He heard devastation in her tone and something more. Fear. Raw, ugly fear.
Julianne
,
tell me what you’re afraid of.
She released him and rose. He pulled on the power within him and shifted back into a man in another flash of light.
“What are you afraid of, Sunshine? I won’t let anything hurt you.” But as he took a step toward her, fear leaped into her eyes.
“Don’t, Zee. I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t have come.”
And just like that, she was gone.
“Julianne!”
The sound of his voice woke him. Zeeland sat up in his bed with a start, his gaze searching the room.
Goddess, but that dream felt real
—vivid in a way dreams rarely were. He raked his hands through his hair as Julianne’s words, at once reassuring and unsettling, replayed in his head. That he hadn’t hurt her. That it wasn’t him she’d been afraid of.
“It was just a dream,” he muttered with disgust. “You created what you wanted to hear.” And yet, the fear he’d sensed in her from the moment he’d returned was all too real. He kept getting sidetracked from the very reason he’d come back—to get to the bottom of what was bothering her.
He swung his long legs out of bed and pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. He had to talk to her, even if he had to wake her to do it. Maybe half-asleep, she’d give him the answers he sought. Later, she’d try to avoid him, he was sure of it.
He
had
to get to the bottom of this. And he needed to hear her forgiveness. If he could even get her to speak to him again.
It was too damned bad it had only been a dream.
He made his way to Julianne’s room, but as he reached for the door, voices drifted out. Two voices, both feminine. Julianne’s and another he didn’t immediately recognize. She must be confiding the night’s horrors to a friend.
The thought kicked him in the gut, but didn’t deter him from his intent to speak to her. He reached for the door handle.
“I can’t find it!”
The agitation in Julianne’s tone made him pause. The last thing he wanted to do was get into the middle of an argument.
“Twenty-four hours, little sister,” the other woman said, her tone hard. “Find it within twenty-four hours, or I’ll drag you before the queen and let you explain your failure to her in person.”
The queen?
What queen? The Therians had no queen.
“Then I’ll return here and find it myself,” the woman continued. “And woe be to anyone who sees me.”
A muffled cry met his ears, the sound of pain.
Julianne’s pain.
Chapter Eight
Zeeland burst through the door and rushed into the room to find Julianne kneeling on the floor, her arms around her middle.
His gaze searched for her attacker. But the room was empty, except for Julianne.
What the hell?
“Where is she? Where did she go?”
Julianne’s head snapped up, her eyes going wide as her pale, pale face jerked in the direction he was certain the woman had stood a moment ago.
He pressed his palm lightly to the top of her head as he visually searched every corner of the room. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.”
He left her to yank open the closet doors, then bent to look under the bed, but there was no one there.
Shivers ran down his spine.
Impossible.
No creature still existed that could disappear at will.
“Julianne.
” He returned to her, fighting against the need to sweep her into his arms until he understood what he was up against. What
they
were up against. “Is she gone?”
He felt Julianne freeze, felt the breath catch in her throat. “Who?”
Hell.
“I heard her, Sunshine.” His voice turned hard with warning. He’d had all the subterfuge he could take. “I heard her clearly. Don’t lie to me.” He knelt in front of her, his hands gentle on her shoulders despite the hardness of his tone.
She looked up and met his gaze, her eyes swimming with hopelessness.
“Sweetheart.
” He stroked her head and cupped her cheek. “Are you injured?” Therians healed almost any injury within minutes, but there was more going on here than he understood.
To his relief, Julianne shook her head, but her chin began to quiver.
He reached for her, needing to comfort her, then stilled, remembering how badly he’d scared her the last time he was in this room.
“Julianne, I’m going to pick you up. I’m going to hold you. Just hold you.”
Her nod, though small, was enough. He swept her into his arms and strode to the large, over-stuffed chair by the window and sat with her on his lap, tucking her head against his shoulder.
“No more lies, Juli. You’re in trouble, and I’m going to help you. But first you’re going to tell me what’s going on. All of it. Most importantly, you’re going to tell me what you need me to do to help you.”
