I stood, watching the fight as if it was playing out in slow motion. This was my world, these were my people, and Jaeden was fighting for me. He’d believed me over Astrid, which tore me apart inside. I loved him; no matter how this ended, I’d always love him. Too much had happened to pretend things would ever be right again. If we’d loved each other enough to begin with, nothing would have been able to tear us apart. But it had, and we’d given it our best shot. It just hadn’t been enough.
I brought my palm to Astrid’s motionless form and used a blade to reopen the earlier cut, pressing it against her lips until the blood dripped inside. My eyes rose to Jaeden’s and I wanted to ask him if he was sure, but the look in his eyes told me that was a pointless question.
“Shamus is involved with my mother. He’s been with her from the start. It’s why he found my father to build the Ark. We can’t stay here. Shamus has the master codes; he could get inside and hurt the humans at any time he chose to. I won’t take chances with their lives, so we need to leave.” I pulled on Jaeden’s sleeve. “Come with me. Come with us.”
“If what you say is true, then Shamus will make a move to kill the elders. I can’t leave them to that fate. Without them, there is no order or code to my people. So go, protect your people. Protect our people, Emma. I’ll find you again. I promise.”
“Jaeden,” I pleaded as I pulled my hand away from him. “I need you.”
“No, Emma, you don’t need me anymore. I love you. I’m still in love with you. I can’t watch you be with someone else, so you’re going to let me go. We’re going to part ways, because I can’t be around you and not touch you. So let me go,” he said softly, as he leaned over and stroked my healing cheek with a finger before he pulled away as he remembered that just touching me might turn him mortal at any time. “Don’t ever think you’re not worth fighting for, because you are. If I thought I could have you, I would fight with everything I had to keep you. But he’s right; I won’t turn mortal for you because I’m needed right now, and well, I couldn’t be with you even if we both wanted it. Cayla needs to go with you. She’s healing and went through most of the change easily in only a few hours. She didn’t wake with hunger, but she’s a little more…special.” He smiled. “She told me you’d be coming and that you would speak the truth. She needs you. Promise me you’ll look after her. Promise me you’ll take care of her so that I can do what I have to without worrying about her.”
“I promise,” I said, knowing I’d do my best for her. She’d been through hell; she deserved a real shot at life. “Jaeden, I wish…” He pushed a finger against my lips before yanking it away as if it was on fire, and looked at me with a smirk.
“Don’t,” he said, his smirk deepening. “I wouldn’t change a moment of being with you, and I knew I’d have to leave. I’m an asshole, because I knew I would. I knew it wouldn’t last, but I couldn’t stop myself from the moment I tasted you. Hell, from the first moment I saw you, I knew I’d have you and that you’d break my heart. I knew and I took a chance, and sometimes that’s just how it works. You love him; I can see it in the way you look at him, so I know you’ll be okay.” He smiled as he stepped back, away from me. “I don’t want to know where you’re going, because if the elders demand to know, I need to be able to say that I have no idea where you are. So we’ll go, and one day, I’ll find you. Besides, sweet girl, I can’t help but touch you and we all know how that will end.” He smiled sadly, and pulled out his sword and met my eyes. “We can’t afford for her to find another vampire to sire her. So, for my child, and what she has done to you and her own people, it is better that she not wake another day,” he growled, letting the sword fly as he severed Astrid’s head from her body. Blood splattered my face, Jaeden’s face, and anyone else close enough to be caught in it. “She can’t be forgiven for her sins, as she refused to acknowledge them as sins.” Jaeden nodded to Azrael, who removed a glove and touched her face, and then her body. Astrid’s head and body decomposed rapidly until all that remained was a skeleton and some ashes that scattered on the floor.
I stood, looking around at the bodies of Shamus’s people, who Jaeden’s men had easily dispatched. I turned, finding Azrael watching me carefully, knowing he was feeling the sense of closure I’d gotten from talking to Jaeden. I smiled at him, right before I moved into his arms and rested my head against him before I announced that we were leaving Newport for now.
