Destiny Redeemed Read online

  With her renewed spirit, she climbed out of bed, slipped on one of her new dresses, and made her way to the kitchen. As she took her first good look at the house, she wondered if she was still dreaming. The Georgian home was furnished with the best of everything, from the furniture, window coverings, and hardwood floors to the appliances in the kitchen, which were all state of the art. It was all so much nicer than she’d ever had.

  Amon seemed to be nowhere in the house, which Thea thought odd, but she trusted him. It did concern her, however, that after what had happened when they’d arrived that she appeared to be alone.

  From behind her, she heard footsteps and turned to see Gethen but no Amon. He looked more serious than usual, and Thea sensed an uneasiness about him that worried her.

  “Hello, Gethen. Is everything okay?”

  Thea watched his face grow darker in the moments before he answered, but when he spoke, his voice was the same timbre as it had been from the moment she’d met him—formal and slightly intimidating.

  “Everything’s fine, miss.”

  Although she wanted to know where Amon had gone, Gethen’s expression made her reluctant to ask. The man had a foreboding look that Thea decided came from the scar that transected one side of this face. She wondered what could have happened to him to cause such a wound.

  The look on his face morphed into something frightening right before her eyes, and she suddenly remembered with guilt what Amon had told her about his communication with the Sidhe.

  “I’m sorry for that, Gethen. That was inconsiderate of me.”

  Instantly, his mood seemed to lighten, and Thea could have sworn a tiny smile crept onto his face.

  “Excuse me. I’m going to find Amon,” she said, hoping to escape the uncomfortable situation her thoughts had created.

  As she walked past him, Gethen caught her arm by the elbow and stopped her. The lightened mood she thought she’d noticed seconds ago was now gone, and the man she faced seemed imposing and dangerous in front of her.

  Gethen’s dark green eyes studied Thea’s face, scanning her features as if he were looking at a woman for the first time and deciding if he liked what he saw. Panic rose inside her, and her heart pounded against her chest. For the first time, she truly feared him, even more than at the moment she’d met him.

  “I can read your mind. I know you’re frightened.”

  Thea felt his hand loosen its grip on her arm and some of her fear subsided, but he didn’t let go.

  “There is no reason for you to be frightened. You are Amon’s destined one, and what Amon cherishes, I cherish,” he said in a low voice as he looked deeply into her eyes.

  “Why are you leaving? Is it because of me?”

  Thea felt his hand leave her arm, and Gethen stepped back away from her.

  “In one way, yes, it is. For lifetimes, I’ve been Amon’s servant taking care of him. While I didn’t have a choice as I owed him my life for taking me when no other creature on Earth would accept me, my life was freely given to him from that first day. My place in this world was to take care of him. But he no longer needs me because he has you.”

  Sadness filled Thea’s heart. “But I can’t replace the friendship he has with you.”

  “I am Sidhe. I am not one of your kind. Amon belongs with you without having me to think of. It’s time I returned to my people, to my kind.”

  “You said Amon was the only one to accept you. What if they won’t take you back?”

  Gethen’s expression grew softer and a real smile formed, brightening his eyes so they appeared to dance and sparkle. “Much time has passed since I was cast out of my world, albeit less time for the Sidhe. My penance has been fulfilled for many years. Amon knew this lifetimes ago.”

  Thea wondered why Amon hadn’t returned Gethen to his world before now. Before she could voice her question, Gethen answered.

  “Don’t think poorly of Amon for keeping me as his servant. Solitude is a choice few of us would willingly make.”

  Gethen stepped out of Thea’s way to let her pass. Touched by the knowledge of his love for the man she cared so much for, she stood on her toes and placed a kiss on his scarred face.

  “Thank you for this, Gethen.”

  As she moved to walk away, he once again caught her arm and she turned to see not anger but kindness.

  “Take care of him. Even when he seems to be a man you don’t recognize, don’t forget who he is.”

