by K.N. Lee
“Ooh, where are you taking me?” he murmured, his voice lowering to a silky purr. He gave her hand a squeeze.
“Change of plans. Let’s grab something quick from a deli. I need to get you somewhere safe.” Inwardly, she groaned. With his sexy-rogue good looks, he made her insides sizzle and steam. Not the best thing for getting them out of danger and saving his life before the next full moon—as well as being true to Jaidon.
After they’d tucked between the buildings, Ace said, smirking, “Is this where you say, ‘oh, baby, I can’t wait to feel your big cock inside of me’, and I get to have my way with you?”
“First off, I rarely use the term ‘cock’.” Second off, I’m not interested in your surprise package, no matter how huge you might think it is. Third, we have bigger things to deal with.”
“What could be more important?” He stood inches away from her, his luscious lips a breath away. “And, I guarantee you, the surprise package is big. See for yourself.”
Her gaze tumbled to his shorts clad hips. “It’s dark. How do I know that’s not merely a stuffed sock?”
He chuckled, grabbing his waistband. “I could show you.”
She scoffed. “Let’s wait on show and tell. I don’t suppose you have a vehicle? And a smart phone?”
“Yes, to both.” He fished in his pocket. “Here’s the phone.”
She tapped a few keys, logging onto a secure site using Jaidon’s credentials. “Here we go. Got it.” She logged off.
If anyone questioned Jaidon about the recent login, she’d be screwed. Or, worse, if Jaidon saw someone had logged into his account while he was mourning me in the hospital…all kinds of questions would emerge. He knows I’m the only person besides him who knows his login credentials.
He stared at her. “You weren’t kidding about the FBI, were you?”
“Nope. Agent Kara Falko, at your service.”
He whistled, taking the phone back and shoving it in his shorts. “And the wings—they’re some new tactical technology, right? Those aren’t real, right?” He looked somewhat hopeful, as if her answer would help him make sense of his world.
“Sure.”
“And here I thought I’d discovered a Valkyrie of my very own.” His face grew somber as he studied her, perhaps digging around for the truth. “Either a Norse myth or an angel…”
A small smile formed on her face. “Be careful what you wish for.”
“Are you? A Valkyrie, I mean? Or merely an angel? I could sure use one or the other.”
“One of those. Right. You’re on to me.” She winked, trying to appear casual. Her insides churned, not knowing how much to reveal. He already knows too much. “Your car?”
He took her hand. “Jeep’s this way.”
The streets were eerie, strangled in fog.
People emerged from the mist like spirits, before disappearing into gray gloom.
Two police officers on patrol ghosted from the dense swirls of condensation.
Kara put her head down and her arm around Ace, like they were two lovers out for a stroll. She knew those police officers. They’d conferred on a couple of cases.
“Can you believe this fog?” one of the police officers said. “Never seen anything like it. Jones, over on the other side of town, says it’s clear as a bell over there.”
Icy prickles jutted from Kara’s scalp. Are the Drascatu causing this?
When the police officers had passed, she tried to push away from Ace.
“Wait. I like that.” He drew her close.
She squirmed away. “We need to hustle.”
“What if I’m cold?” he said.
“Walk faster. That will warm you up. We need to get away from this vapor. I don’t like it.” She began to jog, increasing her speed to replace arousal with exertion. Jaidon never made her feel this combustible. Jaidon. A hollowness filled her heart. I can’t die. He’ll be destroyed, thinking I took the bullet meant for him. She increased her speed. “Where’s your ride?”
“This way.” Taking up an easy stride next to her, he pointed in the direction of the earlier street fair. After they rounded the corner, he said, “Here it is.” He lifted his hand toward a black two-seater Jeep Renegade. “What do you think? Like it?” He caressed the side of the Jeep like it was his baby.
She eyed the word “Renegade” plastered along the side. “A Renegade for an outlaw. It suits.”
He grinned, making his handsome face appear like a back-lit Renaissance masterpiece. Holding out his hand to assist her into the passenger seat, he said, “There’s room for a sword and crossbow in the back. And, since I have the top off, you can let your wings unfurl.”
