“It’s all right,” Samantha said quickly. “I’ll cut him some slack. This time.”
Flavia frowned once more then stalked out, closing the door behind her.
Samantha touched Tain’s cheek below the eye patch. “Are you all right?”
I am now, Tain wanted to answer.
She swallowed. “You look . . .”
“Like a pirate?”
Samantha gave him a faint smile. “I was going to say normal. More human.”
Tain studied her, searching for answers deep in her eyes. “Do you like me more human?”
The smile grew warmer. “Yes.”
His heart hammered with relief. He’d half expected Samantha to recoil from him, to gaze in horror at the mass of scars that covered the left side of his face. Tain had welcomed the scars because Kehksut would have hated them, but he didn’t want Samantha to hate them too.
“I came to tell you something,” he said.
Samantha’s expression grew wary. “And that is?”
Gods, he wished she didn’t look so delectable in those clothes. He wanted to lick her legs all the way up to the delight between them.
“I’m going to Ravenscroft,” Tain made himself say.
Samantha’s eyes flickered. “I thought you might be.”
“Did you?” Tain asked in some surprise.
“That’s what Immortals do, isn’t it?” Samantha said stiffly. “You come when you’re summoned, you kill the bad guys, you go back home. Problem solved, and you move on. The Old One is dead, and now you’re heading out.”
“No.” Tain stopped, unsure how to proceed.
“You just said you were going to Ravenscroft.” Samantha’s dark eyes glittered as she moved back to her desk, as though ready to slide into her role as matriarch.
He couldn’t do this. Adrian had told him to come here and tell Samantha flat out what he was going to do. Hunter had advised Tain to charm Samantha first, flirt with her until she was melting and compliant.
His brothers were assholes. Tain didn’t have the commanding air of Adrian or the flirtation skills of Hunter. When he wanted a woman, he smiled at her, and that did the trick. Or at least it used to. Now his face was a hideous mess, and no woman was going to respond to Tain’s smiles ever again.
“Damn it.” Tain was across the room and had Samantha bent backward over the desk before she could speak or push him away. Pens, file folders, and little ornaments clattered to the floor, and then he was kissing her, brushing back her hair and taking her mouth. She tasted wonderful, like cinnamon, coffee, and heat.
“Did you mean it?” he whispered against her lips.
“Mean what?” Her dark eyes were wide.
“When you told me you loved me,” Tain said. “When you tried to save me from Bahkat, up in that cave, you said you loved me. Or was that just to get me to stop?”
“I thought I was going to die,” Samantha said, and she swallowed. “I thought I’d better say it—in case.”
“Say it again now that we’re safe. I need you to. I need something I can believe in.”
Samantha’s eyes filled, and her mouth softened. “I love you, Tain.”
The words floated around him like fires on a frozen night. “I love you too,” he said, his breath not working. “Gods, Samantha, I love you so much.”
She smiled, hope in her eyes, and she touched his face again. “Tain.”
Words tumbled out of him, coming from someplace he didn’t understand. “You were right when you said you saved my ass back in Seattle. For a long time I wandered around thinking the last thing I needed was you in my life, when you were exactly what I needed. You could have healed me a long time ago if I’d let you.”
“Why are you going to Ravenscroft then?” Samantha asked, her brows drawing together. “If you need me so much?”
“I want to take you with me.”
Samantha stopped, her dark gaze searching. “I’m demon. Isn’t it a special Immortals place full of life magic?”
“You have Cerridwen’s permission to enter, and you’ll be with me.”
Samantha started to shake her head. “But I’m clan matriarch now, and I have a mountain of work to do. I can’t just leave.”
Tain tightened his arms around her. “If you want, the goddesses can arrange it so we arrive back here minutes after we leave.”
Samantha looked puzzled. “If you can come back in a few minutes, I don’t understand why you want me to go with you.”
“For a good reason.” Tain kissed her again, slowly this time, while he opened the portal that would take them to Ravenscroft.
