STEP (The Senses) (47 page)

“I am honored you have asked me to marry you, but—”

“For Christ’s sake Rayne.” He dropped his head to her chest. “No buts, please.”

“But you will have to get permission from Waleron.”

His hands tightened around her wrists and he glanced up at her with what appeared like amazement. “Yes though. Yes?”

She laughed. “Yes, I will marry you Kilter. But out of respect, ask—”

“He can’t deny me your hand.” He put both her wrists into one hand and slid his other down the side of her. Goose bumps rose on her skin and she shivered. “You are mine.”

Before she could reply, he crushed her lips with his own, and she melted into the embrace of the man who flooded her with love.

****

Waleron had hesitated twice in the past two days, once at sending a bolt of energy at Liam with Rayne at risk and now. He knew Delara was inside, could hear her breath as if it was right next to his ear. Her steps he’d recognize anywhere, casual and yet agile like a cat’s. Her scent drifted into him and he could smell the despair, the anger, the self-hate. He also smelled the sweet alluring scent of her skin that he had memorized since the first day he’d met her.

He yanked open the back door to the gallery and walked upstairs to the bedroom.

And just as he could sense her near, so could she.

“I’m leaving, okay. Jedrik came by with a bottle of vodka and twelve Red Bulls last night. I’m a little slow on the mark,” Delara said. She left the door ajar as she went into the bathroom and threw toiletries into her bag. Waleron leaned up aga
inst the doorframe. He watched her movements. He had overreacted by asking Delara to leave Toronto, to leave the Senses. At the time, he was so furious that she had kept her pregnancy from him. Lied to him.

And that had been before he’d known Rayne was his own.

What infuriated him more was that Delara managed to disappear time and again and he had never been able to locate her. One of those times, she had been carrying his child. Their child. A child who had been put through hell. If he had known . . . he honestly wasn’t sure what he’d have done, probably hidden Rayne away so she’d be safe from his nemesis Jasmine.

But he had spoken with haste. Yes, he had every right to be pissed as hell, but to tell one of his own Senses to leave was . . . this was Delara he’d told to leave. Delara. The woman he could barely go a minute without thinking of.

“Are you waiting to escort me out of T.O? Or does it give you satisfaction watching me pack?” Delara asked.

“I had no right to ask you to leave.” Waleron kept his tone steady and calm. “But I cannot forgive you for keeping something so significant from me.”

Delara grabbed a wrinkled piece of yellowed paper from her nightstand, shoved it in her jean pocket, then walked across the room to her knapsack. “Well, I was leaving anyway.”

“Running again.” It was a statement. Delara ran from everything and he was to blame for most of it. Yet giving her what she wanted was too risky. He’d never put her life in jeopardy again by being with her
, even if it was destroying them both.

“I deserved that. But, actually, no. This time I’m not. I am running towards someone.”

Waleron’s breath left him for two short seconds. He didn’t say anything, afraid to ask what she was referring. Afraid that she was talking about Edan and, despite his refusal to give what she wanted, a relationship, it ripped him to shreds to see her with other men. It made it worse now that they shared a wonderful daughter.

A daughter. God, the word was difficult to comprehend when related to him. No, it was terrifying.

“Delara,” Waleron said, “You cannot leave Rayne.” The thought of trying to form any sort of father daughter relationship without Delara was . . . it was impossible.

She threw her bag over her shoulder and glared at him. “Of course, you’d think so poorly of me that I’d walk out on her.” She shook her head. “Figures.” She walked to the door and stood inches from him. “At least something beautiful came out of our night of sex. I’ll never regret that. But I sure as hell regret giving you my heart and soul.”

Waleron’s blue eyes paled as he took hold of her arm. “You lied to me about continuing to see Liam and you failed to inform me you were carrying our child. I have every right to be furious with you.”

She ignored him, changing the subject and yanking her arm out of his grasp. “Why did you negotiate with Jasmine?”

“It was not a negotiation.” No, it was what had to happen in order to free Rayne.

“You offered yourself for Rayne. Sure sounds like a negotiation.”

“It had to happen that way.”

She stiffened and he knew right then that she knew. “Trinity.”

Waleron gave a curt nod.

“She gave you her visions,” she concluded. “Trinity knew it was the only way to free Rayne.”

“Yes.” He noticed her complexion fade to a grey tone and wished he could hold her in his arms and soothe the hurt. “Anything related to Abby she could not see. Damien appearing was a surprise. I suspect we have Kilter to blame for that.”

“So how long did she demand you fuck her for her visions this time?”

“Delara,” Waleron warned, grabbing her arm in steel grip again. “Don’t. It will never happen again.”

“It doesn’t matter, Pez,” she replied and tried to pull away. This time he refused to let go.
“Where are you going, Delara?”

“I’m going where I always go when I leave
, and then in a few weeks I’m meeting my daughter and Kilter. They are taking an extended vacation. I’ll be back . . . whenever.” She pried her arm from his grip, pitched forward as if to take a step, and stopped. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes for a moment, then met his intense stare. Something in her had softened. Her expression had changed, the anger dissipating to resignation.

“You are good at what you do, Pez. Leading the Senses. Fighting to maintain justice in this world. It’s what you live for. That’s who you are. Maybe I’m just realizing this now. Maybe I thought one day you might . . . no
, not maybe, I did think that one day you’d be able to share that life with me.”

His heart hammered against his chest as if a drum sentencing him to death. He wanted to reach out, take her in his arms, hold her, tell her they co
uld be as they once were . . .

“With Rayne coming back into our lives, I guess I realized how much time I’ve lost with her and how much time I’ve lost loving you.” She stood on her tiptoes, tilted her head and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. “You did good
, Waleron. With Abby. Jedrik told me. She’ll learn to adjust to her new life even if she doesn’t realize that now. Maybe some of that ice around your heart is melting.”

