Page 25 of Keeper of All

Ekon wasn’t faring much better, unsure how to take this new turn of events. “Should I… grab it?” It sounded like a stupid question. Okay, it was when the book was hanging there, when it hadn’t been there when he’d walked into the cavern. He would have noticed, surely? Then with how the room felt to him, he couldn’t say for sure.

“Yeah, I don’t believe anything in here would harm you after what I witnessed in the bunker.” Mao came and stood next to him, laying a hand on his shoulder, squeezing. “We can do it together.”

Ekon gave him a grateful grin, but shook his head, his bangs falling over his right eye. He shoved it back behind his ear, rolling his shoulders as if preparing for a boxing match. “No, I think it’s meant to be me.” Let’s hope I’m right and not about to get my ass kicked by magic I don’t understand.

I’ll be right here, helping you kick its ass back to wherever it belongs.

There was that reassurance and support that cushioned Ekon’s heart in cotton candy. The sweetness so new, it gave him a toothache.

He walked over to where the book was and didn’t give himself time to second guess himself further, reaching to pluck it out of the air. His fingers curled around the leather-bound covering, and he bowed back, chest thrusting to the ceiling with the power. It didn’t caress this time, it punched and punched hard enough Ekon’s organ’s shifted inside him. He gasped painfully, clinging to the book as rage came in a tidal wave. It wasn’t alone. Grief. Soul-wrenching. The kind that changed a person swiftly followed on the second wave. This was more powerful than the first. He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move under the weight of it that held him in a tight embrace.

Then there was Mao reaching for him, freeing Ekon, holding him against the solid body. A woody scent surrounding him that was all his mate. “I’ve got you. Fuck, I can feel the grief like it’s my own,” he rasped in a strangled moan, both of them clinging to each other.

Ekon couldn’t see his features clearly with tears rolling unheeded down his cheeks from that very grief. Since his arrival at the bunker, he’d suddenly become a damn crybaby. Nothing would stop the hiccupping sobs he attempted to rein in. “They stole my essence. They took a part of me, and I remained here, captured by my need to know why.” The words were forced from his throat, but it wasn’t him speaking. “You came from me.”

They both trembled as Mao held them… not just Ekon but the magic being too. “We’ll find all the answers. We will,” Mao pledged adamantly.

Who he was speaking to, Ekon wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter; he believed Mao though and so did the fae. Ekon recognized this when the grief lessened. The book wedged between them, did it have what they needed?

Ekon scrubbed at his cheeks with the back of one hand, staring at it. The feelings too fresh for him even to consider opening it—reading it.

“You don’t have to do it now.” Mao held him for a few seconds longer, brushing a soft kiss over his brow, the affection undoing Ekon. “You’ll know when you’re ready.”

Ekon wasn’t sure he would ever be ready to face another’s tragic suffering when he’d inflicted so much of his own. Was this my burden to bear for penance?

We can hold it together if it is. You are not alone in this.

Their gazes met and held for long seconds. The depth of emotions running through Ekon this time were all his own. He exhaled shakily and came forward until their lips were nearly touching, his eyes searching Mao’s. For the first time, he acknowledged how much it truly meant to have a mate, and his heart opened like a sunflower catching the first rays of sun, blooming under the feelings coming from Mao. Their noses touched, rubbing gently against each other’s. Their cats surfacing, scenting each other before their lips met in a soft kiss that held affection. The sweetness of it made Ekon’s eyes sting. Thank you for being you.

I don’t know how to be anything else.

They stayed like that for some time, kissing as if time no longer mattered. The heat simmered between them, only the flames were held at bay when this wasn’t about getting naked. This was all about allowing one man to hold another steady until he found his balance once more.

Sometime later, Ekon kissed the tip of Mao’s nose and gave him a shy smile, feeling his cheeks warm at the adoring look Mao wore. “I think it’s time to blow up some shit, don’t you?”

Mao’s eyes narrowed and a devil may care grin spread over his attractive features. “You bet your sexy ass it is!”

Chapter Fourteen

Mao

Mao didn’t think he’d ever felt so settled in his life—especially just before a job. Feeling the genuine connection he now had with Ekon was better than any explosive success would ever be. Mao never really understood magic, but snuggling with Ekon’s cat and the scent marking… Mao would take that any day of the week and twice on Sunday, and so would his panther.

So there might have been a whistle or two as Mao went about his work—the reason he was at the bunker in the first place. When it came down to it, blowing up the place was no different from blowing up a skyscraper, an old factory, a bridge, or anything else that needed taking down.

The person laying the explosives had two crucial choices, which depended on a number of factors. They could lay the explosives in the building that they were going to destroy. If that was done correctly, the force of the explosion would push outward on the structure and collapse it in a heap. This was best done for structures that were in remote locations and didn’t have any other buildings surrounding them.

For the bunker, Mao had already chosen the second option, which was to set the explosives in such a way so that the explosion pushed inwards against the outside of the bunker, where it was set in the hill. The idea was that the empty hollow of the bunker would be pushed back against the structure of the hill itself, reducing any damage to the land around it, and in theory, causing the hill to settle around the debris.

There were just a couple of things Mao needed to check first—like seeing if Ekon wanted to take anything from the eternal fae’s living quarters. There were a lot of books, and most of them were handwritten.

“Did you want to scan them?” Mao suggested, eyeing up the many journals, not liking that idea at all with how long it would take. They could carry them out, except that would be a fair bit of heavy lifting. I’m not even sure I’d have enough room in the truck. “I mean… we could take them if you wanted—”

Ekon shook his head. “No. I think we’re getting a bit of help here, even if we don’t know exactly how it’s happening.” Mao watched as Ekon closed his eyes and held out his two hands, palms up. “Is there anything here that needs to survive an explosion?”

Mao winced, even though Ekon couldn’t see him. He imagined, for a split second, shelves upon shelves of books all falling on Ekon and burying him. The reality was a lot less dangerous.

Two books pulled themselves free from the shelves they were on—in two separate places—moving across the room and hovering just above Ekon’s hands.