Raintree: Santuary

TWELVE

Mercy waited until after breakfast before requesting a private conversation with Judah. To keep Eve occupied and away from the house, she had sent her daughter with Sidonia to take fresh baked goods to the visitors occupying the cabins. Although the kitchens in all the units were well stocked, Sidonia enjoyed sharing her homemade breads, muffins, cakes and pies with their guests. Being a gregarious, curious child, Eve liked nothing better than to meet various members of the Raintree tribe, so this Thursday morning outing with her nanny was a real treat for her.

Alone in the study with Judah, Mercy braced herself for the inevitable magnetic pull that drew her to him. If she denied their sexual connection, she would be lying to herself. What she could and would do was fight that attraction. During the years since she had seen him, she had convinced herself that what she’d felt for him during their brief time together hadn’t been as passionately exciting as she remembered. But those moments on the stairs last night had proven otherwise. The extraordinary chemistry between them could still make her weak and vulnerable, two things a Raintree never wanted to be around an Ansara.

“Go ahead. Get it over with.” Judah’s eyes twinkled with mischievous delight, his expression similar to Eve’s when she was up to no good.

Mercy squared her shoulders. “Just what do you think I’m going to say or do?”

“I assume you’re going to rip into me about what happened between us last night. So go ahead and tell me that you won’t allow it to happen again. Lay down the law. Show me who’s boss.”

She would like nothing better than to wipe that cocky grin off his face and was tempted to give him a psychic slap. But that would only prove how easily he could rile her. She certainly had no intention of giving him the satisfaction.

Ignoring his deliberate attempt to get a reaction, she asked, “How is it possible that you and your cousin are able to gift charms?”

“What?”

Well, that had wiped the smile off his face, hadn’t it? She had surprised him with her question.

“Are you talking about the sexual protection that Claude and I…?”

“I’m talking about the fact that only royals have the power to gift charms. Are you a royal? If so, that means there’s an Ansara royal family, right?”

He didn’t respond immediately, which bothered her. He was giving serious thought to his reply. Thinking up a plausible lie? she wondered.

“You must know that there’s always been a royal Ansara family. One of the old Dranir’s daughters, Princess Melisande, survived The Battle, married, and had children and grandchildren and so forth. To answer your other questions, yes, Claude and I have royal blood, or so our parents told us.”

“Are you a prince?”

“No.”

Was he lying to her? Did she dare believe him?

“Where is your home?” she asked.

“Why the sudden interest in my personal life? If you’re asking for Eve’s sake, then I can tell you I’m strong, healthy, mentally sound and possess all the powers of a royal.”

“Why are you reluctant to tell me where you live?”

“I live all over the world. I’m an international businessman, an offshore banker, with interests in numerous countries.”

“And the other Ansara-how many are there? Where do the Dranir and Dranira reside? Are your people scattered throughout the world as we Raintree are?”

“What few of us there are keep a low profile,” Judah told her. “We are not prepared to confront the Raintree and do nothing to call attention to ourselves.”

“But you did, didn’t you? Seven years ago, you deliberately seduced a Raintree princess. I’d say that’s calling attention to yourself.”

“But at the time, you didn’t know I was Ansara. And if you had not conceived my child, you never would have known.”

What he said was true enough and yet a sense of foreboding clenched her stomach muscles, creating a sick feeling in her gut. Was it possible that in only two hundred years, the Ansara had rebuilt their clan enough to actually pose a threat to the Raintree? Surely not. If the Ansara were once again a mighty people, the Raintree would know. One of the Raintrees’ many psychics would have sensed the Ansaras’ escalating power. Unless…Unless they had deliberately shielded themselves from detection with a mass protection spell…But was that even possible?

“What about your Dranir and Dranira?” Mercy asked.

“So many questions.” Judah came toward her.

She held her ground, refusing to cower in front of him.

“The Ansara Dranir is single,” Judah said. “Some consider him a playboy. He has a villa in the Caribbean and one in Italy, as well as homes and apartments in various places. He owns a yacht and a jet, and women swoon at his feet.”

“Sounds like a charming guy,” Mercy said sarcastically. “And you’re related to him. From what you’ve said about him, I sense a strong similarity between you two.”

“Like two peas in a pod.” Judah smirked. “I also manage his money for him.”

Mercy wondered why Judah was so forthcoming with information about his Dranir and his people. Either they were, as he had told her, no threat to the Raintree, or he was telling her just enough of the truth to appear open and honest. But why should a Raintree trust an Ansara?

