My Savior (11 page)

She dabbed a few drops of each oil on the inside of her wrists and brought them up to rub lightly behind her ear and down her neck. She peeked over and was satisfied to see that Darian had visibly relaxed and was smiling softly. She turned back to her task at hand.

"I like using a light powder in the evenings, something with a bit of luminosity. This one is called, Hope of Light." She used a brush to powder her face. "A lot of people think you have to go with a darker look when you go out at night, the smokey eye that Meryn was attempting for example, but that's not true. Lighter colors have their place when the sun goes down." She picked up an eye shadow palette. "This color is called Heart's Desire; it has a gorgeous champagne gold color." She used a small, fluffy brush to apply the color all over her lid. "This one is called, Shimmering Love." A pearlescent cream color, she used it to highlight her brow bone, her inner eye, and the center of her lip. One by one, she chose bright colors named for hope, love, and light. When she was done, she turned to him. His empty wine glass sat on the floor beside his chair, forgotten. He no longer smiled but desperately gripped both arms of the chair, as if he was fighting an unseen enemy to stay seated.

"You don't like it?" She turned and looked in the mirror. She looked fresh-faced and golden. She had worn the look many times in the past when she wanted to feel closer to him.

She reached up and slowly removed the bobby pins, letting her curls fall where they would, and his hands on the chair arms cracked the wood. She put the bobby pins aside and folded her hands in her lap. "You do like it."

He took a ragged breath. "You look like an innocent angel. Everything you did was pure magic." He released the chair arms and stood.

"You keep using terms like young, innocent, and angel to describe me, but that's not right. I have seen so much darkness, I feel like my soul is stained with it. If there is anyone on this earth that can help you fight back your demons, it's me, yet you won't even let me try to help you." She stood to face him.

His features became a hard mask; gone was his easy smile. "Who has shown you darkness? Why didn't your brothers protect you?"

"Don't blame them. It was my choice; every single time, it was my choice." She hugged herself tightly. If he knew, would she still be his innocent angel? Would he give up completely? She turned her back to him.

"Tell me," he demanded.

She shook her head. "You haven't earned the right to ask that of me. You deny me at every turn and expect the privilege of my trust. It doesn't work like that, Darian."

"If someone has hurt you..." His voice was sharp and ice cold.

She turned and slowly made her way over to him. When she stood directly in front of him, she reached up and laid her hand over his heart. "What would you do, my prince? What if I told you that, without your love, I would spend the rest of my life trapped in a hell of my own making? That not even losing my soul could compare to the nightmare I would endure every day without you, lost in an inescapable cycle of torment and abuse? If you're not willing to live for me, are you willing to fight for me?"

He swallowed hard, repeatedly. "You ask too much."

"I only ask for what I was promised so long ago."

He reached up and removed her hand from his chest. "There is nothing left in me that could save you." He walked past her and out of the room.

She stood there, unable to move. She kept her breathing even. She wouldn't cry. How many times had the thought of ruining her makeup acted as a suit of armor? Her mate thought he had nothing left to give her, but she knew that wasn't true. If he couldn't see the light of his own soul, then she would become a mirror and reflect his own light back to him. If his light was too dim, then she would ignite the flames of his heart. She would never give up, not until he was safe.

Goddess, help me.

CHAPTER SIX

Alone, Amelia walked downstairs to the dining room. She had changed into a simple white dress and slipped her phone into her pocket. She decided to leave her hair down; Darian had liked it better this way. When she stepped into the dining room, she noticed she was the last one to come down. The men stood and sat again when she did.

"Sorry I took so long," she said quietly.

"It's no problem, Aiden and I just came down ourselves," Meryn said as she pulled a steaming roll apart.

"We just got here, too. We had to tuck Penny in," Rheia admitted, smiling at her.

Meryn took a huge bite of her roll. "You two are like a matched set of black and white. You look great. I'll never be able to get my makeup to look like that," she sighed.

Amelia looked between herself and Darian and realized that Meryn was right; they complemented each other perfectly. She forced a smile. "You'll get it, it just takes practice. Did you get all the glue off?" She unfolded her napkin and laid it in her lap.

