“When they’re big the problems are big too,” Cael says as a deep wrinkle crosses his forehead. “She wants to belong in the human world so desperately.”
“She is a human.”
Cael nods several times, concern filling his eyes. “Aurora and I… don’t want to lose her. She’s our baby, you know.”
“I know.” I don’t want to lose Ravna either. “I was thinking, brother.” I thread my fingers through my short, soldier-like hair and huff out. “I was thinking, and I have a solution to our problem.”
Cael’s eyes fix on mine, and he studies me for a moment. “No.”
“That’s the only way.”
“She’s only eighteen.” There’s fury in his voice.
“She’s mine. Always has been mine.”
A rustling sound diverts my attention. I turn my head and see Ravna staring at us. She raises her finger as though she wants to threaten me.
“I am a human,” she hisses every word. “I’m gonna live my human life and you two won’t take that from me.” Her eyes fix on mine. “And you, Michael, you’d better stay away from me.”
“Go to your bedroom, Ravna,” Cael growls.
“No,” she hisses. “I’m moving out. I’m fed up of this creepy place and our secrets. I want to be normal at last. I’m fed up of being a freak.” She rushes over to the exit.
I run after her. I catch her outside the clubhouse and pull her to my chest. “Calm down, baby girl. Your parents will have a heart attack.”
“They’re immortals,” she says with sarcasm. Her red satin kimono robe rustles in the wind as the smell of coconut shampoo and toothpaste settles in my nostrils. “They should let go of me as Adva let go of Nineve. I have the right to be a human.”
“We love you too much, Ravna.”
She sniffles. “I don’t belong in here. Never have.”
“That’s not true, Ravna. We’re family.”
“So, you should accept me and my choices in life instead of trying to turn me into one of you.”
Pain jabs my heart. “Why do you want to be mortal? I could give you immortality.”
I want to bond with her, take her as my wife. That would sort out all our problems with Ravna.
“I need to be a human, Michael. I need to live my fragile human life. And you have to understand.”
“I understand, baby girl. I understand more than you think I do.” Her immortality could bring her eternal memories back. Her subconscious mind protects her sanity this way. I fist my hand into her hair and tip her face up to mine. “You want to be a human? Fine.”
Her eyes widen as my energy surges through both of us. Time stops. A wave of silent words in Enochian wafts through the air. It’s a mourning song. Right, it’s as though someone has died. My white aura envelops us and falls off in delicate snowflakes. They disappear and a sense of loss fills me. Then excitement pervades my whole being.
“What did you do?” Ravna gasps. She digs her fingers into my shoulders. “Michael, answer me.”
“Let’s go travelling, baby girl.”
“Michael,” she squeaks. “What is this?” She threads her fingers through my hair. “Grey streaks? You shouldn’t have any greys.” She runs the back of her hand up and down my cheek. “You look older.”
“Thirty-eight to be precise. Too old?” I grip the back of her head. “I can’t change that now.”
Her lips form an ‘o’. She wrinkles her forehead as her eyes flutter.
“Why, Michael?” There’s understanding in her silvery voice. She’s a very intelligent girl after all.
“You know why.”
“You just gave up everything. Why would you do that?”
“You know why.”
Her body trembles against mine. “I love you so much. Always have. So sorry for that bar escapade. I just wanted you… to see me. To be jealous. To… I don’t know. But I do love you. So… so very much.”
“I love you more.” I pull away from her and hold her hands in mine. “Well, we have about seventy or eighty years. We should spend them wisely.”
“And then what?”
“Then we’re gonna rest in one coffin and rot together. Fancy such an end?”
She covers her mouth with her palm and chuckles through tears. “You’re crazy. No, you’re insane.”
“I’m mad about you.”
She laughs or sobs, I’m unsure. “There’s no time to waste.”
“No, there’s no time to waste.”
“Peru?”
“Peru.” I kiss her forehead. “And then Brazil, Iceland and Norway.”
