3013: FEVER (3013: THE SERIES Book 16) Read online

  Jael dropped her face into her hands and groaned while wondering if it was possible to die of embarrassment. Thinking that he’d plucked the thought from her mind had been bad enough. Knowing that she’d volunteered the information without realizing it was even worse.

  “I do it all the time when I’m working in the lab.” Long, slender fingers curled around her wrists and gently pried her hands away from her face. “Just ask my assistant. She’s constantly laughing at the things that come out of my mouth.”

  If he said it to make her feel better, he’d succeeded. Back home in her own lab, she often caught herself mumbling aloud as she tried to work out a solution to a difficult problem. The only difference was that she didn’t have witnesses on Xenthian, but it was still nice to know she and Luke had one more thing in common.

  “My brothers and sister love me,” she told him, because she didn’t want him to think badly of them. “I just wish we were closer, like you and Cami.”

  “I can’t speak for the others, but Xi is…intense. He’s starting to grow on me, though, kind of like a fungus.”

  He winked at her, and Jael giggled. “I’m sure he feels the same about you.”

  “Oh, he absolutely loathes me.” Luke looked a little too pleased by the prospect. “Look, what I’m trying to say is that you should stand up for yourself. Tell them how you feel. If they can’t accept it, then to hell with them. We’ll make our own family.” He traced his thumbs up and down the tendons in her wrists. “If your siblings can behave themselves, I might consider letting them be a part of it.”

  Jael had laughed more in the last twenty-four hours than she probably had in the past year combined. “That’s very generous of you.”

  “What can I say? That’s me. I’m a giver.”

  Humming, she tilted her head back to peer up at him. “Then, how about you give me a kiss?”

  She wouldn’t normally make such a request, but something about Luke made her brave. He made her want things, and the stronger their connection grew, the more intense those desires.

  “Demanding,” he teased. “That’s sexy.”

  “Luke?”

  “Yes, beautiful?”

  “Stop talking.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Chuckling, he bent as if to kiss her, but after nearly doubling himself in half, he stopped and shook his head. “Damn, you’re short.” Instead, he locked his arms around her waist and lifted her from the floor. “That’s better.”

  Grinning wide enough to make her cheeks hurt, she cupped his face in her hands and leaned in until their lips were only a breath apart. “You are a fool, Lucas Brighton.”

  Then, she closed the distance and pressed their mouths together.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Luke had kissed a lot of women in his time, but none of them had ever made him feel like this.

  A warm tingle started where their lips met and spread quickly, sending currents of electricity racing over his skin. His heart hammered against his ribs, the sound pounding in his ears and drowning out everything except his mate’s breathy sigh.

  Swaying, he clutched her closer and reached for the banister with his other hand to steady them. Stars, the female literally made him weak in the knees, and she’d barely even touched him.

  All too soon, she pulled away, ending the kiss and pressing a hand to his chest to keep him from following. “Thank you.”

  Those were…words. She’d said words. On some level, he knew this, but his short-circuiting brain couldn’t make sense of them. Not surprising considering all he could think about was getting her naked against the nearest flat surface. Vertical, horizontal, diagonal—he wasn’t choosy. Words like, yes, more, now, harder, please made a lot of sense. Total sense. All the sense.

  “Absolutely.” Good. He’d said words, too. That was…good.

  Fuck, he was losing his mind. He’d been reduced to a monosyllabic imbecile after probably the most virginal kiss he’d ever received. Any more, and he’d be left communicating in grunts and vague hand gestures.

  He was okay with that.

  With one arm still secured around her waist, he tangled his other hand in her hair and brought her mouth back to his. She didn’t resist, and the soft moan he received went straight to his cock as he plunged his tongue between her lips.

  Light exploded behind his closed lids, his head spun, and every muscle in his body contracted. Each ragged breath filled his nose with the scent of wild vanilla, yet she tasted of cinnamon and spices he couldn’t name. It was an intriguing mixture, intoxicating, and absolutely addicting.