Whenever Judah was this close, their bodies almost touching, Mercy found it difficult to concentrate, and he damn well knew it. Ignore the fact that your heartbeat has accelerated and your nipples have hardened, Mercy told herself. He doesn’t know that you’re moist with desire, that your body yearns for his.

“Wouldn’t our brief time together be better spent not talking?” Judah leaned over just far enough so that they were nose to nose, mouth to mouth. “As I recall, neither of us needs words to express what we want.”

Shivering internally, she barely managed to keep her body from shaking. Her breathing quickened. Her nostrils flared. Her feminine core clenched and unclenched.

“Why does your brother hate you enough to kill you?”

Her question acted as the deterrent she had hoped it would. Judah lifted his head and withdrew from her, at least far enough so that she could take a free breath.

“I told you that Cael’s mother killed my mother. There’s been bad blood between us all our lives.”

“If his mother killed yours, then you should be the one who hates him, the one who wants to kill him. Why is it the other way around?”

“I’m my father’s legitimate son. Cael is not. It’s as simple as that. An insane mind needs little excuse to act irrationally.”

Mercy told herself that she was questioning Judah to acquire needed information about the Ansara, but that was only part of her reason. Curiosity? Perhaps. All she knew was that she felt a great need to know this man, her child’s father.

“How old were you when your mother died?” she asked.

Judah’s jaw tensed. “My mother was murdered.” He tapered his gaze until his eyes slanted almost closed.

Of its own volition, her hand reached over and spread out across the center of his chest, covering his heart. For one millisecond, while emotion made him vulnerable, Mercy absorbed his innermost thoughts. He had been an infant when his mother died, too young to remember her face or the sound of her voice. A small boy’s sadness lingered deep inside Judah, both a hunger for a mother’s love and a denial that he needed love from anyone.

“I’m very sorry about your mother,” Mercy told him. “No child should grow up without a mother to love him unconditionally.”

With his mouth twisted in a snarl, his eyes mere slits and tension etched on his features, Judah grabbed her hand and flung it off his chest. “I neither want nor need your sympathy.”

Bombarded with his anger and resentment, Mercy gasped for air. The rage boiling inside him spilled over onto her, engulfing her, drowning her in its intensity. This was her fault, not his, she realized. She should have known better than offer him kindness and caring when he understood neither.

And she shouldn’t have touched him.

Mercy fought to free herself from the dangerous havoc Judah’s fury was creating within her. She had somehow connected to him empathically, and try as she might, she couldn’t manage to sever the link. A heaviness bore down on her chest, a weight that robbed her of breath. She gasped for air, struggling for speech to demand that he release her.

Judah grabbed her shoulders. “What’s wrong with you?”

She managed to expel a gasping moan.

“Mercy!” He shook her.

She felt herself growing weaker by the minute, her oxygen supply cut off as if she were being smothered. Help me. Please, Judah, help me.

Tell me what to do.

Barely conscious, Mercy swayed toward him. Don’t be angry with me. Don’t hate me.

I did this to you?

He caught her as her knees gave way, swooping her up in his arms. “Sweet Mercy.”

Closing her eyes, she sank to a level just below consciousness. Judah lowered his head and pressed his cheek against hers as he held her securely. As swiftly as his negative energy had invaded her mind and body, it dissipated, draining from her as it drained from him. She felt a flash of concern and genuine regret before he swiftly placed a protective barrier between them.

Weak from the experience and recovering slowly, Mercy opened her eyes and met Judah’s concerned gaze.

“I didn’t mean for that to happen,” he told her.

“It was my fault,” she said. “I let my guard down.”

“That’s a dangerous thing to do, especially around me.”

She nodded. “Would you please put me down now? I’ll be all right.”

“Are you sure? I could-”

“No, thank you. Just put me on my feet.”

He eased her down and out of his arms, slowly, maddeningly, making sure her body skimmed over his. When he released her, she staggered, and he grabbed her upper arms to steady her.

“Should I get Sidonia?” he asked.

“No, I’ll be all right. Please…” She wriggled, trying to loosen his secure grip on her arms.

He released her.

“I need to be alone for a while,” she told him, then turned her back on him, afraid she would succumb to her weakness for a man who was not only dangerous to her, but to her daughter. Seconds later, the door to her study closed, and she knew Judah had left the room.

