White Fire: Timewalker Chronicles, Book 5

by Michele Callahan

  “Ajax, I need you to take me back to my apartment for some clothes.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Angeline’s in Seattle at a corporate conference, and these beach shorts and sandals just aren’t going to cut it up there.”

  And if she had to fry some Triscani or other Immortals to get to Angeline, she’d just start a notch collection on a new pair of boots.

  <><><>

  Ajax sat in silence in Emma’s living room as she took a shower to “wash off the sand”. He’d disposed of the ash-covered clothing he’d dropped in her room that first night and resigned himself to waiting. The thought of her naked and steaming hot in the water was driving him to distraction. If he’d thought there was a chance he could kiss her again without risking life and limb, he might have attempted to join her.

  Instead, he stared at the red brick walls of her living quarters and wondered what was contained in that soul stone. Obviously, Emma believed she’d die at Droghan’s hand without it. But beheading? That implied their enemy would treat her as a true Immortal, kill her as he would an Immortal, and not a human Timewalker. Ajax had seen the white fire, but that wasn’t enough to convince him. She had to have some other power she was hiding from him, and the key to that power must be in the soul stone.

  It had saved his life, that secret power. He’d felt the call of her soul and it had woken him from the stasis pod, had led him to Portland, to the bar where he first saw her. That stone had kept him sane when the insidious whispers of a hundred Triscani souls threatened to pull him back into the dark. That stone had pulled him from madness and made him sane. It stabilized him and led him to her.

  And he’d given it to another Immortal, a probable enemy and known Triad associate. Even if Angeline were kind and true, she’d never give the stone back without exacting a price. He’d given her the stone thinking it belonged to her, and wanted her to have it back as his way of thanking her for saving him.

  But it hadn’t been Angeline. All along it had been Emma, and he’d been too blind to see the truth. And it had cost him Emma’s trust and her faith in him. What a great, inspiring leader he was turning out to be.

  They were not bonded, but the heat and attraction was still there, whether she wanted it to be or not. And he was not an average Immortal. He could read some of her thoughts, sense her intentions. And she intended to confront Angeline and demand the stone’s return. But that was dangerous, and it would never work, not unless she had something equally valuable to trade.

  Ajax walked to her room and moved the chair where he’d spent hours sitting, trying not to kill her, hours where that stone in his pocket had held him in check. When he had it settled facing her mirror, he undressed from the waist up and got out his knife.

  This was going to hurt, but Emma needed the stone. It was the least he could do, since he was the reason this was necessary.

  He knew exactly where Teagh had cut him open to place the black soul stone inside his chest. It wasn’t deep, just beneath the soft tissue, sitting on top of his chest muscle. The stone had been dead in his chest from the first moment Teagh had placed it there. And when he’d spoken to Robbie, or the goddess had spoken to him through Robbie, she’d refused to activate it as she had for the Darkwalkers.

  His brother, Aron, didn’t require a stone. He was linked directly to the Gate and had been since the moment of his birth. The goddess had activated a direct link to Aron’s soul, but refused the same for Ajax. She’d been stubborn, adamant that Ajax needed none of those things. She said Ajax already had everything he needed.

  Well, wasn’t that lovely? Her rejection had hurt, when he’d thought it was impossible to be hurt any more. But her promises weren’t going to help him next time he had to ash a Triscani Hunter.

  But neither was this stone. And if Emma wanted to get her stone back, the only thing powerful enough, valuable enough for Angeline to agree to a trade, was another soul stone, one that hadn’t been sealed, as Emma’s had. The stone in his chest would be a much more effective tool, or weapon, for an Immortal who knew how to use it.

  And he had no doubt that Angeline knew everything there was to know about defeating an Immortal, legally or otherwise.

  He just had to cut it out of his chest so Emma could make a trade.

  There was no scar, but he didn’t need one. He remembered the incision, and he remembered the hope that had turned to despair when nothing had come of its placement in his body.