  Thea smiled but wondered what this meant. How could she ever not recognize her destined one?

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Amon and Gethen’s warning quickly left her mind. “Amon!” she said as she put her arms around him. “Where have you been?”

  “Thea, I need to speak to Gethen. Can you excuse us?” He placed a small kiss on her lips and winked. “Wait for me upstairs, okay?”

  Thea made her way to the stairs and stopped before she reached the top, curious to know what the two men discussed.

  “I’m concerned about Markku, Gethen.”

  “Why?”

  “That bounty hunter knew we were coming here and knew when. The only way he could know that would be through Markku.”

  “Amon, as much as the man irritates me, I have a hard time believing he would betray you again.”

  “Then how did the bounty hunter know?”

  Neither man answered the question, and Thea hurried upstairs before she was caught spying, just as concerned about the man who was their connection to the Soren.

  Thea sat on the bed and looked out the window at the Irish countryside. The lawn seemed to go on forever, changing shades from pale to deep green as the grass ran over the rolling hills. The scene looked like one from a postcard she’d received from a friend who’d visited this beautiful land years before. Outside the bedroom door, she heard footsteps and waited for Amon’s embrace. A hand touched her face and instantly she knew it wasn’t Amon’s, but it was too late. Before she could scream, her mouth was covered and Ryu Jansen had taken her.

  When she focused her eyes moments later, she didn’t need to be told she was far away from County Cork and the man she loved. Everything that surrounded her felt foreign.

  Ryu’s hands pressed on her shoulders, holding her still so she couldn’t struggle. Forced to remain in place, she scanned the room she stood in for any clue of her whereabouts. The walls around her were plain white and provided no indication of where she was. The small room was nondescript, a room that could have been in any building in a thousand locations in the world.

  “This will go a whole lot easier if you stay calm,” Ryu said coldly behind her.

  “Where am I?” she demanded as she craned her neck to face him.

  In front of her the door opened and Thea heard a voice that immediately struck fear in her heart. She spun her head back to see Kiril Gault standing in the doorway.

  “How wonderful it is to see you again so soon, Thea,” he purred as his eyes roamed over her body suggestively.

  Around him, his hulking bodyguards mimicked his actions, their greedy eyes devouring everything she was.

  “Why have you kidnapped me?”

  Ignoring her, Kiril focused on Ryu. “You can go. I’ll take this from here.”

  Kiril winked knowingly at Thea and grinned. “We’re going to have a wonderful time. Gentlemen, take her to the room with the other girls.”

  Thea thrashed wildly as Ryu loosened his hold on her and two of Kiril’s men grabbed her, squeezing her upper arms with their thick fingers.

  “Let go of me! You’re hurting me!”

  Each move she made in a futile attempt to be free led to tighter squeezing on her arms, bringing tears to her eyes.

  “Mr. Gault, please make them stop!” she cried as tears rolled down her face.

  Kiril waved his hand casually, and the men released her and stepped back. Thea rubbed her arms where painful bruises began to form and prayed that Amon would be able to find her before they did even worse to her.

&nb
sp; As the leader of the Soren stepped in front of her, Thea watched his violet eyes zero in on her face. His piercing gaze made her shrink back, but Ryu stopped her. Kiril slowly ran the back of his index finger down her jaw line to her chin and tilted her face up toward his. The feel of his skin on hers made her shiver, something that seemed to please him immensely.

  “Thea, the more you fight me, the worse this will be. Now be a pet and go with these men.”

  His touch lingered on her as he spoke, and Thea sensed all too clearly that the sweetness in his voice was temporary and easily replaced with the viciousness she’d heard days earlier.

  She saw the men return to her side, but this time she put up no fight. They led her down a dark hallway to a room far dimmer than the one before. As her eyes focused, she was horrified to see she was to be held with Kiril Gault’s slaves. Unable to back away, she froze in place.

  Oh my God! Amon, can you hear me? Kiril has me!

