Frozen Heart of Fire

by Julie Kavanagh

Eva lifted her head in response to the softly worded confession, her eyes narrowed in her lack of understanding, but that was the most she could expect from him as he continued in his explanation to his brother. Noah was a proud man and didn’t relish the fact that she, their enemy, had shown a lack in his security.

  “They’re initiating a full sweep straight away.” Noah clarified their next move as a soft hissing sound could be heard.

  “Keep your mouth closed and take slow breaths.” Joshua’s hand on her arm urged Eva to her feet. “It won’t hurt you, but it will eradicate any parasites you may have picked up.” Everybody knew of the invisible leeches attached to the skin of a Trajien demon, which would detach themselves and infect the bodies of anything warm and living in the vicinity. They particularly liked the warmth of females, it didn’t matter which species and, as they invaded the flesh of another, they gave off psychic pleasure vibes bringing the demon to a full satisfying orgasm. Once infected, there was no cure, no respite from the parasitic worms’ relentless occupation of every cell in her body. Any woman, once in contact with the recklessly handsome Trajien demon, was doomed to torturous agony until death offered its own relief.

  A soft wet mist dropped from unseen vents in the ceiling, settling on her pale skin, drying almost on contact, but none of them could have imagined the effect it would have on a species like hers, which no one believed still lived.

  Eva tried to listen but the unknown chemicals forcing their way into her unusual bloodstream frightened her beyond his belief. It began with a soft burning on the top levels of her cold skin, her face glowing pink, an unnatural color on her flesh. Her face was full of the fear she tried desperately not to show and, as Joshua noticed her unshed tears and soft shivering, he drew her into the protection of his arms, his chin resting on the top of her head.

  “It takes sixty seconds,” Joshua whispered softly into her hair, his voice something she could use to anchor herself. “One minute. Just relax. I won’t let anything happen to you.” But he couldn’t promise that. She was an Ice Witch, a species which had been wiped out, eradicated, supposedly, from the planet. Who knew what could happen with these strange chemicals her kind had never encountered.

  The soft hissing ceased and a flickering of the lights told them the procedure was over, but Eva’s troubles were just beginning. Her head lay against Joshua’s strong chest, his shirt soaked through from her tears as she failed to respond to his voice.

  “Go run the shower,” Josh commanded his brother as he pulled the woman’s dark jacket from her shoulders. There’d had been this reaction only once before and the parasitisyde had resulted in the woman’s death that time. No one wanted to repeat the experience.

  He lifted her easily into his arms, her soft protest no barrier to his determination, and carried her through his bedroom to the steamy bathroom. He pulled at her dark trousers and skimpy sleeveless top, leaving only a dark pair of panties on her body. He tried not to stare at the fullness of her breasts; the perfect amount of flesh to fit his hand, although he knew his brother had no qualms about staring at the semi-naked woman.

  “Go find out where Prince is,” Joshua hissed, his eyes narrowing at the liberties Noah was freely taking. “Stall him, keep him out of here.”

  The water was hot but cooler than his shower had been as he set the woman under the spray of steaming water. She gasped in stunned protest but her eyes were glazed and unfocused as he forced her to stay under the water. Cooling shower gel lathered in one hand, he held her up with the other as he began to wash the parasitisyde from her skin.

  “Let me go.” Eva’s eyes flashed open at the touch of his large hand on her trembling body.

  “You need to cleanse your skin,” he explained, the bubbles in his poised hand washing away under the stream of water. “The parasitisyde is affecting you differently; it could be dangerous. I have to wash it off your skin.”

  “I’ve been washing myself for many years,” she snapped, her cheeks burning. She stood almost naked in front of him and crossed her hands across her breasts, feeling the blush travelling down from her face.

  Josh nodded, rinsed his hand under the water and backed away. He wanted to stay; he wanted to find out what delights lay beneath the cover of those skimpy, teasing panties but hadn’t his family been the ones to eradicate her kind from the world. What kind of hypocrite was he? He stepped out of the huge shower stall, his clothes wet and sticking to his body, his hair dripping. He pulled the shirt off over his head, tossing it into the corner to be joined next by the dark wet trousers.

