Absolute Surrender (54 page)

“Er–who are you?” She stepped back warily, keeping a safe distance from him, despite the fact he was on his knees.

Her words slammed into him, as if someone had taken a tire iron to his gut, shattering his joy.

Slowly Aethan rose to his feet, his jaw hardening. He’d waited long, agonizing months for her, only to have her return with no memory of him?

No way in hell would he wait another second.

“I am your mate. If you think for one moment I’m going to go through the whole fucking dance again to claim you, you are mistaken.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She glared at him with her unforgettable eyes. Her fist clenched the ends of the towel. “You’d better leave, or–or...”

“Or what?” His smile was grim. “You’ll yell?”

She looked around frantically. Her gaze settled on the obsidian dagger lying on the marbled counter. For some insane reason, he had left the thing at her bedside while she’d been in a comatose sleep.

“Go ahead, take it. Stab me if you want. Anything from you is better than the months of silent hell I’ve had to live through.”

Her brow furrowed in confusion. Aethan pounced.

“Let me go.” She struggled, her small fists beating at him. He picked her up and set her on the counter. “Who are you?” She shoved against his chest, keeping him back. “Why are you doing this?”

“Here.” He put the obsidian in her hand. “Your dagger, if you think I’ll hurt you.”

She stared blankly at the weapon. Then he spread her legs and moved in between them. She grabbed the towel at the bottom, preventing it from opening.

Her confusion made his pain more acute. He shouldn’t be angry—how could she forget him? “Gods, Echo, how can you not remember me?” The words were wrenched from him.

“Echo? My name’s Eshana.”

She didn’t remember her—

Fuck it! He went for broke—wanted it all back, every smile, every look, the sparkle and light that had once filled his soul—and captured her mouth.

She struggled, pushing at him. The dagger dropped from her hand and fell to the floor with a dull clang.

He gave her no quarter as he destroyed the barriers surrounding her mind with a soul-searing kiss.

Then she stilled.

And that luscious mouth moved beneath his, seeking his, driving him out of his mind. Her hands went from pushing to sliding around his neck. She scooted closer, wrapping her legs around him. Her heart beat hard against his chest. All those anguished, lonely months fell away as the iridescent sparks of the mating bond slipped back into place, and he reveled at her warm presence in his soul again.

“Aethan?” she whispered, breaking their kiss. Tears shimmered in her eyes as she touched his face in reverence.

He nodded. His breathing jagged and raw, his vision blurred, he struggled to speak. “Saying, ‘I missed you’ feels like
the
understatement of my life.”

She blinked away her tears. “I missed you, too.” Her smile wobbled. “Only, I didn’t know why. There was this hole, this emptiness in me. But now—” Her arms tightened around his neck. “Now, I feel you again.”

“I need a moment.” He pressed his face into her nape and inhaled her unforgettable scent.

She stroked his hair. “Aethan?”

He could hardly get the words out from a throat gone tight. “Yeah?”

“What happened to me?”

“You were shot. You died in my arms.” His grip on her tightened, his expression fierce. “Never again do you place yourself in danger like that. Understand?”

***

“I couldn’t let you die—but
you
brought me back,” she whispered. Emotions overwhelming her, Echo pressed her face against his neck.

A deep sigh left him. The hand stroking her back paused. “Shh,
me’morae.
All that matters is you’re here.”

She hiccupped. “All this time of not knowing why I felt so empty.”

“I’ll never let you feel that way again,” he promised.

She looked up at him, her face wet with tears. “You said I died What happened?”

He wiped away the tears with a finger. “Your heart stopped beating. I refused to let you go. I used my powers, jolted you back. And you fell into a deep sleep. Seems you were in another realm.”

“I remember.” She told him what she recalled about being in the Celestial Realm and about the angel who had changed her fate. When she mentioned Roth, Aethan scowled.

“He’s not all bad,” she said wryly. “Anyway, he told me my history, about Zarias being the leader of the Watchers...seems I have a big, bad angel as an ancestor. No wonder I can’t keep away from scary, badass immortals.”

***

Smiling, Aethan refastened her slipping towel, picked her up, and carried her to the lounge area in the turret. He sat down in the leather recliner and settled her on his lap, absorbing the solid feel of her slight weight against him.

Echo curled into him and, through the bank of windows, they watched the sun rise above the trees on the estate as a new day dawned.

Just like our life,
he thought.

“Aethan?”

“Yeah?”

“Roth. He mentioned something about Michael asking him to change my fate, which he would have done. Then he showed me a vision of you. I didn’t know it was you but I couldn’t let it go. I saw the sadness in your eyes, could feel your grief, and I wanted to help you. He agreed but in return for his help, I had to remain the Healer.”

He went motionless. Shock rushed through him at what she’d done. What she’d given up. “You gave up your chance to be normal to help me—why? You didn’t know me then.”

“My heart did,” she whispered, stroking his face. “I couldn’t bear your pain.”

“Ah,
me’morae
.
Me’et’ah.
My love. My life.” He rubbed his face against her hair. “I just want to hold you until I’m convinced you’ll never leave me again.”

“I’m not going anywhere. As I understood it, we have eternity together.” She pulled back a little and shot him a sensual smile.

His brow rose, but he couldn’t stop the answering one from tugging at his mouth. He slid his lips over hers in a slow caress. “Yes, we do.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Georgia Lyn Hunter, a South African, lives in the Middle East with her husband and two children. With a degree in Art and Design, s
he worked as a fashion designer for several years, traveling to Europe and Asia. Then did a short stint as an art teacher. Her love for reading eventually led her to the paranormal genre and a creation of a different kind.

Visit her on her website:
http://georgialynhunter.com
.

GENRE: PARANORMAL ROMANCE/PARANORMAL THRILLER

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, businesses, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental. All trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, and registered service marks are the property of their respective owners and are used herein for identification purposes only. The publisher does not have any control over or assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their contents.

ABSOLUTE SURRENDER

Copyright © 2013 by Georgia Lyn Hunter

Cover Design by Montana Jade

Cover art copyright © 2013

All Rights Reserved

EBOOK ISBN: 978-1-62694-002-4

FIRST PUBLICATION: March 23, 2013

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