After a half hour on the phone with Claude, discussing the fact that Cael had not returned to Terrebonne and had somehow dropped off the Ansara radar, Judah had gone in search of his daughter. He needed to build a strong rapport with Eve as quickly as possible. Only if he bonded with her, if she trusted him completely, would he be able to persuade her to leave the Raintree sanctuary with him. So, he spent hours with her that Thursday morning and afternoon, every moment under the vigilant supervision of Nanny Sidonia. The old woman watched him like a hawk, as if she expected him to sprout horns and a tail. Wouldn’t she be shocked if he did just that? he thought And he could. At least, he could create the illusion of horns and a tail, enough to scare the crap out of the old woman. It would serve her right if he did. But it might frighten Eve and possibly give her the wrong impression of him. He was sure the grumbling old hag had already badmouthed him to his child, telling her all sorts of improbable stories about the wicked Ansara.

He supposed there was some grain of truth to it. The good Raintree. The bad Ansara. But all Raintree weren’t saints. And not every Ansara was the devil incarnate.

From time immemorial, the Raintree, as a people, had chosen the straight and narrow, taking the high ground, showing an emotional weakness for the welfare of the Ungifted and preferring peace to war. Wizards with far too much conscience.

The Ansara tolerated humankind, manipulated them when they were useful, disregarded them when they were not. Ansara prided themselves on their skills as warriors and defended to the death what was theirs. But they were not monsters, not evil demons. They lived and loved and cherished their families. In that respect, they were no different from the Raintree.

But there were also Ansara like Cael. A few in every generation. Depraved. Evil. True monsters. Often innate sorcerers, they possessed the ability to lure the dregs of Ansara society into their service. They killed for the pleasure of killing. Took great delight in inflicting pain, in torturing others. They were as unlike Judah and his kind as they were unlike the Raintree.

When circumstances required it, Judah had killed. To protect himself and others, or out of necessity, when killing was simply a business decision. He didn’t tolerate disobedience or disrespect. As the Dranir, he possessed unequaled power among his people.

He liked power. Respected power.

He used and discarded women as it pleased him, Ansara and human alike. And once, even a Raintree princess.

Eve tugged on his hand, reminding Judah that he was tied to Mercy Raintree through their daughter, a bond that only death could break.

Sidonia’s agitated voice called Eve’s name.

“Hurry, Daddy, or she’ll catch us.” Eve urged him to walk faster as they sneaked away from Sidonia on the pretense of playing hide and seek.

Judah swept Eve up into his arms. “Hold tight,” he told her.

When she wrapped her arms around his neck, Judah ran, taking his daughter away from unwanted supervision. When they were out of earshot of Sidonia’s threats, Judah set Eve on her feet.

“We got away!” Grinning triumphantly, Eve clapped her hands softly. “She doesn’t know where we are, and she can’t find us.”

“So what do you want to do, now that we’re on our own?”

“Mmm…” Eve deliberated her choices for a couple of moments, then laughed excitedly. “I want to show you something really special that I can do.” She looked up at him, eagerness shimmering in her eyes. Mercy’s green eyes.

“Something new?” he asked. “You’ve already shown me how talented you are.”

“It’s something I’ve never tried before, but I know I can do it.”

Judah glanced around and noted that they were not near the house or any of the cottages. Open meadow lay north and east of them, a bubbling brook to the south and a wooded area to the west. If Eve tried a new skill and it backfired, she couldn’t do much harm way out here. Besides, he was with her to counteract any fallout.

“Go ahead, Princess Eve, test your powers. Try something new. Show me.”

Eve smiled broadly, then stood very still and concentrated. Seconds ticked by. She focused inward, calling forth her power. The ground beneath their feet trembled.

“That’s it. Command your power,” Judah said. “You’re in control.”

The fingers on Eve’s right hand twitched, moving faster and faster. A tiny circle of energy formed in her palm. An orb of golden light, shimmering like translucent diamond dust, grew larger and larger until it filled her hand.

My God! Eve had created an energy ball, the most powerful and deadliest power in any Ansara’s or Raintree’s arsenal. No child before had been capable of creating an energy bolt, and only a select number of adults could do it.

“Eve, be careful.”

“Isn’t it beautiful?”

He zoomed in on the energy bolt his daughter held in her hand, as casually as if she were holding a baseball. “It’s very beautiful, but it’s extremely dangerous.”

“Oh.” Eve’s eyes widened in surprise, a hint of curiosity in her expression. “What does it do?”

