by Jane Cousins
All his hunting instincts fired, his gut flooding with a heightened sense of anticipation… they were close now, he could feel it. Every cell was vibrating and alert. And this feeling in no way resembled the sharp sense of recognition he’d experienced when he’d first laid eyes on Riya. No, not at all. That had been his common sense warning him of complications and drama on the horizon, nothing more. And, By the Sands, why was he still thinking about the woman?
Determinedly, Marcus pushed all thoughts of Riya aside, the job, that was what was important and always would be. The job was his life.
But maybe, sometime in the not so distant future, he should look into finding that perfect woman. The complication free one, who would slot into his life, without making a ripple. The final piece in his puzzle.
Chapter One
Two and a half years later….
Hadleigh Valhalla was a Warrior. Six feet, six inches of pure, unbridled blood lust. She hated to admit weakness. Loathed the idea of having to concede defeat. But she knew she had to face facts here, her energy levels were flagging. And the pain, the pain was like nothing she’d ever had to deal with before. She had multiple wounds that were weakening her further by the second, and this raging Ice Giant would just… not… die… damn it.
Pushing aside the pain, she intensified her efforts. Swivelling, thrusting out her sword. Ducking under claws that would have taken her head clean off. Twirling, she slashed out again, faster, hacking away, sinking her sword in again and again. Die. Just die!
“Hadleigh.”
She refused to be distracted. She would kill this last Ice Giant even if it cost her everything.
“Hadleigh.”
Grrr, her husband and meld mate, Vaughn, meant well, but that soothing coaxing tone he’d taken to using on her lately was stomping on her last nerve with steel capped boots. “Go away. I’m killing stuff!” Thankful she’d had the presence of mind to lock the door to the multi-media room.
“Let me in, Hadleigh.” The door knob rattled.
In that split second the Ice Giant managed to grab hold of her green skinned avatar, tearing the body into two large pieces. Gobs of flesh and blood spurted in all directions, as the energy bar high on the right hand side of the screen turned black. Damn it.
Hadleigh huffed out an exasperated sigh, wincing as she let go of the controller and her thumb spasmed. Ouch. Absently she massaged the joint. She’d never kill the Ice Giant Clan and get to the next level unless she warriored up and played through the pain.
“Hadleigh?”
Glaring at the locked door, Hadleigh slouched lower in the huge comfy armchair, one of twelve set up in front of the massive screen. Crap, too low, now she couldn’t see over her hideously huge belly. Sighing, she sat up slightly, reaching into the packet of cheese doodles on her lap, shoving a handful into her mouth. If Vaughn found her with such unhealthy contraband, he would go into lecture mode.
She swore to the Goddess above, that if she had to listen to one more of his chiding, long winded reminders of how important a healthy diet was for an expectant mother and her unborn baby, she would do some serious damage.
Better for everyone, and Vaughn’s well-being especially, if they just left her alone to kill animated stuff.
Heavens, how low had she sunk.
Her glory days of beheading legions of real life monsters seemed so long ago now. And there was no physical outlet left available to release all the pent up frustration and rage she was feeling. Vaughn refused point blank to spar with her. The gym equipment had been sabotaged so that she could access only the lowest, mildest of settings.
Elijah, Head of the Southern Sanctuary Enforcers had banned her from the training arena. Her name stricken from the activity duty roster three months ago. And it went without saying that she wasn’t required to appear on the weekly TV show, Para-Exterminators. Because no one wanted to watch such a huge… ungainly… unattractive behemoth stumble about trying to act covert on a supernatural hunt.
Not that anyone had actually said any of that but Hadleigh knew what they were thinking.
Thanks to this baby, she’d been reduced to practically mundane status. Beaching herself like a whale with her pile of contraband junk food in the multi-media room and electronically killing stuff, it was practically all that was keeping her sane.
