Текст книги "Ties That Bind"

Автор книги: T. A. Grey

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Текущая страница: 4 (всего у книги 25 страниц)

CHAPTER 8

“It's time,” Kearnyn said.

Telal finished putting his documents into a briefcase and snapped it closed. He nodded to Kearnyn and laid his hand on his shoulder. With a thought, the room around them disappeared. A new room slowly appeared with a long oval desk surrounded by more than a dozen leather chairs. A single door was the only way in or out and on the opposite wall was a white dry-erase board. Influential figures were already coming into the room.

Telal started around the room, shaking hands with each of the members. For all that he knew, nothing like this had ever been done, and certainly what he wanted to accomplish, had never been done. Most of the members he was familiar with, others were only an acquaintance.

Tyrian en Kulev came to represent the Atal warriors, Alpha Lyonis Keelan of the shapeshifters, Jeremiah Caine of the succubus council, and Rosa Medina a witch of incredible power. Telal glared as a small woman with dark curling hair came out from behind Rosa.

Telal stalked to her before he thought twice about it. She smiled when she saw him. He snatched her by the elbow and dragged her to the corner of the room.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“I was already hanging out with Rosa. I figured I'd come and see what this mysterious meeting was about.”

He looked away as if trying for patience. “If you do anything to destroy this meeting...” He left the threat at that.

She gave him a haughty look. “I'm not stupid. I just want to see what this is all about. Besides, I think I already know.”

“Your level of intelligence is debatable, Ms. Bellum. Just take a seat and keep your mouth shut.” He stalked away to welcome the newest guests before he transported her out of there himself.

Others started ambling in as well. Draven, Henry, and Rayn from Tyrian's staff. Jackie and Thane Vanner from Lyonis'. Spotting Kearnyn in the corner of the room, he went to him.

“Keep an eye on Lily Bellum. If she starts anything, I want her out of here and fast.”

Kearnyn nodded and Telal almost sighed. He trusted this man more than his own mother. Hell, that was no comparison; he trusted him more than he did Lily Bellum.

“Everyone take your seats and we'll get down to business.” Telal made his way to the front of the table. He set his briefcase on the table. “I think you all know why I've called you here.” An uncomfortable silence followed.

Tyrian spoke first. His eyes were cold and distant, body stiff in his chair. “You want to open the rift.”

“Yes. You've all known about my campaign to have the rift opened. I'm now officially ready to show you my proposal.”

A commotion started. Members turned in their seats, arguing with each other until they were nearly shouting back and forth.

Lily Bellum stood up and shouted, “Shut up! All of you! Listen to what he has to say.”

Telal clenched his jaw at the outburst. He looked to Kearnyn to give him the nod to get her out of here but his guard wasn't looking at him. He was watching the witch sitting next to Lily.

Jeremiah Caine threw back his chair as he came to a stand. “You do not speak to a man this way! Where are your manners?”

She narrowed her eyes on him. “Where are yours?”

He sputtered, cheeks reddening. “You are a succubus. Where is your man who speaks for you? I'll give him a good dressing down for this.”

Telal's spine went rigid. Though she surprised him with what she said. “I don't have one.”

Jeremiah’s mouth opened. “But you are a succubus. What is your name, girl?”

She sat back down and crossed her arms. She looked like she enjoyed this. “Lily Bellum.”

He smirked as if he'd guessed right. “Figures, the Bellums have always been a wild bunch. Now with your father gone and no male heir to keep you straight, you're as wild as a whore.”

Several people gasped at the insult. Telal felt a surge of feelings tear through him like a train. In a flash he saw himself jumping across the table and plowing his fist into the incubus’ face until bone cracked. Instead, he glanced at Lily, waiting for her to come back with one of her witty comments, but she didn't. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, her lips were clamped closed.

“Sit down, Jeremiah,” he said in a low voice.

Jeremiah opened his mouth to protest but Telal cut him a violent look that had him slamming his butt back down into his seat. He looked one last time at Lily to see her not meeting anyone's gaze, but he ignored it. He didn’t like the look of hurt and shame on her face, but now was not the time for her problems. Already she was on track to ruin his first official meeting.

“As I said, it is time for the rift to be opened. I have here a plan that we can implement that will allow demons like me to cross the rift once again and keep the idummi and other demons below the rift.”

