He had to be in a fog. Why was no one else talking? His attention jumped to Ferrous.
Ferrous stood to the right of Ilmir, his shoulders stiffly set as his wide steel-blue eyes stayed locked on Jordan, as if afraid to move.
“Do all of you share the same opinion?”
Ferrous stepped forward and closer to Ilmir. “There is truth in what he says, Jordan. We are only beginning to understand what this means to us. Waiting may not harm anything.” He raised his hand and scratched the back of his neck, exposing the copper-colored scales about his wrist. He glanced over his shoulder at Ilmir. “Ilmir is in trouble. The queen’s second niece is dead because he bit her. And Hudson knows and has offered to help.”
Bloody hell. “The queen’s niece? Ilmir, you—” Jordan clamped his teeth tight. He should have burned him. How could his brother be so loose with his urges? The bloody toad. He closed his eyes just as Ilmir’s lips turned up. Ilmir enjoyed this! Jordan’s fists clenched tighter.
If Jordan didn’t stay away from… He didn’t even know her name. His shoulders slumped. This was beyond the pale. If he claimed his mate from Hudson, England would no longer be home to him, let alone the rest of them. They would be cast out because of Ilmir’s lethal indiscretions. He forced himself to open his eyes and concentrate on Ferrous. “We could go back to the homeland. We should anyway, seeing that Ilmir has exhausted things here.”
“No.” Ferrous’s voice was harsh. “I am getting closer to finding out more about our origins. It has taken us centuries of mistakes and dwindling powers to gain access to people who may know how we came to be. We can’t risk this.”
“Bloody hell, Ferrous. You truly hope I will believe that?” He glanced at Madoc, who stood closest to him. “What—what is going on here?” He gazed at each of them and sighed in disbelief. “I don’t understand. This is capital for us.”
“No, Jordan,” Madoc stated calmly. “It does impact us all, we cannot argue with that, but this moment is monumental only for you. We still seek our mates, and some of us are slipping from power. Fate and luck led you to your mate, so there are no additional clues on how we will find ours and survive. No additional clues on how we came to be.”
“But the scroll we have had since birth…” Jordan looked back and forth from Ferrous to Madoc. “It says this is the way—the way to break the curse.”
“Yes.” Ferrous stepped toward him, then leaned in and whispered, “But what curse do they speak of? We have no idea of what we are, Jordan. Where we came from, or what evil we shall unleash when we find our mates.”
Ferrous was afraid. Ilmir was vexed. And Madoc? Jordan turned to him. Was he alone in this? With all his brothers against him? His entire body sagged.
Madoc walked to him and placed his hand on his shoulder. “I am filled with joy that you found her, Jordan. She is confused. She is not ready. Things will go badly. Nevertheless, you finding her gives me hope that I too shall find my mate.”
Jordan nodded and turned from them. Ferrous’s advice had never sunk him in the past. Yet his words tonight were the rope tied to the anchor pulling him to the bottom of the sea. He needed to leave them. No matter how much he wanted to continue to be with them, his path had now deviated from theirs.
He had found her.
To bloody hell and back. He would not give up this easily. Moreover, he would not wait twenty to thirty years for Hudson to die.
Hudson was the problem, and Jordan’s problem to solve. He would concentrate there. He would make Hudson understand she was his. Hudson was a man of reason. He would see the truth in his words. She would be Jordan’s alone soon.
As he grasped the door’s large metal handle, a jolt rippled through him. Her slender foot glided into a bath. The water lapped up her freckled skin as if it was his tongue. Damn. The salt of her skin swirled in his mouth. He was there. With her. He was the water she bathed in. His new powers astounded him in ways he had not imagined.
Her dusky nipples tightened as the water swallowed her. The weight of her sensual curves drenched him as if his skin was that of the tub. He swallowed hard, and his cock stood straight. He yanked the door open. There had to be an answer. He certainly would not live the next twenty or so years of his life like this. She was in water. He was water. Time to see just how his powers had advanced.
The water of the tub blurred. Jordan’s entire body jerked. His stomach tensed, and his eyelids fluttered. Blue light flashed, and the room about him blurred, then disappeared…
Celeste sank into the tub of tepid water, shaking. It was done. Shivers cold and hot raced through her body. She slipped all the way down so her shoulders submerged. Settling back against the cool iron tub, she reached over the side and grasped the jar of oil and herbs her Grandmum had left to help her with joining with Hudson the first time. “You will bathe with this before and after. Also, place a small amount up inside where he will join with you. All will heal with haste if you do this.”