Our melding was also an ancient bond, and my soul was his – basically every part of me belonged, in some way, to Brace. And he was also mine.
I drew from the depths of my soul, from the depths of my endless energy well inside. Gathering together every facet of love I held for my mate. The warmth filled me, the emotions flooding my body. Without him I would not survive – no, that wasn’t right. I would survive. But it wouldn’t really be living; it would simply be existing until I could join him wherever he had gone.
He was my everything, and I needed him right then. I expelled every iota of the energy I’d managed to regain on the trip here and, with a sucking pop – the sound of the shield releasing me from its grasp – I was no longer slammed against metal. I was free.
Chapter 9
Strong arms wrapped around me, and a familiar, tantalizing scent exploded across my senses and filled all the achy and empty spaces inside. A faint groan left me as my ribs protested against the firm grip holding me. Of course, Brace then loosened his hold and I was not okay with that. I grumbled as I wriggled myself toward him. I wanted to be as close as was humanly possible without actually living in his skin. Which would be weird – and gross.
I heard a soft, albeit strained chuckle, and then I was hoisted up and into his arms. I didn’t hesitate to wrap my legs around him. My body was suddenly flush against his. This was perfect. I wanted to stay here – here was home.
“You’re killing me, Red.” This wasn’t the first time he’d said that in his husky tones, and I would hazard a guess that I’d hear it many more. “Where the hell have you been?”
My face was pressed into the hard planes of his chest. I could see and feel the definition of his body through the fitted cotton shirt he wore. I knew he was waiting for me to answer his question, but I was distracted by the expanse of deliciousness surrounding me. Of course, in the back of my mind I knew now was not the time for me to be wrapped around my mate. We needed to get back to the power grid and cut the Seventine off. Now that the shield was down, they’d know, and they’d be trying to get their power.
I knew all that, but couldn’t actually pull myself from Brace. I was going to blame my weakness on the fact that I probably wouldn’t be standing if he wasn’t holding me up. I was still very weak, my body shaking.
“Should we all dive overboard and give you two a few moments?” Lucy sounded relieved, though the sarcasm was still strong with this young grasshopper.
We ignored her, although ignoring the tittering giggles of the other females was harder. What? Hadn’t they ever seen a grown woman climb her man? That was normal, wasn’t it?
Should be a daily occurrence, he growled across my mind.
I finally lifted my head and stared out into the wash of ocean. As my mind intertwined with Brace’s, I ran smack bang into his thoughts. Starting from when I’d been sucked into the barrier. His emotions were still hot, the mental images tinged with red and edged with flames of fury. He had not been thinking very rationally during my absence.
Brace had tried to follow my path, swimming with me for some of the way. I’d actually lost him when I’d chosen to speed up my trajectory. Shit.
Eventually he had returned to Colton and Lucy. They had remained on the boat to protect the females.
Brace had continued trying to reach me through our bond, not to mention alerting every Walker he knew. My ass was being hunted across the universe. The only reason that it hadn’t been worse was that he had known I was still alive. Which prevented him from completely losing his shit.
During my read of him, he’d also quickly flicked through my thoughts. He knew where the barrier had taken me and understood what that grid represented. He knew we had to go back there and figure out where that power was being held, and then we had to destroy it. Before the Seventine got their hands on it.
Brace had just set me back on the ground, although keeping me tucked into his side. I was still shaky on my own legs. We were about to turn to explain everything to the group when a siren blared around us. Brace pivoted and placed his body in front of mine. His thoughts were now calm and cold. He was working hard not to snatch me up and steal me away to somewhere safe. He was still recovering from my last little disappearance.
“We have company,” he eventually said. Relaxing minutely.
I realized that siren had been from a human vessel. Shit! Humans – like from the other side of the barrier humans. We were finally going to find out what the rest of Earth was like.
I shifted my gaze out to the left side of the boat as a white vessel approached. It was large, with spotlights and a megaphone system set up above the glassed-in cab. About twice the size of the Boston Whaler we were squished into.
“Your ship is not authorized in these waters.” The large megaphone was put to good use, the words blasting across at us. “Follow us into port.”