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How could she want him, knowing who he was?
When they were both breathless and aroused, Judah ended the kiss and lifted his head. “You’re still mine, aren’t you?” He sneered. “I could lay you down here and now and take you, and you wouldn’t protest.”
Mercy jerked away from him, humiliated by her own actions.
“I am Raintree. Eve is Raintree,” Mercy said. “You cannot claim either of us.”
Judah ran his index finger over Mercy’s lips, down her chin and throat, pausing in the center of her chest, between her breasts. “You are of no importance. You were nothing more than a vessel to carry my child. But Eve is very important to me. She is Ansara, and when the time is right, I will claim her.”
Mercy sensed a frightening truth when she caught a momentary glimpse into Judah’s mind. The instant he realized she had invaded his thoughts, he cloaked them entirely, shutting her out. But not before she saw her own death. Death at the hands of her child’s father.
“If you kill me, Dante and Gideon—”
“Dante and Gideon are the least of my worries at the moment.”
Puzzled by his statement, she glowered at him. “If you harm me, if you try to take Eve, my brothers will fight you to the death.”
“The time is not right for others to know of Eve’s existence.” He grasped Mercy’s shoulders and shook her none too gently. “I have an enemy who would kill Eve if he knew she was my child. And many others who would take her life simply because she is a mixed-breed.”
With his hands on Mercy’s body, he passed currents from within him into her, a physical and mental awareness that he could not prevent.
“The protective cloak I’ve kept around Eve since before she was born has been penetrated,” Mercy said. “This was your doing. If you truly wish to keep her safe, you have to help me form a stronger barrier around her. Now that she is aware of you and you of her, it will take both of us to protect her. Will you help me?”
“Do you actually trust me to protect her?” Judah ran his hands up and down Mercy’s arms, then released her. “After all, she is half Raintree and the Ansara have sworn an oath to destroy such children.”
“She is also half Ansara, and yet I love her with all my heart and would protect her with my own life.”
“What makes you think that I would do the same?”
Mercy saw past the exterior steel crust to the center of Judah’s soul. Not a soft or pliable soul, not one easily touched by the pain and suffering of others, but a male soul. Strong, fierce, loyal, protective and possessive. He had been unable to hide that truth from her seven years ago, and he still could not.
“Blood calls to blood,” Mercy said. “It is true of mankind, but even truer of the Raintree and the Ansara.”
“If you knew I wouldn’t harm Eve, why keep her a secret from me all these years?”
Mercy hesitated. She felt Judah probing, trying to invade her thoughts again.
“I was afraid that you would try to take her from me,” she said. “I couldn’t allow that. If you had tried—if you try now—Dante and Gideon will join forces with me and stop you from taking her.”
“They might try, but…”
Mercy realized that Judah had seen beyond the obvious.
Judah’s lips curved downward into a speculative frown. “Dante and Gideon don’t know that Eve is Ansara, do they? You were afraid of how they would react, perhaps afraid that they would kill her.”
“No! My brothers would never harm Eve. The Raintree do not murder innocent children.”
“Then who were you protecting by hiding the truth from them?”
“I had hoped to protect Eve from the truth,” Mercy said. “I should have known that she would soon realize she was more than Raintree, and that eventually she would have sought you out and found you.”
“Blood calls to blood,” Judah repeated her words.
“Then we are in agreement—we will protect Eve.”
“We will never be in agreement,” he said. “But for the time being, yes, I will help you keep your secret. It will be difficult, now that Eve knows I am her father. Because she is so young, she doesn’t have complete command of her powers, and that alone puts her in danger. Since she is unable to control her powers, we must do it for her. For her own protection.”
“You are welcome to try. I’ve managed to subdue her powers from time to time, to keep them partially under control, but…” She hesitated to admit the truth to this man, this Ansara who could try to use their daughter’s unparalleled gifts against the Raintree.
