Woman Beheld Read online

  Sometimes love finds you when you least expect it and other times when you need it the most.

  When a street gang accosts Elle Carter on her way home from work, pregnant and alone, she turns toward a handsome stranger for help. She doesn’t expect him to carry her off like some ancient damsel in distress.

  When the Fates tell Daffyd that Elle is his match, he jumps at the chance to save her. It is his job, after all. After rescuing her from her assailants, he rushes her to his home world, Mikkant. He must get her to a healer before complications of premature labor kills both mother and child.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Woman Beheld

  Copyright © 2014 Tianna Xander

  ISBN: 978-1-77111-898-9

  Cover art by Carmen Waters

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  Published by eXtasy Books

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  Woman Beheld

  Gate to Fate 3

  By

  Tianna Xander

  Dedication

  This one is for all of the heroes in the world. Thank you all for everything you do.

  Chapter One

  Elle walked down the dark street, worn out. She wasn’t used to working anymore. Barry thought she should quit work and school as soon as they got married. It didn’t take long for her body to get used to being a housewife.

  Her entire body ached from being on her feet all day. The unseasonably cool spring breeze made her shiver. The winter needed to end. She, and everyone else she knew, was damned tired of the winter’s unyielding grip.

  Drawing her jacket close, she sighed, wishing she could zip it up over her growing stomach. She rubbed her rounded belly with one hand and leaned back, her other hand on her hip, hoping to work the kinks out of her lower spine.

  The cool weather certainly wasn’t helping her get used to being on her feet all day. Nothing could have prepared her for this first week at her new job. If only she would have kept working and going to school. She would have gotten her degree. Instead, she’d listened to Barry. He’d wanted her to stay home and be a housewife. Though she had dreamed of becoming a lawyer, she had wanted to be his wife, too. Sometimes, things just didn’t work out as planned.

  “Thank goodness I have the next two days off. I don’t know what I’d do if I had to work tomorrow,” she said as she gazed down at her growing baby bump.

  It wasn’t a little bump anymore. At seven and a half months, it looked as though she had an exercise ball under her shirt. “You’re going to be a big boy like your daddy, aren’t you?” The baby kicked vigorously and she smiled down at her stomach, wondering if it really was a boy or if it was a large girl. Either way, she was gaining weight fast and her stomach just kept growing and growing.

  Elle’s eyes filled with bittersweet tears as her thoughts turned to her husband and what should have been. Barry had wanted this baby so much. She thought they should wait until they had a bigger savings account, but he’d been in a hurry to start their family.

  She rubbed her increasingly large belly and blinked. Maybe she should go get that ultrasound Barry had wanted her to get before he died six months ago. Tears ran down her cheeks as she thought about him. How could the powers that be take him from her when she needed him the most—when they needed him the most? Elle still didn’t know how she would get to the hospital when she went into labor. How would she get home and more importantly, how would she pay her bills while she was out of work on maternity leave?

  “Why did you take him from me?” she asked no one in particular. She stared up at the clear night sky as though she might find the answer there. Elle wasn’t overly religious. She believed in a higher being, or beings, but she wasn’t sure there was one all-powerful God that oversaw everyone’s life. How could she believe that when her husband died, leaving her with no money, no insurance and no way to support herself? Wouldn’t an all-seeing God know how much they needed him?

  I don’t know that I would call us gods, Elle, but we have been watching. Do not worry. Everything will work out just the way they should.

  Elle spun around in a circle at the sound of a woman’s voice. It didn’t come from any one place, but all around her. She wasn’t frightened. How could she be? The voice was soft and gentle, just like her mother’s. She merely wanted to know where the voice came from.

  “That’s it. Now, you’re hearing things.” It wasn’t any wonder she would hear the sound of a woman’s voice. Wasn’t it just yesterday that she had wished her mother could be here? “Not only are you widowed, pregnant and broke, now you’re going crazy and hearing voices.”

  She stepped up her pace, wanting to get back to the little house she had inherited from her father before the voice in her head told her to do something crazy like knock over a convenience store by pretending the banana in her pocket was a gun.

  No one is going to suggest you do anything of the sort, another woman said with a chuckle. Like the first, this voice seemed to come from everywhere, though the new voice sounded older, more like a grandmother.

  “Who are you and what to you want?” Elle spun around in a circle just to make sure she was alone. She knew better than to walk home alone in the dark, but her car broke down earlier that day and she had to go to work. Like it or not, there was really nothing else to do but walk.

  We are the Norns.

  “The Norns?” Elle frowned and bit her lip. She’d heard something about them. If she wasn’t mistaken, the Norns were some sort of Hoodoo Norse legend. Barry had told her about them once, a long time ago, when he had written a paper on Norse mythology for one of his classes.

  Yes, dear, said the grandmotherly voice. We are the weavers of fate, of destiny, and we have been watching you.”

