Chapter Twenty-Eight

Adrik

While Andrei and Stephen were watching Sephie and Misha show Viktor what we had all just seen, Ivan caught my eye. “What do you want to bet she’s about to unlock his gift for him?” he thought.

“You might be right. She just unlocked a new level for us. Might as well unlock Viktor while she’s at it,” I replied, unable to hide my smirk.

“What now?”

“She just showed me everything everyone else saw from across the kitchen. She didn’t need to touch me to make it happen. That’s been happening with thoughts and emotions, but never images.”

“Can you see what she sees now?”

“I really want to look, but I also don’t want to fuck it up. She’ll show me later.”

“Coward.”

“Asshole.”

We saw Misha look down at Sephie. He was clearly stunned with whatever they just saw. She looked at him, her eyes wide. Then she looked at Viktor. “Did you know that man?” she asked him.

“That … that’s … my brother,” Viktor said. He was completely stunned at what he’d just seen.

Clearly they had just seen something new.

“What happened?” Ivan asked.

“Viktor just saw his gift in action, but I think we broke him,” Sephie said silently to me and Ivan. “I don’t know what to say to him. He’s completely numb.”

Ivan walked to Viktor, standing in front of him, trying to get Viktor to focus on him. “Sephie and Misha just showed you your gift, Viktor. I don’t know what it looked like. She can show me, if you want her to, but I can tell you that you’re the one who makes sure we don’t need Stephen very often,” he said. Viktor just stood there for a moment, not moving, not saying anything.

“Did he see his child?” Ivan asked Sephie.

“No and yes. It looked like a ball of light to me and Misha. It might’ve looked different to Viktor though, but he saw that he got help from something else besides us.”

Ivan reached out and put his hand on Viktor’s shoulder. Viktor looked down at Ivan’s hand, then back at Ivan’s face. “This is going to be hard to hear, Viktor, but the help you’re going to get isn’t from any of us. It’s from a soul you weren’t able to meet, but one that is forever linked to you now. You’ve spent so much time focusing on the tragedy that you’ve missed the happy ending.”

We could see Viktor look down for a moment, then back up to Ivan. “How is this possible?” he asked quietly.

I walked over to Viktor, hoping to help Ivan out. “Your unborn child cleared so much of its Karma by signing up for that ending to its almost life. That soul is so grateful to you that it’s willing to help you with your gift. Your gift wouldn’t be possible without it. You’re what can help fix people to prevent demons from getting in. You’re the other end of the spectrum from Stephen. When it’s too late for you to be of any good, then Stephen can still save the soul. But you’re the first line of defense for people who haven’t yet let the demon all the way in. You’re doing what you always do, Viktor. You’re making sure people are safe and taken care of.”

I felt Sephie walk up half beside me, half behind me, holding onto my arm. “You had to go through all of that to make it here, Papa Bear. It was horrific, but you wouldn’t be here without it and you wouldn’t have a sweet angelic gift without it.”

“And apparently you’re going to save your brother, which is also the complete other end of the spectrum from Stephen,” Misha said. We heard Stephen laughing quietly behind us.

Viktor finally started to get a handle on himself. He turned to look at Misha. “How did you know that my brother was coming here in a couple weeks?”

“I didn’t. I don’t always control the movie. This was one of those times where I was not at all in control,” Misha said, shrugging his shoulders.

“You saw what you needed to see, Viktor. You’ve been avoiding this, but Bubba and Misha created a scenario where you couldn’t avoid it any longer. They likely didn’t know they were doing that, but their souls knew. It’s become obvious to all of us that you’ve been avoiding me for quite some time,” Sephie said quietly.

“Totally didn’t know I was doing that,” Andrei said.

“Me either. I stand by my earlier statement that I am not in control of the movie at all times,” Misha said.

We could see that Viktor was still struggling with accepting everything. “Ivan, why don’t you two go downstairs. Or go to the gym. Just get him away from everyone for the day. He deals with things better when he’s not in front of everyone,” I thought. Ivan nodded his head. Without a word, he just slid his arm around Viktor’s shoulders and walked him out of the penthouse.

“Did we break him?” Misha asked. He was obviously worried about showing Viktor something he shouldn’t have seen.

“I don’t think so. We knew this was going to be hard on him. I think he’s doing better than I expected him to, honestly,” Sephie said.

“Okay, so explain his gift since I didn’t get to see it,” Andrei said.

“Viktor is the opposite to Stephen, much like you’re the opposite to Ivan,” I said. “You can see where people are weak in their auras. Viktor’s able to fill those holes in, basically. But no human can do that so quickly without some kind of angelic help. So Viktor’s unborn child is helping him.”

