Part 22 (1/2)

”Oh Keira!” He whispered as both his hands came to my face to wipe all my tears away.

”I never wanted to put you through this. I never wanted what I am, to affect you this way. You spoke of a normal life and now I realise that this is something I can never give you. It pains me to see that I am the cause of this!” He lifted his tear soaked hands to his face and looked down at them. He looked disgusted as he turned away from me and I was near to crying until I couldn't breathe in fear of what was to come. Was this the end? After all I had endured, after all we had been through...it couldn't be. I wouldn't allow it!

”What are...are you saying?” I spoke between sobs but even at the sound he didn't look at me.

”I will have Ragnar take you home.” Was all he said and as a result I was close to crumbling to the floor.

”NO, no, no! You can't do this to me. I was stupid and I wasn't thinking! I see that now but please...you can't... you just can't!” I let my body fall to my knees and my devastated head followed. I cried even more when I felt his hand on my bowed head and I realised he was knelt on one knee in front of me.

”What Keira, tell me, what don't you want me to do?” His desperate voice asked with as much pain as my tears were made of.

”Leave me...I don't want you to leave me!” And there we had it...I had finally broke. After a night from h.e.l.l I lost it. I had zero control left and Draven knew it as I started to cry it all out. He scooped me up into his arms and I buried my head into his chest letting my tears invade his soft skin over hard muscle. I gripped my hands tightly around his neck and never wanted to let go. I didn't know where he was taking me but my tears wouldn't run dry at the possibility that it was going to be somewhere without him. Then he spoke and relit my heart.

”Never! I will never leave you, do you hear me. Not until the day you no longer want me. Not until the day you stamp on my heart and set it on fire. Not until I hear you say that your love for me has been replaced with hate!” He pulled me to him tighter to prove this before releasing me on the bed but he didn't leave me. I felt his body get as close as he could to my own before making the covers devour our bodies in a blanket of secure warmth.

”Rest now, we can resolve this in the light of day.” I didn't say another word as I rested my emotional body and intertwined it with the man I loved and as if by hearing my thoughts the last thing I heard before crying myself to sleep, were the same thoughts from him....

”I love you.”

Chapter 23.

Calm After the Storm.

I wasn't sure if I had just had the worst night of witnessing nightmares in real life or whether it was just in my dreams. My thoughts felt like they were covered in a deep morning fog and the heavier the clouds, the more I seemed to be lost in the darkness of my mind.

I could feel something comforting on my back. It was a circling motion but when I turned round I could see nothing there. I started searching for anything, listening, needing something that I couldn't place. I was walking through a misty white blanket of s.p.a.ce. Then I heard it! My name was being spoken...no, not spoken but called.

I began to walk without seeing. I was calling out with no voice. I smiled when I recognised the voice and thanks to my reaction the voice got deeper, stronger and I knew he was nearby. Draven was searching for me also and the thought made me break out into a run. My legs pushed harder but after only minutes his voice started to fade and I pushed my body even farther. It was almost as if I was chasing him and although I was shouting out, there was no voice that followed the feeling.

Finally I stopped and stood breathless and breaking. His name escaped from my lips and for the first time I heard it being said. I hung my head down in disappointment. Then my heart flipped over as I felt a hand behind me on my shoulder and Draven's voice whispered in my ear, ”Wake up Keira!” It was smooth like drizzled cream over strawberries and this thought had me licking my rough lips. The feel of my tongue going over cracked skin made the fog start to clear and when I could see again, I knew exactly where I was. I was lying in Draven's bed sprawled out like a star fish. He was lucky his bed was enormous and could probably fit a baseball team in it or he would be teetering on the edge.

I s.h.i.+fted around and moaned as I usually do in the morning. My limbs felt like jelly but my shoulder felt great. I now knew the reason I could feel a motion on my skin in my sleepy state. Draven was making circles with his fingertips over where I was hurt last night. It didn't take me long to realise I was naked and my hair was loose and pushed to one side. Before looking at him I raised my head and looked over the edge of the bed. I saw my clothes lying there in a heap where Draven had obviously discarded them. I felt him laugh next to me before speaking.

