Dark and Dangerous: Six-in-One Hot Paranormal Romances

by Jennifer Ashley

  Normally, Rickert would’ve felt cheated that such a vile enemy of his people hadn’t died by his own hand. But for once, he had more important matters to attend to.

  CHAPTER 11

  Rickert stood in front of the large, ornately carved mirror on the far side of the room and beckoned to Neyla. He wore a dark robe and had a gleam in his eye that promised all sorts of decadent, naughty, and very delightful pursuits.

  With the festivities finally over, she couldn’t wait to tumble into bed with him.

  “Your gown—it’s the one you were wearing in my first vision of us together.” His gaze ran over her body like a caress.

  Acutely aware of the heat throbbing between her thighs, she wondered why she didn’t just strip off her clothes, run over there, and ravish him. Instead, she smoothed a hand over the periwinkle-blue Vengold silk. “That’s exactly why I chose to wear it for tonight’s betrothal ceremony. I’ve got very fond memories of it, too—extremely fond memories.”

  “And what was I wearing?” he asked playfully.

  “You were naked, of course,” she answered as she went to him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the back of her neck, just as he had in the first vision. Tiny shivers ran up and down her spine. “Well, you were naked in all of them.”

  “Of course I was.”

  In their reflection, with him behind her, his hair fell in dark waves, the ocean blue of his eyes sparkled, and a slow, crooked smile spread across his face. “I’ve got to be the luckiest man alive, Neyla. I had stopped dreaming of a future, until I met you. You gave me hope again. You gave me a life.”

  She reached back and caressed his jaw. “I feel exactly the same about you.” And she’d said as much in front of Saffira, the taghta magistrate, during the court proceedings last week.

  He slipped out of his robe and slid his large hands up her arms, careful not to touch where she’d picked out the microchip with a heated needle.

  “You know, you don’t have to do it manually,” she told his mirrored reflection. “You can use your Talent to undress me.”

  “I rather like the old-fashioned way. I want to savor this moment and sear it into my mind so that I never forget.”

  He opened the clasp and the gown slipped off her shoulders. Unlike the first time he’d undressed her, this time he wasn’t going anywhere. She kept her gaze glued to the mirror and watched as he nuzzled her neck and caressed her breasts. She resisted the urge to turn in his arms—she hadn’t done so in her vision.

  “I rather miss these images,” she said as his hand slid over her belly. “Why do you suppose we no longer see them?”

  “It was destiny. We were meant to find each other and fall in love. At least, that’s what Rosamund believes.”

  She caught his eye in the mirror. “You told Rosamund about our sex visions?”

  He laughed. “Just that you seduced me and I fell for you.”

  “You have a very selective memory. I seem to remember just the opposite. What else did Rosamund say?”

  “When we were traveling along different pathways keeping us apart, those visions were meant to remind us what our future together would hold. Once we started to draw closer and fall in love, our destiny became more concrete and those visions were no longer necessary.”

  “You mean, they were like a gentle nudge, a riding crop to correct us and get us heading in the right direction.”

  “Little soldier,” he said, his eyes twinkling with mischief, “you surprise me.”

  “I do? Why?”

  “I had no idea you’d be up for a little spanking.”

  “Oh, you’d be surprised, assassin. I’m very adventurous. I explored a new world to find you.”

  She melted into him as he carried her to the bed. Pressing her lips to the yellowed bruising on his chest where one of the bullets had bounced from his skin, she pulled him on top of her.

  She held her breath, waiting for that delicious sensation when his thick velvety tip would find her center and push inside. Instead, he kissed his way down her belly and nestled himself between her legs.

  She trembled in anticipation of what he was about to do. His dark hair tickled her inner thighs, his breath hot on her sex. Like the dominant male who knew his partner well, he didn’t ask if he could do this to her. He just expected that she would want the same thing he did.

  “You are so beautiful,” he said, spreading her knees wider.

  She moaned when his mouth came down over her. As his tongue stroked her inside, her hips moved in the same synchronized rhythm. It took only a moment until she was gripped by a powerful orgasm. She clutched at his hair as wave after wave of pleasure coursed through her.

  When the intensity began to fade, she was left with a warm, satisfied glow. She opened her eyes to find that he was staring at her, a smile creasing his face.

  “What?”

  “Are you always this easy to please, little soldier?”

  Her cheeks heated. “I...uh...”

  “I barely put my mouth on you before you took your pleasure.”

  Took my pleasure? She loved his strange turns of phrase. “What can I say? I’m easy because you totally turn me on.” She tugged on his shoulders. “Come up here now. I need to feel you inside me.”

  “This wasn’t enough?” he chuckled. “I thought you’d like that instead.”

  “Instead? I want both.” Despite her efforts, he climbed up and lay next to her. That was when she noticed tiny lines of worry crinkling the corners of his eyes. “Is something wrong?”

  He had a faraway look again. “This setting, this bed, your hair as it’s splayed out over the pillows like this—it’s all from my first dream.”

  “Yes, and...?”

  “If we make love right now, I believe my seed will start a baby growing in your belly. At least, if my vision was correct, it will.”