  He took his knife, placed the tip just below his collarbone, and sliced. Deep. He cut until he hit the black obsidian of the stone. Blood poured from the wound, and the edges were already trying to heal, so he wedged his blade beneath the stone and tried to pop it out of his chest.

  “Oh, my God. What are you doing? Stop!” Emma rushed to him, her hair dripping wet, wearing nothing but a towel. She had a spare towel in her hands and she tried to place it against the new wound in his chest.

  “Just a minute. I almost have it.”

  She hovered, concern evident in the wrinkled lines around her eyes and mouth. “I felt it. I felt the cut. Why did I feel it? What are you doing?”

  “Giving you a soul stone to trade with Angeline.”

  “What? No. You need that.” Emma shoved the towel over his wound just as the stone broke free. Like a giant black diamond, it joined the hot slide of blood falling down his chest and landed in his lap.

  Ajax let his head fall back, grateful that the painful deed was done, and reached for the stone. It was covered in his blood, but inert. He lifted his eyes to meet her gaze, and raised his hand to hers where it pressed the towel into his shoulder. “Take the stone. Soul stones are powerful and extremely rare to an Immortal like Angeline. She will not give yours back to you without a trade.”

  “No. Ajax. I’ll get the stone back on my own. I can’t let you do this. Katherine told me what this stone means to you, to all the Darkwalkers. The goddess could change her mind and activate it at any time. You have to keep it.”

  “Emma, it is my fault your stone is lost. I will do whatever it takes to make amends.”

  She pushed down, hard, stemming the flow of blood. “Why? Why now? Why are you doing this? I’m not the woman you want, Ajax. So, why would you do this for me? I can get the stone back on my own. I don’t need you to do this.”

  Ajax reached up and wrapped his hand around her wrist where she pressed the cloth to his wound. “Emma. I wish things were different, but I can’t walk away from my duty to my people. Everything Raiden has told me about the reigning Queen makes me believe she is vile and unworthy. I have to assume the throne. I must protect my people. I can’t walk away because a woman’s kiss fires my blood. I can’t be that weak.”

  “Don’t. Just don’t.” Emma pulled her hand free of his hold and stepped back. “I won’t be in your debt, not for this. This could kill you.”

  “It’s my decision.”

  “No. I can’t live with you martyring yourself, or somehow sacrificing yourself for me.” Emma held up her hands but started to shake when she noticed they were coated in his blood. “I will pay you for it. Name your price. I have money. Lots of it. What do you want?”

  “Your word that you’ll stay far away from the battle with the Triscani. I want you to be safe.”

  “No. I can’t leave the others to fight without me. I won’t. Ask me for a million dollars. Ask me for a favor. Ask me for anything but that.”

  Ajax knew she was poised to run. She shuffled her feet and gripped the towel over her breasts like armor. The sight of his blood on her fingers had made her shake like a leaf in the wind. She was scared. Of him.

  “A favor then.”

  Emma’s shoulders relaxed and she nodded. “Okay. What is it?”

  “I would like to know everything there is to know about you. Let me walk in your mind and learn you.” His telepathy was stronger than most Immortals, and like his brother, Aron, he could walk in the minds of others, learn what they knew and live their memories as if they w
ere his own. It was a useful skill for learning languages and adapting to new places and customs. And he thirsted to understand this human female. If he touched her mind, he could take her with him, carry a piece of her inside him forever.

  “How about you keep the soul stone.” She dropped it on the floor at his feet and turned on her heel to walk away.

  He picked up the stone, rose and followed, grabbed her elbow and spun her around to face him.

  “You were the one who demanded a price be paid, Emma. I simply offered you a gift.”

  She stood, head even with his bare chest and appeared to have trouble formulating words. “It’s not a simple gift. That stone could save your life. You need it.”

  “What I need is your forgiveness. I need to make amends.”

