What did that mean? He was accustomed to being smarter than most people in his vicinity, yet he couldn’t follow her words. “That would be very kind of you. I’d like to be, ah, hooked up.” Then maybe he could figure out what the hell was going on.
“How about you give it a try? Explain to me who you are?” she pressed.
He sighed. “Yes. For you, I shall make the attempt.” Truth be told, much of the dimensional physics weren’t clear, even to him. “There are seven of us. We make up the shield.”
She nodded. “Okay. Seven of you make a shield.”
“Yes. You have seen my back: That is not a marking or a tattoo. My torso has been fused so it is impenetrable.”
She stilled. “Excuse me?”
“The ritual of the Seven.” He wiped a hand across his eyes. “We thought it would make our bodies immortal and unbreakable, but we were wrong. It only made our torsos harder than diamonds. Our hearts are protected, while our necks are not.”
Her shoulders stiffened, but she kept her gaze on the road. “Um, all right. Forgetting the break in reality here, if you’re immortal, why protect your heart?”
“It can be ripped out.” It was his favorite move in battle, actually.
She paled a little bit. “Whoa. Why were you wrong about the ritual?”
He stiffened and his breath chilled. “Let us just say we were mistaken. For now.” He did not want to tell her all the details of the ritual. Some of it might be considered unforgivable.
“That’s fair,” she said easily, speeding up to pass a small blue car. “Seven of you are a shield.”
“The Shield,” he corrected quietly. “We’re called the Seven. The shield is in place to protect the world from a Kurjan: the Cyst, Ulric.” How could one explain pure evil to somebody as sweet as his mate?
“Ulric is the bad guy, huh?” She moved back into the right-hand lane. “What’s so terrible about this Cyst, and why didn’t you just kill him?”
Excellent questions. He loved how quickly her mind worked. “Ulric is shielded head to toe, not just his torso, and he has the power to kill off Enhanced humans. All of you.”
She slowly turned to look at him. “You’re kidding.”
“Um, no.” How could that be said in jest? “His ritual was more complete than ours. He’s unkillable.”
“Well, that sucks,” she said, her tone slightly flippant.
It must be difficult hearing these odd words. “In the year 1000 AD, we employed the strongest elements of physics we knew to create…well, other spheres, using the most powerful of blood—the blood of the complete Seven. We made three other spheres with Ulric in the middle one. I inhabited one sphere and it apparently shattered. I do not know how. My brother is in the other sphere. The other part of the shield.” He couldn’t tell her all of the details, but this should suffice.
She brushed her hair off her forehead. “Okay. So Ulric is unkillable, and you guys basically created a prison for him with you and your brother as prison guards.”
“Yes.” How nice that she quickly grasped his meaning. “You are very bright.”
“I’m a Trekkie, baby,” she murmured. “Kirk and Picard would’ve had a field day with this. Not to mention Spock.”
What was a Trekkie? “Huh? Are these friends of yours?”
“No.” She chuckled. “Long story. One more question: How does Ulric have the power to kill so many people? All of the Enhanced? I’m not buying that one.”
The phrase was unfamiliar, but he understood the meaning. “I imagine it would be difficult to comprehend.” He sighed. “For now, until I get hooked up and can explain better, just believe me. In Ulric’s blood is a threat to all Enhanced.” With this new world, there were probably advanced mechanisms for ending the Enhanced. He had to gain knowledge and now.
She shook her head rapidly as if trying to dislodge a crazy thought. Then she settled. “All right. Now I’m back to thinking I’ve been drugged and you’re insane.”
He settled more comfortably in the seat. Did these come in bigger sizes? Surely there were males his size around. “Perhaps after you hook me up, I’ll be able to explain better.” The vernacular of the day was just odd. Truly strange.
She ran a hand through her thick hair, making his fingers itch to touch it himself. “All right. A couple more questions, and then we’ll be at the cabin.” She turned down a narrow road.
The coolness of the forest surrounded him, settling in his chest. There was water near. He could smell it. “Is this cabin secure?” he asked.
She slowed the vehicle down to drive around a pile of brush. “Yeah. Secure. Speaking of which, those Kurjan guys found my apartment. Exactly how much danger am I in since they found me so easily?” Her lips tightened a bit.
“You are in no danger,” he growled before he could stop himself. “I’d never allow my mate to be harmed. Surely you must understand that.” He wanted to touch her so badly it hurt. Just to offer comfort. “I know I’m not at full strength, but I’ll do everything possible to prepare to fight. I just need time.” And probably food. A lot of it.
She frowned. “Okay. A couple of things. First, you fought off two white-faced crazy guys today and won. This is you at half-strength?”
Oh, she truly didn’t understand. He nodded. “Those Kurjan Cyst members were young and just scouts. Not seasoned soldiers. They didn’t know I’d be with you.” They were strong enough to take a human like her. Definitely not a hybrid like him. However, the fight hadn’t ended nearly as quickly as it should have. A niggle of doubt tried to creep into his mind. Just how long would it take for him to regain his powers?
“Second—” Her voice trembled just a little. “This whole mating business. You know I’m not going to mate you? Right?”
