“What about the water warning that Nebo gave us?”
The little goblin hadn’t given much detail, but he had said to stay on the earth, not in the sky, which she understood why, and also not in the water. The Gods only knew what dwelled beneath its depths. How many creatures could she count that lurked in dark waters? Too damn many!
Lothar scanned the pool of water with its light current as the river flowed past it. “I guess I will take my chances, I’m thirsty and hot.” He smiled wryly at her. “And I have no doubt I have started to ripen.”
Holly laughed. He smelled perfect in her opinion. All hard-working male and musk, he smelled like he tasted, which she had come to love. His blood was rich and smooth; it boosted her power and sustained her longer than any human she had ever fed from.
“Alright, you clean up and I am going to check and see if there is anything to eat nearby.”
Lothar’s brows furrowed as he scanned the area around them.
She pecked his cheek. “I’ll be fine, and I will stay close. I promise.”
Lothar huffed. He didn’t want her out of his sight. “Be quick.”
She eyed the pond behind them. “You too, we don’t know what lurks in the water.”
“Deal.” He grinned and began stripping off his grungy clothes.
Holly grimaced at the sweaty clothing that clung to him. “I will conjure something clean for you.”
Lothar laughed before kissing her briefly and then diving into the pool of water.
The water was cool and refreshing against his skin, leaving Lothar to long for more time in its soothing depths. Keeping his promise, he scrubbed quickly, dunked his head to clean his hair, and he even let his wings free to give the mahogany feathers a quick dip.
Lothar shook his head as he emerged from the water to find a short swath of dark buckskin lying where he had dropped his clothing. Lifting the piece of leather, he arched a brow as a leopard print belt and briefs fell loose.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he murmured to himself. Then yelled out to Holly, “Nice to see you haven’t lost your sense of humor.”
She laughed from somewhere in the trees, “Take a seat, Tarzan. I’ll be right back.”
Lothar chuckled. Bypassing the costume, he stretched out near the water’s edge to let the sun dry the quickly evaporating beads of water that dripped from his skin. Closing his eyes to the heat, he let the sun penetrate and relieve some of the stress in his body.
With his eyes closed and his body relaxed, Lothar didn’t hear or see the water ripple as the beautiful, disguised creature appeared from the water’s depths.
“Male, my water drips from your flesh.” A low, sultry voice had Lothar’s eyes popping open.
Standing waist deep, in the middle of the water, was a woman. She seemed to glow in the sunlight, her color verging on blue and hair so white it looked opalescent as water dripped from the curling ends to slide down her perfectly sculpted frame.
Lothar shot to his feet, his naked body taking a fighting stance while his eyes narrowed on the woman. She smiled, and fuck was she beautiful. Lothar found himself relaxing as he was pulled into her opal gaze. Her hand reached out, and she moved towards the shore.
“Do you fear me, male?” she asked as her feet broke the water’s edge. She stopped there, and Lothar couldn’t stop himself as he moved to stand before her.
A soft breeze lifted the white, gauzy dress she wore, tickling its edges against his bare flesh.
“Do you fear me?” she questioned again.
Lothar moved robotically as he shook his head no. Fear her? How could anyone fear something so beautiful?
“Good.”
Her touch was cool as she moved her fingers along his jaw. Her lips were cooler. They were like ice as she kissed him, and still they sent shock waves of heat through his veins. Her tongue slipped into his mouth, causing Lothar to groan as she deepened the kiss. His hands fought to reach for her, but something deep in his mind screamed at him, to step back, to pull away. That this kiss was not the right kiss. One word resounding loudly. Holly.
Fuck.
Holly, he loved Holly, how could he betray her like this?
Lothar pulled back from the… the kelpie. A damned kelpie. The spell began to break, her features morphing as she stood before him. The malevolence radiated from her sparkling eyes. A growl sounded from behind him. He cringed at the vicious noise, knowing it was not the cry of one of the dangerous creatures that inhabited this place… Well, not one the island had created.