Vaughn rattled the doorknob again. Didn’t he get it? If she opened that door she might well end up killing him. Hadleigh was so tired of being treated like a fragile doll. She was a Warrior. She killed things… it’s what defined her. Made her happy. But if Vaughn took away the controller and the cheese doodles… Sweet Lady, she would not be held responsible for her actions.
Of course, even if she did lash out, Vaughn would just be all supportive, reeking of patience and understanding. Making her want to hurt him even more.
Hadleigh understood this pregnancy was special. Vaughn was the first of Maat’s Warrior Elite to procreate, they were breaking new ground here. But she still wanted to be treated like a Warrior, respected. Not coddled. Not lectured. She wanted to be able to eat and drink what ever she liked. Set her own bedtime. To look at Vaughn and see those burnished golden eyes simmer with lust and the promise of passion. Instead, all she saw these days was concern and a sweet sickly tenderness that was driving her surely out of her mind.
Vaughn had shifted into over-protective mode almost from the moment they’d found out she was pregnant. And it had taken Hadleigh a few weeks to calm him down. Getting him drunk and jumping his bones had gone a long way to reassuring him that she and the baby were fine.
Unfortunately though, as she’d grown bigger, those over-protective Warrior instincts of Vaughn’s had kicked into hyper-drive. The last few weeks he’d taken to hovering over her constantly. Asking every ten minutes if she was okay. Too hot? Too cold? Hungry? Tired? In any pain?
Hadleigh was tired of being soothed, of being coddled, when she was so unbelievably horny she wanted to scream. Every time she saw Vaughn she wanted to jump him. Run her fingers through his white gold hair, stroke all that glimmering golden flesh. Kiss her way down the sculpted muscular planes of his chest.
Except every time she’d attempted to initiate sex lately, Vaughn blocked her moves. Insisting they snuggle instead. Or distracting her by wanting to discuss in great detail their birthing plan. Seriously, if she heard the words, for the sake of the baby, let’s run through it one more time - she would throttle him.
Grrrr, Hadleigh really needed to kill someone, and that someone’s friends, parents, and all their extended family.
Either that, or perhaps she could just give birth. Nope, no movement there, except for a tiny fluttering that indicated the baby had a case of the hiccups. Or was perhaps just craving some more cheese doodles. She grabbed another handful.
Problem was, no one, even her cousin Nell, Healer and Doctor, knew precisely when Hadleigh was going to give birth. If she were fully human, she’d be due any day now. But she was a Warrior of Valhalla, and Vaughn was a hundred year plus semi-immortal, who had been re-birthed in the sun by the Goddess, Maat. There wasn’t even a general guideline as to how long this pregnancy was expected to last, it was beyond frustrating.
“Okay Hadleigh, I’ll just leave this snack out here for when you’re ready.” Vaughn’s voice was low, and reassuring. “There’s fruit and a-”
“If you say glass of milk I will come out there and… let’s just say things will get messy and blood and milk will be spilt.”
“No… no milk. The milk is gone.”
“Good.” Hitting the controller button to restart the level. It was time to take her frustrations out on some Ice Giants.
Five minutes of blessed uninterrupted animated mayhem and bloodshed later a small chat window popped up in the centre of the humungous screen. Hadleigh hit pause and stared at the stark words, her stomach churning abruptly.
‘I know about the cheese doodles.’
As threats went it was an insanely evil, kind of terrifying o
ne. If Vaughn were to find out about her cheese doodle fixation, Hadleigh wouldn’t just be cut off. Oh, no, there would be a thirty-minute chiding lecture involved and copious cups of green tea forced down her throat, in an attempt to cleanse her system. Damn, he had her over a barrel. She couldn’t afford to ignore this. Thrusting a hand down between the cushions Hadleigh dragged out her phone and hit the speed dial.
“Marcus.”
“Hadleigh, I was expecting your call.”
Hadleigh’s lips twisted up at the edges ruefully as the accusing words disappeared from the big screen. “I just bet you were. Hacking into the media system in here, you must be desperate.”
“We have a situation.”
