“No, he will not.” Pyre faced Flame. “Dagan won’t live through this, Flame. You must resign yourself to that fact.”
When Dagan awoke some time later, his mother sat on the edge of his bed cooling his face with a rag. He no longer saw Flame or Pyre, but his father brooded in the corner.
“You should leave this place, Ninmah. I do not wish you to see this.”
Her beautiful smile beamed down on him, and she did not face her mate when she said, “He is my son. I will stay with him.”
She continued to dip the rag into some cool liquid and drip it over his heated skin. It refreshed his will so he could endure yet another round of hell. Another bestial scream roared from his body. Enlil grabbed Dagan’s mother and jerked her away from the bed. The last thing Dagan saw before he fell unconscious was his father hugging her and turning her face away from the horror.
Someone dropped a book and the loud thud brought Reese back from her daydream. Her mind continued to wander off at all times of the day and night. It had only been two days since Dagan had gone but it felt like a lifetime.
In a sarcastic tone Joe said, “So, are you going to be working here on this planet today or do I need to get a direct satellite feed for my cell phone?”
“Ha, ha.” She blew the stray strands of hair out of her eyes and tried to remember what she was doing.
“Reese, seriously, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She hoped he bought the lie.
“No, you’re not fine. You’re a basket case.” He plopped down in the chair in front of her desk. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you aren’t eating, you have dark circles under your eyes from the lack of sleep, and in the last two days, you have done little to nothing about this dig.” He leaned forward resting his elbows on his thighs. “That is so not like you.”
Shuffling a few papers around on her desk, she picked up a pen, making the show that she worked. “I’ll be okay. My body is catching up.”
“Bullshit. It has to do with the asshole, right?”
“Don’t call him that.”
“Why not? He saves your life, does you, and then hightails it out of town, or should I say off the planet?”
“Let’s get something straight. Dagan did save my life and yours. What else we did is none of your business, and I don’t know where he went.” She rubbed her eyes. “Just drop it, okay?”
“Fine. It’s getting late, we’re heading home. Do you want me to stay around and walk you out?”
“No. Scion is still here, but thanks.” She met his gaze. “For everything.”
He flashed a smile. “What are friends for? I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Goodnight.”
Reese finished stacking papers and made sure the coffee maker and radio were turned off before deciding to go back to her empty house. It seemed more empty than usual over the last two days and she didn’t try to deny that it was because Dagan wasn’t there.
She screamed when she opened the door and Flame appeared. “Stop doing that.” She shook her head. “Dagan isn’t here.”
“I know,” he said. “I came to see you.”
“Me?”
“Yes. We need to talk.”
“Come in then.” She motioned for him to enter and closed the door behind him. “What’s up?”
Flame paced the room, but didn’t say anything.
Reese sat at her desk. “Flame, you said you wanted to talk.”
He stopped in front of the windows. “The last night Dagan was with you, what happened?”
Confused she said, “I’m sorry? What happened?”
“Did you have sex with him?”
She felt her face heat up. “What happened or didn’t happen,” she emphasized, “between Dagan and myself is private and no one’s business but our own.” She had been angry with him after and had thrown him out, but heat rushed through her every time she remembered the way he’d touched her and loved her. No, not love.
He stormed over to where she sat. “Reese, it’s important. I must know.”
Grabbing her purse, she rose. “I don’t think I really feel comfortable talking to you about this.”
Flame gripped her arm. “He’s my best friend, like a brother.”
“I know, that’s my point.”
“Did he tell you that you are bonded?”
Pissed now, that Flame would intrude on her personal business. “He mentioned something about a bonding. He performed some sort of ritual to fulfill his primal urges, okay? Are you happy now? He used me to get what he needed. Is that what you wanted to hear?” Tears stung her eyes and she turned away from him.
“Is that what he told you? He used you?”
“I don’t remember everything he said.” She pulled a tissue out of her pocket to wipe her eyes and dab her runny nose. “Something about a
fury
and primal urges.” A bitter laugh escaped. “Primal urges, every species has those.” She finished wiping away the evidence of her emotions. Stuffing the tissue back into her pocket, she dug out her keys. “I’m going home, you can pop yourself out.”
He caught her at the door. “Reese, if I know Dagan, and I do, he didn’t tell you everything and he most likely didn’t explain it very well.” With a droll look and a smile, he rolled his eyes. “He’s got a bit of arrogance to him.”
“That I had noticed. Why are you really here, Flame?”
“The
fury
is an overwhelming force with my race, more so for the males.”
“I remember him saying something along those lines, but what does it have to do with me?”
He began to pace again. “With our race bonding is the ultimate sacrifice.”
“Sacrifice? What are you talking about?”
“When a Naruki finds their
blethred
, they bond with them, give themselves over to them.”
“What is a
blethred
?”
He stopped and looked at her. “
Blethred
means life mate.”
Skeptical. “Okay.”
“Did Dagan tell you what happens to a Naruki, especially the males, when they are not with their
blethred
?”
“He said there is a time of a kind of separation anxiety, but it would pass.”
He snickered. “Separation anxiety?” He looked down at her. “He can die, Reese.”
“What?
“In our race, the
fury
is worse in the males. If we are separated from our
blethred
for lengths of time, we go through incredible pain, sometimes are given over to madness, and can very well die from it.”
She bit her bottom lip. “He didn’t tell me.”
”I didn’t think he would. He won’t force you to be with him. He needs to know you want to be with him.”
