“It would seem you are amassing an army. I could be of some use in that, I have many contacts in my realm,” he replies.
“Thank you,” I say simply, because I’m so overwhelmed that someone like Phaedrus would want to help me.
“You are welcome. Yes…God is very good to me,” he says, taking my empty glass from my hand as he rises. When he goes to the kitchen, I watch the night sky outside and listen to the angels in the front of the plane navigate our escape. The gentle swaying of the jet lulls me to sleep. I awake in the huge bed in the back of the jet as it descends steadily. We touch down on a runway at a small, private airport, by the look of the place that I glimpse out of the window.
Buns, coming through the door, sees me sitting on the end of the bed. “Sweetie, we just landed in Iceland. We are going to stay here until we get our new passports,” Buns says, scrutinizing me with her hands on her hips. Dashing into the bathroom, she comes out with a hairbrush and her cosmetic bag. After spending several minutes working on me as we taxi to the hangar, she manages to make me look presentable enough for her high standards. Producing a digital camera, Buns makes me stand against the wall as she takes several shots of me. “For the passport,” she informs me. “Now, we are going to be spending a few hours here while we arrange for documents and bank accounts because we all need new ones. We don’t know how much Brennus knows about all of us so we are all going to get new identities from Iceland.”
“Iceland? Is that where we are now?” I ask, rushing to the window to see just what Iceland looks like, since I have never even imagined coming here. It’s dark outside, but I can see lights to a city nearby and mountains on the horizon.
“Yes, you had better do all of your sightseeing quickly because we aren’t going to be staying for more than a few hours. We’re too close,” Buns informs me. She packs up a few things that we might need into a bag. “We’re going to stay at a spa here. I’ll pack some things for you. Make sure you take everything that you need because we will probably have a different plane when we leave here.”
“Where are we going when we get our passports?” I ask, helping her put things into a couple of bags she has already started packing on the bed.
“We have to catch up to Brownie and Russell—they are in the Ukraine, heading for China,” Buns replies, scanning the closet.
“China!” I say with surprise. On one hand that sounds like an adventure, but on the other, it’s so foreign that I won’t even be able to speak the language, or read a street sign. Fear edges through me because I will have to rely on everyone else to help me. It’s like that now, but there is always a chance that I can help and play a role in my own survival. How am I going to do that in China? How is Russell coping with all of this? It’s like culture shock on the grandest scale imaginable.
“Are you ready, sweetie?” Buns asks in a gentle tone. She is reading the panic on my face. I nod because I don’t want to be the weak link in this chain anymore than I already am.
Leaving the room, we walk to the front of the jet where the stairs are already let down so that we can debark. As I step out of the plane, I see Reed and Zephyr waiting for us at the bottom of the staircase. Attired in tailored gray trousers and white collared shirts, they have the appearance of high-class international travelers as they stand near an extremely sleek-looking car. Both Reed and Zephyr are on their phones, speaking rapidly in Angel. Reed, however, is watching every step I take down the stairs. Reaching his hand up to me, he helps me down the last couple of steps.
“Where is Phaedrus?” I ask when I look around and don’t see him.
Buns answers, “He’s going to take care of the passports for us. He has a contact. Phaedrus is an unknown entity in our group, we thought it would be the safest to use his associates,” Buns explains, while I get into the back seat of the car after Reed holds the door open for me. Buns sits in the front passenger seat that Zephyr opens for her, and then he goes around to the driver’s side while Reed sits in the back with me. Reed’s arm wraps around my shoulder, pulling me close to his side while still holding the phone to his ear with the other.
Resting my head against Reed’s shoulder, I watch the scenery of Iceland speed by outside of my window. We soon leave the large city behind as we drive over the dark roads to the base of a mountain. “We’re here, sweetie!” Buns says with excitement, smiling at me from over her shoulder. “It’s called ‘The Lake of Earth and Sky’ and it’s built into the side of a volcano. There is a hot spring that surrounds the back of the spa, containing the best mineral water available.” As we pull up to the Nordic glass fronted building, it is literally supported by the volcano’s lava rock on one side of it. Thick, rolling clouds of steaming fog shrouds the building in mystery. Taking Reed’s hand, I step from the car.
