Raintree: Santuary

THREE

The sound of her own scream resounded inside Mercy’s head, and for a split second she thought she was dreaming that her worst nightmare had come true. As the echoes of her terrified scream shivered all around her, remnants of a fear beyond bearing, she awoke to the reality of her nightmare. Her eyes opened and quickly adjusted to the semidarkness around her.

“Mommy!” Eve’s concerned cry prompted Mercy into immediate action. Telepathically, she called her child to her, and within seconds she rose from the bed and took her daughter into her protective embrace.

“What’s wrong, Mother?” Eve asked. “You mustn’t be afraid.”

The moment Mercy had prayed would never come was here, descending upon them like an evil plague from the depths of hell. Judah Ansara, a true prince of darkness, stood hovering over her and Eve, his icy gray eyes staring at her, questioning her, demanding answers.

“Sidonia?” Mercy said, fearing that Judah had disposed of her beloved nanny.

“Oh!” Eve gasped, then eased out of Mercy’s arms, turned and waved her hand.

Mercy followed her child’s line of vision to where Sidonia’s body came to life, having been released from its immobile state. “Eve, did you…?”

“I’m sorry, Mother, but Sidonia didn’t want me to meet my daddy. She tried to stop me from talking to him.”

Mercy’s gaze reconnected with Judah ’s. Those cold eyes shimmered with hot anger.

She is mine! Judah ’s three unspoken words filled the room, expanding, exploding, shaking the walls and windows.

“Stop!” Mercy cried, shoving Eve behind her. “Your rage accomplishes nothing.”

Judah grabbed Mercy by the shoulders, his fingers biting into her flesh. When Mercy whimpered in pain, Eve reached up and placed her hand on Judah ’s arm.

“You must be gentle with my mother. I know you don’t want to hurt her.”

Judah ’s tenacious hold loosened as he glanced from Mercy’s face to Eve’s, and then back to Mercy. “I won’t harm your mother.” He glanced over at Sidonia, who glared at him with bitter hatred. “Go with your nanny, child. I need to speak to your mother alone.”

“But I don’t want to-” Eve whined.

Do as I tell you to do. Mercy heard the silent message Judah issued to Eve and realized that he instinctively knew Eve would hear his thoughts.

Eve looked to her mother. Mercy nodded. “Go with Sidonia. Let her put you to bed. You and I will talk in the morning.”

Eve kissed Mercy on the cheek. “Good night, Mother.” Then she tugged on Judah ’s arm and motioned for him to bend over, which he did after releasing his hold on Mercy. Eve kissed his cheek, too. “Good night, Daddy.”

Neither Mercy nor Judah spoke until Sidonia took Eve away and closed the bedroom door behind them.

The moment they were alone, Judah turned on Mercy. “The child is mine?”

Mercy stood and faced her greatest fear-her child’s father. “Eve is mine. She is Raintree.”

“Yes, she is Raintree,” Judah replied. “But she is more. She told me so herself.”

“Eve has great power that she is far too young to understand. Telling herself that she is more than Raintree helps explain these things to her so that her child’s mind can accept them.”

“Do you deny that she is mine?”

“I neither deny nor confirm-”

“She knew me instantly,” Judah said.

Was there any way she could lie to this man and convince him that Eve was not his? For nearly seven years, since the moment she conceived Judah Ansara’s child, she had kept that knowledge hidden from him and from the entire world, even from her own brothers. Only Sidonia knew the truth of Eve’s paternity. Until now.

“What are you doing here on Raintree land?” Mercy asked.

He eyed her speculatively. “You don’t remember?”

Unsure about what he meant, she didn’t respond as she sorted through her last coherent thoughts before blacking out. It was not unusual for her to faint or to simply fall asleep after a healing, but in this instance, her restorative sleep had been far deeper than normal.

She recalled the car accident and saving the sole survivor by removing her terrible pain, then transposing enough of her own strength and healing power to keep the woman alive.

