On a Black Horse: An Apocalyptic Paranormal Romance (Revelations Book 3)

by Monica Corwin

  She turned away from the men and let out a quiet sob. There was too much at stake and not enough balance on the other side. Every time she tried to do something to improve her life it came back to bite her in the ass. The trip to Wales, kissing Arwan. All of it.

  A warm hand alighted on her shoulder. She didn’t need to turn around to know it was Arwan standing there, offering comfort despite her cruel words, and the secrets he’d yet to learn. Secrets, she knew without a doubt, he couldn’t handle.

  “Why won’t you let me in?”

  She swallowed the self-pity and turned to face him. Staring up into his eyes she glimpsed something she’d never seen before. He actually cared, for her, and about her. It hit her like a MAC truck right in the chest. She didn’t hate him, she wanted to protect him, but she couldn’t give him up. “We have to leave.”

  He stared down at her wearing that same careful expression. “Help me pack and we can go now.”

  Baldir stood fast pushing the chair back a few inches with the movement. “Hold on now. You don’t need to go anywhere.”

  It was Katherine’s turn to enlighten him. “If you don’t know by now that Bianca is relentless, then you have not been paying attention. She doesn’t let anything stand in the way of reaching her goals. And she has her sights set on Arwan. I refuse to let her take him from…I mean, I won’t let her take him. You charged me with his safety and that’s what I will do.”

  He gave her a knowing look. “His safety? Are you sure that is what this is about. Because from what I’ve witnessed, there is something going on between you two.”

  She flinched and stared down at her feet. “There is nothing going on. We are…friends.”

  The hateful memories of that word surged forth, but Arwan quieted them by reaching for her hand and entwining their fingers.

  “Thank you for everything you’ve done,” he said. “But let Katherine do what she thinks is necessary.”

  Baldir threw up his hands. “She can’t even fight.”

  Katherine snorted. “Just because you haven’t seen me fight doesn’t mean I am unable. I’ve spent two-thousand years in the company of the personifications of war and conquest. You don’t think I’ve learned a thing or two? I’d have been an idiot not to. Especially when Scarlet went through her Guerrilla phase.”

  “And yet, when there have been repeated fights with your mutual enemy you haven’t fought anyone. Why is that?”

  Katherine narrowed her eyes at him. He knew about her condition so he should know the answer that question. “When I fight or don’t fight is none of your concern. All that matters right now is keeping Arwan safe. Why are you so dead set against him leaving with me?”

  An inkling kindled to a spark earlier ignited in her chest and she knew why. For the very same reason Katherine wanted to keep him with her, Baldir wanted to keep him there. “You love him.”

  His eyes flew wide and he took a step back. Arwan jerked beside her. As if Katherine voiced something they both knew very well but never actually spoke out loud.

  A long heavy moment passed and then Baldir finally spoke. “Go. Leave. It doesn’t matter.”

  She sighed. Arwan had become something to her, in such a short time. The idea that he had been that same rock in Baldir’s life for far longer pained her. Could she take him away? And yet, if they had feelings for each other, why weren’t they together?

  “You have nothing to be ashamed of,” she whispered. Uncertain of herself and her ability to let go of Arwan’s hand if he asked it of her.

  Baldir turned to face the fire and braced his hands on the mantle. “I’m ashamed of nothing. I do love Arwan. I always have. But we aren’t together. Not in the way you two seem to be.”

  Arwan let go of Katherine’s hand and her heart skittered. He approached Baldir from behind and wrapped his arms around his larger frame from behind. “I love you too, my friend. I always will. Just not in the same way. I’m sorry. If I could I would. I simply wasn’t born that way.”

  Baldir hung his head, but made no move to embrace his friend. Katherine’s heart resumed a normal rhythm at Arwan’s words. “I’ll give you two a minute and pack up a few things.”

