Parallel Attraction Page 19

  With a desperate expression, Kelsey's eyes met his—and the connection between their two souls roared to life.

  Jared, are you really here? she implored him with her eyes, their blue depths radiating hope.

  No, I'm using our bond. This is something . . . like a vision. I am within your mind and soul right now—with you in every other way but the physical.

  Jared looked around them and instantly recognized her location: the mitres chambers. Of course—now he understood its pressing familiarity. Why are you here? he asked. Who has brought you?

  Oh, Jared . . . he works for your enemies—someone named Veckus? His name is Marco, and he's not from this time—

  A look of understanding crossed his face, followed quickly by an expression of mingled anger and fear. I know, love.

  You can't come here, no matter what, Jared. Send Scott. Send any of your people, but you can't come.

  She sounded hysterical, and he forced calmness into his own words. You know I will come for you.

  No! she cried out. No, don't you see? You're the one he wants. It's why he took me. You are the one he's after, not me.

  Jared glanced about the chamber again, and this time noticed a figure—a rangy, broad-shouldered man, well over six feet tall, with shadowy features. Her captor paced the length of the chamber slowly, studying Kelsey where she sat on the floor. Raising a fist, Jared rose to confront him, ready to kill the man in order to protect his love.

  Then he remembered: He wasn't even there—had no recourse at all, not yet—and was powerless to help Kelsey until he got there. He knelt in front of her again, and saw tears streaming down her face.

  Please, Jared. If you come, he'll kill you. It's what he wants.

  He cupped her face in his hands and pressed his lips against her forehead. Shh ... nothing's going to happen to me. I will be fine. We will both be fine, sweetheart….

  She pulled back, looking up into his eyes. He was our protector, but something went really wrong. I don't know what.

  Suddenly darkness began to form around Kelsey, and he felt himself being pressed away from her. Marco towered over her now, staring down at her, talking. What was the bastard saying?

  "Kelsey, what's going on?" came this Marco's throaty voice, echoing as if from the bottom of a stony canyon. The words were furious, cruel. Once again Jared assumed a fighting position, ready to battle the man to the death despite the distance that separated them.

  But before he could challenge his enemy or even offer Kelsey a last assurance of protection, darkness overcame her. And everything within Jared's mind and spirit faded to black.

  Chapter Fifteen

  "This is taking way too long." Scott crouched in front of the bed where Jared slumped, eyes half rolled back into his head. "He should've pulled out long before now."

  "Don't you think I know that?" Thea tried not to panic, and placed a hand to Jared's flushed cheek. "He's burning up." She shook her head, trying to understand her cousin's fugue state. "Something's definitely wrong here."

  For the past twenty minutes Jared had been sitting beside her, his hand clasped around hers, but his mind and soul had been transported to somewhere else entirely—a place where no one else could follow.

  Scott planted both hands firmly on Jared's shoulders. "Jared," he said, but there was no change at all. He turned back to Thea. "You've got to do something about this."

  "Like what, Scott?" she hissed. "I don't even know what this is, all right?" She had cursed them both as fools for even letting Jared attempt such a dangerous tactic. It was one thing to make a connection when one's bondmate was in close proximity, but Kelsey might be anywhere by now. Traversing long distances could put his spirit in jeopardy for all they knew.

  She wriggled her hand out of Jared's sweaty-palmed death grip and turned to face him where he slumped on the bed. His dark eyebrows were furrowed in deep concentration, as if he were intercepting a very intense conversation being held on another galaxy. She drew her face to within an inch of his and gave him a gentle shake, whispering his name. Then, for the first time since they'd linked power, his expression changed as some unidentifiable emotion flashed across his features. His eyes grew wide, his eyebrows hitched upward, and he began growling loudly in apparent denial. It was the instinctive sound of an enraged Refarian changeling. Bracing herself, she wondered what might come next.

