by Keri Arthur
“Agreed,” Azriel said.
His energy burned around me briefly, and I opened my eyes to discover we were in Riley’s huge bathroom.
“Christ,” I muttered, wobbling a little as he placed me back on my feet. “Despite your energy boost, I’m as weak as a damn kitten.”
“That is natural after everything we just went through.”
He was still gripping my arm, which was just as well. My legs were jelly and I had a bad feeling I’d topple if he let go.
“Then how come you’re standing there, as rocklike as ever?”
He half smiled. “Because whatever else you can and will be, you are still flesh. And flesh does not recover as quickly as energy.”
“I thought that would have changed when you shared your life force.”
“It did, in that you will now recover faster and I will recover a little slower, but it has not altered the basic fact that you are still flesh rather than Mijai.”
I grunted. “So is it really over? Malin and the Raziq really are no more?”
His gaze met mine, and his blue eyes—one as dark as the storm-held seas, the other sapphire bright—showed an odd mix of sadness and satisfaction. “Yes. As the remnant said, they are little more than particles adrift in the endless night of space.”
I raised a hand and thumbed away the bead of blood tracking down the side of his face. “And you regret that?”
“I regret that it came to that, yes. Killing is not something any Mijai rejoices in, despite the fact that it is the reason we exist.” He hesitated and grimaced. “Although I cannot deny there is a degree of pleasure in the knowledge she and her kin can never harm you—or anyone else—ever again.”
“And thank the fates for that.” I swept a hand through my sweat-matted hair. “Now if we could only get them to deal with the bitch who stole the keys and then Hunter, I’d be one happy woman.”
“The fates have never been that generous, as you yourself have often noted.”
“Yeah, but I keep hoping for a miracle.”
“I believe we just got one.” He paused, and his gaze swept me almost critically. “But before we worry about the keys or Hunter, you need to shower.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying I stink, reaper?”
“Certainly not.” It was solemnly said, but the twinkle in his eyes and the smile that teased the corners of his lips somewhat spoiled the effect. “Although I cannot deny the air around you is somewhat odorous at the current time.”
I lightly whacked his arm. “You don’t exactly smell like a rose yourself, reaper.”
The lurking amusement grew stronger. “Why would I, when a rose is a plant and I am energy?”
I snorted softly, then stood on my tiptoes and dropped a quick kiss on his lips. It was tempting to do more, but that could come a little later—when we were both smelling better. “You, reaper, are an idiot.”
“That is a claim that could be laid at the feet of both of you,” Riley commented, as she came into the room with an armful of clothes and towels. “You have three people who are not only well trained and fight ready, but willing to help you in your quest, and you keep damn well refusing their help.”
“For good reason—”
“Good reason, my ass.” She dumped the pile of clothes on the ornate chair sitting in the corner of the bathroom, then thrust a hand on her hip and added, her voice full of censure, “It has to stop, Ris. I promised your mom I’d look after you if anything ever happened to her, and I intend to keep that promise, one way or another.”
I held up my hands. “I know, and I’m sorry I’m making things difficult for you. But I have my reasons—”
“Hunter, I’m gathering,” she cut in grimly.
My stomach dropped. How the hell did she find out about Hunter? I doubted Rhoan would have said anything, and she couldn’t have plucked it from his thoughts. He might be her twin, but he was also a telepathic dead zone. It’s one of the things that made him such a good guardian—vampires could neither read his mind nor influence his actions in any way.
So who would have spilled the beans? Not Quinn, surely. He undoubtedly knew far more about what was going on thanks to his position in the vampire high council, even if he hadn’t yet said all that much to me. But would he have said anything to Riley? I very much doubted it, given that he also had to know just what Hunter was capable of.
“What makes you think—”
“Don’t play possum with me, Ris. Not now.”
I didn’t reply. There was obviously no point in attempting to lie about Hunter’s involvement in my life, but, by the same token, I wasn’t about to say or do anything to confirm it. Not until I knew exactly how much she did know.
“You can’t keep secrets from a strong telepath for very long,” she continued. “So get your ass into the shower, then come out and tell me everything.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
It was meekly said, and she smiled grimly. “I know that tone, but enough is enough, Ris. I’ve been patient, I’ve stood back, but you obviously can’t—”
“What I can and can’t do,” I interrupted quietly, “is no business of yours. I love you both to death—you know that—but this situation is mine and Azriel’s to handle, not yours.”
Her gaze met mine, her expression giving little away. “Perhaps,” she said eventually. “And perhaps not. Breakfast will be in ten minutes.”
With that she turned and walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
“She is an extraordinary woman,” Azriel commented, then added silently, But she cannot get involved in our dealings with Hunter. As powerful as she is, she would be destroyed.
Which is why I don’t want either of them involved. Although we might yet need Quinn’s advice—especially when it came to dealing with Hunter. Can either of them hear us when we speak like this?
No. This is not telepathy as such, but more a melding of spirit and mind that allows communication. He hesitated. Have you never wondered just why the fates chose me over all the other Mijai?
