“Kjaere, that is quite enough,” Erick rumbled, sliding an arm around his irritated mate. “Excuse us, Killían. You will find Naram resting in the Sisters’ quarters through the back.”
“Why isn’t he helping prepare the castle? Giving us information on Xerxes weaknesses? Possible plans?” Anger burned across my chest, spreading over each rib until I felt as though I would combust. “There is no time for resting.”
Erick cocked his head and gave a slight shrug before using his vampire speed to blur from the room with Bailey.
“What about the new guy, Javier?” I turned back to the brown-skinned vampire on my right. “How is the new vampire you brought handling everything?”
“He’s not extremely pleased with being pulled into a war,” Javier said, mirth filtering through his tone. “But he’s a mean motherfucker, and he’ll be good to have in the fight, even if he is stuck inside.”
“Why would he be stuck inside? I thought his tattoo was nearly finished?”
“It is. Travis is wrapping it up in the shop now. He’ll bring him back over when it’s done,” Javier said from his leaning position against a wall. “Not going to be much help though, since the all-mighty Naram said he won’t enchant the tattoo.”
Fuck. I wanted to bash my fist through the stone walls surrounding me. Rip someone’s head off. Could something—just one fucking thing—go right?
“Why the hell not?”
“Because I’m going to kill my brother in the morning, and that damned spell takes too much energy. I won’t be at full strength if I use it to make sure your vampire won’t burn to a crisp in the sunlight.” Naram’s voice came from behind me, and I whirled to face him, barely containing the roar of frustration. I wasn’t part animal like most of the males in the room currently, but I hadn’t ever wished I could roar more than I did at that moment.
Though from the asshole ugly look Naram flashed me and the intense wave of magick swirling around my throat, it was probably good I couldn’t show my displeasure so aggressively.
“We’re down people. We need him.”
“He can stay down here and guard the Sisters like he’s supposed to,” Naram rolled his neck and glared at me. He reminded me of Xerxes more than I wanted to admit, and I wondered if we were making a huge mistake trusting him at all. He didn’t appear to care about anyone in the town. He wanted his vengeance. For Rose. For himself. But no one had been able to get him to speak of what he planned to do after he killed Xerxes…if he did.
What if Xerxes killed him?
This was why we needed Asa. She was going to be our ace in the hole. While Naram was fighting Xerxes, we would strike.
Quickly.
Stealthily.
Vengeance would be ours. Either way, the psychopath was dying today.
I nodded to Naram, but we needed a back-up plan. Something Naram didn’t get to have a say in. Something that could save us…or at least most of us, if his thirst for vengeance went south. I flicked my gaze to Miles, and the Drakonae gave a slight tip of his chin toward the hallway leading out of the basement level.
“Very well. I’ll be back later. Please let someone know if you require anything. We want to make sure you’re prepared for what Xerxes has coming.”
The Lamassu snorted and crossed his arms over his now massive chest. The man was almost as large as Miles now. And the way his eyes glinted with buried fury made my stomach clench. He reminded me of the suicide soldiers I’d encountered centuries ago in the Middle Eastern wars I’d fought with the American armies.
They had been the hardest to beat, because they’d fought as though there was nothing to lose. It made them fearless and bold, but it also made them stupid.
I hated to imagine what kind of damage a rage-filled, stupid Lamassu was going to generate.
Chapter 37
GODRIC
We landed in an open field above the quaint little group of buildings that made up the town of Krestovaya. Craggy green hillsides were covered more in rocks than plants. Patches of snow concealed the ground in the lee of the outcroppings where the sun didn’t hit, but it wasn’t quite late enough in the year for a white blanket.
The crisp northern air filled my lungs, and I was glad for my supernatural side that kept my body temperature a bit warmer than the average human. While I would have preferred a coat, my tee-shirt was sufficient for now.
The cold didn’t appear to slow Calliope at all. Her hands worked at the zipper of my pants, freeing my already hard dick before I could object. Not that I wanted to stop her…not really.