Judah considered his options. He could probably dissolve the ball, but if he did, it might injure Eve’s hand. He could ask her to give the ball to him, and then he could dispose of it. Or he could allow her to find out for herself, under his strict supervision, just what such power could do.

“Turn and face the woods,” Judah told her. She did. “Now choose a tree.”

“That one.” She pointed to a towering elm.

“Aim your energy ball at the tree and whirl it through the air.”

Eve swung her right arm backward, lifting it over her head, and flung the psychic energy bolt in the direction of the tree she had chosen. She and Judah watched as the blast missed the elm tree entirely, zooming past it and exploding as it hit a stand of twenty-foot pines. At least half a dozen of the evergreens splintered into minuscule shards and rained down in heavy ash particles to the forest floor.

Holy crap! His little girl had just shot one of the most powerful energy bolts Judah had ever seen, taking out not one object but six.

“I missed my tree, Daddy. I missed it.” Eve puckered up, her bottom lip quivering.

He knelt down in front of her and tucked his knuckles under her chin, lifting her little face so that she looked directly at him. “You might have missed the elm tree, but look what your blast did. All you need is practice and you’ll be able to hit your target every time.”

Tears hung on Eve’s long, golden lashes, and her eyes shimmered with moisture, but she smiled and threw her arms around Judah’s neck.

“I love you, Daddy.”

Judah swallowed hard. I love you, too.

She hugged him tighter. “Mother’s coming.”

“It figures.”

“Huh?”

“Nothing.” Judah gradually eased out of Eve’s embrace as he rose to his feet. “Let me handle things, okay? When your mother finds us, she’s not going to be happy, so we’ll tell her that I’m the one who shot the energy bolt. That way she won’t be angry with you.”

“But that’s lying, Daddy, and lying is wrong.”

Judah groaned. Raintree logic. “Actually, it’ll just be a little white lie, so you won’t get in trouble.”

“Mother will know that I did it. She knows everything.”

Judah couldn’t repress his smile. “Why don’t we put her to the test and find out?”

When Eve looked up at him, he winked at her.

She winked back. “Okay.”

Exactly five minutes and sixteen seconds later, Judah sensed Mercy coming up from behind as he and Eve sat on the side of the creek, their shoes off, their feet in the cool water. He glanced over his shoulder and spied her a good thirty feet away.

When he turned back around, Eve said, “Mother is very upset.”

“Remember, let me do all the talking.”

“I think my mother is the one who’s going to do all the talking.”

When Mercy approached them, Judah and Eve simultaneously turned to face her.

“Hi, Mommy. Daddy and I are just cooling off. It sure is hot today.”

Mercy glared at Judah. “What did you let her do?”

Judah shrugged. “Eve didn’t do anything. I did. I was showing off a little for my daughter.”

“Is that right?” Mercy zeroed in on Eve.

Eve’s cheeks blushed bright pink. “Uh-huh.”

Mercy scanned the area in every direction. When her gaze fell on the empty spot in the woods created by the absence of six large pine trees, she gasped.

Focusing on Eve, she said, “I want the truth, young lady. Did you-” she nodded toward the woods “-do that?”

“Do what?” Eve asked.

Mercy glared at Judah. “Not only did you allow her to do something extremely dangerous, you taught her to lie.”

“No, Mother, please. Don’t be angry with Daddy.” Eve yanked her feet from the creek and hopped up off the ground. “I did it. I zapped a whole bunch of trees. I was aiming at just one, but-” she flopped her hands open on either side of her “-my energy ball kind of went crazy, and all those trees went poof.”

“Oh, God, oh, God,” Mercy mumbled under her breath, then turned to Judah. “Did you help her create an energy bolt?”

Judah stood up to his full six-two height and settled his gaze on Mercy. “Our daughter didn’t need any help. She was perfectly capable of creating an energy bolt all by herself. And in case you haven’t realized it, she took out six trees with one bolt.”

“She took out-of course she did.” Mercy marched over to Judah, nostrils flared, eyes blazing. “And you’re proud of her, aren’t you?”

“Damn right I am. And you should be, too.”

“I am proud of Eve, but…she could have been hurt, or hurt someone else.”

“I wouldn’t have let that happen.”

They stood there, glaring at each, a hairsbreadth apart, the tension between them palpable. She was furious with him. He loved that about her, the passion, the fierce, protective mama tiger in her. He wanted nothing more than to take her here and now, and except for Eve’s presence, he would have been sorely tempted.