  "No," Jared whispered hoarsely, focusing on an unseen spot across the room. "No. Kelsey! Kelsey," he practically growled, and then his eyes flew open, wildly darting as he gasped for air.

  "Jared!" Scott dropped to the floor in front of their leader. "Tell me you're all right, sir." He made no effort to mask the fear they felt.

  "I saw her," Jared gasped at last. Springing to his feet, he began to move about the room, a study in coiled fury. "Ready a transport," he commanded.

  Scott gave an answering nod. "Already done and awaiting orders."

  "They're holding her at the mitres," Jared continued. "We must get there at once."

  Thea reminded Jared that a retrieval team, not his own presence, made the most sense. When he again insisted on personally accompanying the soldiers, she pressed the issue harder. "I don't understand how you can put yourself in that kind of danger," she said. "All these insane chances lately, cousin—"

  But he cut her off. "There is no other way this time." He turned to her, his face a mask of composed leadership, meeting her gaze head on. "The mitres data remains lodged within Kelsey's mind. I am the one who placed it there—and I am the one who left this human vulnerable, exposed to our enemies, of whom she knows nothing." Deep blotches of color stained his face, and he drew in a shuddering breath before continuing. "I am the one who must retrieve it—and I am the one she is counting on." He reached for his pistol where it lay on the mantel and holstered it before turning back to them, his black eyes blazing with emotion. "Now do you understand the stakes this night, cousin?"

  And without awaiting an answer, he strode out the door.

  A nagging thought teased at Marco's mind, one that gained substance the longer he observed Kelsey. She sat exactly where she had for most of the past thirty minutes: leaning against the wall opposite him, her face lowered. And deathly still. When at first her questions had ceased and she'd buried her face against her knees, he'd assumed she was simply crying. But now his suspicions began to gain more life.

  She and Jared weren't married yet, so he didn't know if their bond was anything like Marco had seen it become in his own time—or if they'd even discovered their unique gift for communicating over vast distances yet. But what if they had? And what if she were trying to make that connection right now? Or what if Jared had managed to engage their link?

  "Kelsey, what's going on?" he demanded.

  "N-nothing," she stammered, face still buried in her crumpled jacket

  And Marco knew. He was across the room in a breath, roughly yanking her to an upright position. "You were trying to reach Jared."

  She shook her head in denial, but he recognized that dazed look; he'd seen it on both their faces too many times over the years not to recognize it.

  He tightened his grip on her arm. "Kelsey, I know exactly what you were doing." Answering fear flickered in her intelligent eyes, and she recoiled slightly.

  God, she thought he might actually hurt her. That he could ever hurt her—even if he tried. No matter what had happened between them all in the past eight years, wounding her in any way was something he remained incapable of doing.

  In the chamber a week ago, he'd nearly aborted his entire plan after accidentally crushing her hand—the hand of her future self—beneath his boot. She'd cried out in sharp, undisguised pain, and the mission had all but ended before it had even started. For five full minutes he'd struggled to recover his stupefied senses enough to sift through her thoughts. He'd been gentle with the woman, as gentle as he could be; even so, she'd believed he might kill her at any moment. She, the only woman he had ever loved. But by the time he'd left
her behind, shaken and dazed, he hoped she understood the truth: that even with all their painful, twisted history, he would never willingly harm her.

  However, Jared Bennett was another story entirely.

  "What happened to make you turn from us?" this Kelsey whispered, strong as steel—yet delicate as a newly budded flower. There it was: that dichotomous beauty he had always found so fascinating in the human. And, yes, she was human, although her story was as complicated as he'd indicated; he'd been honest about that much. Still, he'd twisted things somewhat in an effort to keep her under his control; he'd done it, and begged her forgiveness in silence the entire time.

  Closing his protector's eyes, Marco willed himself to regain his composure. Thinking too much about his past never led to any good end these days. He had to stay focused, had to accomplish his mission, and he refused to yield power by dredging up things that should remain forgotten.