Hadleigh’s blood fired as she attempted to rise. Finally her specialised skill set was required and that must mean something needed killing. “I’ll call some weapons and be there in…” Damn, she was having a surprisingly hard time in getting out of the comfy chair. “…five… grr, better make that ten minutes.”
“Stand down. It’s not that kind of situation… yet. I’m guessing Vaughn hasn’t told you about what’s going on?”
Hadleigh sank back into the depths of the chair, staring glumly at her belly. “Vaughn won’t even tell me when we are running low on toilet paper lately, he’s very anti-stress… which is stressing me out.”
There was a telling pause before Marcus continued. “… He just wants to take care of you and the baby.”
Hadleigh huffed out an exasperated sigh. “Which is why I haven’t killed him yet and why I’m stuck in here for the foreseeable future. So, what do you need?” Hadleigh listened as Marcus explained the situation. “Sounds like you require a very specialised kind of monster slayer. Okay, you have a pen? I’ll give you an address, but it will be up to you to convince them to help out, if Vaughn finds out I’ve meddled I’ll never hear the end of it.”
“Thanks Hadleigh, and take it easy on the Captain, he’s just… concerned for you, that’s all.”
Hadleigh disconnected before she said anything rude about her husband and Marcus’s friend. Turning her attention back to the big screen she hit the play button, time to finish off the Warg Wolves and then move on to the Ice Giants. She was a Warrior born, she would play through the pain, gamer’s thumb would not prove to be her Achilles heel, she was tougher than that.
* * *
“Was that…?”
“Gaia? Yes.” Riya glanced out through the large front window of her boutique, Un Peu de Magie was situated on Beach road, the main shopping and entertainment thoroughfare of Haven Bay.
“She’s still stalking you?” Quinn placed her cup of mint tea down onto the low rectangular coffee table. “I’d better go out and talk to her.”
“Don’t you move. You’re not on the clock right now. Besides, Gaia coming by to check up on me might be partially my fault. Last week I saw her approaching and stuffed a cushion up under my dress.”
Quinn looked torn between horror and amusement. “And?”
Riya shrugged and smiled sheepishly. “It was funny for like a second, Gaia turned as red as a beet. But then she kind of looked like she was going to cry. I felt terrible.”
“Please.” Quinn shook her head, her platinum shoulder length hair rippling. “She is her own worst enemy. It’s all in her head, this competitive need to be the first of the magic set to break the baby drought in the Southern Sanctuary.”
“I was only pregnant for like a day, and that was two and half years ago now, she still hasn’t forgiven me. Hadleigh is who she should be stalking. She actually is pregnant.”
Quinn laughed softly. “Even Gaia isn’t that brave. And Hadleigh spends most of her time in Atlanta, making Vaughn’s life hell.”
“She must be going stir crazy, not being able to kill stuff.”
Quinn shuddered. She was a psychiatrist, both Hadleigh and Gaia had become her patients when they entered their second trimester, five months ago, now. Gaia, because she had become hyper-competitive and super vigilant concerning her baby’s future health and well-being. So much so that she wasn’t really taking the time to just relax and enjoy her pregnancy.
Hadleigh was on Quinn’s patient schedule for the complete opposite problem. She had been barely prepared to admit she was pregnant, let alone accept that meant changes to her day to day Warrior life.
The sad thing was, Quinn had kind of thought she had been making progress on both fronts.
“Enough about Gaia.” Riya added a final flourish to the neckline of the dress she was sketching and turned the book around so that Quinn could see. “What does the bride-to-be think?”
“It’s gorgeous. Though that beadwork looks time consuming.”
Riya waved off Quinn’s concern. “The other week when I was picking up some material in Florence I caught a glimpse of this lady with the most gorgeous beadwork on her bag. We got to talking, and before you know it I’m on a bus travelling to this tiny little village to meet this amazingly talented woman.”
“Sounds wonderful.”
“I still say Samin is my best find to date. He’s totally on board to make your shoes by the way.”
“I’m not sure if I should be proud or worried at all these little adventures you’ve been having lately. Hopping buses in Italy. Deliberately getting lost at the Turkish Bazaar.”