Andrei looked to Stephen. “And I thought your gift was heavy, man.”

Stephen laughed. “Same, Andrei. Same.”

“Viktor is like the first line of defense against demons. Stephen is the last,” Sephie said.

“So Andrei and Ivan are like visual detection systems, you and Boss are the touchy-feely detection systems, Viktor fixes those who are still able to be fixed, and Stephen is everyone’s last hope? And I’m just here for entertainment? I feel like that sums it up nicely,” Misha said, trying to keep a straight face.

“I’m not sure I could have said it as succinctly as you, Misha,” I said, laughing at him.

“Somehow, I feel like it’s slightly more nuanced than that, Misha,” Andrei said.

“He did leave out a few details, but he got the broad overview. He’s a big picture guy,” Sephie said, shaking her head, laughing.

“You’re right. We also have Sephie’s demon warning system,” Misha said. “I did forget that one. Good lookin’ out, bro.”

“You know, Vlad’s been talking about hiring a new chronicler. His last one met with an unfortunate end. Misha might be perfect for the job,” Stephen said, in his normal, completely serious manner.

We didn’t hear from Ivan or Viktor for most of the day. Finally, that evening, Ivan let me and Sephie know that he had taken Viktor to the house.

“He’s okay, but he’s now having to deal with everything he hasn’t dealt with since his wife died. He mourned her. He never mourned his child. I decided to just get him completely away from everyone,” Ivan told us.

“Are you there now?” Sephie asked him.

“Almost. We’re on our way.”

“I want to know if this still works even when you’re that far away from us,” she replied.

I could tell what she was thinking. We’d never tested how far away the guys could be from her and still be able to feel anything from her.

“If he manages to fall asleep before you do and this still works, let us know. It’s not often we get a chance that you’re away from Sephie and not working.” I told him.

“You guys want to know if I can still feel her, don’t you? That’s a solid plan. I’ll let you know.”

Sephie looked at me, her eyes swirling. I could feel she was worried about Viktor, but I could also feel that she was curious about how far away Ivan could be and still feel her and talk to her. I walked to her, pulling her against me. I loved watching her eyes swirl, but I hadn’t seen them do it since the addition of the purple. It was even more mesmerizing than before.

“When are we going to tell the Wonder Twins about your eyes?” she asked me.

I sighed. “I don’t know. They’ll figure it out eventually. I think they’ll be able to handle the surprise of it better than Stephen would have. He’s more overwhelmed than those two are about everything happening right now.”

She giggled softly. “They have been good about taking everything in stride. I think Andrei likes it when I snoop through his head now. I think Misha might be helping him deal with everything better.”

“How did you know you’d be able to show Ivan what Andrei sees?” I asked, resuming my eternal battle with her curls.

“I didn’t. It was a hunch. When Chen went to meet with the journalist, I asked Andrei if he’d snooped through the journalist’s head before. He hadn’t. I told him to do it this time, but I didn’t know why. When they got back, he let me see the journalist how he sees him and that’s what gave me the idea to call the acupuncturist. When they got back from the meeting with the mayor, he told me to look again. Since Ivan wasn’t with them, I was curious whether his gift would be able to work like that, so I wanted to try it. I figured I would need Misha to make it clearer for them,” she said. She was fidgeting with my shirt collar as she talked. Her eyes were still an ever-changing kaleidoscope of color.

I watched her for a few moments, a grin slowly spreading across my face. “And when it worked, you felt cocky, so that’s when you discovered you could share it with me without having to touch me?”

She slowly raised her gaze, looking me in the eyes. Her eyes landed on green as her wide smile stretched across her face. “I mean, might as well have fun with it, right?” she said, hiding her face in my shoulder as she started to laugh.

God, I love her.

Later that evening, once the other guys had gone back to their apartments for the night, Sephie and I were alone. I was just about to ask her if she’d heard anything from Ivan, when we both heard him.

“Viktor finally went to sleep. More from exhaustion than anything, I think. He’s talked more today than he has in the past ten years,” he said to both of us.

“Poor guy. How is he handling everything? Is his brain starting to wrap around all of it?” Sephie asked.

“I think he’ll come around. He might need another day or two here, though. It helped tremendously to come here. He stopped thinking about everything he’s not doing at the building once we got here.”

“Keep him there as long as he needs. We can manage without you both for a few days,” I replied.

“Bright side, we know this works from a distance now,” Ivan said. We could both hear him chuckling as he said it.

“You’re sure he’s asleep?” Sephie asked.

