The Keeper (8 page)

Lex could see the playfulness in Donovan’s eyes as she shook her head no.  Donovan kissed her hard and turned her so that
his body was blocking the water and
Jed was pressed up against her back.  Jed growled and nipped at her shoulder with his teeth.  Lex held onto to Donovan with one arm and twined the other around to pull Jed closer against her back. 
She felt both men hot and hard against her once more.

Jed knew where Donovan’s thoughts were heading. 
She can’t handle this yet.
 
He cautioned Donovan. 

Lex broke the kiss with Donovan.  She looked up at Donovan and then over her shoulder at Jed.  “Can’t handle what?” 

Jed looked at Donovan.  He really wanted to be angry that the vamp had brought the idea up, but in all honesty, he was harder than he had ever been in his life.  Jed leaned back a little and ran a finger down her spine, glad she was still soapy.  “Donovan wants to be inside your sweet pussy, Lex, while I am inside you here.
”
  He pressed his soaped up finger into her tight little hole and heard her gasp as she nodded ‘yes’. 
He moved it in and out several times, before stretching her with a second finger.

Donovan felt Lex’s body quivering and knew she was close to coming again.  He leaned her back into Jed’s chest and guided himself inside her.  Her body immediately clamped down on his and he thought his knees would give out.  He pulled her body back against his chest and held himself very still inside her.  He could feel Jed’s fingers moving inside her and it took every bit of strength he possessed not to drive into her.  Just when he thought he could handle it no longer, Jed pulled his fingers out and ran his hand down Lex’s back, gathering more soap. 

Once Jed had himself coated he wrapped his hand around the base of his cock and prayed he could hold out until he got inside her.  He kissed and licked the back of her neck as he guided himself to her tight entrance. 

She sucked in a breath as he pressed against her there.

“Do you want me to stop?”  He
didn’t push further, but he didn’t back off either. 

Through clenched teeth, she said, “Don’t you dare.” 

Jed looked at Donovan over Lex’s shoulder one more time.  The vampire was leaned back with his head thrown back and Jed would swear he was praying. 

Donovan, unable to
speak
, heard Jed just fine. 
Damn straight I’m praying.  If you don’t hurry up, I am going to
fucking
explode here.

Jed pressed a little harder and heard Donovan tell Lex to relax and lean into him.  Lex did as she was told and Jed felt the little ring of muscle give.  He pushed slowly into her until he was seated all the way.  The steam was so thick in the shower everything seemed surreal.  It was the most incredible feeling Jed ever had.  He could feel Donovan inside her, but he could also feel how Donovan could feel him.  It was amazing.

Donovan had to move.  He couldn’t hold back any longer and he could hear
Lex begging them both to move. 

Lex was impaled between the two men she loved more than anything.  After the initial burn, she felt nothing but unbelievable pleasure.  She felt Donovan pull out and push back in as Jed pulled out.  They started out slow at first, but in no time they were all three moving uncontrollably heading toward a shared goal. 
Jed shouted first and drove into her ass over and over again, sending her over the edge.  As she cried out she latched onto Donovan’s shoulder and bit. 

“Fuck!”  Donovan was so surprised at the orgasm that hit
him;
it took a minute to realize that Lex had to have used fangs.  He pulled her onto him again and again until his knees gave out. 

Jed and Donovan both dropped to their knees in the bottom of the shower still holding Lex.  Both still deep inside her.

Donovan spoke up.  “Lex?”  Her head was resting on his shoulder. 

“Hmmmm?”  She didn’t think she would ever be able to move again. 

“Lex, baby, you have to lick it to seal it.”  Donovan watched as Jed’s and Lex’s heads both jerked up at the same time.  Jed watched wide eyed as Lex ran her tongue over the two puncture wounds. 

“Damn.” 

Lex looked back and forth between the two men. 
“I love you.  Both of you.” 