The matriarch’s office dissolved to be replaced by a grassy slope that ran down to a wide, flowing river under bright sunshine. Tain broke the kiss, and Samantha smiled and touched his lips before she realized what had happened.
She sat up with a start. Tain rolled off her to stretch out next to her in the warm grass, enjoying the view of Samantha’s legs as she gaped at the meadow, the river, and the long, Japanese-looking building—wood with lattice and paper screens—at the top of the slope.
“Where the hell—?”
“This is Ravenscroft,” Tain said.
Samantha gulped a few breaths of the sweet air. “Shit. I didn’t realize you meant you wanted us to come here right now.”
Tain grinned at her, feeling happier than he had in a very long time, but he kept his voice gentle as he explained. “When I filled you with my life essence in the cave, I hurt you. You are incredibly strong, but I nearly killed you. I’ve healed you most of the way, but here, I can finish, to make sure you’re completely well.”
Samantha sank back down beside him, sunshine on her beautiful face. “It did hurt. But it worked.” She touched his chest, her fingertips drawing fire through his shirt. “We weakened the Old One enough so Hunter could kill him—Hunter’s told me that story about six times already.” She smiled up at Tain, breaking something inside him. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
Tain stroked her hair, enjoying it softness under his fingertips. “I hope to the gods you never have to again.” He leaned down and nuzzled her. “I’ll make sure you never have to.”
After their next long, tender kiss, Samantha raised her head and gazed at the beauty surrounding them. “How long can I stay? This place is amazing. I’m used to city that sprawls for miles or the barren desert beyond that. I get excited when I see a tree in its natural habitat.”
She laughed, but Tain remained serious. “You can stay as long as you want.”
“I have to go back eventually, though,” Samantha said, sounding wistful. “The clan has accepted me for whatever reason, and they’re my family. I have a job to help them now.”
Tain gave her a nod. “I’m going back with you. I don’t intend to lose you again. I’m going to be personal bodyguard to the matriarch.”
Samantha blinked. “Personal bodyguard?”
“To you and to the clan. You need life essence to survive, and this way I can be on hand to give it to you.”
“I see.” Samantha sounded uncertain.
Tain laid her back down on the grass and covered her warm body with his. Then he did what he’d been longing to, pushed back the lapels of her blazer and unbuttoned her blouse with gentle fingers. “Will you have me, Samantha?”
Samantha traced the pentacle on his cheek. “As a lover? Yes.”
“I mean as a life mate. A wife. Forever. The goddesses will make you immortal to be with me . . . if you can stand the thought.”
Samantha’s eyes were wide. “Of course I can stand the thought. But you just asked me to marry you. Didn’t you? You’re saying you want to stay with me forever too.”
“That’s usually what it means.” Tain smiled, feeling his scars pull under the eye patch. “I love you, Samantha, and I need you. Be my life mate.” He paused. “Please.”
Samantha stared at him while his heart thudded with the enormity of what he’d asked her. He waited while thoughts flickered b
ehind her eyes—uncertainty, outright fear, need. Hope. Love.
“My father once told me I’d live a long time anyway,” Samantha said in a faint voice.
Tain’s body stilled. “Does that mean yes?”
Samantha smiled, her eyes beautiful and full of love. “Yes.”
Relief flooded him. “Thank you.” He collapsed onto her, resting his head against the ground, his body shuddering. When he raised his head again, his good eye was full of tears, blurring her beautiful face. “Will you say it again?” he asked, voice rasping. “That you love me? I need you to.”
Samantha laughed and wound her arms around him. “I do love you,” she said fiercely. “I’ve loved you ever since I first saw you in Seattle—I love the way you smile as though your smile is only for me. I love your deep voice and your accent and your body wet in the shower. And I especially love your gorgeous, tight ass.” Samantha’s smile shook as she squeezed his backside. “I love how you worried about a demon prostitute hurt and alone in an alley. And I love how you feed my cat junk he’s not supposed to eat when you think I’m not looking.”
Tain grinned. “You noticed that?”
She gave him a wry look. “You’re not very subtle.”