Suddenly she felt the memory of a forceful grip around her neck, cutting off her air, choking her. Mercy gasped, her gaze shooting to Judah. Taking several calming breaths, she captured those frightening moments buried deep in her subconscious and realized that someone had tried to erase those memories.

“You didn’t want me to remember that someone tried to kill me.”

Judah simply glared at her.

“Do you want me to think it was you who tried to strangle me?” she said. “I know it wasn’t.”

He said nothing.

“You won’t allow me to remember my attacker. Why? And what were you doing so close to the Raintree home place at the very time it happened?”

“Coincidence.” His deep baritone rumbled the one word.

“No, I don’t believe you. You knew someone was going to…You came here to save me, didn’t you? But I don’t understand.” How would Judah have known her life was in danger? And why would he bother to come to the hills of North Carolina to save her, a Raintree princess?

“Why would I not save the mother of my child?”

“You didn’t know Eve existed. Not until you came here. Not until she introduced herself to you.”

“Why I came here is not important,” Judah said. “Not now. All that matters is the fact that you gave birth to my child and have kept her from me for six years. How could you have done that?”

Mercy laughed, the sound false and nervous. “Eve is my child. It doesn’t matter who her father is.” Oh, God, if only that were true. If only…

Judah growled, the sound as bestial as the man himself. No matter what, she could never allow herself to see him as anything other than what he was-an Ansara demon. It did not matter that even now, knowing him for who and what he was, she found herself drawn to him on a purely sexual level. He possessed a power over her that she could not deny. But she could-and would-resist.

Judah scanned Mercy from head to toe, his gaze appreciative and sensual.

“The protective spell you cast over Eve must be very powerful, one that takes a great deal of your strength to keep in place.”

Mercy shivered. “There is nothing I wouldn’t do for Eve. She is-”

“She is an Ansara.”

“Eve is a Raintree princess, the granddaughter of Dranir Michael, the daughter of Princess Mercy.”

“A rare and highly unique child,” Judah said. “There has been no mixing of the bloodlines for thousands of years, not since the first great battle when all Ansara and Raintree became sworn enemies. Any mixed-breed offspring have been disposed of before birth or as infants.”

“If there is one drop of decency in you, you will not claim her,” Mercy said. “If she is forced to choose between two heritages, it could destroy her. And you know, as well as I do, that your people would never accept her. They would try to kill her.”

Judah ’s smile sent waves of terror through Mercy. “Then you admit that she is mine.”

“I admit nothing.”

Judah reached out and grabbed her by the back of her neck, his large hand clasping forcefully, his thick fingers threading through her hair. If she chose to do so, she could battle him here and now, both physically and mentally. But she had learned at a young age to choose her battles, to save her strength for the moments of greatest need. Standing her ground, neither resisting nor accepting his hold on her, Mercy faced her deadly enemy.

“When did you realize I was Ansara?” Judah asked.

“The moment I conceived your child,” she admitted.

His hold tightened as he brought her closer, then lowered his head until only a hairsbreadth separated his lips from hers. “That must have been the last time we had sex. If it had been before, any of the other times, you would have left me sooner.”

I didn’t leave you even then, the last time, when your seed took root within me and I knew that I would give birth to an Ansara. I stayed with you until you fell asleep, assisted by an ancient sleep spell that Sidonia had taught me. And when I knew you would not awaken for hours, I searched and found the mark of the Ansara on your neck, hidden by your long hair.

Judah brushed her lips with his. She sucked in a deep gulp of air.

“I knew you were Raintree from the moment I saw you,” he said. “I disregarded my better judgment, which told me to avoid you, that you were trouble. But I couldn’t resist you. You were the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen.”

And I couldn’t resist you. I wanted you the way I’d never wanted another man. You were a stranger, and yet I gave myself to you.

I loved you.

Even now, Mercy found it difficult to admit the complete truth, because it was so heinous. The very thought that she had fallen in love with an Ansara was an abomination, a betrayal of her people, an unforgivable treachery.