  She had no idea where to go or how to stay ahead of Bianca. The whole of Fairy magic was at her disposal even if Gwyn seemed less than enthused about their mission. Victor even seemed disinterested. That might help later if it came down to a fight. Katherine had no desire to fight Bianca and vice versa but Bianca would protect those she loves with her last breath and she had declared war on the hellhound race. Curious though, since her boyfriend was of the same species. Albeit dead when outside Fairy.

  To Katherine, Arwan posed absolutely no threat, but Bianca didn’t know that. To Bianca, Arwan was a monster and a killer. Very much Katherine’s same opinion when Baldir first brought her to the cabin. Protecting Arwan could keep him alive and save Bianca’s conscience when she fully understood the truth about him. It was easier to convince herself to do it when she could make it about others. Put her own selfish desires aside and focus on everyone else. That was how she decided to live her life and it was exactly how she planned to continue. The problem with the plan…Arwan. If he continued prodding her for intimacy and her secrets she didn’t know how long her resolve would last. He had a way about him that made her want to give him everything. His every breath was a command for more, and she would give him everything if asked it. In the meantime, she would have to pray he didn’t. For both of their sakes.

  Katherine continued throwing the things in a bag he’d already begun to pack and then rounded up her own belongings spread across the cabin. In five minutes, she was ready and Arwan stood embracing Baldir. She caught whispers between them but not the actual words. That belonged to them.

  Arwan patted Baldir on the shoulder once, and nodded his head at her. She opened the door, took one last look inside, and stepped out into the night. A hellhound on her heels.

  Chapter 14

  Arwan trailed after Katherine as she climbed the hill toward the main road. If she had a plan, he would definitely be interested to hear it. His brain warred with his heart. Staying in his home with Baldir might be the safer course of action. The mysteries surrounding Katherine drew something else out in him. A curiosity, a need to understand the missing piece. It would eat at him until he learned the truth, and the only way he’d learn was by spending more time with her.

  There was also the very real likelihood Bianca wouldn’t kill her friend, rather than someone who recently joined their retinue, like Baldir. Hopefully.

  “Do you actually have a plan, Love?”

  She jolted to a stop and swung on him. “Why does everyone think I’m so deficiently incapable of doing anything? First, Bianca, then Baldir, and now you, too. I thought we were in this together? I just challenged my best friend over you. If you’re not committed to this…” She broke off abruptly. “I mean if you aren’t committed to staying alive then you need to tell me now so we can part ways and you can try whatever it is you have planned.”

  Anger laced her tone, and a wariness too. He needed to tread carefully. Obviously she was as frayed as him. “I wasn’t insinuating that you didn’t know what you were doing. I only mean I have a still healing rib cage and we are about five miles from the nearest town and twenty from a train station.”

  She threw her hands up and sat down on the damp grass. “Well, what kind of ideas can you contribute to this escapade? Can’t you shift and see if that can help with your wound?”

  He blinked. Why hadn’t he tried shifting yet? She studied her hands, a sheen of tears coating her eyes. “You said you wanted to know my secret. Are you really sure about that? If you shift, then I can show you, and we can get out of here. But please know, by showing you it means I trust you implicitly. If you ever tell anyone about it, I will hunt you down and make you regret it before I kill you.”

  He smiled about to make a joke, but she locked eyes with him and it faded away. The levity in her gaze excited a
nd terrified him. He’d learn the secret but she kept warning him he didn’t want to know about it. With a long sigh he nodded, dropped his bag, and took off his clothes. He enjoyed the fact that this time she didn’t look away, even when he stood naked in the middle of a dirt trail.

  “Now what?” she asked.

  He closed his eyes and let himself go. The hound that had been scratching at his mind to get out pushed forward and in a moment he found himself staring down at her knees.

  “You smell bad.”

  He woofed at her softly and she smiled before reaching out a hand. The dog behavior he could do without but he gave her what she wanted and nuzzled her fingers with his face. He woofed again indicating it was her turn.

  She stood up and stared at him for a long moment, before taking off her own clothes. As a man he would have enjoyed it immensely. As a hound he was indifferent to human female curves and valleys.