Buns leads us in and takes charge of acquiring our suite of rooms in the VIP section of the spa. The VIP section affords us our own private access to the hot spring lagoon, which is walled from the rest of the clientele by a lava rock privacy enclosure. I gaze at the stunning pictures of the lake in daylight; it is almost sky blue in color with the scintillating iridescence of an opal. Steam rises from the water invitingly and rolls over the black volcanic sand that has a myriad of arching wooden bridges connecting the small inlets throughout the estate.
When we are shown to our suite, I marvel at the uniqueness of it. One wall is comprised of rough, black volcanic lava rock that sparkles with small particles of quartz and silica embedded within it. The opposite wall is entirely comprised of glass that overlooks the lagoon outside. I bet that when the sun shines through it in the morning, the lava wall will shimmer like twinkle lights from the reflection of the quartz. The floors of the main room are polished wood. The furniture is cut in clean lines and boxy shapes that are meant to be calming and soothing, positioned as they are around a freestanding fireplace in the heart of the room.
It’s immediately apparent to Buns and me that Reed and Zephyr intend to treat this layover as a work opportunity. Neither of them spare the rooms more than a cursory glance as they both pace around it, negotiating on their phones. Walking to the window, I look out at the patio outside to the dark lagoon beyond it. Buns, managing to get my attention, gives me a devilish grin while she crooks her finger at me, ushering me to one of the bedrooms. “I call shotgun on the room with the waterfall and spa tubs. You and Reed can play in the private lagoon outside.”
“Uh huh. How am I going to get the phone away from him long enough to do that?” I ask with skepticism. “He’s a Power and he is at war right now trying to raise an army. How am I going to compete with that?” I ask, watching her rummage through her bag.
“He’s a Power who has been dreaming about you for months. You will have no problem, trust me. Here, this will help,” she says, tossing a tiny, red bikini at me. I blush a little when I see just how much of me it doesn’t cover when I have it on. “Play it cool,” Buns says, walking to the door of the room in her sexy black bikini. Pushing the door open, she strolls out into the main room saying, “Sweetie, I’m going to check out the spa room. The concierge informed me that it’s exclusively for us and it has it’s own waterfall. Do you want to come?”
I notice the sly look on her face and quickly catch on to her game. “That sounds like fun Buns… but I want to go look at the lagoon outside first. I want to see if I can see the aurora borealis, and then I thought I would take a dip in the hot spring because it’s a little chilly here.” I have my back to Reed, so that he can see just how much of me my suit doesn’t cover.
“Oh,” Buns says in disappointment. I try to hide my smile as I see Zee watching her like she is a rare piece of weaponry that he would like to wield. “I guess I can go alone,” she sighs as her lower lip pushes out in a sensual pout. She turns, walking toward the door. When she is through the door, Zephyr follows her in a millisecond. Turning around, I find Reed a hair’s breath from me, no longer on the phone.
“Reed!” I gasp, startled because I hadn’t heard
him move.
Reed wraps his arms around me and holds me to him, rubbing his hands up and down my back soothingly as he asks, “Are you upset?” he murmurs against my hair. “We need to talk about faeries and magic and what happened back at Dominion.”
“Not now, we don’t need to talk about that now—I don’t want to think about them,” I reply as a shiver passes through me, making Reed pull me back from him to look into my eyes.
“You didn’t know he has an army, did you?” he asks, assessing the dread in my eyes.
“No. He told me he was powerful and I told him that the mere fact that he had to say that means that he’s not,” I reply, watching as the corners of Reed’s lips curve in a small smile that his eyes can not suppress.