“I’m sure. I went to get a glass of water a minute ago. I could hear him snoring,” Ivan said.

Sephie looked to me. I sent a quick text to the other three, telling them not to worry about whatever they felt from Sephie in the next few minutes. Once it was sent, I gave her the okay.

“Okay, Squish. I want to see if you can still feel me even when you’re far away,” she said. “ Tell me if and when you feel anything.”

I felt her anger starting to rise. She always impressed me with how controlled she could keep it when she was consciously using it. Her eyes turned black, which I still found to be incredibly hot. I tried not to think about that, since Ivan was privy to my thoughts at the moment.

“I can feel your anger, princess,” Ivan said, laughing. “ I can also feel how your demon eyes turn Boss into a horny little boy.”

Sephie looked at me, a look of surprise on her face, but she immediately burst into laughter.

“I can also feel your happiness right now. That one comes through strongly. You weren’t that mad, so it was faint. I might’ve missed it if I hadn’t been looking for it.”

Sephie walked to me, pulling my arms around her. “Okay, last one, Squish, just because I’m curious.” I could feel her panic starting to rise, her eyes changing to white. She hadn’t panicked in a while. This time was different. It felt like she had more control over it. It got to the level that previously would have made her start hyperventilating, but she stayed outwardly calm.

“I can feel it. You can stop now. Please stop now. That one is the worst,” Ivan said.

“I agree,” I said. She looked up at me, a look of surprise on her face.

“It turned his eyes dark. Can you check to see if your eyes are dark now too, Ivan?” she asked.

There was silence for a moment, then Ivan came back. “Yep. Black.”

I held her tighter against me. “I think it’s because when we feel your panic, we want to destroy whatever is causing it,” I said.

“Yeah, even from the first night we felt it, nothing will put me into kill mode faster than feeling you panic,” Ivan said.

My phone beeped, then beeped again, then beeped a third time. I went to check it, as I rarely got messages, especially this time of night. It was Misha, Andrei, and Stephen. They all said the same thing: “I know you said don’t worry, but I felt her panic and it made me freak out too.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Apparently everyone else also hates feeling her panic. I warned the others we were doing this, but they still sent messages checking on her because of her panic,” I told Ivan and Sephie. Sephie walked to me, asking for my phone so she could reply to them and apologize.

“I’m so high maintenance,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“I’m not sure you understand what those words mean, princess. I would not use those words to describe you. But now we know that the connection is still there, even over shorter distances. I don’t know if we’ll have a chance to, but now I’m curious how it works for even longer distances,” Ivan said.

“I agree. This is quite a convenient trick to have. At some point, we’re going to have to let the others in on this, as well as our eyes, but for now, I’m enjoying this,” I said, chuckling. “ Keep us informed on Viktor. Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help. Keep him there as long as he needs too.”

“Will do, Boss,” Ivan replied, as Sephie was still busy typing replies to the guys on my phone. When she finished and looked at me, her eyes were completely black once again. She wasn’t angry in the slightest. This was completely for my benefit.

“So, horny boy, what should we do now?” she asked, her sly grin stretching slowly across her face.

God, I love her.

I could tell from the look on Sephie’s face that my eyes had turned dark in response to seeing hers go dark. “I’m beginning to understand why you have a hard time controlling yourself, even more than usual, when my eyes go dark. It’s surprisingly hot,” she said, chewing on her bottom lip as she looked at me. She hesitated for a moment, making me wary. I knew she’d been struggling with her fear and even though her eyes had been going black for a while, she’d never seen it. Knowing it happens and seeing it happen are two different things.

She studied me for a moment, like she was memorizing every detail. Her grin crept slowly across her beautiful face. “You’re not angry in the slightest right now. I’m really impressed,” she said.

“I can say the same for you,” I said.

“You’ve been doing this for a much shorter period than I have though. You mastered it much faster than I did,” she said, as I took a few steps toward her. As I got closer, I could see her eyes were still mostly black, but also swirling.

“Is it alarming?” I asked, still not completely sure she wanted me to touch her yet.

She looked up at me, confusion evident on her face. “Why would you think that?” she asked.

“Your eyes are swirling. They’re still mostly black, so I’m guessing mine are still black as well, but I can see the other colors swirling in the background. I can see the white mixed in.”

“Do I feel scared to you?” she asked.

“No, I wouldn’t say that. Cautious, maybe,” I said, watching her chew on her lip.

She cut her eyes up at me. I could see her cheeks flush and even feel the embarrassment she was feeling. “Because I know I’m about to be out of breath and I’m wondering how I’m going to stay quiet enough that Vitaliy and Aleksei don’t hear.”

