Doubt seared me. “Noir, you don’t have to do this. It doesn’t matter what the Arcana say. We can go back and—”
His lips descended on mine, devouring my words with sizzling passion that had my knees giving way. I gripped his biceps just to stay upright, and he hooked an arm around my waist to hold me up, crushing me against him as he deepened the kiss, stealing my oxygen and leaving me lightheaded. He pulled back slightly, his tongue licking the inside of my mouth once, twice—slow, long strokes that drew a throbbing line down to the apex of my thighs, and then he broke the kiss.
“Just so there isn’t any doubt. I want to do this.” His tone was husky.
Not trusting my voice, I settled for nodding.
He unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it open. “Here. Just over my heart. Can you do it there?”
My throat tightened. “Yes.”
The mark slipped onto his taut skin as if eager to be there, the golden glow stole our breath, and blue Arcana magic crackled across his chest in an intricate web. It jumped onto me, skimming up my arms and shoulders to caress my neck. Noir was a fizz in my blood, a magnetic charge in my veins. He was a comforting presence in my mind, and then he took his place in my heart.
Our gazes locked, and his pupils dilated, eating away at his blue irises until there was barely any blue visible. My face stared back at me, reflected in the inky depths of his pupils. Golden scales painted my cheeks and my horizontal pupils nestled in a sea of eerie green. I blinked, pulling back, whooshing down the tunnel that had been created between us and slamming back into the kitchen.
“Done,” Seb said.
Noir grazed my cheek with his fingers. “This feels ...”
“Yeah ...”
I could feel them all. Tay, Noir, and Valance as if they were holding my hand, as if they were curled around me. And pressed to my back, his ether presence a tingling sensation at the nape of my neck, was Sebastian.
We were bound. Mated.
“Now to teach you how to draw on the power at your disposal,” Daria said.
“Wila?” Sebastian pressed his lips to my ear. “We can rest if you like?”
The guys’ energy vibrated through me, making my skin itch. “I don’t think I could get to sleep now even if I tried.”
His laughter was a breathy caress. When had he laughed like this? Without a mocking edge? Had the mating mastered his darkness? As if sensing my thoughts, he kissed my neck, pulling back in a sharp nip. It was a reminder to not get complacent. He released me and stepped back.
“I’ll put on some more tea,” Gilbert said.
“You got any more of those shortbread biscuits?” Quinn asked.
I glanced about. “Where’s Trevor?”
“Asleep,” Gilbert said absently. “He’ll probably be up later.”
“He’s like a cat with his naps,” Quinn said.
But he wasn’t usually. Quinn just hadn’t been around long enough to know any different.
I caught Noir’s eye. “Maybe we can take the lesson into the lounge?”
He nodded and began ushering everyone out of the kitchen. Seb remained, leaning up against the counter—my complicated ether shadow with a mind of his own. Gilbert stood with his back to me, fiddling with the teapot. His large Draconi frame looked out of place doing such a mundane task.
I needed to know what the deal with Trevor was. “Gil?”
“Ahuh?” he said, keeping his back to me.
He’d probably figured out I could see him whenever I wanted. He was hiding his expression. “Gil, what’s wrong with Trevor?”
His shoulders bunched then relaxed. “I don’t know.”
He was telling the truth. “He can’t be sick. He’s never sick.”
“No.” He turned to face me and his eyes were dark pits of sorrow. “He’s not sick, but ... I think he may be dying.”
My heart skipped a beat. “What? No.” I laughed, a desperate, lonely sound that had no actual purpose. “He’s immortal. The curse made him into an immortal dog.”
“We don’t know what the curse was meant to do. It turned him into a dog that didn’t age, but I’ve been doing some research on curses on the infoweb, and most curses, unless renewed by the caster or their descendants every few centuries, have an expiration date.”
“So, because his caster is dead and left no descendants ...”
Gilbert nodded slowly.
“Seb? There has to be something we can do?”
Seb was looking down on me guardedly.
“We healed Valance,” I pressed.
