On the Dunne farm, Moira sat up from her bed, screaming in horror. Her back bore an ugly, bloody wound, and none of the family could figure out how it got there.
On a private runway just outside Omaha, a blond man with steel gray eyes gasped, his hand going to his back. When he pulled his hand away, it was covered in blood.
Those steel gray eyes glittered like twin stars as the man dashed towards the car waiting for him at the end of the runway.
“Home. Now. Hurry.”
Duncan Malmayne stared out the car window as his driver took off at top speed, his eyes haunted and full of regret as he heard Jaden’s brief mental scream.
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103
Dana Marie Bell
“Jaden. Damn you, Kaitlynn.”
Leo knew the moment he stepped onto Malmayne land. Something in it cried out to him, the sound of earth that had been forced to absorb pain, degradation, even murder. The call was faint to his senses, but he knew any full-blooded earth sprite would avoid this place like the plague.
Leo clenched his hands, feeling savagely angry. He had no idea where on the estate Ruby was, but there was one way to find out.
He reached deep down inside himself, to the green pool of peace and tranquility that made up his leprechaun half. Using that energy, Leo extended his essence around the Malmayne property, defining what was his to his leprechaun senses. Cautious, he hoped that the earth would accept him.
His father had told him if the earth did take him in it would be the most incredible experience of his life. If it didn’t, it would be the most incredibly painful.
He felt a tentative caress, the questioning tendrils entering his mind, finding every nook and cranny, every memory, every experience he’d ever had. It lingered over things that confused him (getting drunk on spiked punch on New Year’s when he’d been twelve, throwing up in the bushes) and completely ignored others (most of the women he’d dated didn’t even rate a glance). It watched his memories of his family like video clips, fast forwarding then stopping to watch a clip that particularly interested it. It loved images of his father, lingered like a caress over his mother, and especially loved anything to do with Moira. It skipped a number of Shane memories, possibly because it already knew Shane.
When it hit Ruby, it drew back for a moment, and Leo feared he would be rejected. He felt the earth begin to watch as he purposely began playing his memories, from his first scent of vanilla and peaches, wandering the office to find that elusive scent, to finally meeting her. Those memories drew the earth in as he replayed tasting her. How she barely argued over being essentially kidnapped, all because he needed her to be with him. How she’d been curious, and cautious, but not once had she rejected him on any level, and how he cherished her for that. He knew the earth felt their love.
When the earth took back over, Leo eased off. It replayed his memories of how Ruby had been hurt by Cullen, and he felt its anger.
With a start, Leo realized he was starting to feel what the earth felt. Blood and pain were a distant nausea; he knew the vampire was down. Somehow, he also knew the vampire ( “Jaden” , the earth whispered with affection and regret) had tried his damnedest to help both Ruby and Shane. He saw how Jaden had been partially responsible for Shane’s getaway, and felt some remorse for the violent feelings he’d harbored towards the vampire. Like his own private movie show, he saw in fast forward everything Jaden had done, first to help Shane, then to help Ruby, and how the vampire had nearly paid with his life.
With a grin, Leo felt the bond of the leprechaun and his land snap into place like a lover’s first caress, shocking, intimate, and incredibly pleasurable.
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Dare to Believe
He knew where everyone on his land was. What everyone on his land was. He knew Jaden was close to death. He knew Kaitlynn was staring at…
Ruby! He could feel the heavy, drugged sleep his bonded slept under, could feel Kaitlynn’s rage when they couldn’t rouse her. Felt her kick the downed vampire, and knew somehow that Ruby’s drugged state had been no part of Kaitlynn’s plan for her.