THREE

The sound of her own scream resounded inside Mercy’s head, and for a split second she thought she was dreaming that her worst nightmare had come true. As the echoes of her terrified scream shivered all around her, remnants of a fear beyond bearing, she awoke to the reality of her nightmare. Her eyes opened and quickly adjusted to the semidarkness around her.

“Mommy!” Eve’s concerned cry prompted Mercy into immediate action. Telepathically, she called her child to her, and within seconds she rose from the bed and took her daughter into her protective embrace.

“What’s wrong, Mother?” Eve asked. “You mustn’t be afraid.”

The moment Mercy had prayed would never come was here, descending upon them like an evil plague from the depths of hell. Judah Ansara, a true prince of darkness, stood hovering over her and Eve, his icy gray eyes staring at her, questioning her, demanding answers.

“Sidonia?” Mercy said, fearing that Judah had disposed of her beloved nanny.

“Oh!” Eve gasped, then eased out of Mercy’s arms, turned and waved her hand.

Mercy followed her child’s line of vision to where Sidonia’s body came to life, having been released from its immobile state. “Eve, did you…?”

“I’m sorry, Mother, but Sidonia didn’t want me to meet my daddy. She tried to stop me from talking to him.”

Mercy’s gaze reconnected with Judah ’s. Those cold eyes shimmered with hot anger.

She is mine! Judah ’s three unspoken words filled the room, expanding, exploding, shaking the walls and windows.

“Stop!” Mercy cried, shoving Eve behind her. “Your rage accomplishes nothing.”

Judah grabbed Mercy by the shoulders, his fingers biting into her flesh. When Mercy whimpered in pain, Eve reached up and placed her hand on Judah ’s arm.

“You must be gentle with my mother. I know you don’t want to hurt her.”

Judah ’s tenacious hold loosened as he glanced from Mercy’s face to Eve’s, and then back to Mercy. “I won’t harm your mother.” He glanced over at Sidonia, who glared at him with bitter hatred. “Go with your nanny, child. I need to speak to your mother alone.”

“But I don’t want to-” Eve whined.

Do as I tell you to do. Mercy heard the silent message Judah issued to Eve and realized that he instinctively knew Eve would hear his thoughts.

Eve looked to her mother. Mercy nodded. “Go with Sidonia. Let her put you to bed. You and I will talk in the morning.”

Eve kissed Mercy on the cheek. “Good night, Mother.” Then she tugged on Judah ’s arm and motioned for him to bend over, which he did after releasing his hold on Mercy. Eve kissed his cheek, too. “Good night, Daddy.”

Neither Mercy nor Judah spoke until Sidonia took Eve away and closed the bedroom door behind them.

The moment they were alone, Judah turned on Mercy. “The child is mine?”

Mercy stood and faced her greatest fear-her child’s father. “Eve is mine. She is Raintree.”

“Yes, she is Raintree,” Judah replied. “But she is more. She told me so herself.”

“Eve has great power that she is far too young to understand. Telling herself that she is more than Raintree helps explain these things to her so that her child’s mind can accept them.”

“Do you deny that she is mine?”

“I neither deny nor confirm-”

“She knew me instantly,” Judah said.

Was there any way she could lie to this man and convince him that Eve was not his? For nearly seven years, since the moment she conceived Judah Ansara’s child, she had kept that knowledge hidden from him and from the entire world, even from her own brothers. Only Sidonia knew the truth of Eve’s paternity. Until now.

“What are you doing here on Raintree land?” Mercy asked.

He eyed her speculatively. “You don’t remember?”

Unsure about what he meant, she didn’t respond as she sorted through her last coherent thoughts before blacking out. It was not unusual for her to faint or to simply fall asleep after a healing, but in this instance, her restorative sleep had been far deeper than normal.

She recalled the car accident and saving the sole survivor by removing her terrible pain, then transposing enough of her own strength and healing power to keep the woman alive.

Suddenly she felt the memory of a forceful grip around her neck, cutting off her air, choking her. Mercy gasped, her gaze shooting to Judah. Taking several calming breaths, she captured those frightening moments buried deep in her subconscious and realized that someone had tried to erase those memories.

“You didn’t want me to remember that someone tried to kill me.”

Judah simply glared at her.

“Do you want me to think it was you who tried to strangle me?” she said. “I know it wasn’t.”

He said nothing.

“You won’t allow me to remember my attacker. Why? And what were you doing so close to the Raintree home place at the very time it happened?”

“Coincidence.” His deep baritone rumbled the one word.

“No, I don’t believe you. You knew someone was going to…You came here to save me, didn’t you? But I don’t understand.” How would Judah have known her life was in danger? And why would he bother to come to the hills of North Carolina to save her, a Raintree princess?

“Why would I not save the mother of my child?”

“You didn’t know Eve existed. Not until you came here. Not until she introduced herself to you.”

“Why I came here is not important,” Judah said. “Not now. All that matters is the fact that you gave birth to my child and have kept her from me for six years. How could you have done that?”

Mercy laughed, the sound false and nervous. “Eve is my child. It doesn’t matter who her father is.” Oh, God, if only that were true. If only…

Judah growled, the sound as bestial as the man himself. No matter what, she could never allow herself to see him as anything other than what he was-an Ansara demon. It did not matter that even now, knowing him for who and what he was, she found herself drawn to him on a purely sexual level. He possessed a power over her that she could not deny. But she could-and would-resist.

Judah scanned Mercy from head to toe, his gaze appreciative and sensual.

“The protective spell you cast over Eve must be very powerful, one that takes a great deal of your strength to keep in place.”

Mercy shivered. “There is nothing I wouldn’t do for Eve. She is-”

“She is an Ansara.”

“Eve is a Raintree princess, the granddaughter of Dranir Michael, the daughter of Princess Mercy.”

“A rare and highly unique child,” Judah said. “There has been no mixing of the bloodlines for thousands of years, not since the first great battle when all Ansara and Raintree became sworn enemies. Any mixed-breed offspring have been disposed of before birth or as infants.”

“If there is one drop of decency in you, you will not claim her,” Mercy said. “If she is forced to choose between two heritages, it could destroy her. And you know, as well as I do, that your people would never accept her. They would try to kill her.”

Judah ’s smile sent waves of terror through Mercy. “Then you admit that she is mine.”

“I admit nothing.”

Judah reached out and grabbed her by the back of her neck, his large hand clasping forcefully, his thick fingers threading through her hair. If she chose to do so, she could battle him here and now, both physically and mentally. But she had learned at a young age to choose her battles, to save her strength for the moments of greatest need. Standing her ground, neither resisting nor accepting his hold on her, Mercy faced her deadly enemy.

“When did you realize I was Ansara?” Judah asked.

“The moment I conceived your child,” she admitted.

His hold tightened as he brought her closer, then lowered his head until only a hairsbreadth separated his lips from hers. “That must have been the last time we had sex. If it had been before, any of the other times, you would have left me sooner.”