“Yes, we did,” Seb agreed.
“So can’t we just ... I don’t know, undo the curse.”
“That could kill him immediately,” Gilbert said. “He was a mortal, remember. Undoing the curse would mean he would be centuries old, and humans do not live that long.”
Shit, yeah. Trevor and I had discussed that possibility, and it looked like Gilbert’s research had confirmed it. My stomach felt hollow. “Fine, then we reinforce it.”
“Without knowing the exact words of the curse, and the elements used to cast it, there isn’t a way to do that.”
Why was he being so difficult? I threw up my hands. “Then what? We just sit back and watch him slip away?” My eyes pricked and my throat burned. “No. I won’t do that. I won’t.”
Seb pulled me into a hug, but I shoved him away. “You have to do something.”
His marble features softened in sympathy. “Trevor’s soul is mortal, and even I can’t go where mortal souls do. I can’t hold a mortal soul back, and honestly, Wila, would you want to keep him trapped in that cursed shell if his soul could finally be free?”
“No, stop it. Don’t say that. Just don’t put that on me.” I squeezed my eyes shut and turned away. “I can’t ... I can’t lose him.”
Gilbert stepped toward me and then his paternal presence wrapped around me, cradling me as I allowed the tears to fall. Because as much as I hated to admit it, Seb was right. Trevor deserved to be free. He deserved to be whole, even if he couldn’t do that as a flesh and blood being. But he also deserved to be with us, all of us.
I pulled free of Gilbert and swiped at my tears. “Daria’s waiting.”
I strode out of the kitchen, leaving them to follow or not. The sooner we got Azren back and brought Elora down, the sooner I could focus on my family unit, because I was damned if I was getting married without Trevor there.
Chapter 15
AZREN
“Get up.” A kick to my ribs has me rolling onto my side.
“Fuck you.”
Her full lips curve in a mirthless smile. “Not right now, pet. We have business to attend to.”
Every inch of my body burns from the wounds inflicted during our journey. Shedim do not tire, we do not stop fighting, and yet, in that moment, all I wish to do is curl up and drift away.
“Look, pet. Isn’t it beautiful?”
I stare up at the high ceiling of the chamber, at least three stories above us. A set of stone steps hugs the wall, spiraling up to a bridge up ahead. And the stone around us shimmers silver and blue.
“Look in the water.” She nudges me sharply with a booted foot.
Summoning Wila’s face, I drag myself to my feet. She would want me to live. She would want me to survive and find a way back to her if possible. Elora is standing at the edge of a huge circular pool filled with glowing water.
“Did you know that this was once a fortress ruled by a most powerful djinn?” Her tone is conversational, almost pleasant. “His name was Erebus. He was a protector, not of his people but of mortals.”
Why was she telling me this?
“They say his power came from this pool, from the souls that swam inside it. They say that he won a great war. But the djinn are gone now. This is my land to conquer, and once I’ve taken the minds of the neph and the Arcana, I will expand and find these beings forged of fire. For imagine the power to be had from their souls?”
She was insane. Killing h
er scalemate had driven her insane.
“No, pet, only I can save this world. But to do so, I must have control. There can be no threat to our world if there is only one queen, only one ruler. Soon there will be order. Soon there will be no conflict. Soon there will be only one path.”
She turns to me, her eyes liquid pools of sorrow. “It’s a terrible burden to bear, Azren. But I have seen the deadworld. We cannot let that come to pass.” She ushers me toward her. “Look. Look at the key. Isn’t it beautiful?”
I take several steps to find myself abreast of her, and peer into the water. At first, I see nothing, the water is calm and serene and glowing, but wait, what is that shadow toward the center of the pool? I peer harder, and my heart skips several beats at what I find.
For the key is no key. It is a child. A beautiful submerged child.
Chapter 16
My mind was buzzing with information, and yeah, considering the lateness of the hour, I should have been exhausted, but I wasn’t. Being mated felt like being on a caffeine drip. But my mind needed sleep, so that’s what I’d do.