And if Dante and Gideon ever learned that their beloved niece was half Ansara…

“You were a delightful amusement,” Judah told her, his breath hot against her lips. “But don’t think that I’ve given you a second thought in the past seven years. You were nothing to me then, and are nothing to me now. But Eve…”

Fear boiled fiercely within Mercy, a mother’s protective fear for her child. “The only way you can claim Eve is to kill me.”

“I could kill you as easily as I squash an insect beneath my feet.”

His words proclaimed indifference, but his actions spoke a different language. Judah took Mercy’s mouth in a possessive, conquering kiss that startled her and yet stirred to life the hunger she had known only for this man. She tried to resist him but found herself powerless. Not against his strength, but against her own need.

How could she want him, knowing who he was?

When they were both breathless and aroused, Judah ended the kiss and lifted his head. “You’re still mine, aren’t you?” He sneered. “I could lay you down here and now and take you, and you wouldn’t protest.”

Mercy jerked away from him, humiliated by her own actions.

“I am Raintree. Eve is Raintree,” Mercy said. “You cannot claim either of us.”

Judah ran his index finger over Mercy’s lips, down her chin and throat, pausing in the center of her chest, between her breasts. “You are of no importance. You were nothing more than a vessel to carry my child. But Eve is very important to me. She is Ansara, and when the time is right, I will claim her.”

Mercy sensed a frightening truth when she caught a momentary glimpse into Judah ’s mind. The instant he realized she had invaded his thoughts, he cloaked them entirely, shutting her out. But not before she saw her own death. Death at the hands of her child’s father.

“If you kill me, Dante and Gideon-”

“Dante and Gideon are the least of my worries at the moment.”

Puzzled by his statement, she glowered at him. “If you harm me, if you try to take Eve, my brothers will fight you to the death.”

“The time is not right for others to know of Eve’s existence.” He grasped Mercy’s shoulders and shook her none too gently. “I have an enemy who would kill Eve if he knew she was my child. And many others who would take her life simply because she is a mixed-breed.”

With his hands on Mercy’s body, he passed currents from within him into her, a physical and mental awareness that he could not prevent.

“The protective cloak I’ve kept around Eve since before she was born has been penetrated,” Mercy said. “This was your doing. If you truly wish to keep her safe, you have to help me form a stronger barrier around her. Now that she is aware of you and you of her, it will take both of us to protect her. Will you help me?”

“Do you actually trust me to protect her?” Judah ran his hands up and down Mercy’s arms, then released her. “After all, she is half Raintree and the Ansara have sworn an oath to destroy such children.”

“She is also half Ansara, and yet I love her with all my heart and would protect her with my own life.”

“What makes you think that I would do the same?”

Mercy saw past the exterior steel crust to the center of Judah ’s soul. Not a soft or pliable soul, not one easily touched by the pain and suffering of others, but a male soul. Strong, fierce, loyal, protective and possessive. He had been unable to hide that truth from her seven years ago, and he still could not.

“Blood calls to blood,” Mercy said. “It is true of mankind, but even truer of the Raintree and the Ansara.”

“If you knew I wouldn’t harm Eve, why keep her a secret from me all these years?”

Mercy hesitated. She felt Judah probing, trying to invade her thoughts again.

“I was afraid that you would try to take her from me,” she said. “I couldn’t allow that. If you had tried-if you try now-Dante and Gideon will join forces with me and stop you from taking her.”

“They might try, but…”

Mercy realized that Judah had seen beyond the obvious.

Judah ’s lips curved downward into a speculative frown. “Dante and Gideon don’t know that Eve is Ansara, do they? You were afraid of how they would react, perhaps afraid that they would kill her.”

“No! My brothers would never harm Eve. The Raintree do not murder innocent children.”

“Then who were you protecting by hiding the truth from them?”

