Blakeshire by Jamie Magee Page B

strong that it was more of a deep peppermint aroma. I breathed in, knowing it wasn’t coming from Drake. That was when I felt a weighted stare and glanced to the foot of the bed.
    My heart stopped. We were not alone.

 
     
    Chapter Six
    ~Madison~
     
     
    At the foot of the bed was a man; he was young, yet his dominant essence gave me the impression that he was older than time itself. His shoulders were broad and gave way to a sleek warrior build. His eyes—man, those eyes; they were deep gray, but light was shining through them, making them loo k like dim diamonds. They complimented his dark hair and golden skin. He tilted his head slightly back and stared down at me over his perfectly chiseled profile.
    I clenched Drake’s arm, trying to wake him. Even though my nails were all but drawing blood, he didn’t move.
    “He’s not going to wake. I have supplied him with dreams. Dreams that are nearly overdue to come true.”
    “Who are you?” I said in the toughest voice I could manage. I may not have any fear, but that didn’t mean that I didn’t know when I was outmatched.
    “Shall we talk outside?” That wasn’t a question; I was sure of it.
    Right as he said that, I vanished from where I was lying and appeared on the balcony outside of the guest room. I abruptly turned around, trying to gain my bearings.
    “Vade,” I heard coming from my side.
    I glanced to my side to this man that might as well be a god.
    “You asked my name, and I answered,” he stated evenly.
    “And what are you doing here, Vade?” I asked bleakly, ignoring the cold night that was blanketing my bare shoulders with layer upon layer of chills.
    He nodded to the door to the room where Drake was sleeping. “I came to see my son.”
    My heart stopped. My senses had almost committed to the idea of trusting this soul, but that last line knocked him down to the title of enemy.
    Vade crossed his arms as he casually leaned against the railing of the balcony. “No, I’m not Livingston. I’m not his Earthly father.”
    Of all the times for me to lose half my insights, this was not a good one. I couldn’t see any auras around this guy, and I could detect no clear emotion beyond anger coming from him. And no matter how hard I tried, I could not see anything. Not even flashes of who or what he was.
    “I’m blind here, man. You are going to have to be a little bit clearer. Are you trying to tell me you are a god or something?”
    He smiled darkly. “I’m a sovereign.”
    I nodded once as I pushed my hands into my jeans and furrowed my brow.
    “No questions?” he said as those eyes angled in my direction. “The girl that is said to one day rule obsession has no questions?”
    Well, if that wasn’t the oddest reputation to have built up, I didn’t know what was. Who was this guy, and how in the hell did he know anything about me?
    “What do you rule, Vade?”
    A wicked grin came to his stern image. “Anger.”
    “Right,” I muttered, knowing that everyone had a baseline emotions and anger was his. I had only met a couple others in my life that carried the same signature—a couple meaning my cousin Draven, and Drake—and now come to think of it, Vade’s energy felt like them.
    My eyes slowly moved over him. He smelled the same as Drake, h ad the same pull to his essence. So in some way, I believed Vade. Trusted him.
    “If you came to see him, then why are you talking to me?”
    “We must remain strangers at this moment in time.”
    “And why is that?”
    “Otherwise, it will place him in danger.” His grave stare backed up that statement.
    “Um, yeah, he’s already there.”
    The night air turned colder, and I knew that blast of arctic air was coming right off this warrior king before me; his expression filled with the anger he said he ruled. “He was stolen from me, along with others. They are only hurting him to bring me down.”
    Now I had something in common with this sovereign: we were both robbed.
    “Where is your