Donovan eased out of her first and Jed followed suit.  They both stood an
d
each offered Lex a hand.  As she stood she swayed a little bit.  They both kept an arm around her as they bathed her.  Then Jed held her close as Donovan washed her hair.  They had just rinsed the last of the soap out of her hair when she collapsed against Jed.  Donovan’s panic-stricken look mirrored how Jed felt. 

“The Book of Immortals talks of a sleep the Keeper goes
into shortly after mating.  I don’t remember it saying anything about
how long it lasts.” 

Donovan held her this time while Jed dried her skin with one of her white fluffy towels then dried himself.  Jed took Lex
, wrapped her in a robe,
and put her on the bed while Donovan dried off and dressed.  “Stay with her.  I will go talk to Silas.”

Jed nodded as Donovan headed for the door.  Hopefully, Silas could shed a little light on this sleep.  He had a sinking feeling that-while now Lex should have the powers granted the Keeper-she was more vulnerable than she had ever been.   

Chapter Seven

Lex woke to a familiar voice.  “Alexis, my darling, open your eyes.” 

“Mom?”   Lex opened her eyes but had to squint against the brightness surrounding her mother.  She was in some kind of hall.  It was a big room with vaulted ceilings and white marble top to bottom.  It echoed every word.  “Mom?  How?”

“Shhh, sweetheart.  I will explain everything.  Right now there are things you need to know.”  Her mother stood and another woman came into view.  “Alexis this is Elpis.  She was the Keeper before you.  You must listen to her if you are to protect those you love.”

The woman stepped forward as Alexis’ mom, Sylvia
,
helped her stand.  “Alexis, it is good to finally meet you.  I have waited a long time.”

Donovan took the elevator down to Silas’ quarters.  He had to hold the top floor button and the bottom floor button until
the elevator finally stopped.  Silas met him in the entryway fully dressed and looking worried.  Donovan held up a hand.  “She is okay, but we need to know more about the sleep.”

Silas nodded and led Donovan down a corridor away from his bedchambers.  “It has been a long time since I have read about the aftereffects of the mating.  I was so consumed with protecting her until she became the
Keeper that
I neglected to look further into that area.”  He didn’t want to admit that he had some trouble reading about the mating between the Keeper and the Protectors, considering the Keeper was his daughter.

Donovan followed Silas into his study where Silas removed a painting from the wall revealing a safe.  Upon opening the safe he slid his hand across the top shelf inside the safe and a panel next to the
fireplace opened.  Inside the panel was another safe containing a key.  Silas removed the key and closed the safes and panels in the sequence opposite the one he used opening them. 

Donovan was taken aback.  Silas was not the paranoid type. 

Silas walked toward him and placed the key in Donovan’s hand.  “You said yourself, Alexis has training most Navy SEALs don’t.  I took extra precautions with the book.  The damn thing has pictures in it I didn’t want to have to explain to her.”  Silas took a seat behind his desk as Donovan remained standing. 
Silas smiled.  “Lex is the most curious, most stubborn creature I have ever known.  I have moved that damn book a hundred times in the last ten years, but I finally found a place she would never look.”  At Donovan’s raised eyebrow, Silas continued.  “It is in a safe in her cabine
t
above the stove behind her pots and pans.”

Donovan was still laughing as he made his way back to Lex’s apartment.  He let himself in with the key Grady left on the table by the door inside her apartment.  Apparently, Grady had locked the door for them after he had replaced it.  He would have to thank the kindred later. 

Donovan stuck his head into the bedroom to find Jed sitting up in a chair beside the bed looking worried.  He knew the feeling.  When Lex had passed out, he was terrified.  At least the wolf remembered some of what he read. 
Donovan had never gotten the chance to look at the book.

Donovan held up the key and Jed joined him in the kitchen after quietly closing the bedroom door.  “Do you know that Lex never cooks?”

Jed just nodded, wondering why in the hell Donovan was talking about cooking at a time like this. 