”You didn't need them.” His voice was back to the usual 'self confident' Draven I was used to and when I looked round to face him, I saw not only what his voice told me, but that it was now calm waters again. He was propped up on one elbow staring at me. He looked like he had been awake for hours but he also looked b.l.o.o.d.y gorgeous! He could have been straight out of bed and done a photo shoot for the s.e.xiest man of the year! This had me turning red as a boiled beetroot and fearing what my own appearance looked like. His hand went to my cheek and his lips followed but then after a frown he kissed my forehead lightly.

”I love it when you blush. However these lips need work...Keira, what did you do to them last night?” His fingers went to the problem in question and he ran his thumb over them.

”I guess...” I had to clear my throat before continuing, as thanks to the crying mess I was last night, well it had left me sounding like I had swallowed not only a frog, but a toad, lily pad... and h.e.l.l, any other pond life to go with it!

”I guess I gave them a rough time.” He laughed and it sounded like a symphony to my ears.

”More like a ma.s.sacre! Let me fix them.” But before he could touch them again I had moved away making him growl. I remembered what it felt like last night and I thought after that, I would prefer to heal the normal way. He read my mind of course.

”It won't hurt, not this time.” When I didn't come back to him, he held one of his hands out like he was offering a peace agreement.

”Trust me...please.” After asking me like that, I think I would have followed him off a cliff...oh no wait we had already done that once. I was going to have to start thinking up new a.n.a.logies, ones we couldn't possibly do together, ones like 'I would have gone naked parachuting with him' because let's face it why would he need a parachute, he did have wings!

I moved back into him and when he pushed me gently on my back I closed my eyes. I felt him lean over me and when he placed his hand over my mouth I couldn't stop them from trembling.

”Trust me.” He said again. Then when warmth started coming from his skin they stopped trembling and instead, I was filled with a tingling that made them want to be kissed. It felt like he was generating little lightning bolts from his fingertips, creating a storm on my lips and soon he could feel them smile under his hand. It only took seconds and as usual, when he was finished he asked, ”Better?”

I still kept my eyes closed for the moment as I replayed the horrible night's events back through my tired mind. I felt like Alice that had just fallen down the rabbit hole and had just woken up to find herself under the tree. What did she think, what did she do? Did she just get up and go home to carry on with her daily routine or did she have to go to therapy for the rest of her life? See these are things they don't tell you in fairy tales...the aftermath!

Draven could obviously tell that I needed some time here, so he let me carry on with my mental whirlwind without saying a word. However this didn't mean that he didn't do anything and the feel of his touch on the side of my face was somewhat distracting. I wanted to put everything that had happened last night behind me so badly, that it felt tight in my chest with every breath I took. But I couldn't! I knew I could never just pretend it hadn't happened or even worse ...that it didn't even matter. I needed explanations. I needed reasons, whys and hows. But my fear was...would Draven understand this need?

”Yes, he would!” Draven's voice broke up my thoughts and now created new ones. He could hear my thoughts because through the turmoil in my mind, he had gained access while my guard had been down. I opened my eyes to find him back in his original position, propped up on one elbow and staring intensely at me.

”I know you need answers Keira. I was fully expecting to find you with a fragile mind and a worried heart this morning and I am fully prepared to explain everything you want to know. Last night I regret not taking the advice of not a servant but an old friend. Ragnar was right. He could see, where I had been blind. He knew how fragile you were and was looking out for your best interests. I, on the other hand, just wanted answers and someone to blame...for this I am greatly sorry. I realised in the end, but I fear it was too late. Will you ever forgive me?”

I listened in silence and with a blank expression as I had never heard Draven not only sound so sorry but so sincere with it too. I was a bit blown away by it all but it didn't take me long to follow with my answer.

”Shut up and kiss me!” This he took as a good thing because the kiss was one of the most pa.s.sionate I have ever received. Just when I thought it couldn't get any more intense....well it did! The fact that we couldn't follow it through with mind blowing s.e.x was a bit disappointing but I didn't know whether this played a factor to how great the kiss was.

