Moon of Fire

by Aliyah Burke

  “Spanking could be fun.” Her body wasn’t cooperating with her direction to move. “Who’s here?”

  “Don’t change the subject.”

  Was there a subject? “Okay, what’s the subject?”

  “The fact you left to face this alone. What the fuck were you thinking? Hell, were you even thinking?”

  His voice grew hard yet his touch remained gentle upon her injured and healing body.

  “I love you, Dray. Do not ever do anything like that again. We’re in this together. All the way. Two parts of the singular whole.”

  Why am I healed so much? This is as if Cale were here. “My swords?” The noise out in the other room worried her.

  “Tell me you love me.”

  He angled her head so they were staring into each other’s eyes. His dark forest green ones now had definite gray streaks running through them. Most definitely like a tiger’s camouflage stripes.

  “I love you,” she said easily. “Are you okay?”

  He narrowed his eyes. “No, you almost died. Hell, you did die. Even Cale isn’t sure how he managed to bring you back.”

  “Cale? Cale’s here?”

  “We’re all here.” Cale spoke from the doorway.

  She sliced her gaze to the figures piling into the room. Roz and Aminta ran to her, tears in their eyes.

  They both talked at once, each kissing her cheek. Luc never moved, his warm body lay pressed against her, giving her his strength and support.

  “Give her some room,” he ordered, splaying his hand over her belly. The move asserted his claim over her.

  She was his now. That was obvious, and he was making sure the others understood it.

  Her shields were still up, keeping her brethren out of her thoughts. She met each gaze with unflinching steadfastness. They might be pissed at her, but she would do it all again.

  To her left, Tiarnán stood, his hazel eyes focused on her. She couldn’t read the emotions in them aside from the anger glinting there. That wasn’t a surprise. At his side was a woman she’d never met but figured she was his mate. A slight glow came from the flame pinpricks dancing along the woman’s strands of dark hair.

  Luc brought her attention back to him with a graze of fingertips along her chin.

  “I was going to leave you to face them alone, but I don’t want to.”

  Her gratitude for his behavior could be expressed later. She captured his hand, allowing him to lace their fingers. She glanced over the group once more, finishing with Tiarnán and said, “This is Luc.”

  Luc tightened his grip on her fingers briefly, showing without words his support. “Nice to meet you,” he said.

  “We need to talk to her,” the tall man with hazel eyes said.

  “So talk,” Luc replied. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “What the fuck, Dracen?” he bit off. “What were you thinking? And why the hell did I get word from Altair about you?” The anger in the man was so apparent he pretty much vibrated with it.

  Dracen rubbed her chest lightly, wincing slightly. “I asked him to keep my leaving a secret, so don’t you dare try to take it out on him. I’m not twelve anymore and don’t need your permission to leave the vineyard, Tiarnán. I had to go.”

  “Perhaps we could do introductions before we start fighting,” one of the women said as she twirled one of her curls around a finger. “I’ll start. I’m Roz. This is Aminta. That there is Cale, his mate Taylor. Then is Calida and Tiarnán. Billy is there with Mal at his side. Dex is behind Aminta, and this one beside me is Altair. It’s nice to meet you, Luc. So glad to meet the final Guardian’s mate.” She approached and kissed his cheek. “Thank you for saving her.”

  “You don’t think stumbling onto an entrance was worth her calling us in?” Tiarnán snapped.

  “We’ve all done things which, with hindsight, could have been handled better,” Roz ground out, glaring at him.

  “Excuse me,” Calida said, her voice soft. “I am going to get something to drink.” She slipped out and Luc noticed the way Tiarnán tracked her with his gaze.

  “You almost died, Dracen,” the Asian said, nearing the bed. “Tiarnán is just as concerned as the rest of us.”

  “How’s Lian?” she asked, her fingers tightening around his.

  Mal shook her head and stepped forward. “He’s fading. You need to get back and see him. I don’t know what else to do for him.”

