Time Eternal (17 page)

He tilted his face a little, embracing her comforting touch before reaching his hand over hers, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “I’m fine. Probably just tired from the surgery. The bullet came out easier than I thought but repairing the muscle damage took a bit more effort.”

There was sadness in his voice. It was odd, and she couldn’t fathom why. Without thinking, she tiptoed up and kissed him gently on the cheek, wishing she knew what was troubling him, what was causing his sudden sadness. As if not aware of her affectionate peck, Knox just stood still, looking lost in time and space.

“Knox…?”

Her gentle probing seemed to have brought him out of whatever abyss his mind’s eye was staring into. He smiled at her. “I’m fine. Really.” He returned her quick peck on the cheek. “I need a shower, then some rest. Call me if you need me.” Then he walked out of the bedroom, still looking preoccupied.

Still frowning and troubled by Knox’s strange mood, she looked back down at the bed and was startled by a pair of blazing steel-gray eyes staring back at her.

“Weren’t you two cozy while I was lying here half dying?” Rei sneered at her like a jealous husband. Well, she supposed he had the right since they were technically engaged almost five centuries ago. But that still didn’t give him the right to claim her like a growling bear. She might have a past with him, but she was no one’s property, not anymore. Better set boundaries right here and right now before her ancient ex-fiancé took more in his thick skull about him owning her or any other similar crap.

She replied in a matter-of-fact tone, “That’s none of your business. And you were
not
dying, from what I was just told.” Not waiting for his response, she turned to walk away from the insufferable man, but he grabbed her wrist and jerked her down. Before she could react to it, she was underneath him. And he was completely naked—again! Her heartbeat instantly went into overdrive. Her body softened against his, yielding to him. Skyla didn’t know whether she was more pissed off by his highhandedness or her out of control body.

Before she could shove him off, he kissed her, roughly. “Mine!”

She should have been offended at being manhandled, but excitement roared through the cells in her body, and she felt alive for the first time since her coma. Her body was no longer hers to command. It rubbed against his warm, hard body like a cat in heat. She was shameless! She had never reacted this way with any guys she’d dated, not even Knox.

As if Rei could read her thoughts, he lifted his mouth off hers. She whimpered from the loss of the wet heat that her body craved like an addict. Her head reached up, her lips trying to capture his at all cost, but he gripped her chin firmly. “You’re mine. No one else’s.” He growled and lowered his lips back to hers. His tongue pushed deeper into her mouth and stroked hers with such sensual temptation. She needed him, her soul needed him. Skyla had never experienced such desperate need of anything or anyone.

He let one of his hands loosen from holding the side of her head, and he pressed it lower between their bodies. She knew she was wet, and she knew he knew that too. She didn’t resist his hand pushing down her cargo pants. In fact, she needed his touch like she needed air. As soon as his fingers rubbed against her clit, her body pushed up, aching for—no, begging for—more. Her body demanded to be satisfied. Her unabashed reactions apparently spurred Rei on. His mouth and hands became even more insistent, as if he was a starving man on a deserted island receiving his first meal in weeks. He rose up from her, reached for her pants, and pushed them down past her ankles and off her legs. His eyes heated with lust and impatience. He reached for her thighs and gently pulled them farther apart. “Beautiful,” he whispered before his fingers touched her core with such reverence it made her want to weep.

“Please…” She had no idea what she was asking for. She knew she shouldn’t be asking for anything even remotely from Rei.

“Yes, love.” He bent down, gently kissing her lips, and answered her. Then his finger pushed into her already overly-sensitized channel.

Skyla’s back bowed up. She had never experienced sensations like this before. They bombarded her mind and soul. For one reason or another, she bit down on her lips, preventing her scream from escaping. Rei added a second finger and started pumping her tight channel with a single-minded focus. Her body was simply coming apart. Suddenly he stopped.

No!

“Look at me.” He growled at her again. She reluctantly opened her heavily lidded eyes. He was looking down at her intensely. “Say my name.”