"Yup. Aiden gave me incentive to keep my eyes closed in the shower." Meryn leered up at her now blushing mate.

"Meryn! How many times do I have to tell you, no sex talk at the table!" Aiden exclaimed.

Meryn's face became a mask of innocence. "I didn't say anything about sex, you did."

Colton choked on his water, and Rheia beat him on the back.

Aiden growled at his friend. "Shut up, mutt."

"Too bad Jaxon and Noah ate earlier. I am sure those youngsters would appreciate the pointers," Gavriel commented.

Aiden shot him a dirty look. "
Et tu
?"

"Aiden, they know we have sex. I didn't get this way by immaculate conception." Meryn pointed to her rounded belly.

"No, you got that way on your hands and knees, if I remember correctly," Aiden commented smugly, reaching for his water.

"Aiden!" Meryn screeched, turning bright red.

This time, it was Colton who lightly pounded Rheia on the back as she tried to laugh and swallow her roll at the same time.

"Touché." Gavriel raised his wine glass to the commander who winked at the vampire.

"I can't believe you said that!" Meryn said, her eyes wide. She stared for a second and then began to giggle. "That was awesome." She held up a fist to her mate.
 

Aiden's huge fist dwarfed Meryn's little one, but he tapped her knuckles gently before leaning in to kiss her nose.

"There is something to be said for doggy style, if you know what I mean." Colton wagged his eyebrows looking self-satisfied until Rheia cuffed him upside the head.

"You mean puppy style?" she quipped.

Colton's mouth dropped open. Next to her, Keelan had fallen over to his right and lay across the seat of the chair next to him, laughing so hard he wasn't making any sounds. Darian covered his mouth, but Amelia was willing to bet he was hiding a smile. Everyone at the table was having a hard time breathing for the laughter.

"Puppy? Puppy!? I'll show you puppy later," Colton murmured under his breath.

Rheia leaned in close to him. "Challenge accepted."

Colton growled and bit a roll in half.

Meryn wiped her eyes with her napkin and looked over at Darian. "You look more relaxed than I've seen you in months. Did you enjoy shower time, too?"

He simply shook his head.

Amelia played with her roll. "He watched me get ready for dinner. A lot of husbands will sit in on their wives' makeovers. I've been told by many of them that they found it soothing."

"There is nothing soothing about trying to peel glue off your mate's eyelids," Aiden grumbled.

Amelia chuckled at the image of Meryn with one eye closed. "I think you encountered an extreme case."

"I enjoy watching Beth brush her hair at night. I agree, it is very calming," Gavriel admitted.

Aiden glanced down at Meryn's pixie and sighed. He looked around the table. "I got a phone call from my father. The council is returning the original necklace from our gooey corpse and the necklace from Penny's father to us. They want us to go over them again."

The men groaned. "Why? What in the hell do they think we'll find? We've been over those things a thousand times," Colton complained.

"I happen to agree with you; however, at the moment, they are our only lead regarding our rogue ferals. So we'll go over them again." Aiden sat back looking as frustrated as the rest of his unit.

Amelia frowned.

Rogue ferals?

She spoke up. "I'm sorry, but what do you mean by rogue ferals?"

Aiden exchanged surprised looks with Gavriel and Colton. "Your brothers didn't tell you?" he asked.

She shook her head. "They tend not to tell me the grittier stuff. Caiden did mention a lot of kidnappings going on in this area, which is why he wanted me to come home right away."

"When was the last time you were home?" Gavriel asked.

"Last year. I moved back to Storm Keep after having lived in Atlanta for a few years, but I couldn't sit still. So I packed a bag and my makeup case and decided to visit each of the other pillar cities. I traveled around the country for a while, this was my first city to visit."

"Fate hard at work again," Beth said.

Amelia turned to her. "What do you mean?"

Beth smiled. "The same thing happened to Meryn and me."

Meryn laughed. "In my case, I threw a dart at a map."

"So I was brought here?" She stared up at Darian who didn't say anything.