  “We have the artifact so it needs to be taken to be united with the others.” Dracen’s tone was still weak.

  “You do? Where is it?” Cale asked this question.

  “Luc?” Dracen glanced at him.

  He gestured to the black bag in the chair. “Back zipper.”

  Aminta went to it and withdrew the red jade masher. He recalled the amount of heat that had slammed him the first time they’d both touched it. Dracen brushed her thumb along his skin, telling him she was thinking about it as well.

  “Where’d you find it?”

  He focused on the woman in bed with him, grateful she lived. He wanted to put all of them out of the room and spend some one-on-one time alone with her. He realized it wasn’t going to happen because they were going to be leaving. She finished up the story and Aminta left with Dex to go fuel the chopper.

  “Luc.”

  He snapped his eyes over to the woman with the Scottish accent. “Yes?”

  “I need to look over your injuries once more. If we can move to the living room while I do that?”

  “I’ll be right back,” he whispered before kissing Dracen. Then he followed the doctor out into the main room of the cabin.

  Calida stood by the sink and stared out of the window. He noted the red hinting along her hair and gave her a small smile when she looked at him.

  “Everything okay?” he asked her.

  “Fine. How did the two of you meet?”

  “I was deposited in a spot where she would find me.”

  She arched an eyebrow at his wording. Luc shrugged it off—it’s what had happened. He took off his shirt at Mal’s insistence and sat on the chair while she looked over his healing injuries.

  “Deposited?” Calida approached.

  “Yes. Just kind of ended up there, out of it, and confused when Dracen found me.”

  “And how long ago did you find your artifact?”

  “About three hours before I called Altair.”

  “So you didn’t know you were mates before then? I thought you’d been together for a few weeks now.”

  “I knew, she was a bit more skeptical.”

  Mal chuckled. “Of course you did. You strike me as the type who knows exactly what he wants. Arms up, please.”

  He complied. “We grew close as we headed up to this place.”

  “How did you survive out in the cold with her?” Calida sipped some more of her drink.

  “I was in the Special Forces, been a lot of different places and learned how to adapt. We had a tent and food. We were fine.”

  Mal grunted. “You’re healing well. I saw you had taken to carrying weapons around as well, not just guns.”

  “Yes.”

  “We’re done. I want to check the stitches once more in a few days but otherwise, you’re fine. Healing remarkably well.” She sliced her gaze to Calida. “Like someone else had before.” She snapped off her gloves while he put on his shirt. “So, what is your thing?”

  He lifted his eyebrows. “My thing?”

  Calida snickered and Mal glanced between them. “I mucked that up, didn’t I? You know what I mean, Calida. You have the pinpricks of flame, I have the ribbons of light. His thing.”

  “She means what is displayed when both of you touch the artifact.”

  He nodded. “I see. I was concerned we’d just met and you were asking me about my thing.”

  She smacked his arm and hid her face.

  “Silver mist.”

  “Cool.” The women shared a look. “Can you imagine what they will all look when together.”

>   Mal’s statement got a nod from Calida.

  “What’s everyone else’s thing?”

  Mal muttered and said something he assumed to be less than polite in a language he couldn’t understand.

  “Like she said, mine is the pinpricks of flame and hers is ribbons of light, like the northern lights. Cale’s is rainbow sparks, Roz and Altair have bolts of lightning, and Roz has diamond dust. But if all the parts are supposed to join and create the key for unlocking the hope of the world, I wonder what it’s going to look like.”

  “What’s what going to look like?”

  Luc turned to see the others, aside from Roz, come into the room.

  Calida smirked. “Oh, we’re just talking about his thing.”

  All the men gazed at him, eyebrows up. Meeting Calida’s stare, he saw the humor lingering there and shrugged his shoulders before standing. “What can I say, women want to know. My thing is just that impressive.”

  “Keep it to yourself,” Tiarnán growled, positioning himself by Calida.

