Page 70 of The Discovered
We were so absorbed in each other, in fact, that I almost didn’t notice the atmosphere shift with the presence of foreign energy. I pulled away.
“What’s wrong?” Daelon asked, stroking my cheek.
“I—I thought I felt something,” I said.
Daelon stiffened. “Fuck.”
My eyes darted all around, my stomach lurching when I saw a figure off in the distance among the dunes.
Daelon all but threw me off of him as he leapt to his feet. I reached out to feel the figure’s energy, which I immediately discerned as sinister, but nothing close to Lucius’s distinctive presence. He just stood there, watching us.
“I need you to do as I say, now more than ever before,” Daelon said, his tone sharp as a blade. In an instant, he’d shifted into someone entirely different than the man who’d just held me in his arms.
I pulled my jacket closed over my exposed body, still clad in underwear.
“Zip up that jacket, put on your pants, and do not move from here,” he ordered, his tone like ice.
“But—” I needed to tell him about the man’s energy.
He cut me off with his glare. “Do not follow me, Áine.”
He was seething, cursing under his breath as he began to walk toward the figure, leaving me reeling behind him.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I rose and slipped into my jeans. I felt vulnerable, and at the tone of Daelon’s voice paired with the intruder’s voyeurism, ashamed. Why didn’t he want me to come with him? What if he needed me?
I watched Daelon approach the threat, who also moved closer to meet him. He was dressed in dark clothing and appeared to be young and athletically built. He had sandy blond hair, and his energy was sneaky and teeming with ego. The aura slithered toward me like a wriggling snake, hued bright red, grayish, and black.
My pulse quickened, and Daelon didn’t stop until he was only a couple feet apart from the man—who grinned as he crossed his arms.
Did they know each other? I wished I could hear them, but the ocean was loud in my ears.
The hairs on my neck stood up again at the recognition of another presence—this time on the outskirts of my mind rather than here in the physical. I knew it was Lucius trying to communicate with me, and in my frustration with Daelon’s imposed helplessness, I let him.
You could hear them, if you so desired…he purred.
I watched as the man wagged his finger at Daelon, and I could tell now that he was sneering more than smiling.
Don’t you want to?
I pursed my lips, clenching and unclenching my fist at my side. How the hell did Lucius know what was happening? Did that mean he knew where we were?
Yes,I answered, surprising myself. I told Daelon I would trust him. But that didn’t mean I would allow him to hide things from me right in front of my face. Not when I could so easily get at least some semblance of answers…
After a moment’s hesitation I closed my eyes, concentrating as I projected my hearing outward.
Good.
Unsettled by Lucius’s sudden mental presence, I shut down our telepathic connection. I concentrated only on Daelon and the stranger.
“He knew?” Daelon asked, his voice hushed.
“Suspected.”
“You think you can use this to your advantage.”
The man shrugged. “I have no idea what you mean. I don’t see how it’s my fault that while I was busy putting out fires you were fucking the—”
Daelon lunged, punching the man square in the face. He stumbled backward, catching himself in a dune.