“Not my strong point.” Definitely not. Tain wanted to get on with the business of making love to her right now, but he dug into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a small, black velvet-covered box.
Samantha’s eyes widened. She took the box from him and opened it with trembling fingers. Inside lay a ring, set with a large, white diamond, which winked in the sunlight.
Samantha gasped and almost dropped the box. “Good gods, Tain.”
“Hunter had to take me to the bank and explain how to get out my money again. But he didn’t mind—this time it was for a good cause.”
Samantha worked the ring out of the box. “Put it on me.”
Tain took the cool band between his fingertips and slid the ring onto her fourth finger. He seemed to be shaking as much as she was. “If it doesn’t fit, the jeweler said it could be resized.”
“It’s fine.” Tears filled Samantha’s eyes. “It’s fine.”
Tain lifted her hand, kissed the ring, and laid her palm against his tattoo, liking that she didn’t pull away. “I used to love so easily,” he said. “Teach me how to love again, Samantha.”
Samantha brushed her thumb across his cheek, hand still on his tattoo. “I’m not sure I can.”
“If anyone can, it’s you.”
Samantha dragged in a breath, looking scared a moment, then she gave Tain a nod. “I’ll try,” she said softly. “I promise, I’ll try.”
“Good.” Tain pressed a kiss to her damp cheek. “Now, no more tears, love.” He parted the blouse and kissed the tops of her breasts, then slid his hand around to unhook her bra. “I want to celebrate gaining my freedom again.” He slanted her a smile. “Do you know how I want to celebrate?”
Samantha kissed his throat. “I’m getting an idea.”
Tain pressed his forehead to hers, looking straight into her eyes and letting his smile grow wicked. “I want to make love to you. I want to do it hard and fast, and then I want to do it loving and slow. I want to be inside you, and to savor you, and I want you to feel so good you never want me to stop.”
“That sounds nice,” Samantha said shakily. “If this is what giving me a huge diamond does to you, you can give me one every day.”
“Mmm, Hunter wouldn’t like that—he’d have to take me to the bank all the time.”
“Hunter can get over it.”
Tain laughed, the sound flowing from him, free and strong. “I want to give you my world, Samantha. Because you gave mine back to me.”
Samantha twined her arms around him. “Maybe you can thank me now.”
Tain seized one of her hands and pressed it to his tattoo again, liking how she immediately started to take his essence gently, not hungrily. He grew harder as he felt the pull, Samantha arousing him as no one ever had, as no one ever could. “Oh, I intend to, love.”
“Good.” Samantha smiled, her eyes darkening as she tugged him down to her, and Tain surrendered himself to her. She would be his mate, forever, this demon who’d healed him and taught him about love. “You know,” she mused as Tain slid his hands under her skirt, finding the heat of her. “I wouldn’t mind if you kept always your hair short. It’s wicked sexy.”
Epilogue
Weeks later Tain sat on a verdant field in Ravenscroft, overlooking a lake, its blue like a reflection of his own eyes. A pavilion up the hill floated with pink and white streamers, and laughter echoed from his brothers—Adrian, Kalen, Darius, and Hunter, and their wives and children, as well as Logan and other friends they’d made during the fight against Kehksut. All were here with the blessing of the goddesses.
Samantha was in the pavilion with Tain’s family, being passed around for hugs in her sleek white gown. She and Tain had wed not an hour ago, Tain sliding a plain wedding band onto Samantha’s finger next to the diamond ring—a human custom, but one he liked.
Now he lounged in the grass, and his mother, the goddess Cerridwen, stood near him, her red hair swirling in the wind. No longer insubstantial as when she visited Tain on the earth, she was tall and stately, wrapped in gossamer that glittered like starlight.
“This is your ending,” she said. “No more suffering, Tain.”
Tain glanced at the pavilion, feeling the soft scrape of the eye patch he was still getting used to. “She’s worth it,” he rumbled.
“Nothing is worth what happened to you. I grieved every time you hurt, my love, knowing I’d forced you to that.”