  Hands shoved her into the room, and she stumbled to the floor in front of the three women who sat chained together. When she looked up, she saw the fear in their eyes and her instincts as a healer kicked in. Struggling to get to her feet, she crouched down in front of them.

  “It’s okay. I won’t hurt you. Please don’t be afraid.”

  One of them looked at her with tears in her eyes. “You’re here to replace one of us!” she cried.

  “No! Don’t be afraid. Please,” Thea said softly.

  “Then why are you here?” another one asked.

  “I don’t know. Do you remember me? I visited here, I think, with my destined one.”

  The women nodded but said nothing.

  “He’ll find me and rescue us.”

  The one who hadn’t spoken snorted in disgust. “You don’t know much about Amon Kalins, do you?”

  Thea looked at her innocently, but inside she feared the woman was right. Amon was friends with Kiril Gault, but now she was a prisoner of his, which made no sense.

  “No, you’re wrong. Amon won’t rest until he finds me. I’m his destined one. He loves me.”

  “Honey, I don’t care what you Aeveren claim about these destined ones. Amon Kalins is as vicious as Kiril, even more because of how powerful he is. And he’s close to Kiril, so how do you explain why you’re here with us?”

  Thea couldn’t explain why one of Amon’s friends had kidnapped her, but she believed in her destined one. She had to.

  *

  Amon looked forward to a few moments of relaxation with Thea and smiled to himself as he thought about something he’d like to do that would take far longer than just a few moments. Just the thought of making love to her again lightened his mood. He looked forward to giving her every one of his homes as gifts to show her how much he loved her. The thrill he’d seen on her face and the excitement she’d shown him when they’d arrived at just this one house made him actually care about the places he owned.

  For a brief moment, he remembered Callia’s thrill when she first saw his Italian villa and cringed with regret at what he’d done. By the time he reached the bedroom, he’d pushed those memories out of his mind, though. He was a different man now—a man with a destined one he adored and who made him better than he ever could be alone.

  “Thea?” he called as he stood looking into the empty bedroom. No response came, and he called her name again, in case she’d gone for a shower.

  Instinctively, he knew something was wrong. He raced to the bathroom but found it empty too. Teleporting downstairs, he quickly found Gethen,

  “Have you seen Thea?” he asked as he attempted to tamp down the fear that was growing inside him by the second.

  Gethen shook his head. “She isn’t upstairs?”

  “No. You look in here. Search every room. I’ll look outside.”

  Amon looked frantically, but she was nowhere in sight. With every step he took, his fear mixed with rage. It didn’t take long before he admitted to himself that the bounty hunter had gotten her. By the time he found Gethen inside the house, he was nearly blinded by anger.

  “The fucking bounty hunter has her. I swear to God, I’ll kill him and every member of the Council for this. Where the fuck is Markku?”

  “I don’t know. I called him, but I got his voicemail.”

  “I want him here, now! Markku!”

  Amon’s voice shook the walls and windows. “Markku!”

  Almost as if he’d heard his name across the miles, Markku appeared in the room before Amon and Gethen, unaware of what awaited him. Before he could ask any questions, Amon seized him by the throat with one hand and lifted him the almost nine inches to his eye level, almost crushing his larynx.

  “Where is she?” Amon demanded.

  Markku’s arms grasped at the hand choking his throat as he croaked out the words, “I don’t know.”

  “Amon,” Gethen cautioned in a forced calm voice, “perhaps he can tell us more if you put him down.”

  Although he knew his friend was right, he didn’t want to release Markku. He wanted to kill someone, and the man hanging from his right hand would do until he got a hold of that bounty hunter or the members of the Council.

  Gethen’s judgment prevailed and Amon dropped Markku to the floor. As he lay there in a heap, gasping for breath, Amon returned to questioning him.

  “The bounty hunter has taken Thea. Something tells me you had something to do with it. So start talking or the next time I put my hand around your neck, I’ll fucking choke the life out of you.”