  Eva stared with unbelieving eyes. What the hell was he doing? But she couldn’t fault the view of his lean, strong back, his firm shapely behind. Not many men went commando under such tight-fitting trousers. Not that she was complaining; he was a damn handsome man with a body to cry for.

  “I’ll fetch you a robe,” his eyes danced over her face, his smile showed he knew what she’d been thinking, as he turned to look at her and her eyes dropped. There was desire in her darkening eyes, in the intensity of her gaze and in the way she held herself.

  Eva raised her arms again. She hadn’t realized how low they had dropped. Her nipples were hard and pointing toward the man who incited passion into her mind, her body as he stared at her. His wicked grin shook her right down to her wet toes. How could any man look so good and so bad at the same time?

  Joshua left the bathroom with the grin still plastered to his face. He liked the way she reacted, how red her face blushed, how her body reacted to him, and to his touch. Eva was the first woman in far too long to create such a reaction in him. What fortune had brought her here today, to him?

  “Is she okay?” Noah asked softly, handing his brother a dark blue robe. “The woman, is she okay?”

  “Yeah sure,” Joshua nodded. She was more than okay, she was … Well, he couldn’t think about it now.

  “Prince was already on his way up and asking a lot of questions about her.” Noah followed Joshua to the walk-in closet, his eyes on the cream robe Joshua lifted from the rack. The plastic wrapping was discarded as Joshua returned to the bathroom where the water had been switched off and the woman waited impatiently inside. “You know what he’s like, he won’t give up until he finds out everything he thinks he needs to know. Did you hear me?”

  “Yes, I heard you.” Joshua slammed the door in his brother’s face before he could catch a glimpse of soft, white female flesh. “Put this on,” he snarled into the woman’s face. Unfortunately, she was wrapped in a white towel with only her shoulders and legs showing, but it was a sweet enough image all the same. Wasn’t it a shame he didn’t have only hand towels in here? This pretty, pale woman clad only in a tiny hand towel was a much better image.

  “I need my clothes back. Don’t you have a dryer or something?” she snapped, taking the robe anyway

  “It will have to do.” His voice was stern, but his eyes wandered over every inch of her pale flesh on show. “Hurry up, my cousin is on his way and says he knows all about you. How does he know?”

  She pulled the pale robe about her before removing the towel. She wouldn’t allow him any sneaky looks and she ignored his question. His strong hand on the front of the robe pulled her to him, his face close to hers; so close she could feel the heat of his skin melting the frost of hers.

  “I don’t know what you’re up to, but I know I feel you’re not here to cause either of us harm. Prince isn’t someone to mess with. Tell me how he knows about you. I can’t protect you unless I know it all.” Something tugged at a memory in the deepest region of his mind and he couldn’t shake the feeling it was important to them all.

  Chapter Six

  “I can’t tell you anything because I don’t know,” she whispered as Joshua nodded. He’d said he couldn’t protect her, but he’d lied. He didn’t know what it was about her, what drew him to her, but neither his cousin nor anyone else would get their hands on her.

  “Follow my lead,” he warned, his words whispered into her
towel-dried hair. She smelled of almond shampoo, his favorite, although it smelled better on her than it ever had on him. His arm was firm around her shoulder, as he guided her back into the living area where Noah stood by the plasma screen with a larger man. Both turned as they re-entered the room.

  “Prince, it’s always a pleasure to welcome you to my home.” Josh held his free hand out as they neared his cousin. Prince was tall and dark like the two brothers, but that was where the resemblance ended. This man was ugly, although it wasn’t his looks distorting his face. His eyes were dark, framed by ebony lashes and brows but his envy, and hatred warped his handsomeness into a vicious portrait of loathing. His eyes were narrowed, with deep grooves in his brow pitted by his persistent glowering.

  “Cousin, it is an honor to enter your home,” Prince spoke, his tone barely peeking above freezing, but his eyes danced immediately to the face of the woman sheltered beneath Joshua’s shoulder. “And who is this sweet little thing?”

