“I was nine years old. I was with my aunt, Desondra—”
“Desondra is your aunt?” she asked, obviously surprised.
“Yes.” He was pleased to see a little bit of awareness return to her. “She was always totally cool—as Cady would so blithely put it. I liked spending time with her. Anyway, I was with Desondra when it happened. My mother was a Council member and my father was out guarding the Gates. Desondra and I were making tents out of bed sheets in her sitting room—”
Steffy laughed. “I did that when I was little, too.”
“And we were crawling around beneath them when all of a sudden the sheets just went up in flames. I remember my skin felt so itchy and swollen and hot and then—Poof!—there were flames all around me.”
“What did you do?”
“Well, I freaked out,” he admitted. “My father had sensed that I would be an Incinerator but I never really gave any thought to it, so I was more than a little surprised when it happened.” He’d never shared the embarrassing tale with anyone—Desondra had always been the one to torture him with the telling. “I screamed like a little girl and starting beating at the flames. But when I did that, flames shot out of my hands and the fire just got worse. Desondra was caught in the middle. Her hair singed completely away until there was only stubble left, but other than that the flames didn’t seem to hurt her. I didn’t know it then, but she was protected from the fire mostly because I had enough control over the fire’s magic to keep her safe. I’m thankful for that now.” He thought of the earlier explosion of fire and was doubly thankful that Steffy hadn’t been hurt by his loss of control.
He’d been just as shocked as she by the results of his unleashed power.
And to think, he hadn’t even completely let go of his tight hold on control. He shuddered to think what might happen if he ever gave in and tested the full extent of his power. Tryton had been at him for years to attempt such a thing…but he had refused such an experiment. Quite simply, he didn’t want to know what he was capable of.
“How did you put the fire out?”
“Tryton came bursting through the room, raised his arms, and a rain shower appeared over our heads and put out the flames. Desondra and I sat in a mess of water and charred sheets looking like a couple of drowned rats. I thought for sure I was in deep shit, but after a few minutes Tryton burst into laughter. It was the first time I’d ever seen him laugh. I didn’t know what to think.”
Steffy smiled but he was glad that she refrained from laughing. He couldn’t bear the sound of her coughing just then.
“Desondra didn’t speak to me for a whole month, but once her hair started growing back she forgave me. And in the meantime, Tryton had me training under one of the Incinerators so that I could learn a little control over my power. Dear Desondra loves to tell the story at gatherings, just to embarrass me. She forgave me, but she didn’t forget.”
“You had a good childhood,” Steffy said with a gentle grin.
Cinder gritted his teeth at the memory of her words regarding her own childhood. When the danger to them was passed…he’d be visiting her father. Not that he’d be telling her his intentions. He doubted she’d want to hear the details of what he would do to the bastard. Or approve of them.
Better to keep that black business to himself. And The Traveler who would, no doubt, help him locate the man when the time came.
“The best. We Shikars take care of our own. Our families are the most important thing to us.”
“And after family comes the safety of mankind.”
“Yes.” He’d never seen it as so noble an endeavor, but when she said it that way it made his heart swell with pride.
“What about your parents? Tell me about them.”
“They passed from the living world. Together, as it was meant to be. When I was fifty. A long while ago…though I miss them still.”
They were silent for long moments. The city loomed ahead. Steffy looked over at him and his heart quailed at what he saw there.
“I’m dying, Cin,” she said simply.
“No,” he ground out harshly. “No you’re not. I won’t let you.”
“Something’s broken inside me. But it doesn’t hurt.” She seemed compelled to reassure him of that. “It’s okay.”
“You’ll be fine…” His voice broke. He tightened his fingers on the steering wheel and sped the truck up. “We’ll get you to a healer.”
“No. No doctors. No hospitals. I don’t want to die in a strange place. Take me home.”
“I can’t heal you, Steffy. I haven’t the skill. You need a healer.”
“No doctor can help me.” The words were spoken with a gentle finality.
