Page 15 of Surrendering Hope (The Hope Legacy)

“Do what you need to,” he growls out as obsidian swallows the gold.

“Pleasant chat?” Evil Archan asks. I shrug and retreat a small step. His eyes narrow. “Where are you going? We made a deal.”

I pause with the toes of my left foot touching the cold stone floor. “We did, but you forgot to state terms. You will receive your kiss when I am ready, and not before.”

Zac huffs out a laugh.‘Nice work.’

“I learnt from the best.”

“I don’t think so,” Evil Archan says, reaching through the ward like it’s a harmless curtain and grasping my arms. He rushes through and elbows Zac in the nose without lifting his hands from me. Several of the cadre step forward and circle the Monster as his grin turns sinister. “Wait here, temptress,” he says, bopping me on the nose with his index finger. Great. My own personal, psycho monster stalker. Releasing my arms he grabs the nearest man and with a roar, tears his head from his shoulders. The warm crimson splatters the white shirt I’m wearing, as he exposes the cartilage in his throat. Grabbing my hand, he yanks me inside the warded dome. A scream tears from my throat as the ward rips away my mental shields. The dull ache behind my eye explodes as if shards of glass are slicing straight through my eye into my brain.

“Fuck,” I mutter as the Monster grasps my waist and forces me to stand.

“This is the real you, Natia. Powerful, beautiful, and a force to match my own. This world doesn’t deserve your protection. Help me wipe it out and make a new one, where we will rule.”

“You’re sick,” I whisper.

“And you,” he says, pushing his lips against mine, “look perfect in red.” The wards shatter around us as Zac and his men disable them. The Monster winks before disappearing, my weight dropping onto the hard floor. My head bounces on the concrete, a white hot flash of pain flaring in my skull.

“Get Nathan!” Zac shouts as he wraps his arms around me and scoops me up. He bends close to my ear and whispers, “Try to put your mental shields back up, Natia. The fewer people know about you, the better.”

Shudders of pain wrack my body as I hunt for the fortitude to rebuild them. Black dots dance at the edges of vision as my mind rebels against being cooped up inside shields. It’s like a sulky child that’s been out to play and doesn’t want to go into a timeout. Cool sheets hit my legs as Zac lays me down, and the seductive scent of dark chocolate, sandalwood and vanilla drift around me.

“Bloody hell, what happened to her?” Nathan says as his footsteps thud close to the side of the familiar bed.

“Archan dragged her through the wards we were holding him with.”

“And she survived?”

“Only just. It tore her shields.”

Nathan’s face appears above me. “Hey, troublemaker, I’m not as good as Archan but I should be able to help, okay?”

I nod as Nathan’s cool fingertips settle against my sweating temples. Drawing a small breath, he sighs. “Stop trying to rebuild your shields, Natia. Let me heal you, afterwards I’ll help you.” I drop the exertion, like a ten ton concrete brick, and trust Nathan to not shred my mind to tiny pieces. It could have been minutes, perhaps hours, before Nathan draws back with a small smile tipping his lips.

“Not a troublemaker,” I mumble as the last brick falls into place and my thoughts, aura and true identity are once again hidden. But the shield appears flimsy, like Saran Wrap, and aches like a foreign body invading my mind.

Nathan arches an eyebrow, “How many times have you been lying on this bed for non-pleasurable reasons?”

“This specific bed? It’s never been pleasurable.”

Nathan’s gaze flickers with regret as a flash of a shared memory hits us of my broken body. Squeezing his arm, I suck in a breath and roll to the side to come face to face with a pissed looking Jed and Duncan. “Shit,” I mumble.

Chapter Six

Natia

Taurus: A stubborn bull, horns like a devil, eyes like an angel, and a mouth like both.

“Did you figure out who he is?” Jed asks.

Zac shakes his head, his dark wavy hair shifting. “Maybe.”

“Care to share?” I ask.

Zac snorts. “No.”

Nathan disappears into the walk-in wardrobe and reappears carrying a pair of boxer briefs and a midnight colored shirt. He hands them to me as Duncan sits on the edge of the bed. I throw the sheet over me and do a weird wiggle to change my clothes under the bedding.

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