The seven half-Walker girls were born of original energy. It was where our elemental powers came from. But we only contained parts of the essence of the originals. The rest of their energy secured the Seventines’ prison. Or used to.
Every time one of the Seventines was freed, some of that originals’ energy was released back into the star system. I’d had a vague hope and plan that I could somehow gather up this extra original energy and use it in our bid to re-imprison the Seventine. That way I could ensure all the half-Walkers survived. The final battle was going to get bloody, and locking the Seventine away would probably take more power than we had. My gut had been telling me for a while that we were going to need more original energy. Seemed Que had the same idea.
Of course, my plan had one tiny little flaw: I had no idea how to gather this energy. I was working on the vague hope that once the seven of us half-Walkers joined together then our path and powers would become clear.
I still had to find one more female, the Earth-born half. No point trying to wrest this original energy from Que until we completed the power of seven. I had to leave shortly. If I didn’t find her before the final Seventine was released – well, we’d be in a world of trouble.
Lasandra made a noise. It came from deep in her chest, part fear and part disgust. “He’s fusing the original energy into his own. Trying to become the most powerful Walker that ever existed.”
Brace took a few beats to answer, as if he was trying to dial down the simmering anger which was streaking black across the chocolate-brown of his eyes. “It was his one aim in this existence: complete control and complete power.”
“He wants to be an original,” I spluttered out.
As horrific as the thought was, it did make sense. Que would crave the powers the seven originals had possessed. The ability to create life, and to sever it. Control over the seven Walker elements. All of the skills the half-Walker females possessed. On a much smaller scale. Plus, if Que contained the original power, when the Seventine severed the ultimate tether during the convergence he would have some control in the rebuilding of the star system. Brace’s father had always considered himself a god, and now he had set everything into motion to guarantee he was one.
“We can’t let that happen!” Lasandra’s tone was frantic, her calm fa?ade shattered. “Brace! We must stop him before he’s fully reformed.”
“Colt’s on his way,” Brace said. I knew him well enough to see the tension in his body, but he was outwardly calm. “We’ll deal with this now, before Que has a chance to gain any more power.”
He shifted his gaze until our eyes met and, as if he couldn’t help himself, he hooked a hand around my waist and pulled me closer.
His voice lowered. “I don’t suppose I can convince you to take your pixie Lucy and leave Abernath for a while.”
I snorted. It was a little ragged, which was simply due to his overwhelming presence. I was drowning a tad in the emotion and love of our melding bond. Plus Brace was hot, really freaking hot. But even devastating hotness was not a good enough reason to let this man dominate me. Overprotective was his middle name, and I was going to halt that right now.
I tilted my head back, letting the moment extend between us. Parting my lips, I exhaled slowly, and of course I noticed the way his eyes followed the movements of my lips. I secretly smiled at that.
“There is not a single thing on this planet or any other which would make me leave you or Josian here with Que.” I spoke sweetly, letting the words trickle from my lips, and I caught the half-grin which tipped up the right side of his mouth.
“You’re lucky I love you, because sometimes I get the very strong feeling I should be taking you over my knee and spanking you.”
His whispered words shot heat through pretty much every part of my body. I was reasonably innocent, but something about the flash of mental image his words evoked was enough to skyrocket my arousal. I had to lick my lips, to moisten them enough to speak.
“Spank me.” Yep, okay. Wait, what? I flashed him a grin. “One: in your dreams. Two: who said that would be a punishment?”
A wicked grin crossed his face then, and I almost swooned like a female experiencing her first romance in the Renaissance. I never even knew a man could actually bring a lady to a swoon. Damn Brace and his unnatural hotness. Stupid Walker genetics.
The clearing of a throat broke the spell which had been weaving around us, and I noticed for the first time the golden orb of our aura. It had momentarily filled the space. As we separated the gold eased, and the ancient, unlined, pissed-off face of Brace’s mother came into my line of sight.
“One would think you two didn’t have better things to do than fondle each other. Wasting precious time on … something so unimportant.”
My eyes flicked back to Brace. I mouthed the word ‘fondle’ at him, wrinkling my nose at the same time. Your mother has a real way with words, I said through our bond.