Chapter 23 Heidi
HEIDI
My heart goes berserk with a mixture of hope and relief just as my inner doe begins prancing inside my chest.
The ancient shifter warrior is here. I can sense him outside—already, his overwhelming, confusing feelings are seeping into the air and making my head spin.
Meanwhile, Jessica cat-calls Athanis and drifts over to him, looking him up and down. "Oh, yes. You, my friend, are also a smash."
Athanis does a double-take at her in surprise. "A fellow guardian spirit? Greetings, but I'm afraid I do not comprehend the meaning of your words."
"I'd be happy to show you," Jess grins before looking at me, switching to pig Latin as she exaggerates winking at me. "I'm-yay oing-gay to uck-fay this iest-pray."
"Were you expecting your brother or anyone else?" Asher checks, finally jogging me out of the ghost-filled moment of shock I've been stuck in.
I see his hand already going for the knife sheathed at his waist. I hold up my hands quickly as my inner animal begins to whimper at the idea of violence.
"Whoa, there. Relax. It's no one dangerous, so let's just—"
Ian has already blurred to the front door. When he throws it wide open, I gawk at the sexy-as-hell ancient warrior standing on my front porch. Sure enough, it's Athanis's warrior friend, and he's…
Naked.
I repeat, except for a bracelet on one arm, he's completely naked. His spectacular, lithely muscled body is on full display, drenched in rain with his long, dark hair dripping. His dark gaze immediately locks onto me, and a bright smile lights up his striking face.
"Tseramòr," he breathes.
My nervous system starts to cave in as the full force of his emotions crash into me. They're the same as they were when I first opened his sarcophagus: overwhelming layers of extreme excitement, adoration, fierce loyalty, possession, curiosity, blazing need…
But they're not only his feelings. It feels like there are echoes, too—as if there are multiple somethings inside him who are just as thrilled to see me.
My knees are on the verge of giving out under the onslaught of so much intense emotion. The ancient sleeper moves fast, darting toward me with a skyrocketing sense of relief and excitement. It feels like the world is moving too fast and too slow all at once—
Before sudden pain explodes in my right shoulder.
I cry out and crumble, clutching at my shoulder as the ancient warrior staggers back with Asher's knife embedded in the exact spot I feel pain. The weapon is in him, but I feel every bit of it.
Still, the warrior's emotions are pummeling me. Surprise, alarm, irritation toward Asher, pain, protective rage, worry for me, vindictive fury.
"You idiot," Ian snarls somewhere nearby. "You can't fucking stab someone around a type four empath!"
Someone else is cradling me all of a sudden, swearing viciously.
"Shit. Shit, I'm so sorry—I stopped thinking the second he tried to attack you," Asher says through gritted teeth, rocking me slightly in his arms.
Pain is clouding my already exhausted head, but it begins swiftly fading as the ancient warrior removes Asher's knife from his shoulder, which quickly heals on its own.
“Hey, hellprick. Put your shirt on the naked dipshit so the mytherun will shield Heidi from his feelings. If he resists, kill him," Asher orders Zak, who I almost didn't notice crouched beside us.
Zak moves quickly, slipping off his dark jacket and then his shirt as he approaches the newcomer. The instant my half-demon isn't wearing mytherun, I can sense his emotions—mostly murderous intent directed at the ancient experiment in this room and concern that curls protectively around me.
The shifter tosses Asher's knife aside, looking ready to rip Zak apart until Athanis speaks to him in ancient fae. I don't understand any of it until the very end, when Athanis switches to English.
"…hello, I am also her mate and will not hurt her. Aithrisere," Athanis waves urgently at him.
To my relief, the ancient shifter relaxes and allows Zak to not-so-gently force his mytherun-pinned shirt onto him. Then he looks over the other guys in my living room.
"Hello," he repeats after the priest in clumsy English. Despite how rage-filled he was a second ago, he now looks as gentle as a lamb. "I am also her mate and…"
"I will not hurt her," Athanis emphasizes.
The gorgeous experiment looks at me, his gaze warm and gentle. He places a hand firmly over his heart like he's afraid it's about to break free. "I will not hurt her. Ethi’ma tseramòr.”
Something about his voice is so incredibly soothing that it makes the knots in my stomach relax. Zak's emotions are still intense, but even though my exhausted body wants to stay in Asher's secure arms forever, I finally feel like I can breathe again.
