Sacred Wrath

by Kristie Cook

  We sped down the country roads, leaving the newborns behind. Again. This whole conversion thing and building our army was proving to be harder than I expected. Charlotte had been so busy with conversions the last couple of years, I thought it would be easy enough. One here and another two there had kept her and the safe houses busy and nicely full, but they weren’t enough now. Not at the rate the Daemoni were turning norms. Especially when they kept ambushing us.

  We had been cloaked and shielded in the church. How did the Daemoni even know we were there? How did they know to set the trap at that particular location?

  Chapter 14

  Foul mood didn’t begin to describe how I felt by the time we arrived back at the familiar house in Atlanta. I had to reign in all of my self-control to keep from punching something.

  “Aikido?” Tristan asked as I stomped into the kitchen with him right behind me.

  I glanced around the room—at the natural gas stove I had rarely ever cooked on but now missed so much, the granite-topped island, the décor that was still in the neutral beiges and browns Mom favored. She’d decorated it, after all, since I hadn’t cared much about what my home looked like at the time. And now here stood Tristan, the one piece that had been missing in those days. And even so, life remained incomplete. Probably always would be. Our lives would always be fu—

  “It will help you relax,” Tristan said when I hadn’t replied.

  I shrugged off my backpack and leather jacket and draped them over the back of a wooden chair at the kitchen table. “Yeah. Sounds good.”

  He followed me out the rear door to the backyard. We walked around the pool reflecting the twilight sky and into the grass under the tall oak trees. And I went on the attack.

  Tristan took every punch and kick I threw at him, but didn’t do much in the way of fighting back. I danced around him, and my gaze traveled over to the back fence, where two years ago I’d thought I’d seen him standing there watching me—where I had seen him but didn’t believe it—during my last days at this house. Emotions other than anger tried to break through and take over my heart. So I swung harder at Tristan as I reminded myself of why I hadn’t believed it was him at the time. Why he’d been gone so long. Who had held him captive. Who held our son now. Tristan deflected the punches easily. I threw all my force into a roundhouse kick, and he parried it.

  “Fight back,” I growled at him, and knowing what I needed, he did. Everything I did became fiercer than the move before it as the fury swelled again, and I embraced it. I took the beating he gave me, and I delivered it right back to him.

  “Stop,” he finally said as he grabbed me around the waist from behind, pinning my arms against my body. I squirmed against his hold.

  “No.”

  “This is supposed to be relaxing, and you’re not relaxing. If anything, you’re getting more worked up.”

  “Good. That’s what I need.”

  He held me tighter, his breaths lifting his chest against my shoulder blades. “Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.”

  I fell still. “What the hell do you think? I’m pissed at them for taking Dorian, but that’s okay. I need to be. I want to be.”

  “It’s more than that. You’ve been harboring anger for weeks.” His cheek pressed against mine, his tangy-sweet scent wafting into my nose and mouth as his breath tickled my lips. “What else, ma lykita? What else is wrong?”

  I huffed. “Oh, I don’t know. Let’s see. My protector—the guy who’s like a brother to me—betrayed us. We haven’t made any progress in finding Dorian, probably because they have a cloak on him, which means we’ll never be able to locate him, let alone rescue him because we don’t have a mage strong enough to break through. We’ve converted a whole four people in the last week, which is nothing compared to the number of humans the Daemoni have infected in the Atlanta area alone, but it doesn’t matter because even if we converted three times as many, we still wouldn’t compare, and we don’t have a place to put them all anyway.” I inhaled a deep breath before continuing. “Blossom and Jax seem to have something going on, but we don’t get a chance to talk about such normal things, and what’s the point when we’re in the midst of what could become World War III, which will be unlike any war this world has seen? And you and I . . . shit, Tristan. The stone hasn’t worked yet in giving us a daughter, but it’s not like we’ve had much chance to let it work.”

  “Ah.” His arms released me only for his hands to clamp on my shoulders and turn me around to face him, and then he pulled me in closer. “I understand.”

  I studied his face before falling into his stunning eyes, the gold sparkling beautifully at the moment. My brow furrowed. “You understand what?”

  “Everything.” The corners of his lips tipped up in a sexy smirk. “But mostly, I understand exactly what you need.” His head dipped down, and his lips pressed against my neck. “You’re sexually frustrated.”

  I snorted. “Possibly. Okay, very much probably. But I think it’s the least of my problems.”

  “Maybe.” His mouth opened slightly, and his tongue swept over the sensitive spot under my ear. “But it’s one problem I can solve right this very minute.”

  I steadied my legs as my knees began to quiver. “Right this minute?”

  “Well,” he sucked on my ear lobe, and he may as well have sucked in a very different place, as it had the same effect, “over the next many minutes. Maybe hours, but I don’t think you can last that long.”

  I chuckled, the sound husky as my body responded to his hands, which had drifted down my arms and fell to my waist, his long fingers sliding under the waistband of my leathers. He grasped my hips and pulled me up against him so my breasts pressed against his hard chest, and his erection pressed against my belly. He kissed his way along my jaw until his mouth finally reached mine.

