From Jennifer Ashley, With Love

by Jennifer Ashley

  His anger returned. “Why do I have to sacrifice one for the other?” he demanded. “The demon asked me to choose the same thing.”

  Isis regarded him with wise eyes. “Not a sacrifice. That is not what I request. I ask you to trust your brothers to find him. It must be so, Adrian, so all the pieces fall into place.”

  “Damn you, don’t tell me this is an elaborate game of the goddesses, to test their children or something.”

  “You are much too literal, my son. You always have been. Think on my offer. Stay with Amber, heal and love her. Let the others take up the search for Tain.”

  Adrian lifted Amber’s limp hand in his and pressed a kiss to it. Isis said it was a choice, but to Adrian, there was no choice.

  Tain and his demon had singled out Amber and her sister, because they’d known Amber would be the woman to pierce Adrian’s heart. They knew Amber would distract Adrian from his search for Tain once Tain was ready to begin draining the world of living magic.

  “My brothers aren’t even aware of the problems,” Adrian said. “The Calling failed.”

  “But the Coven of Light is aware. Send them to find the Immortals, task them to bring them to you and finish it. Tain needs you.”

  Amber needs me more.

  At one time Adrian might have considered putting aside his love to let Amber go, enter the fray, and live for his vengeance. He would have done it in a heartbeat. But he’d experienced the simple joy of Amber’s smile, saw her strength, knew the feel of her beneath him. He’d never live again without her. He’d only exist. A life of vengeance was an empty one.

  “Bring her back,” Adrian said. “For thousands of years, I’ve been doing what you want, obeying, not questioning. Do this one thing for me.”

  Isis pinned him with her dark stare. “You will leave Tain to your brothers?”

  “Yes.” Adrian let out a breath. “May the goddesses help him.”

  “We will.”

  Isis drew closer, her footsteps noiseless. She stooped her tall figure and pressed a kiss to Adrian’s forehead. “It is done. She will be with you . . . always.”

  Amber’s eyelids fluttered, and she made a soft gasp but no other motion. She lay still, breathing quietly, while Adrian held her hand between his, his vision blurred with heavy tears.

  After a few moments, a spark flared in Amber’s half-closed eyes, and she drew a longer breath. She opened her eyes fully, alert, and regarded Adrian in surprise.

  “I was with the Goddess,” she said, her voice weak but full of wonder. Her hand on his squeezed once, fingers cool, shaking. “And I missed you so much.”

  Adrian gathered her to him. Isis had vanished, and the shadows were lengthening on Ravenscroft’s beach, but this was a place outside reality, and time moved differently here. Adrian pressed a kiss to Amber’s hair, loving the silkiness and the warmth that meant her life.

  “I missed you too, baby,” he whispered.

  * * *

  In the dark of early morning of the first of May, Amber sat at her kitchen table and looked at her friends gathered around it. Kelly had transported Manny from her house to Seattle, and the Italian banged pans while he made fluffy pancakes, omelets, and breakfast bread.

  Amber had come to herself in Adrian’s arms where he knelt in the mud beside the ambulance. She’d reached up and touched his face, bloody and rough with beard, and he’d smiled down at her, his eyes so warm.

  She remembered a dream of the Goddess and her welcoming embrace. She’d felt peace, but at the same time sharp regret that she’d left Adrian behind. The regret had turned into acute longing, then she’d seen Adrian in the dream lean to press a kiss to her hair. A few seconds later, she’d opened her eyes, finding herself in the clearing and the ambulance, Detective Simon mad as hell, and Kelly crying.

  Amber had been touched that they were all so worried about her, but I’m fine, really, she’d said. Adrian had held her and kissed her, and despite the failure of the spell, Amber felt happy and even blessed.

  The paramedics insisted on taking Amber to the hospital. Valerian rode in the same ambulance, grumbling all the way, Sabina admonishing him to keep still and let the EMTs do their thing. Valerian had ended up with a broken arm but nothing more serious. The emergency room doctors had pronounced Amber fine, seeming surprised at her radiant good health, and sent her home.