  When he looked again, he found Kelsey studying him, waiting for some kind of answer. Her gaze, more than any other, had always had the capacity to unravel him. So of course it had that exact effect right now, and against his will, his cheeks burned hot beneath her examination. After so long, just one look from her could still cause his heart to lodge solidly in his throat and his mind to play wayward tricks.

  And down that path, he'd learned the hard way, lay only his own destruction. He immediately moved to block the impressions he kept reading off of her. Better to seal off his intuition. Better to fall back on uncomplicated warrior's strengths right now. Better to turn his cold heart back to stone, to feel nothing, to give quarter to nothing… except revenge against his would-be king. Marco swallowed hard and brushed past Kelsey.

  "So, now that you and Jared have shared communion—is he on the way?" he asked with forced coolness.

  She remained silent until at last he began to laugh. Of course Jared was on the way—that was how connected they'd always been. No one needed to remind Marco of that fact.

  "Well, at least that will save me a phone call," he said, and a shiver of anticipation ran through him. A rush of emotion too strong to deny caused his heart to pound quicker, his blood to run hotter. But he was ready, more than ready for what would come next.

  Even if he hadn't stood face-to-face with Jared Bennett—any version of him—in more than four years.

  Kelsey wasn't entirely sure what she'd just seen in Marco's eyes, but she would've sworn it had been some kind of fondness for her. Maybe this situation had more to do with her than she'd initially guessed. And if so, then maybe she could still get a few answers out of Marco, answers that might help Jared. She rose slowly from the cold floor and felt her knee throb from sitting in one place for the past hour. It was an old skiing injury, and when she kept still for too long, it always began to ache.

  He moved his large frame to block her. "Where do you think you're going?"

  She didn't flinch. "I just want to stretch my legs. Is that okay?"

  At last he gave a nod of agreement, stepping back from her.

  "You'll never be able to fight them all, you know." Kelsey smoothed her hands across the front of her rumpled sweater. "They're too powerful. And you're just one man."

  He looked at her and laughed softly. "But I'm strong in my Refarian blood. Pure. Whereas Jared, his warriors, his servants, are all corrupted by their human interactions. Contaminated and weakened."

  "Well, then, I must be the weakest of all—and I still don't believe what you told me earlier."

  He arched an eyebrow. "Why not?"

  "A change like you're describing, on a cellular level, isn't possible. I don't even have to be a scientist to know that."

  "Would you have said it was possible for one person to leave complicated designs and coding within another's mind?"

  "I don't know for a fact that he did that," she argued, even though she completely believed what Jared had told her.

  Marco shook his head slowly. "Kelsey, you are just more human than the others. That's all. But you are one of them. It was part of why the people rallied...." Marco's voice trailed off, and he began shaking his head as he stared at her. "My God. You really don't know any of this, do you?"

  She met Marco's cold eyes with determination. "Tell me what you were going to say."

  "Okay." He pulled his face within mere inches of hers. "You were his bride," he whispered, his eyes raking over her face heatedly.

  "I already know we were married," she stated impatiently. "You told me that earlier. You showed me the ring!"

  "No, Kelsey, I mean you were his bride. You are the beloved of Refaria—more valuable to the revolution than even the king. You are the one the rebels rise to follow. Because of your humanity. Because you are both human and Refarian, as a result of your change. You were prophesied to him years ago—hasn't he told you? You were foretold by the mystics. In every way possible, you are their queen, and they are pledged to you. It is you they rise to follow."

  And with that simple statement, Kelsey felt her entire universe shift on its axis, and she collapsed to her knees.

  Marco watched Kelsey slide to the floor and shook his head in disbelief. How was it possible that she didn't know any of this? He thought they'd learned about her hybrid DNA long before she and Jared were married. The mitres data wasn't simply within her mind; it was permanently fused inside her brain, making her not only the queen but the revolution's true weapon. It had been why she alone could operate the mitres ten years in the future. This ignorance of hers gave him a distinct advantage; he wasn't about to spend these moments before Veckus arrived educating her. Not his job, not when she was his enemy.