Of course she was. He took a moment to find the right words. “My people have many beliefs when it comes to mates. Some believe it’s fate, some believe it’s biology, some believe it just is. But when we touch or come close to our mate, the branding appears on our hand.”
She bit her lip. “You just came out of a coma. Maybe the shock created it.”
He grinned. “I’ve dreamed of you. Through the years, when I believed I’d never leave the shield world and had accepted that as my death . . . I still dreamed of you.”
She shifted in her seat and turned to look at him. Awareness cascaded from her.
He could read her body, even if he couldn’t get inside her mind. Yet. The woman was interested. Cautiously so. He liked that about her. “When an immortal mates an Enhanced human, she lives forever as well.”
She slowed down and took another turn through the forest, looking back at the road. “Immortality, huh?”
“Yes. Except for beheading, removal of heart, or death by an inferno,” he confirmed, amusement bubbling through him. The woman didn’t believe him. Not at all. How extraordinary. He’d convince her, but first he needed to get his feet planted solidly on this ground and in this time. Then he had to find his people to prevent Ulric from being released, if he hadn’t been already. “What is the security at this cabin?”
She took another turn and drove to the back of a dwelling made from rough-hewn logs. A beautiful and peaceful lake spread out on the other side. “One of my doctor friends inherited the cabin and land on Shadow Mountain Lake. Six of us were friends in medical school, and we pay the property taxes and expenses equally for the right to use it whenever we want.” She sighed. “None of us uses it enough.”
“So it cannot be tracked to you, even by Siri?” he asked, opening the door and standing. He tuned into the environment and heard only wildlife and wind. Perfect.
She moved from the vehicle and walked toward the cabin. “No. We’re safe here—even from Siri.” The last was said with a bit of amusement. Turning, she eyed him up and down, taking off her sunglasses. Her smile turned her cuteness into beauty. “I??
?ll get you settled in here, and then I’ll run to town to buy you some clothes. You look ridiculous.”
He glanced down at the tight scrubs and very colorful shoes. Yes. He probably did. Humor took him and he looked up, meeting her stunning gaze. Awareness passed between them with a heat he could feel inside his chest.
Her smile faltered.
His widened.
“Ronan,” she whispered, bewilderment crossing her expression.
“Yes. Ronan.” The woman might as well get used to saying his name. “All in good time, Faith. I promise.”
By the widening of her eyes, she might’ve taken that as a threat.
So be it.
CHAPTER SIX
Faith awoke to the sound of gentle lake waves and the smell of fresh pine trees. She’d actually slept the entire night. How crazy. With a vampire-demon hybrid in the cabin, one would think she might’ve tossed and turned.
No.
Though the dreams she’d had about him, about his magnificent body…well, now. Whew.
But she did believe him. So her reality had changed, as people’s perceptions of the world had changed many times over when new discoveries were made. The world wasn’t flat after all.
She turned on her side to see the picture of her and Grace taken during Grace’s college graduation. Her sister’s hazel eyes were full of fun, and she looked stunning in her blue graduate gown. There were tons of people around, all of them Grace’s friends. Everyone loved Grace, because she loved the world. Loved living and exploring every day. She’d always looked outward, while Faith had focused inward.
God, Faith missed her sister. They’d drawn together the second they’d found out their parents were dead, even though there was a five-year difference between them. They’d been best friends and confidantes.
For the first time in months, now that she knew there was immortal blood that could heal seemingly fatal injuries, she felt hope. Could she finally break through Grace’s coma with assistance from the sexy vampire in the other room?
Man, he was hot. Those dreams still lingered.
She shook herself from her thoughts and moved into the attached bathroom to prepare for the day. Her hair was an easy brush-through, and she spent the normal amount of time on lip gloss. Several swipes, mixing colors, ending with a sealer.
Yeah, she had a weakness for lip glosses. That and boots. Well, and chocolate-fudge ice cream.
She paired her jeans and silk top with her brown calfskin boots from Saks. They were flat but stylish, and she felt centered in them.
Steeling herself, she kept her head up and walked into the comfortable main room of the cabin. It was decorated in warm plaids with a sofa, two chairs, coffee table, desk, and a stone fireplace. One of Grace’s photographs of the lake, in contrasting black-and-white, was set above the mantel. Everything faced the wide windows that showed the peaceful lake. There she stopped short at seeing Ronan still at the computer desk, typing away. “Have you been up all night?” she asked.
“Yes.” He turned, the sight of him unbelievably sexy in the black T-shirt and jeans she’d bought him the day before. Dark scruff covered his masculine jaw, making him look even more dangerous than usual. His stunning aqua eyes added intrigue to the hard ridges and angles of his face. His dark hair reached his nape, and the ruffled look did nothing to diminish the fierce planes of his body. Which was broad and muscled and incredibly…fit. “I’ve learned so much.”
“Really?” Her body flashed wide awake and alert, and her skin became sensitized. Tingles exploded in her abdomen. She had to get this under control. Yes, he was hot. Yeah. So what? Pretending a nonchalance she didn’t come close to feeling, she moved past him to the updated kitchen.
