Hello readers and writers alike, here is another chapter for you to read and hopefully enjoy. As I've stated before I don't own anything other than new ideas and characters. I make no money from writing and all rights go to the rightful owners. Leave a review, I appreciate all of them.

I can't believe this, can't believe I just left him hurt in a bed when every nerve ending told me to stay and take care of him.

SHIT !

I was not a teenager anymore, but all hell's being around him made me feel like one again, butterflies in the stomach. The way he would look at me at times made my belly do flops, much like when we went to high school. The Rain is causing more issues. Even as I get further down south the rain stayed steady, this was not going to be easy by a long shot.

My eyes scanned the deserted road because no one in their right mind would drive in this storm, but right now I was not in the right frame of mind. The rain begins to fall so thickly that there is an instant covering of water on the street, the wipers cannot keep up and visibility is reduced to under ten feet. Any depression in the road is filled and becomes a hydroplaning hazard, the breaks simply can't work if they're not in contact with the road.

I drove on for another four hours until it was impossible to keep the pace going, I was lucky a nice hotel was to the right making it easy to just pull off the highway and get some rest. It was much nicer than the previous one he and I had stayed the night in, but this time I was alone and in the end it was for the best. A single bed with modest fixtures, the bathroom was much better as my hands fiddled with the nobs turning the hot water on, mixing in some bubbles just for the hell of it.

The scent of jasmine and honey filled the small enclosed space, "Good times." muttering as I soaked in the filled tub, my body was still so cold, colder than I had ever felt before. I slide down into the water, letting it block out the sounds around me. I wish the tub would expand so I could go swimming, like I used to on hot summer Sundays with Granddad and Layla.

I was tempted to call Honey and see how he was, but something was nagging me, nagging me that he was awake and pissed. Honey, she knew not to stand in his way if he tried to leave and something told me she let him go.

I was a good twelve hours ahead of him and he had no real clue where I was heading in the end, the little he knew was the state. Bed was my salvation, my blessing and curse as an half hour later here I lay, my eyes fixated on the ceiling. I felt like I could hear Granddads old words touch me as I lay here. "Fear is shackles, fear is a knife in the gut slowly twisted, fear is a constant hammer on the head. Yet fear also evaporates like water under an early summer sun. When fear comes walk with confidence right past, because like the ghosts of children's nightmares, fear is an illusion." But my fear was no illusion this time it was very real and the single person I loved more than anything was in the cross fire, every fiber of my being hoped she was at least okay, not dead or wounded.

I feel this blackness come over me. Like a blanket, but not a blanket of warmth but a blanket of coldness making me shiver. But somehow it's making my eyes feel heavier and heavier. I finally close my eyes finally sending me into a dreamless sleep.

I wake like I'm hooked up the mains. No sleepiness, no slow warming up. Within seconds of realizing I was unconscious I am on my feet, eyes wide, dreams not just forgotten but erased. I am drinking in the feedback of all my senses. Aside from my own noisy breath there is nothing to be heard. I waste little time dressing in the same dark clothes having left my bag in the truck he rented, I was starved and would have to grab something fast having little to drive just another ten hours and I would be there. After that it was locating my contact and gaining any new information, which he would have hopefully if not my brains and power are all I have.

The breakfast sandwich was decent, but as I drove it hit me I was lonely ever since I left Maxville. I never wanted another person with me, then he came and my world for those days we had together switched something in me. I finally felt safe with another, enjoyed his jab's and sullen silence. He could either be thinking about what he wanted to say, or those long pauses could be designed to tilt the other person a little off-balance. Everything he did was so controlled that I didn't think it was a habit; it was a deliberate tactic. He wasn't easygoing and cheerful. He was a hard, intense man, the force of his personality radiating from him. He wasn't playful; I'd never heard him laugh, or even seen his rare smiles reach his eyes. But wasn't I the very same as him, we are a rare breed, but no in the end I was warm and loving.

The pain flared before the hard echo vibrated through the truck, my hand had slammed on the steering wheel in my frustration. The sign on my right said "Welcome to Louisiana, under that read Bienvenue en Louisiane" it was twilight now and time was not mine.

