“Can I speak to you for a moment,phaal?” Mirakel requested once the other three males had gone below to get settled.
Kaj turned to face him, smiled. The breath he released was one of relief, not frustration, but it drew Mirakel up all the same.
“It’s so fucking good to have you here.”
Those few words did it, spoken in that grateful tone… Mirakel was overwhelmed by emotions, the ones he’d been shoving down deep for so long now. Concern, uncertainty, sorrow, even fear. He’d never given up on his search for Kaj, never would have, so this was a relief beyond anything he could’ve expected, and it was almost too much for his brain to process.
Dropping to his knee before the leader of the race, Mirakel ducked his head. “I’m not worthy of you, my Alpha,”he said in their native tongue. “I have failed you, but should you find it in your heart to forgive me, I pledge to you my loyalty, my strength, my very soul, from now until my dying breath.”
A firm hand rested atop his head and Mirakel inhaled a deep breath.
“There’s nothing to forgive,” Kaj replied softly. “You’ve never let me down, Mirakel. You couldn’t. Now stand, warrior.”
Mirakel drew himself up to his full height, met Kaj’s warm stare.
“I won’t fail you,” he promised, the words pitched low and laced with the gravelly emotion that coated his throat.
Kaj nodded. “As of this moment, I’m appointing you as myadighrielin. Do you accept the position that is bestowed upon you?”
Adighrielin. The Alpha’s advisor, his right hand. More importantly, the most honorable position within the Zenith, that which was the first line of defense to the Alpha.
Mirakel had to clear his throat even as he bowed before Kaj. “It would be my honor,phaal.”
There was a bit more throat clearing, but Mirakel noticed it wasn’t only him. Kaj seemed to be having the same problem.
A firm hand curled around Mirakel’s head, pulling him toward Kaj. Their foreheads met.
“I thought I lost you. I’ve missed you, brother,” Kaj whispered in their language.
“I’m not that easy to get rid of,” he said lightly, his chest tight, his throat clogged by emotion.
Though he’d pledged to serve the leader of his race, Kaj was more than that to him. Mirakel had looked up to Kaj his entire life. It wasn’t until their lives had intertwined that Mirakel had felt whole for the first time. As though he belonged. Having been turned out at birth, discarded by those who should’ve cared for him, Mirakel hadn’t had a family until Kaj. These past few months, the only thing that had kept him from walking right out into the sun and letting that blazing ball of fire claim him had been his desire to find Kaj. He’d held on to hope that Kaj had not been stolen from him, and that hope had paid off.
“The sun’ll be up any minute,” Kaj said, his voice a bit steadier than before. “Let’s get belowground. We need sleep if we plan to tackle the future come nightfall.”
Mirakel nodded and squared his shoulders. “After you,phaal.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Orianna hadn’t realized how disconnected she’d beenwith this house. Made some sense considering she hadn’t grown up here. When she thought of home, it was always the house they’d lived in before her mother’s attack, the one she and Amber had been brought home from the hospital to, the one her mother had loved from the moment she’d seen it shortly after Elizabeth had wed Erik.
This house was nothing like that one. It was familiar, sure, because Orianna had visited her mother through the years, even come here during their approved leaves back when she’d been in school. It had never been her home, though, and that had never been more apparent than now, when she found herself trapped there.
Well, technically, she wasn’t trapped, but Eclipse was, so it was almost the same difference. It pained her to know that he was in the basement, unable to leave until the sun went down in—she peered at her watch—nine more hours. Lovely. She wasn’t sure which was worse—him having to be down there or her having to be up here. Neither was a comforting thought.
“This sucks,” she muttered as she strolled through the living room, the kitchen, down the hallway, back.
It had been her routine for the past hour, ever since Elizabeth finally drifted off in her chair. Her mother looked so uncomfortable, but Orianna wasn’t about to suggest she get in bed. She’d done that once already, and her mother’s ire had surprised her. Evidently Elizabeth still believed she would be trapped indefinitely if she were to do that.
So, while Elizabeth nodded off, Orianna chose to wear the carpet and linoleum thin, pacing back and forth in an effort to stay awake. She probably should’ve taken the opportunity to sleep, but her brain was wired for sound, and she knew it wouldn’t matter if she got horizontal, sleep wouldn’t find her.
When she made another pass through the kitchen, she paused at the door to the basement. Orianna wanted to go down, to see Eclipse, but she was fighting that urge, knowing if she did, the ache that had become an incessant throb within her would only get worse. The sexual tension seemed to have settled in, making her crave him more so than was appropriate. And it was constant, not abating completely, not even when they’d just made love.
Made love.
She’d honestly never thought she’dmake loveto anyone. Hell, she’d never figured she’dfindlove, but she had, hadn’t she? With Eclipse.
Every so often, she found herself imagining a life with Eclipse. Waking up to him each night, falling asleep with him every morning. Breakfasts, dinners, holidays. The basics seemed simple. Coexisting in his world would be easy because she wanted to be there. But how could she possibly contribute? She had no skills, so what would she do for work? A convenience store clerk didn’t seem appropriate, but not because she was above it. No, more so because of the dangers lurking out there. She didn’t truly understand what the vampires wanted with her, why they had lured her to that club, but based on Eclipse’s reaction to the news, it wasn’t so they could get their swerve on.
