Chapter 7

Nickie kept her hands on the wheel and her eyes on the road. The twin beams jumped on the bumpy gravel as she put a bit of distance between them and the women at camp. She wouldn’t go far, but she and Zenon needed to talk, and there would be too much distraction with everyone there.

Having Zenon sitting next to her in the SUV instead of Jas was distracting as hell. Especially since he had yet to pull on the plain black T-shirt she’d gotten him. It would look amazing with his stormy grey eyes with flecks of yellow sparks and midnight hair. Though, truth be told, she didn’t mind the sight of him without a shirt on one bit.

“Tell me, my Nickie, what did the witch ask for in return for this information she gave you?” he asked.

She swooned a little inside at the way he kept calling her his Nickie. “Nothing. I offered to pay her, but she refused.” Nickie didn’t have a ton of money saved up in her bank account, but she’d offered what she could.

Zenon snorted. “If there has ever been an altruistic witch, I have never met him or her.”

She glanced at him, admiring his profile in the reddish tint coming from the dashboard. “Maybe this one was different. She said she had to right some wrongs and pay some debts. I wouldn’t even know how to contact her now.”

Finding a clearing a few miles further up the road with a view of the lake, she pulled over and threw the SUV into park. Her heart raced at Zenon’s focused attention. She had no doubt he was staring at her before she turned her head. There was so much to say, so much he needed to know. It was a little overwhelming. “I’m not sure where to start,” she said, admitting it.

His unblinking stare softened, and the sparks in his eyes brightened. “It is possible that we can share information without the long and arduous discussions, but it requires an intimacy I’m not certain you are ready for.”

Her breath caught in her throat. What did that mean? Sex? She wasn’t sure how that would help them share information. She didn’t know the guy at all. Yes, he was sexy as hell, and every time she looked at him, she wanted to climb him and wrap herself around him, but maybe it was too soon for that. Then again, her body screamed maybe not.

His deep chuckle filled the cab, and heat rushed up her neck.

“Sweet Nickie, I see the battle warring in your eyes. As much as I relish the thought of that sort of relation with you, I would not presume either of us ready. Soon, perhaps, once we’ve come to know one another, but not yet. It is a different sort of intimacy of which I speak.”

She released the breath she’d been holding as well as her grip on the steering wheel. “Did you want to stay in the car or would prefer being outside?” she asked rather than face the bubble of excitement that his proclamation had released from her chest.

He peered out the windshield and over the lake, his gaze drifting to the skies above. His scowl deepened with every passing second. “During all those years I spent in captivity, all I could do was stare into the abyss above. My phoenix beats at me for freedom. It yearns to soar across the night sky.”

She reached for his arm, needing the touch almost as much as she thought he might. “You can, you know. If you want to. You’re free to fly wherever and whenever you want.”

The muscles beneath her palm tensed, and he clenched his hands tight. “There is no time. I must find my brothers. Release them. Once they are freed, only then will I be truly liberated.”

Rather than pull her hand away, she stroked gentle caresses over his skin until he unfurled his fists.

“Jackie’s already working on the next location. She’s getting close to figuring out the coordinates. The witch sends her encoded messages and she has to decipher them. I’d bet that we’ll be on the road again first thing in the morning, but until then, there’s nothing we can do.”

He shifted his body toward her, displacing her hand in the process, but as soon as it slipped from his skin, he reached for her. His fingers curled around hers. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that if he had the notion to do it, he could crush every bone, yet he applied the gentlest pressure.

“I must prepare for the battles to come. You can assist me, if you wish to do so,” he suggested.

“Battles?” she squeaked out on a high note. The witch had warned them all of dangers that would follow if they chose to fulfil their destinies and find their phoenix mates, but hearing the word from his lips cemented it in her brain, sending fear stabbing through her. The old woman had also told them that their days on earth were numbered if they didn’t take action—and fast.

“Do not be afraid. I will not let harm befall you. And once my brothers are free, you will have two more powerful phoenixes guarding you,” Zenon assured, giving her hand a tighter squeeze.

After what she’d seen in that field and the injuries he’d survived—sort of—she had to trust he would be able to deliver on that promise. It wasn’t like he could be killed, even if she could. “What do you need? How can I help?” she finally asked.

He stroked his thumb over her knuckles, soothing her with the soft caress.

“Your knowledge is what I require most. I am like a newborn babe in this world. I can learn things like anyone else, but time is not something we have in abundance. I wish to be able to defend us with every ounce of my power, but I won’t be able to do that without modern day information. Though I experienced the slice of your comrade’s blade, I suspect that there may be different weapons to be wary of.”