“I did want to be with him, but I couldn’t see how it would work. He will not stop being a time walker.”
He grabbed her hand. “No, he feels strongly about his duty.”
She threw her hands up in the air. “Don’t start with me and this duty crap. It irritates me.”
“I understand.” He turned toward the door.
“Wait.” She followed him. “Why would he not tell me the truth?”
“He won’t sway you.” He placed his hand on her cheek. “He loves you deeply and has given his very soul to you for keeping. When he bonded with you without the Pantheon’s permission, he invoked a punishment.”
“What will they do to him?”
“They may need to do nothing because even now he goes through the separation with a fierce battle.” His eyes held concern when he spoke. “This has never happened before. A Naruki does not choose their
blethred
, but never has one of us been bonded to a human. That is why the Pantheon ordered him to turn you over to Scion.”
“What?”
He nodded. “I can’t say what they’ll do if he survives. It’s different all the time. He defied their orders then bonded with you.” He shook his head. “He knew the consequences.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“I know they have summoned him back to Dilmun to await his punishment. I know he has been ordered to work with Gilgamesh to train new time walkers until the Pantheon decides what they will do.”
“He’s with Gilgamesh?”
Shaking his head, Flame moved to the door. “I have said too much already. I will tell you one thing more.” His jaw tightened and his hand gripped the doorknob so hard, his knuckles turned white. “When I left, he was on the verge of death.”
“No,” she gasped. “Take me to him.”
“I cannot.”
Reese shoved him against the wall. “You bastard! You claim to be a brother, come here to give me all this news and then won’t take me to him?”
“I can’t do it. We don’t have the ability to take someone with us. We can only transport ourselves. It is one of the restrictions of being a time walker.” He looked at her with pained eyes. “I thought you should know what he did and why.”
With that, Flame faded away.
Reese fell to her knees.
This can’t be happening
. Was she supposed to sit here knowing that up there, somewhere, Dagan tried to survive hell and do nothing about it? He needed her and she needed him. The rest would work itself out.
“I know what to do.” She pulled herself up on wobbly legs.
She locked up the office and headed for the car. It wasn’t that late, her father should still be up.
Scion popped into the passenger seat of her car.
“Holy hell,” she screamed and hit her head. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
“Where are you going?” he asked calmly.
“I’m going to see my father.”
“It’s late and you should be going home, Reese. It has only been two days since we rid ourselves of Kur’s presence. There is no telling when he will show himself again.”
“I don’t care,” she growled.
“It’s my job to protect you.”
“No.” She glared at him. “It’s Dagan’s job to protect me.” Her voice caught and she couldn’t look at him until she got her emotions under control.
Scion sighed. “It’s no longer his duty, but mine.”
Breathe, just breathe
. She licked her lips. “As I understand it, it is Dagan’s duty for eternity because I am his
blethred
and we are bonded.”
“
Shakaah
,” he swore. “You must not speak of this. How do you know of these things?”
“It’s true, isn’t it?”
He snapped his mouth shut and didn’t answer her, which was all the answer she needed.
“Scion, he performed the
démarr
before he left. I’m bound to him.” She looked at him. “I need
him
.”
He rattled off several strings of words she did not understand because they were spoken in the Naruki language. She figured he was cursing up a storm.
“I need to talk to my father.”
“I’m still your protector, despite what you say. You go nowhere without me.”
“Fine,” she huffed.
She drove faster than she should have, because not only were the roads icy but the cops would surely be out. Her heart hammered. All the things Flame had told her circled around in her head. Why would Dagan not tell her the truth?
Pulling into the drive of her father’s house, she threw the car in park, got out and stormed up to the front door. Scion marched right behind her.
She unlocked the door and went in to find her father and sister in the kitchen eating dinner. Gideon sat in the living room, staring at the computer.
“Reese,” her sister cried and jumped up to hug her. “What are you doing here?”
“Dad, I need to speak with you.”
“Uh oh,” Riley said before she noticed Scion standing off in the background. “Hi, handsome.” She sauntered over, grabbed him by the hand and said “Let’s go chat.”
“What’s up, honey?”
Guilt stole over her when she saw her father’s concerned face.
“I need a big favor.”
“You know I’ll do anything for you. What is it?”
It was a lot to ask of him. She bit her bottom lip, warring with herself about why she’d come here.
“Reese?”
It was the only way. She knew she had to do it.
Chapter Nineteen
His dry mouth felt as if he’d swallowed a huge fur ball, and someone had taken sandpaper to his eyelids, making them gritty. His body wracked with aches and pains as though he’d been tossed off a fifty-foot building.
Dagan rolled to his side and groaned. “Damn,” he said but it came out in a whisper, his vocal box tattered from the screaming. He needed some water and a long hot bath. Fighting demons was infinitely better than this. Coming away from a vicious battle with cuts and gashes in his flesh felt far better than the broken heart and shattered soul.
Trying to move, he experienced extreme weakness to the point of barely being able to lift his hand off the bed. Why were his hands not chained as he’d instructed? He looked up and saw the cuffs Pyre had welded closed around his wrists dangling from the bedpost.
“I made him remove them.”
His comatose sleep obviously hadn’t helped. The insanity had kicked in. Through slitted eyes, he scanned the semi-darkened room. A form moved out of the shadows. He shook his head, adding to the already intense headache. Clearing his throat, he said “Am I delusional?”