  Now Amber poured herself more tea to wash down Manny’s heavenly chocolate and walnut bread, and surveyed her friends. Even Septimus had stayed, sitting comfortably next to Kelly, unworried that the sun would rise in an hour or so.

  “So,” Valerian broke into the topic that they all had been avoiding while they feasted. “The Calling failed, the demon and Tain are still running around loose, and we have no clue where the other Immortals are.”

  “We have to find them,” Amber said. “By conventional methods if nothing else.”

  She expected Adrian to join in with ideas about where to start, but he remained silent. He’d been strangely quiet all morning. Adrian now reached for her hand and closed his fingers around it, but offered nothing to the discussion.

  “I suppose this will involve flying around.” Valerian grumbled, lifting his splinted arm to the side. “My wing is broken.”

  “That’s all right, sweetie,” Sabina said. “They might let you on a plane.”

  Valerian grimaced. “I hate airplanes. The last two I was on were full of vampires.”

  “You seemed happy enough to get into them at the time,” Septimus said.

  “Flying Vamp Air is marginally better than dying on a chunk of ice,” Valerian growled. “Marginally. The second time I was anxious to get up here and save Adrian’s butt.”

  Septimus gave him a smooth shrug, and Amber waved for attention.

  “We have no way of knowing what the spell did,” Amber said. “We don’t know whether it brought the Immortals together somewhere, or tossed them apart around the world, or did nothing at all. It will be a long time before I’ve recovered magically enough to attempt something like the Calling spell again—plus waiting for another powerful magic day. And who says the demon won’t shatter it again next time? That means we have to search without using big magic.”

  “Sounds tedious,” Valerian grumbled.

  “But we have a good team.” Amber looked at them in turn. “A dragon, a werewolf, a powerful vampire, and a police detective if he wants in. Not to mention an Immortal.” She squeezed Adrian’s hand, wondering at his quietness. No, he was more than quiet. Resigned. That worried her.

  Amber went on. “And the best resource of all, the Coven of Light. They live around the world, and the Immortals could be anywhere. I already posted a message explaining that the spell failed. They’re standing by, waiting to see what I want to do next.”

  “And what do you want to do?” Septimus asked. He flicked his gaze to Adrian, as though he too wondered why Adrian wasn’t taking over the conversation.

  Amber laughed. “Sleep for a week, actually. I’ll tell the Coven of Light to start searching for the Immortals using any means necessary. I’m asking everyone here to help them, even if it means flying to Nepal to search the Himalayas. We can use this house as a base, now that Adrian has strengthened the warding. Ask the Immortals to come back here, and we can figure out how to find Tain and stop him.”

  Septimus put in smoothly, “From what I understand about the Immortals, Adrian might be the only one able to drag them here. They don’t necessarily listen to anyone else. Trust me.”

  Valerian nodded in agreement. “What does Adrian the Magnificent say?”

  Adrian’s eyes darkened. He sat back in his chair, releasing Amber’s hand to cradle his coffee mug. “I won’t be joining the search.”

  They stared at him in stunned silence. Valerian’s expression turned scowling, Sabina’s mouth opened, and Septimus raised dark brows. Only Kelly watched him speculatively.

  “What do you mean, not joining?” Valerian demanded. “Why should we be doing all the ass-b
usting work? Tain is your brother.”

  “I’ll be here to help Amber coordinate efforts,” he said. “And I’ll find a way to kill the demon and free Tain. But searching for him and the other Immortals is up to you.”

  Valerian’s scowl deepened. “So not only do we not know where to start looking, but now you’re bowing out?”

  “Not bowing out,” Adrian said. “Lying low. Let my brothers take care of problems for a change.”

  “Oh, right, you want four crazy Immortal bastards running around loose instead of just one?”

  “I can’t tame them,” Adrian said with a shrug. “But if they realize the danger is great enough, they’ll help. The problem isn’t convincing them to find Tain; it’s convincing them not to beat him to a pulp him when they do. That’s why I need you.” His gaze included all those at the table. “To keep Tain safe for me.”

  Valerian shook his head, lowering his glum gaze to his coffee. “Oh, this just gets better.”

  Adrian’s lips quirked into a smile that did not reach his eyes. “The demon, on the other hand—feel free to chop him into little pieces. Fine with me.”

