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Eros Revealed	By : Donya_Lynne Category: S through Z > The Winemaker's Dinner Views: 1178 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own The Winemaker's Dinner, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Eros Revealed
- 1
Jaden sat at her vanity, her wet hair hanging in long, dark tendrils over her shoulders and down her back, her towel wrapped around her, the end tucked in at the side of her breast to keep from falling off. She and Ivan had been together for a few months now, and she knew the time was drawing near to reveal the truth. The longer she put off telling him, the harder it would be when she finally did.
Taking a deep breath, she reached for the square, mosaic box sitting in front of the mirror and slid it toward her, staring at it. Her fingertips traced the delicate tiled flower in the center of the lid as she weighed the significance of what laid inside. It was time to face her future…or her death. Which one depended on Ivan, but by tomorrow morning, Jaden would know what her future held. After centuries of searching, never finding the right one to fulfill her destiny, she had finally found the one she was willing to risk her entire life for. Literally.
Tasha’s gasp from the doorway made Jaden jump, and she snapped around so suddenly that the towel loosened and fell away from her body.
With a flourish of movement, Tasha rushed forward and thrust the towel back around Jaden, but her gaze never left the box Jaden’s fingers still rested on.
“You’re not thinking of….”
Jaden cut Tasha off. “Yes, I am. It’s time.”
“What if he says no?”
“Then he says no.” Jaden knew the significance of Tasha’s question, but she couldn’t live in fear of what if? She had searched for centuries for a man worthy of her devotion, and now that she had found him, to hell with the consequences.
Jaden had to know one way or another. She was tired of looking, tired of hiding, and tired of being alone. In her heart, she knew Ivan was the one. He was the savior – the man who would complete the prophecy.
If he lived. Hell, if they both lived.
Jaden looked at the box. Both her life and his were going to be affected forever in the next twenty-four hours, and remorse gripped her that she’d had to keep the truth a secret from him. But there was no other way. To speak too soon would have been reckless. From their first meeting, when he had held her and danced with her, she had known deep down that he was the one, but aeons of experience stayed her hand and forced her toward caution. Too many times since the time of the Pharaohs, her people had chosen poorly, and they had paid the price. With their numbers dwindling, Jaden didn’t have the luxury of careless abandon and desperate measures. She had to be sure.
And now she was.
Jaden exchanged glances with Tasha. “I have to know, Tash.”
Tasha breathed in a shaky breath before nodding. “I know you do, and he is worthy. Of all the males you’ve known, Ivan strikes me as the one. You’re making the right choice, Jade.”
Tasha’s words said the right thing, but Jaden could tell by the way her voice trembled and the way she twisted her fingers together that Tasha was concerned. Tasha had been with her since the late Middle Ages, her family sworn to protect and serve Jaden, so she trusted Tasha’s opinion and perspective.
“Shall I then?” Jaden’s gaze shifted to the box, then back to Tash, who nodded.
“Yes. If you intend to affirm him, it’s time.” Tash looked at the box expectantly.
Closing her eyes, Jaden turned away from Tasha and bowed her head, letting her sense of touch feel every ancient groove in the tiled lid. Reverentially, she slid her thumb to the edge and under the lip, paused, and then slowly lifted.
What felt like a gentle breeze blew out from the small enclosure, and warmth spilled over her hands. Tasha drew in her breath, and Jaden could feel her faithful guardian bend closer.
“Wow,” Tasha breathed, sounding less than articulate.
Jaden opened her eyes, instantly awash in a blue-green glow. “Oh…wow.”
Yeah, she so understood where Tash was coming from now that she was seeing the magic with her own eyes.
“Did you know it would do that?”
Jaden shook her head. “No. I’ve only read about this in theory.” She reached in and picked up the nondescript ring of silver, causing the glow to instantly disappear as the ring morphed and reshaped, growing and thinning as it moved of its own will up her palm, snapped, coiled, and then wound around her wrist as if it were a snake. Two beads formed on either end, and then the metal stilled, appearing as nothing more than a fancy bangle.
“It has begun,” Jaden said resolutely, folding her hands in her lap and looking at her reflection in the mirror.
Tasha straightened. “I’ll get you ready for him.”
***
Jaden checked her reflection in the mirror in the bathroom. Ivan liked her in short skirts. Well, he liked her in everything, but she knew short skirts did something to his libido that more concealing clothing failed to deliver. Consequently, she now stared at herself wearing a swatch of black silk wrapped around her hips that barely covered her ass, a loose, off-the-shoulder black blouse with a vine of red flowers positioned diagonally down the front, and a pair of three-and-a-half inch black and red platform pumps. What she wore underneath was to be discovered later, but she had a feeling Ivan would like it.
