Uncharted Read online

  “No.” He shook his head heavily and got off the table. “I’m sorry, but I need to get my affairs in order.”

  “So that’s it? You won’t even try?” Elaina looked at him in disbelief.

  “Please understand, if I thought there was even a tiny bit of hope I would try.” Terex rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ll be honest, Elaina—when I started this mission, all I hoped for was revenge and an honorable death. Meeting you…loving you…has made me wish for more time. But no one can contravene the will of the Goddess.”

  “I don’t believe it,” Elaina declared. “I don’t believe it’s her will for you to die, anymore than it was her will for my sister to die. Please, Terex—”

  “I need to get my affairs in order,” he repeated. Taking her by the shoulders, he kissed her gently on the cheek and let go. “I will be…in my quarters later if you wish to…to say goodbye.” He cleared his throat. “Until then, I must leave you.”

  And before Elaina could say anything else, he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

  Elaina turned back to Commander Sylvan, whose face was filled with sympathy.

  “Elaina,” he began. “I’m so sorry—”

  “Stop it!” she snapped. “I’m tired of everyone around me telling me how sorry they are and then just giving up! I never gave up on my sister and I’m not giving up on Terex either.” She held out a hand to him. “Give me that address, please. I need to speak to Kat.”

  * * * * *

  A familiar face answered the door at Commander Sylvan’s suite.

  “Oh, Elaina! You’re back!” Sophia smiled broadly and gave her a spontaneous hug which Elaina returned briefly.

  “Yes, I’m back. But listen, Sophie—I don’t have a lot of time. Is your friend, Kat here?”

  “Right here, doll. Come on in and get acquainted.”

  A tall, full figured girl with long red hair stood up from Sophia’s couch where she had been sitting with Kate, who also had long red hair—though hers was extremely curly. It looked funny to see the two redheads together, mainly because of the size difference, but Elaina scarcely had time to think about it right now.

  “Hello,” she said, striding forward to take Kat by the hand. “I’m Elaina. Please tell me how you were cured from soul poisoning.”

  “What?” The tall girl looked startled. “Well, I…it’s kind of a long story.”

  “Could you tell it quickly, then? I’m in kind of a hurry,” Elaina said.

  “Honey, do you have soul poisoning?” Olivia, who had been standing beside the couch, came forward, looking at Elaina with concern. “I don’t see any green markings on you.”

  “It’s not me—it’s Terex,” Elaina said. “He doesn’t have much time—can you please help me?”

  “I’ll try, doll,” Kat said, frowning. “But I have to tell you, it wasn’t any medicine that cured me when I got soul poisoning—it was the will of the Goddess. There were no drugs or any kind of treatment involved—it had to do with a sacrifice my man, Deep, was willing to make to save me.”

  “But Terex has already sacrificed so much!” Elaina exclaimed. “During our mission we found a plant that can cure almost any disease if you have enough of it but instead of using it for himself, he gave it to other people who needed it. He knew he would probably die but he did it anyway. What other sacrifice does the Goddess need?”

  “I don’t know.” Kat still looked concerned. “Maybe you should go to the Sacred Grove and consult a priestess.”

  “But they always talk in riddles,” Sophia said, frowning. “And Elaina doesn’t have much time!”

  “Maybe I can help,” Kate spoke up for the first time. “I mean, my sixth sense—my Knowing—has been a little off since I got pregnant but, well…” She trailed off uncertainly but Elaina was already at her side.

  “It’s not off,” she said urgently. “Your other prediction came true. You know—when you told me that Terex would inflict physical pain on me but wouldn’t hurt me? That came true.”

  “What? How?” Liv demanded curiously.

  “I don’t have time to explain,” Elaina told her. She was already reaching for Kate’s tiny hand. “Please,” she whispered. “If there’s anything you can tell me, anything at all…”

  “I’ll try.” Kate took Elaina’s hand in hers and closed her eyes, apparently concentrating hard. After a moment, she began to speak. “You fear for the life of the male you love and rightly so, Elaina. Go and be with him and all will be made right.”

  “What? How?” Elaina asked. “How will my being with him help?”

  “I don’t know.” Kate opened her large green eyes and shook her head apologetically. “That was all I saw except, well…”

  “Well, what?” Elaina asked anxiously.

  Kate cleared her throat, looking a little embarrassed.

  “Well, when I said you have to be with him, I’m not saying you two should just sit around and play cards. I mean you need to be with him. In the Biblical sense.”

  Elaina frowned. “So you want me to go seduce him?”

  “Exactly!” Kat came forward eagerly. “Maybe what Commander Terex needs is literally sexual healing.”

  “Are you joking?” Elaina looked to see if she was laughing but Kat’s pretty face was completely serious.

  “I’m not kidding,” she told Elaina earnestly. “You’d be surprised what a good session of bonding sex can do.”

  “Bonding sex?” Elaina frowned. “That’s what ties you permanently together with a Kindred, right?”

  “Exactly.” Liv nodded. “ And Kat’s right—I think it’s clear nothing short of bonding sex will help.”

  “And since he’s a Blood Kindred, he’ll have to bite you at the same time—that’s part of bonding sex for them,” Sophia added. She looked troubled. “Of course, if this doesn’t work you’ll have formed a life bond to a male who’s dying. And, well…” She bit her lip. “If you’re bonded to Terex, you might not survive it if he dies.”

  “I don’t care,” Elaina said recklessly. “I’m willing to take the chance—to do anything I have to. I love him!”

  “Good for you!” Kat’s eyes blazed. “I like your style, doll.”

  “It’s good to be determined but you need to realize you’ll be fighting an uphill battle,” Olivia said cautiously.

  “Liv is right,” Sophia put in. “The problem is, Terex will know you might not survive if the two of you get bonded and he dies. So he’s probably going to be reluctant to bond you to him, no matter how much he wants to.”

  “We just have to overcome his fears with sheer sexiness. We have to make you irresistible,” Kat said decisively. She eyed the oversized coat, made for a Kindred warrior, that Elaina still had draped around her, and made a face. “Now if only we had something really sexy for you to wear to seduce him in.”

  “Actually…” Elaina cleared her throat. “I think I have the clothes covered.”

  “Oh yeah?” Kat looked at the coat again. “What—are you naked under that ugly thing?”

  “Almost.” Elaina gave her a small grin.

  “Then what are you waiting for?” Liv asked. “Get going!”

  Chapter Thirty

  Terex wasn’t surprised when he opened the door and saw Elaina standing outside looking both beautiful and defiant. He wasn’t surprised but he was unhappy—he didn’t want her to get her hopes up when there was nothing to hope for.

  “Hello, Elaina,” he murmured, stepping aside to let her enter his suite. “How are you?”

  “You know how I am and I know how you are, but I’m here to change that.” She lifted her chin and looked him directly in the eyes. “I think I have a cure for your soul poisoning—you have to bond me to you.”

  “What? And drag you down with me when I die? I don’t think so.” Terex shook his head firmly.

  “You won’t be dragging me down,” Elaina argued. “Kate had a vision with her Knowing—you know, her sixth sense? She said that you need to bond me