  “Eva, this is my cousin, Prince,” Joshua tightened his hold on the woman as she shuddered. “Prince, this is Eva, my woman, my soulmate.” He ignored the heated look Eva flared at him. He’d told her to follow his lead, how would she handle this? Would she go along with it?

  “Your soulmate? I hadn’t heard…” Prince cast his eyes over the strange- looking woman. Her pale hair was damp as was Joshua’s and they both wore robes although she displayed a tantalizing peek of cleavage and her slim, bare legs showed beneath the hem of the soft robe. “I had heard you were ill.”

  “If you’re concerned because I haven’t been active in the club, I am confident in Noah’s ability to deal with business without my presence—especially since this delightful woman walked into my life. I have realized my purpose in my life is to secure the title of Prince to our people and have been busy with my Eva. I didn’t realize how much fun fulfilling my duty could be.”

  “Your soulmate?” Eva leaned up to hiss into Joshua’s ear. She didn’t understand what was going on but was intuitive enough to realize she shouldn’t dispute anything Joshua said to his cousin although that didn’t mean she couldn’t devise her own method of revenge. Soulmate indeed!

  “Prince?” Eva turned her pale eyes to the man staring back at her. His interest was apparent in the way he stood, his hips pushed forward a little too much, his lips formed into what he believed to be a sexy snarl. “Oh my God, Josh, you were right,” she giggled, a hand reaching to cover her mouth as though she’d just committed a terrible social faux pas as she looked up into Joshua’s face.

  “Right about what?” Prince immediately jumped on her laughter-filled comment. He read the joke and his anger began to build. How dare this woman join in on the joke when he, as family, wasn’t included?

  She’s good, Noah chuckled inside Josh’s mind. She’s growing on me.

  “I love your sense of humor, sweetheart.” Joshua lifted her face as he lowered his mouth to her lips and, although she struggled a little against the arm holding her to his chest, the kiss deepened, changed and she found she no longer wanted to pull away. His lips were a furnace burning her skin and his tongue pushed like a determined flame between her lips. She didn’t want this; didn’t want this man taking advantage of her, but she would kill him if he dared to stop the kiss before it had run its course. It was the touch of his hot hand on her skin, touching her breast, inching its way to where her nipple awaited his caress which caused the deep sigh to escape her throat. His fingers coaxed her, embracing, encouraging her passion but her need for this man was only just igniting.

  “What are they doing?” Prince stepped back at the show of passion between his cousin and the intriguing woman.

  “They’ve been like this for days; you get used to it after a while. They might disappear into the bedroom but they’ll be out in an hour or so. They’re like bloody rabbits,” Noah lied, grinning naughtily at his cousin’s discomfort.

  “He’s not ill?” Prince asked with disappointment. His hopes were quickly dashed by Joshua’s obvious vigor.

  “Does he look ill?” Noah smiled wider, enjoying Prince’s disenchantment. “Come have a drink; they might be a while.”

  “I heard he had a bad headache,” Prince muttered, following Noah to a bar on the other side of the room. Joshua up, although he regretted the loss of contact on the woman’s chilled lips. Her eyes were closed and her lips moved to an involuntary smile. She’d enjoyed it. Joshua’s eyes locked onto Noah who slowly shook his head. No, he hadn’t told anyone about Joshua’s headaches. No one knew except the two of them, the Ice Witch and the creator of the pain.

  Noah scowled with suspicion at Eva as she turned her head and opened her eyes. The energy of the room had changed and was back to what it had been when they’d first brought her there. Joshua raised a hand, a finger rubbing at his forehead. Was the headache coming back or just the memory of that pain lurking inside his mind? Was the woman in his cousin’s employ and able to remove the pain because she’d caused it?

  Chapter Seven

  Joshua’s arm tightened on hers as he led her to the sofa and pulled her down onto his lap. She stiffened but obeyed. His hot arm wrapping itself around her, appeared to be a familiar embrace and not the prison it was.

  “I didn’t realize you had found your soulmate,” Prince muttered again, one hand holding a tumbler of Joshua’s expensive scotch and staring at the woman’s bared legs as she perched lover-like on Joshua’s lap. “I’m pleased for you but my woman is already carrying my child. We await his arrival with great anticipation.”

