Chapter 29

Drake had to swallow hard to ease the tightness in his throat. He and Thomas had been friends for decades. In fact, they were more like brothers than friends. All of the Theronai were dying slowly, but if Thomas's lifemark was nearly bare, then that process would speed up. And there was no way to know how much. Each man was different. Drake could only hope that Thomas would be one of the lucky ones and that he'd have at least a few more years left. "Nothing. There's nothing either of us can do for him now."

Helen gasped and pressed a hand to her chest. "Oh God. He's dying. I can feel you grieving for him."

Drake cursed. He'd forgotten that the link they shared allowed emotions to filter through. He was going to have to be more careful with her and make sure he kept his emotions under tight control.

He pulled in a deep breath and focused on clearing his mind. "I'm sorry. Is that better?"

She nodded, but he could still see his grief haunting her face.

"I've got a lot of things to teach you and not much time to do it. Are you up for that?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"If you want, I'll take you to my home. We'll have all the time we need there."

"And Thomas would be on his own."

Drake nodded.

She was afraid. He could feel it coming through their link—could see in the way her eyes changed colors, leaning toward green as they did every time she got scared. She was afraid of what was happening to her, afraid for Miss Mabel, afraid of the unknown, but she was also afraid for Thomas.

"We can't let him go alone, Drake. We can't let him die."

He couldn't resist the urge to pull her to him, to enfold her in his arms and hold her close. She felt so good there. Perfect. He still couldn't believe he'd been lucky enough to find her. Her capacity to care what happened to others humbled him and made him want to shelter her. Instead, he was going to have to throw her headlong into his world and show her her true potential.

Drake kept a tight hold on his thoughts so she wouldn't feel them. He didn't want her to know that even if they did go with Thomas, there was nothing they could do to save him. The only person who could do that would be another woman like Helen. Assuming another female Theronai even existed.

He had to believe it was true. The thought of watching his friends die in hideous pain one by one was not something he could stomach. As much as he hated it, the Sanguinar already had a sample of her blood. They were probably already analyzing her ancestry to learn where she came from. If there were more women like her, the Sanguinar would probably be the first to find them.

What a scary thought that was. Talk about lambs to the slaughter.

Helen stiffened in his arms. His control on his thoughts was slipping and he slammed the barrier back in place. There would be time enough for grim thoughts like that after they found Kevin's sword.

"We should get moving," she said.

His fingers slid through her silky hair and he wished that there was time to take her to one of the empty bedrooms upstairs and kiss her until they were both too wild to stop and forgot all about the Synestryn. Hell, he would have been satisfied with simply having enough time to share a conversation with her so he could explain to her how their union worked.

"Are you sure you want to go with Thomas?" he asked her.

"Yes. He needs us."

"Okay, then. We'll go, but you're going to have to trust me. If we'd known you were a Theronai, you would have been learning about your abilities and what you could do with them from the time you were first able to speak. You didn't have any of that training and all we're going to have is the time it takes for Thomas to track down the nest of Synestryn."

"What are you talking about? What power?"

Hell, this was going to take forever to explain. How could he take her from not even knowing that magic was real to being able to wield it all in one evening? It didn't seem possible.

He took her hand. "Come with me. It's going to be easier—quicker—to show you than tell you."

Drake led her outside, well away from the vehicles and the house. "Okay, see that stump over there?" he asked, pointing across the field.

"No. It's too dark."

Right. He forgot. She didn't even know how to pull enough power from him to see in the dark. "Okay, first things first. Here's how it works. Inside me is this reservoir of energy, but I can't do much with it. All I can do is store it. You, on the other hand, are able to pull that energy out of me and use it, but you can't store any on your own. It's like a checks and balances system so that no one person ever wields too much power."

"Power to do what?"

"Whatever you like. I could tell you what I've seen women do before, but it would only bias you against your own instincts and possibilities. Every woman has her own unique set of skills—things she's better at than others."

"You may need to bias me, then, because I have no clue what you mean."

Drake refused to get frustrated. She'd saved his life; the least he could do was give her his patience. "We'll start small. Tell me something you can see."

She pointed to a rock twenty feet away. A little too close for comfort, but it would have to do.

"Okay, I want you to picture the rock lifting off the ground. I'm going to touch my ring to your necklace to strengthen the link and make it easier for you to draw power from me."

"I don't even know where to start doing something like that." Drake could feel her confusion and uncertainty. He was pushing her too fast. Expecting too much from her.

Damn it. This was not the way it was supposed to be. Their bonding was supposed to be easy. Natural. Maybe it would be best if he took her to the compound and went with Thomas himself.

"No. I won't let you go alone."

Drake felt a little burst of excitement go through him. "You heard that thought?"

She frowned. "I don't know if 'heard' is the right word, but yeah. I knew what you were thinking."

"That's good. Try to do it again, only this time, I'm going to show you what I need you to do, okay?"

She nodded and Drake closed his eyes, trying to picture in his mind what he needed from her. He pictured his power as a light, a glowing pool of energy inside him. He placed his hand on her throat so that his ring made firm contact with the necklace. Immediately, he felt the flow of energy rush out of him. That light poured into her through the luceria until her skin glowed with the force of it.

He heard her make a shocked sound, but didn't open his eyes. Instead, he visualized taking her hand in his and stretching it out toward the rock. He sent the light streaking out from her hand until it engulfed the rock; then slowly, he lifted her hand, making the rock float up inside the light.

Drake opened his eyes to see if she understood. Not only did she understand, but she was doing it. There was no glowing light, but her hand was held out and the rock hovered three feet off the ground.

"You did it," he whispered, not wanting to break her concentration. Her bottom lip was held tight between her teeth and she shook with effort. A fine sweat broke out along her hairline, and her chest—her lovely, womanly chest—was rising and falling in rapid succession, playing havoc with his concentration.

Her arm lowered until the rock returned to the ground, and even though she was out of breath, she looked at him with an excited light in her eyes. Her mouth curved in a proud smile and let out a giggly little laugh. "I can use magic!"

Between the happiness shining in her features and the warmth of her joy filling him through their link, Drake couldn't help but laugh along with her. "You sure can."

"That is the coolest thing ever." She twirled around in a circle and for the first time since he'd met her, physical separation didn't hurt. He no longer had to touch her to be free from his pain. The link of the luceria was apparently enough of a connection. He wasn't sure whether he was relieved because it was a lot more convenient, or he missed having the excuse to touch her.

He'd just have to come up with another excuse because he sure wasn't going to stop touching her.

"I want to try something else," she said.

"Like what?"

"I don't know. What can I do?"

"I honestly have no idea. You're going to have to figure that out for yourself. Each woman is different and has her own strengths and weaknesses."

"How many more women like me are there?"

"Not many."

"Can I meet them?'

"You'll get to meet Gilda as soon as we go back to my home."

That beautiful smile of hers made his breath catch in his throat. She was such a precious gift and he had no idea how to thank her for saving him.

"I know how," she told him, as if answering his thoughts. She slid her hands over his shoulders and pulled his head down to hers. Her mouth settled over his in a tender kiss, and the gentle touch of her soft lips drove all other thoughts from his head.