by Lisa Kessler
His eyes flashed at the female standing at the Guardian’s side. “Who are you?”
She appeared calm, but the tenseness in her shoulders and the racing sound of her heartbeat betrayed her anxiety. She raised her chin. “I might ask you the same question.” Her piercing blue eyes locked on his.
“She is a friend, brother.” Colin turned his head toward him. “She means no harm.”
Issa looked past her to see Colin still lying on the stone slab. Gradually, Issa’s muscles relaxed, his dark gaze moving over the woman again. “If she is a friend, why would she hide her identity from me?”
She stepped toward him, offering her hand in greeting. “Forgive me. I was unsure if you were a friend or foe. I am Marguerite.”
He didn’t take her hand, and instead, bowed his head slightly in return. “I am Issa, God of the West.” He raised his head, his dark gaze meeting her eyes. “And my brother is in no condition to entertain a guest.”
“I am no guest,” she replied quietly. “I am family.”
Issa’s brow furrowed. “I do not understand.”
“I am Kane’s wife, his mate.” She glanced over her shoulder. “I have not known Colin long, but I love Colin like my own brother.”
Colin nodded in agreement. Issa gazed at the small-statured blonde with bright eyes.
“Have you seen Kane?” She prodded further. “Is he safe?”
“His body is healed, but his heart is broken. He believes you are lost to him, that the Demon took your life. Right now, he is searching for our brother, Mulac.”
Issa’s gaze wandered to the corner of the room, to Ch’en. Having her close made concentration difficult. The desire to reach out and touch her skin threatened to overpower him. But she was no longer his. She never was.
His jaw clenched.
A moan drew Issa’s attention to Ch’en’s injured lover. His wounds were severe. Even Issa’s powerful blood hadn’t completed his healing. It would take much more to ease his suffering. At that moment, the wounded man, Calisto, raised his pale, exhausted face. The intensity in his gaze spoke to Issa without words. His wounds were not the sole source of his suffering.
Issa could see the frustration in his eyes. Ch’en’s lover knew his injuries left him incapable of protecting the one he loved.
Issa turned away, unable to bear the weight of Calisto’s stare any longer. The pain he saw in the other man’s eyes was too personal. Issa had seen it in his own gaze each time he saw his reflection in the water. Not only had he been unable to save Ch’en, but he was also the one who stole the life from her body. It was his hand that bore the stain of Ch’en’s blood. And now he would be forced to hurt the only woman he had ever loved all over again.
Life was never fair. Eternal life only magnified the pain of inequity.
The Guardian stepped forward. “Now that you are here to aid Colin, I will go search for Kane.”
Issa frowned, staring up at the great man he had helped to create. His stomach clenched at the sight.
“She took your eyes to replace her own,” he said, more to himself than anyone else.
“Yes,” the Guardian replied.
Issa shook his head, lost in thought, when the human woman’s voice pulled him back to the present.
“Is he the mate the brothers created for the Demon?” the woman asked.
Issa nodded slowly.
“Does he protect her or us?” she asked.
“He is not a pawn in a chess game,” Marguerite interrupted, stepping just in front of the Guardian’s massive chest. “He has an honorable spirit, a courageous heart, and an intelligent mind, so why not speak to him rather than around him.”
Issa raised a brow at Marguerite’s intrusion, but it was the hint of a smile warming the corners of the Guardian’s lips that caught his eye. “We created the Guardian to hold mortal life sacred, as well as cater to Camalotz, who lives by taking life,” Issa replied. “He is a contradiction.”
“He is my friend,” Marguerite corrected. “I will treat him as no less.”
“I meant no disrespect,” Issa said with a gentle shake of his head. He could see why his brother, Kane, loved this woman. Like the God of the East, she too seemed to be ruled by her heart, with passion in her veins when it came to those she cared about.