Zeeland stroked her head, waiting for her to talk to him, but she said nothing.
“Julianne?”
“Just hold me, Zee. Please? I just need you to hold me.”
“No, angel. We’ve been doing this two-step since I got home. You’re going to tell me what’s going on. Now, love.”
“I can’t.” The bleakness in those two words tore at his heart. And drove his frustration. But instead of demanding, yet again, he tried a different tack.
“Why not?”
“Because if I tell you, you’ll die.”
Something deep and tight loosened inside his chest. She wasn’t pushing him away because she was angry with him, or because she no longer wanted him. She’d been pushing him away because she was mistakenly trying to protect him.
He pressed his lips against the soft crown of her head as tenderness flowed through his heart like a swift-moving stream, stealing the last of his doubts. She still cared.
“She’s not going to kill me, Juli. And she’s not going to touch you again. I won’t allow it.” He was a skilled fighter, one of the elite Therian Guard.
But he needed to understand what he was up against. “What is she? She was here, then she was gone.”
“I can’t tell you.”
The misery in her voice made him ache. He kissed her hair. “Then tell me this, at least. What happened when I tried to make love to you? Did I horrify you by my roughness? I need to know that, Juli. I dreamed you told me it wasn’t me you were afraid of. I need to know if that’s true.”
Her soft hand lifted to stroke his cheek. “I’m not afraid of you, Zee. Even when you were a cat, I wasn’t afraid of you.” She stiffened, her hand freezing on his cheek.
Zeeland jerked back and stared down at her, but Julianne kept her face averted.
“You were in my dream.
You remember.
”
He could feel her heart speed up, beating too fast. Tension turned her stiff and unyielding in his arms. Her muscles bunched, and she tried to push off his lap. He held her fast, turning her until she sat sideways on his lap, but she wouldn’t be contained.
She jabbed him hard in the arm with her elbow. “
Let me go.
”
The moment he released her, she jumped off his lap and paced away from him, putting distance between them. The little she’d told him teased his mind. Memories of old stories rose like a horrible specter to the surface of his brain. Tales of a race, long gone, who could appear and disappear at will. Who could enter a man’s dreams and drive him mad. Goose bumps raced along the surface of his arms.
He growled low in his throat, his body going tense as a wire. “The Ilinas.” He stared at her, but she avoided his gaze. “They’re gone. They’ve been extinct for more than a thousand years!”
Julianne said nothing as she continued to pace, wrapping her arms tight around herself.
“Their extinction was a lie, wasn’t it?” He shot to his feet and blocked her path, his hands clamping onto her shoulders. “
Wasn’t it
,
Julianne?
”
She lifted her gaze to his, her eyes sharp with a raw, wild fear.
And he knew he was right.
Goddamn it,
he was right.
She wrenched out of his hold and backed up. “Go away, Zeeland.” Her voice was tight, but hard. “Go back to Britain. You know nothing, and we’re going to keep it that way.” She bared her teeth even as terror swam in her eyes. “Your life depends on it.”
He stared at her, the ramifications flying through his mind. The Ilinas lived. Though he hadn’t been around a thousand years ago, he’d heard enough stories to know that the once-peaceful, all-female race had turned violent shortly before its demise. Most believed they’d been infected by dark spirit and become evil and corrupt. Many believed they’d destroyed themselves from the inside out, though some held that their queen…
their queen
…Ariana, had destroyed the race herself rather than see them turn against the creatures of the Earth.
Now…
goddess
…it appeared they hadn’t been destroyed at all.
What did they want with Julianne?
Little sister,
the woman,
the Ilina,
had called her.
Chills raced over his skin as the truth clicked into place. She was one of them. Of course she was. Who else could have entered his dream as she had?
His Julianne.
Holy shit.
An Ilina.
Powerful. Dangerous.
No.
Not Julianne.
“How long have you known you were one of them?” he asked softly.
She blanched and looked away, shaking. Visibly shaking. And his heart broke for her.
“Sunshine,” he said softly. “Come here.”
