“No,” Laina said. “Not again.” Tears pooled in her eyes. “Kyle and I have just started to make a life for ourselves. He finally has new clients for his treehouse business. I can’t ask him to trash everything he’s worked for and I certainly can’t close Four Paws again.”
“I’ll talk to Grateful and see if there’s anything we can do to strengthen the wards around Rivergate,” Silas said. “I’m disappointed Nickelova could see and hear these two from beyond the boundary. We’ve got to protect ourselves.”
“I’ll talk to Gerty,” Laina said. “If Nickelova leveraged the curse she had on Jason to find him, maybe she knows how to make sure Alex can’t use that in the future now that he has her heart.”
There was a long silence. Jason stared into his coffee, tapping out a song on the side of his cup. Part of him agreed with Silas that he’d put the pack in danger when he pursued Nickelova on his own. But as he glanced at Selene, the steam from her coffee curling along the fine bones of her jaw, all he could think was he’d do it again.
Silas cleared his throat and stared pointedly at Jason and Selene’s coupled hands. “Not to be the chaperone at the dance who taste tests the punch, but it seems like there’s another topic of conversation that needs to be broached. What’s going on with you two?”
“I’ll be forever grateful for what you did for me, Artemis,” Selene said as she packed up her room into the same brown plaid bag she’d used since childhood. “I’m sorry if I was a disappointment.”
“A disappointment? You?” Artemis raised her eyebrows. “Never. I could never be disappointed in you. But do you know who you have disappointed?”
“Who?”
“All the Fireborn families with girls Jason’s age. They’ve had to say good-bye to the dream that their daughters might one day snare a spot as the next princess. He’s taken. Permanently.”
Selene sighed. “I didn’t set out with a goal of loving Jason. It just happened. It crept up on me like some wonderful dream as if one moment I was drifting to sleep and the next I was in his arms.”
“What causes people to fall in love? Is it chemistry? Opportunity? The hand of the goddess herself?” Artemis wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “All we know for sure is that love is precious and should not be denied.”
“It’s frightening, though. I’m leaving the only life I’ve ever really known and loved behind, to go shack up with a guy who just recently recovered from a major addiction. It sounds crazy when I say it out loud.”
The older woman smiled. “One must be brave to truly love. What you set out to do is not easy work. It’s not magic. Loving someone is seeing them for who they truly are, the light and the dark, and inviting all of it, the whole person, into your life unconditionally. You can leave or protect yourself if things go wrong, Selene, but true love will stay with you. It will be a beacon that leads you back to him again and again. You’ll always demand the best of him, always pick him up when he falls, always ask the goddess to protect him, and he’ll do the same for you if he truly loves you.”
Selene nodded, a memory blowing into her thoughts like a cool breeze. “Speaking of the goddess, I had a strange experience I need to ask you about.”
Artemis folded into a chair at the small table in her dormitory. Selene sat across from her and rested her coupled hands on the table. “What is it?”
“When Jason and I were escaping from Nickelova’s lair, I was in wolf form, but I swear I remember seeing the goddess lead us to safety.”
“What did she look like?”
“Tall, curvy, with long waves of wild black hair and a dress that clung like a black fog around her, as if it was cut from the night itself. The wind had no effect on her—it didn’t even rustle her hair. And although Jason and I had almost frozen to death before the shift, she didn’t seem cold at all. She called me her dear one.”
“That certainly sounds like the goddess.”
“She led us to the portal, but before I could pass through, I noticed a man standing across from her.”
Artemis stiffened. “What sort of man?”
“A man with large twisting horns growing from his head, like a ram but different, straighter, not as curly. He was naked from the waist up. Hairy. And his eyes were black and dull as coal. He told her she was interfering and that was against their agreement.”
Artemis stood and paced the small room.
“I don’t usually remember things from my wolf form. I’m wondering if my brain simply produced this to fill in the gaps of an emotionally trying night. It couldn’t possibly have been real.”