Telal took copies of his proposal out of his briefcase and passed them along to each of the members. Since there was no governing body that resided over all, he had chosen select members of specific groups to meet with. Though, the one with the most leverage was Tyrian en Kulev. He and his Atal Warriors alone guarded and punished those who crossed the rift.

He waited until everyone read the proposal before continuing. “Tyrian, since you are the commander of the Atal Warriors I would hear what you think of this first.”

Tyrian neatly folded the proposal and pushed it away. “The shahoulin demons cannot be trusted. I don't see why we'd change something that doesn't need to be fixed. Also, it says here in your proposal that you'd recommend keeping the Atal Warriors under the rift to ensure that other demons do not cross to the top layer of the rift. That would mean my warriors are at risk of confrontation with the shahoulin.”

Telal knew Tyrian would say that. He'd had years to plan his operation and he knew each of the downsides to it.

“I believe the shahoulin can be trusted again. They once were as we all remember. If the Atal Warriors act as an objective governing organization then they can keep the top level of the rift safe and focus solely on the idummi or, god forbid, the jaheera. We are not violent people.”

Tyrian carefully chose his words. “I would consider this; however, I'd need unwavering certainty that the shahoulin will not start a war on the earthen-realm or with my warriors. I will not have another war.”

Jeremiah Caine slammed his hand on the table. “I can't believe you are even considering this. The world has been a better place since those demons have been locked up down there.”

“Oh, can it, Jeremy. We've all suspected for years that Tobius raged that war against the demons over a petty personal matter. I think that's exactly what happened.” Lyonis Keelan turned to look at Telal. “You have my full support, for whatever that's worth.”

Draven stood next. “It's about damn time we opened the rift again. Not that I'm looking forward to seeing any old faces.” Henry and Rayn slowly nodded too. Telal knew they were the ones in the most uncomfortable situation since they'd been fighting all these years to keep the demons who tried to escape in the rift. Being part-demon, that also made the matter more difficult for them. But they, like him, did what they felt was necessary for the times.

Rosa el Blanco spoke up, her soft, Spanish-accented voice sounding almost beautiful. “I agree. This has been a long time in the making. I fully support you, Telal.”

Jeremiah shook his head. “Well I don't agree. This is preposterous.”

Telal took a deep breath. He kept his face relaxed even while inside his guts churned like a machine in his gut. So far this meeting played out exactly as he thought it would. But that didn't mean the difficult part was over yet.

“Tyrian, this is ultimately up to you.”

Tyrian rested his chin in his hand, thinking for several minutes. Time seemed to slow as Telal waited for an answer. This one man held the key to his entire project, to his people, in his palm.

“This isn't something I'm prepared to answer right now,” Tyrian said.

“Of course.” Telal had expected as much.

“Right now I can say that I have one condition. A big one.” He leveled his cold blue eyes on Telal.

“What is it?”

“No one has been under the rift for nearly a thousand years. We have no idea what kind of leadership is in place right now. Whoever it is will need to be joining in on this conversation before anything else happens.”

Telal clenched his hand into a fist then opened it to scrub his hand over his face. He had not thought about this.

Tyrian continued. “Meanwhile, I'll consider it.”

Telal nodded but his entire body felt numb. Tyrian strode forward and clasped his hand, pulling him in close for a brief hug. “I do this for Chloe because she would want this. Not for you.”

Telal nodded. He didn't give a shit why he agreed, so long as he did. He ended the meeting but barely noticed people leaving as his mind ran through all the options. When he finally went through them all, he realized there was only one answer. He'd have to go into the rift—he'd have to see his family for the first time since he left them there.

CHAPTER 9

“Come on, let's get the hell out of here,” Rosa said, tugging on Lily's arm like an impatient child to her mother. She didn't budge.

“No, wait, I want to talk to Telal first.”

Rosa spotted the man in the corner coming towards her and her heart started racing. “Then get a ride home with him, I'm out of here.”

Lily muttered something that sounded like a goodbye but Rosa didn't stay to hear it. She bolted from the room. The male incubus tried to go through the door at the same time and stepped on her dress. She tripped and the material split with a loud rip. That male was coming closer, his brow pinched forward. Something about him frightened her, sent her running down the hallway towards the stairwell. If she could get there before he caught her, and some instinct told her that was exactly what he was trying to do, then she could cast her spell and port back to the shop.