She didn’t even give me time to respond to her before her lips were on mine. She practically jumped on me, wrapping herself around me. The desire I felt for her was overwhelming on a normal day. What she hit me with was even stronger than anything I’d ever felt. It was primal.

She felt it just as strongly as I did. She ripped my shirt open, pushing it off my shoulders, as her lips never left mine. Seeing her lose control only served to turn me on more than I thought possible. I groaned into her mouth, my hands feverishly ridding her of her clothing while she helped. Once she was naked, I pushed her onto the bed. She moved farther onto the bed as she watched me pull my pants off and take the last two steps to her.

I ran my hand up her leg, enjoying watching her reaction to my touch. Instead of climbing on top of her, I grabbed her leg and flipped her over. I heard her gasp in surprise, but she didn’t protest. I pulled her hips up as I climbed on the bed behind her. She sat up on her knees, pressing her body to mine as she twisted around and her lips found mine once more. She moaned softly as my hands roamed over her body.

She pressed her hips back into mine, and that was all it took. I pushed her shoulders down as I kept a hold of her hips. She arched her back, granting me access. I wasted no time, shoving myself inside her. I heard her muffled moan as she buried her face in the mattress. I could see her hands grabbing the sheets as I felt her pussy pulsating around me.

The tiny amount of control I had managed to maintain was now completely gone when she pushed her hips back into me harder. All I could think about was ravaging her. I didn’t care how loud she got or who heard us. I wanted to make her scream.

I could feel her push her hips back into me, her legs spreading wider, trying to hit the perfect spot that she knew would send her flying over the edge. I grabbed onto her hips, pulling her back into me with each thrust. It wasn’t long and I could feel her euphoria building. I reached up and grabbed her hand, guiding her to touch herself while I drilled into her. Her moans were even louder as she pushed herself even higher. I was sure if her face wasn’t in the mattress, the guards outside the door would be able to hear her from here.

I felt her orgasm start as she worked her hips against me. I wasn’t sure how long I could draw it out as she was absolutely driving me crazy. She shared her waves of pleasure with me as she felt them, bringing me into her complete euphoria. I could feel her start to come down from one orgasm just as the next one was building. It was like nothing I’d ever felt before whenever it happened. It just kept going until her moans finally pushed me over the edge with her. Even muffled, her moans were something I wanted to hear as often as possible for the rest of my life.

We were both breathing heavy, but I was worried about her catching her breath. I moved beside her so I could flip her over. She had a lazy grin on her face as she worked to catch her breath. Her eyes were closed and I couldn’t feel her panic, so I was surprised when she opened her eyes and they were white.

“You’re okay, solnishko. Just breathe slowly. You’re with me. You’re safe,” I started repeating. She normally closed her eyes when she would panic, but she kept them open this time. I started to feel her panic, but it was at a much lower level than it normally was when she couldn’t catch her breath. She was trying to breathe slowly, as she held onto my arm and held my gaze. Finally, she was able to take a deep breath and a small smile crept across her face.

I watched as the white in her eyes faded to the deep blue that I adored. “That was better. Have you figured out how to control it? I could barely feel your panic when it first started this time,” I said, kissing her lips gently.

She reached up, her hand running lightly over my face. “I’m trying to get a handle on it. I actually think seeing your eyes go dark in response to my panic helps calm me down, even though that sounds really weird to say out loud.”

“I don’t think it’s that weird. Like I said earlier, feeling your panic makes me want to destroy whatever is causing it.” I got up, pulling her up with me toward the shower. “Maybe you’ve needed something to focus on visually instead of only listening to me,” I said as I walked us into the shower, turning the water on.

She wrapped her arms around me, resting her head between my shoulder blades. “It all helps.” I felt her sigh as she hugged me tighter. I turned toward her, pulling her under the warm water with me. Her eyes were still deep blue as she smiled sweetly at me.

I found myself completely lost in her for a few moments. It was these moments, those seemingly insignificant moments that were some of my most favorite with her. Little moments where I knew she was just as overwhelmed with the love she has for me as I was with the love I have for her.

Her smile grew as she rested her head on my chest, her arms wrapping around me tightly. I held her just as tightly as we both felt my pull in our chests and her warmth throughout our bodies.

“I could stay like this forever,” I thought, not wanting to break the peaceful silence between us.

“I find myself thinking about how many times we’ve had moments like these, not just in this lifetime, but in every lifetime we’ve spent together. I hope you never get tired of them, because I don’t think I ever will,” she responded.

“Never. I love you. Always and forever.”

“I love you. Plus infinity. Plus one.”