“Love you.” She squeals. “So damn very much.”
“Love you too.”
We turn around, and I see our family standing in a line. They’re heartbroken, but happy for us.
“I’ll pack some sandwiches for you,” Aurora sobs. “And warm clothes. You’ll need them.”
Cael bows his head and the tears in his eyes say his gratefulness. He is pissed off, but it’s not the time to break each other’s nose. We can do this later.
Raphael’s two demonic little shits jump towards me like wild animals and cling to my legs. Ravna chuckles and hooks the girl under her arms.
“I’m gonna miss you, Irene.” Ravna lifts the girl up, sitting her on her hip.
Irene clings to Ravna, digging her claws into her neck. She starts crying.
I sit Iker on my hip and hug him. He starts crying like a baby even though he’s four years old.
“Iker,” I say. “I’ll see you in two, three months, I promise.”
The kids are naughty as hell, but so attached to everyone and the other way round.
Ides puts her hands on her hips and calls out to her kids, but they cling to Ravna and me as though their lives depend on it.
“Iker, Irene,” Raphael growls.
Irene sticks her tongue out towards him and Ides chuckles, stroking her swollen stomach. They’re expecting twins.
Raphael throws his arm over his wife’s back and pulls her to him. He kisses her temple and she rolls her eyes.
We manage to put the kids on the ground at last and they cling to their parents, crying hysterically.
“Go change your clothes, Ravna,” I say.
She bobs her head and then winks at me.
I know we’re gonna have fun together. Ravna and me? This was meant to be.
Ravna: Salvation Ghosts MC
Chapter One
Ravna
I flop from his bike and breathe in the silent coldness of dawn. The world freezes in this glittery transition as day meets night for one eternal second, almost as though two cursed lovers kiss and part.
My shock wears off, replaced by spikes of fear.
We set off three hours ago and then we rode along the motorway. Three hours of euphoria. Whoo-hoo! Mike proposed to me after all.
Now that I’m staring at him under the burgundy crown of a tree doubts flood me. We don’t know each other.
I’m madly in love with him, always have been, but that’s not the same as knowing him.
He takes a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lights one up. The smell of tobacco settles in my nostrils. Driven by my instincts, I raise my hand and tear the cigarette away from his hand.
“What the hell?” he grunts.
“Heard of lung cancer?” I crush the cigarette under my green sneaker.
Exhaustion hits me with a wave of nausea. My head throbs. That is because I haven’t slept for thirty-eight hours.
“I need a cigarette, Ravna.”
“You said we’d end up in one coffin, right? So, it means that we live and die together. If you die of lung cancer, I’ll be a widow. That’s not according to plan.”
“I haven’t married you yet, Ravna.”
Heat rushes to my cheeks as my heart leaps. “I thought… Why would you…”
“I’m joking, baby girl.”
I huff out. “You’re just joking. Good, people can joke, that’s no crime.”
In a motel. In one room or in two separate rooms?
Three hours ago, everything seemed so wonderful. So easy. Now I have a nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. Panic strangles my throat.
The pink hue burning on the horizon makes the colours of the world emerge from the dim quietness. Behind me stretch the pastel facades of four houses with metal white balconies as the ocean exudes a sense of deep grey-green tranquillity. A few cars pass us. A seagull screams.
“Hungry?” Michael asks.
I nod, shake my head, and then nod again, evoking his laughter.
“We should talk,” he says. “Am I right?”
“You’re always right. You’re ancient and wise after all.”
“I’m only thirty-eight, told you that, remember?”
I could have sworn he’s a bit nervous.
No, I’m imagining that. Michael nervous? He is the most powerful of them all.
Was the most powerful of them all.
Now, he’s a human.
I’ve always known I was adopted, but my parents are so loving I’ve never felt the need to find my biological parents. They gave me up. It means that they didn’t love me, didn’t want me. So, I decided I didn’t want them either.
I grew up in a crazy house.