I raised an eyebrow, amusement lurking on my lips. Because you were the only one with enough patience to put up with my stupid tendency to ignore what is obvious to everyone else?
His smile creased the corners of his eyes and made my heart do a happy little dance. Aside from that.
Not really. I shrugged. I just thought it was the luck of the draw.
There is no such thing as luck when it comes to the fates. I was chosen because you were my Caomh.
Which meant life-mate—and a whole lot more—in reaper terms. And you knew that from the very beginning? Fuck, Azriel, why didn’t you say—
What could I have said to convince you, given your determination to keep me at arm’s length? Besides, the fates order, not explain, and while I wondered why they were able to link me to your chi so easily, I did not suspect the reason. Not initially.
But once you knew what was going on—
I still could not say anything. We are, as you noted many times, from two very different worlds. And the fates don’t always believe in happy endings.
After all the shit they’ve put us through, they’d better give us one, I growled, because, believe me, if they don’t, there will be trouble.
I suspect even the fates would be wary of your kind of trouble.
I grinned, but it faded quickly as my thoughts returned to the problem at hand. So why can’t Quinn hear us? He’s part Aedh, after all.
And although reading the minds of those in the immediate vicinity was one Aedh talent I didn’t get, Quinn was an extremely strong telepath. For the first time I wondered just how much of that was due to his Aedh heritage.
He can and does read your surface thoughts, but our connection is at soul level, and not something he can access, Azriel said.
Then I’d better watch my thoughts. The last thing I want is to endanger either of them. I pulled my sweater off and dumped it on the floor. Although it has to be said, the two of the
m together are a force to be reckoned with.
Against Hunter, who has the force of a god behind her, they are still nothing.
I doubt Quinn would be so easy to beat. Hell, if Hunter had any inkling she could defeat him, she would have done so by now, surely.
She has not done so because she is not ready. And while he may be one of the few here on Earth capable of defeating her, he is now vulnerable because he has a family. Hunter is not above using such a weakness, as you well know.
I did know. The bitch wasn’t above using anyone and anything she could to get what she wanted. She’d certainly used my grief and my bitter need to avenge my mother’s death to hook me into working for her. And when common sense finally did hit me, she’d reverted to threatening my friends and family. It was the reason Jak—a former lover, and a reporter who’d been helping us in our search—was now dead. She’d had him gutted as a warning of what might happen to others if I didn’t start toeing her line.
Even if I can convince Riley and Quinn to play it safe, I know for sure Tao and Ilianna won’t go anywhere. I kicked off my shoes, then peeled off my jeans. Hunter still has their lives to hold over me, no matter what I do.
I could force them to leave.
It was so casually said that I blinked, not entirely sure I’d heard him right. What do you mean?
He half smiled. What I said. I am reaper, remember, and able to touch the minds of humanity.
Even someone as strong as Riley?
Yes. He hesitated. Although not Quinn. He is a former priest and, as such, immune to my influence.
It was tempting. Very tempting. If we could force everyone but Quinn out of the way, it would minimize the risk and make dealing with Hunter so much easier.
Because as much as I was trying to avoid a confrontation with Hunter, I knew it was coming.
But as easy as it might be to take that route, it was also an action that should be used only as a last resort. Taking away free will was never a good thing. Lucian had basically done that when he’d used magic to ensure that I was unable to resist him sexually. My intentions might be a whole lot more honorable than his, but it didn’t alter the fact that by taking away their freedom to choose, I would be forever altering my relationship with all of them. It might even destroy it.
And I’d already lost far too much.
You might have no other choice. Azriel’s mental tones were grave. I fear she will not accede to your desire to fight Hunter alone without some sort of intervention.
And I feared he was right. I sighed. “I better go shower before Riley gets antsy.”
“Do you wish company, or would you prefer to be alone?”
“That is the stupidest question I have ever heard.” I glanced down his bloodstained torso. “And a good start to proceedings would be removing those jeans.”
“Given the jeans are little more than an illusion of energy, that is no problem.” Even as he spoke, the jeans disappeared and he was standing there in all his muscular glory.
I had no idea whether Azriel’s energy form was considered handsome by other reapers, but when he wore “human” form, he certainly was. His face had a chiseled, almost classical look, but its beauty was tempered by a hard edge that spoke of a man who’d survived many battles. His well-defined body held a similar hardness, though he now bore scars from his more recent battles. One of them—a jagged tear that ran from the left edge of his belly button and up under his arm, slashed through the middle of the stylized black tattoo that was his Dušan, which all but dominated the left side of his torso.
“Better,” I murmured, then caught his hand and tugged him toward the vast shower.
The water came on the minute we stepped into it, and at just the right temperature. The needle-sharp jets that hit my skin both soothed and exhilarated. I closed my eyes, enjoying the sensation for several heartbeats before I turned around and stepped into Azriel’s waiting arms.
His lips met mine; warm, familiar, and oh so wonderful. We kissed, touched, explored, until there wasn’t an inch of me that didn’t burn with need.