I snuggled under the duvet and closed my eyes. Daria had left just after midnight, and I’d called it a night. Seb was drifting, and through the mate bond, I could sense that Tay was already dreaming, Valance was slipping into slumber, but Noir was alert and awake. In fact, he was close.
My door opened and shut softly. “Wila?”
I sat up in bed. “Noir?”
“Quinn’s sprawled on the lounge sofa, and Valance has taken the spare bed on the fourth floor. I’d sleep in the sofa up there, but it’s a little too small to be comfortable.”
My pulse kicked up. Stupid, really, we’d lain together before, right? Wait ... no, we hadn’t. Noir had kept a level distance because of the whole must-not-pass-go rule, and now we were mated ... Okay, my pulse seemed to have the right idea.
“Wila?”
“Um, sure. Hop in.”
I shuffled over as he climbed into bed beside me. We lay side by side for a minute just breathing, and then Noir let out a short burst of laughter.
I nudged him in the ribs. “Why is this so ...”
“Awkward?” he finished.
“Yeah?”
He turned onto his side to look at my profile. “I have no idea. I’ve never felt awkward with you before.”
“Me either.” I turned my head to look up into his face.
The room was dark, lit only by the moonlight streaming in through the window. I’d never been into heavy drapes, just netting because moonlight was beautiful to sleep under. It lit up his eyes as they fell to my lips.
I brushed a thumb across his chin, grazing the underside of his bottom lip. “You know I’ve wanted you for a while, right?”
He swallowed. “The feeling is entirely mutual.”
I smiled. “If you kiss me now then I don’t think I’ll be able to stop myself from ravaging you.”
He flashed me a dimple. “Ravage?”
“Yeah, isn’t that what you upper crust people call it.”
He arched a brow. “I have no idea which upper crust people you’ve been talking to, but what I want to do with you goes beyond ravaging or fucking.” He swallowed again and cupped my cheek, pressing his thumb to my bottom lip and dragging it down so I could taste the salt on his skin. “It goes beyond sex, Wila. I’ve had my fill of sex.” He dipped his head toward me, so his lips were hovering directly above mine, and his sweet breath caressed my mouth. “Wila, I want to make love to you.”
My stomach flipped hard and blood rushed in my ears. His lips brushed mine, tentative, questing, driving me crazy.
“Noir ...”
“Adam. Fucksake, Wila, call me Adam.”
“Adam ...”
He kissed me, the pressure building with each caress, until our mouths were melded, moving against each other in a sinuous dance of lips and tongue. Until he was my oxygen and the blood rushing through my arteries, until his heartbeat was mine. His body slid over me, covering me, pushing me into the mattress with rolling thrusts that promised ecstasy and coaxed whimpers from my throat.
“Please.”
He slid my pants down, fingers hooking in my panties to tug them down my thighs. He trailed kisses across my collarbones and down to my breasts, so sensitized that I couldn’t hold back the hiss of pleasure as his warm, wet mouth claimed them. The world slowed down, every pulse, every beat a longed-for moment to be savored. The salt of his skin on my tongue, the silken tresses of his golden hair sliding between my fingers, his breath tangling with mine as we finally joined as one, moving together to find the perfect pace. His gaze locked with mine, his eyes as dark as the night and filled with blue fire. Mine, he was finally mine.
He tore his gaze away, burying his head in my shoulder. His hips slammed into mine, his hands pinned me as he drove into me, desperate and hungry. My nails bit into his shoulders as we shattered, climaxing together with no breath to cry out. He was my life raft as I rode the waves, desperate to pull me apart before putting me back together.
“Wila ...” He kissed my throat, my jaw, my cheeks, and finally my lips. “I love you.” Another kiss, harder, hungrier. “I love you so much.”
I clutched him tight. “I love you too, so much.”
He hardened inside me again, and my body was ready for him. There’d be no rest for us tonight.