I grew up, falling in love with Michael.
He was away most of the time, but each time he returned home? There were presents, stories, parties. Joy, laughter, dancing.
I asked him to dance with me when I turned seventeen. He pulled me towards the dance floor and wrapped his arms around me. We danced like there was nobody around us. He gazed at me with dark eyes. He wanted to kiss me—I saw that in the brooding glitter of his icy blue irises. He didn’t. He left two hours later, but I knew he’d come back to me.
“Gorgeous thirty-eight,” I say.
He threads his fingers through his hair as one corner of his kissable lips crooks up. “You called me a tramp,” he mutters.
“What?”
“Nothing, sweetheart.” He clears his throat. “I’m fucking tired. Humans get tired so easily.”
“Tell me about it. My siblings never had mercy on me.”
Michael
I shove the pack of cigarettes back into my pocket. I want to smoke as fuck, but I also want to fuck Ravna tonight, so I’m a good boy.
I’ve waited for her for so long.
We never fucked although everyone thought we had. We used to sit with a bottle of vodka in my bedroom and banter. She called me a tramp and rolled her eyes. She was a stiff aristocrat, but I loved it. I even bought an engagement ring, but she decided to die. She was more and more transparent until she was an echo. Very fucking funny, Ravna.
And here she is, barely standing on her feet, unaware of her past. Our past. She is so young. So full of teen stupidity and joy.
So mine.
She’s always been with me—for millennia as a silent grey voice in my head. On a chilly autumnal evening many years ago, I saw her personified. I knew she was the one. She didn’t feel the same way as me. She barely tolerated me. Very fucking annoying when all the other women throw themselves at you while the love of your life snorts and rolls her eyes at the sight of you.
I point my finger to a café across the parking lot. “We can eat something in there.”
Ravna nods.“When they open in an hour or two. Or three.”
I want to kiss her right here and now, but I don’t know whether I should.
She twines a few wisps of hair around her fingers as her burning eyes lock on mine.
I really want to kiss her.
Fucking hell. We’re mortal. There’s no time to waste. We should kiss, fuck, make babies. Be very happy.
I shoot my arm towards her, clutching her wrist and yank her to me. My arms wrap around her trembling form.
“So,” she starts, her voice so seductively low, “tell me why me?”
“I don’t know. You don’t know why, do you? You just know.” My hands knead her ass and a yelp leaves her mouth.
You’re gonna yelp and whimper and scream with pleasure, Ravna. Soon.
She clears her throat. “Four days ago, you walked into our clubhouse, saw me all grown and decided you were in love with me?”
“Something like that.” It’s so easy to lie when you’re a human. It’s almost fun. “That red dress you had on did the trick.” No, it’s not lying—it’s telling her the half-truth.
She pats my nose. “I knew you’d love it.” She runs her knuckles down my cheek. “You’ve always been my hero. You know this, don’t you?”
“I know.”
“I was desperate to stay in touch with you.”
“I’ve kept all your letters and postcards.”
She calls me twice a week whether I’m away or around the clubhouse. It’s always ‘how are you’ and ‘miss you’, but what else would I want? I kept myself occupied until she grew up—seventeen demons killed, ten human lives saved, five couples reunited, two divorces advised. I was a bartender, a cleaner, a librarian and a tramp. I’ve been a celibate monk for eighteen years.
“You’re so sweet,” Ravna murmurs.
I rest my forehead against hers and breathe her in. She smells of earth after rain, always has. Even as a human.
Our fingers lace together, and I bunch her hands behind her back.
Yes, we’re gonna kiss, eat something, and check in.
Then we’re gonna fuck like animals.
A delicate rustling sound causes me to pull away from Ravna. I turn around as the wind from angel wings blows in my face and two figures appear in front of me. Samael and Dantanian grin at me as they fold their black wings and hide them.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I ask.
“Heard the news,” Samael says as he moves closer to me and throws his arm over my back.