“Oh, I fear what you saw was quite real. In fact, I’m sure of it.”
“How?”
Artemis frowned. “We don’t teach of the horned god here. There’s no way you could describe him as perfectly as you have without seeing him firsthand.”
“The horned god?”
“He goes by many names but in our tradition, he is called Panaal.” Artemis spread her hands. “All existence must maintain balance.”
“Of course. The goddess demands balance in all things.”
“Not just the goddess. Everything. From the largest beast to the tiniest cell, balance is the most fundamental of laws. Disrupt the balance and things start to evolve. Everything, all the interdependencies of life begin to change, to adapt until a new balance is found. Panaal is the balance to Hecate, the masculine to her feminine, the keeper of the underworld.”
Selene’s shoulders drooped. “I don’t understand. I thought Hecate was her own balance. The maiden, the mother, and the crone. Protector of women. Goddess of the crossroads. Mother to all supernatural beings.”
“If Hecate is all about balance and order, Panaal is all about the wild, about chaos, about man’s primal needs. He is the source of the raw instincts that drive us all in the absence of intelligence and civilization. He is the hunter where our goddess is healer. He thrives on disorder. He desires turmoil. He loves war.”
“Sounds like a real ball of fun,” Selene said, swallowing. “What do you think it means that he was in my memory?”
“I’m not sure, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he arrived after Alex took Nickelova’s heart. If Hecate is the mother of werewolves, Panaal is the father of dragons.”
“So when Alex and Nickelova were working together there was balance?”
“But now a werewolf has a dragon heart, and the goddess has helped you escape almost certain death.”
“Is it just me, or does this situation make your spine tingle?” Selene asked.
Artemis shivered. “I fear that heart has far greater value than the amulet Alex had before and far greater consequences for our pack.”
Chapter 28
Outside the monastery, Selene smiled when she saw Jason waiting for her, parked in the sleek sports car she thought looked like a drivable piece of art. He rolled down the passenger’s side window as she approached and sneered at her brown plaid bag.
“Are you sure you want to bring that thing? I thought I’d take you shopping today to replace everything inside it.”
“Everything?”
“Everything you’ll let me… with the exception of that navy-blue number you wore when you made me cookies. We’ll keep it for sentimental reasons.”
“I think I’ll keep all of it,” she said through a smug smile. “For sentimental reasons.”
He climbed out and lifted the bag from her hands, snorting when all her worldly possessions fit easily in the Bugatti’s meager trunk space. He hurried to open the door for her, then climbed behind the wheel.
“I have one quick stop to see a client before lunch. Are you game for Valentine’s restaurant?”
“I’ve never been,” she said truthfully.
He straightened in the leather seat like the idea was sacrilege. “Oh, Selene, we must rectify this situation. Chef Logan Valentine makes a chocolate cake that will positively light your fire.” His eyes raked down the torso of her plain gray dress
.
With one raised eyebrow, she stroked down her leg and allowed her fingers to tug her hem up to midthigh. “Too late.”
Jason’s smile faded to a darker expression as his gaze caressed her thigh. But he didn’t touch her. Instead, he started the engine and drove away from the monastery, merging onto the road that led into the city. Had he lost interest in her already? Her gaze drifted out the window as the car sped forward, embarrassment warming her cheeks. What was she thinking? This wasn’t the time or the place.
But then his hand was on her inner thigh, his palm caressing north, pulling her dress even higher. “I didn’t think Artemis would enjoy the show. She was watching you through the upstairs window.”
“Oh,” she said. The word turned into a moan as his fingers found her center, rubbing over her simple cotton underwear.
“You’re wet already. I’ve barely gotten started.”
She moved against his hand, grinding into his fingers until he repositioned to oblige her. What was it about the way he touched her that incinerated all former rationality? She’d gone years without sex and now could think of nothing but Jason and making up for lost time. Selene whimpered and ran a hand between her breasts.