  Her heart stuttered a moment before it felt as if it would pop from her chest. A baby? Rickert’s visions were of starting a family? She supposed the army birth control shot had worn off by now.

  Once she joined START, the dreams she’d had of one day becoming a mother had quickly faded away. With her unpredictable schedule and the army basically owning her, she couldn’t imagine juggling the needs of an infant, too. So that’s what he’d seen through the mist? Wow. She hadn’t been expecting that. Her visions had only been about mind-blowing sex. Did that make her the shallower of the two?

  “It’ll take me awhile to destroy the portal with just a pickaxe,” he said. “Perhaps we should wait till we’re more settled somewhere else.”

  “Petra told me that the old monks are predicting more secret portals will be opening up soon. I can’t stomach the thought of waiting for Pacificans to find them and come looking for more children.”

  “But Neyla, you heard Saffira at the proceedings. After this portal is destroyed, I am to be banished from Crestenfahl.”

  “You’re still a Warrior of the Iron Guild. Can’t we talk Lord Tierney out of it? Saffira said her judgment was merely an opinion, that he had the final decision. If it hadn’t been for you, people would have suffered, and who knows how many babies taken.”

  She shuddered as she thought about Petra’s newborn son. She’d been honored to witness his birth just a few days ago. Petra had named him Fallon, in honor of her brother.

  Rickert ran a hand through his thick, raven hair and sighed. Had the locket been on his wrist, she had no doubt he’d have been fidgeting with it too, but he hadn’t worn it since they day they’d defeated Gravich and his men.

  “If it weren’t for me,” he said, “none of this would’ve happened in the first place. I lied to my people and I lied to a man I deeply respect. No, I will not ask Lord Tierney for a lighter sentence. I will take the punishment I deserve.”

  She cupped his chin, forcing him to look at her. This man she loved was iron strong and had such an honorable heart. Surely there had to be another solution.

  “I’m not going to let you should
er all of this, Rickert. I’m to blame as well.” She paused, thinking. “What if we move to the other side in order to expose what the army is doing? The average person over there has no idea.”

  “And you think they’ll believe us? According to them, I’m a barbarian, Neyla. And you are too, now, because you’ll soon be my wife.”

  Wife. She liked the sound of that, but she wouldn’t let herself get sidetracked. “Some will believe us.”

  “The army would track you down, and who knows what they would do when they found you. No. I will not allow it.”

  She was not deterred. “I can protect us.”

  “Damn it, Neyla,” he said, his eyes flashing. “I don’t care about your Talent. I won’t knowingly let you put yourself in danger like that. Just because Smythe and Gravich are gone, doesn’t mean there aren’t a host of others just like them to take their places.”

  “But—”

  “Being a Protection-Talent can’t prevent them from throwing you in jail,” he growled.

  Okay, she could see his point. She stared up at the tapestry-covered ceiling and thought about the first time she’d seen him in that cold, dark cave on the side of the mountain, wearing nothing but a leather kilt, boots, and a few weapons. “What if we set up a refuge on the other side for Cascadian warriors crossing through the new portals?”

  Rickert frowned. “A refuge?”

  “A safe house. A compound. Whatever you want to call it. Your men need clothing and a place to stay while they’re battling the raiders from Pacifica. It can be an operations base of sorts. You can lead them from the other side.”

  He blew out a long breath. “I don’t know, Neyla.”

  “It’s much better than the system you have in place now. Asher told me about stealing clothes and fashioning your own, as well as those makeshift campsites. When you can’t cross through with any items, at least there could be a place on the other side where you can get those things. Regroup. Strategize. Rest.”

  He paused a moment, deep in thought, before he finally spoke. “You will not be able to enter your old life, Neyla.”

  “As if I would want to be in the army again,” she said sarcastically.

  “I’m not talking about the army. I’m talking about living in New Seattle. It’s too dangerous.”

  “We don’t have to live in the city. I’m a country girl at heart, anyway. Horses. Remember?” She could tell he was caving when he didn’t immediately respond, so she forged ahead. “There are good people over there. People who would be just as horrified as I was that this is going on and want to help. I doubt my mother knows the whole story. And my brother...well, I’m guessing he’s a foundling, too.”

  He smiled finally. “I fell in love with an amazing woman.”

  “So you’ll speak to Lord Tierney?”

  “Yes, I’ll speak to him.”

  “And the Iron Guild?”

  “As long as it furthers our goal to keep the enemy out of Cascadia, the Guild will be on board.”

  It felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She couldn’t bear the thought that Rickert wouldn’t continue his life’s work, fighting against those who had done such terrible things to his...their...people. “Good. Now, make love to me. You’ve made me wait long enough.”

  “But my vision...”

  She silenced him with a kiss. “Listen, Rickert. I want to give you children, to make you a father, and I’m ready now if it happens. Since these images were what brought us together...” She let the words hang in the air. “But if you think it’s best to wait, I’m fine with that, too.”

  For several long minutes, he ran a finger along the bottom side of her breast as if it helped clarify his thoughts. All it did for her was heat up her insides and make her want him even more. When he finally lifted his chin, his eyes were glittering with moisture.