Glorious relief surged through her body as she came to the door. She slammed her hands into the push lever and darted inside, breathing hard as she plastered herself against the wall. What on earth was wrong with her? She quickly dismissed that stupid thought. She always listened to her instincts and in this particular case they told her to run and hide.

A soft sound, like a footstep, came from the other side of the door. Rosa held her breath, stared wide-eyed at the metal door. It started to open, and her eyes widened until they burned with the need to blink. The man came through the door. He looked around then found her hiding spot behind the door. The furrow between his eyebrows deepened along with the frown on his lips.

“Are you well?”

Her heart drummed hard at the sound of his voice. It was deep but had an accent to it, almost Irish sounding.

She nodded at his question and hoped that the answer might be good enough for him. Maybe he'd just turn and leave.

He gave her a curious look then motioned back to the hallway. “Were you running from me?”

She gulped and found it strange that he thought someone running from him was odd. The man was big. “Si.” She nodded quickly to prove her point.

Though he wasn't standing close to her, he took a step back as if to give her room. “Why?”

She licked her dry lips, and standing this close to him, really got to take in just how big he was. She was no short woman, though she wasn't particularly tall either, yet he towered over her, had to be at least 6'5”. Yet it wasn't necessarily the height that had sent her running, but the packs of muscles he carried and the edge of violence that seemed to be barely contained in his body. His shoulders, arms, chest, and legs were huge and filled out the black clothes he wore. He had the body of a man who spent hours working his muscles to perfection.

Her senses chose that moment to speak up. As if another voice was in her head, she closed her eyes and listened to its advice. She still would have run if the man wasn't so big. Then what was it about him? “You're big,” she whispered.

His lips pulled into a frown as he looked down at his chest as if seeing himself for the first time. “I'm sorry...what?”

Knowing how stupid she sounded, she shook her head. “Just tell me what you want.” She crossed her arms. This dress was made tailored to her with sleeves that billowed around her wrists. While it looked pretty, she really had it made because sewn into each sleeve was a small pouch with a dagger, very light-weight and easy to use in it. She crossed her arms into her sleeves until she touched the metal.

He lifted a packet of papers in his hand. “Telal has a job for you. I'm his personal guard, Kearnyn.” He held out his hand to shake but she could only stare at the big paw.

Pretending to ignore his outstretched bear hand, she looked at his face instead. He had dark hair with natural streaks of red and green eyes that matched perfectly. His skin was much lighter than her own, but what she found the most distraction was his entire face. He was incredibly good-looking with high cheek bones, a square jaw, aristocratic straight nose and neat even ears.

“You're staring,” he said quietly in that deep voice.

Rosa felt her cheeks burn as she look down at the floor. “I thought I saw dirt on your face. Sorry,” she mumbled. “You said something about papers?”

He gave her a hard look that she couldn't read. “Telal has been given a job to manufacture enspelled weapons. He'd like to know if you'd be interested in assisting him, for a share of the profits of course.”

She swallowed hard and took the papers from his outstretched hand. What she'd tried to do was gently take them from him as if she was calm inside, but instead she snatched them, crinkling several of the pages in her fist.

Deep breaths, deep breaths. She quickly glanced over the pages seeing the sketchings and specs of the weapons and the kind of enchantment required. “How many do you want me to make?”

“Telal says that if you agree to split the work he'll share half the profits. That's 5,000 Weapons.”

Her stomach fluttered at his deep, rolling voice. “Sure, I'll do it.” She didn't even think about the answer, just gave the one she knew would make him leave the fastest.

He nodded and pulled a pen out of his back pocket. “Sign the line on the last page, Ms. Medina.”

She took the pen with shaking fingers and scribbled her signature where he indicated. “Just call me Rosa,” she said, handing the papers back to him.

He looked at her with a watchful expression that made her feel as though she were the center of his attention. It unnerved the hell out of her.

“Rosa, I look forward to seeing you again.” He held her gaze for a moment, then turned and left, the door slamming shut behind him.

Only after he left could she breathe normally again. Before he had a chance to come back, even though she didn't know if he would, she closed her eyes and chanted her porting spell. When she finished, she was back in her shop, but her encounter with the big man still lingered with her.