From the corner of my eye, I see Ravna hug Dantanian, and they walk off.
“What the fuck?” I growl.
“We need to talk, brother,” Samael says.
“About?”
He takes out two cigars and hands one to me. “About your bank account in Switzerland. About your house in France.” He pats my shoulder. “I get it. You want a change. Fine. Have that fucking change.” He lights up our cigars with an ornate silver lighter. “Use all the money and enjoy my hospitality.”
The dick is up to something. I fucking don’t like his fox-like grin.
I inhale the dense, biting smoke and it clouds my head. Samael tears the cigar away from my hand and crushes it under his boot.
“What the hell?” I growl.
“You see,” he says as a good granddad would. “You’re forbidden all the good things. Painful, isn’t it?”
“No, I can manage.”
“Sure. You have twenty years to manage.”
“Twenty the fuck what?”
Samael inhales his cigar. “You’ll be almost sixty in twenty years. You’ll have the beginning of arthritis, your dick will stop working, and your head will be bald. You don’t want this, Michael, believe me. Your wife will still be young and beautiful. Men will still eat her with their eyes. You don’t want this.”
“Why are you so concerned?”
“I don’t like losing my men.” He stands in front of me with the cigar in his gob as he lays his hands on my shoulder and the smoke puffs on my face. “We’re a team.”
“Like hell.”
“We’re club brothers.”
“You belong to the Cold Storms MC not to the Salvation Ghosts MC.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Samael nods several times.
“What is wrong with you by the way? You’re fucking talkative like a parrot.”
“I’m expressing myself.”
“The fuck what?” I put my hand on the back of my neck.
“I’m talking about my feelings.”
“Feelings?”
“Your wife will demand that you’re emotional, you’ll see. It’s hard to learn, but you want to make your wife happy, so you learn.” He crushes his cigar under his foot. “Twenty years no more. Have fun.” His wings appear from his back and he jumps into the void.
No fucking way.
A bald head? I don’t know.
A useless dick? Chills go down my spine.
Chapter Two
Ravna
“Wrinkles, joint pain, grey hairs,” Dantanian says. “What if he has a middle age crisis?”
“We love each other, Grandpa. Why would he have a middle age crisis?”
“Humans are unstable creatures. They don’t mate for life, Ravna. They’re not like us.”
“Some of them do.” I take a shaky breath as heaviness sits on my chest. “I’m a human and I want to mate for life.”
We’re sitting on the low stone wall that stretches along the beach. The first sun’s rays touch the ocean and it glitters as though a few streaks of magic are touching the rippled surface.
“Have fun,” Dantanian says, “and come back to us in twenty years.”
“You can’t force me.”
“No, we can’t. But we can force Michael and we’ll do this if you’re irresponsible.”
“Why Michael but not me?”
He kisses me on the top of my head. “You’re very special, sweetheart.”
“Everybody keeps saying so, but nobody wants to tell me why I’m so special.”
Dantanian pats my shoulder and flops from the wall. The pebbles under his boots scrunch. He pulls forward, spreads his wings and disappears into the shimmery, misty morning. My stomach growls as a yawn escapes my mouth. My eyes feel dry and itchy from the lack of sleep. I’m exhausted.
Muscular arms wrap around me from behind and the smell of spices and light sweat envelops me.
“Two stubborn old pricks,” I say.
Michael kisses me on the top of my head. “Don’t worry about them.” He kisses my temple. “I’m hungry, tired but so damn very happy, baby girl.”
I wiggle out of his embrace, swing my legs over the wall and jump to my feet. We stand opposite each other. One corner of Michael’s mouth crooks up. He grips my arm and draws me closer to him. His mouth covers mine. I yelp at the heat of our kiss. The taste of expensive tobacco pricks my tongue. Yep, you can’t refuse Samael. The old git doesn’t understand the word ‘no’.
Coyote: Salvation Ghosts MC (Defiant Love Saga Book 2) Page 9