  With quick jerks she shoved her clothes in her own bag and tied the two together with an oversized hair elastic. After a moment he sat down and realized he wasn’t in pain. His side felt perfectly fine. With a glance down his smooth black fur lay perfectly unruffled in the rising moonlight glinting off the ocean beyond.

  “Now, this is going to be weird. Don’t be scared. I don’t pose a threat to you as you are an animal. I’ll only hurt humans if they encounter me like this.”

  He woofed and stood waiting in anticipation for what was to come. A white light flashed and he had to look away for a moment. When it subsided and he could return his gaze to her, he instinctively stepped back and then took one more for good measure.

  “Stop!” She commanded. He obeyed and waited. Her voice held an otherworldly tone he barely recognized. Her face looked the same. Her usual flawless innocence shining in the depths of her eyes. Her teeth, however, had grown exponentially sharper and from her neck down she’d gained the body of a lion but the wings and talons of a large predatory bird. The coloring was off to him in his animal form, but her fur glistened what he thought was gold in the moonlight.

  “Come. I’ll fly us out of here. I can’t fly too high or someone might see me. I have to keep my eyes closed if I encounter any stray humans or similar creatures. Trust me when I say, you don’t want to know what will happen.”

  She looped their bags over his arm and he walked close to her, sniffing the soft fur along her torso and hind quarters. He couldn’t have imagined this. Not in a thousand years. Not in a million. How had this happened to her? People, or rather harbingers of the apocalypse, didn’t usually turn into sphinxes. Did they?

  She reached out a talon and he fought the urge to run and hide from this creature. She was magnificent but there was a deadly awareness to her eyes speaking of knowledge, and the end of it all. Being held inside her claws wasn’t as bad as he thought but the flying was. She wasn’t very practiced, and she constantly clipped tree branches with her wings. Once they covered a good distance and made it outside a town with a train station she touched down in a crop of trees, let him go, and immediately shifted back into her human form. He shifted too but it took him longer, and she stumbled a few paces and collapsed to her knees before he reached her in time.

  Her hands clutched her face and she sobbed into them, great wracking gusts. “How can you stand to look at me?”

  With gentle effort he pried her fingers away to meet the depths of her beautiful eyes. “At least you don’t smell like sulfur.”

  She chuckled and he drew her into him, hugging her close. The beat of her heart created a gentle cadence between their bodies. Bodies slowly returning to awareness. Her soft full breasts pressed into his chest and she exhaled against his clavicle creating a tingle.

  Every inch of her skin was slick from sweat and damp grass. Her hair hung around her face but she’d never been more beautiful to him, or more enticing.

  He leaned down and took her mouth with savage grace laced in command. She would open to him, he had no doubt. And when the first pass of her tongue pressed into his, he fell to his knees taking her with him into the tall grass.

  With his knee he pressed open her thighs and lay himself in the cradle her legs created, still mesmerized by her lips. When she pulled away, and pushed gently on his chest, he almost bellowed in frustration. But, he knew she couldn’t, not here, not like this.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, breathlessly.

  “No, I am.”

  He gripped her chin firmly not allowing her to look away. “You have nothing at all to apologize for, Love. Nothing.”

  She swallowed heavily and he climbed off her, pulling her up with him to standing. Their bags were intact so he sifted through them to find their clothes from earlier and they dressed in silence, their only light through slips of moon between the trees.

  “I know the innkeeper here. We can stay there until we can get a train,” he said, fastening his pants and layering his t-shirt down.

  She gathered her hair in a high bun on top of her head, but tendrils escaped down her neck and he leaned in to nuzzle his face in that hollow. To drag in the scent of her. This new piece of information didn’t scare him or throw him off; it only made him want her more. She was so much more like him than he thought. In a way, they both considered themselves some form of a monster. Now that he’d seen hers he wanted everything. All of it. And very soon he would have it.

  “Let’s go,” he said, pulling her behind him and slugging the bags up onto his shoulder.