  But when she slowly raised her eyes to meet his, and he saw the wild look in them, he felt something shift and come alive within his chest. Her eyes had always been like two deep pools that he could lose himself in. Find himself in.

  She continued to stare up, begging him with those same lovely eyes. "Tell me the rest," she breathed at last. "I deserve to know."

  The urge to guide her, to make her understand her purpose, was compelling; he'd spent too many years fulfilling his duty as their royal protector not to feel it. Obviously, she and Jared didn't know their true destiny. And he was painfully aware of just how vulnerable it left them all.

  Did they know about Veckus? Valyre? Thea?

  He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. He could not do this—he had a mission to complete.

  He coughed into his hand, furrowing his brow. "The rest?" he asked, feigning ignorance.

  "How can I be the one they follow? I saw Jared in the slipstream, when you took me through the time portal! He was alive—I saw him. He was alive and leading his people. Leading me!"

  "I never said the people didn't follow him. But the one who drew humans and Refarians together and bound them as one...." He shook his head slowly, fighting a wave of melancholy as he recalled the way their future had gone. "Trust me, Kelsey, it was you."

  "Trust you?" she cried incredulously, raking fingers through her hair. "Trust you? Seriously? Please. You're one to talk about trust here."

  He hadn't even noticed his choice of words. How could he ever expect her to trust him? Trust had departed between the three of them so long ago. Well, not the three of them; between the two of them and himself.

  "What purpose would it serve me to lie about such things?"

  He extended his hand to her, intending to help her to her feet, but she ignored it. He wasn't sure how to read the look on her face. She dropped her head, bowed it almost, and remained on her knees. He tried to see her expression, but her long auburn curls formed a curtain, hiding her face from him.

  "Kelsey, please get up," Marco said, extending his hand again.

  She kept her head lowered. "Please, Marco... just don't hurt him," she whispered.

  Again, he felt the spark of something come alive within him, but he willed it to die. "I follow Veckus now, Kelsey."

  She shook her head slowly, gaze lowered to the ground. "Please don't hurt Jared. I'm
begging you."

  Begging you.

  And then it hit him, nearly driving Marco to his own knees.

  The woman he had called queen was kneeling before him, begging for her husband's life. One with such a noble and beautiful spirit was reduced to groveling before a traitor, before him, of all people, the man who had betrayed her most treacherously of all.

  He closed his eyes against the revulsion of the image.

  God, how had it really come to this? To this dirty, fallen moment being played out between the two of them?

  The memories engulfed him in the space of a heartbeat, catapulting him through time as surely as if he'd activated the mitres. Time dissolved until he stood before Jared, the terrible gash in his forehead throbbing incessantly. Jared might as well be standing here in the mitres chamber now, standing right between them both physically: his voice sounded that clearly in Marco's ears. And so did his own, as the memories played far too vividly in his mind.

  "I'm begging you not to do this, Jared," Marco had said, falling to his knees. "My lord, please. Not this. Anything but this." Marco had barely resisted the urge to reach out and take Jared's hand in his own; he'd certainly not been above begging that night.

  But Jared had stared down at him, despising him, all the warmth and affection gone out of his dark eyes. The man he'd called king and thought of as a brother curled his lip in disgust. "Get up, Marco." Jared's breathing was labored and heavy. "Now."

  Marco didn't budge. "I was wrong. My lord, I know just how horribly wrong I was." He sought his king's pardon with his eyes, imploring him to listen to his heart and not the evidence.

  "Wrong?" Jared roared in disbelief. "You tried to kiss my wife. Your queen! In my own bedroom. And when she resisted, you struggled with her. How wrong could I be about those facts? What don't I understand?" Jared's large frame bore down upon him, threatening something far worse than mere coldness. "Tell me, Marco," he thundered, so loudly the walls of the great room echoed the words back at them, "why did you kiss my wife?"