“You look beautiful,” Tasha said, stepping up behind her and twisting her fingers in a strand of hair loosely curled around Jaden’s face.
Tasha had given her a sexy do, styling her hair into tamed yet tousled ebony waves that wrapped around the back of her neck and spilled over her bared shoulder.
“This is some of your best work, Tash.” Jaden smiled appreciatively at her protector’s reflection.
“Well, it’s a special occasion and all that.” Tasha gave a flippant shrug as if trying to diminish tonight’s significance.
“I’d kiss you, but I don’t want to smudge my lipstick.”
Tasha laughed. “As if it won’t be smudged by the end of the night anyway.”
Tash had her there, because Jaden doubted she’d make it long before Ivan had her in a lip-lock worthy of the UFC, but hotter, wetter, and with a decidedly different result.
Jaden glanced at the bangle on her forearm. “Well, I want to make a good impression, being that this could be our last night together.”
She and Tash spoke light-heartedly, but it was only because they were trying to play off the severity of the situation. Still, what she had said held a grain of truth. After tonight, she might never see Ivan again, and if she didn’t, she wanted everything to be perfect so she could die with only good memories to carry her toward the gates of Heaven. Still, the danger to Tasha would continue on. Once Jaden set the events into motion, Tasha would have a target painted on her back.
“You should pack,” Jaden said, grabbing her pocketbook. “Just in case this ends…” she paused and cleared her throat, “badly.”
Bowing her head, Tasha said, “I’m one step ahead of you.”
In other words, Tash was packed and ready to flee if it came to that, which Jaden hoped it didn’t.
“Let’s hope I’ve chosen well,” Jaden said. “And that he accepts.”
At the sound of the doorbell, Tasha looked gravely at her.
Jaden shrugged. “Wish me luck.”
As she walked out of the room, she heard Tasha say softly, “Good luck.”
***
Ivan nearly sprained something when Jaden opened the door and he got a look at miles of legs that disappeared under a skirt short enough to be one breath away from indecent. In fact, if he exhaled heavily enough, that skimpy splash of black might just blow up to reveal Jaden’s most intimate secrets. He would have to try that later.
“You look….” Damn, he had no words that covered just how good she looked. Good enough to eat. Good enough to lick. Hell, he'd settle for good enough to walk in the wake of her perfume and just stare at. For a little while anyway.
One perfect, dark eyebrow arched at him. "I look…." She planted one hand on her hip, prompting him to finish his sentence, and gave him one of those oh-so-sexy smiles that did things to his body he'd only read about in medical journals.
He stepped forward and slid one arm around her waist before letting his hand glide lower to caress the firm curve of her ass. "Beautiful," he said, crowding her, his gaze drinking in her perfect face. "Delicious." He dipped his nose against her temple and brushed his lips over her brow. "Sexy." His voice broke as he said the word, his palm pressing more firmly against her behind as the fronts of their bodies seemed to mold into the curves of each other. "Feel that?" he whispered against her ear.
She shivered. "Feel what?" Jaden was erotically breathless, as had been his intention.
"Your body was made to fit against mine," he said, using his well-placed hand to pull her more firmly against him. In doing so, that buttery-soft material of her skirt bunched under his hand. Knowing the lower portion of her buttocks had been exposed made his blood pump into places that reacted all-too-well to the extra kick in circulation.
Jaden breathed out a gentle moan as her fingers curled into his suit jacket. "And yours was made to fit against mine."
God, she drove him insane with desire. Never had he wanted another woman more than he wanted Jaden. Since that first glance, seeing her in that provocatively red dress under the stars, Ivan had been swept up in a trance that compelled him to pursue her in a way he had never pursued a woman. Something about Jaden captured his soul. She enraptured him, excited him, and awoke in him a need so great, at times it scared him. She was his addiction. A drug he couldn't help shooting into his veins. A tonic he couldn't help imbibing every time he saw her. Had life existed for him before she entered his world? Or had he merely been a vessel going through the motions of living only to fully awaken when he had laid eyes on her?
"What are your plans for us tonight, Doctor?" Her lips brushed against the side of his neck as she spoke, and he gulped down a tremulous inhale as the muscles in his body tightened.
"I thought I was going to take you to dinner, then the beach…then home."
"Have you changed your mind?"
He grinned, his body burning in the most pleasant way. "No. But maybe we can skip dinner and the beach?"
A throaty giggle shook her shoulders. "Why, Dr. Ivan, do you wish me to go hungry and to deprive me of my deep passion for sea turtles?"
He chuckled, loving how their casual laughter sounded together…so natural and easy. It was comforting. "Okay. A drive-thru and a drive-by. How's that?"