***
I stared at Killion, lifeless and useless on my dresser. The runes were dead. Whatever damage the Everdark had done to the magic infused in the markings had been permanent, and with no Barnaby to fix them, Killion was now just a pretty piece of armory. I ran a hand over his smooth frame. He’d saved my life too many times to count, but this time, there would be no weapons allowed. Nothing but fang and claw and fire.
The last couple of days had flown by too fast, and even copious pots of tea and an abundance of bear hugs and skin on skin contact with my mates hadn’t been able to help me forget the scary thing I was planning on doing, the thing that could possibly get me killed. At times like this, I’d have gone into the basement. I’d have cracked open a beer and spoken to the voice.
My eyes pricked, and I blinked back the threat of tears. The voice was here. He was free, but it wasn’t the same. We were no longer the same, and yeah, it sucked, and I was being totally selfish to want the old days back, because back then he’d been locked away—at my disposal, not necessarily because he’d wanted to be, but simply because he’d had no choice, but still ... He’d been my go-to guy. My shoulder. My ... voice.
“And I still am,” Sebastian said from behind me.
I closed my eyes, keeping my back to him. “Are you?”
“Don’t. Don’t you dare question my love for you.”
How could I not. “You don’t love me, Seb. You did once, but you don’t anymore. You’re ambivalent, hostile one moment, tender the next, mocking one day and sincere the next and ... I can’t. I just ... I need you back the way you were. I need ...” My voice cracked. What did I need? “I need you to love me again, the way you used to. The way it was meant to be.”
The silence was thick, his turmoil a sharp tension in the air. I turned to face him. “When I walk into that ring, I need to know that you’re on my side one hundred percent. That your love for me drives your actions, that the darkness is nowhere to be found. When I walk into that ring, my life is in your hands.” I stepped toward him and grabbed his wrists and brought his hands to my throat. “This flesh and blood suit is in your hands, and I need to know you won’t slip, that you won’t be second-guessing yourself.”
His expression was shuttered. “There is no me without you,” he said.
“I know, but I don’t want that to be the reason you save me. I want you to save me because you want to. Because you care.” I lifted my chin. “Sebastian. You said you didn’t want to hate me. Then make the decision not to. Just ... don’t.”
His jaw ticked. “You make it sound so easy. Like flipping a switch.” He sighed. “I’m try
ing, except when I look at your beautiful face sometimes it blurs and instead of you, I see her.”
His fingers tightened on my throat.
I’d known Liana was my mother with one look because I’d seen myself in her features, so how could he fail to see it? How could he not look at me and see her? He hated her, and she looked back at him from my face every day. I’d been so stupid not to make the connection, not to realize how hard this must be for him.
He leaned in and pressed his forehead to mine. “But you remind me every day that you’re not her. Your actions define you. Your compassion and your love. Every day, you look less and less like her, and every day, the darkness ebbs a little more. And now that we have our mates, their collective light blinds the darkness.” His hands slipped from my throat to rest on my collarbones. “I don’t hate you, Wila, not anymore, because you’re not her, and you could never be. Your heart is filled with light, and your soul is woven of rainbows.”
The knot in my chest loosened a fraction, and I snorted. “Poetic much?”
He smiled. “I won’t let you fail, Wila. You have my word. We go into this together. One hundred percent.”
His hand slid back up to my throat, gentle, caressing, coaxing me to tip back my head with the pressure of his thumbs under my chin. Amber light swirled in his turquoise eyes, a galaxy of stars and planets as he gazed down on me. Breathtaking, wild, and untamed, this was my Sebastian. Mine.
His lips were tentative, asking permission as they brushed over mine. A corkscrew tightened inside me, twisting in sweet pain as I opened for him, accepting this, our first real kiss, because this was Sebastian, untainted, unconflicted. This was how it was meant to be.
***
We congregated in the foyer. It was a farewell gathering, because it was time to go do the thing I’d been harping on about doing for days. But now that it was time, my insides felt as if someone were stirring them with a huge wooden spoon. The event began at midday, and was meant to go on the whole day, and I’d be on tenterhooks until the actual games began.
Chronicles of Arcana (The complete collection books 1-4) Page 65