by Aja James
They said their goodnights after that, and Sophia closed the inner door.
“This is cozy,” Ere said with a smile the moment they were alone in their shared room. “Are you sure you don’t mind sharing the space with me? I can easily get my own room if you’d like.”
“Why? Are you afraid I snore?” Sophia teased with a careless tone.
In truth, it was protocol to always be paired up wherever they went for safety reasons. If they could have found a room large enough to fit four adults and one child, they would have chosen it instead of the suite. But the adjoining rooms were the next best thing.
“We’ve shared plenty of camp grounds over the past two months,” Sophia continued, “this is hardly any different.”
Ere looked pointedly at the two beds, their relative privacy within four walls, and quirked his lips.
“If you say so.”
“Gotta say, as much as I like roughing it outdoors, I’m a huge fan of having a shower within easy reach,” Sophia noted. “Mind if I go first?”
He gestured to the bathroom with his hand, indicating that she should feel free.
Sophia gathered her things and locked herself inside, turning on the shower, letting the hot water steam up the bathroom.
Methodically, she went through her regular routine, humming to some of her favorite tunes. After the long, soothing shower, drying off and pulling on her sleepshirt and underwear, she brushed her teeth, rubbed moisturizer on her face, and dabbed some orchid oil behind her ears.
When she opened the bathroom door, she let out a startled gasp and almost fell backwards on her ass.
Ere stood before her, just outside the door, staring down at her with fathomless dark eyes.
“Wow, you scared me,” Sophia said with an awkward chuckle. “Sorry to keep you waiting. Hope there’s still some hot water left.”
He didn’t say anything in response, simply watching her unblinkingly, not moving to let her pass.
“Um…” Sophia searched Ere’s eyes with concern.
His pupils were completely blown, so large they swallowed his irises. They were unfocused and glazed, as if he didn’t really see her even though he was staring right at her.
Strangest of all, there seemed to be a reddish glow burning at the edges of all that black.
“Sophia…”
He uttered her name with such despair and pain she staggered back a step.
Something was terribly wrong.
“Ere, are you okay? Let me get Inanna and Gab—”
Her words were muffled with an oof against his chest as his strong arms pulled her into his body, squeezing her tight.
He didn’t say anything as he held her, her face mashed against his collar bone, her breasts flattened against his hard chest. His agitated breathing disturbed the hair on top of her head, his lips moving against her temple, but no words could be heard.
She splayed her hands on his ribs and tried pushing to get an inch between them so that she could ask him again what was wrong, but his arms were like iron bands, keeping her immobile.
His heart thudded loudly against her ear, erratic and wild. His lips kept moving with unintelligible words against her skin, faster and faster, as if he were reciting a prayer, or a spell, or some strange incantation.
Her worry grew exponentially by the moment. And just when she opened her mouth to call for help, he abruptly let her go.
Sophia stumbled back and looked up into his dark brown eyes.
They were clear now, his pupils back to normal, the reddish glow nowhere in sight.
But a fine sheen of sweat coated his skin, making his light-weight, open-collared shirt mold to his body like flimsy tissue.
“Sorry about that,” he said with a devastating smile, though his teeth chattered before he locked his jaw.
“I must be afraid of the dark. Thanks for setting me to rights.”
And then, before Sophia could utter a word, he shoved her into the bedroom, locked himself in the bathroom, and turned the shower back on at full blast. Leaving her to wonder—
What the hell just happened?
“At last! A seed grows within me. I just cannot be certain whether it is the seed I want. No matter. If the sire is Dark, I can breed again. If the sire is Pure or human, the combination should be interesting. One more ingredient to add to the mix. But what I really want is the Tiger’s spawn. Half Dark, half Beast, with the Element Air coursing through its veins…But will it be enough…”
—From the secret journal of the Vampire Sorceress Circe
Chapter Five
“Stop that.”
The words were barely gritted out through clenched teeth. Cloud was not a happy camper, that much was clear.
But Aella sure was!
She’d been riding with her legs wrapped around Cloud—well, her thighs tightly enclosing his hips anyway—her arms wound around his middle, her chest glued to his back and her cheek pressed to his wonderfully wide shoulders for hours now.
Life didn’t get better than this.
Images of wrapping herself around Cloud from behind while naked flashed through her enterprising mind.
Hmm. It appeared that life could absolutely get better. She loved having things to look forward to.
Granted, the first of those past couple of hours hadn’t been as enjoyable, given that they’d been riding hell-bent for leather making sure they put as much distance as possible between themselves and their enemies, assuming said foes would give chase. Even after there was no sight or sound of any potential threat, they maintained a brisk pace, using the opportunity to get ahead on their journey, following the winding mountain path from Cloud’s map.
Finally, over the past half hour or so, they’d slowed down, because, frankly, Eveline couldn’t take any more jostling on horseback. And Aella promptly melted against Cloud to her heart’s content, soaking in the heavenly sensations his nearness evoked.