  “In that first vision, before I knew it was me, I thought about how lucky that man was. And when I knew they were creating a child from the lovemaking I’d just witnessed, I felt an aching so deep in my bones that it hurt, because I believed it was something I’d never know.”

  A lump formed in her throat. “You ache for a family?”

  “Yes, but only when you are ready, lass.”

  “I am ready, Rickert, whether it happens tonight, next year, or ten years from now. Let’s experience the beautiful vision you saw, and we’ll see if it comes true.”

  He smiled and kissed her then, all traces of worry gone. “Praise the Fates, little soldier. I love you.” Angling himself on top of her, he quickly pushed inside, filling her body, her mind, her soul.

  This man, this utterly amazing man, was hers. Forever.

  The End

  The Iron Portal series continues with Asher’s story

  ROGUE’S PASSION

  A Note from the Author

  Thank you for reading ASSASSIN’S TOUCH! I hope you enjoyed Rickert and Neyla’s story. If you’re so inclined, I would be very grateful if you left an honest review at your online retailer’s website or on GoodReads, Shelfari, BookLikes or LibraryThing. Reviews help other readers decide if they’d enjoy a book too.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Laurie London is the award-winning author of the Sweetblood and Iron Portal series—dark, sexy paranormal romance, set primarily in the Pacific Northwest. Publisher’s Weekly calls her work “sexy” and “sizzling.”

  To be notified when my next book comes out, sign up here: http://eepurl.com/br1ff

  When I’m not writing, I love chatting with readers. Come find me online here:

  http://www.LaurieLondonBooks.com

  http://www.facebook.com/LaurieLondonAuthor

  http://www.twitter.com/LaurieBLondon

  BOOKS BY LAURIE LONDON

  Iron Portal Series

  ASSASSIN’S TOUCH

  ROGUE’S PASSION

  WARRIOR’S HEART (Coming Soon)

  Sweetblood Series

  (Dark, sexy vampires)

  BONDED BY BLOOD

  EMBRACED BY BLOOD

  TEMPTED BY BLOOD

  SEDUCED BY BLOOD

  E-novella

  HIDDEN BY BLOOD

  Anthologies

  A VAMPIRE FOR CHRISTMAS

  (with Michele Hauf, Caridad Pineiro and Alexis Morgan)

  Shadow Bound

  by Erin Kellison

  Death

  Some people will do anything to avoid it. Even trade their immortal souls for endless existence.

  Wraiths

  Secretly, inexorably, they are infiltrating our world, sucking the essence out of unsuspecting victims with their hideous parody of a kiss.

  Segue

  Adam Thorne founded the Institute to study and destroy his monster of a brother, but the key to its success is held in the pale, slender hand of a woman on the run. There is something hauntingly different about Talia O’Brien, her unknowing sensuality, her uncanny way of slipping into Shadow.

  Twilight

  This is the place between life and what comes after - a dark forest of fantasy, filled with beauty, peril, mystery. And Talia is about to open the door.

  Table of Contents for SHADOW BOUND

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Books by Erin Kellison

  PROLOGUE

  A light in deepest Shadow.

  The fae lord pulled his cloak around his face to dampen the intensity of the glow. Futile.
The woman was still there, in his mind, shining like molten gold. The heat of her soulfire penetrated the veils between the mortal world and Twilight and slid across his skin in a caress. She, the sun, powerful enough to quicken even him.

  From his dark vantage, he peered into her room. Her bed was made, pillow undented. He’d come too early to ride the rough waves of her dreams, to mellow her sharp knocks of pain and worry so that she could rest. He’d done as much since she was a child. It pleased him that the detritus of the sick room huddled in a corner, unused. Oxygen in a tank. Machines dozing, their cords wrapped and waiting.

  She sat on a stool in front of her easel, brush in hand, facing into a deep triangle of darkness cut away by the fall of light from the bedside lamp. She gazed into his Shadow world, just as he marveled at hers. On the canvas before her, she painted a fairy-tale landscape: lush hills lit by star shine, a border of black forest, and the wide gray sea beyond.

  Her heart hitched, and the veils between them thinned as her time drew near. He both welcomed and braced against the sudden ache of her pain as it echoed through him—something of her to feel.

  She paused for breath, hands falling to her knees. The tip of the brush made a drop of green on the skirt of her dress. He wondered at her strength of will as she gritted her teeth and forced her body back into a steady rhythm. Strange how she clung so fiercely to life, yet bent her skill to an image of Twilight.

  He crept closer, into the variegated grays of her room, until he could just catch the scent of her—the bright smells that danced on her skin and clung to her hair, the musk of the paint on her fingers that never quite washed away, and something denser, darker, that was woman and mortal.

  He sensed her grim resolve, tainted by desperation, in a concentration of spirit that kept her young heart beating, commanding its exercise long enough for her to embrace life, to make something that would last, a legacy of herself to the world. Though her emotion coursed over him like a wild river, he could not unravel her structured thoughts, the building blocks of her intellect, of motivation and creation as she changed her world in ways both subtle and great. Such was the beauty and power of mortality. If she only knew.