Read Mandate for Free Online Page B

fingers under her chin and lifted her head. “You can feel all that?”
    She blinked at the burning silver of his eyes. “I can. There is a thread of tension that is your talent and it hums constantly.”
    He leaned forward, “What else do you feel?”
    His lips were an inch from hers again.
    “Very nervous.”
    He smiled and brushed his lips across hers. “You or me?”
    She laughed. “Both. We are both jumping with tension but that isn’t a bad thing. You need to shower before dinner and your first healing here is done. I want to see you tomorrow morning for another treatment.”
    Wren pulled her hands away with the greatest reluctance. There were scars over his torso, but the only pain was hidden within. She quickly turned when she realised that they had more in common than the attraction.
    She swallowed. “Go on. You need to be presentable for dinner.”
    “Will you walk with me this evening?”
    Wren nodded and looked at him over her shoulder. “I will, now go.”
    He left the room, but she felt a low stroking on her neck that trailed between her breasts before disappearing.
    Wren pressed her hand to the soul stone containing Emily. “Wow, you are going to have a lot to talk about when you find someone to coax you out of there.”
    A warmth came out of the stone and touched her hand. Emily was enjoying what she was seeing, that much was certain.
     
    Dinner was a huge stew, biscuits with W’lyn grains and a dessert that everyone could enjoy. The Guardians were all neat and tidy and Beryl was calm. Wren felt that she was where she was supposed to be.
    Loesh looked at her during dinner. “Rand mentioned that you have a soft touch as a healer. I have to say that I am relieved. We all have emergency training, but it is better to have one who is dedicated to it for daily care.”
    Toyo nodded. “I agree. It takes a lot of effort to pierce my hide, but when it does happen, I don’t want Loesh jamming his finger into the wound asking, does this hurt? ”
    Beryl chuckled. “She also has had more obstetrics training than any of the doctors I have seen so far. I feel very secure with Wren here.”
    Toyo lifted her hand to his lips and he kissed it gently. “Then I am delighted she has joined us.”
    Drovin smiled. “As am I.”
    They all chuckled at him, but his silver gaze was molten and fixed on Wren. She felt pinned to her seat.
    The dessert was a W’lyn version of a trifle with berries and nuts. When Loesh was licking the huge bowl clean, the bots shooed them all away from the table and Drovin held out his hand. “I believe we are scheduled for a walk.”
    “I believe we are.” She slipped her hand along his, and he closed his fingers over hers.
    They left the others without a word, and Wren ignored the amusement in their thoughts.
    Once outside, he led her to a pathway that trailed through the green spaces on the island.
    “I know that things are moving swiftly for you, Wren. I do not wish to increase your stress load with my needs and wants.”
    His words hung between them.
    “My previous employer once told me that with the wrong man, a minute was an eternity and with the right man, eternity was not long enough. It doesn’t matter how much time passes. What matters is what you do with the time you have now.”
    She smiled softly at him as something strange and deep bloomed inside his soul. He didn’t turn toward her. He kept walking with her, and soon, they left the path.
    A barrier of energy was in their way and he led her through it.
    Once they were inside, she looked around and her heart skipped a beat. “Night-blooming roses.”
    The flowers glowed in reds, pinks, whites, lavenders, all the soft colours she was used to, but they were luminescent. The barrier was protecting this treasure of beauty.
    “What is this place?”
    “This was my life before the Guardians. I wanted to be a florist with my own greenhouse nursery of blooms. This is as close as I can get. This is where I run, this is