Jaden threw her head back in laughter, clutching his lapel, bending gracefully like a swan’s neck.
"I got dressed up in this so you could take me through a drive-thru?" Her playful chastisement was anything but critical. This was what he loved about her. Jaden rolled easily with wherever the wind blew them. She was as content with a five-star restaurant as she was with McDonald's. She was like a chameleon, blending in no matter the social class or the price tag of the venue.
"Funny, I thought your choice of attire was for my benefit, not the food's," Ivan said, teasing her.
Jaden stepped back and took his hand before leading him out of the apartment. "Rest assured my choice of attire is always for your benefit, Ivan…." She turned and closed the door behind her, then faced him and gave him a once-over before saying, "Because you'll be the one taking my clothes off before the night's over."
Well now, didn't that make his heart pick up tempo and cause something to pulse between his legs? "In that case, Madame, lead the way. I certainly don't want to disappoint the lady."
"No, you don't," she said, flashing a wickedly sexy smile.
Ivan wrapped his hand around hers, feeling as if he was ready to give his life to this woman who had so quickly stolen his heart.
Little did he know that it just might come to that before morning.
***
Ivan looked good, as usual. His long, brown hair was down tonight, loose and spilling over his shoulders the way she liked it. He had a boyishly innocent face, with an infectious smile that lit up his features, but a body built for sin and then some. Never had she met a man quite like Ivan. He was the very definition of the word duality: Sensitive yet confident, boyish yet all man through-and-through, hotter than lava but humble, brazen yet respectful. And hell, when was the last time she'd met a doctor with tattoos on his wrists and back who looked more like a Greek god than a doctor?
Ivan was a man of opposites, falling on the extremes of each spectrum, and his zeal for life consumed him. His star definitely shone brightly. He was a man who didn't want to die without experiencing everything. Everything. And Jaden would love to show him exactly how much more everything could encompass.
And unlike most men, Ivan wasn't a love 'em and leave 'em type. Their sex life bordered on obsession, having done so right from the very beginning, and whereas most men would be content to bag her and move on to the next conquest, Ivan only seemed to want more. The man was insatiable, and that was fine with Jaden. As the daughter of an Eros, Jaden needed a man who could keep up with her sexual appetite, which would only grow stronger the longer she and Ivan remained together. Hopefully, that wouldn't end tonight, because she took great pleasure in his sculpted body.
All of these attributes of his were what had convinced Jaden that Ivan was the one. She had been meant to find him. Hopefully, he would realize his destiny lay with her after she revealed the truth later tonight.
"You look like you're fucking me with your eyes," he said, snapping her out of her thoughts.
She smiled. "Maybe I am."
He placed his hand on her bare thigh and skimmed his palm up and under the hem of her barely-there skirt. "Am I good?"
Jaden parted her legs for him, letting his fingers dip between her thighs. "Ivan, you're always good." She reached across the center console and combed her fingers through his hair as she pushed it away from his face.
Those brown eyes of his twinkled the way they did when he was thinking naughty thoughts, and his lips quirked at one corner before breaking into a wry smile.
"I know that look," she said, resting her head back on her seat and moaning as his fingers stroked the black lace of her thong.
The man's touch was wicked, and before she could stop herself, she pumped her hips forward against the growing pressure of his caresses.
His gaze turned back to the road, but his fingers were unrelenting on her swollen clit, especially when he pushed aside the lace and laid bare skin on bare skin, parting her nether lips with his index and ring fingers to stoke her inner fire with his talented middle finger.
God, but Ivan knew how to please a woman. Or maybe it was just her he knew how to please, but he definitely had her number when it came to giving her pleasure.
With the wind blowing through her hair and Ivan's expert care tending to her aching core, Jaden thrust her hips forward, grinding herself in time with his urging strokes, feeling the pressure build in the muscles of her inner thighs and deep within her belly.
"You're going to make me come," she said, gasping and throwing him what had to be the lust-hungriest glance she had ever tossed a man's way.
"That's the idea," he answered, licking his lips as if it was his mouth he wanted buried between her legs.
"Oh my God…Ivan…."
Who cared if there were people in cars driving around them and past them? Jaden was about to detonate, and she wasn't about to hold back out of modesty. Not when it felt this good.
"That's my girl. Come for me." Ivan's finger swirled in persistent circles around her clit, sweeping her slick offering over the tight nub.
"Oh! Oh God! Yes!" Jaden's entire body convulsed powerfully once then fell into intense shudders as she broke through the wall and spilled into rapture, throwing her head back then forward as she grabbed his forearm and held his hand against her. No way was she allowing him to remove his hand until she had spent her entire orgasm against his fingers.