  “Unfortunately, under the circumstances, I don’t think you can solve this problem,” I said against his lips. He sucked my bottom one into his mouth, scraping his teeth over it before letting go.

  “What circumstances?”

  I let out a sigh. “My issues? Too many people here? The whole reason I’m frustrated in the first place?”

  His tongue swept out, over my lips, into my mouth. I met it with my own, practically losing myself in the kiss. My mind opened wide.

  “What people?” Tristan asked, feeling me inside his head.

  I realized for the first time there were no mind signatures around. Not in or around the house, anyway. There were some down the block, in the other homes in the neighborhood, but they all belonged to norms.

  Where is everyone?

  “You were so mad, you didn’t notice they stayed at the safe house.”

  We carried on the conversation even as he continued kissing me senseless. Seriously? Why?

  “We have a couple of hours to ourselves. I may have made a special request.”

  For the first time in weeks—probably since Rina gave her approval to search for Dorian—my heart skipped with pleasure.

  Have I told you lately how much I love you?

  “Why don’t you show me?”

  In answer, I deepened the kiss while pressing my body tighter against his, eliminating any air between us. I raised my hands to his neck and dug my fingers into his hair, pulling his mouth closer to mine. One of his hands remained on my hip while the other slid down to my butt and lifted. I wrapped my legs around him, and we continued kissing as he carried me inside.

  As soon as we reached the bedroom, I dropped my legs and extricated myself from his arms. I missed them already, missed the heat of his body against mine, but we had too many clothes on. Way too many clothes on. Tristan’s shirt came off first, followed by my corset, then our boots and leather pants.

  Our hands and mouths were all over each other, kissing and caressing and playing, enjoying such a rare occasion of time alone. We needed this, this time to bond, to feel our hearts beating as one again, to remind our souls we were in this tog
ether. We were together in everything. Forever. And together, we would conquer.

  For now, we only had to conquer ourselves. Our lust. Our primal need for each other.

  As Tristan’s mouth returned to mine and his hands slid over my back, I pressed mine on his chest and gently pushed him, walking him backwards until his legs hit the bed. He sat down and pulled me between his thighs until my breasts were at his mouth level. His hands explored my back and butt and thighs as his tongue lingered over my nipple, licking and twirling and flicking before pulling it into his mouth. One hand moved to my other breast, caressing, massaging, and then grasping as the other hand slid between my legs. His teeth grazed the hard ball of my nipple at the same time he slipped a finger inside me.

  I arched my back, sweeping my hands down my sides and to my front, where I found him big and hard. He groaned against my breast when I took him in my hands, and he sucked harder as I stroked him. The feeling of his finger inside, curling and stroking, combined with the pleasure I gave him made the fire in my belly burst.

  “I want you,” I panted. “I want all of you. Inside me.”

  He pulled back. Grabbed both of my wrists with one hand and tugged them off of him. Raised them over my head.

  “Nuh-uh,” he said as he stood, then turned us around. “This night is all about you.”

  He gently pushed my arms backwards until my body had to follow, and I lay on the bed, my butt on the edge, my feet barely touching the floor. He kneeled in front of me. I quivered in anticipation. He kissed my lower belly, made lazy circles with his tongue on the sensitive skin where my thigh met my pelvis. His hands slid under my thighs, pushed them up and out. And finally . . . oh god, finally . . . his tongue dipped down. And he lapped and twirled and sucked while his fingers filled me, pumping and stroking until I screamed his name with utter release as the first orgasm washed over me.

  “Now.” I panted. “Please.”

  “Not yet.”

  He continued to tease and excite and arouse me as my muscles convulsed and another wave took me under. I called out his name, begging for him to fill me, screaming when he didn’t relent. But then finally, slowly, he moved his way up, his mouth exploring every inch of my skin, and my body jerked and arched, waiting for him to finally slide inside. And then we were everywhere with each other. Our bodies moving with each other, against each other, bucking and riding, thrusting and rocking. We played our favorite games, used our powers to tease each other to the edge, hit roll after roll after roll of climax until we were completely shattered.

  Then we lay naked in each other’s arms for the first time in ages, our bodies spent but our souls full.

  “Still frustrated?” Tristan whispered, his breath hot and tangy-sweet against my cheek.

  “You did take care of that problem,” I said with a smile. “For now anyway.”

  If only our other problems were so easily solvable.

  My mind expanded, sweeping over the neighborhood, the area, the city, stretching beyond its normal limits, while staying connected with Blossom’s mind. Hundreds of thousands of little energy pricks wavered around us—mind signatures. We’d discovered the cover of night made this easier, when most norms were sleeping. I could always pick out Dorian’s signature, whether he was sleeping or awake, but it would be much simpler when not surrounded by the energy of so many others. We swept over Atlanta, tried to push out toward the coast. But . . .

  There.

  “I felt it!” Blossom’s mental voice nearly squealed in my mind.

  We both felt a nudge. A gentle bump. North again.

  She picked up the chanting of her spell, concentrating harder as I tried to steer us farther north. We slid over the countryside, pushed until I thought we might even have moved beyond the state line. Another slight tug to keep going. But my head pounded. Blackness started to seep into the edges of my consciousness. I snapped our minds back before I passed out.