  Markku cowered on the floor as Amon waited to follow through with his threat. Fear made him avoid Amon’s eyes, making him look guiltier than ever.

  “Amon, I swear I had nothing to do with it. I swear.”

  “Then how the hell did he know we were coming here and the exact time to arrive?” he shouted.

  Markku had regained the ability to breathe, if not to swallow, and he attempted to rise to his feet, all the while shielding his face with his hand to protect from the attack that could come at any moment. Once standing, he wisely stepped back from Amon and began to speak, his raspy voice barely audible.

  “I did as you ordered and went to find out why the bounty hunter had targeted Thea. Amon, something big is going down. That guy has been seen at the Soren headquarters before. What the fuck would a bounty hunter for the Council be doing with anyone at the Soren? Nobody at my level knew, but that’s not all. There’s something going on with the Council. My guy at the Directorate told me they’re using people’s past lifetimes against them.”

  Amon knew all too well how serious a breach of Aeveren ethics this was. In fact, the inability of any Aeveren, even those on the Council of Nil, to know an Aeveren’s past lifetimes for any reason other than legal ones was one of the few rules of their world he’d generally agreed with.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know about anyone else, but they gave Thea’s record to the bounty hunter. I’m guessing to help him get to you.”

  “He knows about her past lifetimes?”

  “Yeah. The head of the Council at Nil ordered it. But I’m hearing his actions are causing a problem with the other members. At least one officially went on record to protest his giving the bounty hunter Thea’s past lifetimes information.”

  Amon paced back and forth past Markku as he thought about what he’d said. Pausing in front of him, he asked, “What the hell is this man’s issue with me? Did I dishonor his family or something lifetimes ago? It’s got to be something big if he’s willing to break one of our most solemn laws. Find out from your guy in the Directorate who he was before he went to the Council.”

  “Okay, I will.”

  “And find out whatever else you can about why a bounty hunter would be visiting the Soren.”

  “Okay, Amon. Okay.”

  After Markku left, Amon turned to Gethen. “You believe him?”

  Gethen appeared to think about the question for a few seconds. “Yes, I do. But if this is what’s going on, then it’s possible that
Kiril isn’t the friend you thought he was.”

  “Do you think he’s foolish enough to fuck with me? I’ve availed myself of the Soren’s services in the few areas I’ve found them useful, but I have no feelings of loyalty to him or that group that would take precedence over Thea’s safety.”

  “Amon, if a Council of Nil bounty hunter has been seen at the Soren headquarters, I think you need to accept the fact that Kiril Gault may not be anything he’s claimed to be.”

  “I think the bigger concern should be Kiril’s if I find out he had anything to do with Thea being taken.”

  Gethen began to speak but hesitated.

  “What is it?”

  “Amon, do you remember what Kiril said when he saw Thea with us as Soren headquarters?”

  Images of Kiril Gault’s slaves flashed through Amon’s mind and the thought of Thea chained up, enslaved to service Kiril made him want to kill someone.

  “I think it’s time I went to see my good friend at the Soren.”

  “Be careful. If Kiril and the Council are working together, you’re walking into a trap, and they’re using Thea as bait.”

  Amon walked outside to the spot where he’d watched Thea innocently twirl around and focused his mind on hers. He knew it was unlikely she could sense him because he couldn’t sense her, but he had to try. He had to let her know he would move heaven and earth to find her and kill any man or woman who got in his way.

  And God help anyone who harmed her.

  Thea, I’m coming for you. Don’t be frightened. I will find you.

  As he walked back to the house, another thought stayed in his mind.

  I’m going to kill you, Kiril.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Thea gently placed her hands on the brunette’s arms to help alleviate the painful soreness Kiril’s chains caused her. He was particularly cruel to her, often tugging her into positions that hurt her and seemed to delight him. Slowly, the woman’s arm began to heal, and Thea was awarded with a smile for her care.

  “Why would they make you a slave? You’re one of them.”