She was in a daze, but she knew that tone. It was the same tone from a distant past. Rei used that tone when he told Elizabeth of his true identity, his heritage. It was the day they were ripped apart by fate. She touched his forehead with her trembling finger and whispered, “I remember.”

•●•

Rei was overjoyed by what Skyla just said. His Elizabeth remembered. The familiar warmth was spreading from her fingertips across his face. “Thank the goddesses.” He kissed her again, this time with a sigh of relief. He moved his arms around her back and almost lifted her up. It had been nearly five centuries since he had touched her and held her.

“Elizabeth.” He reached down for her lips. Before he could taste nirvana again, he lost his balance and landed on the mattress, staring up at her. She stood by the bedside, half-dressed.

“Elizabeth?” Confused, he reached for her, but she jumped away from him, heading to the connecting door to her room.

“Wait…”

She stopped but didn’t turn around to face him. “I’m not your Elizabeth anymore.”

Flat, cold pain crept up his spine just like the day Elizabeth’s uncle told him that she was not lost in the fire but in time.

“I remember you and us. I remember the day they took you away. But it doesn’t change anything. There is no us. And there will be no us.” She walked through the connecting door and closed it with a soft click.

Rei quickly got out of bed, needing to go after her, but stabbing pains shot through his injured leg, forcing him back on the bed. “Son of a…” He gritted his teeth together. He actually welcomed the physical pain over this mess. His Elizabeth had finally remembered their past, but she was no longer his Elizabeth. She had become a stranger to him, to herself. Leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, he pushed his hands through his hair. In all his battles, he always knew what was to come and how to outmaneuver his adversaries. But how was he supposed to maneuver his heart and soul when the love of his life had become someone else entirely?

Half an hour later, Rei’s leg was entirely healed. Like all the wounds he and his men had gotten over the centuries, flesh or mortal wounds, they simply healed themselves. The gods wouldn’t let them die so easily. They were the tools to end or save mankind, depending on which side the gods chose to be on at that moment. There were times he wished he hadn’t made the bargain with the deities. The centuries without Elizabeth had been long and lonely. And tainting his hands with innocent blood was more than his honor could bear. How would Skyla, his Elizabeth, see him once she realized he was one of the monsters her precious agency fought against? It was an untenable situation: his allegiance to the gods was irrevocable, but his heart belonged to Elizabeth also irrevocably, no matter who she had become.

As soon as he stepped out of his room, he came face-to-face with Knox.

Knox and Skyla had a past together, and Rei hated that. He purposely bumped his shoulder against Knox’s as he was walking past him. He could feel tension rolling off Knox and fully expected to be attacked, but Knox didn’t move. Smart man.

Instead, he said. “Who was the woman in your room?” Knox’s voice was quiet and accusatory.

Shit. How?
Rei slowly turned around. “What’re you talking about?”

“You know what I’m talking about.” Knox took a few steps forward and stood toe-to-toe in front of him. He took a quick glance at Rei’s leg and gave him a faint, condescending smile. “And I can see your leg is completely healed.”

“My body heals fast.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Knox sneered, “No one heals that fast. I’m a surgeon. I’d know. The muscle damage in your leg should’ve kept you from even getting up to piss by yourself, let alone walking out of your room on your own.”

Rei knew he should ignore the bait and keep walking, but the intensity of power emanating from Knox was too strong and too lethal to ignore. His body automatically went on high alert, ready to battle. The best defense was a good offense, so he shot out his forearm, gripping Knox’s throat. “Who are you?” he asked flatly.

The force of his arm pushed Knox back against the opposite wall in the hallway. A few pieces of intricate woodwork crumbled down. Rei winced. Herbert would have a fit again about how he and his men were destroying history. The house had been built by Alexander Hamilton when New York was first chosen to be the capital of the newly formed America in 1776, before Washington, D.C., was named as the permanent capital later on. His split second of distraction gave Knox an opening to return the favor. Knox raised his knee and kicked out his leg, aimed straight at his solar plexus. His back landed at the other side of the wall, and the hallway literally shook. White plaster fell on his head and shoulders like snowflakes. A thin crack ran down from the ceiling to the upper wall of crown moldings. He sighed inwardly. Herbert would definitely be going ballistic on him.
Damnation.