"Damn, baby." Ivan shifted his hips and cleared his throat. "Fuck the drive-thru and the drive-by. I'm taking you straight to my place." His palm cupped her still-quivering core, sending her into a second wave of shivers.
He could take her wherever he wanted as long as he kept his hand right where it was.
"Sounds good to me," Jaden said breathlessly, laying her head all the way back and rolling it to stare at Ivan's profile.
Damn, but the guy was good. And sexy. A walking turn-on.
Jaden liked an intelligent man, which Ivan clearly was. But an intelligent man who performed like an Eros? Well, she felt like she had died and gone to Heaven.
Ivan had to be the one. He just had to be.
***
Kicking the door shut behind them, Ivan barely heard it slam as Jaden's arms tightened around his neck and shoulders, her lips fusing with his in a lethal claiming that made it clear she belonged to him. God bless that little black skirt, too, as well as the thong she wore underneath it. With her legs slung around his waist as they were, the cheeks of her perfect ass settled unobstructed against his groping hands, which kneaded her flesh so that his fingers dug powerfully into both cheeks.
Bedroom. Now. Fuck!
Ivan was about to rip the seam in his slacks, his cock making like an iron rod. Jaden had him deep under her spell tonight. She easily aroused him any time he was near her, but tonight she was especially lascivious, fueling his need for her beyond previously experienced heights. If humans could go into heat the way animals did, Ivan would swear Jaden was in heat.
"You're on fire tonight," he said, breathing his words through the aroused gravel of his throat as he stumbled into the bedroom and spun her around toward the bed.
"You've no idea." Her onslaught of his senses continued as she swept his bottom lip into her mouth and bit down lightly on it, flicking her tongue over his captured flesh before releasing it to explore his tongue with hers in a kiss so deep he thought he might not ever reach the surface of reality again.
In only a matter of seconds, Jaden single-handedly destroyed centuries of Ivan's ancestors drilling the art of good manners and proper behavior into generation after generation of his family, because suddenly he felt like a primal caveman, driven only by carnal desire to take her. Hard.
Without pre-empting his strike by removing her clothes — or his — Ivan fell down over her body on the bed, both of them bouncing against the mattress, and rapidly unfastened his slacks. The sound of his zipper opening preceded him shoving down his briefs to release his cock, and then he actually growled as he grabbed the thin strap of her thong and tore it off. He loved the sound the ripping fabric when it came to his time with Jaden.
"Yes! Hurry!" Jaden gripped his surging shoulders, digging in her nails.
With her legs wrapped around his back like she was a pretzel, Ivan plunged forward and buried his cock deep inside her, his gaze meeting Jaden's in the darkness. Her hooded eyes glistened, pleading wordlessly for him to take her hard and fast.
"Please, please…Ivan." Even though she whispered, the intensity in her voice hit him as if she had screamed the words at him.
The sex was harsh, forceful, and white hot. Ivan had been on the verge of coming before diving into the slick channel that seemed to have been created just for him, and now that he was inside her, he knew he couldn't hold back.
But neither could she. Arching up against him and throwing her head back, Jaden came, crying out his name. God, he loved the sound of her screaming his name as she orgasmed.
"I'm there, baby…." Ivan couldn't hold back his own release as her body quivered around his, and as the muscles in his back and shoulders strained, he fell into powerful shocks of ecstasy that rhythmically tensed and loosened his body over and over as he filled her.
Damn, they'd been so caught up in getting into one another that he hadn't even put on a condom. Right now he really didn't care. All that mattered was the pure, raw rapture that coursed through him, feeling as though it flowed directly from her, through her touch, encasing them both in a cocoon.
He wished there was a stronger word than wow to describe what he was feeling, because wow didn't come close. Shazam! Yeah, that was a bit closer than wow. He sure felt like a super hero after that. And a lightning bolt was definitely involved — had to be. That was the only explanation for such an intense orgasm.
Ivan collapsed into Jaden's breathless embrace, both of them shuddering through aftershocks and trying desperately to find enough oxygen in the room to sustain them.
"Wow!" Jaden said.
Ivan chuckled against her throat. "I was just thinking that."
She kissed his sweat-dampened cheek. "Oh really now?"
He nodded, because really, that was about all he could do in the way of movement. "Yep. Although, I was thinking wow wasn't a strong enough word."
The tips of her fingers trailed down the center of his back, over the suit jacket he still wore. "I think I can agree with that."
He nibbled the nape of her neck. "You are staying the night, aren't you?"
She hesitated for only a moment then said, "I’d like to, yes."
Snuggling closer and wrapping his arms around her, Ivan rolled and pulled her over on top of him. "Good. Otherwise I was going to have to tie you down."
