Marcus moaned as a particularly strong wave of passion hit him, and heard Divine’s answering moan, and then just as he reached and started to fall over the edge of that cliff their pleasure had built, he was suddenly alone. It was as if they were back on that bungee drop ride, harnessed in together, and when she pulled the rip cord, he was suddenly whipped away from her, riding it out alone. Marcus instinctively tried to stop his own fall, but couldn’t, and found himself tumbling helplessly into the abyss where darkness closed over him.
Twenty
Divine straightened with a little sigh, and then paused to contemplate the man she’d just finished tying to the bed. The robe ties and torn-up jeans she’d used to tie up Marcus wouldn’t hold long, but they weren’t meant to. She didn’t want to leave him here helpless until room service came to see why he hadn’t checked out, she just wanted to keep him from following her too quickly should he wake up sooner than expected.
Unfortunately, she’d kind of mistimed things. Divine had meant to try to shut her mind off from his sooner than she had, but had got wrapped up in the passion she’d so carefully stirred to life in them both and left it just that one second or two too long. Instead of remaining conscious as she’d hoped, she’d ended up passing out with him. Or perhaps that hope had been a lost cause from the start. Divine had never had a life mate before to try it with, so hadn’t been sure that shutting him out of her head at the last minute would prevent the passing-out business. Fortunately, while she’d passed out with him, she’d woken first. Hence the reason he was now tied to the bed.
Turning, she moved to the bags Marcus had brought back from his shopping trip and went through them again. She’d already gone through them once in search of something to tie him up with; now Divine went through in search of clean clothes. She’d noted that he’d bought them both clothes. Now she quickly picked out a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and pulled both on, only to peer down at herself with a grimace.
Divine normally wore dresses. Actually, she’d never worn pants, so wasn’t sure how they were supposed to fit exactly, but they certainly weren’t comfortable compared to the Gypsy outfits she’d been wearing for the last hundred years or so. The jeans were close fitting, barely reaching her hipbone at the top, or her calves at the bottom. As for the T-shirt, well, that had a similar problem; it was a scoop neck, but tight, stopping short of the top of her jeans, the sleeves stopping just past her elbows. If she hadn’t seen young women wearing similar outfits at the carnival, she would have thought Marcus had mistakenly bought them from the children’s section or something.
Shaking her head, Divine glanced to the bags, considering finding something else to wear, but just as quickly changed her mind. She didn’t know how long she had before he might wake up. It was better just to get out while she could, Divine thought, and headed for the door.
She was almost out the door when she recalled that she’d need the SUV keys. Turning back, Divine let the door close and quickly searched the room for Marcus’s keys. It wasn’t until she recalled his showering that she thought to look in the bathroom. His jeans were on the bathroom floor, and a quick rifling through the pockets revealed them in the front right pocket.
Sighing with relief, Divine hurried out of the bathroom, headed for the door again. This time, though, she only got as far as clasping the doorknob before she was stopped again. This time by Marcus muttering, “What the hell?”
Pausing, she glanced back just as he turned his attention from his tied hands to her and said with confusion, “Divine?”
“It’s better this way, Marcus,” she said quickly. “You don’t want to give up everything and everyone you know for me.”
“Don’t tell me what I want. I— Wait!” he barked as she opened the door.
Divine hesitated and that was her undoing.
“At least give me an explanation. You owe me that much, don’t you think? You’re my life mate, Divine. Just help me understand. That’s all I ask.”
Divine bit her lip and stared for a moment at the doorknob she was holding, trying to make herself leave. But her mind was throwing up reasons why she shouldn’t. One of which was that she had questions of her own she needed answers to. Sighing, she released the door and turned back, frowning when she saw that he was eyeing the ties on his hands with intent.
“Only if you promise not to try to free yourself until I’m gone,” she said sharply.
Marcus shifted his gaze to her, hesitated for the count of perhaps ten, and then relaxed back on the bed. Staring at the ceiling he said, “Okay. We’ll do this your way.”
Divine breathed a little sigh of relief and then just stood there for a moment before admitting, “I don’t know where to start.”
“The beginning is—” He’d lifted his head to see her as he spoke, but paused to ask, “Can I at least sit up for this talk without you running out the door? Please?” Marcus added dryly.
“Oh, yes, of course,” she said, moving forward. “Do you need help?”
Since he was seated upright, his hands now hanging down and out to the sides where they were tied, by the time she got to the bed, Divine supposed he didn’t.
“As I was saying, the beginning is usually a good place,” he said solemnly. Leaning back against the headboard, he then prompted, “You told me that after your uncle found you, he took you home to his parents and they taught you to read and control mortal minds and feed safely. But you said they never got the chance to teach you about Atlantis, our history, and the origin of nanos?”
“Right,” Divine murmured, but didn’t speak right away. Instead she paced the room once, slowly, and then paused in front of the dresser, leaned against it, and crossed her arms.
“Your name is Basha Argeneau,” Marcus prompted when she didn’t say anything.
“I was born Basha Argeneau,” she corrected, and then added, “Alexandria and Ramses were my father’s parents, my grandparents. Lucian Argeneau is my uncle and is the one who found Aegle and me, and took us to my grandparents.”
“And it was like a fairy tale, you said,” Marcus reminded her.
Divine nodded, but unconsciously tightened her arms around her waist, and then said, “My grandparents were great, but Uncle Lucian was a bit scary at first; gruff and . . . well, scary to a kid. But Gran assured me was a marshmallow underneath.”
When Marcus raised his eyebrows at this assessment, Divine nodded with amusement. “Yeah, I think she may have been a little delusional on that score, but at the time I believed her and lost a little fear around him.” She smiled sadly at the memories sliding over her and then shook her head and admitted, “I basically followed him around like a puppy . . . and he put up with it. He also helped with my training, taking me out to stalk mortals, control minds, and feed. He said I was a fast learner and smart,” she admitted, remembering how happy she’d been when he’d said that. How she’d glowed under the praise.
“It sounds like you looked up to him,” Marcus said quietly.
Divine grimaced. “Actually, I think I kind of— I guess he was a kind of replacement father for me.”
Marcus merely nodded.
Letting her arms drop, Divine peered down at her bare feet, and said, “Everything was good. I was happy, Aegle was happy. I was safe and warm and fed and loved. Grandmother and Grandfather were very kind, but it was always Uncle Lucian I looked to for . . . I don’t know what,” she finished unhappily, and then rushed on, “Everything was great until one evening I got up and Uncle Lucian was gone. Gran said he’d had to go away on business, but . . .” She wrinkled her nose. “Before that he’d taken me with him on his trips, and the one time he hadn’t, he’d at least come to wake me up and told me he was leaving, and for how long, as well as when he’d be back. This time I got up and he was just gone.”