A passing car honked and Jason overcorrected the wheel. “I better pull over before I kill someone. Has anyone ever told you, you’re very distracting?”
“Never.” She smiled at him and licked her lips. He overcorrected again.
Both hands firmly on the wheel, Jason took the next exit, but Selene wasn’t in the mood for waiting. She’d waited long enough for her true love, for a relationship where she could safely express herself sexually. She didn’t plan to wait another minute.
She reached over and unzipped his fly, freeing his erection and sliding her fingers along his shaft.
“Selene,” he murmured.
She leaned over, ducking her head beneath his elbow and taking his cock into her mouth. She’d never done this before in a car. Never done anything like this before on purpose, driven by her own desires. She relished it, sucking and licking—the power she had over him—as he began to moan her name in earnest.
The car stopped, but Selene didn’t. She hastened the rhythm, feeding off the rush of his breathing and the way he slapped the ceiling of the car. She watched him writhe out of the corner of her eye as she mercilessly drove his cock into the back of her throat.
And then he shattered. She swallowed what he gave her, savoring the command she had of his body. He was hers. Putty in her hands. Her lids sank as the tremors rippled through him and he looked at her like she made the world spin simply by breathing.
“By the goddess, Selene, you are full of surprises.”
“Just making up for lost time.” She grinned.
She slid back into her own seat. “Holy mother of pearl!” Selene almost hit the roof. A figure stood in front of their car in the alley where Jason had parked. The menacing form hovered in the shadow of the building, almost blending into the darkness.
“It’s okay. It’s Ryker.”
“He wasn’t watching, was he?”
Jason zipped his pants. “Well, he wasn’t there when I parked the car.”
Heat flooded Selene’s cheeks.
“Believe me, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. This guy has seen worse. Way worse.”
She straightened her dress and climbed out of the car. Ryker moved toward them, his forward momentum out of sync with his actual steps as if he were traveling a moving walkway.
“Jason… so glad to see you survived your encounter with your jaded dragon lover.” Although Ryker spoke to Jason, his eyes never left Selene. He stared at her, entranced, licking his lips occasionally.
“Er, thanks,” Jason said awkwardly.
“Nice to… see you again,” Selene said, almost sputtering.
Ryker’s dark eyes flashed red. “It is my sincere pleasure.” The man brought his full lips to the back of her hand, her skin heating where the kiss connected. She rubbed the area, which itched like it had endured a minor burn. “And, may I say, the shorter style suits you.” He gestured toward her hair.
Selene ran a hand through the sleek pixie cut she’d gotten to even out her butchered hair. She wasn’t sure she’d keep it, but it was nice to know someone appreciated the look.
“Have you heard the news? Selene is no longer an acolyte; she’s my fiancée.” Jason drew her against his side and away from Ryker.
“Fiancée?” He licked his lips. “This is a happy turn of events. Come inside,” he said. “I assume you’ve brought me something.”
Jason patted the pocket of his suit jacket and nodded.
Ryker turned the corner and entered the shop Selene had visited before. Daylight had done nothing to reduce the creepiness of Lost Things. The antique sign squeaked on its hinges above her head, and she noticed what looked like a new, smaller human skull in the window display.
“What exactly do you sell here, Ryker?” she asked curiously. “I didn’t ask you before.”
“No. You were too busy threatening my life in exchange for finding your man.”
Selene frowned.
“Ah, never mind. The excuse to set foot in Soleil’s brothel was payment enough for my services.” He lowered his voice. “She doesn’t care for me.”
“Personality conflict?” Selene asked.
“As an incubus, I feed off sexual energy. The clients might not notice, but it drains the girls.” He smiled wickedly. “Thank you, by the way. For earlier.” He gestured in the direction their car was parked. “And they say there’s no such thing as a free lunch.”
Selene felt her cheeks blaze with the hot sting of a blush.