Her eyebrow arched. "Tie me down?"
He grinned mischievously.
Jaden shook her head. "Oh, Ivan Ivan Ivan. If only you knew."
Now it was his turn to arch an eyebrow. What was she saying? That she liked being tied up? Or that she liked being the one doing the tying. "Do you have something you want to tell me, baby?"
***
Jaden let his question hang unanswered for a moment, because she most certainly did have something to tell Ivan, but it wasn't time, yet, and probably wasn’t exactly what he was referring to. She needed more time with him. More time to savor what could be the last she felt of his body against hers. Jaden wasn't ready to give that up just yet. Another hour, maybe two. Yes, just that much longer and she could reveal to him what she was.
Who was she kidding? Even if she spent a week in this bed with him, it still wouldn't be enough time.
"Oh, Ivan, I don't want to talk right now." She sat up and pulled her loose blouse over her head, tossed it aside, and then reached around to unclasp her bra to let it fall off her shoulders.
He smiled. "You really are on fire tonight, aren't you?"
She nodded, running her palms up the front of his shirt. "Take off your clothes."
As if pleased to do as she instructed, Ivan grinned and sat up, shrugging out of his suit jacket before tackling the buttons of his dress shirt with methodical deliberation. He peeled back the two sides of his shirt to reveal the tanned chest she had become accustomed to over the months they had known each other, his pecs generous mounds of striated muscle as he flexed under her gaze. He knew she liked when he did that.
His deft fingers reached around and unzipped her skirt, and she lifted herself so he could push it down her legs. She kicked off her heels, letting them thump onto the floor, the skirt following as Ivan slid down his pants.
Within seconds, he was fully naked, his glorious, chiseled body revealed as he lay back, letting her gaze wander over all that skin. Skin that covered a near-perfect specimen of male prowess. Ivan had to know the effect his body had on her. Well, not just her. Any warm-blooded biped would appreciate his physical attributes.
Unfortunately for those others, they weren't with him right now. She was.
"I like this bracelet-thing," Ivan said, trailing the tips of his fingers over the coil of metal spiraling around her forearm. Warmth danced into her skin and followed the path of his fingertips.
The ancient bangle wanted to meet him.
In time.
"Thank you. It's special." Jaden bent over him, pressing her breasts against his chest.
"Special?"
She nodded. "It's been in my family a long time."
"I thought it was new." Ivan's deep voice sounded playful.
The silver bangle looked new, but that was the magic of its power.
"Mmm, no. Not new." She grabbed his hands, threading her fingers through his, and pushed his arms up over his head as she slithered her torso over his and rotated her hips over his once-again hardening manhood.
Ivan groaned and writhed under her, using his body to caress hers as she was doing to him. He let her hold down his arms, stretched straight over his head on the mattress. "Are you seducing me?" He kissed her chin as she smiled down at him.
"Wouldn’t dream of it." Jaden smiled innocently enough, but her body undulated like a caterpillar, rolling slowly from her shoulders to her knees, not an inch of his anterior going untouched. Special emphasis was concentrated on her hips, which she pressed forward so that the length of his shaft nestled between her lower lips and slid provocatively between them.
Ivan's eyes closed, his lips parting, a breathy moan pushing from his throat. "Ooohhhh."
Jaden pressed her bangled forearm to Ivan's wrist and closed her eyes, calling forth the magic to release the ancient silver’s magic. She felt it uncoil and glide off her arm. When she opened her eyes and glanced up, the silver metal had balled up and hovered an inch over Ivan's wrists as if inspecting him. Then, with a faint flash, the ball disappeared and manifested as a pair of silver manacles around this wrists, bound in the middle by a strand of links.
"What the fuck?" Ivan jumped and tried to roll his head back to look at his wrists. "What the…? How…?"
Jaden sat up and brushed her fingers down Ivan's face. He fell into a trance-like state, staring up at her as if hypnotized.
"Ssshhh," she said. "What's happening is normal." Her voice echoed slightly. "Until the bindings are removed, you will think none of what is about to happen is out of the ordinary. Everything that you will see and feel will be normal. Do you understand?"
Ivan nodded, his face blank. Jaden hated having deceived him, but tonight — right now — the lies stopped.
Sweeping her hand over his face again, Ivan awoke from his trance, his body hard and ready for her. Kissing him, Jaden summoned the power of her Eros lineage. Her body glowed, and as if one cell dividing into two, a second manifestation of herself — a perfect clone — pulled itself out of her body.
***
There were two Jadens now, but as Ivan lay beneath their combined weight as the second one straddled his stomach, the fact that she had just performed cell division on a large scale didn't faze him in the slightest. Having two of her seemed as normal as breathing and blinking his eyes.