*~*~*
I stood outside the Ark, watching as explosive charges were mounted and set inside, and the last few items we needed were carried out by the wolves. Addy stood beside me, her hand clasped in mine as we watched them work.
“You sure this is the only way?” she asked.
“If I thought we could stay, I’d stay,” I said, turning to look at her. She was glowing; her complexion was radiant, and her eyes sparkled. She’d finally found her pregnancy glow. “It’s just a place, and you’re my family. Wherever you are is my home now. I have to keep you safe because my mother is hell-bent on taking everything I love away from me, and I can’t let her have you. So yes, I’m sure this is the only way. Shamus built this place, everything we thought my father did was him. He built this place while under compulsion, and that means it isn’t safe. So, we’ll go somewhere that is. You’re having a baby, so that means it’s time to stop thinking of just ourselves and plan for the future. Grayson wouldn’t want me to hold on to a building, and neither would my father. It’s just a building. So, you thinking of names yet?” I asked, changing the subject to something that was safer. My eyes prickled with tears at the idea of the Ark being destroyed, because it had played a huge part of my life, and knowing how it had truly come to be tainted it.
“Grayson, if that’s okay with you,” she said with a frown. “Liam says he’ll have a human name, but he’ll also get a wolf name.”
“Or her, it could be a girl,” I said.
“Liam says that it’s very rare to have a female cub. He says it’s something in the genetic make-up or something like that.”
“Did he say it was impossible?” I asked as the men exited the Ark. My heart leapt into my throat, and I fought tears.
“No,” she whispered as tears slid down her cheeks.
“Then he could be wrong,” I sniffled.
“It’s just a building,” she cried as she hugged me.
“It’s only a building,” I repeated.
“So why does it hurt so fucking bad?” she blabbered.
“I don’t know,” I choked out. “It’s not worth crying over.”
“No, no because it’s just a building.” She exploded in tears with me.
We hugged each other, holding on to what little of our world we had left. Each other. We’d been through hell, and while it may be only a building, it was a part of us no matter how much we lied to each other about it.
“You want to tell them it’s ready?” Azrael whispered.
“Ouch, nay, mon, ye can do it,” Lachlan groaned.
“Emma,” Azrael murmured, his fingers reassuring on my shoulder as I struggled to regain composure. “We have to go; we have a long drive.”
I turned, looking at the people who stood behind us. A Sentinel, vampires, and werewolves stood shoulder to shoulder with the humans as we prepared to embark on a new adventure. I blinked away the tears and nodded to Liam, who waited for Addy to take her away from the blast site. Cars and trucks were loaded up, along with a few buses Lachlan had pilfered from the school district. I exhaled a shaky breath and folded myself against Azrael.
“It hurts,” I admitted. “It’s the last thing standing that belonged to my family.”
“We don’t have to destroy it,” he said.
“If we don’t, Shamus will probably claim it and use it to torture people in there. I can’t let him have it. It may sound childish, but if I can’t have it, neither can he. I’m ready,” I s
aid.
“You sure?” he countered, sensing the turmoil inside of me.
“I’m entrusting you with our lives, Azrael. So are you sure you can do this? Are you sure you want me enough to take this on? I’m not an easy person to deal with. I have major trust issues, and mommy issues. I normally lose my shit and have anxiety attacks at least twenty times on a good day. Are you sure you can handle me?”
“I’ve seen you at your worst, and I wouldn’t take the best without being able to love you at your worst. I don’t care if you snore, or throw shit at my head when you’re pissed, as long as you kiss it better afterwards,” he whispered, his lips fanning my ear. “We’ll wait for them to go, and then you and I will do this together,” he said. “We’ll meet up with them at Ark II later; first, I have somewhere I want to show you,” he continued.
“Oh yeah?” I asked, smirking at him with tears in my eyes.
“Definitely,” he assured me.