  “Why have you been watching me?” she asked as she crossed the street.

  “We’ve been watching ya because we want your money.”

  Elle spun around at the sound of the deep voice that sounded way too close. She brought her hand to her throat. Four young men stood around her in a semi-circle. Each one held a knife, the tips of the dirty blades pointed at her. Not one of them looked nice. In fact, every one of them had greasy hair and circles under their eyes. If she had to guess, she would say that they were drug addicts.

  “Hand it over, bitch!” The meanest-looking one drew his lip up in a snarl, his black eyes filled with menace. “I don’t have a problem with cuttin’ your fat ass.”

  “I’m not fat. I’m pregnant,” Elle mumbled as she handed over her purse.

  Do you see how strong she is, sisters? the youngest sounding voice said to the others. She is strong. Just the type to be the mate of a defender. It is time we sent him here. He wishes for something to do. Perhaps we should send him to rescue his woman.

  Rescue his woman? What in the world was going on in her head? What wer
e the Norns, or whoever they were, talking about? Had she finally had a nervous breakdown? Her therapist had warned her that this might happen if she stopped her sessions. Still, Elle had been unable to afford them. It was sad enough that she couldn’t afford to go to the doctor as often as she should.

  “Look, whore,” the leader said.

  His bad breath blowing in her face pulled her attention from the non-existent women in her head and back to reality.

  Grabbing the front of her shirt, he snarled. “I don’t give a shit. I just want your fuckin’ money.”

  “I don’t have any money.” She bit her lip, hoping they wouldn’t kill her because she didn’t have the cash they wanted.

  “You’d better hope you’re lying.” The guy snarled when he ripped open her bag, pulled out her wallet and threw her purse against the side of a dumpster that sat just a few feet away.

  “What kind of shit is this?” he said with a snarl when he opened her empty wallet. He threw it at her, hitting Elle in the stomach.

  Elle wrapped her arms around herself. Tears filled her eyes when she realized that these boys could kill her right here, right now and there would be no one to mourn her or her baby.

  “What kind of no-rent bitch has no fuckin’ money?” He stalked over, grabbed her by the hair and yanked her head back. “How are we gonna get reimbursed for the time we wasted on you?” He stared down into her eyes, his gaze filled with contempt. “I know!” he said, his smile cruel. “We’ll just take it out in trade.”

  Grabbing the front of her blouse, he yanked down, tearing it from neck to hem. “Look at those tits.” He turned to his friend. “Andy told me that pregnant women had big tits, but I never believed him. After all, their stomach sticks out so fuckin’ far, it’s hard to tell just how big they are with their clothes on.” He laughed and licked his lips. “I’m first, you three can duke it out on who gets sloppy seconds or thirds.

  “Let me go!” Elle jerked from his hold and ran.

  “I don’t think so.” One of the guys tackled her and Elle went down, face first onto the pavement. She twisted, trying not to land on her belly, but failed. Pain shot through her stomach and she cried out, drawing her legs up, trying to protect her baby the best she could.

  Four sets of hands grabbed her, lifted her up and carried her toward the alley. “Let me go,” she sobbed. “Please, don’t do this. Please!”

  Chapter Two

  Daffyd ran from one city to the next, hoping to find that someone, somewhere needed him. He was tempted to board a shuttle and head to Katkari with the hope that he could be useful there, but it wasn’t his turn to watch over that world. His chance would come in another two months.

  Until then, he must keep himself busy on his own boring planet. His people knew that he was there to protect them, or to capture them should they fuck up. It was most likely why he had nothing to do. Only natural disasters gave him any excitement these days.

  Stopping on the edge of a cliff overlooking the large inland sea, he sighed. “Am I cursed to be alone forever? If so, at least give me something to do.” He would go mad if he spent much more time idle. A man needed work. At least this man needed work. He had never been lazy and shiftless, like some who chose to live off others.

  He stared up at the sky, not knowing where to direct his angst with the Fates. They had given Artu Traon his mate, Lena, and Kylar Gareth now had Artu’s sister, Marteeka, to call his own. Would they never give him a mate with whom he could spend his life?

  He wanted a mate, someone to birth children with, to finally grow old and die when his son took his place as defender of this world. Kneeling, he closed his eyes. “Must I pray, or beg? What do you want from me? What must I do to deserve a woman of my own?

  “I have begged you for the last year to give me a mate, someone to love. Will you ever give me a woman to stand before me, to stand beside me? I want nothing more than to have a woman who would stand before me while I behold her beauty.” Daffyd had no doubt that his mate would be beautiful. Even if others did not think so, she would be gorgeous to him because she would ease this eternal loneliness.

  Daffyd bowed his head, knowing his pleas fell on deaf ears. Never had they answered him. No matter how many times he prayed, how many times he begged, threatened or bargained with them, the gods never answered. Never.