Jaden's hands slid around her second form and cupped her own breasts. A voice in the back of Ivan's mind tried to say that what he was seeing was extraordinary, but as with a dream that feels real, Ivan easily accepted the situation.
"Come here," he said to the Jaden closest to him.
She smiled and bent forward until their lips met in a blaze of passion. Blinking his eyes open, Ivan stared over the shoulder of Jaden Number Two at the other Jaden, who gyrated her hips over his erection, driving him wild with savage lust.
"I want to taste you," he said when the second Jaden broke their lip lock to drop her mouth to his neck before licking a fiery trail to his left nipple.
She glanced up, grinning, her lips plump and rouged from their heated kiss. "I'd like that," both women said in unison.
As the second Jaden shimmied up his body and straddled his shoulders, the other slid down on his cock. He sank in deep, groaning just as his tongue darted out to stimulate her core.
She was fucking him at the same time he was performing oral sex on her, which should have been strange, but it wasn't. And the visual as the second Jaden leaned back into the other's arms, reaching behind to caress the other's hips while the first Jaden's hands gripped her breasts was enough to make him think he was living out every man’s fantasy.
***
Jaden gasped from the multiple points of stimulation. She could feel everything happening to both of her incarnations, which stirred wanton pleasure as his tongue stimulated her clit while his cock pulsed deep inside her as she rode him.
All the while she kept one eye on the metal bindings around his wrist. If Ivan was the one, they would let her know. But that would only be half the battle. Ivan would still have to choose.
Her pleasure mounting, Jaden quickened her pace, her body pumping his as the crescendo of moans rose and played like an erotic symphony to stoke their arousal. With her second self, she glanced down and met Ivan's glazed stare, immediately falling into breathless shudders as just the sight of him feasting between her legs sent her over.
Her first orgasm set off a chain reaction that shot through them like lightning. Still in the throes of one release, Jaden rocked hard, crushing her clit against Ivan's pubic bone, feeling the quickening as it rose again. But Ivan beat her to the end, jackknifing up off the bed, slamming his hips between her legs with such power he nearly bucked her off. The added intensity, as well as the fire of his release filling her as he cried out and convulsed sharply, sent Jaden into her second orgasm.
"Ivan!" She threw back her head, gripping the breasts of her other incarnation as her orgasm scorched her to the bone, destroying every muscle fiber as her body contracted violently and released in wave after wave of pleasure.
Pulling her second self back inside her, Jaden collapsed against Ivan's body, covered in sweat, breathing hard, and still thrumming with each powerful echo of their passion.
Then she remembered the bracelet. She looked up to see it glowing white, using the pure energy of their coupling to evaluate him. The glow turned blue for water, then yellow for air, green for earth, and finally red for fire.
Jaden held her breath.
The bindings released and with a flash, the metal separated into two rings, one instantly appearing on Jaden's wrist and the other on his.
He was the one. She had been right.
But now came the hard part as Ivan’s eyes shot wide with the full knowledge of what had just happened.
"What the fuck?" Ivan pushed her off and rolled away, his entire body trembling. "Fuck, fuck…oh my God! What are you? How…? Who…?" He jumped away, falling to the floor, trying to get his footing but falling again as he tripped over himself.
The illusion was over. With the band's acceptance of him, whatever magic she had used to convince him that what they'd done was normal disappeared.
"Ivan, wait…I can explain." She sounded so cliché, but she needed to calm him down and that was all that came to mind in the spur of the moment.
"Get away from me." He grabbed for his clothes, thrusting his legs into pants that were still half turned inside-out. "Fuck, Jaden. There were two of you." His hands shook so badly he couldn't get a grip on the zipper.
"I know." Jaden held out her hands, trying to show him she wasn't going to hurt him. "I know. I'm sorry. But there's a good explanation." More cliché. God, she was pathetic.
Ivan huffed out a doubtful, manic laugh. "Uh-huh. Sure you can." He yanked his shirt on with such force that he ripped the seam of one sleeve, but he fumbled for the buttons without missing a beat.
"Will you calm down?" Jaden swung her legs over the side of the bed. She had known this would be hard, but Ivan was reacting more aggressively than she had imagined. "It's still me. I'm still the same. Ivan!"
But he was up on his feet, scooping his shoes into his arms and making a run for it.
"Ivan!"
Jaden hated having to do this, but he left her no choice. Raising her arm, she engaged the power of the silver band. He halted on a dime, the band on his own wrist glowing.
"Let me go," he growled, already realizing that she had done this to him.
"Not until you hear me out." She grabbed the robe off the back of a nearby chair and walked toward him.
His eyes followed her, and she could see the anger roiling in their depths.