I wanted her. With every fiber, I wanted her.
She didn’t have a single memory of me, but she was my mate. Magick didn’t lie. The way it called to her and me, it was Fate.
I tucked the map I’d taken from the letter into my back pocket as her hands closed around my dick. I sucked in a quick breath. Her focused attention hardened me even more than I’d been a moment ago. One hand palmed my length while the other cupped my balls, rolling them between her fingers until I had to concentrate so as not to come all over her hand like an errant teenager with his first hard-on.
“Calliope,” I groaned, slipping my fingers into her hair as she knelt in front of me. All thoughts of arguing with her, of trying to convince her to wait until we found a way to restore her memories fled my mind as her lips encircled my dick. The warmth and softness and her tongue…gods, her tongue. My head lolled backward, and I clenched my hand, gripping her hair and pushing her farther.
She made a purring sound that nearly undid me. The muscles in her jaw relaxed, and she took me deeper still. I gripped more of her hair with my other hand and guided her head back and forth, using her mouth exactly the way I wanted while her tongue lashed and teased and tortured me in the most divine way known to man.
But I wanted more. So much more, and we needed more privacy than an open field for the things I was about to do. I teleported us into a bedroom, one of the suites on the top floor of the little bed and breakfast hotel in the center of town. A quick listen assured me the room was empty, and a visual perusal revealed no luggage or sign of occupancy. I’d pay them later. The only thing I wanted right now was to taste my mate and be inside her.
The blond natural wood paneling of the room covered the floor, the walls, and the ceiling. Several large animal skin rugs were spread on the floor, and a large bed lay across the room, beckoning me forward.
I pulled her head backward, and her mouth came off my dick with a pop, like a cork from a champagne bottle. She peered up at me from beneath dark lashes and turned her mouth down into a pout. Her red hair was silky soft in my hands, and I wanted to touch and explore and taste all of her. Make her mine. Claim her as mine.
“Strip,” I growled out.
Her lips parted in a wide grin, and she rose from her kneeling position. “I thought you’d never ask.” She lifted her shirt over her head, baring upturned dusky pink nipples begging to be licked and sucked. Her skin was the color of cream, and a moment later, she’d shimmied out of her boots and pants, standing before me in all her naked glory.
I toed off my boots and stepped out of the jeans pooled around my ankles. Slipping a hand around her waist, I walked her backward until her calves touched the mattress.
“You’re so beautiful, Calliope,” I said, nuzzling her neck. Her sweet scent intoxicated me. I had to have her. All of her. I took a knee on the mattress and pushed her down, spreading her out before me—a decadent buffet of woman.
Her body blushed from head to toe. A beautiful light pink. Gods, she smelled so good. Her heart raced in her chest and her breathing was short and sporadic.
“Make me yours, Godric. I need you. From the second I saw you, touched you, I knew we were supposed to be together.”
I crawled over her, staring down into her big brown eyes. The same eyes. The same soul. She was the woman I fell in love with. She just didn’t have the painful past that old Calliope had been burdened with. She was free of her pain and fears. “You are mine,
Calliope. My mate. You are the one I’ve needed all my life.”
She reached up, cupping my face in her small soft hands, then drew my head down, kissing along my jaw. “You complete me,” she whispered against my skin. “I love you. I feel as though I’ve loved you for my entire life. I can’t explain it. I know we just—”
I claimed her mouth, sinking my tongue deep. Heat sparked between us. Unseen flames licked at my skin. Her hands traced down over my shoulders and then back to my neck and up into my hair where her fingers grasped firmly and pulled my mouth down even harder. I was lost in her passion.
I slowly drove into her body, relishing the mewls of pleasure rumbling from her throat. She took me all, every inch, until I was buried to the hilt. I nipped at her lower lip, loving the way her body tightened around me when I imposed just a sting of pain.