He says softly, “There is little wonder why he wants you, and he is very resourceful, so we will not underestimate him again. You told me that he would come for you, didn’t you?” he asks. I nod because I don’t want him to hear fear in my voice. “I believed you when you told me that he would come…but I did not anticipate that he is willing to risk everything that he has achieved to have you—that means he is vulnerable. We have to find out who his allies are…” Reed trails off when I press my lips to his in a desperate attempt to make him stop talking about Brennus.
“Shh…No more talking about him,” I whisper to Reed when I pull back. “I’m here with you now and I’m not going to waste a second of that discussing him. I want to have this moment with you without him in it.”
“Are you afraid that we will not have many moments left together?” Reed asks, narrowing in on the core of my terror. His eyes are scanning mine, so I drop my eyes from him because I don’t want him to see just how sure I am that that is the case.
“When I was in my cell with the Gancanagh, I began to understand something that I should’ve made more clear to you. I was not being unrealistic when I spoke to the war council. There are only a couple of ways this can end,” I say, clutching Reed’s hand. “It’s a game to the death: Brennus’ or mine. This ends with me as an undead queen or when Brennus ceases to be. He’s not going to stop… ever.”
“Yes, he is desperate for you, and when he comes, there will be no mercy for him. He will cease to be,” Reed says emphatically with absolutely no doubt in his voice. But, there are no feelings of satisfaction in his pronouncement for me, which frightens me even more because I should burn for Brennus’ death, like I had burned for Alfred’s.
I pull away from Reed, moving toward the glass doors that lead to the lake. Reed catches my hand and pulls me back to him possessively. “Where are you going?” he asks, and his head dips nearer to mine, inhaling the scent of my hair just near my neck. Then, his eyes focus on the mark over my heart and he stills. The image of his wings that graces my skin just above my left breast is making his eyes grow dark, filling them with raw desire.
“Come with me, I’ll show you where I’m going,” I reply, tugging on his hand, leading him to the balcony doors. The doors exit onto a massive, elevated patio; it’s flanked on either side with lava stone steps. The steps travel down to the murky, volcanic beach below. The black sand is shrouded all around by hot, misty fog that dampens our skin before we even make it to the water’s edge. In contrast, the sky above is pristine and clear, flaunting every star in the sky like diamonds on fire, not that I can spare much of my attention for the stars with Reed at my side.
Stepping tentatively into the water, I realize that it’s deliciously warm. In the dark, the water looks almost sapphire blue, sparkling in the moonlight. The silica that the water contains is lending it an opal fire, which is such a sharp contrast to the black sand. Standing on my tiptoes, I wrap my arms around Reed’s neck while pressing my body into his. I brush my lips over his, and then I gently bite his lower lip, tugging on it teasingly, watching as his eyes cloud with a hunger that I know well.
Reed pulls back from me then and whispers, “Evie, we shouldn’t… the way I feel… so wild inside… I will hurt you,” I know what he is saying. It has been months since we have been together without the blanket of exhaustion to deaden our senses. Now, the butterflies have intensified since then, or maybe it’s that we haven’t been desensitized to them by being near one another constantly. Whatever the case, there is a churning need inside of me for Reed that is lethal and I feel that if I am denied him now, I will burn forever.
Without looking at him, I wade into the water, letting it swirl around my calves while I reach up and untie the strings that secure my top. I let it fall from me. I unleash my wings with a decisive snap, allowing them to stretch out boldly. When I turn around, I see the way his eyes are touching every part of me almost like a caress. I try to savor the feeling that his heated stare is making me feel, intoxicated and lovely.
“Reed, I know that you think that it’s better to wait until I evolve fully, but I don’t think I can wait any longer,” I murmur. “You are in my blood now and I’m in yours. We are bound to each other in every way possible but one and I…I don’t know where I’m going, I don’t even know what I’ve become, but I know that if I’m with you, then I’m free…I’m home. Let me show you what you mean to me. Let me pull you into my world, as you have pulled me into yours.”