  She yanked her elbow from his grasp. “Stop. Just stop saying things like that. You had your chance. You wanted someone else. Even after she turned you down, you refused my Mark. And I’m supposed to believe that you actually care about me? A mere human? A girl you’ve known for a whole two days? When you already gave back my Mark twice?” She held the towel with one hand and wrapped the other around her stomach, as if she were in pain. “No way. There’s absolutely no way I can believe a word you say. There’s nothing between us. Nothing. Do you understand?”

  Ajax took a step forward, and another, as she retreated until her back was against the wall of her bedroom and Ajax had her trapped with one arm on each side of her head. She’d asked for her Mark back the second time, and he’d given her exactly what she said she wanted. But Ajax knew that a woman’s heart was not always rational, especially not in a passionate female like the one staring defiantly up at him. There would be no getting through to her, no way to convince her with words.

  He knew he should keep his distance, but Emma was like a comet shooting through his personal space, utterly impossible to ignore.

  Emma knew that he couldn’t accept her Mark, knew that he planned to leave Earth and return to Itara as soon as possible. She knew his future, knew the score. Yet she stood before him naked wearing only a towel. She’d ranted at him as if she cared and shook when she saw his blood on her fingers.

  She might hate him, might despise him, but she wanted him in her bed. Perhaps a few hours respite was what they both needed. Simple pleasure to help them both balance out the pain.

  Ajax leaned in and she turned her head away to avoid his kiss. He trailed kisses over her jaw and neck, traced her collarbone with the tip of his nose and kissed the rise of her shoulder and the soft swell of her breast where it was plumped by the pressure of her arm to tease his eyes just above the towel.

  Chapter Nine

  Emma knew she was in trouble. Big trouble. God this man was dangerous to her on so many levels.

  His lips nibbled and traced the line of her collarbone, the delicate curve of her neck. He kissed the rounded end of her shoulder and dipped his head lower to taste her just above the towel.

  Two minutes ago she was ready to put on that power suit and drive up to Seattle. Five hours in the car and she’d be at the convention center, she’d find Angeline, get back her stone, and jump, jump, jump wherever and whenever she wanted to. Anywhere, as long as it was away from him.

  And now? Now she had to give her hands a stern lecture to ensure they didn’t “accidentally” drop the towel. Now she wanted to wrap her hands around his head and pull him to her mouth for a kiss. Now she wanted his tongue to do lots of things that had nothing to do with talking.

  His lips lingered just above her breast, the heat of his breath seared her to her toes, like the air pushed fire directly into her bloodstream. She tilted her head back and rested it against the wall behind her, eyes closed. She bit back a moan of pleasure and fisted one hand over the towel and one at her side.

  Sure, she could let him seduce her. She could give in and give him her body. A one-night stand. A few hours of sexual bliss. But she knew her heart and soul would get caught in the crosshairs. It was just the way she was. Her parents had been head over heels in love her entire life. She’d watched them, the two Marked Mates, and dreamed of a future with a man who adored her.

  And as naïve or foolish as it may have been, she’d saved herself for that man, unable to give in to the urge to have sex with anyone else her entire life because she only wanted to be touched by a man who both loved and respected her, who wanted her and who would share and rejoice in her power.

  For decades she’d been told Ajax would be that man. Not that he’d be in love with another woman. Not that he’d have a Marked Mate before he’d ever met her. And not that he’d reject Emma’s Mark twice, and run back to his ex the moment he heard Angeline was on Earth.

  She deserved the fairy-tale ending. She deserved happiness. She deserved a man who would put her first, want only her, love only her.

  Emma grabbed his head in her hands, her palms to his cheeks, and pulled him from his exploration of her neck until they were nose to nose, eye to eye.

  “Stop. I’m sorry.” Emma knew he’d see her tears, but she didn’t care. “I can’t do this with you. I just can’t.”

  She held him still and pressed her lips to his softly, both tribute and farewell to a little girl’s dreams. This was her goodbye. She knew in her heart that once she had her stone and the battle was over, she’d leave Ajax behind.