"We're all being brought here. The spell was cast, so the warriors get mates. I, for one, am grateful." Beth looked over at Gavriel. He raised their joined hands and kissed her knuckles.

Amelia wanted more information on the ferals. She reached beside her and tugged on Darian's shirt. He looked down at her, surprised. She could tell he hadn't expected her to touch him.

"What is going on with the ferals?" She couldn't keep the tremor from her voice. Growing up, she had had nightmares about the vacant-eyed monsters her brothers fought.

His reaction to her fear was immediate and without thought. He reached to his side, pulled her hand away from his shirt, and clasped it in his. "You fear them?"

She nodded. "More than most, I think. All I had growing up were my brothers, and all three of them are unit warriors. If there was anything that could take them away from me, it was ferals. I hated and feared them as a child."

Darian looked over at Aiden who nodded. "She needs to know, now more than ever, especially since she's your mate. She could end up a target like Beth or Rheia."

"Target?" she squeaked.

Darian took a deep breath. "Last year, we noticed that ferals started behaving strangely. They were attacking in groups with visible leaders, taking orders, and had higher brain functions than normal. Some wore necklaces that we now know allows them to somehow retain the abilities they should have lost when they turned feral; it gives them abilities they should never have, like becoming invisible. When Meryn arrived, she started compiling information and saw patterns that we had missed. She discovered that shifter couples were suddenly going missing, especially couples expecting babies. When she widened the search, we saw that the disappearances weren't limited to just the counties around Lycaonia but were occurring all around the country.
 

"Thanks to Rheia, we were recently able to figure out that the necklace not only gave them new abilities but also halted the decay of their bodies. They no longer smelled like a feral and could for pass as a normal paranormal."

Amelia felt herself begin to shake. "How come our people don't know this? They have a right to know."

Darian squeezed her hand. "Because they would panic, and because there's nowhere safe they can go."

"Darian," Aiden chastised.

Darian shook his head. "It's true, and you know it. The women have been attacked here twice, Rheia at the clinic twice. With those necklaces, they can come and go undetected. I'll say what we've all been thinking for months: We are strictly on the defensive, and not doing a good job at that either. We have to wait for them to strike because we cannot take the fight to them." Darian dropped her hand and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

Amelia looked around, incredulous. "Why haven't you created a detection spell?"

Keelan shook his head. "Elder Airgead has tried and says that it is impossible. What would the spell detect? Blood from a blood spell? We all have blood in us."

"Not even Elder Airgead could find a way?" she asked, feeling shaken.

"No. The witches in the units here in Lycaonia have been casting everything we know at those damn necklaces to get them to reveal their secrets to us so we can figure out how they are made, a clue, anything!" Keelan banged a fist on the table.

Amelia turned to Darian. "How can you fight them? How can we possibly win?"

"I'll tell you how," Meryn declared, jumping to her feet. "We find out where these murdering bastards are and then we launch a nuke straight up their--"

"Dinner is ready." Ryuu interrupted from the kitchen doorway. He looked over at Meryn who had a fist raised in the air. "
Denka,
you know it is not good for the baby for you to get so excited before a meal."

"Uh, Meryn, you keep talking about explosives. They're just figures of speech, right baby?" Aiden asked.

Ignoring him, Meryn pouted and sat down, crossing her arms over her chest. "You ruined my moment, Ryuu."

"How will I ever live with myself? Mashed potatoes?" he asked blandly, holding a spoon over his cart.

Meryn brightened. "Yes, please and lots of them. Oh! Can you also mix the peas in with mine?"

"Baby?" Aiden prodded.

"Give up, Commander, lost cause," Colton advised.

Aiden reached for his wine glass.

"Of course." Ryuu dished out a large portion of potatoes and mixed in a spoonful of peas. Without asking, he added two large slices of meatloaf.

"Might as well add a third." Meryn said, watching his every move.

Ryuu's eyes widened. "Your food consumption cannot be normal." He turned to Rheia. "Please check her for a tapeworm."

"Hey! I do have a parasite, but it's a half human, half bear shifter and future Time Lord, thank you very much. So please Ryuu, Meryn two-point-oh would like another slice of meatloaf and some tuna."