Issa turned to Gretchen once more and rephrased his answer. “The Guardian is one of our most powerful allies against Camalotz. He is the one who called us here when she awoke from her slumber.”
“You found her,” Colin interrupted before Gretchen could ask another question.
Issa turned to see his wounded brother wince as he propped himself up on his misshapen arm. Colin stared at Ch’en while she helped lower her injured lover to the ground.
A smile lifted the corners of Colin’s mouth, giving his ancient face life as his eyes sparkled. He was weak, but Issa was relieved to see a playful glint return to his brother’s eyes. “So, Issa, my brother, are you going to introduce me to our company?”
Issa nodded with an inward smile. “Of course.” Turning to look at the others, he announced, “Colin is my immortal brother, God of the South. I am afraid we have no time for more formal introductions. The sunrise is near, the Demon is still free, and we are a weary, beaten army left to face her.”
The Guardian stepped forward with the confidence of sight, although it was obvious to everyone in the cavern he could not see. “Weary, but not beaten.”
Marguerite nodded and moved up beside him. “We cannot hide away. Kane is still out there somewhere. With her.”
“Kane and Mulac both.” Issa nodded. “And we cannot stop Camalotz without them.”
Colin rested back on the table, closing his tired eyes. “At nightfall we will find them and…” He hesitated, and the words he did not say hung heavy on Issa’s shoulders. “And then we will do what must be done.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Issa rose the moment the sun dipped below the horizon, taking the form of the jaguar swiftly, as if he’d never been a man. His animal senses as a jungle cat were keener for tracking, for hunting his brothers.
Kane had never returned to the pyramid, and with the Demon lurking nearby, he couldn’t risk calling to Kane mentally. Since they were both hunting the same man, he hoped that if he located Mulac, Kane would also be nearby.
He needed Mulac to complete their ceremonial circle, upholding the North. They would chant the sacred words as the Demon was called back to the cenote deep in the jungle, where she would once again be locked away from the mortal world for all time.
Mulac knew all of this. So why was he running?
I am not running.
Issa skidded to a stop, immediately sniffing the area around him. The hackles along his sleek feline shoulders rose up on end. His muscles were tight, alert and ready to pounce, but he found no trace of Mulac anywhere. With a growl of fury, Issa paced the area, his body reshaping into his natural form until he stood in the darkness of the rainforest as a man.
“Mulac!” Issa ground out, his dark eyes scanning the jungle around him. Silence was the only answer. “You claim you are not running, and yet you continue to hide.” He circled back, hearing the faintest rustle in the foliage. “When did Mulac, the great God of the North, become a coward?”
“I am many things, brother, but never a coward.”
Mulac burst into the clearing. His eyes blazed crimson in the darkness, like blood boiling just beneath the surface. He stalked around Issa, his stare boring into him. If Mulac meant to stare him down, Issa had no intention of losing the battle for dominance.
He was finished playing his brother’s games. He wanted answers.
“If not a coward, what would you call a god who flees from his duty to protect this world?”
“A visionary.” Mulac’s eyes narrowed into a venomous glare.
Issa shook his head, allowing his humorless laughter to fill the silence. He never took his gaze from Mulac’s face, his smile never reaching his eyes. “I do no
t care what you call yourself. You are coming back with me. We will stop Camalotz as we have been called to do. What you choose to do once our task is completed is none of my concern, but until then, I will be your keeper if that is what it takes to see that you fulfill your duty and complete the ritual.”
Mulac’s jaw clenched. He raised his chin with a defiant smirk. “You have no power over me. I will go with you only because I choose to do so. This world you are so desperate to save is our anchor to the past. It is high time, my brother, that you embrace the future.”
Lukas rose to find Issa already gone. Gretchen still dozed in the corner, leaving him torn. He needed to feed, but he didn’t want to leave her behind. As the only human in a room with wounded blood drinkers, her scent alone would be a temptation.
“Where are you going?” Her sleepy mumble made him smile.
“I need to feed.”
