Gideon. Jacquelyn Frank
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Even Isabella seemed to suddenly realize she had forgotten all about her friend’s presence. But now the stately, graceful woman was turning a soothing smile on the tense people half a room away from her.
“Jacob, it is good to see you.”
Jacob grinned at Legna, nodding his head. “How is Noah?”
Legna quirked a brow. “Did you not see him in the Council?” She glanced from one Enforcer to the other, then to Gideon. “I understood that Noah was in Council with you all this morning, discussing the necromancer threat.”
“Yes, we were. But he was…unsettled, after discovering Daniel beneath the Council table,” Jacob informed her.
“And he had words with Councillor Ruth, as usual,” Isabella added, rolling her eyes in reflection of her feelings about the cantankerous Elder. “We all did. I swear, that woman gives me ulcers.” Isabella hugged her mate to herself in comfort. “I believe she still blames Jacob for the death of her youngest daughter’s mate. It’s unfair. How could any of us have known any sooner than we did?”
Legna’s spine straightened suddenly, the strong emotions that burst from Jacob forcing her to catch her breath as they pummeled her. She realized then that Jacob had never forgiven himself for that lost life.
Before Bella had come to them, Jacob’s primary duty had been to keep Demons and humans apart, believing as they all had for thousands of years that humans were too fragile to withstand the seduction of a Demon. During the Hallowed moons, the full moons of Beltane in May and Samhain in October, Demons were compelled by a mystical explosion of sexual compulsion. It was believed that it was originally meant to perpetuate their species, but because of Demon foolhardiness, the Druids meant to be their ease and their mates were all murdered in war. So the madness of lust had grown out of proportion with time, and this lust could be directed in lawbreaking directions, no matter how strong the Demon’s moral codes and self-control.
Even Gideon—powerful, invulnerable Gideon—had not been immune. So it had been the Enforcer’s role to track down those who attempted to break that law, punishing them for it, keeping humans and even other Nightwalker species safe from this uncontrollable, animalistic nature that overcame his fellows. This past Samhain, the same time that Bella first was becoming revealed to them, Jacob had prevented Ruth’s daughter Mary from seducing a human man, punishing her severely, as the infraction called for. All the while, the Enforcer had been unaware this human man was actually part Druid, destined by fate to be Imprinted with Mary. Jacob had had no inkling that their brief contact before the actual enforcing had triggered the dormant Druid genetics in the would-be victim. How could he? There had been only one Demon among them old enough to know the true nature of Druids, and Gideon had never expected that an exterminated Nightwalker population had actually become hybrids in the human population.
These alien genetics blossomed into dominance, overwriting existing DNA from that of a mere human into that of an awakening Druid. Once this happened, a Druid became mortally dependent on their Demon mate’s elemental energy, just as the Demon became dependent on the Druid’s love and ability to bring peace to them during the Hallowed moons. Once mated in the Imprinting, that Demon would never fear the Enforcer again. As a pair, they would grow as content and powerful as Jacob and Isabella were becoming.
Unfortunately, Mary’s mate, kept away from the fledgling Demon as she was punished and held under watch until Samhain passed, had starved from the deprivation of his mate’s energy, dying before Jacob could rectify the mistake.
There was no way Jacob could have known, and yet Ruth would not forgive him. Worse, Jacob refused to forgive himself. He could not bear to see crime or injustice go without rectification. It was what made him the miraculously capable Enforcer of Noah’s laws that he was. He was invaluable to Legna’s brother. But it was also what made him so unforgiving of himself when he felt he had failed.
Legna knew it would just take time before Isabella’s sweet, loving emotions for him would heal him of his guilt. Even now she was sharing thoughts of comfort with him. Legna felt an oddly hollow pumping to her heart as she absorbed the eddy of the Enforcers’ love for one another. She realized then that just as there had been truth behind Noah’s joking about their relationship, there was truth for her as well. She envied them. It was a heartbreaking craving shadowed with a malevolent flutter of jealousy. She turned away once more, ashamed and inundated by her own emotions for a change, and guarded her face from prying eyes as inexplicable tears burned in her eyes.
She had to be tired, she excused herself, trying to shake off the ache that continued to beat through her. She felt foolish. She scolded herself for allowing things to affect her as if she were some green fledgling not yet trained in controlling her own powers and emotions. Pressing harsh fingers into her damp eyes, she turned to the others.
“Isabella, we will visit again soon. There is something I have forgotten to take care of and I must hurry to complete it before dawn.” She didn’t even hug her friend good-bye or acknowledge the men in the room. With a familiar flourish of her elegant hand, she teleported away in a flash and a small cloud of sulfur.
“She is getting good at that,” Jacob remarked, the peculiar exit making him forget his own thoughts. “She is not yet an Elder, but she leaves less and less of a display behind every time I see her teleport. She is strong for one so young.”
“For those of us who can call being almost two hundred and fifty years old ‘young.’” Bella laughed, cuddling up under Jacob’s possessive arm even tighter. “Compared to you guys, I’m an infant!”
“Fledgling, little flower,” Jacob corrected, giving her forehead an affectionate kiss to go with his endearment for her.
“I am afraid I must also take my leave,” Gideon interjected, his mind fully on Legna’s unusual departure. He had seen something. Something within the empath that was not quite clear to him, but it was potentially physiologically alarming. It had been an impression more than anything, his power weakened by his astral state. Still, it had his interest, and he was compelled by an urge to confront Legna. This impression troubled him. If Gideon had learned anything in his vast lifetime, it was that his instincts were rarely wrong.
“In the future, Jacob, I will exercise more care when approaching your mate. My apologies.” With a curt bow, Gideon vanished in a brilliant flash of silver light.
Jacob and Isabella exchanged perplexed looks and thoughts. But after a moment, Bella’s eyes began to drift over Jacob’s body and the nature of her thoughts changed significantly, punctuated by a sexy, mischievous smile.
“Want to make love to a basketball?” she invited.
Jacob threw back his head and laughed, all painful memories banished in an instant, minimal feelings in the face of his beloved’s wink and smile.
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