“I won’t let you die,” he choked out. “Just hold on until I can get you to a clinic or something.”
“Don’t be sad, Cin. It’s not your fault. It’s mine. I shouldn’t have gone out tonight. It was stupid. Sorry.”
“And you can be sure that I’ll spank you silly for that once you’re better. But I promise you’ll like it…if you’ll just hold on for me now.”
“I like you a lot, Cinder. You’re very cool.” She breathed a gentle laugh. “You need to know that. Don’t feel bad for me, ‘kay?” She coughed a little. Weakly. “Take me home,” she sighed.
He would take her home. How could he not? He knew, though he refused to accept it, that she was just too hurt for any human healer to help her.
Ten minutes later he was carrying her up the stairs to her apartment. Bloody coughs wracked her frame until she trembled. But there was nothing for either of them to do. Cinder sent comforting warmth into her, hoping it could help to lessen some of her pain, fighting against tears of hopelessness that threatened to unman him.
He kicked open the door to her home and nearly dropped her in surprise.
The Traveler reached out to both of them, laying his hands with gentle care on Steffy’s brow, and took them home.
Chapter Fifteen
Cinder paced the length of his bedroom for what must have been the ten thousandth time. He glanced into the mirror that stood against the wall before his bed, taking in the scene behind him with a wince. Steffy seemed so small in his massive bed. It didn’t help that two tall Shikars towered over her as she lay there.
“Why is it taking so long?” he muttered.
“It’s taking both Obsidian’s skills and Agate’s to do this. She’s pretty banged up,” Cady said gently.
It had been well over an hour since The Traveler had brought them here before going to retrieve their most talented healers—Obsidian and Agate. How The Traveler had known to come for them in that moment, Cinder hadn’t asked. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know. The idea of The Traveler having such a strong connection to him or Steffy was an alarming one.
The Traveler was too powerful for his own good and it made Cinder uneasy at the best of times.
Obsidian’s hand on his shoulder startled him. He’d been too occupied with his own thoughts to notice his friend coming upon him. That had never happened before and was telling to just how much Steffy’s well being had come to matter to him.
The sorrow in Obsidian’s eyes sent a shard of ice through his heart. He didn’t want to hear what his friend had to say.
“We can’t help her,” Obsidian whispered.
“No. You have to help her,” Cinder gritted out.
“We’ve tried, Agate and I both. But her body is human…humans are frail, tender creatures. You know that. Their bodies don’t repair themselves as easily as ours do. I’m sorry.”
Cinder reached out and grabbed Obsidian’s shirt by the laces at his throat. “Get back over there and help her, damn it.”
Obsidian’s eyes glittered dangerously. “If you weren’t my friend, I would kick your ass for so much as touching me in anger,” he said softly.
Cady rushed to separate them. “Cinder didn’t mean any offense, hon. Let it go.”
“I am sorry, my friend. Her human body is too wounded to h
eal. I am sorry.” Obsidian’s voice had gentled once more.
Cinder choked and was startled to feel the fiery burn of his tears sizzle down his cheeks. “There has to be something…she can’t just die. Not like this. Not now.”
The Traveler appeared quietly, stealthily beside them. Like a ghost. “There might be a slight chance to save her, still.” His face, as always, was shrouded in the black cowl he wore, but Cinder could have sworn he saw something there. Something he’d never expected to see in his life.
“Grimm?” he whispered, beyond shock.
The Traveler took a swift step back, distancing himself from Cinder’s discovery. But Cinder knew—simply knew—that he was standing in the presence of a legend. The Traveler was Grimm…and had been all along. Did Tryton know? Of course he had to, it was no doubt why he conferred so closely with The Traveler. But why keep his identity a secret?
He pulled himself away from the shocking revelation and focused on the moment at hand. “What can be done to save her? I’ll do everything I can to help.”
“It isn’t up to you, Cinder,” The Traveler said in his beautiful, dark voice. “The choice will be Steffy’s.”