  “Definitely north,” Blossom said from her cross-legged seat in front of me. She released her tight grip on my hands.

  I pressed my fingers to my head and rubbed circles into my temples.

  “Yes, north,” I agreed as I opened my eyes.

  My thumb did a quick check under my nose and by my ears, and I was grateful to find no blood this time. I had been close to pushing my limits . . . but never had I been able to reach out so far. Way beyond what Rina had ever mentioned being capable of doing.

  “We’ll discuss it with the team tomorrow.” First, I needed to talk to Tristan about it.

  Before I could, however, a call came in from Trevor and Sundae. They’d cornered five newly infected were-panthers during their first full moon. Panthers weren’t indigenous to the area, and Trevor thought them dumped by their creator. We made the trip once again to the Georgia countryside near the coast and returned with five new converts.

  Maybe things were beginning to look up.

  “Tristan?” Charlotte asked a few mornings after our little success as she leaned over the kitchen island, her elbows on the counter. Her hands fisted together, and she rested her chin on them as she looked up at us.

  He and I stood on the other side of the island, and the rest of the team was gathered in the kitchen, as well. Tristan took my hand between his, closed his eyes, and focused for a long moment while the rest of us waited silently.

  “Alexis and I discussed it, and nothing has changed,” he said. “We go north.”

  So the next day we packed up our few belongings on the bikes and prepared to depart. Right as we were about to leave Georgia for good, a white fur ball bounded up the driveway.

  “Sasha!” I squealed as I scooped her up and snuggled my face into her little neck. “Where have you been? We almost left you!”

  She licked my face as if to say she knew. I wondered what she’d been up to on her own for these past few weeks and wished I could read her thoughts. Animals were like faeries, though—I could sense their mind signatures, but drew a big blank when I tried to dig deeper.

  When we headed out, we looked like a small biker gang: seven of us dressed in leathers and black on five Harley-Davidsons. Sheree rode my bike while I rode with Tristan. Sasha stood on the gas tank in front of him, wearing the goggles and leather coat I hadn’t been able to resist buying at Trevor’s shop, hoping she’d turn up again. Charlotte kept us cloaked and shielded until we were out of the Atlanta suburbs and on country roads, then she removed the cloak so I wouldn’t have to focus so much on keeping a link between all of our minds. The connection allowed us to “see” each other, but when I didn’t have to worry about maintaining it, I could let a bigger part of my mind roam, searching for familiar mind signatures.

  While in Tennessee, we stopped at the faeries’ cottage in the mountains to see if the sisters knew or had heard anything about Dorian or the Daemoni’s plans—if they even wanted to be helpful—but Lisa and Jessica weren’t home. Part of me was glad, because I had no idea what they might do if I didn’t have Kali’s soul in a jar the next time I saw them. The task they’d given me was daunting, but it no longer scared me. Kali’s soul could never be saved—she’d never allow it—so I had no qualms about handing her spirit over to the faeries and the Otherworld. That would be one less Daemoni roaming this earth, which was my goal. Especially since she might have had something to do with Dorian’s kidnapping.

  On the other hand, if they’d been home and willing to help, they might have given us insight from the Otherworld. We hadn’t seen Bree since the day she’d helped Tristan, Blossom, and Jax.

  The faeries’ cottage took us more west than Blossom and I felt we should be going, so we headed straight east from there, sticking to back roads surrounded by forest, trying to avoid checkpoints. We rode what Tristan said was the Tail of the Dragon—a curvy mountain road full of switchbacks and a popular drive among bikers and sports car enthusiasts. As we sped along the road that crossed into North Carolina, our foot pegs often scraping the ground as we leaned into tight curves, I could understa
nd the draw. The ride provided quite the thrill.

  At least, until we completed an S-curve and found ourselves at a checkpoint.

  Norms ahead, I had warned everyone not two minutes before. I’d picked up on the six mind signatures and listened in on their thoughts. They hadn’t spoken to each other at all, their minds focused on their hunt. With the way the road curved, I thought they traversed the woods. I didn’t realize until the last second they were cops standing in the road, and they hunted supernaturals. We’d already rounded the corner, too late for Charlotte to cloak us.

  Maybe things weren’t looking up after all.

  Chapter 15

  “Just act Norman.” Tristan spoke to all of us through my telepathy as we slowed in front of the roadblock. “If they don’t suspect anything, they’ll let us move on.”

  I didn’t think it would work that way. Based on the experiences Vanessa and I had had so far, these officers would know exactly what to do to test us. Only Blossom and Charlotte could pass their tests of silver weapons—they wouldn’t react to the silver, they would react to the pain, and they’d bleed. Jax and Sheree would bleed, too, but they’d be more difficult to injure, and depending on how much pain the officers chose to inflict, they could lose control and change. Vanessa, Tristan, and me? We’d never stand a chance.

  Jax, with Blossom clinging to his back, and Charlotte moved to the head of our pack, already knowing our mages were our only hope for not being detained. But the thought of them suffering on our behalf made my stomach sick. Even knowing Tristan could heal them didn’t help. My body tensed, and my muscles coiled, ready to act if the norms did anything to my friends.