by Brenda Trim
She melted into him and returned his fervor with equal intensity, parting her lips in invitation. His tongue slid along hers in a sensual glide mimicking what his errant cock wanted to do to her heated core. The familiarity of her was both comforting and confusing to his mindless desire.
Her responding moan as their lips moved frantically elicited one from him. He needed her. Needed to be inside her as she screamed her satisfaction. He settled for holder her closer. She fisted his hair and tilted her head to take more of his mouth. It wasn’t an elegant or sweet kiss by any means. Their teeth clashed and she bit his lip speaking to his animalistic instincts.
Their animals drove them forward. Never had a kiss been so raw for him. No female had ever enticed so much of his beast. More often, a female appealed to his physical needs, but this female summoned his leopard to take over.
His hand roved over her backside, squeezing the firm globe while his heart beat out the truth. “Mine,” his leopard growled in his head.
Hearing that was like being doused with ice water. Immediately, Orlando pushed her away despite the fact his ardor had yet to abate. This had been the most honest, truthful moment he’d ever shared with another being in his life. All his desire had been laid bare and she’d responded in kind, which scared the shit out of him. He had no idea how to deal with this sort of thing.
He was completely out of his depths, but what had him hyperventilating and sweat beading on his upper lip was the fact that he wanted more.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” Orlando blurted and instantly wanted to kick his own ass when he saw the light leave Ember’s eyes.
Her gaze hardened and she hit his shoulder, “Put me down, asshole,” she demanded.
He wanted to go back several seconds and have her writhing against him. The words he said were true, but the winter air didn’t cause the cold that crept in the moment their bodies separated. His chest ached at the look of hate he saw on her lovely features, as well as, the need to flee from him.
“That’s strike two. You won’t get a third chance. For the record, I’m not the one that kissed you. You kissed me. I don’t get you. Why would you kiss someone who clearly disgusts you?” she snarled.
Orlando took a step toward her wanting to comfort her and explain himself, but she put her palm up, stopping his movement. “Don’t you dare come any closer to me. I don’t want your pity,” she spat as she held her hand up, placing a barrier between them.
“You deserve better, Ember, and I told myself to leave you alone, but for some fucking reason I can’t,” he admitted.
Clearly it wasn’t what she was expecting because her mouth dropped open and she gaped at him. “What?”
Orlando put more space between them so her sweet frangipani wasn’t toying with his mind quite so much. “For too long I have fallen for the wrong female and been hurt over and over because of it. I don’t what else to say, but I don’t have anything left to give. And then there’s Brantley. I now have an infant to raise. I wish it were different, but it’s not.”
“Whatever Orlando. We’ve all fallen for the wrong person or been hurt in love, but that doesn’t mean you give up. You pick your shit up and move on. You are choosing to allow this to dictate your future. I didn’t think you were a coward. Clearly I was wrong,” she replied with a shrug as if her words weren’t daggers to his heart.
“You have no idea what I’ve been through,” he retorted.
“I’m just making an observation. And, I have a pretty damn good idea what you’ve been through. Difference is that I refuse to allow it to control the rest of my life,” she said with a dismissive wave. “Regardless, I’m done trying and I need to see Hayden about these demons,” she interjected before he could respond.
Her words bothered him more than he’d been prepared for. He should be elated. After all, he was the one who broke the kiss and said it was a mistake, but hearing her say she was done cut him to the bone and had his leopard howling inside his skull. He suddenly couldn’t breathe and wanted to claw his chest open.
There was no way she was going to listen to him after he’d clearly hurt her. He may wish he could make it better, but that was not going to happen.
She was so beautiful as she pushed her glasses up her nose and held something to the light. It was then that he realized she was clutching a blue feather. “You really think there are two of them?” he asked, curious why she felt this was proof of that.
“Yep, I do. This feather is not like the one we picked up at the club. See here,” she shared as she pointed to something at the base of the item. “Aside from being a different shade of blue, these striations are different from the other one. Plus, this one has a black quill where the other one was light gray.”
“How can you be so sure?” He couldn’t hide the doubt from his tone, but he barely remembered the shade of blue of the demon.
“Because I kept the feather, dumbass,” she snapped. “And, I’m a stickler for details. It’s what makes me the best at what I do,” she boasted.
“You’ll get no argument from me on that,” he agreed, trying to lighten the mood between them. He didn’t like her angry. He far preferred her passion to her ire. “Your reputation is legendary. I concede to you on this one.”
She snorted at his comment and even that was sexy as sin. “Okay, now you’re laying it on too thick, Warrior. I doubt there’s anything else of use in this mess. I need to get this to Hayden.”
“I have a proposal, Wildcat. What if you let me take both feathers back to Zeum with me? And before you curse me…” he jumped in before she could chew him a new asshole. “…the Rowan sisters can use them to scry for the locations of these demons. We could attack them when they least expect it and gain an upper hand in this war,” he finished, hoping this was the needed break for them. He wanted these archdemons out of the picture. They were far too dangerous to humans and the realm.
Surprisingly, she stopped and considered his suggestion. After several silent seconds staring at him, he realized his desire for her hadn’t lessened. Neither the cold rain nor the somber scene could dampen his arousal and he was walking to her before he could stop himself.