“You mean to bring her over? To make her one of us?” Cady breathed in wonder, realizing what Grimm intended before the others could grasp the situation.
“Well, Cinder will do the honors, of course.” Grimm said dryly. “But I will be here to try and keep her safe. And of course, I won’t do anything if Steffy decides not to choose this path.”
“But I’ll have to lay with her to bring her over,” Cinder said, shocked at the idea. “She’s too injured for such a thing.”
“If she chooses to do this, I can keep her pain from her. She will feel only pleasure. I will let no harm come to her.”
“I can’t do that. I can’t be with her while she’s hurt…”
“Then she will die.” Grimm said it as calmly as he might have said the sky was blue.
“Don’t you say that, damn you! Don’t talk about her as if her life were unimportant.”
“She’s just a human. When she dies a hundred more will be born to take her place.”
Cinder didn’t stop to think at how pointedly goading, how deliberately insulting Grimm’s words were.
“She’s not just any human, you son of a bitch. She’s my woman! And I won’t let her die. I can’t.”
“Then you’ll do what must be done to save her.”
“Yes, damn you. I’ll do it. I’d do anything to save her.”
“Leave us,” The Traveler commanded the others in the room. Within moments, Cinder and Steffy were alone with Grimm, the legend.
He walked over to the bed and sat beside Steffy upon it. He tucked a wild tangle of pink hair back over her brow. “If we can bring her over to us, her body will still need to be healed of its physical wounds. Her Shikar body will be easily repaired by Obsidian or Agate. But…already she walks in shadow, hand-in-hand with Death. We haven’t much time to save her. “
Cinder joined him and almost cried out at the look of pale death on Steffy’s face. “Hurry, then.”
“I will do what I can, just as you will. But Cinder.” Grimm pulled the cowl back down from his face, revealing the star-lit black eyes—Traveler eyes—that seemed able to look down into Cinder’s soul and uncover every hidden secret that lay there. “I can promise you nothing. Do you understand? Even I am not sure what will come of what we do here.”
In other words, they were flying by the seat of their pants.
“Thank you. For trying.” It took a lot of effort to get the words past his numb lips.
The Traveler bent down by Steffy’s ear and began to whisper words that Cinder could not hear. And even if he could he probably wouldn’t have understood the most ancient and primitive tongue of his own people.
Words that were several thousand years old.
As old as Grimm himself.
* * * * *
“Would you live, Steffy? Would you live as one of us?” The words were in a tongue she didn’t recognize…but her soul understood them and that was the most important thing, she supposed.
“I’m tired.” She spoke the only truth she really knew.
“I know. You are dying. But you can live if you wish it. Not as a human but as a Shikar.”
“I’m not a Shikar.”
“You can be, if you but wish it.”
“How?” Hope was something she was too weak, too tired to feel. But it was there, all the same, waiting for her to rally her will enough to grasp it.
“Cinder’s seed can change you. Can bring you over into our world.”
“His seed?”
“His sperm. He could lay with you now, could make love to you now, and you would have a chance at a new life.”
“But I’m hurt. I can’t…”
“You can. And you will feel pleasure. I’ll see to that, if you’ll trust me.”
“I don’t want to die.” She admitted it freely, knowing that the man who spoke to her in so beautiful a voice would never see the admission as a sign of weakness or cowardice.
“Then I will do all that is within my power to keep you alive. But you may hate me for saving you, eventually.”
“No. I won’t hate you. I could never hate you.” His voice wrapped her up in soothing comfort. How could she ever hate the owner of such a magical voice? How could she do anything but trust and love and revere such a being?
“I hope you speak the truth, little one. Now lie back and feel no more pain. No pain, only pleasure.”
No pain…no pain…no pain. The words whispered through her mind over and over again until there was no pain. Only a tranquil darkness that ate at the cruel edges of the world, keeping her safe from harm. Safe from death.