“Bitch, get the fuck away from my man!” Holly roared, ire flaming in her amethyst eyes.
Oh, he was so screwed.
The kelpie’s fingers wrapped around Lothar’s forearm, the seal-like texture sticking to him as power blasted from Holly, sending them both flying back into the water. The kelpie screamed as her form shifted to a horse that glared at him. His arm was freed from its grip as the creature shifted into the sea horse, allowing Lothar to scramble for the shore. The kelpie shrieked in anger at the loss of its meal. Its eyes stayed lock on the pair as it sank beneath the rippling surface.
Holly whirled on him, her eyes blazing. She looked him up and down finally settling on his face. “Are you hurt?”
Lothar shook his head clearing the last of the haze that had settled over him. “No, I am fine… Holly, I—didn’t—I…”
She arched a brow at his stammering, her gaze dropping to his cock. “We’ll talk about that later.”
Lothar dropped his eyes to his fucking manhood, standing tall and proud at attention. Full mast. He groaned.
Holly tossed the costume at him. “Let’s get going.”
Like a scolded puppy, Lothar took his punishment and hiked the rest of the day as Tarzan.
As night began to fall, Lothar finally asked her, “How long are you going to be mad about this?”
She stopped conjuring their shelter and raked her eyes over him. With a wicked smile, she answered, “I am not mad. I could feel her magic. I just really wanted to see you in that costume. You make the perfect, sexy Tarzan.” She laughed.
Lothar stood staring, dumbfounded. Holly was going to keep him on his toes for the rest of his life. And he was damn well looking forward to it.
Chapter Twenty-One
“It has been nearly a week!” Kale’s voice radiated through Cree’s office in Hawk’s Eye Headquarters, flames flicking from his fingertips.
Uriah watched him cautiously while Bain attempted to defuse the situation with a little humor and a fire extinguisher. Kale nearly snarled as Bain took a seat next to him, pointing the black hose at his flaming hands.
“Chill the fuck out, or I will hose your ass down,” Bain warned.
Kale’s eyes flashed with anger, narrowing on his brother briefly before the flames flickered out. He took a deep breath. “What are we doing to locate Lothar?”
Cree sighed. Leaning forward in his chair, he clasped his hands on the glass-topped desk. “I am doing everything I know to do.”
Kale arched a brow. “Like what? I would appreciate some details.”
“As would I,” Uriah agreed with a subdued tone.
Cree’s gaze flicked to the middle brother. Uriah was always calm. He was the noble fighter. The gentleman and, while he remained all of those things, it seemed he was lost somewhere inside of the man that sat before them. Something had been off ever since he’d been injured. Cree had thought that Jelena would be the one to pull him from this funk, but he hadn’t seen her in days and something shadowed and broken had taken its place on Uriah’s face. It was not something Cree had welcomed seeing as it joined the other emotions that plagued the once-solid warrior.
“Well, for starters, Rowan has called in a few favors. A mage to cast a locating spell, which, before you get too excited, has yielded no real results. The damn crystal circled the map but never landed on a location. She has called Juliette in to see if together she and I can make a connection to Lothar’s future. Other than that, and
sitting on Evan to use his connections, we have no other options.”
Kale scoffed. “Doesn’t seem like we’re doing enough to find my brother.”
“We’re doing all we can,” Cree stated firmly. He wasn’t about to get angry; he understood where Kale was coming from, but he wasn’t the only one concerned about Lothar. They were all upset over this situation. However, getting pissed and acting like a jackass wasn’t going to help find their missing warrior.
“Maybe we should pay a visit to the vampires.” Bain all but sneered as he said the word vampires.
“You will stay away from Evan and his coven, Bain. That is an order, one that I intend to make you obey.”
Bain arched a brow and sat back in his chair. “Really? And why is it so important I stay away from the bloodsuckers?”
Cree stood to lean over the desk and glowered at Bain.
Curious reaction, Bain thought. They were fucking hiding something, and he was damn well going to find out what.