We waited for the last bus to leave and once we were at a safe distance, he handed me the detonator switch. I took a mental picture of the Ark, and closed my eyes as I pressed the button, felt the earth rock from the concussion of the explosion. When I opened my eyes, there was a hole where the Ark had been. I turned, and looked at Azrael, who watched me carefully.
“I’ll build you an exact replica if you want,” he said softly.
“I love you for offering to do it, but I don’t need it, thank you. What I need is for you to take the pain away. Right now. Take me somewhere and take it away,” I whispered, and before I could inhale his scent, we were moving.
I let him hold me as he ‘ported us to the clearing where the SUV waited for us. He liked it, touching me, and after centuries of touching no one else, I understood his need for contact, to touch me when he could. Frequently, I would catch his hand barely touching mine, and that little whisper of contact gave him so much comfort that I felt it in his soul.
“Emma,” he groaned as he pushed me against a nearby tree and started to remove the skirt I wore.
“No talking,” I said. I bent down and removed my panties, right before he reached behind my thighs and lifted me up, pushing my back against the tree. He claimed my mouth in a soul-searching kiss that curled my toes as he fought for domination that I refused to give him easily. He fumbled with his pants, and I decided I couldn’t wait and gripped his shirt, lifting it over his head as I balanced on his knee and the tree to undo his pants. My hands found his cock, and I groaned as my hand worked the silky flesh until he growled.
“I want this, now,” I whined with need.
“Do you? I want to taste you, so maybe you’ll just have to wait,” he whispered, as he lifted me until my legs rested on his shoulders, my back was braced against the tree, and he was kissing the flesh between my legs greedily. “You taste like I’m about to fuck you,” he groaned, his eyes holding mine as his nose pushed against my clitoris.
“Do I?” I asked. My hands captured his hair, and I pushed him back to where I needed him, balancing to be sure I didn’t fall and land on my ass. He’d lifted me higher as if I weighed nothing, and yeah, I probably had sap in my hair, but who the hell really cared? This was hot as fuck! How many women could say yeah, he picked me up and ate my pussy while I climbed a tree? I giggled and his eyes narrowed, he pushed his fingers inside until I moaned and threw my head back, slamming it against the tree, hard. “Jesus, I see stars,” I laughed.
“God, I fucking love you, woman,” he groaned as he brought me down and pushed me onto his cock.
“Oh damn, that hurts,” I groaned, wondering how pain and pleasure could meet each other so perfectly. “So good,” I moaned while he used my hips to guide into me and worked our bodies until we both were trembling and hanging on by a thread. “Let it go, Azrael,” I whispered as I felt him holding back. “I’m not porcelain, I won’t break.”
He dropped to his knees, taking me with him as his hand reached up to thread his fingers through my hair, wrenching my head down as he claimed my mouth hungrily. His cock hammered my pussy until I shattered, kaleidoscopic lights exploding behind my eyes. I could feel him to my soul, and when his release came, he cried out for me and I kissed him, raining soft kisses over his beautiful face.
Chapter 37
“It’s ten times better,” Addy insisted, raising an eyebrow at me and my lie.
“Okay, so what if it is; you don’t have to be so damn happy about it!” I argued defensively.
I eyed the crib Liam had found, and the one that I had found. Mine was missing a few pieces, and his was built perfectly. These things were a bitch to build. I frowned at his mattress and smiled victoriously.
“However, his mattress really sucks,” I announced. Addy eyed it, and frowned.
“It does, and it’s dirty,” she agreed.
“So use my mattress, and his crib,” I grinned triumphantly. Okay, I could compromise…a little.
“What’s wrong with a little dirt?” Liam asked, and I smiled at him with a twinkle of mischief in my eyes. Yeah, I knew her better than him.
“It is dirt. My baby is not sleeping in dirt. Ever. It’s just not happening.” She placed both hands on her hips to signal it was end of discussion.
“I’m going to leave now,” I sang as I turned to leave the room.
“Addy,” Liam said. “Don’t you have something to ask Emma?”
“Oh, right,” Addy giggled as she rocked on her heels. “So Emma, as you know, we are having a baby.”