“Sure, I’ll agree to that,” she said, taking a step to the side to avoid contact with him. “I want these bitches dead for what they did to our people, but I’m calling Hayden and having him join you there. I have patrol in twenty or I’d be there, too,” she replied as she handed him the feather before turning and walking away.
He was glad to have the demons to focus on because his mind was a fucking mess where this female was concerned. One second he wanted her and was practically shredding her clothes from her body and the next he was pushing her away and wanted nothing to do with her. She had every right to be pissed at him and he had no idea if he could make things right between them. The term certifiably bipolar came to mind as a groan escaped him watching her sweet backside sashay to her vehicle.
CHAPTER TEN
Zeum was a far cry from what it had been two short years ago, Orlando mused. There had been no mates then and no stripling, but in the intervening time over half of his fellow Dark Warriors had been mated and now as they prepared for one of the Rowan sister’s rituals there were four stripling.
Donovan, the oldest child and Isis’s stepson, was eating strawberry ice cream with Izzy in the corner of the ballroom.
“Mine,” Izzy murmured as she pointed at Donovan’s treat. It was a familiar argument between the two. Izzy believed anything he had belonged to her and Donovan graciously catered to her every whim. Elsie had been trying to teach the young cambion he needed to tell Izzy no. The queen feared her daughter was going to become a spoiled princess and she didn’t like the idea one bit.
As Orlando watched, he chortled when Donovan handed the ice cream to Izzy with a smile. If Orlando didn’t know better he’d say the young cambion’s innate sexual powers were already at play. That boy’s inner demon would never go hungry if he continued treating females in that ma
nner.
A hard smack to the jaw brought his attention down to the small male in his arms. Apparently, Brantley was finished with his bottle and had thrown it at Orlando’s head.
“Damn, we’re going to make a warrior out of you yet. You’ve got a great arm,” he cooed at the infant as he lifted him to a shoulder and patted his back.
“You have got to stop telling him that, O. He’s going to grow up thinking the only acceptable job is to become a Dark Warrior,” Elsie chastised.
“Hey, if the shoe fits,” Orlando indicated with a shrug. The baby made a noise next to Orlando’s ear that had him chuckling and lifting Brantley up. “Good one, buddy. I bet you feel better now. Want to check out the females?” he asked as he turned the infant to face the room.
“Look at that hot witch over there,” he whispered loudly to Brantley as he pointed to Pema’s baby sleeping in a cradle nearby.
“She could be a bear, too,” Ronan interjected. “We don’t know if she can shift or not.” That surprised Orlando into looking away from the pink bundle and at her father.
Ronan was a huge bear shifter with shoulders that filled the room. He was all muscle and a formidable fighter, which benefitted his job as a bouncer for Confetti Too. The male had become an invaluable ally in many battles over the past year, using his muscle for more than tossing around drunks.
“How’s that possible? I thought one parent’s genes dominated in children, not both,” Orlando said referring to the fact that there had not been a being born with more than one set of genes.
“The first thing Aria did when she was born was shift into the cutest little cub I’ve ever seen, but she changed back and hasn’t done it again. We can sense her power so we know she is a witch, we just don’t know if she is more,” Pema added as she wrapped her arm around her mate’s waist.
Pulling her close, Ronan placed a kiss on the attractive blonde’s forehead. The female was dressed in tight jeans and a low-cut blouse. You’d never know she had a baby less than a month before.
“Shifter babies usually go back and forth between their animal and human form with little control but since she hasn’t shifted again it could’ve been a fluke. Suvi believes Aria is the first of a new era,” Ronan continued.
Suvi sauntered over in her impossibly high heels. Orlando usually appreciated the way her shoes made her legs look a mile long but today all it did was remind him of Ember’s long legs. He wanted his limbs entwined with Ember’s as he sank into her silken depths.
“Of course my niece is the beginning of a new era,” Suvi announced, distracting Orlando before he went too far down that path.
“Alright, we’re ready,” Pema interjected. “Place your candles to north and east, Suvi, and put yours to the south and west, Isis,” Pema instructed.
The three sisters had been born within minutes of each other and carried the same amount of power, but Pema was the undisputed leader of the trio and it worked well for them.
While her sisters did as she instructed, Pema accepted the familiar silver bowl from her mate. After setting the bowl on the coffee table that Nate had brought in as their makeshift altar, Pema grabbed a bottle of water from her diaper bag and filled the bowl.
Having been through the same ceremony numerous times over the past couple years the atmosphere in the room was surprisingly relaxed considering what they were doing. Before the room was silent as the witches worked, but now Izzy and Donovan were laughing and Brantley and Aria were happily cooing while the adults talked. It said a lot about how drastically things had changed in the compound.
“You guys doing this sky-clad?” Rhys asked on a laugh. Then again, some things never changed, Orlando thought.
Orlando couldn’t help but glance at Rhys’s Fated Mate, Illianna, to see her roll her eyes as the room erupted collectively, “Fucking Rhys.”