  Flexing his arms, he held her tighter, immobile, taking the kiss even deeper as he explored every recess of her mouth. When she tangled her fingers in his hair and moaned against his lips, he couldn’t hold back the animalistic growl that rolled through his chest. It was a sound full of possession and satisfaction, and one he was sure he’d never made before. He wasn’t even aware humans could produce such a noise.

  Holy nova, kissing her felt like being wrapped in the purest, golden sunlight that radiate warmth and illuminated the darkest parts of his soul. An intense, indescribable tide of emotions surged within him, flowing and ebbing, waxing and waning. He’d never felt anything like it before, couldn’t put it into words, but it was like…the pulse of the universe itself.

  “Luke,” Jael gasped, jerking her mouth away and grabbing his face in both hands. “Luke, open your eyes.”

  But he didn’t want to open his eyes. He just wanted to go on kissing her, to keep feeling the intense energy that coursed through him.

  “Luke! Look at me!”

  “Huh?” He blinked a few times, grinning when her face swam into focus. There was a low hum in his ears, a buzzing in his head that made it difficult to concentrate, but he tried his best. “Hey, beautiful.”

  She didn’t laugh. She didn’t even smile. “Don’t be alarmed, neelum.”

  He felt too good to be worried about anything, and he couldn’t understand why she would assume otherwise. “Why would I be—holy fuck!”

  “No, no, don’t panic. It’s okay. Shh, easy.” Like a mother comforting a small child, she stroked his cheeks and petted his hair. “It’s okay.”

  “Yeah, cool. All good.” It was not all good. There was not a damn thing remotely okay about them floating nearly four feet off the goddamn ground. “Uh, can you put us back down now?”

  Jael winced and ceased caressing his face. “Don’t panic.”

  “I’m not panicked. Why would I panic?” He sounded only slightly hysterical, so he felt that didn’t qualify as panicked.

  “Because,” Jael answered slowly, “I’m not doing this.”

  It took a good ten seconds for the implication of that statement to sink in, and when it did, Luke…well, he panicked.

  The lingering euphoria vanished as reality flooded back. His pulse raced, his lungs seized, and he had a flash of clarity just before gravity dragged him back to the ground. His legs buckled on impact, and he formed a protective cage around Jael with his arms—more out of instinct than any conscious decision—as he crashed to the marble floor on his back.

  Pain lanced through his right shoulder, down his spine, and through his hips. His balls ached where his mate’s knee was wedged between his thighs. The skin on his elbow burned from being dragged over the tiles, and he was pretty sure he had a knot the size of his freaking fist on the back of his head.

  From his position, he had a clear view of the staircase, but when the steps began to tilt and blur, he squeezed his eyes closed again. His stomach rolled. Cold sweat beaded across his brow. His throat constricted, even as saliva flooded his mouth.

  Seconds ticked by, and Jael tried to wiggle off him, but he squeezed her hips, holding her in place. “Just…wait. Don’t move.” He took several deep breaths, laying perfectly still until the nausea had passed. “Are you okay?”

  Once released from his grip, she nodded and scrambled off him to kneel next to his head. “I’m not hurt.” She brushed his hai
r back and used the hem of her tunic to blot the perspiration from his forehead. “Are you okay?”

  He probably had a mild concussion, and he’d definitely be sore for the next day or so, but nothing that wouldn’t mend. Well, except maybe his pride. That bruise was going to last for a while.

  “Yeah,” he grunted, heaving himself into a sitting position, “I’ll live. What just happened?”

  “You levitated us off the floor.”

  Her literalism intensified the throbbing in his head. “Yes, but how? I thought I wouldn’t share magic with you until we bond.”

  Or something like that. He couldn’t really remember all the details.

  Hands out, palms up, Jael splayed her fingers and shook her head. “That shouldn’t have happened. Not until we’re bonded or have a latska stone.”