“Oh my God, no way! I thought the crib was for Liam?” I smiled.
“Mmm, you sure she’s the one?” he asked, kissing Addy’s cheek and touching the giant diamond that rested on her left hand. Yeah, he’d married her, finally. I was waiting for the topic of mating marks to come up, and that was going to open a whole new set of challenges for us. If he bit her, she would go through the change. If my best friend survived the change, she would not be a born wolf, and I would have to be very, very careful as to how I hugged her—that is, if Liam would ever allow for me to hug her again. Yeah, it was going to be tough to get my mind around it all, but it was a thought for another day. Live for now and all that.
“She’s the only one, Liam. Now, stop acting like children,” she groaned. “Emma, you’re the baby’s godmother, period. I don’t care if you say no, because you’re the only one I trust with my child. Lachlan is the godfather, but you don’t have to be, like, together to be the godparents.”
“It’s about time. I was wondering who I would have to kill to get that position,” I huffed.
“Like anyone else would take your place, bitch?” she asked.
“That isn’t happening, skank,” I replied, kissing her cheek. “I’d be honored to be the godmother. Plus, I was already planning on spoiling the shit out of him, assuming it is a boy, and feeding him sugar while we watch horror movies, so no one else would have been able to handle the job. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and figure out what the plan is to kill my mother and catch her little snake, Shamus.” I winked and left them in the nursery that was attached to their suite.
Azrael had taken us to Montana, where he’d commissioned a huge bunker in the Mission Mountains about fifteen years ago that was close to a quaint little town and wasn’t too far from the Flathead Indian Reservation. It wasn’t Newport, but it felt a lot like home. I was learning that sometimes it wasn’t the place that made it home, but the people who you surrounded yourself with instead, that made it so. The bunker was impenetrable and I wasn’t a prisoner here. I was his equal or, at least, he treated me as such, and he took in to consideration what I knew, and my thoughts on the war that was brewing. Sentinels now trained the wolves that had joined us, and Cayla was healed and more coherent than she’d ever been before.
“Cayla.” I smiled at her as I met her in the hall. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m doing well, my queen,” she smirked.
“I’m not a queen,” I said with a frown.
“We live in a castle high in the mountains, and you’re the mistress here, which makes you the queen and Azrael, the king.”
“Is your head wound acting up? Are you well?” I asked, watching her.
“He’s doing well and he misses you, but he is glad you are safe and happy, Emma,” she interrupted. I hated her topic swings. They made me dizzy. “I can feel him because he’s my maker. That’s why I had you make me mortal.”
“You didn’t have me do anything, you bit me,” I reminded her. “I’m glad he’s well. Shamus is still out there, and until he’s dead, no one is safe from his sick, twisted nastiness. There’s no place in this world for his kind. What he did to you…he will die for it.”
Cayla’s hair was blonde now; no colors adorned it, and all the piercings she had were gone. She watched me as I examined her, and then motioned to her face and hair nervously. “I didn’t want any reminder of him, and if I wanted to be the person I need to be, to fight beside you, the old me had to die. She was weak; I am not.” Her voice was soft, yet full of resolve.
“She wasn’t weak, Cayla. She fought to live against insurmountable odds. She was a brave fighter, but if you need her to be gone to be stronger, I understand. We’ve all changed a lot since we first met, haven’t we?” I asked.
“Some more than others,” she smiled. “Hey, Nery and I have a date that I need to get to. I found a box set of ‘Friends’ seasons 1 to 10, so we’ll be in our room catching up on a lot of TV that we missed. Ya know, just in case you need us.” She winked and turned on her heel. “Death comes, because, you know, he wants to come…” She snickered.
I smiled and felt him before I could physically see him. I turned, and watched as he strolled towards me with a wide smile. He took my breath away most days, but on days like today, when the world felt right, he melted me from the inside out. His hair clung to his shoulders, and his armor was gone, leaving his skin bared even though he was surrounded by people.
Death Before Dawn Page 31