“I don’t answer to you and, while we are family, I will kick your ass all the way back to the Middle World, where I will let you enjoy an extended weekend in the dungeon, if you go anywhere near Evan or his vamps.” Cree pointed a finger at Bain as he spoke. “We clear?”
Bain smirked. “Crystal. Come on, Kale. I think there are two beautiful women and a bottle of Patron waiting back at Izzy’s for us.”
Kale and Bain both left without another word. Cree sighed, took his seat once more, and closed his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Are you done with me too?” Uriah asked.
Cree popped open his eyes to study the warrior in front of him. Waving his hand, he dismissed Uriah.
His once tight-knit group of warriors was falling apart. There was little question in his mind that while they all needed each other… they all really needed Lothar. He was their fucking super glue.
****
Kale grinned. Bain knew the little shit had something on his mind as he turned onto Izzy’s street.
“So,” Kale started nonchalantly. Bain groaned. “Are you at all curious about what we’re going to walk in on?”
Bain glared but kept his eyes glued to the road ahead. “No,” he gritted.
Kale chuckled. “Oh, come on, it wasn’t even two weeks ago that I left my room to see Izzy and Kat making out.”
“Shut up,” Bain snapped.
Kale laughed harder. “Well, you left them at Izzy’s place alone. You never know, Izzy could accidently brush up against Kat.”
“More like Kat would accidentally brush up against Izzy.”
Kale smiled wide at that. “Yeah, you’re probably right. She sure seemed to enjoy their contact.”
Bain growled. He didn’t want Kale talking about his Izzy. “It sounds like you enjoyed their contact.”
“Fuck yeah I did! It was hot, and it kept Kat hot for a few hours.”
“You’re a dick.”
“Get over it, Bain. We witnessed two super-hot chicks making out… think that’s what we’ll walk into now?” Kale poked. He was trying to ruffle Bain’s feathers, and he was succeeding.
Bain slammed the remote, opening the garage door. “Don’t call my Izzy hot. She’s stunning, beautiful, and sexy. Hot doesn’t do her justice.”
“So you would rather I call her sexy?” Kale asked.
“I’ll fucking rip your tongue out if you do,” Bain said with a small smile, only half kidding, as he exited the car and headed for the house. Pushing his way through the door past the kitchen into the living room, he found the two women sitting on the couch watching one of the damn housewives shows Izzy liked so much. He left out a sigh, and Kale laughed with an impish smirk playing over his lips.
Kat looked up at him, her head tilting in an exasperated gesture. She knew him so damn well. “What did you do, Kale?”
Kale feigned innocence. “Me?” he asked, giving her the biggest, brownest, fake-as-shit puppy dog eyes.
““What’s going on?” Izzy asked, her eyes drifting between the two warriors.
“Nothing,” Bain grunted.
Kale chuckled. “We were just discussing if we would see naked, sexy lady Twister when we got here.”
Bain launched at Kale, taking him down in a flurry of limbs. Kat and Izzy both shook their heads, knowing neither would actually get hurt, and turned back to the TV.
“They’re such shit disturbers,” Kat mumbled.
“I always call them troublemakers,” Izzy offered.
“Free spirits,” both men bellowed from somewhere down the hall where their roughhousing had taken them.
Izzy and Kat both laughed.
“Whatever. If you break something, I will find a way to punish you both…” Izzy looked to Kat, who smirked. “And not in a fun way either of you deviants will enjoy.”
Bain winked as he came back in the living room, a black eye already healing on his gorgeous face. Kale followed, wiping blood from his lip and placing a shit-eating grin on his equally handsome face.
Izzy narrowed her eyes at him. “You know, it isn’t exactly nice of you to allude to what happened in the hallway that day.”
He tilted his head at her. “It’s all in fun, Iz. Trust me, it’s all good.”
“Kale.” Kat said his name in pure warning.
“Fine, I will stop, but really Izzy, it’s not a big deal. We all understand what happened.”