  Luc didn’t answer, just opted to walk back into the room where he paused. Mist surrounded both women and he wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, so he waited.

  Moments later, it faded and Roz looked at him, tears in her eyes. “I’ll give you two a moment alone.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Luc held Dracen’s hand as they settled into the seats in the private jet Aminta had flown up to Canada. She’d rented a helicopter to swing deep into the Boundary Waters and pick them up, but now they’d been transferred back into the jet.

  “Is there anything she can’t fly?” His question streamed along her cheek before he pressed his lips there, briefly.

  “If there is, I don’t know what it is.”

  “You’re tense.”

  “Just uneasy,” she whispered back. “Now that all the artifacts are found, there is no telling when things will start.”

  “Pretty sure we’re going to be safe up here in the sky.”

  Her laugh wasn’t entirely honest. They would attack anywhere if they so desired. “Get some sleep,” she said. “I know you have been up watching over me until they arrived.”

  “I wasn’t about to lose you.”

  His words did things to her insides that she didn’t want to focus on currently. “Sleep. Mal is on the flight and so is Cale, so I’m covered on both sides.”

  He stretched in his chair, kissed the back of her hand, and didn’t argue when she covered him with a blanket. She stared at him for a while, mesmerizing the harsh angles of his face. His lashes rested upon his cheeks and looked tipped in silver. I’d not noticed that before.

  She didn’t move until she was confident he was fully asleep. Only then did she push up slowly from her seat, trying not to wince at the pain in her chest. Everyone watched her as she moved through the plane to the small kitchen. She fixed herself a cup of coffee and paused in stirring the sugar.

  “Say what’s on your mind, Tiarnán.”

  “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you were leaving.”

  “Get over it.”

  “I watched you get stabbed, you know.”

  She turned and found him looming, as he always did, over her. His famous scowl in place. “You did what?”

  “I saw the blade go through your chest. In a dream. I also saw a dragon over you, protecting you.”

  Only Luc knows about what I believed I saw. “I’m sorry you were scared, but there’s nothing else I can do about it. I did what I felt best.”

  “We’ve never kept apart like this. I could always reach you. What’s going on?”

  She turned back to her coffee and slipped her fingers around the mug before facing him once more. “A lot more than I’m ready to talk about yet. Give me some time, Tiarnán. A lot’s happened and I have to work through it myself.”

  A muscle clenched in his jaw and she waited for the explosion of his anger. He composed his features, gave her a sharp nod, then walked away without another word.

  That’s new.

  Something had changed between them. She wasn’t sure what to feel about that as she tracked him to the seat he took beside Calida. That woman glanced between Dracen and the man at her side before opening a book and burying her face in it.

  Dracen was headed back to her seat when Cale stepped in her way. She sipped some of the hot brew, waiting in silence. Her remorse was extreme yet she couldn’t excuse what she’d done, given as she’d believed it best. Even so, her stomach felt hard and churned with the nausea of betrayal. Perhaps it had been a poor decision.

  “How are you feeling?”

  She met his gaze. “Sore as hell. Thanks for saving me.”

  His eyes were cold. “It’s my job.”

  She couldn’t miss the anger in that statement. “Perhaps, but thanks just the same.”

  “You could have told us.”

  “I didn’t.”

  “You could have.”

  “I know.”

  “Fine.” He walked back to his seat and drew Taylor to him.

  Despite being back with her family, she almost felt more alone than ever. Except for Luc. But currently he slept. She walked back to her seat and slowly took it, noting how the others ignored her. Their cold shoulders she could handle. Lian’s, not so much.

  Dracen drank and stared out of the small window as the clouds and the landscape whisked by below her. She pressed her lips together in a slight grimace as she finished her coffee. Holding the empty mug by the handle, she pressed another hand to her chest, the pain there more than just from healing injuries.

  “You okay?”

  She looked across from her to find Mal sitting there with Billy, watching her from a distance. “Yes, Cale just checked on me.”