"I know you're mad. I know you think I lied."
"Didn't you?" he asked, cutting her off.
She sighed in frustration. "Yes, but I only hid the truth because…because to have revealed it sooner would have been too dangerous. I needed to make sure before I said anything."
"Make sure of what?" His words snapped at her like bullets.
"That you were the one." She stared gravely at him. Now that she had revealed herself and confirmed that Ivan was who she had been meant to find since the day she had been born, every second counted.
"The one?" Ivan scoffed. "The one for what?"
Jaden looked away, sighed, and then turned her back on him. She didn't want him to see her tears. "To make me whole," she said softly, her words catching in her throat.
She should be happy. She had found him. The one who had been made for her, to protect her, to give her life, to give her the heir her people needed. But instead of happiness, she found herself crying, because she could tell Ivan would never choose her. Maybe it was his tone, or the way he had looked at her with disgust just moments earlier, but Jaden knew this would end badly. Tasha had been right to pack. At least Jaden would die before the strigoi found her. Surely, they wouldn't be able to reach her in time.
But her sorrow was more than that. For so long, she had looked for him, waiting through century after fruitless century to find him. And now, finally, her other half stood within feet of her. The years of tense emotion of her search finally spilled forth. She was complete, even if only for a short time. At least she could die knowing she had found him.
***
Something in Jaden's voice as she told him he was the one to make her whole, coupled with her body language, sparked a morsel of compassion in Ivan's heart and broke through his anger, even if only a little. He couldn't see her face, but he knew her well enough to read her emotions, and if she thought she was hiding the fact that she was crying by turning away from him, she was kidding herself. You didn't spend as much time together as they had without learning the personal nuances of one another.
"Jaden…."
He was lost. Shit like this didn't happen. This was insane. His girlfriend was a freak or an alien or…something totally bizarre.
But she's still your girlfriend.
Even now, after realizing that she had somehow manifested two of herself and that an odd piece of metal had instantly transformed into high-tech bondage equipment, Ivan couldn't deny the feelings that he still felt for her. He loved her, and somehow, deep inside his soul, he had the feeling that what had just happened had been ordained at a higher power than he could fathom. Still, this all just too weird for him to deal with.
Jaden turned and cleared her throat. "I wasn't allowed to tell you any of this until I knew, Ivan. Now that I do, it's safe."
"Tell me what?" He was no more clued in to what was happening than he was a few minutes ago. "Help me understand this, Jaden? How the hell does a human being go through mitosis and create a twin? Huh? Can you fucking explain that?"
Jaden flinched at his harsh words. "Because I'm not human. Okay? I'm not human, Ivan."
If he hadn't been frozen in place, he would have taken a step back. "Come again."
"Damn it, Ivan, this is hard for me, too." Jaden paced away then back. "I'm an Eros. My people came from another world a long time ago, making our home in ancient Egypt during the time of the Pharaohs before migrating to other nations after Egypt fell. As an Eros, I am trained in the arts of seduction and sexual congress, as well as other cultural arts, such as dance and…well, cooking." She shrugged as if she had stated the obvious, but she didn't give Ivan a chance to jump in with questions before surging on. She seemed to be on a roll now that she was confessing all she had hidden from him. "Our enemies followed us here, the strigoi. You might call them vampires, but that's not exactly what they are. Anyway, we're vulnerable without our chosen mates and have to remain hidden so that the strigoi can't find us. We spend our lives searching for the one who can make us whole so we can defend ourselves against attack."
"Wait…just hold on." Ivan gritted his teeth together, wishing he could move. "Would you please release me? Please!"
"Only if you promise not to run away," she said, worried concern filling her eyes as she bit her lip.
He sighed heavily. "I promise." By now he just wanted answers.
In a blink, his arms and legs unfroze and he flexed and stretched before crossing the room and sitting on the bed. "Okay, you say you remain hidden from these…strigoi…or whatever. How?"
Wisely, Jaden kept her distance, knowing instinctively he needed space. She pointed to the metal band around her wrist while nodding toward his.
"By keeping our bands secured. Once we activate their power, it's like a beacon that grows stronger as we evaluate our suitors."
Evaluate our suitors? The thought echoed in Ivan's mind.
"And were you evaluating me then?" he asked, his senses sharpening as he started considering everything she was saying.
She nodded sheepishly.
"Did you just put my life in danger?" He stood up, his anger rising again.
Jaden threw her hands up as if to calm him down. "No. You're not in danger. Not yet."
"Yet?" He shoved his hand through his hair as he looked down. "What's that mean?"
Jaden licked her lips. "It means that if you decide you don't want to continue on this path with me, you'll be safe from harm. You can choose not to go forward with me, Ivan."
