates usually resulted in the male temporarily losing his mind. Her quiet, cerebral French professor of science had turned into some kind of hulking alpha male who wanted to fight. She smiled as heat pooled inside of her. Both sides of Christophe worked just fine for her.

She moved forward, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Hey handsome, it's okay. We'll walk room to room, and you can search for the demon."

"Wonderful. It'll be like that children's game…what is the name of it?"

His words had failed him again. That seemed to happen when he got really intense. "Hide and seek. The game is called hide and seek."

"Yes. Seek and find." He repeated it wrong.

She grinned, pressing her face into his back.

"Exactly."

"I need to see Colin."

"Yes." She closed her eyes. Rest would, obviously, be out of the question even though she could feel tiredness radiating off him like it was her own. "We have to search that room. Want to start there?"

"Sounds good." He turned around, pulling her into his arms. It took her a second to realize his cock pressed hard into her stomach. She grinned. "You can't possibly be up for it."

"Ah…but, Ruby of mine, I am." He kissed her forehead. "If you are up for it, I need you. Right now."

"With you, I have a feeling I'll always be up for it."

He kissed her, hard, on the mouth. She groaned, pulling at his shirt and wanting his skin beneath her fingertips that very second. He flung it over his head and unhooked his pants while she took care of her own clothing. In seconds, they were both naked.

Once again, she was struck by Christophe's beauty. The chanters must agree with her because they began their low melodic indication that everything between Christophe and Ruby was going according to plan.

He carried her across the room, setting her down on the bed. "You're so beautiful." His voice was a caress over her senses.

"I'm not but I like that you think I am."

Christophe traced a finger from her chin to her bellybutton. "We're going to work on that response until when I say you're beautiful, you say 'well, thank you, yes I am'."

Ruby smiled at him. "How are you going to make me work on it?"

"By always, all the time, showing you how beautiful you are."

She grinned. "I think I can take that kind of punishment."

He kissed her then gently ran his tongue over her bottom lip. She stroked the side of his face, loving the whiskers that had popped up since the morning.

Moving quickly, he positioned himself right over her core. "Put me inside of you."

She grabbed onto his hard, thick cock and brought it to the edge of her pussy. She could feel the head touching her warmth. Her body tingled with anticipation. With a shove of his penis, he entered, filling her all the way up.

Ruby sighed, her muscles clenching around him while they stretched to fit his large size. His eyes held her gaze. There was always so much intensity to Christophe, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Every time he thrust, she raised her hips to draw him deeper. These few precious moments when they could be together as one had to sustain her throughout what she now knew would be hellish days to come.

The thought made her grip him tighter.

"Christophe."

He seemed to understand what she needed. He took her arms and, like he had the first time they'd made love, held them over her head under his control. Her body melted into a puddle of mush. When he held her like that, it made her feel completely connected to him. He had her, and she knew he would never let her go, never leave her on her own to cope in a world where she didn't fit. With Christophe, she made sense.

He was her other half, the second part of her soul.

The piece that had been missing.

"Ruby." She could hear the desperation in his voice. He sped up his thrusts. She closed her eyes, each movement pressing against her clit, giving her the right amount of stimulation until she exploded around him. Her pussy wept, drenching him.

He shouted her name, spilling himself deep inside of her. No babies. She knew that. It would take a specific set of circumstance. Tears slipped from her eyes from the perfection of their moment together. Someday she'd have a family with him. No demon on this planet or any other would stop her from having that.

* * * *

Ruby looked down at Colin. He sat straight up, sipping a soda. Usually, he didn't like sugary drinks, or so he had told her, but Jason had insisted he needed the sweets to finish the healing. No one argued with Jason. He could heal them using his brain alone. A rather impressive feat.

"So you finally got the girl." He looked at Christophe. They resembled each other, but she'd never mix them up. Christophe glowed with light. Or at least he did for her. "Took you long enough."

"I don't see any woman here for you. Seems to me that you're in a bit of shaky position to be judging how long it takes me to do things."

Colin's smile could only be called mischievous. "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Ruby could see them as children. The vision washed over her. They'd been babies, nearly identical. Hidden in a cave their father had converted for their safety. They'd done everything together.

Christophe cried a lot. Except in the few moments when their mother would take them outside. He loved to look at the stars. They reminded him of other times. But Colin kept quiet, most of the time. His eyes took in everything. Beyond his years were the words his mother used to describe him. Babies shouldn't understand as much as Colin seemed to.

A voice they hadn't expected filled the cave. Abraxas Moore. He thought he could save the babies. It was send off their children or death. Their mother cried but got them dressed. How could there be any other choice?

Ruby could hear their thoughts like she could listen to their voices. None of her visions had been this intense before. It would have been nice to return to the present right then. She knew what would happen next. Yet, she had no choice but to watch.

Colin reached out and grabbed Christophe's hand. The other half of her soul looked over at his brother and for a second stared at their clasped hands. Did Colin know what would happen next? Had he sensed it?

Seconds later, they both floated in the air. Their mother fell to her knees, her husband's arms coming around her. One second, they were there, the next, they were gone.

She expected to follow Christophe, and for a second, she did. He landed on a table in the middle of a fancy living room. A man and a woman sat quietly sipping wine. The man gasped, and the woman jumped to her feet.

It took Ruby a moment but then she sorted it out. In front of her, she could see Christophe's human parents. The surroundings were fancy. Everything looked old but well maintained.

Both of the adults remained silent, but Christophe started to scream. His father covered his mouth, not uttering a word. The woman, his mother, stormed forward, picking the baby up into her arms. He stopped crying, nuzzling his head down into her shoulder.

Although Ruby didn't speak French, she understood perfectly when Christophe's mother spoke. "He's ours."

The scene rapidly changed. In front of her, baby Colin wailed but no one picked him up. He lay among other unclaimed babies, all of them dirty, most of them hungry. More children than she could count. In the corner, a woman sipped a pink drink, ignoring the babies calling for her attention.

Only Ruby knew Colin wasn't fussing for food or comfort; he screamed for his brother. Somehow, he understood what he shouldn't have. He'd been sent to the wrong place.

"Ruby."

She jolted, her eyes coming back to Christophe. He stood next to her, staring at her, his eyes wide and his brow furrowed. "Are you okay? We were speaking to you, and you didn't answer."

"I had one of those visions. But different this time. Not just a quick passing knowledge. I really saw things like I was there." She waved her hand in the air. "Like I can see things that have happened in the past."

Colin stood. "What did you see? Anything informative?"

"I saw both you. When you got sent away, where you ended up."

Christophe's brother scratched his head. "Yeah. Well, that's no secret. Christophe went to one country, I got dropped somewhere else entirely."

"And you missed him. You shouldn't have known anything. You were a baby. Yet, you did."

He stared at her and responded with just a shrug. "I never forgot him." Colin smiled, but she recognized it for what it was, a way to cover up just how uncomfortable he felt. "Even if all his red wine and money made him forget all about me."

"Colin…"

He turned his back on them. "Is there any place in this very large house where I can get a shower?"