“I had hoped to protect Eve from the truth,” Mercy said. “I should have known that she would soon realize she was more than Raintree, and that eventually she would have sought you out and found you.”

“Blood calls to blood,” Judah repeated her words.

“Then we are in agreement-we will protect Eve.”

“We will never be in agreement,” he said. “But for the time being, yes, I will help you keep your secret. It will be difficult, now that Eve knows I am her father. Because she is so young, she doesn’t have complete command of her powers, and that alone puts her in danger. Since she is unable to control her powers, we must do it for her. For her own protection.”

“You are welcome to try. I’ve managed to subdue her powers from time to time, to keep them partially under control, but…” She hesitated to admit the truth to this man, this Ansara who could try to use their daughter’s unparalleled gifts against the Raintree.

“Is her power that great?” he asked.

Mercy kept silent, afraid she had already said too much.

“Eve has equal measures of Ansara and Raintree power,” Judah said in astonishment. “She inherited your powers and mine, didn’t she? My God, do you realize…? Our child possesses more power than anyone in either clan.”

“More than you or I.” Mercy bowed her head and silently uttered an ancient incantation.

Judah grabbed her. She gasped, startled by his actions, not realizing that he had somehow figured out what she was doing.

“It won’t work,” he told her. “You cannot use your magic on me. Surely you know I won’t allow you to-”

Mercy focused, sending a sharp mental blow to Judah ’s body, hitting him square in the stomach. He groaned as the shock wave hit him, then narrowed his gaze, burning through the shield around Mercy, retaliating with a searing pain that radiated from her belly. She cried out, then vanquished the fire inside her.

“Do you truly believe you are as strong as I am, that you are capable of defeating me?” he asked.

“Yes.”

He stared at her, apparently skeptical, unable to believe that her power not only equaled his but might surpass it. As they stood there glaring at each other, neither backing down nor escalating the battle, Judah studied her intently.

“You’re different,” he told her. “And it’s more than that you’ve matured into the premiere empath that you are today. That was always your destiny.”

She held her breath, realizing that he was on the verge of understanding a truth that even she herself had not wanted to accept.

“Having my child changed you,” Judah said. “Giving birth to Eve increased your powers. You, too, are more than Raintree, aren’t you?”

“No, I am not-”

“Quiet!” Judah issued the order in a commanding manner. “Control your tongue and your thoughts.”

“Why? Tell me-what are you so afraid of? Is this enemy of yours powerful enough to threaten your very life?”

Judah ruled the Ansara, his power unequaled by any other, not even his half brother. He, not Cael, was the superior, the mightiest of all Ansara, but he could control his brother only to a certain extent and only for brief periods of time. Cael was at this very moment fighting the spell that had quieted his telepathic abilities. His fiendish curses were bombarding Judah, who knew he could not deal with Mercy Raintree and Cael Ansara at the same time. Both were powerful creatures, each his enemy.

Cael’s thoughts converged into a jumbled mass of hysteria and rage, but as he fought Judah ’s spell, he revealed more of his inner self than he realized. Cael was determined to escalate the impending war, the final Ansara and Raintree battle, and he had set events into motion that could not be stopped.

Judah ’s head pounded with the knowledge of his brother’s treachery-not only against himself but against the entire tribe. The Ansara were not ready for the final battle. Not yet. If Cael forced them to fight now, they could be defeated. And this time, they could not count on the Raintrees’ benevolence. Two hundred years ago the Raintree had allowed a handful of Ansara to live, one the youngest daughter of the old Dranir. It was through her-Dranira Melisande-that the royal bloodline had survived.

“ Judah?” Mercy called his name again.

“Silence!”

Do not issue me orders, she told him telepathically.

If you wish to keep your child safe, protect not only your spoken words but your thoughts, Judah warned her.

She stared at him but said nothing. Then he felt a shield lift between them. Even if Mercy knew nothing of Cael, she understood that someone-other than Judah -posed a threat to Eve.