She knew what he was thinking. He could see it in her eyes. And he also sensed her desire. Like animals powerless to resist the mating call, they couldn’t break the visual contact or the psychic bond that held them spellbound.

Spellbound his ass! He wasn’t some lovesick young fool. And he certainly wasn’t in love with Mercy. Once he’d screwed her again, this fever in his blood would cool.

“Mercy!” Sidonia cried as she came across the open field, three people following her. “Is Eve all right? Did that devil…?”

“She’s fine,” Mercy called.

“I’m getting damn sick and tired of her calling me the devil,” Judah said.

“Oh, great. Just great.” Mercy heaved a deep, exasperated sigh. “She’s got Brenna and Geol and Hugh with her.”

“A Raintree lynch party, no doubt.” Judah turned to face the approaching hangmen.

“You keep quiet.” She gave Judah and Eve stern looks. “Both of you. Let me do all the talking.”

Huffing and puffing, Sidonia stopped a couple of feet from Mercy. “I turned my back for two seconds, and he ran off with her.”

“It’s all right,” Mercy said. “It won’t happen again. Will it?” She looked from father to daughter.

Eve shook her head, then bowed it in a contrite manner. Totally false regret, of course.

Judah didn’t respond.

“What happened over there?” Hugh, a robust, gray-haired Raintree, pointed to the wide bare spot in the nearby woods. “You aren’t cutting down timber are you, Mercy?”

“Just a little psychic accident,” Mercy said. “I’m completely to blame.”

Hugh stepped forward, looked Judah over from head to toe, and held out his hand. “I’m Hugh Sullivan and you’re…?”

“This is Judah Blackstone,” Mercy said. “Judah and I went to college together. He’s visiting for a few days.”

Judah hesitated, then took the man’s hand and exchanged a cordial shake.

Hugh studied Judah with his green Raintree eyes. “Well, you are a handsome devil, all right.” Hugh chuckled. “I couldn’t figure out why Sidonia kept referring to you as the devil.”

“I’m afraid Sidonia and I got off on the wrong foot when I first arrived,” Judah said, then looked right at the nanny. “I’m sorry if our little game of hide-and-seek worried you. Eve and I were having so much fun playing that it never entered my head you’d be concerned about her.”

“Humph.” Sidonia gave him a condemning glare.

Judah glanced at the other man and woman, who seemed as intrigued by his presence as Hugh had been. He nodded to them.

“Hello,” the woman said. “I’m Brenna Drummond, a distant cousin of Mercy’s.”

The other man held up his hand in greeting. “I’m Geol Raintree, a not so distant cousin.”

“Forgive us, Mr. Blackstone, for being so curious, but Mercy having an old boyfriend visiting is quite an event.” Brenna smiled knowingly at Mercy, apparently giving her approval.

“Judah wasn’t my-” Before Mercy could finish her sentence, Judah slipped his arm around her waist. She went stiff as a board.

As if on cue, Eve cuddled up to Judah’s other side.

“Well, it looks as if our little Eve likes you, Mr. Blackstone,” Hugh said. “It’s always a good sign when a woman’s child likes you.”

“Hugh is grilling trout tonight, and I’m making homemade ice cream,” Brenna said. “Why don’t all of you come to my cabin for dinner?”

“Thank you, but I’m afraid-”

Once again, Judah cut Mercy off mid-sentence. “We’d love to, wouldn’t we?”

“Yippee!” Eve shouted. “Brenna makes the best ice cream in the world.”

Mercy forced a smile. After the search party went their separate ways and Mercy sent Eve back to the house with Sidonia, she confronted Judah.

“What did you think you were doing, agreeing to have dinner with my guests?”

“I was making an effort to be polite so they wouldn’t suspect there was a wolf among the sheep. Wasn’t that what you wanted me to do?”

“What I want you to do is disappear from my life and never return.”

“If I left, you’d miss me.”

“Like I’d miss the plague.”

“I’ll be leaving soon enough.” Going home to Terrebonne to fight and kill my brother, he added silently.

“Once you’ve taken care of Cael, please don’t come back here. Leave us alone. You’re bad for Eve. You must know that.”

“As a Raintree princess, you may be accustomed to issuing orders and having them obeyed, but I’m not one of your loyal subjects. Between us, I’m the master. And you’re my willing slave.”

“When hell freezes over!”