Ivan narrowed his eyes on her. "And what if I decide I want to continue on with you? What then? Is there a catch?" He could already tell there was.
Jaden's gaze dropped to the floor.
"What's the fucking catch, Jaden?"
She looked up and met his gaze, squaring her shoulders as if ready to face his ire if it came to that. "You would have to become one of us."
One of them. The words hung in the air as his mind worked over what this meant. She had said she had been on Earth since the time of the Pharaohs. She said her people had enemies trying to kill them. Surely there was more.
"What would that entail, Jaden? You'd better spell this out for me loud and clear."
Keeping her face straight, Jaden's gaze never wavered from his. "The transition would be…uncomfortable. But afterward, you would be immortal. You would have all the powers I have, and you would notice…improvements in your physical and mental functioning."
"But…?" He could see there was more.
"You would never be allowed to leave me. You would have to stay with me forever."
Well, he could think of worse.
"What if I did end up leaving you?"
Without hesitation, Jaden said, "You would die.”
Well, that put a whole new spin on the term ending the relationship.
"So, let me get this straight. I can walk away now and never see you again — I assume that if I walk away, we're through, right?" His heart clenched, not liking that option. Even now, after learning what she was, the thought of not seeing Jaden again didn’t sit well with him.
She nodded. "That's right."
"Okay, so I could walk away and go about my life and never have to worry about some…strigoi whatchamacallit coming after me. Or I could decide to stay with you, submit myself to being changed into…whatever you are," he said, waving his hand toward her, "become immortal, subject myself to the dangers of these strigoi coming after us both since you've lit yourself up like a beacon with this band of power…." He thrust his metal-bound wrist into the air. "And if I ever leave you, I’m dead. As in, on the spot, I die. Am I missing anything?"
With a guilty shake of her head, Jaden said, "No, that about sums it up."
Ivan sat back down, combing the fingers of his right hand through his hair again. "Gee, Jaden, those are some fucking awesome choices I have to choose from."
"I’m sorry," she said, sitting down a couple of feet away from him.
She sounded dejected, but right now Ivan didn't have enough energy to console her. He had his own problems.
"How long do I have to decide?"
"Three days."
He nodded, frustrated. "Great. Three days to decide the rest of my life."
Suddenly, he realized he didn't know how his decision would affect her. She'd said that by pulling these bands out, a signal had been sent out that her enemies would hone in on to find her.
"What happens to you if I say no, Jaden? What happens to you?" He frowned curiously, bringing his head up and around to look at her.
A dark shadow passed through her eyes, but quickly disappeared as she realized he was watching her. "I'll be fine."
"But…"
"I'll be fine, Ivan. Okay? If you say no, you say no. It's your choice."
She wasn't telling him something. He knew it the same way he had known she was crying earlier. But no amount of pushing was going to make her reveal what she refused to tell him.
For a few minutes, neither of them spoke, then Ivan got up. "Well, I need to think about this, Jaden. And you haven't given me much time to do it."
She stood up and quickly dressed, not looking at him. "I know. And I can't see you again, either. Not unless you say yes. If your decision is no, then…." She finally looked at him and took a shaky breath. "Then this is goodbye."
He didn't like the sound of that. Not one bit. But what could he do? She had lied to him, yes, but something inside his heart seemed to understand. He looked at the metal bangle secured around his wrist, then at hers. Somehow he knew they were tethered to one another, but he wasn’t sure he was capable of committing to immortality and forever when he didn’t fully understand what was happening.
"I won't say goodbye, Jaden," he said. “I just can’t.”
"Well…." She snatched her pocketbook off the floor. "That’s up to you, but ….” She paused, seemingly lost for words. Then she looked up at him, her eyes sparkling with tears. “If I see you, I see you. If not…I guess…well, for me, it is goodbye." She paused, offered him a sad smile, then turned and left the room.
All Ivan could do was watch her walk away, and then listen to the front door open and close as she walked out of his life. He sat down on the bed and plastered his face against the palms of his hand, feeling as though a part of him had been ripped out. Jaden was gone. She was fucking gone.
It took him a moment to realize the wetness on his palms came from tears spilling down his cheeks. The most amazing woman he had ever known, and who he had wanted to spend the rest of his life with, had turned out to be an immortal being older than dirt with a race of supernatural creatures out to kill her.
Great.
What the fuck was he going to do?
***
Jaden could barely see through the blur of tears stinging her eyes. She hadn't told Ivan everything. She wasn't allowed to. In no way could she influence his decision. He had to make up his mind on his own, but the longer he delayed answering, the weaker she would become. She had three days. Three days left. If Ivan said no, she would die.
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Eros Revealed