He approached her, inhaling deeply. When he spoke again, his voice was flinty and his breath carried a hint of sulfur. “To answer your first question, I am a purveyor of antiquities: rare magical objects and forgotten and out-of-print texts on the supernatural. Feel free to examine the merchandise, but don’t touch. Some of my inventory can be… temperamental.”
She nodded slowly. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” She focused on a dehydrated monkey’s paw.
“Now, Jason.” Ryker held out one hand, displaying long tapered fingers with nails filed to a point.
Jason removed a silver cylinder from his pocket and placed it in Ryker’s palm.
“What is this?”
“This is the weapon that you lent me. I was unable to use it.”
“Our agreement, Jason, was that I would lend you this enchanted weapon in exchange for a dragon’s heart. Are you telling me you did not uphold your end of the bargain?”
“I’m saying I wasn’t able to use your weapon, and thus, I didn’t get the heart. I’m returning the weapon.”
“Where is the heart?”
Jason narrowed his eyes. “What makes you believe it’s not still beating in Nickelova’s chest?”
Selene wouldn’t have thought it possible but Ryker’s expression darkened even further. The incubus gave off an aura that was both the darkest red she’d ever encountered and cold as ice. Cold fire. That’s how she’d describe him. A wild, icy absence of humanity.
“I can feel it.” His voice was harsh. “You don’t have it with you, but it’s close. Very close. Did you hide it from me? Did you think I wouldn’t know?”
Jason’s eyes widened. “You feel it now? Here?”
“Since early this morning.” Ryker rubbed a circle over the left side of his chest. “The air is thick with it, a heady perfume of power that makes my skin tingle.”
“Alex Bloodright stole that heart,” Jason said. “Do you think you can lead us to it? He’ll be where the heart is.”
Ryker examined Jason and then Selene. “You’re telling the truth.”
“Of course I’m telling the truth. I’d give you the heart if I had it, but Alex took it. If he’s here, we need to stop him.”
Ryker sniffed the air. He stepped out of the store, the door chiming above their heads, and turned slowly on the sidewalk.
His tattoo glowed through the right sleeve of his shirt, the round curves and geometric shapes of an ancient symbol glowing through the posh fabric. “I thought you were hiding the heart from me for your own purposes.”
“I never had the heart. Alex killed Nickelova and left us to die. We barely made it out alive.”
Ryker assessed Jason, his upturned eyes blazing. “Very well. I’ll lead you to the heart.” Ryker extended his hand. “Alex is yours. But the heart is mine.”
“And then we’re square?”
Ryker nodded.
“Deal.” Jason shook the demon’s hand. Selene had a bad feeling about this. Was it a good idea to make a deal with a demon?
Ryker motioned for them to follow as he drifted down the street in that unusually fluid way he moved, turning left down the next alley.
“Was that a good idea?” Selene whispered to Jason. “He’s a demon, like from the underworld. How do you know he’s not manipulating you?”
“He’s not from the underworld. He’s from New Jersey,” Jason whispered.
“Huh?”
“His mother was human.” He glanced in her direction. “I gave him the loan to start Lost Things. We got to know each other.”
“Can we trust him? He almost killed you with that snake ring.”
Jason took a deep breath and let it out through his nose. “Ryker’s help is often complicated. But he’s an incredibly useful friend to have.”
“By the goddess.” Selene lowered her chin and squeezed Jason’s hand harder.
“This is the vampire district. Why would Alex come here?” Jason mused.
“It’s the middle of the day. Most of the local residents are sleeping,” Selene said. “If he came earlier this morning, there’s no place safer.”
“Or a vampire is helping him,” Jason said.
Ryker looked both ways before climbing three stairs to reach the entrance to an apartment complex. He sniffed, then tried the door—locked. Selene perused the intercom system, noting it was labeled with symbols instead of names.
“Don’t bother,” Ryker said to her. “Everyone who lives here is snug inside their coffin for the day, with the exception of the man you’re looking for, and I’d rather not call his attention to our presence.”
Virtue: A Knight World Novel (Fireborn Wolves Book 2) Page 18