  He’s lying, Noah whispered in his brother’s mind. He’s the one behind the headache.

  I know, Joshua spat, astonishing Noah with his cold, caustic tone. Is Eva involved too? Can you read her?

  Not with Prince here; he always interferes with the process. Noah admitted. He didn’t like to think that the man had any power at all but, although Prince didn’t have the strength to read thoughts nor the patience to learn, his energy was enough to interrupt Noah’s skill.

  “I’m pleased for you,” Joshua lied, his hand on the woman’s exposed thigh and, although she tried to remove the hand and cover up her skin, Joshua’s determination wasn’t to be defied. “Obviously once we are certain, we will notify you of our own good news.” The hand around her shoulder dropped to rest over her abdomen, a sign of ownership, and of fatherhood. Eva had only known him for a short time, but she knew he would be a proud father, and an awesome lover, and that pleased her.

  “I look forward to the announcement,” Prince smiled, a cold unforgiving grin. “But I didn’t come here to brag or to assure myself of your good health. I heard rumors of the presence of an Ice Witch and wanted to offer my help in detaining and destroying her.”

  “The Ice Witches are dead, cousin. Don’t you remember?” Noah’s eyes caught his brother’s once more, and saw the frown growing on his brother’s brow. Joshua’s head dropped, his mouth touching Eva’s ear, a lover’s sweet nothing, a loving touch.

  “Do you know this man?” he asked, demanding the answer.

  “He’s your cousin. That’s all I know,” she muttered back. His breath on the skin of her neck, sent a hot tremble along her spine. What was it about him? How did he cause such a reaction from her? She wanted to find out more; she wanted to run. He was dangerous and would have no qualms about causing her death, like any of his kind. But there was something that held him back; something inside him wanting more than her death and that made her shiver more.

  But Joshua believed her; Prince had never been a good liar despite his lifelong practice. Noah had never needed to use his skill, his power, to know that but Prince showed no sign of recognition. He’d never been that great an actor, although that led to other questions. How many Ice Witches had escaped the slaughter and how much danger did they represent? How had they escaped?

  “Listen, don’t speak,” Joshua told her and she nodded to show she understood how dangerous it was for her to be in this room. He nodded at Noah,
who whispered a soft spell, drying up any words Eva might try to say. It was a handy spell, although its effect was only temporary.

  “My father was right about them. The Ice Witches were a disease in our world. The best thing we ever did was rid our planet of their filth.” Prince took a last mouthful of the priceless single malt before holding it out to Noah for a refill, then settling into one of Josh’s comfortable chairs.

  “Your father?” Josh urged his cousin for more information. Something in the way Prince spoke, the pride in his voice, suggested things were not the same as their own father told them. Their uncle Mathias never made a secret of his hatred of the Ice Witches and had been the one to bring news of their rebellion, their declaration of war upon the other species. He was the one who initiated the slaughter of the tribe of Ice Witches after their betrayal.

  “Yes,” Prince boasted, under the influence of his second glass of single malt. “My father was the savior of our people. He saved us all but no one gave him the recognition he deserved.”

  How did he save us? Noah asked, a touch of humor in his words. Uncle Mathias was a born-again coward—always the last to join in battle and the first to hide in his sumptuous but surreptitious hideaway. Even now, he hid away, somewhere close, but unknown to them. Was he the originator of Joshua’s pain?

  “How did he save us?” Joshua repeated Noah’s words; his hand watched by both men as it dipped lower, disappearing beneath the cover of the robe, its arrival at its objective causing a startled gasp from the woman on his lap.

  “He brought about the end to the Witches,” Prince gushed, his words a little slurred. “Everyone believed him but none offered him praise.”

  “The Witches betrayed the treaty.” Joshua’s words were cold and his arm tightened around the woman. His brief journey around her body was terminated by the woman’s determination to get free. She couldn’t speak, could barely move, but no one seemed to notice her need to kill the man who boasted of her family’s destruction and laughed at the slaughter her parents had suffered. He’d had pain inflicted on Joshua and she wanted to bring a modicum of that pain to Prince’s head. If only she could get free.