“Yes. I made a list and plan to master one subject a night, beginning with technology, since that seems to be the biggest change since I left. At first, I studied Siri and how she could be in your phone.” He chuckled. “Artificial intelligence is just brilliant.”
Faith nodded. “What else?”
“The history of computers was fascinating. Then I read about quantum physics, string theory, bubble theory, engineering, and so on. I believe the prison spheres we created are just other dimensions. Then I spent time on the dark web and didn’t like it there.”
She turned around to face him with the granite-topped kitchen island between them. “You explored the dark web?”
He shrugged. “Yes. Then I studied hacking and did that for a while.”
The man had learned to hack computers in a night. “Uh, okay.” She shook her head. “Why the heck did you go to the dark web?”
“I couldn’t find anything on my family, vampires, or the Cyst anywhere on the Internet. So I discovered the dark web and tried there.” He stretched his arms and his T-shirt pulled across the muscles in his chest.
She bit her lip and tried not to sigh. This was crazy. She felt all electrified being near him. When was the last time she’d had sex? Way too long ago. Now, that just wasn’t healthy. But he was a freaking vampire-demon. They could probably go forever in bed. But…no. Absolutely not. She would not lead him on like that. The guy thought they were destined to be mates forever. She just wanted an orgasm. Or three. “Did you find anything?” she asked, thinking of the pocket-rocket in the other room. It was more than capable of creating an orgasm.
“Not really.” His chest settled nicely. “There was a cached article about what sounded like Kurjans, but the author, a Sarah Pringle, called them vampires.” He rolled his eyes. “No follow up, and I couldn’t find anything else on her.”
Maybe it was just somebody writing a book. She shook herself out of sexual thoughts. “Anything else?”
He nodded. “A series of articles about beings with extra chromosomes that had been deleted from the Internet. Written by a woman named Olivia Roberts. She also disappeared.”
Faith swallowed, connecting the dots. “If these women had discovered the truth, would your people have killed them?”
He breathed out. “I hope not. We can contain humans without killing them. Perhaps they were Enhanced and found mates.” He shook his head. “But that’s all I could find. My family is too smart to let information get out there, so I’m not surprised. But I did find the name of a bar in a place called Chicago that might be owned by one of the Seven. I created an email account with a fake name he’d recognize and have, as one would now say, reached out.”
Her lips twitched. “You’ve been learning modern vernacular.”
“True that,” he said, returning the smile.
She chuckled as warning bells clanged through her head. He was sexy and smart and funny. No wonder her body was all awake and tingly. He was also a very bad idea. “What else?” she asked, intrigued.
“Well, I joined Mensa.”
She coughed out a laugh. “You did.”
“Yes.” He rubbed his scruffy jaw. “They had a test and I thought it’d be fun. Passed it and they said I could join. I, of course, used a false name.”
Of course. He was also brilliant. Nice to know. “Sounds like a busy night.”
He frowned, those dark eyebrows slashing down. “One thing confused me, though.”
Thank goodness. “What was that?”
“The Kardashians. Who are they and why are they news?” His puzzled expression nearly made her burst out laughing.
“It’s a modern mystery,” she murmured, not wanting to like him.
His face cleared. “Oh. All right. And I investigated you.”
Warning ticked down her spine. “Is that right?” She bent and looked for a bowl on the shelf to start mixing eggs. Why had he looked her up?
“Yes.” His voice sounded closer and when she stood, he was right across the counter. Her breath quickened. “Most doctors or scientists go into the field because they’re cerebral. Smart. You’re very intelligent.”
&
nbsp; She relaxed. “Thanks.”
“But you’re all heart,” he said softly, towering over her even across the granite. “Sketches you’ve drawn were in your laptop bag. Drawings of people, some elderly, their faces lined with experiences I could almost touch. I could feel their laughter and their tears. Their lives and loves.”
She straightened. “You looked at my sketches?” Her heart stuttered. She never shared those with people.
“Yes. I loved the one of the child on the swing. His eyes showed every emotion he was feeling right that second.” His gaze warmed. “There’s a lot of depth to you, Faith Cooper.”
His proud tone should give her pause. “Not really.”
One of his dark eyebrows lifted. “Yes.” He swept his hand toward the photo above the fireplace. “I see the same eye for detail in your sister’s photograph.”
Faith caught her breath. “How did you know Grace took that picture?”
“She signed the bottom right corner.”
Oh yeah. Faith grinned. “I forgot we made her do that.” Warmth spread through her. “You really see a resemblance between Grace’s picture and my drawings?” That was beyond sweet.
He nodded. “I do. You both look deep and see beyond the obvious. I’d know you were Enhanced females without even meeting either of you. I hope you can trust me with your gift at some point.”
She swallowed, oddly compelled to share with him. “It’s not a gift. I mean, it’s just strange. I don’t really want to explain it.” Trust didn’t come easy to her, and she disliked not understanding her abilities. Somehow she could get inside minds and communicate…a little. She’d done so before studying coma patients, but experience had honed her skill.
“That is acceptable. Soon I will earn your trust.” The heat of his gaze could melt chocolate.
He did seem to know a lot about her. Or had taken some serious time to figure her out. “You’re trying to learn about me,” she murmured.