  Amber sat in silence. Adrian had not mentioned this decision to hold back and let the Coven of Light and his friends scour the world without him. She’d expected he’d be out of here as soon as he had a shower and a meal, wanting to renew the quest with vigor, to prevent Tain doing more damage than he already had.

  Adrian’s gaze moved to her, his eyes unreadable. Amber wanted to blurt questions, and she sensed the others did too, but she remained silent.

  There wasn’t much more to discuss. Amber pushed her tea aside and announced she’d contact the Coven of Light. She left the kitchen and went upstairs to her laptop, hearing the others disperse below.

  She spent the next hour or so answering questions on the loop, explaining what the witches needed to do—hunt for Darius, Hunter, and Kalen. Amber had no idea what they looked like, though Adrian had filled her in on a few of their statistics. Their greatest resemblance, besides being large, kick-ass warriors with big swords, was that they each had a pentacle tattoo somewhere on their bodies.

  Amber added some of her own deductions based on what she’d seen of Adrian and Tain—well built, handsome in a raw way, possessing brute strength and incredible magic. The Coven agreed to search and post results daily, the online witches promising they’d keep those without Internet access as up to date as they could.

  Finally Amber sighed, flexed her aching fingers, and rose from her desk. The house was quiet. She’d heard Septimus and Kelly depart together with Manny, and Valerian telling Adrian loudly that he was walking Sabina home. He seemed taken with her werewolf family, which was nice. Amber hoped Sabina and Valerian would find something together. They both deserved some happiness.

  Amber went in search of Adrian. She located him in the kitchen, clattering dishes as he shoved the sticky breakfast plates into the dishwasher.

  Amber leaned against the doorframe, taken with the sight of her Immortal warrior trying to do the dishes. “You have to rinse them, first,” she said.

  Adrian lifted a syrup-coated plate between his sinewy hands and frowned. “I thought the dishwasher was supposed to clean them.”

  Amber came slowly into the room. “It does, but not as well if you don’t rinse them.”

  Adrian shrugged, tugged out the plates he’d put in and dumped them into the sink. He turned on the water, the noise effectively halting any conversation Amber wanted to start.

  Amber reached around him and snapped off the faucet. “When were you going to tell me?”

  Adrian’s expression went innocent, as though he’d say, Tell you what? Then he leaned his fists on the edge of the sink, fixing his gaze on the pile of wet plates.

  “I hoped you wouldn’t notice me hanging around,” he said.

  She laughed shakily. “Right, Adrian. I’m not going to notice a big bad warrior in my kitchen. For one thing, you have a cobra on your arm.”

  Adrian turned his head and looked at her, his dark eyes quiet. “Remember when the demon asked me to choose whether to save you or Tain? I chose you. For always.”

  Amber’s heart squeezed, but she didn’t let him stop her questions. “What has the demon got to do with you searching for your brothers?”

  “I don’t know.” Adrian stared at the dirty sink again, his shoulders taut. “The goddesses have something in mind. I don’t know what, but Isis doesn’t want me interfering. She told me to put aside my obsession with Tain and let my brothers take up the task. She gave me the chance to stay here with you, to be with you, and I took it.”

  Amber’s eyes widened. “Why should you? I’m flattered you like my company, but staying here will make you crazy. I’ll come with you to search—give me a few days to rest, and I’ll be raring to go.”

  Adrian cut off her words by placing his wet hands on her shoulders. When he kissed her, she tasted need on him, felt desperation in his fingers as he gripped her.

  “You’re worth the price,” he said.

  His eyes were dark as he looked at her. Amber glimpsed the swirling stars from when they’d first made love, when he’d showed her what passion could be.

  Adrian slid his hands down her back, fingers inching beneath her waistband. She heard a ripping sound, Adrian’s strength tearing the fabric so he could massage her buttocks. Amber leaned into him, wanting his hard kisses, then thoughts cut through the stirring madness, and she opened her eyes.

  “What price?” she asked.

  Adrian parted his hands, ripping fabric until her jeans pooled at her feet in a pile of warm denim. He hoisted her, bikini briefs and all, onto the counter, fingers hot on her thighs.