She opened her eyes a little and whispered, “So do I. I’m starving.”
The realization hit him like a truck. It’d been so long since he was human, he’d forgotten she needed three meals a day. “When was the last time you ate something?”
She reached up and slid her fingers through her hair. “I guess it was those tacos on Cozumel.”
Lukas shook his head. “You definitely need something to eat.” He offered her a hand up. “Let’s get out of here.”
Gretchen got to her feet and glanced around the room. “Where is everyone?”
“The ones who can are out feeding.” Lukas moved for the corridor, pulling Gretchen with him.
“If your woman really has information about the Demon,” Colin chimed in, “this would be a bad time for her to disappear.”
Lukas looked over at Colin. “Trust me. She won’t let me drag her away until she saves the world.”
The wounded Night Walker laughed and winced. “I like her already.”
Lukas watched the flames of the small fire lick over the meat of the snake, searing it until it no longer resembled the creature that had slithered over his foot only a few minutes earlier. Gretchen didn’t look thrilled about the meal, but she was hungry enough not to complain, and he was relieved to see her smile after her first bite.
“I don’t believe it.” She laughed softly. “It really does taste like chicken.”
Lukas sat beside her, unable to bury the smile that found its way to his face. The world was on the brink of extinction, and somehow she made him happy in the middle of the storm.
“I used to enjoy snake, too.”
Gretchen smiled as she ate. “Really? You ate snake before…”
“Yes, when I was still a man.” He was surprised at how easy it was to be honest with her. Since becoming a Night Walker, he’d never confided in anyone. He had always been the questioner, treating other beings like specimens in a lab rather than potential companions. “In fact, that was how I got that rattlesnake bite in the first place.”
Gretchen stared at him for a moment before her laughter bubbled out again, making her green eyes sparkle in the firelight. “The snake tried to eat you before you could eat him?”
Lukas nodded with a smirk. “I never thought about it quite like that before, but yes, I guess he did.” He shrugged. “And as it turned out, the snake was the better hunter of the two of us.”
Gretchen rested her head on his shoulder, laughing as she munched on her meal. He wrapped his arm around her waist and planted a soft kiss to her hair.
“Remember before we left Cozumel?”
She looked up at him with a playful gleam in her eyes. “When I kissed you, you mean?”
“When you told me you didn’t want to have any regrets in case we didn’t make it.”
Her smile faded a little as she nodded.
“Last night, when I saw the flare and heard someone scream.” He held her a little closer. “I thought I lost you before I could tell you how I feel.”
She smiled up at him. “I’m too stubborn to let you off the hook that easily.”
“Thankfully so,” he said with a crooked smile as he bent to kiss her lips. He drew back, his gaze locked on hers while he searched for the right words. He ran the back of his fingers down her soft, warm cheek. “Solnyshko moyo.”
She stared into his eyes, nuzzling gently into his touch. “I wish I spoke Russian.”
“Solnyshko moyo means, my sunlight.” He stole a tender, slow, lingering kiss. When her lashes fluttered open, he whispered, “I love you, Gretchen.”
Moonlight danced in her green eyes as she looked up at him. “I was hoping you might.”
She dropped what was left of her dinner, and Lukas drew her into his arms, his lips fusing with hers. His hands slid back into her hair, fisting, holding her close to him. Her lips parted and he groaned at her taste, losing what remained of his self-control.
The others would be searching for them soon, and although he wanted to take his time, to explore every inch of her body, he needed her. Now.
Lukas broke the kiss, his lips caressing the soft skin just below her ear. “Forgive me for pushing you away for so long. I never wanted this life for you.”
She turned her head, her lips brushing his as she whispered, “I get to choose the life I want.” She nipped gently at his bottom lip. “I want to spend whatever time I have left with you.”