She smirked. “We’ll freeze to death.”
“Nah,” he said, jogging to the driver’s side. “Not if you give me a blow job while I drive.”
“Jesus, Ace,” she spluttered. Hot whirls of electric sensation throbbed in her core.
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Sort of, anyway. I’m game if you’re game.” He gave her a devilish smile.
“Not happening.”
“Fine. As you wish.” Reaching into the back of the Jeep, he retrieved a heavy wool blanket. “Here,” he said, leaning across the console. “We need to keep you warm.”
She took the blanket, rolling her lips between her teeth. His kindness touched her. You’re a mystery, Ace Diamanté.
Placing his hands on the roll bar and the hood, he gracefully hopped into the driver’s seat.
“What? You’ve never seen blankets on planet Valkyrie?” He tilted his face, looking hopeful she might spill the truth.
There he goes, fishing again. “Blanket? What’s a blanket?” She smiled.
“They go like this...” He leaned over and tucked the wrap around her shoulders, gazing up at her through his long, dark eyelashes.
She trained her attention on his beautiful, starlight-blue eyes. A spark of connection sizzled between them. Does he feel it, too?
Breaking the moment, he grabbed a furry wool-lined denim jacket. After shrugging into the coat, he slid the key in the ignition.
Turning the key, he powered on the vehicle. “Where to, agent?”
“We’re heading for a safe house that’s currently not in use,” she said, trying to cool her inner flames. “It’s in Buffalo. I don’t suppose you have a GPS system?”
Ace tapped his temple. “It’s up here. It doesn’t need batteries. Sometimes it needs stimulating distraction, however.”
“You’re obsessed, you know that?”
“Sorry,” he said, pulling the Jeep onto the street. “I’ll stop.”
They drove in silence for a few minutes, heading out of town.
Ace gripped the wheel like a lifeline, his mouth a grim line.
Kara eyed him. Her attention slid down to his shorts, still showing a bulge. She let out a laugh. “You haven’t let it go, have you?”
“Let a guy keep his fantasies, all right?” He scowled, giving her a sidelong glance. “You’re breathtaking. I seriously can’t help myself. And I can’t get it out of my mind there might be more here than meets the eye—besides crazy man being hunted by what you call Drascatu, and I call horrifying hallucinations, and rescued by a hot as hell babe with techno-wings.” He smirked.
She sighed. You have no idea. Our very existence hangs in the balance of me keeping you safe and alive. “Can you sense the address?”
“Hmmm.” He tapped his lips. “I’ll need a software upgrade for that one.”
She chuckled and told him where they were headed.
As they merged onto I-90, the dense fog gave way to dim stars competing with city lights. Kara turned around to look at the city of Boston.
One dark, giant cloud stretched through the center of town, like a toxic, bloated stream.
She grabbed her long hair to keep it from whipping around her head in the open-air Jeep. “That’s so weird. I’ve never seen Boston so socked in. But, stranger still, it only affected part of the town. I’ve never se
en anything like it.”
“Me neither. I wasn’t going to say anything. I thought it might have something to do with those blasted Drascatu. Hence, all my sex talk. It kept me—keeps me—from looking over my shoulder. I’ve become a basket case of anxiety. The stress alone is killing me. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in forever.”
Saying nothing, she gave him a sympathetic look.
He gave her another side-eye glance. “What?”
“Nothing. I’m sorry you’ve been stalked.”
“Don’t say it like it’s an ordinary thing, like ‘I’m sorry you’re being followed by the paparazzi’. This is crazy shit, you feel me?” His face bruised with a scowl. “This is me wondering who slipped me the Go-Crazy pills.”
“And this isn’t?” She let her wings unfurl for a brief second.
He blew his breath out. “Sorry, I guess I’ve been feeling so alone about being followed by demons. I still don’t quite believe you’re real. Maybe you’re a figment of my mind.” His face brightened. “But then I could do whatever I want with you, right?”
She groaned and let her head fall back.