  Amber tried to push him away, but he was a mountain of muscle. “Adrian, what price?”

  He parted her legs with firm hands and stepped between them. She glared at him, though her body begged her to shut up now and ask him questions later.

  Adrian’s eyes swam with white sparks. “A promise I made to Isis that I don’t want to talk about right now.”

  Amber put her hand on his chest, feeling his heart beating, swift and hard. “I do want to talk about it.”

  Adrian stretched the strings of her bikini briefs until they broke, and Amber felt cool air between her legs.

  “Later.” Adrian bent to kiss her mouth again, hungry.

  “Now.” Amber put stilling hands on his wrists. “You promised Isis you’d stop pursuing Tain. Why?”

  “Hell.” Adrian raised his head. He didn’t step away, but she felt him withdrawing, the light dying in his eyes. “I didn’t want to tell you.”

  Amber waited, her heart pounding.

  “It was the price of your life,” Adrian said in a rapid voice. “Isis brought you back to me, and in return, I let go of Tain.”

  “My life?”

  Amber remembered only flashes of last night, the demon grabbing her with death magic and the backlash of the spell, a sickening pain that filled her body, then absolute peace. She’d opened her eyes after a long time to find Adrian smiling at her, his face streaked with blood and tears, his surcoat and cloak in shreds.

  “Was I in danger of dying?” she asked. “The doctors said I was fine . . .”

  “You did die.” Adrian’s eyes were flat. “The demon broke the Calling spell and killed you. I took you to Ravenscroft, and Isis gave you back your life.”

  Amber stared. “Wait, are you serious? You’re not shitting me?” She swallowed as the sensations came back to her—pain, worry about Adrian, then that quiet calm, peace, knowing she was loved. “Isis . . . brought me back to life?” Her lips went numb as she said the words. “Why?”

  “Because I asked her to. I asked her to do it for me. I wasn’t ready to give you up.”

  “Shit. Adrian.” Amber’s stunned mind tried to take it all in. Dead, Ravenscroft, Isis, her life returned. Not like a zombie or a vampire—that was death magic, and Isis wouldn’t deal in that. Would she?

  “I
t is true life,” Adrian said, as though reading her thoughts. “Infused with the life magic of a goddess.”

  Amber pushed her hair back from her face, finding her skin damp with sweat. “Well, no wonder I felt like crap when I woke up.”

  “I wasn’t ready to let you out of my life,” Adrian said, brows drawn over his intense eyes. “But if you want me to go, I will. Say the word, and I’m gone.”

  Amber gazed at him for a long moment, studying his hard face, the lines that creased the corners of his eyes, the dark hair pulled back from his face. He was so strong, yet so eaten up inside, laughing when he went for a kill and weeping when he’d found the drawings of Tain.

  Amber touched the cold silver of Ferrin who hugged his bicep. “I need you to stay.”

  “I’ve dragged you through hell. Goddess, Amber, you died because of me.”

  “Not entirely,” Amber said. “If I got hurt last night it was because I thought I could handle the spell, and the demon. I thought I could help you find your brothers and Tain and save the world. I should have let a stronger witch perform the spell. I’m just as egotistical as Susan was. And as stupid.”

  “Not stupid. Brave.” Adrian traced her cheekbone. “Susan had no idea what she was getting into. You did know, and you went after the demon anyway. You saved me from his torture. You helped me every step of the way.”

  “Don’t get maudlin,” Amber said softly. She brushed a kiss over his warm mouth. “We were just getting to the good part.”

  Adrian’s eyes sparked again, his smile turning wicked. “That’s true.”

  Amber laced her hands behind his head. “I’m hoping you set me up here and ripped off my pants for more than just stopping my questions.”

  Adrian’s eyes darkened. “Maybe I did.”

  “Well, then.” She caressed his neck. “Let’s get on with it. We’ll have to think of something to do while the others are out hunting down your brothers.”

  Adrian gave her his warm, wicked smile. “Why do you think I said you were worth the price? So I could do this as much as I wanted.”

  He moved her thighs apart again, pulling her to him and sinking his thumbs in the moisture that met him. “So I could taste you as much as I wanted.”