  There was no way the few Timewalkers and Darkwalkers in Florida could defeat several thousand Immortal Triscani. They’d be hunting the Triscani for years. Perhaps Ajax would go back home to Itara, and perhaps he would not. Either way, she just wasn’t enough of a masochist to be around him day after day, year after year, for an eternity of constant reminders. She refused to torture herself that way.

  Perhaps she’d seek out Nicodemus and his Darkwalkers. The hunt for Triscani was one mission she could sink her teeth into, and after tomorrow there would be enough Hunters on the loose to keep her busy for a very long time.

  She’d get her stone, fry as many Triscani as she could at the Crux, and leave this messy pseudo-relationship behind her. Really, she should be rejoicing. She’d spent years of her childhood ranting against her fate, battling her wanderlust and trying to tame herself into a creature fit to be a Queen, when all she really wanted to be was free. Free of the responsibility. Free from destiny and the burdens Bran had placed on her shoulders from the time she could walk. Free to be anyone, do anything. Just free.

  She lifted her lips and looked deeply into his eyes. He was hurting. She could see his pain and resignation, regret and desire. They all flashed through his gaze as she held him.

  But there was no love there. She wanted a man to look at her the way her father looked at her mother, the way she’d seen Teagh look at Katherine, like she mattered.

  If Ajax had looked at her like that, she would have tried to make it work. She would have tried to control her temper and her wild side, would have tried to be a true and proper Queen. She would have fought a million Hunters, if that was what it took to protect him. She would have risked everything.

  Not once, in all the years Bran had been talking nonsense in her ear, had Emma ever imagined that Ajax simply wouldn’t want her enough to do the same.

  Emma released her hold on him and motioned toward the bedroom door with her head. “If you’ll excuse me please, I need to get dressed now.”

  Ajax remained silent but walked from the room, closing her door softly behind him. She had no idea what he was thinking and refused to dwell on it. She had to get that stone back from Angeline. If she didn’t, she’d never jump again. And, according to Celestina, Droghan the Immortal traitor, would cut off her head.

  Even confused and hurting over stupid Immortal men, she preferred her head to be attached to her body.

  Emma put all thought away but getting ready as quickly as possible. According to Katherine’s source, Angeline was at a conference for attorneys who specialized in corporate takeovers and acquisitions. No doubt she served her mother’s interests on Earth extremely well
. But Emma couldn’t show up in shorts and sandals.

  She pulled her go-to black skirt and jacket from the closet, rust-colored silk top and black pumps. She dressed quickly and pulled her hair up into a chignon, the stylish up-do what she hoped a corporate executive might wear. She applied her makeup sparingly and didn’t have much for jewelry, so settled on a simple gold chain necklace and small gold hoop earrings.

  When she was done, she stepped back and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked settled and confident. A consummate and conservative professional. She’d fit right in with all the suits.

  She considered driving up to Seattle, then decided against it. Ajax could open a portal for her, and once she had her soul stone back, he could bring her home. It was the least he could do.

  Now, time to go get her life back.

  <><><>

  Nicodemus opened a portal and stepped into his half-brother’s private domain in the Triscani kingdom. He was uninvited, and he was fairly certain his closest brother believed he was dead. Most likely, his brother had thanked the goddess for that. He would have too, the condition he’d been in when Eli last saw him. He’d been a Triscani Hunter, lost to the rage and hunger of the souls he’d consumed, lost to the dark.

  Elijah sat in a chair reading one of the latest human spy thrillers. Elijah was in for the night, his sword and armored uniform stacked neatly against the wall of his quarters. His door was closed. None would dare enter Elijah’s private lair unless invited. To do so was to risk their life. Even the Hunters avoided him. He’d ashed at least twelve of them and still looked human. Still maintained control. Barring their escaped prisoner, Prince Aron, Elijah was one of the eldest, scariest, most self-controlled bastards Nicodemus had ever known.

  Elijah claimed he read the humans’ books to understand human society. Nicodemus knew he read them because they helped his brother remain sane.

  “Elijah.”