“That confirms it. You’re real. If you were a hallucination, you’d say, ‘yes, master, whatever you want, master. Let me suck you off and then fuck you senseless, master’.” He glanced at his pants. “Down boy. No play time for you—yet.”
Kara let out another groan. “Give it a rest. I’m sure those lines get you what you want with other women, but not me.”
As she spoke, more inner walls crumbled, pushed by the sensation coiling between her legs.
His expression grew pensive. “Actually, getting needs met only goes so far. That’s pretty much all I’ve gotten, to date.”
“What do you mean?” She plucked errant hairs, stirred by the wind, from her mouth.
“I mean...” He took his eyes off the road for a brief second and met hers with a look that made her toes curl. “Wouldn’t you agree there’s a difference between fucking and full-body, mind-blowing, soul connected passion?” He turned his attention back to the road.
Sweet baby Jesus. Her insides ached with need. “I wouldn’t know. I’ve never fucked.”
“Oh, right,” he said, his voice laced with sarcasm. “Not you.”
Their eyes met once more—his in challenge, hers in a red-faced look of having been busted.
Why she painted herself as all rosy-pure was beyond her. Truth was, she kind of had to settle when it came to sex and Jaidon. While the sex with Jaidon wasn’t exactly mind-blowing, it was a satisfying comfort.
“You’ll know what it’s like when you do it with me,” he said, in a deep, throaty voice. “Because with me, you’ll get everything. I’m a great lay. Seriously awesome. But I’ll bet I’m even better with a mind-blowing soul connection.”
She shut her eyes, scrunching up her face. “Stop, Ace. You’re getting a little too personal, okay?”
Life with Jaidon would be good and decent and kind. But is that what I want out of life? Is that all I’d have gotten had I not been swept into the Valkyrie? She opened her eyes and gave the slightest shake of her head.
He nodded, as if he truly understood the longing in her heart.
They grew silent. Kara stared at the night lit buildings, zooming past her, considering the sexy-strange man sitting next to her.
He changed tacks. “So, what does one do in a safe house? Play cards? Yahtzee? I’m up for either, if sex is off the table.” He grinned at her, resuming his playful banter. “Or, maybe we play cards between sex. I don’t smoke so we’ll need to do something. I recover from an orgasm quickly, though. Good genes. I can be ready to go again in no time flat. With you, anyway.”
She smirked. “Ace!”
Catching movement out of the side of the Jeep, her head snapped to look behind her.
Fingers of fog were chasing them. When they got close, the Jeep sped up.
“Shit!” Ace yelled. “I’m not doing that. Something’s wrong.” Clenching the wheel, he stepped on the brake.
The vehicle didn’t slow down. Instead, it accelerated.
The murky vapor moved faster, surging around the Renegade as if powered by a singular consciousness.
White knuckling the wheel, Ace maneuvered the Jeep in and around traffic. Ahead, cars blocked both lanes. He veered off the road and into the dirt to get around them.
Horns blared, no doubt thinking Ace was pulling a fast one to escape the jam-up.
“Do something! Turn the engine off!” Kara’s gaze swept their surroundings, looking for signs of dark demons.
Ace’s fingers fumbled with the key. “I can’t. Shit,” he said again.
The fog turned dark. It folded itself around the vehicle like slime. Then, fingers of fog curled around the steering wheel.
“Fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck.” Ace’s face turned sheet white. “I’ve lost control of the goddamned Jeep!”
“Holy crows.” Kara’s mind raced, unsure what to do.
The vehicle was forced off the road onto an exit leading to a wooded suburb.
Something solid scooped the Jeep from the road.
“What the fuck?” Ace yelled.
As if hurtled by a giant hand, the vehicle launched in the air, end over end.
9
Hurtling through the air, strapped into metal, plastic, and leather, Kara let out a scream capable of splitting the Red Sea. The wooded Boston suburbs blurred before her eyes, appearing like starlit smudges.
The Jeep landed upside down in an explosion of plastic and screeching metal.
Hanging from her seatbelt, upside down, blood rushed to her head.