Her hips rocked in rhythm with mine, taking us both higher and closer to fulfillment. I allowed my mouth to stray from hers and followed the line of her jaw, nipping and kissing toward her earlobe. She shuddered beneath me, moaning the word yes. A little farther down her neck, I bit a little harder. Not hard enough to break the skin. Not yet.
“Godric,” she whimpered through trembling muscles, her body so close. So desperate for release. But I wouldn’t give it. Not yet. “Please.”
I slowed my movements, dragging my cock in and out, taunting her. Her fingers yanked at my hair in frustration, and she drew up her legs, wrapping them around my waist, attempting to force my invasion of her body. She wanted more.
“Almost,” I growled against her neck as my fangs descended. I thrust harder now, speeding my movements. She matched me, crying out each time our hips met.
Then I bit.
Chapter 38
CALLIOPE
Pain surged from my neck, sending a shock of pleasure straight to my core. At the same time, Godric drove deep, filling my body so completely it nearly pushed me over the edge I’d been seeking. I moaned, disappointed to get so close to the top. I needed more.
The pain in my neck continued as he drank from me, but it was overcome by my desire for more of him. “Harder,” I whined, my body loving every second of everything he was giving me, but I was greedy. Starving. So hungry for him.
The bed squeaked and rocked beneath our bodies. I slid my hands down Godric’s back and dug my fingertips into his taut muscles, pulling him tighter, molding our bodies together until we were as one. We moved in such synchronicity that it was as if we could read each other’s mind.
Groans of pleasure rumbled from his chest. He licked the place on my neck where he’d bitten and raised up his head to meet my gaze. His lips were stained with blood—my blood. It didn’t scare me. Teleportation. Reincarnation. Soul Stones. I knew he was something beyond human. I knew I was something beyond human. This world I’d woken into was full of mystery and unexplained things, and I trusted that the explanations would come in time. Right now, I just needed to love the man in front of me. He was special. He was mine.
“Godric,” I begged again. “Please.” I opened my myself more, letting my thighs fall to his sides.
He responded, moving faster. Harder. Deeper.
Until…
I threw my head back and screamed as my body shook, ecstasy engulfing every fiber of my being. My body burned with passion and need, and then he came with me, pouring himself into my body, filling me and sparking yet another wave of pleasure. Then another wound itself through my body, stealing away any control I thought to retain.
When my wits finally floated down from the heavens and settled upon me again, I could think of nothing more than how I couldn’t wait to do this all over again. To feel Godric’s need and desire fuel my body like I knew no food ever could.
He was mine. My mate. The words were whispered in my mind by something ethereal, in a voice that wasn’t my own. Claim him.
Hadn’t I just done that?
He shifted above me, stealing a quick kiss from my lips before rolling to the side, taking me with him. His large arms wrapped around me, cradling me against his chest. I breathed in his scent. Sweat. Spice. Strength. His heartbeat thunked rhythmically in his chest, and I settled my head over the comforting sound while he nuzzled my hair, forgetting about the voice. Forgetting about everything except being with him.
“I love you, my Calliope,” he whispered, squeezing me tighter to his chest.
“And I you,” I whispered as I drifted toward sleep, but then something happened. Godric’s arms loosened, and the steady thump thump of his heart against my cheek…stopped. My eyes flew open, and I sat up. “Godric?” My voice trembled, and my heart froze in my chest. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. It couldn’t be.
I pushed on his shoulder, rolling him to his back. He moved without resistance.
Nothing. Just dead weight.
He was dead. How? What had happened?
“No!” I yelled. “You can’t just leave me.” I leapt from the bed and paced the room. Back and forth, glancing up every second or so to stare at his still form. I had to go get help. There had to be something someone could do.
He’s dead. How could anyone help with that?
Gathering my clothes from the floor, minus panties that seemed to have disappeared, I dressed and headed for the door of the room before stopping. I couldn’t leave. Anyone that saw him would blame me. And rightly so, I’d been the only one with him.