  “I know he did. But I also know he can be judgmental and a pain in the arse.”

  A small smile flickered over her mouth. “He has every right to be.”

  She glared. “No, he doesn’t. In fact, none of them do.” Her pointed look was directed to her mate before she refocused back on Dracen.

  “What?”

  “Please, they’ve all done things without telling everyone about it, so to act like you’re the only one who’s committed such a transgression is shameful, and all of them deserve to have their arses beat.” Mal pitched her voice to carry to the people further back in the plane.

  “They have the right to feel how they do.”

  “They’re all being sanctimonious bastards, if you ask me. This is not the time for you to be fighting amongst yourselves because of an imagined slight. All the artifacts are together, so should you be. Nothing else matters aside from the fact you are fine, you have your mate and your artifact. Billy was alone in Scotland to find his. Aminta was up in some remote spot in Alaska. So what if you went to Canada without telling anyone? You’re not a child. They’re acting like kids and it disgusts me.”

  She reached out to cover Dracen’s knee. “I’m here if you need me to check on your injuries. I’m going to go sit by myself because my mate doesn’t deserve my presence.” She walked away.

  “I like her, a lot.” Luc turned his head and gave her a smile.

  “Go back to sleep.”

  “Hard to sleep with that sexy Scottish brogue going on around me.” He winked. “Up for joining the mile-high club?”

  Her smile was sad. “No,” she said, turning the mug in her hand. “I’m tired.” And she was—her body clamored for more sleep.

  “I know you are, Dray. Just waiting for you to admit it. Come here.”

  She curled up next to him, the pain in her chest lessening as his arms settled familiarly around her.

  * * * *

  She slept the majority of the flight back, eventually stretching out with Luc in Lian’s quarters. There were no more confrontations, she kept to herself. Once they landed at the vineyard and were in her room, she stood by the door dressed in clean clothes.

  “You know he’s waiting.”

  She nodded at Luc’s
statement. “I know.”

  A knock came and she drew open the door to find Roz standing there. “I came to do your hair. Mal said it would be hard for you.” She canted her head to the side. “Hi, Luc.”

  “Roz.”

  “Come on in.” She sat on her large settee as Roz moved behind her and snagged a brush.

  “Settling in okay?”

  Dracen closed her eyes as Roz began stroking it through her hair.

  “Haven’t seen much, but yes.” Luc’s calm voice settled around her, relaxing her.

  “Remember when you used to do this for me, Dracen? It was when I first arrived.”

  “I remember.”

  “You were the big sister I’d never had but always wanted.” She began the French braid. “I loved when you would do this for me. One of those rare times when I managed to take you from Tiarnán.”

  “Yes, I recall those nights. You wanted ice cream.”

  “I have a shameless sweet tooth.”

  Dracen appreciated how Roz kept Luc in the conversation.

  “Anyway,” Roz continued, “just wondered if you remembered those days.”

  “I do.”

  “There you go. You go talk to Lian and I’ll take Luc here to the kitchen since dinner is about to start. May as well throw him in with the chaos from the beginning.”

  Dracen rose slowly, ensuring to hide her wince of pain. “Okay. Thank you, you know, for doing my hair.”

  “I won’t bite him…hard.” Roz backed away and shoved her hands in her pockets as she rocked back on her canvas shoes. “We can continue this discussion about his thing.”

  One eyebrow arched, she turned her attention to Luc, who’d taken on a lovely shade of pink. “You’re out of your league with her, Luc. Don’t try to match her.”

  “Noted,” he replied.

  He ranked a hand over his hair then strode to her, expression serious and burning her with its intensity. He placed his hand over her chest, tenderly. “You need me, Dray, you call.” Luc leaned forward and took possession of her mouth.

  She whimpered and sank into him, allowing him to hold her up. He drew away, slowly, pulling on her lower lip until it popped free from his grip. Eyes hot, he walked to the door.