“Abigail hates me,” Waleron admitted. “As does Damien. I don’t know what he will do if he ever finds out she is alive.”

Delara smiled. “I do. He’ll go after her.” She ran a finger across his jaw. A touch so familiar, yet so lost to his memories. “We have a remarkable daughter who came from our love, Waleron.”

Waleron stared, unable to move as Delara strode past him, her footsteps quickly fading.

The gallery door opened and closed.

Her scent
, which he had memorized and carried with him every second of every day since that fateful day they’d met, swam into his lungs.

“Maitagarri,” he whispered. A single tear slipped from his eye. He barely felt it as he picked up the dresser beside him and threw it across the room. A deep crazed roar escaped his constricted throat.

His unleashed fury of destruction went long into the night.

Rayne walked along the shore, her feet covered in fine grains of sand and the sun beating down on her heated skin. She had a slight tan now, the paleness erased by the sun and fresh air she
’d tasted every single day for the past three months of their extended vacation. She smiled at the thought of Kilter and his relentless pursuit of finding three cottages within walking distance of one another. He had finally managed it in the Turks and Caicos and never looked back.

None of them had
. Well, maybe Delara, she was dealing with so much guilt and hurt that Rayne wondered how she even managed to get up in the morning. But she refused to talk with Rebecca—who had been ecstatic about taking a semi-sabbatical on the island with her husband—and whenever Waleron’s name came up in conversation, Delara went deathly pale.

Rayne had to hand it to Kilter, he’d been very persuasive and persistent convincing Rebecca to come. Kilter actually tracked down Rebecca’s husband and gave him the generous offer. That sent Rebecca off on a tangent, but Rayne guessed that after they sat and discussed the pros and cons, it was a situation they couldn’t refuse.

The ocean swept up on shore and washed the sand from her feet. Rayne closed her eyes at the sweet touch of coolness on her skin. She’d dreamed of days like these, the sand between her toes, the sun beating down on her skin and the soft hand of the wind in her hair. It seemed so long ago that she had walked alone on a path of self-destruction. Now, when she looked in the mirror, she saw the courageous woman she’d become.

“Rayne,” Kilter called from the porch. “Pain in
the butt called. He says he’ll call back tonight.”

Rayne rolled her eyes. Kilter had started calling Waleron that after having to ask the guy for her hand in marriage. He still hadn’t given Kilter his blessing
, and that pissed Kilter off big time. Rayne hadn’t told Kilter, but she asked her father why and he told her that he wanted to be certain Kilter was worthy of her. Waleron also said he’d consider it in two years. No way could she tell Kilter that, he’d have a raging fit.

She watched Kilter walk down the porch steps and come towards her
with casual agile strides, the stiffness in his shoulders gone, and the tension in his expression faded. The vacation had done them both good, away from the violence and the tribulations. She suspected by Kilter’s relaxed and easygoing manner that perhaps he was also healing from his past.

They both were.

His walk was confident as he approached wearing an irresistible half grin. Her heart did a double leap and her body tingled with bliss.

He reached her
, and without hesitation, grabbed her around the waist and drew her close. His naked chest pressed against her bikini top and she instantly felt the tantalizing warmth of his skin. His lips descended and she moaned under his possessive, brilliant kiss, which made her body burn with desire.

He swept his fingers through her damp tendrils
, then drew back so he could look at her. “Your father refuses to give his consent. I swear that man is testing my patience.”

Rayne hid her smile and instead placed a light peck on the tip of his nose. “He is overly cautious and protective. But he likes you.”

“Ha. He hates that I love you. He’d rather Tye were holding you right now.” Kilter ran his fingers down her back. “God, you feel good. Do you think your mother can see us from here because—”

“Kilter!” Rayne squirmed when his hand slid down her back and over her butt to her thighs. “It’s broad daylight. So inappropriate.”

“Hmm,” he murmured as his lips nuzzled her neck. “And you know how I love inappropriate, baby.”

She felt a tickle on her thigh and used her opposite foot to swat away whatever was taking her mind off the delicious sensations Kilter was burning through her body.

Burning. She felt burning. A tickle of sensation in her inner thigh and . . . she jerked from Kilter’s arms and he groaned with frustration. When he saw her expression, he instantly went on alert, his eyes roaming over her body, wondering what was wrong.

“Babe, what is it?” Kilter grabbed her hand then dropped it as if he’d been stung. “Fuck, you
’re hot. What the hell is . . .”

A white light swirled into the air then suddenly blossomed into Serafina and her daunting
, beautiful smile and glorious red hair.

“Serafina,” Rayne cried with glee and leapt into her childhood friend’s arms. “I thought . . . Serafina
, I thought you were dead.”

“Now, now
, Rayne-drop, don’t get all mushy with me. I hate that crap.” Her gaze turned to Kilter and her dramatic brows rose with delight. “Oh, now he is delicious enough to eat. Tell me this is Galen. You promised I could have Galen.”

Rayne laughed at Kilter’s shocked expression and noticed how he took a step back from her Scar. For once, he looked uneasy. “Not Galen. Kilter. And he is all mine, so hands off
, Serafina. And be good, I don’t need Kilter knowing all my secrets.”

“Like that I beat your ass at chess and that you sucked your thumb until you wer
e six and that you peed your—”

“Enough
, or you’re going back without the game I promised,” Rayne said.

“This is your Scar?” Kilter asked with astonishment.

Serafina pouted and ran her hand through her mass of curls. “Did I forget to do my hair again? I don’t usually scare this easily. Is he a wuss, Rayne-drop? I thought you said you had hot sex with—”