Tears brimmed in my eyes, and I turned and leaned my back against the door, sliding down until my butt hit the hardwood. I wiped them away, but more tears came. And more. Until they were pouring down my face, burning trails of guilt and fear across my soul.
He’d been my mate. Whatever it’d meant—I wasn’t sure—but he’d been mine. I knew it bone deep, and now he was gone, and I didn’t have a clue what to do. At least he’d known who I was before this body. Before I’d lost my memories.
I was alone, and the sun was going down. Wherever he’d teleported us to, we’d jumped forward so far that the sunrise had turned to a sunset. I sat there and watched the light fade from the sky along with all the hope I’d felt being with Godric.
I’d known from the very second I saw him, touched him, breathed his scent that he was mine. And now I’d lost him. I laid my head on the floor and curled into a ball. The tears kept coming. I couldn’t stop them.
Chapter 39
KILLÍAN
I stood in one of the towers on a far corner of the castle looking out into town. Xerxes’ army amassed in the street. We didn’t have long.
“Do you see Xerxes?” Miles asked from behind me.
I shook my head and stepped away from the narrow vertical opening. “You?”
Miles snarled. “There are so many.”
“Naram says they look very similar,” I said, gritting my teeth.
“If I didn’t think that asshole was our best way of beating Xerxes, I’d have Asa drop him back in that damned tomb.”
I rolled my neck and frowned. The Lamassu had been a royal prick since arriving at the castle. Refusing to help anyone and spouting off about how he was going to end his brother and take his revenge. But hatred and revenge had a knack for blinding the seeker. Asa had my dragonfire steel sword strapped to her back, and she was tasked with watching and waiting for an opening.
My mate’s sword was on my back, and Eira was tucked safely away with Diana and the dagger. If things went badly, Asa was our ticket out quickly, and she had already agreed to get as many people to the portal as possible if it came to that.
The castle shuddered, as if an earthquake had rocked the entire foundation.
“Fuck.” We both turned for the stairwell at the same time. It had come much quicker than we’d realized. We rushed down the tower stairs.
“Asa,” I shouted from the bottom of the tower. We burst out into the courtyard. Lycans were everywhere. Yelling and confusion and panic would end this fight before it started. Only some of them were trained to fight, and we needed those separated from the one
s who would just be in the way. “You start taking the children and their parents out the back door. Get Sita and Marcus to help you. Get them to the portal.”
“What if there are guards there?”
“Take Sita and Marcus first.” The two ancient vampires could handle anything, even a few Djinn. We needed them here, but we needed them to protect our own, too. I couldn’t send families without protection. “Then Eira and Diana.”
Asa nodded and ran across the courtyard, disappearing into the crowd.
The castle shook again under the stress of something very, very large moving around outside.
Naram came running up from the lower level and passed us on the way to the front entrance.
“Naram!” Miles yelled and launched himself toward the Lamassu. “Stop.”
The damn idiot was going to open the front door.
A large winged animal stepped in front of the Lamassu and screamed straight into his face. The blast knocked all of us on our ass temporarily, including the unprepared Naram.
“What the fuck! There’s a Gryphon here?” Naram climbed back to his feet, dusting off his pants and shaking his head.
Alek swung his eagle-shaped head wide and then trained his gaze on Naram. His long lion’s tail twitched back and forth, and his wings were set and ready to propel him in any direction he desired. He chomped his beak and then opened it to screech again. I braced for the second sonic boom, but so did Naram.
Miles and I hung onto the wall as the wave ran over us. “Alek, stop him,” Miles bellowed, shoving off the wall toward Naram and the Gryphon.
Naram was giving Alek a wide birth, meaning his magick must not work on a shifted Gryphon, either. Good to know.
“Unless you want me to rip this castle apart from the inside out, you better let me out so I can shift,” Naram snarled, turning to face Miles and me.
“That door is the only thing keeping them out,” I shouted.
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