She stopped her pacing and met his gaze, as vulnerable as he’d ever seen her. Her head gave a quick shake. “I’m not what you thought I was.”
He held out his hand to her. “Come here, Juli. You may not be
what
I thought you were. I suspect you aren’t what you thought you were, either. But the very fact that you’re trying to protect me tells me you’re
who
you’ve always been. My sweet, strong Julianne.”
For long moments, she didn’t move, just watched him, searching his face for a truth he hoped she’d find. Finally, she reached for him, placing her hand and her trust in his and allowing him to pull her into his arms.
As she pressed her cheek to his chest, her arms wrapping tight around his waist, a deep, violent shudder went through her, followed by a sigh of surrender. He held her and promised himself he’d never let her go.
“I’ve only known for a month,” she told him.
“That Ilina came to you? The one who was just here?”
“Yes. Melisande wanted me to find something for her, so she told me what I was—the daughter of an abomination, a half-breed.”
“Everyone thinks they’re extinct.”
“That’s what they want the world to think. They’ll kill to keep their secret, Zee. Melisande told me they killed my mother when she broke that promise. And my father because she’d told him.”
His grip tightened on her, hearing the threat inherent in her words. “She’s never going to hurt you.” His words came out as a growl, and a promise. “I won’t allow it, Julianne.” She pressed closer to him, and he cradled her against his heart. “Tell me the rest.”
With a shudder, she did. “A long time ago, one of the Ilinas became pregnant by one of the human males she’d forced into sexual slavery. The baby was my mother. Since only true Ilinas can survive for more than a short time in the Crystal Realm, the Ilina took the baby where Therians would find her and raise her as one of their own. Then she watched her carefully from afar to ensure that she developed none of the Ilina’s powers or abilities. As long as she didn’t, they never had to tell her what she was.
“Her human blood seemed to have counteracted the Ilina blood. All except her immortality. She posed no threat to them.” Julianne’s body grew tense. “Until I was born. My birth apparently triggered her magic. The Ilinas are connected in some way, and they felt it. My mother was warned never to tell, and she didn’t for nine years. Then she told my father the truth. Melisande silenced them both,” she said bitterly.
Zeeland tightened his hold on her. “Melisande told you that?”
“Yes.” She began to tremble again.
“Dammit, Julianne. That’s an act of war.”
She pulled back until she stared up at him with haunted turquoise eyes. “They’ll kill whoever discovers their existence.” Her face tightened. “They’ll kill you, now.”
“Let them try,” he growled. “Why the hell is it so important to them to stay a secret?”
“They have enemies. It’s the way they’ve protected themselves.”
“What of all the other half-breeds? Or mixed breeds?”
“There are no others. I’m it.” She reached for him, her cold palms pressing against his cheeks, her eyes sharp with pain. “I couldn’t bear it if anything were to happen to you. That’s why I tried to stay away from you, Zee. I was afraid you’d see what I am.”
His arms tightened around her. “What kind of power have you developed that worries you so much?”
She flinched and looked away. “I turned…to mist. When I got angry.” Her gaze turned back to his. “It almost happened again when we…when you…”
Suddenly he understood. “When I put my finger inside you?” He finally believed what she’d been telling him all along, that he hadn’t hurt her.
Her eyes darkened, desire suffusing her features. “Yes,” she said huskily. “If we’d continued, you’d have had a wraith in your arms. Or not in your arms. You wouldn’t have been able to touch me at all.”
He leaned down and kissed her, a gentle touch on the lips. “Don’t run from me again, Julianne. We’ll deal with this together. All of it.”
“She’s going to try to kill you. She’ll try to kill us both, now.”
His arms tightened around her. “Forewarned is forearmed.” But how in the hell did one fight an Ilina? He’d better figure out their weaknesses and their strengths, and do it soon. Without asking anyone else. The last thing he wanted to do was endanger the others. “Tell me everything, Sunshine. You said she wanted you to find something for her?”
Julianne sighed. “She says there’s a necklace in this house somewhere, a rare bloodred moonstone. She wants it.”