“Apparently, Silas has moved the book a lot over the last several years in an effort to keep Lex from seeing the pictures it contains.
”  Donovan opened the cabinet above the stove and started pulling out pots and pans and setting them on the cabinet.  “He hid the book in the one place Lex would never find it.”  Donovan looked around and finally pulled a chair over to stand on.  Even if she had taken the cookware out there was only a little keyhole in the bottom right corner.  Otherwise it looked like the back of the rest of her cabinets.  He turned the key and removed the fake back.  He pulled the book out, handed it down to Jed, and returned the door and the cookware.  Donovan spun the chair around and sat straddling it while Jed thumbed through the book.

Jed skimmed over the beginning of the book.  He had read it before.  It warns of the possibility of death if the Keeper is not properly prepared.  Silas assured him that he had taken every measure to prepare Lex.  She
was strong and fair-t
wo of the most important traits in a Keeper.  Jed flipped to the pictures in the book.  He knew the reference to the sleep was after that, but once he made it to the pictures, Donovan grabbed the book. 

“What the fuck?”  Donovan spun the book upside down and tilted his head.  He looked at Jed and asked, “Is that even possible?”

Jed shrugged his shoulders.  That particular picture had inspired more than a few of his dreams, but right now the sleep was more important.  Something was really bothering him.  Lex, he was sure, was in danger.

He stopped at the first page after the pictures. 
After the Mating, the Keeper will fall into a deep sleep.  Her body must be protected at all costs or she will be lost forever-trapped in the Fae Realm.  Once she has absorbed all she can, she shall be returned to the Mortal Realm.  For each Keeper the time is different.  If she is deemed unworthy of her Protectors she shall remain in the Fae Realm until the End of Time.

“I think this may be bad.”  Jed looked at Donovan, knowing he was able to hear him reading. 

“What does it mean by unworthy of her Protectors?” 
Donovan stood and started pacing, his hand rubbing the back of his neck.  “She is more prepared that any Keeper has ever been.  She was
chosen
as the Keeper.  How could she be found unworthy of us?”

Jed pondered that for a minute and was unable to come up with anything that made since.  “I think we need Grady.  As a kindred, he’s half Fae.”

There was a knock at the door.  “You know that’s Grady.  Don’t you find that just a little creepy?”  Donovan walked to the door shaking his head.

Donovan had called Jed more than once about something Grady had done.  For a vampire-a blood-sucking creature of the night-Donovan was sure ‘creeped out’ easily.

They both hovered over Grady as he read the text
then closed the book
.  “Do you love her?”

They both looked at Grady like he had lost his mind.  “How could we not?” Jed responded as Donovan said, “Hell, yes!”

Grady looked from the Shifter to the Vampire.  “Then there is only one thing to do, but you have to trust me.  Come.”  Grady stood and looked at the pair again.  There was no doubt in his mind or his heart that these two loved Lex more than anything.  If they were not telling the truth he would have known and Lex would forever be stuck in the other realm.

It was a quarter until midnight when they arrived at the dam. 
Silas was back in Lex’s apartment, guarding her body. 
Grady had explained on the way that it was the door between the realms. 
The only way through the door without a Fae of great power was one’s love on the other side.  All they had to do was jump. 

Lex was surprised at everything
Elpis had taught her in such a short period of time.  And Elpis explained that there was only one other test Lex had to pass to be returned to her realm, but would not divulge any further information before she disappeared, leaving Lex in the company of her mother. 

“Mom, what happened to you?”  Lex had asked her father numerous times about her mother, but he always gave some cryptic answer.  Saying only that she would find out when the time came. 

“You were just a baby when the first of the hunters came.  I was young and scared-terrified of losing you.  A woman came
just before the hunters found us.  She took my hand and yours and said that she knew of a man
who
could keep you safe-a man who would train you to become who you were meant to be.  Before we could leave, I was shot.  I told her to take you and run.  The next thing I remember was waking up here.  Elpis saved you that night, taking you to Silas.  She said that my love for you was her reason for saving me.  I have been here ever since.  I am able to see you from time to time when the Veil is thin.  You have grown into a wonderful, beautiful woman.”