  His eyes burned with frustration. It certainly wasn’t tears. He was a defender. Defenders of worlds didn’t cry. They made criminals cry, but they never felt such emotion. They couldn’t unless they had a mate. If they did, their emotions would drive them mad.

  Stop complaining, Defender. You are feeling even now. Your kind merely chooses not to feel until you settle down with your mate. Stop this incessant brooding. Your woman needs you. The voice was that of an old woman, a crone. Her voice shook with age. It could only be Verdandi, the Norn—or Fate—of the past.

  Daffyd reached out with his senses in an effort to feel his mate’s need, to hear her cries for help or solace. “I feel nothing, crone. Are you teasing me with the possibility of finding my woman?” He scowled, barely able to stop himself from shaking his fist at the sky. How dare they play with him? He had done everything anyone had ever asked of him, yet he still stood alone.

  If this was some sort of trick, it wasn’t funny and he didn’t appreciate it. Over the years he’d heard the Fates were bitches until Artu and Kyl told the defenders in their group otherwise. He was keeping his opinion to himself until they brought him together with his own woman.

  From what he could see, they were bitches.

  I don’t like the direction of your thoughts, Defender. Perhaps we should not bring you together with your woman.

  Stop it, sister, said the owner of a younger voice. It sounded almost like a child—perhaps a teenager. It could only be Skuld, the maiden Norn and seer of the future. You know as well as Urd and I do that we must bring them all together. The fate of the universe depends on their making their matches. If even one should go mad, it could mean the end of the entire space-time continuum. Like it or not, we must come to terms with that fact.

  Yes, we must. The last sentence came from an older woman, but not as old as Verdandi. It could only be Urd, the mother and Norn of the present. I have found her and she is in distress. Her world has no defender and four thugs have set upon her. She is injured and pregnant. I fear for her and her unborn child.

  Were the Norns telling him the truth? Did he truly have a mate—and she was in danger? “Take me to her.” He didn’t miss the fact that Urd had said she was pregnant. It didn’t matter. He was no virgin. It would be ridiculous to expect his mate to be one. He didn’t care how many children she had. If she had a dozen, he would love them as he would love his mate.

  Unfortunately, we, cannot. We do not have the power to send you to another world just like that, Skuld said. She must have snapped her fingers because he heard the common sound punctuate her sentence. We need help. Fortunately, Verdandi is contacting him now.

  Before he knew it, the cliff below his feet gave way, breaking up into little pieces and he fell downward, sucked into some bizarre, dark abyss, where he landed on his feet in a strange place, surrounded by darkness. When a beam of light illuminated the center of the shadowy circle, a man stood before him, his arms crossed over his chest, his feet spread shoulder-width apart and a scowl on his face.

  Had Daffyd not been a defender, he might have thought the man fearsome in his black leather vest, wearing the gold armbands of a warrior. However, until he bore children capable of taking his place as defender of Mikkant, he could not age or die. Such was the curse of the defender.

  “Who are you and what brings you here?” the man demanded, narrowing eyes as blue as the sky on Daffyd. He balled his hands into fists as though ready to fight. It was almost as though the man had never seen another male before.

  “I am Daffyd Soduur of Mikkant. The Fates sent me.”

  The man jerked back as though he’d struck h
im. “The Fates?” He shook his head. “I do not believe this. So far they have only bid me to transport women.”

  “I’m sorry to disappoint,” Daffyd said, raising his brow. “However, that does not make it any less true.” He moved to walk around the man in an effort to size him up. He was big, to be sure, but Daffyd was certain he could take him in a fair fight, if the need arose. His only worry was whether he would get a fair fight. This was no normal man. He was no defender, either. By the looks of things, he was some otherworldly servant of the Norns, or the Fates. What they were called depended on who one was talking to at the time.

  “Who are you?”

  The man straightened and scowled as though he took affront to Daffyd’s statement. “I am Garrick, the Gatekeeper. I stand guard over the gates between dimensions. I have done so for several millennia.”

  “Gates between dimensions?” He hadn’t been aware such a thing existed, though he supposed it shouldn’t surprise him. He’d often wondered if the legends on his world about faeries and the like didn’t hold more truth than most thought.

  “Do you call me a liar?” Garrick stood straight, his muscles bulging as though expecting a fight.

  “No. Certainly not.” Daffyd held his hands up. “I meant no offense. As I said, I am Daffyd Soduur, Defender of Mikkant. The Fates have sent me to collect my woman.” Why waste time arguing with this angry man when his woman needed his help?

  Garrick pulled a strange device from his pocket with a frown. “I shall check the thread locator.” He waved the device in Daffyd’s face. “It never makes a mistake.” He glanced down at the device. “Though, it has been known to stop working on occasion.”

  “I know about the women—at least two of them. They have twice sent women to worlds I know. No one has ever said anything about them sending any men.”