She gaped at him. Did he expect her to know everything there was to know about weapons? She couldn’t even load a simple gun. “I don’t think I’ll be able to help you with that,” she told him, disappointed that she couldn’t provide what he wanted.

“You can. I assure you. If you have heard it, seen it, or somehow learned it, the information is stored in your mind. It can be released and shared, even if you cannot recall it.”

“How?” After everything she’d been through and witnessed in the past month, she didn’t doubt it could be done. How could she?

“It’s simple and harmless. I will hold your hand and link our minds with a telepathic bond. The knowledge that is stored inside you will become available to me through that link. I will hear your thoughts as though they are my own, access your memories as if I have lived through them myself.”

All the moisture in her mouth evaporated, and her heart galloped at top speed. If it wasn’t for the fact there was no pain or pressure in her chest, she might have thought another heart attack was coming. “You’re right. That’s pretty intimate,” she blurted. It was one thing to share your body with a man, but your thoughts? Your mind?

“Extremely so. Know that even though I could open the information stream without your consent, I will never violate you in that way. Should you choose not to merge with me at this time, I will find another way to gain the knowledge I need.”

***

Nicki’s distress soured the air in the confines of the SUV. When he’d mentioned merging their minds, her hand had dampened and become cool under his. Her breaths had quickened, and those beautiful, expressive eyes had rounded so much he could see the whites around the gorgeous brown. He stroked his thumb over her skin again, needing to reassure her with the slight gesture, even if his words did not.

She blinked a few times and licked her lips before turning away to look out the window. Her shoulders heaved with a deep breath, then another, before she faced him once more determination exuding from her. “I’m not sure I want you to know every little detail about me, but let’s do it. And I will see into your past? I will gain your knowledge?” she asked, a flicker of excitement finding its way into her voice.

He would not lie to her. “Some, yes, but not all. My memories are dark. Gruesome. I shall not have you bear them.”

“But you want mine? I don’t think so, mister. If we’re to be partners—mates—then you should know I’m not going to be your yes girl. I expect and demand I be your equal in every way.” She tugged her tiny hand out from his grasp. Her glare could melt the thickest iceberg, yet it made him want to smile rather than cower.

“I only deny you because I wish to spare you. I will gladly impart my knowledge and share the sweeter memories, but I will not have the horrors of my past taint your mind. That burden should not be yours to carry.”

He could see her indecision warring in her eyes—her strength of will fighting with her desire to help him gain the information he requested. “I’m stronger than I look,” she uttered, but the capitulation in her voice told her the decision she’d come to.

“And courageous. Zandar mentioned our mates would possess both courage and power.”

“Who is Zandar? Your brother?”

“Aye. He is the youngest, and Zechariah, the oldest. I had hoped they would be spared my fate, but I was able to reach Zandar through our mind link, and my worst fear was confirmed.”

She reached for his hand once more. “All the phoenixes we seek are either in captivity or in hiding. The witch told us as much. I’m sorry for what you and your brothers have been through. We’ll find them. We won’t rest until we do. The lives of all those women back at camp depend on it. They’re running out of time.”

He rolled the cryptic words in his mind. Nickie had said something similar before. It was time to find out what she meant. Of course, her ailments would disappear the moment they were fully mated. Joined with him, her life would be eternal, just as his was, but it would not hurt to know what she and the other women were up against. What they’d lived with.

“Will you allow it? Will you let me merge with you and share your knowledge, my Nickie?” he asked, his voice an octave deeper at the very thought of being so closely linked to her. Even the bond he shared with his brothers, as strong as it was, would pale in comparison to that he would have with his mate.

She sucked in a breath and released it slowly. “Yes, we can do it. I hope what you find in there doesn’t make you see me in an uglier light.”

If only she knew the darkness he’d observed before he’d been captured—the greed and treachery. His inability to accept the widespread plague that had rotted the earth’s inhabitants down to its core had been his downfall. Too late, he’d recognized the spreading evil, but by then, his fate had been set into motion. His. His brothers. All the phoenixes… They’d been blinded by the goodness they’d assumed would always prevail. How wrong they had been.

He didn’t hold the notion that Nickie was perfect—no one was—but she could not be as evil as those he’d once known. Those who’d not only turned their backs on him and his kind but had led the mobs and allowed the wickedness to spread to all corners of the earth. Whatever dark secrets she held inside, it would be nothing in comparison to those of the men and women he’d once considered friends.

Fire roiled in his gut with all the fury still sizzling in his veins until it burned like the vilest venom, poisoning him from the inside. He grunted as his vision shifted to that of his phoenix.