Presently, she played her wayward fingers across the ridges of Cloud’s steely stomach and counted the muscles like one would count sheep as she drifted in and out of a light doze.
“Stop what?” she murmured groggily and took in a deep breath, inhaling his unique clean, earthy scent. Like rain-drenched clouds on a stormy day.
He slapped one large hand on top of both of hers, grasping her fingers in an unrelenting vise.
But her thumbs were free. Ha!
She swirled those digits around, wishing they weren’t touching the soft fabric of his shirt, but rather the hot satiny skin beneath.
In all three years that they’d lived in the same complex and trained together with the other Elite, she’d never seen Cloud shirtless. At his most “revealing”, he’d wear a sleeveless tunic and loose trousers while engaged in mock battle, an outfit that resembled those she’d seen in martial arts movies.
He wore a similar attire now, except for the sleeves that covered those long, leanly muscled, vein-wrapped arms.
Aella licked her tongue across the edges of her upper teeth.
Mmm. Scrumptious veins. She absolutely adored seeing gorgeous root-like veins pulsing beneath taut, hairless male skin.
Cloud’s skin.
From his biceps to his forearms to the inside of his wrists to the backs of his long-fingered, extra-large, capable, manly hands. She’d checked those veins out every time she got the chance, which admittedly was extremely rare, given that he typically wore more layers of clothing than a mummy.
If only she could see veins in other strategic locations on his body…
He adjusted his hold on her hands until he pinned down her misbehaving thumbs as well.
“That,” he practically growled when he finally stilled her movements. “Stop touching me.”
“You’re the one touching me,” Aella retorted, though only half-heartedly. She was too content where she was to get her dander up.
She tugged on her trapped hands to illustrate her point.
“You’re the one holding my hands.”
> She paused a beat, and then gushed, “Aww, Cloud. Are you starting to like me? When did we move from cold shoulders to hand holding?”
His grip tightened and loosened reflexively on her trapped paws, and she could almost hear his inner debate—should he let her hands go so that he wasn’t holding them any more in the way that she was insinuating? But then if he did that, she’d go back to driving him crazy with her incessant fondling.
Such a difficult dilemma.
For him.
It was a win-win where Aella was concerned, so she grinned against his shoulder.
Amazon, one.
Taciturn warrior, zero.
He chose to ignore her question and continued to restrain her hands.
After a brief lull, he said neutrally, “Perhaps it would be best if Eveline rode with me. She appears to be in danger of toppling from her horse.”
Aella popped her head up at that.
No, that didn’t sound like an appealing plan at all.
She thought quickly and rebutted, “If Eveline is uncomfortable riding astride that smaller mare, she’d certainly not enjoy riding White Dragon. It would only make her more sore.”
“I can hold her across my lap sideways while she rested,” Cloud offered immediately.
Damn it!
But Aella played her trump card.
“White Dragon is used to carrying you and me. He’d have to adjust to the uneven weight if you rode with Evelyn like that. Given the steep, narrow path, I don’t think we should risk him missing his footing.”
To make her point, she tugged one of her hands free, reached behind her and patted the stallion’s rump affectionately.
“Isn’t that right, baby?” she cooed.
Cloud inhaled a sharp breath as his entire body tensed even further against her, while the stallion made a sound between a nicker and a snort, as if agreeing with Aella but sarcastically.
“You’re stuck with me, gorgeous,” she said, though it wasn’t entirely clear whether she meant the horse or the man. “Might as well make the best of it.”
They had one more hour or so of riding before they’d reach a good place to settle for the night, according to Cloud’s extrapolations.
Aella debated how best to use this time, whether to revel in the luxury of being plastered to Cloud, or grill him with questions that had been burning in her mind about him since the moment they’d met three years ago. He could refuse to answer her, of course, but he was a captive audience right now. He couldn’t simply walk away as he’d always done.
The beauty of it was—she could do both.
She wriggled and shuffled to get as close as possible, even though he was practically wearing her like an Aella-sized coat, and tightened her arms around him even more, essentially giving him a prolonged bear-squeeze of a hug.
“You feel so good,” she murmured and sighed with contentment.
He maintained his stiff posture and kept silent, not encouraging further observations or conversation from her.
“Can I ask you something?” she said gently, her voice slurred with drowsiness.
He made no reply. Obviously, he was hoping that by ignoring her, she’d give up on trying to engage him in dialogue.
He should know her better than that.
“Why do you typically wear so many layers of clothing?”
It didn’t rank in the top ten of what she wanted to know about him, but getting through his layers of clothing to what lay beneath was on her mind, so she just went with it.
“Is it a habit from your human life? It’s so conservative, prudish even. Of course, the light material keeps you from overheating, but don’t you feel restricted wearing all that?”
He didn’t immediately speak, but then he said, “As opposed to your excessive display of skin?”
Aella tucked in her chin and looked down at herself. She purposely shifted her breasts against his back.
“You mean my cleavage? I can’t help it if my girls overfloweth. They like to get out for some fresh air.”
He made a noise between choking and pained.