* * * * *
Grimm’s black eyes met Cinder’s. “She will feel only the pleasure of your embrace. But I must stay and hold her spirit anchored within her body or we’ll lose her.” He rose and positioned himself behind the head of the bed. He dipped one finger into the blood that still seeped from the many wounds on her body and raised it to his lips. He inhaled the scent deeply, licked the essence of her lifeblood from his fingers and looked to Cinder. “I have her scent; she will not escape us. I won’t let her escape us.” He cupped his hands around Steffy’s head, was silent for a long moment, then looked up at Cinder and nodded his head.
“It is time. Her life is in your hands now, my friend.”
Chapter Sixteen
Cinder’s hand’s shook as they cupped her breasts. She hadn’t even noticed when he’d taken her clothes off. Had she been asleep? She felt weighty, dreamy. Out of touch with reality. Perhaps she had slept.
“Nervous?” she asked him, teasing.
His eyes shot up to hers and held something that looked like surprise. “Aren’t you?”
“No, silly. Though I guess you’re virile enough to unnerve me.” She laughed softly and was pleased with how seductive it sounded, even to her ears. “At least a little.”
Cinder looked up over her head as if he saw something there. She followed his gaze above the bed but saw only shadows. They were in his room, in his Shikar home. She wondered for a lazy moment how they’d gotten there, but the thought slid over her mind before it could take hold of anything. It didn’t matter how they’d come, only that they were together.
“What are you looking at?” she asked, stroking her hands down the rippling muscles of his chest and stomach.
“Can’t you…can’t you see?”
“See what?” She laughed. “What’s wrong, silly?”
His eyes roved over her features, as if it were the last time he’d ever see her face. “Nothing. Nothing’s wrong.”
His words sounded like a lie…but try as she might she couldn’t wonder why. Her mind seemed content to wander away from such a potentially dangerous topic, focusing instead on Cinder’s nude body as it glistened and burned over hers.
His lips whispered over her brow, searing her whe
re they touched until she was squirming with growing arousal. It seemed forever that he pressed light, gentle kisses over her face and neck before settling at last on her mouth. He tasted heavenly to her starving lips. It seemed an age had passed since their last kiss.
And he was so gentle!
Cinder was never one for gentleness. Had always been a rough and demanding lover in her bed. But now he held her with such fierce tenderness that it brought tears to her eyes. He seemed to cherish each kiss, each caress, as if determined to let her know how precious she was to him. Oh, how deeply she loved him for it.
And she knew without a doubt that she would love him forever.
His hands were like the brush of a warm wind over the curves and slopes of her body. Her skin tingled deliciously. Her nipples tightened and swelled as his palms slid over her in long, sweeping strokes. He was petting her from head to toe, starting with her hair and ending with massaging strokes at the soles of her feet. Before long, as she sighed and stretched beneath his magical hands, he seemed to grow easier, less desperately tender in his loving.
His hair was a cool shock to her fevered flesh when he bent his head close enough for her to feel it. The stabbing pebble of her nipple slipped against his hot lips when she arched up against him. Her fingers kneaded into the broad expanse of his shoulders, squeezing and testing the resilience of his tightly muscled flesh.
“You’re so damn sexy,” she moaned.
His eyes twinkled down into hers and a boyish grin split the overly serious contours of his face. “You’re pretty sexy yourself…I guess,” he teased.
She leaned up and bit his lip lightly as punishment. “You guess?” she said with a feigned pout. Shamelessly she rubbed the hot mound of her sex against the hard rise of his.
“No. Not sexy. More than that.”
“What then?” she coaxed.
“Severely, deliciously fuckable,” he growled, and took her lips in a deep kiss, licking against her tongue with his.
The giggle that bubbled from her mouth into his blurred into a moan as his fingers rolled one of her nipples between them with stunning expertise. He was a magician when it came to her body. He seemed to know exactly what she liked, when she would like it, and just how much of it she could take before exploding into a thousand points of light.
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