Then he turned me so that my back was against the hard heat of his body and his erection nudged my butt. He kissed my neck, my shoulders, then reached for the soap and began washing me. The sweet scent of orange touched the air as he gently—lovingly—soaped every inch of me, and oh, it felt good.
But being caught between the heat of his body, the drum of the water, and the caress of his hands was nothing short of torturous. When I could stand it no more, I grabbed the soap from him and turned around. The water seemed to reverently caress every muscle, every scar, as it rolled down his beautiful body, and I followed its lead, soaping every marvelous inch, until he was quivering as badly as I was.
He reclaimed the soap and put it back in the holder, then twined his hands in mine, raising them above my head as he pressed me back against the wall. The heat of him flowed around me, through me, a sharp and delicious contrast to the coolness of the tiles pressed against my spine.
His gaze met mine. The blue depths gleamed with desire, and something else. Something that was raw and very human. I was his Caomh, and as vital to him as life itself, but the intensity of emotion so evident in his gaze had my breath catching in my throat and my heart dancing.
“I cannot wait,” he said softly, as he nudged my legs wider with one knee, “for the time when there is just you, and me, and the family we will create together.”
“Neither can—”
The rest of my words were lost to a moan of pleasure as he slid into me. He began to move, slowly at first, then with more urgency, and god, it was glorious. Energy flickered across our skin, gentle sparks that grew ever stronger as the music of his being began to play through me, and mine through him. It was a dance, a caress, a tease. It was movement, heat, and desire. It was an electric firestorm that grew and grew, until we were both more energy than flesh, and it both fueled the urgency and heightened desire. It was a maelstrom of sensations that assaulted every part of me, until pleasure was so fierce it was almost agony and I couldn’t think, could hardly even breathe.
Then my orgasm hit and I gasped, grabbing his shoulders, clambering up his body to wrap my legs around his waist and push him deeper still. Rapture exploded between us and shuddered through my soul. He cried out, his body stiffening against mine as he came.
For several minutes neither of us moved. He leaned his forehead against mine, his breathing harsh against my lips as the shower continued to rain hot water down on us, though its touch was cool compared to the heat still burning between us.
“That,” he said, after several minutes, “was very invigorating.”
“It certainly was.” I felt a whole lot better—and a whole lot stronger—than I had only minutes ago, and that wasn’t merely a result of great sex. I wasn’t only his Caomh, but his “recharge” partner. Reapers didn’t keep themselves alive by eating or sleeping or any of the other things humanity did. Instead, they mingled energies—which was the reaper version of sex—with those who possessed a harmonious frequency. Up until very recently that recharge had gone one way—his, although he’d always been able to heal me—but this time, it had been different. I was now a reaper in waiting and, in reality—thanks to his sharing part of what he was to save my life—more energy than flesh these days.
“Your aunt grows restless,” he murmured. “We should move.”
“My aunt knew exactly what was going to happen in this shower and would be shocked if we rushed.” I dropped a quick kiss on his lips, then unwrapped my legs from his waist and stood. “But given her mood, she’s just as likely to march in here and tell us to get a move on, so I think we’d better dress.”
We did so—although it didn’t take Azriel long. All he had to do was imagine his jeans back on. My borrowed clothes smelled faintly of vanilla and musk, which meant the jeans and the beautiful lilac sweater were once again Darci’s. She was Riley and Liander’s middle daughter, and the only non-twin in their brood of five
. I’d grown up with them all, and no more wanted to endanger them than I did their parents. And I sure as hell wasn’t above using them as leverage in the upcoming battle with my aunt.
Riley might be fierce in her desire to protect me, but when it came down to it, I was neither pack nor blood. She’d fought long and hard to get her brood; given the choice between me and them, she would naturally always choose them.
And that gave me an angle of attack.
I dumped my towel down the laundry chute, my clothes in the bin, then—after a deep, steadying breath that did nothing to ease my nerves or shore up my courage—headed out.
“So,” Riley said, once we’d demolished the toasted egg and bacon sandwiches Quinn had made for the two of us. “Explain.”
I hesitated. “Before I do, there’s one thing you should be aware of. Hunter has Cazadors following me about astrally. She’ll now know—”
“Nothing,” Quinn interrupted. “At least nothing when it comes to what is said in this house. I’m well aware of Hunter’s predilection to use the Cazadors as her own private army and have taken steps to ensure they have no access to any of my houses or workplaces—physically or astrally.”
Meaning, no doubt, magic had been employed. There was little else that could stop astral travelers. It surprised me, but I’m not sure why. After all, he’d been around almost as long as Hunter, and while I’d never seen or heard anything that suggested he could perform spells, there was also no evidence saying he couldn’t—especially given that he not only was part Aedh, but had undergone priest training. But even if he couldn’t perform magic himself, I was betting he knew some very powerful individuals who could.
Either way, it was good to know that Hunter would have no idea what was said here. It gave us time, if nothing else.
So I filled them in on the loss of the second key, the opening of the second gate, the death of my father, and the intervention of the remnants, as well as their subsequent destruction of the Raziq.