“I get hot fast,” she continued to explain. “My Gift of speed burns extra energy. I like as much of myself bare as possible.”
Now that they were in the remote mountain paths away from towns and villages, she’d stripped down to her standard fare—a sleeveless top, skin-tight trousers fitted with compartments for weapons and knee-high boots. Her back holster held the chakrams, and steel arm bands circled her upper arms and wrists.
“Besides,” she added, with teasing arrogance, “I’m sexy as sin. If you got it, flaunt it, I always say.”
He didn’t deign to comment.
So she soldiered on, even though he’d given her absolutely zero insight into himself thus far, avoiding even the most harmless, superficial inquiries.
“Why do you keep your hair so long? That knot on the back of your head will set a new man-bun trend for sure. Uber chic. Is this another habit from your first incarnation? Is the headband you wear also from your past life? So pretty, with that giant pearl in the middle. It is a pearl, isn’t it? What time period and location did you say you were from?”
“I didn’t,” he bit out.
“But you could tell me now,” she persisted.
“No.”
“No, you won’t tell me about your attire and coiffure preferences? You won’t share even such simple things?”
He let out a frustrated breath.
“Why do you want to know? We’ve already established that we are not friends.”
“Not true,” she argued. “I think of you as a friend, even if you don’t return the sentiment. I like you, and nothing you do or say can change that. So at a minimum, we are half-friends.”
She snuggled against him and kissed his shoulder before laying her cheek back down, making his muscles twitch with agitation.
“You might as well give up now, Cloud. I’m determined to make you like me back. Yes, to your earlier point, I’d love nothing better than to engage in a marathon of sexual delights with you—”
He stiffened to the point of an impenetrable steel fortress at that.
“—but I want your friendship even more. Come on, just loosen up a little. What’s the harm in being friends?”
*** *** *** ***
What’s the harm in being friends?
Such a simple question. But the answer was far from simple.
Cloud couldn’t afford to make deep attachments in the mortal realm. Even with an immortal Pure One such as Aella.
Her place had always been, and always would be, on earth. But his place, once his role was fulfilled this time around, would always be in the heavens.
She shifted against him again, squeezing her perfect bosom against the hard planes of his back.
He stiffened on reflex, though really, his body couldn’t be “stiffer” than it already was.
Treacherous humanoid body. So enslaved to sensations. Pain. Pleasure.
Arousal.
She sighed with contentment against his shoulder, and he felt her rubbing her nose into the back of his neck, inhaling against a patch of sensitive bare skin just above the edge of his shirt.
The female was driving him insane.
“So secretive…” she murmured when he refused to reply to her latest query.
But she seemed to let it go for now, settling loosely against him, likely succumbing to a light nap.
He checked on Eveline out the corner of his eye and saw that the Seer was doing the same, draped over her mare, passed out from exhaustion and the depletion of adrenaline. He guided Bai Long closer to her on the outer side so that he protected her from the edge of the ravine.
Reassured that the small brunette wasn’t going to accidentally topple from her horse, Cloud focused back on the aggravating female behind him.
It had been extremely rude to ignore her, he knew, but her questions were half-rhetorical anyway, so he tamped down his conscience.
The less she
knew about him, the better.
His comradery with the rest of the Dozen was mostly professional. They all had a job to do, and they did it well.
His friendship with Rain was indeed based on a shared heritage, even though Cloud didn’t have any memories from his human life. There were deeply ingrained habits and mannerisms, including language and culture, that he kept through his current incarnation, but that was all.
And while he liked Rain, as Aella kept emphasizing the word, he was not attached to her. If he was required to sacrifice her tomorrow to keep the universe in Balance, he wouldn’t hesitate to do so.
Given his role in the universe, unlike other souls that were recycled for the Goddesses’ purposes, his never retained the memories from past incarnations.
No memories, no attachments.
Emotions were another handicap he trained to guard against from the moment he’d been created. It wasn’t that he was incapable of them; he simply didn’t feel anything deeply.
As his Master had taught him before he was first deposited into the mortal realm in a human shell:
“人生在世，如身处荆棘之中！心不动，人不妄动，不动则不伤。”
Life on earth, is like a body filled with thorns. If the heart is not moved, the person is not rash, therefore there will be no harm.”
Although Cloud had no memories of his human past, he suspected that he’d been sorely tested on the emotions part. After all, his soul had been pulled away much earlier than planned.
He was supposed to have lived out his human life fully, learning their ways, helping where he could. But he must have committed a most egregious infraction to have been sent back to the ethereal realm for thousands of years before being reincarnated in this current form—the offspring of a Pure One and a human. A child that, according to the Zodiac Scrolls, was an impossibility.
Well, the Zodiac Scrolls were wrong about many things, as all recorded and oral history tended to be.
In addition, while eight-months pregnant, his human mother had been attacked by a Dark One, the same male who had killed her Pure Mate before her very eyes. The vampire attempted to turn her by giving her a fraction of his soul. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on the point of view, she had not survived the turning.