But with ease the truck stopped at another motel in the north sector, it was not cheap it was exposed as I walked in my head held high. "A single room." my tone level as the man smiled in a toothpaste ad handsome way, he returned with a single card in hand.

"We have this one, it is one of our best." a slight wink but his tone was slick like a man on the prowl for a hot roll in the hay.

I glanced at him, better to play it off. "Much appreciated." taking the card while handing him a fake debit card with very real money, but on missions like this I had my own back up.

He spoke again, "Abigail Debro, such a beautiful name."

"Thank you." talking to him made me feel unclean and anxious to get away from him, as far away as I could. In no way could I simply sit here with him any longer and pretend that I liked him. I wanted to go to my room and lock the door behind myself and just go over any stray details about tomorrow, in the north sector there was only so many places.

The soft click of the automatic door was like a heaven bell chiming, the room was fantastic done in dark red and black, I filled the tub once more wanting to wash away everything. Like always when I bathed old feelings came back.

Regret washed over me like the long slow waves on a shallow beach. Each wave was icy cold and sent shivers down my spine. If only, if only I was there she would have been safe never would anyone got to her if I had been there, but in the end this was my fault they wanted me and she was the way to me.

I was the end goal.

"Time to plan and get some rest.: whispering it to myself.

I wrapped the dark blood red towel around me while I combed through my thick hair, I cursed under my breath, cursed whatever it was that made me so different from other girl's: the extraordinary skill and cunning, the acute eyesight and athletic body, the extreme coordination between mind and muscle that, all combined, made me a freak but an efficient Heroine.

I sit at the table looking over my own notes and the fast food laying on the table, I eat and go over every scenario when a loud bang was heard at my door. With a single glance it was the front desk man. "Dear god no." muttering while unlocking the door to answer, hopefully he had no ideas because he would be shut down rudely.

"Can I help you?" but as soon as the door was open and the words spoken he was tossed into the wall, in his place was a very, and I mean very pissed off Warren.

"You, woman, are in shit load of trouble." barging in making me stumble back as he slammed the door locking it. The smell of the smoke coming out of him made my lungs burn and tingle.

I gasped, "Look, I didn't want you to get hurt because Nova is only after me, you and my sister could walk away from this un-harmed." this made him even worse.

A great shudder passed through his body, an extraordinary response in a man as controlled as he normally was, but when he spoke his voice was level again. His now black eyes were expressionless as he watched me. "At the risk of your life?" he asked in a low voice. "No. I couldn't live with that." He said, shaking his head. "I won't let you. I won't take the chance, not with your life on the line."

I stood rooted to the spot, what was this?

Why would he care so much?

Many questions with no answers rushed my thoughts.

I spoke low, "This was and had been my choice, I can make my own choices." but heat lolled in every word spoken.

He moved both his hands up to cup my face, sliding his fingers into my thick straight hair and tilting my face closer to his. Every nerve was on fire my body leaped into immediate response, heart beating faster and my breath racing in and out of my lungs. It had been like that from the beginning, and I had no more control over it now than I'd had then.

Slowly Peace reached out and brushed my hair away from my damp face, then eased me into his arms and pressed my head against his uninjured shoulder. "Whatever happens, I can't risk you." he said in a low, tortured voice.

He tilted my chin up and bent his head then slanted his mouth over my own, the pressure hard and hungry, even a little angry, because they had so little time when forever wouldn't suffice. I sighed and opened my mouth to his probing tongue, my fingers flexing on his muscular back, and as always there was that strong, immediate response to him that tightened my breasts and sent twinges of pleasure through me, this was like high school. He sensed it, cupping my bottom in his rough hands and lifting me into grinding contact with his own throbbing flesh while his mouth continued to take mine.

I pulled away my words breathless. "Where is all this coming from?"

He gave a low, rough laugh. "Truth. I have always liked you but in high school a freshman was off limits to me, was more wanting to be alone than let someone in. After you vanished, and I was paired with Layla, like I said you lived up to her words and so much more and some where in the last few days the old feelings have turned into love."

I backed away but he stopped it fast.