Izzy blushed slightly; Bain sat and pulled her into his lap. His power of healing was one they didn’t worry about her siphoning. Izzy snuggled into the comfort of Bain’s body and relaxed instantly.
“So, what does Makyle make of this new development?” Kale asked as he settled into the couch to wrap his arm around Kat.
Izzy’s gaze shifted to Bain, who nodded.
“He thinks that there must be Fae somewhere in my family and because it took his blood to awaken it, he believes it has to be back at least five generations.”
Kat sat up, a twinkle of curiosity on her face. “Does he know what kind of Fae?”
Izzy averted her eyes, and Bain took over. “There is really only one Fae that could do what Izzy does… Azreal.”
Kale let out a long whistle. “Holy shit, Izzy, you’re a reaper?”
Izzy shook her head. “I don’t like that word.”
“Makyle,” Bain said tersely, sensing the tension in Izzy’s body, “says that her power is benevolent and, since she doesn’t drain us when she takes some of our power, she is a gleaner.”
Kale nodded, his brow arched. “I haven’t heard of a new gleaner or reaper being born in centuries.” He smiled at Izzy. “You are the resurrection of a lost species. Do you know how special that makes you?”
Izzy smiled. Man, she loved this part of her family.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Do you see that?” Holly asked, pointing towards a large rock formation.
The rock formation seemed to blend into the island. They were coming closer to the top of the waterfall; the foliage was sparse, and the soil was rocky. Lothar’s vision seemed to swim as his brain refused to let him see the odd rocks clearly. Intrigued by the phenomenon, or magic he guessed, they moved closer to the rocks and further from the river they’d been following.
Holly eyes squinted as she followed Lothar towards the rock. It gave her a headache as she tried to view what hid beneath the magic. Lothar reached out his hand, sinking it into the black and grey rocks. Pushing forward, he stepped through. His head popped back out of the rocks, his eyes shining in awe.
“Come on, you are going to want to see this.” Extending his hand to her, he pulled her through with him.
Stopping as soon as she cleared the wall of magic, a slight gasp escaped her lips.
“What is this place?”
Lothar slid his fingers over the gold arch that stood in front of them and led to what he could only describe as a golden village with a massive temple at its’ focal point. A road led them to the massive steps, which escorted them to the i
mpressive place of worship. The road was lined with homes, and the whole place seemed to be lit by the glow of the temple. Where the light was coming from was beyond Lothar, but the whole cave-dwelling village was lit up on its own, providing plenty of light to see what was laid out beyond the arch. Hieroglyphics covered the arch in deep etching; there was a story being told along with what he guessed was a warning.
“What’s it say?” Holly asked as she scrutinized the beautiful carvings.
Lothar shook his head, dumbfounded by what he saw. “It’s written in two languages.”
“Ok, but what does it say?” Holly pushed.
Lothar gave her an exasperated look. “I don’t know.” He pointed out a sweeping depiction that didn’t look like letters or a picture to Holly. “This is ancient and long-lost words of the Fae. This,” he moved to another carving that looked more rigid with straighter lines. “If I had to guess, I would say it is also very ancient and of Greek or even Roman origin.”
“So it is Fae and human?”
Lothar nodded. “It would appear so.”
“Do you think we’ll be struck dead if we enter the village through the arch?”
Lothar blew out a deep breath. “I doubt it, and this seems as good a place as any to rest. You won’t have to conjure a shelter for us tonight.”
With a deep breath, she passed through the golden arch and was met with no resistance. The magic that surrounded the ancient village seemed to intensify momentarily before shifting. The air lightened as if welcoming them into this piece of very ancient history.
Lothar laced his fingers with hers and they headed towards to the temple. “Keep alert, we have no idea what could be in here.”
Holly scanned the area around them as they walked. “Seems like this would be just the place to either protect the previous inhabitants, from some of the scarier things on this island, or it was where they hid.”
Lothar nodded. “Hopefully, it was where they hid and there is nothing to go bump in the night calling this place home.”
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