Lukas kissed her hard, lifting her up with him as he rose to his feet. Her warm hands pushed up under his tank, sending lightning coursing through his veins. Somewhere deep inside, his mind warned about the Demon lurking in the jungle, but having Gretchen in his arms, her warm hands exploring his skin, her breasts crushed against his chest, silenced rational thought.
They were alive, and he couldn’t get close enough to her.
He slid his hands down her back and lifted her a little higher, growling against her lips when she wrapped her legs around his waist. She could feel him, hard, grinding against her, making her wish their pants would vanish.
Without breaking the kiss, he walked to a large tree, resting her back against it. Her tongue twisted with his as she pushed his shirt up, her fingertips exploring his muscled torso.
Gretchen broke the fevered kiss to yank his shirt over his head. Her eyes had a field day admiring his lean body. His chiseled chest looked like a work of art. She ran her hands down his abdomen to free the button of his pants as his lips claimed hers again.
His hands slid up her from her legs, the curves of her hips, and finally molding her breasts until her entire body felt hot and hungry for his attention. The urge to rip off all their clothes was strong, but a shred of common sense reminded her that being naked in the middle of the jungle with a Demon on the loose would be a bad idea.
But what a way to go.
Instead, she slid down his zipper, pushing his pants down just enough so that she could run her hand along his hard erection. Feeling how much he wanted her only made the desire to be naked stronger. Shit.
In a heartbeat he pried his lips from hers, kneeling to help her out of her pants. When he stood, there was no hesitation. His mouth fused to hers, and she moaned into the kiss as his hand slid up her thigh, slow and possessive, making her knees wobble.
He broke the kiss, his lips trailing down her throat. She tilted her head, opening her neck to his attentions. He growled her name against her skin, drawing her leg up until she could feel him grinding against her core, the tip of his erection teasing her passion even higher.
“Take me,” she gasped against his ear.
He lifted her again and she wrapped her legs around his waist. He kissed her lips, slow, his eyes locked on hers as he sank into her. Gretchen’s heart stuttered in her chest at the honesty of the moment. She was usually a lights-out lover. Eye contact felt more intimate than the act itself. His gaze held nothing back from her. After months of being pushed away emotionally, she felt closer to him than anyone she’d ever known.
Her nails dug into his shoulders and she worked her hips into him, taking him completely into her. She kept her eyes on
his, eating up the raw desire reflected in his gaze, tasting his lips over and over as their bodies collided.
His hand slid under her shirt, leaving a trail of fire behind. She arched her back into his touch, moaning against his lips as his fingers teased her nipples. Her gaze moved over his body, memorizing every muscle, all the way down his bare chest, until she could see where their bodies became one.
If she didn’t live through the night, she would definitely leave this world a happy woman.
Lukas thrust his hips faster, driving himself into her warmth as he watched her face. He could see every pleasure—she held nothing back from him. Her rosy lips, swollen from his hungry kisses, gasped his name, and for the first time in his never-ending existence, he felt grateful for his immortality. He could live lifetimes and not get enough of the woman in his arms.
He only wished they had more time. He would fight to his last breath to see her safe, to love her for as long as he could.
The weight of her breast in his hand, feeling her pert nipple between his fingers, made him ache to taste her skin. Lukas pushed her shirt up, lifted her breast from the lace binding of her bra, and bent to take her nipple into his mouth. His tongue circled it slowly.
Her fingers tightened in his hair, and hearing his name on her lips made him pulse inside of her, eager to take her over the peak with him.
He pressed hot kisses up her chest, her throat, fighting to keep himself from the urgent pulse, throbbing and teasing his inhuman hunger. His lips trailed along her jaw and he cupped her cheek, kissing her again, hungry and demanding, his tongue tangling with hers until his lips lingered against her bottom lip, nipping at it gently.
Her body felt so warm around him, perfect, like she was made for him. He worked himself into her harder and faster as his fingertips slid down between them, through her curls, to tease the hardened nub until Gretchen’s fingernails dug into his shoulders.