Page 11 of Hers to Love
Chapter Seven
“How is it that you can do what you do? How can you be in two places at once?”
Taika had carried her upstairs to his bedroom after that first amazing time together on the couch downstairs. They had loved on each other more than once since then. She was tired, but exhilarated and happy at the same time. He’d definitely shown her what it was to be the center of attention for an Alpha like him, and she was very much addicted to it now.
“You gonna tell me or not?”
She smiled at the impatient note in his voice.
Taika was lying behind her with his arms wrapped so tightly around her she felt every word as a vibration through his chest. “Man, you are so demanding. Glad I know that about you now before I’m in too deep.” She giggled when Taika growled behind her. “How do I do it? Would you believe, magic?”
Ata giggled when Taika bit her on the shoulder. Not hard enough to hurt, but definitely enough to give her a little sting. “Smart-ass. I figured there was some magic involved, but I think there’s more to it than that.”
Ataahua nodded, pushing at his arms until he allowed her to turn within them and she could look up into his face. The glow from the moon beyond the large bedroom window enough to cast the room in a cool, white light, and make it easy to see him.
“My family is unique, even among our people,” she said softly, reaching up to sweep the fall of dark hair from his forehead. “I am a descendant of a great line of chiefs and priestesses who date back as far as we can trace our genealogy. That dates back to over six thousand years ago, as Polynesians were navigating the South Pacific and migrating further south, using celestial navigation, wayfaring and a whole raft of skills other cultures had yet to embrace. There are records of many of my family having control of certain elements, wind, water, fire, that sort of thing. My brother Kaea—”
“Kaea!” Taika suddenly sat up. “He’s your brother? Oh sweetness, does he have his hands full wherever he is.”
Ata frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Your phone rang when we were on our way here, and I answered it in case it was an emergency.” Taika shot her an innocent look she didn’t quite believe, but let it go because she wanted to hear what Kaea had said. “Anyway, it connected, but I think Kaea had put the phone down because I was listening to a conversation taking place rather than being a part of the conversation if you get what I mean. Anyway, he was arguing with his mate—”
“Mate!” Ata heard the shock in her own voice. “Kaea’s found a mate?”
Taika grinned. “That he has, love, and just like you, his mate is Alpha through and through. I have a feeling me and him are going to have many a conversation on how to handle our mates over the years to come.”
Ata stared at him in shock. Kaea? Mated to an Alpha? Boy, she would like to be a fly on the wall when they got into an argument. Arguing with Kaea was difficult because he could quite literally throw fire, and nothing stopped an argument quicker than having your eyebrows singed.
“Anyway, continue with what you were saying, sweetness.”
“Where was I? Oh, yes, so Kaea can manipulate fire. He is a fire elemental, and a damn good one at that. A few of our ancestors, only a handful really, had the ability to travel outside of themselves.”
Taika nodded. “Something like astral projection? I’ve heard of that.”
Ataahua shook her head. “No, not really. Astral projection is a term used to describe a willful out of body experience. It’s nothing physical. It’s their spiritual self traveling outside of their physical self, creating a separation between body and soul. What I am talking about, is more physical than that. When I stood behind you the other night with that gun pointed at your head—”
Taika scowled. “Yes, I do remember that, and I don’t think we have spoken about the right way to apologize for that yet, have we?”
Ata grinned, reaching up to place an open-mouthed kiss against his jaw. “Not yet, babe, but I am more than open to the discussion. But if your memory is so crystal clear of that moment, tell me, what could you feel?”
“Feel? I could feel that damn gun pressed against my head. Which meant you and that damn gun were actually physically behind me, which makes sense because when the wind moved behind you, I caught the edge of your scent.”
Ata hadn’t realized that hertaruawould take her scent with it as well. “The ability I have is to send mytarua—my duplicate I guess is the closest word in English for it—out from me. When it goes, it duplicates whatever it is I have in my hand or on my person. I am able to see in both locations, kind of like a split screen during a computer game. It is difficult, and has taken me years to master, but I can do it quite well now. It is not something I can sustain for hours, but for a solid ten minutes, I am effectively in two places at once.”
Taika grinned at her. “That is so cool. I’ve always wanted to have a threesome, and now I can with my own mate!”
Ata rolled her eyes. “Oh my God! Why the hell would your mind go there? I tell you I can effectively become two of myself, and your brain automatically turns it into a good time for you.”
Ata was trying to push herself away from the crazy man who was laughing his ass off, but he wouldn’t let her go. Not that she was fighting all that hard.
“Sweetness, when you’re lying here all warm and soft, my body still very much humming with the extreme pleasure of knowing what it is to be buried balls deep inside you, it’s hard really to think of anything else.”
Taika stopped whatever smart comment she was going to throw at him by taking her mouth in a swift, intense kiss that stole her ability to think. It was a while later, after quite a few more kisses, when Ata was once more pressed against his body from head to toe, sated and content, that Taika spoke again.
“That’s why these bastards are after you.”
He hadn’t asked it as a question, but Ata nodded all the same. “The guys from today and the other night all report to a man called Zac Cooper. He’s the father of a man I was dating a few months ago, Mason Cooper. He found out from his son what I can do because I was a dumbass who thought she loved the backstabbing douche-canoe, and he wants me to use that ability to further his own wealth and ambition. He’ll stop at nothing to get me.”