  A what stone? He almost told her to speak English. Luckily, he realized in time how stupid that would be. “Explain. Please.”

  “It’s a conduit stone from my world that allows us to share bits of magic. We use it to teach younglings when they’re first learning to control their gift.” Her brow wrinkled, and the corners of her eyes creased. “Still, our magic doesn’t just happen. There are spells, incantations. They don’t always have to be verbal, but…” Huffing, she dropped back on her heels and shrugged. “I don’t know how you did that. What did it feel like?”

  Bending his knees, he rested his elbows on them and rubbed his hands over his face. “It was a pulse, but not like a heartbeat exactly. More like, I could feel the universe breathing.”

  Which sounded fucking insane. So, apparently, he was crazy now. Awesome.

  “I’ve never heard it described that way, but yes. That’s similar to how it feels when I use magic.” Still on her knees, she inched across the floor until she sat right in front of him. “In the report you sent to Xenthian, you mentioned that the healing flowers didn’t cause fever in enhanced humans. Vasera Blackthorn is enhanced, correct?”

  It took him a second to realize she meant Ivy. “Yeah, all elites are.”

  “And these elites have extra gifts?”

  “Some do.” He didn’t know where the line of questioning was headed, but since it was distracting enough to keep him from hyperventilating, he was happy to go along. “Ivy perceives time differently.” She’d used that gift to kick his ass more than a few times during training. “Cami can hear people’s thoughts.” Which had been a bane for her until recently. “I know a female who can even see glimpses of the future.”

  Jael bobbed her head thoughtfully. “And you?”

  “I don’t have one.” He’d received the standard upgrade in size, strength, and agility, but no extrasensory abilities. “Not to sound dense, but what are you trying to get at?”

  “Neelum, I think you do.” Urging his knees apart, she scooted in between them and took one his hands between her own. “I think you’re a sylir.”

  “That sounds dirty.”

  Jael rolled her eyes at him. “Sylirs can absorb magic from others.” Her lips twisted shrewdly, and she gave him a pointed stare. “Some of them can even absorb knowledge and skills.”

  “Like being able to understand a new language after hearing it once?”

  She nodded. “Exactly.”

  It was a talent he and his sister shared, though he’d rarely had an opportunity to use it. It allowed him to decipher the odd word here and there, mostly Krytos terms not programmed into the language converters. Not exactly groundbreaking.

  The ability had, however, been useful during his brief post on Beta Station 8. Located at the very edge of Reema space, it was the only Alliance-controlled station with a significant population of the lizard-like race. He’d even go so far as to say that Beta Station 8 belonged to the Alliance in name only. During his stay there, the number of elites had been exactly four—him, two officers, and a general.

  The place didn’t even rate an actual commander.

  The Reema who called the station home came from deep within the desert dunes of their home world, all of them outcasts among their own people. Of course, they’d refused to be implanted with language converters, and every one of them spoke only in Reemesa—an archaic Reema language that had never been added to the Alliance’s database.

  Luke had adjusted pretty quickly, but for other elites, an assignment on the space station was a nightmare.

  Still, he’d never considered it a gift. Plenty of people were good with languages. He’d even met regular citizens with eidetic memories who could probably do what he did. Besides, listening to a bunch of Reema haggling over jewels and credits wasn’t nearly as interesting as reading minds or seeing the future.

  When he said as much to Jael, she scowled and shook her head. “It is a gift, neelum.”

  Dear. Sweetheart. Darling. Beloved. The endearment didn’t have a precise meaning. More like an intention, and he felt it as much as he heard it.

  “Maybe,” he allowed, but he couldn’t match her conviction.

  There were elites called empaths—mostly liaison officers—who could sense other people’s emotions. Luke could read body language and facial expressions, but he’d never felt someone else’s emotions. He didn’t think he really wanted to, either.

  There were also the rare individuals the Alliance referred to as conduits. Their gift was based more in energy than emotions, though they could sometimes pick up on those as well. The most powerful conduits could even draw someone else’s energy into themselves. Like with emotions, Luke had never felt another person’s energy, not in the abstract way conduits did.