From the edge of the water, I hear a tear as Reed’s shirt falls shredded to the beach. His powerful wings are arching out with vengeance. They are almost black in this light. The fierceness of his expression is heightening my senses as fear and desire mingle to increase my already palatable anticipation. Reed paces the beach. His wings are moving agitatedly, making noises like a sheet hanging on a clothesline, waving in the wind. There is a war going on within Reed. His hands are balled in fists at his sides while he struggles against his desires. Trying not to smile, I wade farther away from him into the comforting heat of the lagoon, waiting to see what he will do next.
I don’t have more than a fraction of a second to wait as I am swept up off my feet and carried further out into the water by Reed. When he is waist deep, he slowly lowers me into the water again, allowing my body to slide down his until my feet reach the sand beneath us. I melt against him as he nibbles my ear and tugs on it gently, making my whole body ignite from my core. “I can’t fight you,” he says effacingly. “I can fight everything but you. Evie…if I begin to hurt you, you must stop me…” he begins to say.
“Shhh…a little pain is nothing compared to the pleasure of being with you,” I whisper in his ear as the fog gathers around us, hiding us from the water’s edge and I can believe, in this moment, that we are the only two beings that exist in the world.
Slowly, Reed gathers me to him as the heat from his lips press to mine, stirring passion in me that is like an inferno. His lips break from mine as he brings them lower to my neck, and then to the symbol of him branded in my skin. He presses sultry kisses into the image of his wings, making my fingers cling to the muscles of his back. He speaks to me in Angel with his lips still pressed to my skin, making me feel beautiful in a carnal way that I have never felt before.
Raising my head back up, I capture his head in my hands, entwining my fingers in his damp hair. “What did you say?” I whisper in his ear.
Reed’s cheek brushes mine as he gently strokes my hair, and then he says, “I was telling you that I have waited for you to come to me for an eternity. You set me free and I would wait for you forever because there is nothing about you that I would change…you are perfect.”
The flood of desire his words create almost overwhelms me. Letting my hands drop from his hair, they rest on his shoulders. My fingertips slide slowly down his back under his wings, feeling his skin against mine while I press my body to his. Reed’s fingertips trace a line down my neck and over my collarbone.
“You are certain you are ready for this, that this is what you want?” His voice is strained and sexy, making my heart beat faster because he is asking me if it is him that I truly want.
“You are what I want,” I reply breathlessly. “It’s you that I love. It will
always be you,” I whisper to him.
“Evie…” Reed says my name softly, before he touches his lips to mine.
“I will never be able to stay away from you,” I whisper dreamily.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Reed replies, holding me tight in his arms while he carries me to the water’s edge. I can’t help the smile that is pulling at my lips after I hear his reply because it’s the echo of mine after our first kiss.
He lays me down on the sand as he sinks to the ground next to me and then he immediately pulls me in his arms once again so that I can rest my head on his chest. The cool night air, blowing against my skin, feels wonderful after the heat of the water and the fire that consumed us. Looking up at the night sky, my breath catches in my chest. I see the cascading, emerald and azure colored lights bleeding across the skyline. I had been so wrapped up in Reed that I hadn’t noticed it.
“Reed, it’s the northern lights!” I say with a hushed tone. Gazing at the serpentine, green shimmer, that almost matches the color of Reed’s eyes, it seems like it is dancing in the sky above us.
“Evie…promise me something,” Reed says in a serious tone, bringing my hand to his lips.
“Anything,” I reply, feeling Reed kiss my hand as I watch the lights above raining color down on us.
“Never disappear from me again,” he says softly. My heart contracts in my chest because his voice contains the pain and hurt I had created when I had left him.
I think about his request for a moment, knowing that it may not be within my power to comply with that request, so I say, “I will never willingly leave you again…but if I do disappear, know that I will fight to come back to you.”
Reed is above me in a fraction of a second, his intense stare boring into my eyes as he says, “Then, know that I will never stop looking for you because we are one.” He presses me back into the sand and makes love to me again with a stormy strength that leaves no doubt in my mind that I am his and he is mine. Earth and Sky.
Intuition: The Premonition Series Page 47