Tain looked up at his mother, but the pain and anger had gone from his heart. “It was necessary. Kehksut never would have been defeated otherwise. I understand that now.” He let out his breath. “The only thing I would have changed was you and the goddesses not giving me the choice. I should have made the decision myself to submit to Kehksut’s torture, walked that path of my own choosing.”
Cerridwen raised her fine brows. “If the choice had been yours, if you’d known you had to sacrifice yourself, would you have done it?”
Tain replied readily. “To keep my brothers from having to go through that? Yes, I would have.”
“How could you, knowing what would happen to you?”
Tain stood up and took his mother’s hands, looking into the swirling silver-blue of her eyes. “Because even if I didn’t survive, they would. They did. That’s all that really matters, isn’t it?”
Cerridwen’s lips parted as though she saw and understood her son for the first time. “Tain . . .”
Tain shrugged, releasing her hands. “It’s no longer worth talking about,” he said, his Celtic lilt pronounced. He smiled as he heard renewed laughter floating from the pavilion, Samantha’s voice raised above it all.
“This is my redemption, isn’t it?” he asked Cerridwen. “To be a guardian of Samantha and her demons—the same kind of beings as the one who tortured me for centuries. Now I protect them.” Tain’s heart warmed as he laughed. “I like the irony.”
Cerridwen started to speak, but just then, Samantha came out of the pavilion and called down to him. “Tain, come up here and explain to your brother that I am not carrying a piece under this dress.”
Tain waved to her, wondering which brother was teasing the life out of her this time. He kissed his mother on the cheek, wiped away the tear that had leaked from the corner of the goddess’s eye, and turned and sprinted up the hill to Samantha’s laughter and her waiting arms.
Excerpt—Immortals: Forbidden Taste
As the lowest ranking telepath in the paranormal police branch of the LAPD, Mariah got all the crap jobs.
“Rogue vamp.” Sergeant Boone hovered in front of Mariah’s desk, folder in hand. Fluorescent lights gleamed on his bald head and the satisfied smirk on his round face. “Yours to deal with, Detective.”
Mariah stilled her fingers on her keyboard, where she was
painstakingly writing up last night’s busts. Demons, twenty of them, had been carrying on an orgy with some not-so-willing human participants in MacArthur Park. Mariah had been used like a hunting dog to track down the demons by detecting their auras. She’d spent all morning and afternoon going over witness statements and dealing with the demons’ lawyers—no one could quibble over the minutiae of the law like a demon.
The dogs in the K-9 unit at least got treats for a job well done, and humans who made a fuss over them. Mariah’s reward was cold coffee and more reports.
“I’m a little busy, Sergeant,” she said.
“Aren’t we all, Detective?” Boone dropped the folder, displacing papers on her desk and sending the wisps of hair around Mariah’s forehead dancing. “Boss says you’re good at this shit, so you’re elected. Vamp holed himself up in a club. Club manager says can we please come pry him out?”
“Great.” Mariah heaved a sigh. “Why isn’t Septimus taking care of it?”
Septimus was the kingpin of vampires in Los Angeles, having emerged from the death-magic war a couple years ago with a lot of power plus the blessing, as it were, of the LAPD. He kept vampires under control, and the police let him go about his business.
Lately though, small gangs of vamps, mainly younger ones, had been stirring up trouble, testing Septimus’s authority in downtown L.A. Septimus was mostly on top of it, but once in a while he had to reluctantly call in the police for help.
Septimus was an Old One, meaning he’d lived for several thousand years at least. You didn’t get to be an Old One without cunning, power, strength, and sheer ruthlessness. If Septimus couldn’t control a rogue in his own territory, what chance did Mariah have?
“I don’t know,” Boone said. “I’m just the messenger.”
Mariah opened the folder as Boone spoke. She lifted the one sheet of paper with three lines on it, flipping it over to see if there was anything on the back, but no.
“Seriously?” she stared up at Boone, who regarded her with a gleeful grin. “This is the case file? An unknown vamp is in a building, but no one knows where in the building? How can they not know?”
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