  Something had happened, though, something he couldn’t explain. People often likened being in love to feeling like they were floating, but as far as he knew, none of them had actually left the ground.

  “What exactly is a sylir?” He knew the word meant a syphon of some sort, but the translation didn’t provide details. “What can they do?”

  Still holding his hand, Jael brought it to her lips, brushing a kiss over the knuckles. “It’s just as I said. A sylir absorbs magic, sometimes knowledge.”

  “I don’t know.” More likely, it had something to do with her, not him. “Why haven’t I been able to do it before?”

  “You probably have but didn’t realize it. I’m guessing you haven’t been in the company of many magical beings.”

  “Fair enough.” He knew about the Dragon Warriors, but he’d never actually met one in person. Jael and Xi were the first Xenon he’d encountered. “What about the Helios? They’re shape shifters. That’s kind of like magic.”

  Jael’s eyebrows drew together, but she nodded in concession.

  “Well, I’ve met plenty of them, and I’ve never shape-changed into a giant cat.” He didn’t know if that was how it worked at all, but it made him feel better, so he was going with it.

  Jael’s expression looked a little too pitying when she sighed. “You probably could if you absorbed enough of their qi.”

  It took a minute for his brain to process the word and give him a translation, but he still didn’t understand. “Intuition?”

  “Intuitive magic.” She waved her hand dismissively. “Magic that just happens. They think it, so it is. It’s limited, but powerful.”

  Luke said nothing as he thought through the implications of that. If what she said was true, and he’d had this ability for most of his life, he’d been flirting with danger for a long damn time. He didn’t know how to syphon magic from someone. It wasn’t something he’d ever done on purpose.

  He had so many questions.

  Could he take too much? What would happen if he did? What if he did turn into a giant cat one day? Would he be able to turn back? Oh, fuck, Cami would probably dress him in a weird sweater with hearts on it and tie pink bows to his tail and ears.

  “Breathe,” Jael ordered, her tone alarmed as she grabbed his face in both hands. “Luke, please, breathe.”

  “I can’t be a cat!” he practically shouted at her. “I don’t even like sweaters!”
>
  “I…you won’t…it doesn’t…” Trailing off, she tilted her head at him, her brow furrowed. “I’m sorry, what?”

  “Nothing. It’s fine. I’m fine.” He most certainly was not freaking the hell out, thank you very much. “Everything is—”

  “Fine?” Dropping her hands from his face, she rocked back on her heels, then pushed herself upright so that she stood over him with a cute, crooked smirk. “I’m sure it doesn’t feel like it right now, but it will be.”

  “You sound pretty certain of that.” He wished he could match her confidence. “How can you be so sure?”

  Her expression softened, and she held her hand out to him. “Because you’re not alone, Luke. Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out together.”

  Together.

  That one word changed everything.

  It quieted his mind and slowed his pulse. It made it easier to take one deep breath, then another. It eased his burden and soothed his worries.

  Mostly, that one word made everything he’d been through since meeting her worth it.

  He didn’t know what he’d done to deserve someone like her, and he still wasn’t convinced that he did. From the first moment he’d set eyes on her, though, he’d been drawn to her, knowing instinctively she was meant to be his. Everything else—magic, his hypothetical gift, where they came from, and where they’d go—was just details.

  He took her offered hand, but instead of rising, he pulled her off balance, smiling when she tumbled into his arms. “Have I told you how incredible you are?”

  “Mm,” she hummed, straddling his thighs and leaning into him. “Probably, but you’re welcome to remind me often.”

  He’d say it as many times as she needed to hear it. He’d tell her when she first woke, then every night before she went to sleep. He’d write it down. He’d sing it. He’d write it again, but better. He’d whisper it in her ear or say it with a kiss. Not a single day would pass without her knowing just how special she was to him.

  “Every day, beautiful. Every day.”