He pushed himself off the wall and was ready to attack when Skyla stepped out of her room.

“What’s going on here?”

The look of concern she threw Knox immediately sent Rei beyond all rationality. His well-known control was gone. In its place was the urgency to claim her; the mayhem of her ex-lover could wait. Before his mind could process the myriad of emotion and need, he went to Skyla without any conscious thought. He must claim her now, or it would be all too late. A flicker of fear showed in her eyes before the highly trained agent took over her. Her gaze turned dispassionately cold, and she held her ground. As he took hold of her upper arm, yanking her against his humming body, he felt a slight pressure against his throat. He carefully cast his eyes down and saw the sharp end of a blade.

“Don’t.” She looked up at him calmly.

He had no doubt she would slice open his throat if he made another aggressive move. His fingers slowly unwrapped her arm.

Satisfied with his retreat, she pulled her dagger back and quickly surveyed the walls on either side of the hallway. “What are the two of you doing, destroying a piece American history?” She turned to Knox first, again. Rei seriously started regretting his lapse of judgment in agreeing to Director Jensen’s condition of letting Knox come along.

Both he and Knox just glared at each other and remained silent. The thundering power continued to emanate from Knox. The power tasted metallic; and there was only one source of power Rei knew of with such a taste. How very interesting.

“The woman I saw in his room was real, and she was not a time traveler,” Knox spoke up.

Fuck. He knew. Of course he knew. Knox had to be one of them. Rei wished he’d known this little fact sooner. Blackmail was always a handy tool and underappreciated by most people. Before his mind could work out how best to use this newfound information, Skyla’s expression changed from puzzlement to sudden comprehension, to the goddamn wrong conclusion, and then to anger. The next second, she walked back into her room, slamming the door so hard that the already slightly detached sconces on the wall rattled even more. Double fuck and triple fuck. He was hoping to spend more time preparing her for his past, but now he could no longer delay the inevitable. But first, he turned back to Knox. “Stay out of my business with Elizabeth.”

Knox causally informed him, “She’s not your Elizabeth anymore.”

He knew it was true, but he simply refused to accept it. Not bothering with Knox any further, he went to Skyla’s door.

•●•

Skyla felt like a fool. Rei had a woman living with him in his house, and here she was, thinking that he was her Romeo pining after his long lost love! And to think the scorching heat they just shared in his room not an hour ago was real. Asshole. Men were all the same. Undying love only happened in fairy tales and romance novels. She stormed through her room looking for things to break, but each piece was a piece of history. Her affinity for art and history was borderline obsessive. Now that she knew her true past, it was no surprise. No way she could just pick up anything in this room and smash it without regard, but the jealousy, the anger, were all-consuming. She needed to work off the tidal wave of emotions. Taking several deep breaths to calm herself, she walked back to the door thinking she could get a quick sparring match with Knox. When she opened the door, there was Rei, standing right there with his arm raised, about to knock on her door.

“Skyla.” He called her name softly. The gall he had, to say her name like a wounded puppy.

She muttered something about men and pigs under her breath and raised her chin up. “What do you want?”

She was hoping the disdain on her face would let him know that she had no desire to be civil with him anytime soon. Instead of being deterred by her hostile posture, Rei reached down and cupped her cheeks with his calloused yet gentle hands. “It’s not what you think.” He kissed her on the mouth firmly. She saw Knox out of the corner of her eye.
Uh-oh.
But to her surprise, Knox’s expression and stance remained neutral. There was no hint of jealousy or concern. Before she could fully process Knox’s reaction, or the lack of it, her body went into overdrive again at Rei’s touch. Just like before, as soon as he touched her, her body started singing a different tune than her mind. Fortunately, his kiss was brief, or her mindless body would have been rubbing against his…just like every time before.

“We’ll talk in the study.” He stepped away from her and indicated to Knox to follow them. She looked at Knox, and he gave her a faint nod.