Riya smiled, flipping the sketch book around, opening it to a fresh page. “I never realised how much fun I was missing out on. The other day I was in Jaipur picking up some silks, and once I was done, I just followed my nose to this fantastic outdoor café located in old temple. I still don’t know what I ordered, but it was amazing.”
Quinn picked up her mint tea, relaxing back into the shabby chic armchair. “Just reassure me you’re being safe?”
“I can protect myself. You know that. Now, tell me, how are all the other wedding arrangements coming?”
“The list just keeps growing longer and longer. December is five months away but I’m not sure it’s going to be enough time. Matias has been very particular about pretty much everything; the food, the flowers, the decorations. I like a list, you know that. But Matias is taking things to a whole new level when it comes to the big day.”
“You can’t really blame him for wanting to make it memorable.”
Quinn smiled ruefully. “No, after finally getting his short-term memory back, he’s determined to make every day count.”
“And all his relatives are coming?” Riya’s pencil hovered over the blank page, but no ideas were flowing.
“All the ones based in South America have said yes, and Nico is in the process of getting in contact with a few still out roaming the oceans hunting down sunken treasure and lost civilisations and the like.”
Riya’s head snapped up. “Lost civilisations?”
“Well, they are a magical bloodline renown for finding lost things. Who knows what might be out there.”
“How cool.” Riya glanced down and frowned at the stark white page glaring back at her. Fate was proving elusive currently when it came to this future. “I’m afraid this page is staying blank until you can convince Copper to be your bridesmaid.”
Quinn’s smile disappeared instantly. Her blue eyes narrowing. “She’s Matias’s sister, but… grrr… is she stubborn.”
“She’s still refusing to leave the rainforest?”
“Yes. I know she’s working through a lot of issues. Dealing with being hurled hundreds of years into the past. Spending ten years being worshipped by an ancient Mayan tribe. Doing her best to protect them from a power-hungry, megalomaniac, human sacrificing High Priest dickhead and his half-jaguar minions. It has to mess you up.”
“I heard she’s been seen lurking around town in the early hours of the morning.” Riya advised. “And there’s talk of her ripping up gardens. Stealing plants and herbs.”
“I’ve heard those complaints too. The gardening club is up in arms. Demanding something be done about her. The rumour mill is running red hot.”
“Speaking of which, I also hear she’s making Elijah’s life hell.”
Quinn sighed in exasperation. “That girl… or should I say Goddess, sure knows how to hold a grudge. She blames him for kidnapping and bringing her back to this timeline.”
“Better Elijah than her brothers.”
“Yes.” Quinn sighed again. “I trek out there at least once a week to take supplies and try to convince her to re-join the world but I don’t seem to be making any progress.”
“Copper probably just needs some time. After ten years in an ancient Mayan forest, it must take a bit to get used to civilisation again. Personally, I would have headed to a five-star spa resort and wallowed in beauty treatments until my money ran out.”
Quinn chuffed a soft laugh. “No beauty treatments are required for Copper, she already smothers herself in mud, twigs, and leaves to keep the bugs off and act as camouflage.”
“Wow, I bet you her skin is amazing.”
“Who knows. Sometimes I’m tempted to hold her down and use a scrubbing brush and some soapy water to find out. Though that’s not going to happen anytime soon since I have the distinct impression she could totally kick my ass with her pinkie finger if she wanted to.”
Riya snapped the sketchbook closed, absently checking her watch and then the door.
“You expecting someone?”
“No. Yes… maybe.” Riya grinned, brushing her heavy fringe out of her eyes. “I’ve been making a ton of clothes lately, but I’m not getting clearly who they’re for.”
“You don’t know whose Fate you’re weaving?”
Riya shrugged. “It happens, especially if my own Fate is somehow entangled… no spoilers, as Jules would say. It’s just, I have three suitcases full of clothes and no idea what the hell is headed my way, it’s making me jumpy.”