a member of the Seven, but being near him doesn’t hurt me. Can you explain?”
“Not very well.” Ivar rolled toward her. “Logan can’t teleport. But during the ritual, we all saw dimensions, or other worlds. Our bodies stayed in the circle here, but our consciousness moved on somehow. He saved me, even though he was still here.”
She bit her lip, thoughts flashing across her face. “So how did you end up traveling through hellish places?”
“An evil Fae named Niall teleported me to a hell world in a murder attempt, and then I was dragged through the different worlds.” He shook his head. “The bastard is still alive too.”
Her expression cleared. “Okay. That all adds up nicely. I can’t deal with the Seven ritual right now when there’s a more critical theory to explore: the demons teleporting and the fairies jumping to other worlds.”
“Is that what’s happening?” he asked, his pulse quickening.
“Heck if I know,” she retorted, her smile warming him. “But I intend to find out, especially since I think when I was a young child I could maybe teleport to a dreamworld? Or more likely, since I’m human, I just dreamed of immortals doing so.”
Man, he wanted to keep her. How, he wasn’t sure. Not if he was to take Quade’s place. But now that she was fully awake, perhaps they could get a quick lesson in. “How about we start trying to protect your brain?”
She looked over at the dying fire. “I guess we could go see Mercy.”
Ivar snorted. “You won’t be starting with the fairy. She’s too powerful.”
“Adare, then.” A small pout made Promise’s lip bitable, so he took a nip. She chuckled. “Should we get ready?”
“I’m a demon, Professor.” He caressed down her spine to her delicious ass and pinched. “We can attack minds. The pain we cause is imaginary, but it feels like hell.” Could he hurt her? Probably not. They’d start with something easy. “Okay. Feel this.” He slid into her mind way too easily, planting scenes of puppies and butterflies.
Her eyes widened. “Incredible.”
He added a slow glide of pain.
She closed her eyes and slapped his arm. “Stop.”
“No. Imagine shields coming down and stopping me. You’re the only one who can do it.” He kept up the pressure, careful not to add any more pain. “Take control of your mind.”
Shields slammed down so quickly, he could hear their echoing clang in his head. “Nicely done.”
Her eyes opened, and her pupils constricted. “That was astounding.” Her smile lit up the entire room. “Did you feel that? Truly?”
“Yes.” He kept his hand planted across her butt since she hadn’t protested the intimacy. “That block was remarkable. Are you sure you haven’t done this before?”
“I haven’t.” She wiggled closer to him. “I was unaware that it was even possible. Now that I know, I can do it. I think. At least here in bed with you where I feel safe.” She traced circles across his chest. “I hadn’t realized that I didn’t feel safe before.”
Sweet words from a sweet woman. “I won’t let anybody harm you, Promise Williams.” He kissed her nose and tugged her back down to rest on him. “You can trust me.”
“I do,” she murmured, kissing him beneath the jaw. “Are you waiting for love to mate?”
“No.” He leaned back until he could see her face. She was back to thinking logically, and that was fine with him. “If we can’t break Quade’s world and let him out, I’m going to take his place.”
Her spine straightened. “You’re going to sacrifice yourself?”
He couldn’t lie to her. There was also no reason to be coy. He knew exactly why she’d asked about mating. “Yes. If you mate me out of a desire for immortality and the chance to solve all of the world’s equations, you might be doing so alone for eternities.” Yeah, there was a virus that negated the bond, but nobody had figured how exactly how it worked. If he still lived, even worlds away, would the virus kill his mate instead of breaking the bonds? “Also, I think there should be more to a mating than a logical plan. Or math.” He shifted his weight.
“What could that be?” she asked.
He couldn’t answer the question, because whatever it was, it was starting to beat in his heart for her.
* * * *
Never in her life had Promise been tempted to lounge in bed when there was an equation to solve. But cuddling with the Viking, her body pleasantly sore, she couldn’t find a pressing