Scarred Protector(10)

“Thank you. I sensed him calling for me. Believe me, I won’t do anything to hurt him. I promise.” She followed Luke up the stairs as other Midworlders watched on. She didn’t really know Heath, but already she sensed she would rather hurt herself than him. How crazy was that? Whether it was the bonding, she didn’t know. Whatever was going on, they both needed to sort this out if they were to survive.



             She held her breath when they opened the bedroom door. He had a four-poster bed surrounded by thick drapery that had been pulled back. Who the fuck has four-poster beds these days? It was like she was walking into an episode of Pride and Prejudice. Heath lay on the bed, his eyes closed and his body still unmoving. Evie looked to Luke for permission to move closer. He nodded but stood behind her.

She sat on the chair next to the bed and suddenly realized she didn’t have a clue why she was here. There was a man she didn’t really know laying on a bed and people standing around thinking she knew more than she did. The one thing she did know was that regardless of whatever had happened during this bonding thing, she wanted Heath to live. She took his cold hand in hers because it seemed the right thing to do. He gripped it tight, even though it was the only reaction his body gave.



Evie turned to look at Luke. Maybe he could enlighten her, instead of the other way round.

“I seem to be attached to Heath, but he didn’t really explain what he was doing with the whole bonding thing. He just said it wasn’t about sex, and it was the only way to stop Charles getting to me.”

Luke pulled up a chair and sat beside her. For the first time since they had met, he softened his expression but didn’t quite smile.

“What he’s done is extremely rare amongst Midworlders. We can live and love humans, but they grow old and we never die. Some of my kind over the last thousand years have bonded with people and tried to change humans to be like us.”





             He avoided her gaze. “From your expression, I get the idea it didn’t work.”

“He has a month to get you a guardian so he would not have to risk the conversion. You could, of course, ask for the bond to be broken. Not all bondings have been a failure. One Midworlder has succeeded in connecting himself to a human.”



“I assume they were a happy couple in love with one another and prepared to risk it, and not complete strangers like us.”



She must have said something amusing because Luke laughed.



“They were strangers when they bonded, but they did learn to love each other. I have to warn you: the longer you’re bonded, the more you’ll feel connected regardless.”

“You mean whether I want to or not. I don’t like being told what to do, or think, or feel. I also like being on my own.” Evie knew she was raising her voice, but she felt threatened by being out of control.

“You sound like the perfect partner for Heath. Those are exactly his traits. Let me assure you, we will do everything in our power to understand what is going on here.”

“Let me know when you work it out.”

“I will need to check on the others’ injuries after the fight, but someone will be here with you at all times.”

Luke left the room, and Tiny walked in. He smiled but stayed near the door. At least he helped her relax a little. Luke just looked deadly serious all the time. Heath had loosened his grip on her hand, and she decided to have a nose around his room to see if it would tell her more about him. The furniture, like everything else in the house, looked like it was from the Regency Period. She always loved Jane Austen and all the stories but didn’t really want to be part of one. She ran her fingers along the beautiful wood of the dressing table across from his bed. It had a brush and a small painting of a woman in a Regency-style dress. She wasn’t sure why, but she had an inkling this was Elizabeth. She was beautiful with blond hair put up in small curls around her face, with blue eyes, and she looked to be about a size six. The exact opposite of her. Evie put her hand up and pushed a strand of her out of control curly brown hair behind her ear. She was black with a curvy figure and about as far as you could get from his past love. She turned to Tiny.



             “Can I ask you a question about him?”

“I’ll try to answer, as long as I don’t feel it is something he wouldn’t have told you himself.”

That was fair enough. She liked the fact he would keep a confidence. “He mentioned someone he loved once, called Elizabeth. Is this her?” Tiny raised his eyebrows, as if shocked.

“Yes, but I’m surprised he mentioned her to you. He does not talk about his past much.”

“He brought it up because he said he failed her and didn’t want to fail me. That was why he bonded with me. It was the only choice, he said. After what has just happened, I wonder why he didn’t bond with her.” Evie stared back at the picture and wondered what the young woman’s story was.

“That’s something you’ll have to ask him when he’s well.”



Maybe he hadn’t told them anything, or maybe Tiny was keeping silent because he didn’t trust her. There was nothing she could do about it either way.

She looked around the room and saw there was a painting on the wall of man riding a beautiful chestnut horse. She had always wanted to learn to ride, but it was too expensive, and Dad couldn’t afford it. She peered at the painting closely, she reckoned the man on the horse looked like Heath but was dressed in clothes from hundreds of years ago. She glanced back at the photo of Elizabeth.

“How old is Heath?” Evie asked, as she stood next to the bed and peered down at him again.

“Two hundred and twenty-five, I believe. Why do you ask?”





             “I assumed the paintings were real. That’s freaky. He only looks about thirty. My twenty-five years have been too eventful. I can’t imagine living that long and not going mad.”

“Many of us do go a bit mad. Some of us go back to the Homeworld to die.”

“They won’t just look after you and let you live there?”

“No. We are half-breeds. We become telepathic at puberty. We have to choose death or to come live down here permanently.”

Evie suddenly didn’t think these people were so lucky with their wings, strength, and long life. They seemed lonely. She might be bonded to Heath, but she didn’t fit in here anymore than she fitted in anywhere else. The problem was, she had nowhere else to go.

“Can I stay here and sleep next to him. It feels right. Is that weird?”

Tiny nodded. “No more weird than the other shit going on.”



She lay down beside him on the great big bed but stayed on top of the covers. She didn’t touch Heath but looked at him as he lay there next to her. Who was this strange man who had come into her life so suddenly? Did she want him there? It seemed she didn’t have much of a choice at the moment. She wanted to stay awake and try to clear her thoughts, but her eyelids started to droop.





Chapter 5



Mind Connection



Heath opened his eyes and glanced across to see Evie lying next to him. They were in his room, alone, and the curtains were pulled, and candles had been lit. He was naked beneath the sheets and, spying her bare shoulder above the cover, he assumed she was the same. He was well-aware this wasn’t the real world. He was trapped in his mind, and because of the bonding he had brought Evie here as well. He hoped she would understand when she awoke.

She opened her eyes, yawned, and stretched her arms up. Realizing she was unclothed, she pulled the covers up around her neck. Her next reaction was not what he expected, as she started to giggle.

“Okay. It gets more bizarre then. I would have sworn a moment ago I was lying on your bed fully clothed with one of your men standing by the door to the room. There were no candles or daylight, and now I’m naked. Is this a dream, because it feels weird?”

“It appears real but is in my mind. In reality we are still back on my bed.”

“So your mind has me naked?” She raised an eyebrow and wagged a finger at him.

“I apologize. You must believe me when I say I would never touch a woman against her will.”

“I should be screaming pervert, but I do believe you. Plus, if this is in your head it won’t do me much good yelling.” Evie placed her fingers against her temples and then shook her head as if to clear her thoughts.



             “Are you all right?” Had he hurt her by bringing her here into his mind?

“For the past five years I’ve felt an incredible darkness within me, and for the first time I feel free of it. All it took was to be in someone else’s head. Go figure.” Evie turned on her side and rested her head on her hand as she looked down at him.



“I can get you a nightgown, and we can talk away from my bed if you would feel more comfortable.”

He went to leave the bed, but Evie put her hand on his arm.



“No, stop. It may sound crazy, but I like this. We’re truly just ourselves. Will we remember this when we go back to our bodies?”