CHAPTER 10

Telal sat at the head of the conference table writing furiously in a small leather-bound notebook. Kearnyn stood several feet behind him, a man whose size alone probably deterred attacks on his master.

Lily took a seat on the table, her thigh brushing against the papers he had out. His hand stilled then he slowly lifted his head to glare at her.

“What are you still doing here?”

“Waiting for a lift.” He probably didn't realize it, or at least wouldn't admit it, but the meeting had been hard on him. The lines in his forehead were more pronounced, the grip on his pen looked like he was trying to strangle it.

“Go home with Rosa. I'm busy.” He looked back down, his hand scribbling across the page in a heavy-inked slanted scrawl.

“She already left. Sorry but it looks like I'll be hitching with you.”

He let out a stream of demonish that sounded a lot like he was cursing her and her entire family—and he probably was. Lily barely controlled her grin.

“Will you please stop kicking your legs like that?”

Lily glanced at her swinging legs over the ledge of the table and shrugged. “For you? Sure.” She stilled her legs, but it was like asking a child to stop squirming when he had an itch, and instead her bare feet started bouncing. His eyes swung to them.

“You are still not wearing shoes.” He said it slowly as if he couldn't believe it. Really, he was surprised, she thought?

“I haven't exactly had the chance to go shopping yet. It was slightly more important to make a remedy for my pain first. It's on my list of things-to-do though. What, do my pink toes frighten you?”

He stood and started shoving documents and his journal into his briefcase. “I can say, Ms. Bellum that is the first non-foolish thing you've done.”

Not feeling insulted in the least, she smiled at him. Then in a smooth move, she balanced her foot between his legs on the chair behind him and wrapped her arm around his neck, pulling them close together. His eyes widened in surprise then strayed to her mouth. Her heart skipped an unsteady beat, her stomach tightening as breathing became difficult. But the look lasted barely a moment before his eyes turned to a glare. He looked at her as if she was nothing more than an insect he'd rather squash. Probably true, too.

“Kiss me,” she whispered.

His eyes fell once more to her lips and she wet them with the tip of her tongue. How many times had she thought about his kiss? How many times had she dreamt of him kissing her? The answer was a lot. In fact, so many times that what were dreams and what were visions had become skewered together, blurring, until she didn't know which was what.

He looked her straight in the eyes and it was like the earth stood still. Particles, molecules, and dust around them paused as he looked at her not with contempt or disdain but something entirely different, something almost pleasant. He looked at her as a man might a woman he could be interested in, the look a man gave right before he bought a woman a drink at a bar. Warm, the look was warm, welcoming.

His hand slid across her cheek and into her hair where he loosely fisted it, then he leaned close. Her skin tightened in anticipation, need coiled deep in her belly. All she saw was beautiful golden skin, vibrant blue hair, and mesmerizing golden eyes that held her captive, left her waiting breathlessly.

He stopped, mere inches from their lips touching and in a low voice said, “Never.” And then he thrust away from her, leaving her trembling, aroused, and confused as he went to talk to Kearnyn as if nothing had happened.

Her mind still spun when he and Kearnyn stalked back to her. He laid his hand on Kearnyn's shoulder then hers and looked once more down at her feet.

He snorted, something close to a laugh. “So that's what it takes to make you sit still.” And then he touched her and the room around them fell like granules of colored sand in tans, browns, and blues then floated back up and materialized into hard, concrete shapes and objects.

Where they appeared wasn't Telal's office nor was it her room at his place. “Where are we?” Shoppers ambled around with bags of purchases from designer stores, the rancid scents of dozens of perfumes, colognes, and candles mingled together into something that made her want to sneeze.

“The mall. Go shopping. I'll send a car to pick you up in two hours.”

“Aw, but I hate shopping.”

Her words fell on deaf ears as he and Kearnyn disappeared before her eyes.

“Jerk.”

She started walking through the mall, not really seeing anything, because her mind was busy analyzing that moment at the desk. And it had been a moment—that much she knew. He had wanted to kiss her. He really, really had. She checked herself for a second. She had to be sure. Because if she was right then this was excellent progress on her plan to wear him down until he gave in to her.

He could have been faking the look in his eyes, but she'd felt something in that moment, a kind of static charge that swayed between them. That could not be faked. Telal Demuzi did want to kiss her.

For the first time in her life, Lily shopped with zeal and a smile on her face.