A tire bounced and rolled away from the Renegade into the woods. It hit a tree and fell, landing on its side, leaving a sickly silence.
She tested her limbs and scanned her skin. No blood. Only bruises. Her eyes sought Ace. He wasn’t in the driver’s seat. “Ace!” she screamed, her eyes madly scanning her surroundings.
Flung from the vehicle, he lay deathly still near a copse of trees.
The dark fog gathered around him, circling like one giant, oozing vulture. With popping sounds making her stomach lurch, it began to break apart into individual Drascatu.
Kara yelled. Fingers fumbling, she unbuckled and freed herself before rolling out of the Jeep. She pushed to her feet and hustled toward Ace.
Crouching, she said, “Ace. Are you with me?” Her fingertips palpated beneath his jaw, feeling for a pulse.
“There’s the foreplay. She starts with my neck,” he said in a low, groggy voice. “And then her hands move lower.” His eyes remained closed.
“Oh, thank the stars,” she said.
“And we didn’t even get to the good stuff and she’s thanking heaven.” He opened his eyes and gave her a wan smile. “I think it’s safe to kiss this side of my mouth.”
With a shaky hand, he tapped the corner of his lips.
“We have to get out of here.” Kara searched for signs of someone coming to their aid.
“Where are we?” Ace tried to push up to sitting. He fell back in a groan.
“Take it easy. Don’t move. I don’t know. When we turned off the road it looked familiar. But I don’t recognize these small woods.”
An innocuous silence filled her ears, like nothing horrible had happened. A small bird chirped and rustled in the brush. An owl hooted overhead. Distant traffic noises provided a muffled backdrop of sound. Life, in the woods, was business as usual.
Her eyes swept the area. “I can’t believe no one heard or saw a Jeep flying through the air. Why isn’t anyone coming?”
“Go find someone. I’ll wait here.” A small smile formed again.
“And leave you to them?” She pointed at the Drascatu circling him. “They want you something fierce.”
A look of panic flashed in his eyes. Just as quickly, it disappeared. “Oh, they want what I want,” he said, returning to his cocky bravado. “They’re probably voyeurs. And with us, they’d get a real eyeful.
”
She scoffed. “Ace...”
“I told you, it helps distract me. Go ahead. We need help and I can’t move.”
“Okay, wait right here.”
Ace’s eyebrows shot up. “As opposed to ambling away?”
“Sorry.” She eyed the Drascatu, circling him like vultures. “I can’t leave you. They’ll get you.”
“Do they eat their food live? Don’t I have to be dead or something? I promise not to die…yet.” He smiled weakly. “I guarantee I’ll die if I don’t get help.” As if to prove a point, he coughed. Blood spilled from his mouth.
“Holy crows,” Kara said. She fell to her knees and tenderly wiped the blood from his cheek with her torn sleeve. “Okay. I’ll sprint. Just over and back, okay?”
“Mm hmm,” he mumbled.
“I’ll see if we’re near a street. I’m not going far. I’m only going to the edge of the trees, okay?” She pointed to an area a few yards away.
“I’m not going anywhere. Go on, then.” Weakly, he lifted his hand and brushed it through the air. Then, his eyes slammed shut as if the strain of keeping them open had grown unbearable.
Kara stood and jogged past the wrecked Jeep. If she squinted through the gloom, she could make out a road several yards away. One car zipped past. Then, another.
“Hey, Ace, there’s...” she began, pivoting her head to look at him.
Her stomach grew taut. She couldn’t see him through the dark ooze surrounding him.
The Drascatu had congealed into a solid mass, trapping him inside.
“Kara!”
His hoarse, weak cry brought gooseflesh to her skin. Retrieving her sword from its invisible sheath, she swiveled and powered toward the demons.
When she got within swinging distance, she struck at the Drascatu fog.
It broke free into individual shapes, accompanied by the sickening pops.
They landed next to him, circling like hyenas, ready to power his soul to hell the second his heart ceased to beat.
“Ace,” she said, glancing at his still form. She took another swing at the Drascatu. “Ace. Are you with me?”