Warrior's Hope (Dark Protectors #16)(34)

Hope blinked. “So he’s getting worse?”

Emma finished tapping on her tablet and straightened. “I don’t know. It’s odd. The compound seems to affect people differently on a cellular and possibly genetic level. I’ve never seen anything like it. The good news is that you will have dispelled it soon. I’ll keep conducting further tests on Paxton.” With a quick hug to Janie, Emma turned and strode from the room.

Janie stared at her daughter. “You really care about him, don’t you?”

“Don’t you?” Hope asked.

“Yes,” Janie said. “I always have. Even when he was a scared little kid who jumped every time I tried to give him a cookie. I thought we were doing a good thing when we sent him to live with his uncle Santino. To think we had no idea about the Defenders.” She rolled her eyes. “What a stupid name.”

“He feels horrible about joining them,” Hope said, not quite sure if that was true. “Although he does have concerns about the Seven and the ritual.”

Janie reached out to smooth the blanket over Hope. “I do as well and I’m not even involved, but you are, and we don’t know what that means.” Her gaze turned piercing. “Do you have any idea?”

Hope rolled her neck, trying to ease some tension. “No. If I did, I would tell you. But I believe the ritual has to happen, or Ulric won’t be stopped. We have to do something about the enhanced females who are being kidnapped.” She rubbed her eyes. “I wish I understood his goals. None of it makes any sense, and of course the legends are all fragmented. Even the Kurjans don’t know.” She stilled after she spoke the words, knowing what they gave away.

Her mother sighed. “I knew you had returned to the dreamworld,” she said softly.

“How?” Hope asked.

Janie looked around the comfortable hospital room. “I feel it. There’s a change in the air, and I’ve always caught wind of it.” She grimaced. “It happened the other night, and honestly, I tried to join you. I tried to hop right in.”

“Now that would’ve been something to see.” Hope grinned. “I’ve tried to pull you in before, but I couldn’t.”

“I know. After I turned twenty-five, I’ve never been able to get back in. I don’t like that you’re doing it, but I understand.” Janie sighed. “Back when I had the dreamworlds and thought I could broker a world peace, I refused to stop and think of all alternatives. But, you really need to be careful. If you are truly human, then you could die in a dreamworld.”

Hope gulped. “I know, but you were human too, Mom.”

Janie didn’t have an answer because it was true. She held her daughter’s hand. “I know you. I know you’re full of light and, very appropriately, hope. I used to be that way too, but the Kurjans, they don’t want peace. Or if they do, their peace doesn’t look like ours. I need you to keep your eyes wide open.”

Hope flipped her hand around to entwine her fingers with her mom’s. They had the same hands. “You trust me?” she asked. “You’re not going to beg me not to go back into the dreamworld?”

An unwilling smile lifted Janie’s lips. “I would if I thought it would do any good, but I also know how determined you are. You’re going to find your own path, which is what I always wanted for you. I’ll worry, but in the end, I do trust you. Just know that sacrificing yourself is not the right path, no matter who you are.”

Sometimes Hope forgot how smart her mother was and how insightful she could be. “The green book is still there,” she offered.

Janie blinked. “Oh man, I hated that book. The closer I’d get to it, the farther away it seemed to be. I had hoped I’d be the one who could read it. Do you think you’ll get to read the pages?”

Janie’s dreamworlds had been a lot like Hope’s, and that book had always been there.

“I hope so,” Hope breathed. “I felt even closer to it last time, and something tells me I will get my hands on it.”

Which would be amazing because then all the riddles would be answered. She would know what to do. She knew it contained her story and Janie’s and those of all of the chosen females through the years, maybe some of the males, though the book felt very feminine. She needed to get her hands on it to see what happened next. “Thank you for trusting me.”

“Of course,” Janie said. “You are my daughter. After all, saving the world is kind of what we do.”





Chapter Fourteen


Paxton came to with a snarl, leaping up and instinctively going for the biggest threat. His hands closed around a muscled neck, and he shoved a male soldier back, twisting his leg around the guy’s knee and taking him down. Paxton landed on top of him, and the guy smoothly rolled until Pax was beneath him. He grabbed Paxton’s head, lifted it, and smacked it down onto the ground.

“Would you knock it off? I’m trying not to hurt you here,” Zane snarled.

Pax looked up to find shockingly emerald and slightly pissed eyes staring down at him. It took him a second to realize he was only wearing boxer shorts. “What happened?”

“Good, you’re back.” Zane grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him up, shoving him none too gently toward the bed. “At least sit down.”