“Hey, it’s fine, okay? I’m saying yes. We can do this,” Nickie offered, her small hand stroking up his forearm. “Just tell me what I need to do.”

Forcing his memories back, he blinked away the haze threatening to take him and focused on his mate once more. He longed to smooth his fingertips over the worry lines now marring her forehead. Lines he’d put there with the negative energy pouring out of him. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t phoenix. As his mate, she would sense it. React to it.

“The first thing we must do is find a happy and healthy center within ourselves. This will allow us both enough relaxation to permit the merging of our minds.”

“Oh, so kind of like yoga. I can do that.”

She reached next to her, and a moment later, the back of her seat tipped toward the rear of the SUV.

“There’s a lever on the side. If you pull up on it gently, it will do the same for yours. You might be more comfortable since you’re such a tall guy,” she offered.

It was true that his head almost touched the ceiling of the SUV, lying in dirt over rocks and exposed to the elements had been much worse, but still, he took her lead and did as she suggested. Nickie looked over at him from her side of the vehicle and took his hand once more, interlacing their fingers before smiling at him.

“I’m ready when you are. What happens once we’ve found our centers?”

“Then I will open the mental link between us. The only thing required of you is that you remain calm and keep touching me. Once I’ve created the path between our minds, we’ll be able to speak without touching. Without saying a word.”

Nickie’s mouth gaped. “Really?”

He could almost see the excitement bubbling out of her it was so thick. “It is the only method of communication when in phoenix form,” he admitted.

“I’m going to turn into a phoenix?”

The question, innocent and genuine, surprised him and pleased him all at the same time. “No, you shall not be a phoenix. We are not made but born and when we die, we rise from the ashes.”

Her eyes widened and then she closed them, shuttering the merriness he’d spotted behind her lids.

“Oh my God. You have dimples. I think one of my ovaries just exploded,” she said under her breath but not so softly that he couldn’t hear.

Bolting upright, he tugged on her hand, startling her. “You are unwell? Shall I find a healer?” His heart thudded against his ribs as he awaited her response.

Shock registered on her face, chased away by her laughter seconds later. “I didn’t mean it literally. My ovaries are fine. When you smiled just now, I saw that you have dimples. I find them very attractive,” she said between giggles.

He’d smiled? How many eons had it been since that had happened? Too many to count. “I’d forgotten I had them. I’m glad you find them appealing.”

“Yes, well… we’re not finding our centers by talking about how gorgeous you are. If anything, it’s working me up. Now, lie back and close your eyes.”

His mouth tugged as it had moments before.

“There goes my other ovary,” she said with another giggle as she let her lids fall and pretended not to peer at him from beneath her long lashes.

“I will thank you to keep your reproductive organs intact. We may someday desire to make use of them,” he teased.

Nickie stiffened, and the laughter died on her lips, only to be replaced by a soft smile. “We might, at that. Now find your center, dimples.”

Her lips twitched once more, but she closed her eyes and took a long, slow breath.

Following her into relaxation was not difficult. With nothing to fill his days, he’d mastered the art of bringing his spirit to the forefront while in captivity. The world fell away until nothing but the warm hand in his existed. His entire being filled with the power of the sun even though the crescent moon hung in the sky. He didn’t have to see the mother of all light to bask in her glory.

Even though he could have probed Nickie’s mind almost immediately, he waited until her breaths slowed and her hand lay limp in his. “Warmth will seep into your mind, my Nickie. Do not be afraid, it will not harm you,” he said, his voice deep and hypnotic.

Her fingers twitched between his, acknowledging him, but she didn’t utter a sound. The first touch of his mind to hers sent smouldering heat into him, threatening to remove him from his trancelike state. Never had he stroked a human’s mind and received anything from the exchange other than what he’d sought. The sensation was like a soft caress over every inch of him, both inside and out all at once.

He probed at their mental link once more, this time ready for the sweetness that would follow. Her feather-like touch would have been enough to bring anyone to their knees, least of all a being such as him, who’d had no contact with anyone for so long. But the pleasure and reassurance flooding him from within her kept him rooted in the present and desperate for more.

Then, as though a puzzle fitting its pieces with exact precision, the psychic link he’d been seeking snapped into place. The sensuous wave rolled over him stronger than before. His breath froze in his lungs before releasing from his body in a deep, languorous moan. It could not be helped.

“I feel you inside me,” she whispered, her husky voice shooting more pleasure into him.

“Do you wish me to stop?” Pulling away from her would be torture, but he would if it was what she needed.

She tightened her clasp on his fingers. “No, keep going.”