His hands were flexing on my flesh, his fingers kneading me as if he were barely able to restrain himself from doing more. His face was rock hard as he stared down at me, his voice raw when he spoke. "I let you back away at the door. By God, I don't think I can do it again. Not now."

My breath left my lungs at the look in his midnight eyes, the hard, almost cruel look of savage arousal. The skin was pulled tight over his high, prominent cheekbones, and his jaw and mouth were set. My heart gave a sudden leap as I realized that he meant exactly what he'd said, and fear and excitement rushed through every vein in a dizzying mixture. Control was impossible for him now, and the primitive force of his hunger was burning in his eyes.

He looked down at me, and a low rumbling sound started in his chest, working up to the back of his throat. My thighs turned to water, and swayed, throat tight, heart pounding. Slowly he lifted his hand and touched my breasts, high and round, soft, with small, tight pinkish nipples, filling his palm with them to discover anew the warm, velvety texture of my flesh. Then, just as slowly, his hand drifted downward, smoothing over the sleek delta of my stomach and the slope of my lower abdomen, his fingers at last sliding onto the bare skin of my womanhood. I hung there, shaking wildly and unable to move, paralyzed by the hot river of pleasure that followed his questing touch. One finger made a bolder foray. My body jerked wildly, and I whimpered as he touched and teased and explored.

His gaze lifted from the gut-wrenching contrast of his hard, sinewy hand cupping the soft, exquisitely female mound and drifted back up to my breasts, then to my face. My eyes were half closed, glazed with desire; my lips were moist and parted, my breath rushing in and out in gasps. I was a woman on the verge of complete satisfaction, and a look of sweet carnality exploded the slim hold he still had on himself. With a wild, deep sound he bent and hoisted me over his right shoulder, a startled cry rushed passed my lips.

He made it to the bed in five long steps and dropped me across it, following me down, spreading my thighs and kneeling between them before I had recovered. I reached for him, almost sobbing with need. He tore off his shirt and tossed it to the floor, then jerked at his pants until they were open, and he lowered himself onto me. My body arched in shock as he thrust into me, and I cried out at both the moment of pinching discomfort and the jolt to my forgotten senses and flesh as he filled me.

He was... oh...

"Take it all." he groaned, demanded, pleaded. He hung over me, his face shiny with sweat, his expression at once tortured and ecstatic. "All of me. Please." His voice was hoarse with need. "Let yourself relax yes. Like that. More. Please. Astraea. Astraea! You're mine you're mine you're mine..."

The raw primitive chant washed over us, and I cried out again as he moved in and out of me, powerfully, our bodies writhing together. It had never been like this for me, so painfully intense that it was unbearable. I had never loved like this, knowing that the breath would still in my lungs and my heart stop beating in my chest if anything ever happened to him. If this was all he wanted of me, then I would give myself to him freely and fervently, branding him with the sweet burning of my own passion.

He rolled his hips against me with a heavy surge, and it was abruptly too much for me to bear, making my senses crest and shatter. I gasped and cried out, writhing beneath him in a shimmer of pure heat that went on and on until it caught him, too. I couldn't see, couldn't breathe, could only feel. I felt the heavy pounding of his thrusts as he drove himself into me, then the convulsive heaving of his body in my arms. His hoarse wild cries filled my ears, then became rough moans. Slowly he stilled, became silent. His body relaxed, and his heavy weight bore down on me, but I cradled him gladly, my hands still clutching his back.

Concern began to nudge me as sanity returned, bringing remembrance of the way he had lifted me onto his shoulder and the unrestrained wildness of his lovemaking. His head lay on my shoulder, and I twined her fingers into his dark hair managing only a husky murmur as I said, "Peace Your shoulder...are you okay?" his had smoke pouring off, his body was burning up and burning my own.

Warren's point of view…

I levered himself onto my right elbow and looked down at her. Her clear as a dark emerald eyes were darker with concern for me, after I'd taken her with all the care and finesse of a bull in rut! There were her soft, trembling lips, but I hadn't kissed them long enough, nor had I caressed her pretty breasts and sucked them as I had done in his dreams. Now I knew what hell was. Hell was seeing heaven, bright and tender, but being on the outside of the gates, unable to enter them without risking the destruction of what you most treasured.

I spoke low, "I am now."