“What? Don’t tell me I’m the only one thinking it. I know you were, Dante,” Rhys teased his cambion lord.
Rhys was happily mated but was always going to be the same old Rhys. Everyone, including Illianna, knew he couldn’t help himself, it was just who he was. It was comforting to Orlando to know that his friends, for the most part, were the same despite being mated now.
Fated Mate blessings had swept through the realm like wildfire and Zeum had been caught up in the fervor. After going nearly seven centuries without a single mate blessing, it left many reeling from the effects. Many families had been irrevocably changed by the recent matings and not everyone was coming out happy.
The Rowan triplet’s father was a perfect example. Until recently, he had been bitter and depressed over losing their mother to her Fated Mate. Luckily, Rachel came along and filled the emptiness in his heart, but there were countless Greg Rowan stories to be told. Many had been left devastated by recent change.
Glancing back to the witches, Orlando watched as they proceeded to pull incense from their bag. Lotus, jasmine and hyacinth filled the room as they lit the slender sticks.
“What are those for?” Tori, Santiago’s mate, asked.
The female was a Valkyrie assassin and Orlando had worried how the other females of the house would react to her, but they had come to love her and she was now a part of the gang.
Everyone, Orlando included, had gone out of their way to help her while Santi was locked in the dungeons. It wasn’t easy on the couple to be apart so soon after their mating, but Santi was paying the price for eschewing the rules. Orlando easily sensed Tori’s pride in her mate and knew her love for his best friend was deep and abiding.
“These flowers are connected to water, which is the best medium for scrying and location spells,” Isis explained as she worked.
“And this demon won’t know you’re looking for her?” Tori asked as she reached for Pema’s baby but winced and lowered her arm.
It was easy to forget that Tori had suffered a debilitating injury at Lady Angelica’s hands and no longer had much use of her right arm. The female hid the injury well and it was only when she over-exerted herself that you noticed.
“No. We’ve sealed the circle and nothing can enter or exit until we break it,” Pema explained.
“What if Ember is right and there are two different demons?” Orlando asked, curious if that would confuse the scrying.
“Then we will see more than one location,” Suvi said as she laid the feathers side by side in front of the bowl.
Orlando could now see the subtle difference in the two feathers that Ember had described, indicating they could be facing not one, but two, new demons. No one had wanted to talk about what that meant for them. They’d faced numerous archdemons at once before, but none had taken the risks these two did.
The room finally went silent as the sisters joined hands and their mates placed their hands on their shoulders. The glow from their palms filled the circle and the energy from their collective magic filled the room. Their power was staggering, reminding him they had powerful allies.
“Doiteain,” the witches chanted together.
The candles and incense ignited and the witches knelt before the altar. Suvi and Isis grabbed Pema’s waist as she reached into the bowl of water and invoked the element of water.
Relaxing into a meditative state, Pema plunged two fingers into the water and swirled in a clockwise motion. Repeating this four times, the sisters began chanting in unison, “Let the water reveal to me the location of the owner of these feathers. Let the water show me where they are. So mote it be.”
On completion of the fourth round, the lights in the room flickered and the water misted over then cleared to reveal a familiar forest. Ember and one of Hayden’s Lieutenants were patrolling pack land. And, it seemed they were oblivious to the demons watching them. Orlando saw the female demon situated in a tree as she watched the pair on the ground.
Orlando’s heart raced in his chest as Hayden jumped forward and snarled at the sight. “Is this happening right now?” Hayden barked as Orlando handed Brantley to Cailyn and checked for his we
apons.
Right before the scene changed a swarm of skirm attacked the unsuspecting couple. Fangs were bared and Ember didn’t hesitate to grab her weapon and spring into action. Orlando raced from the room, not waiting to see what happened next. Ember was in danger and his mind fractured at the thought of losing her.
*****
Orlando threw his car into park and jumped out into the frigid air. Light snow fell against the windshield and immediately melted on the warm surface. To his relief, Hayden pulled up in his truck and he and Santi hopped out. Elsie had called his cell phone to explain the other demon was attacking humans at a popular restaurant near Pike Street Market so he was glad to see the shifters were there to help him.
The rest of the Dark Warriors were needed where innocent humans were being targeted. Orlando understood, but it would have been nice to have the cavalry at his back.
Hayden shifted into his bear form without bothering to remove his clothes. Orlando heard sounds of fighting close by and the smell of blood and brimstone permeated the air. As Hayden let out a loud roar, Orlando’s leopard leapt beneath his skin to respond to his Omega’s call. It was his concern for Ember that had him holding back. He needed to remain in human form so he could ash the skirm.
Hayden looked back at him and Orlando held up his titanium sgian dubh. Weapons made from titanium were the only ones capable of turning the skirm to ash. With a nod of his head the bear took off into the woods and Santi’s wolf followed suit with Orlando on their heels.
The fight hadn’t moved from the location he’d seen in the scrying water. The ground was covered in bodies, both shifter and skirm, and black blood had turned the foliage to shriveled black husks. Even the trees were beginning to be affected as brown needles fell from the sky like rain amidst the snow flurries. Frantically searching the area, Orlando was suddenly caught off guard and fell forward.