"Aww, Naked Man seems sweet. And hung," Jessica adds, glancing down and whistling.
Athanis is scandalized and quickly reaches up to cover her eyes. "Do not lust after my friend! His nobility is of the highest order, and he is here for Elise."
I can't look away from the warm, adoring depths of the shifter's eyes as he gazes down at me. He could be rushing toward me again out of impatience. Instead, he's hanging back, glancing curiously at the other men in the room as if trying to understand this situation.
"Either of you two believe this fucker?" Ian asks in a calm voice, his gaze pinned on the smear of blood drying on the shifter's shoulder. "Or can I rip his head off now that he's wearing mytherun?"
"Don't," I panic, scrambling to get out of the cradle of Asher's deliciously muscled arms now that I don't feel like there's a knife wedged in my shoulder anymore.
I get to my feet and hold up my hands to put a buffer between Asher, Ian, Zak, and the new guy.
"No one hurt him. He wasn't going to attack me. "
"Are you sure, Sunshine?" Ian asks, glancing at me. "Do you know him?"
I fidget, glancing again at the beautiful shifter. He's still watching me with all the patient, adoring softness in the world—except for his very not-soft, very ready-to-go dick, which I'm trying my best not to look down at.
If Marwood or his goons find out this ancient experiment is here, they'll be pissed. I'll be even more screwed than I already am. After all, a lot of people already believe I was trying to steal from the fae.
But it's not stealing to set someone free so they can avoid a horrible future. So whatever extra trouble it may get me in, I decide I'm not letting Athanis's friend out of my sight again.
I take a deep breath before turning to the others, all of whom I'd trust with anything. "Can I swear you guys to secrecy?"
All three of them nod before Zak adds, "Ian loves swearing to things before he understands them.”
Ian shoves the half-demon's shoulder. "Shut up."
I give them a quick summary, letting them know this is a shifter from thousands of years ago, that I sensed him and other experiments sleeping under the citadel, and that I recently helped uncover them. I don't mention seeing ghosts or how Athanis urged me to open the sarcophagus.
I finish by explaining that if Chancellor Marwood gets this shifter back, I get the feeling he's going to do something terrible to him.
"So this fucker's the real reason why you got hit by a bus," Zak muses, eyeing the shifter.
"It's not his fault," I defend quietly, fighting another yawn. "It was no one's fault, just a dumb accident. But please, can you all keep him a secret?"
Asher squints dubiously at the shifter. "What's your name, Birthday Suit?"
Athanis translates before the gorgeous, somewhat confused warrior meets Asher's eye.
"Kaenon."
"Great," Ian says before darting forward.
He's suddenly peering deeply into Kaenon's eyes, looking up slightly since the ancient warrior is a couple of inches taller.
When he speaks, the strangest feeling settles on my skin.
"If you hurt her, Kaenon, you'll choose to stop breathing until your heart stops. "
I startle, realizing he's using hypnosis. "Hey! Ian, don't—"
"I'm not taking any chances with your safety," the vampire cuts me off, not looking away from the shifter. "Show me you understand."
Kaenon's brows furrow, but hypnosis must transcend language barriers because he nods.
My doe is strangely distressed by the show of mistrust between them. I'm also irked by Ian's display of vampiric powers. Still, it seems to do the trick, because everyone else in this room relaxes.
"Great. Then we'll keep this guy a secret for you, Sunshine. Won't we?" Ian adds, looking pointedly at the others.
"Yup," Zak agrees easily, unabashedly distracted as he stares at my ass.
The half-demon's fixated emotions are warming with a lust that confuses my pulse, making my stomach flutter despite the tiredness weighing down my still-healing body.
"Asher?" I check, glancing hopefully at my bodyguard.
He's watching the three newest newcomers to my house with guarded speculation. "Whatever. What's one more obsessed-ass stalker to keep an eye on?"
Given his personality, I'm going to take that as a resounding yes.
Relieved, I smile at Kaenon, ignoring the way my inner animal is preening inside my chest. "Hi. I'm Heidi, and I'm going to help make sure you're not locked up in a laboratory again. Okay?"
"Imae tseramòr," he says, tapping his heart as he smiles back at me.