Draven had always excelled in the field of kissing, touching, taking my breath away, well you get the picture. But this time his kiss made me feel like I was a teenager again. Heart pounding in chest, crazy new feelings you couldn't understand and usually down below. His hands explored my face, neck, back until he finished by holding me so tight to his body that I felt like we were one ent.i.ty. Once it finished and he moved back to see my face, he was met by a very different Keira. I couldn't keep the daft grin off my lips and the sparkle out of my eyes. I was, to say the least, very, very happy again.

He moved his head back further to take in my full expression and his features turned into confusion.

”What is it?” He asked me in a comical little tone and I guessed that I must have been staring at him as if we had only just met. As though this was a whole new side of Draven that I hadn't yet encountered....that of course being the sorry side.

”Nothing...it's nothing.” I tried to pa.s.s it off as what I said it was and I decided to focus all my energy into rebuilding my mental wall. It didn't take me as long as usual as something in me just seemed to click. I didn't need to strain my hearing on other noises or concentrate on what they were. Maybe I was growing stronger? The more I was around Draven the more adaptable I became. Surly that crazy stuff I had witnessed last night should have sent me over the edge?

I could feel Draven waiting for me to speak but I was too busy running through all the important questions I needed to ask him. This morning didn't change things just because his frowning face had been replaced by one of sorrow. I still needed to be in the know. He couldn't shut this all away as being his business as he had done last night.

I moved a little further away from him and he shook his head slightly to show his disapproval. However I didn't give in and neither did he make any attempt to pull me back. This time I was glad of it. I had to be stern. I had to get to the bottom of last night so that we could move on from it. I reached over the bed and grabbed my zip up sweater to put on. Ok, so I was making a bit of a statement but it felt like the only control I had, even if it was the most insignificant. I could feel his eyes searching for reasons in my actions but I gave him none. Once comfortable and semi dressed, I pulled the covers around my naked bottom half and sat up to face him.

”Ok, let's have it!” Was all I needed to say to make him release a sigh. This had been the conversation he had been dreading and it was written all over his face. A line formed on his forehead and it was the first sign of his many years older than me that I had seen. (This excluding the fact that he was most probably thousands of years older) He hesitated and it was quite obvious that he didn't know where to start.

”Ok, I'm going to make this easier for you by telling you what I know and you can just fill in the gaps...Yes?” He nodded and showed his palm by way of complying.

”So I gather that phone call you got at my sisters, was what, some kind of calling card to the Temple?”

”Of sorts, yes. But look Keira, I don't know how many details your expecting to get from all this.” He was trying to be stern but I didn't back down.

”Oh no you don't, you're not going to placate me with that! You're going to tell me what I want to know and answer my questions whether you like it or not!” At this he raised his eyebrows to display his shock and I thought he was going to follow it by getting angry but when his brows smoothed, a smile played at the edge of his lips, displaying his amus.e.m.e.nt.

”Very well, but then can you promise you will try and understand my position, when I tell you things you are not going to like hearing?” This time I nodded and he took my answer for what it was, a reserved yes.

”When I received that call it was indeed to tell me that the temple was awaiting me and the girl made ready.”

”You mean the dark haired girl...that was in the cell, that you ....?” I couldn't finish the words and say killed because it just wasn't the type of thing you would say to your boyfriend. Or at least any normal boyfriend but there was nothing normal about Draven or about me for that matter. Usually couples argued about money or jealously, who does the was.h.i.+ng up and what TV channel they're going to watch but NO, with me and Draven it was all about Demons, Angels, visions, dreams and evil stalkers! What I wouldn't give to just argue about something mundane, like him not picking up his dirty underwear off the floor!

”That GIRL has been wanted for some time indeed, and trust me, when I say for good reasons!” At this his face hardened at the word ”girl” and I could hear him grind his teeth as he spoke of her.

”Tell me?” He shook his head at first but he didn't outright tell me no, so I knew I had leeway.

”Draven, it's time to trust me” This got him alright.