  “I see you’re feeling better.”

  “I feel great actually. Shifting helped a lot.”

  She gave him a smile and ducked her head, so he left her alone with her thoughts, and started a serious pace into town. The walk was only a couple miles and they covered the distance fast. George, the keeper of the local pub, led them up the back staircase and gave them a room until morning. So far the plan included the first train out of town. From there, they needed to figure out.

  Katherine bounced on the bed gingerly. “Seems comfortable.”

  He stalked over to her enclosing her in his arms on either side of the bed. “So we are clear, I have no intention of sleeping tonight.”

  “But you should…”

  “Rest? No. I’ve been doing that for entirely too long. Tonight, we are going to figure this out…whatever is between us, one way or the other. It’s a distraction, and the uncertainty will eat at us both.”

  She must have seen the logic in it because she gave him one quick nod. He took that as permission and reached down to drag the hem of her t-shirt over her head.

  “Hey, wait a minute,” she said, stilling his hand.

  “What? You just gave me the go ahead.”

  “Yes, I did but I didn’t think you meant like right this second.”

  “And why not?”

  She let out a long sigh and shook her head. “Because I’m wearing underwear a man shouldn’t have to endure until they’ve been married for ten years and had two children.”

  Chapter 15

  Mortification didn’t even begin to cover how she felt as he looked down at her with a mix of arousal and amusement.

  “Let me tell you a little secret, Love. I’m going to take them off so I could care less about your undergarments.”

  She pushed at his chest until he stood and she could inch around him. “I’m also sweaty and covered in itchy dry grass. I need a shower.” She headed toward the bathroom and shut the door with a click. With the door between them she could finally draw a real breath. Changing in front of him, letting him see inside…it was a relief and at the same time she feared the other shoe dropping at any moment. Arwan offered her things she’d dreamed of, fantasized about, and the implications terrified her. What would happen?

  She shook off the doubt and the pity in favor of a hot shower. Arwan only had a bathtub and she’d definitely missed showers. She flipped the water to the proper temperature and closed the glass door before taking off her clothes. A rain of dry grass littered the tile and the memory of Arwan’s hips bet
ween her thighs assaulted her. Igniting her all over again. She’d never felt so raw, so sensual, as she did in that moment, covered in sweat and dirty with an equal. Someone who didn’t fear her, or need to use her. A man who wanted her in the simple form of lust.

  Stepping into the hot spray she slid back into her own skin. She didn’t shift often for fear of being caught. As far as she knew there were no others like her and if it got out she’d be bandied about the pantheons for one God or another. They were a covetous lot, and many of them would relish having a Sphinx in their collection.

  The door clicked open and she froze. The glass was frosted so he wouldn’t be able to see in, not that he hadn’t already seen all of her bare flesh on display. “Can I help you?”

  He opened the door and stepped inside the shower stall. It seemed so much smaller with his wide shoulders taking up most of the room. “I figured you were no longer in offending undergarments, so…”

  “I’m not having sex with you in the shower.”

  He laughed. “That wasn’t my plan. I thought I could wash your hair.”

  She blinked. “Wash my hair?”

  “Sure? Why not? You washed mine a couple times. Seems only gentlemanly to return the favor.”

  The urge to cover herself wasn’t there. She kept expecting a sudden necessity to hide her private business, and yet there was a comfort being naked and on display to him. “I guess, go for it.”

  “Excellent.”

  He plucked a mini shampoo bottle from the shower caddy stocked full and poured some in his palm before she turned to face the shower spray. It ran down her neck as he lathered her hair with gentle fingers. “That feels great.”

  “Good. I want you at ease.”

  “Why, because you plan to ravage me?”

  He pressed into her behind, and it took a moment for her to process the bulge of him against her lower back. A warmth spread through her in a liquid wave. She wanted that, she wanted him, and he wanted her. Why was she denying herself any longer? Before it was because she couldn’t be fully open to him, and she feared it. But now, he knew everything and still wanted her. The second he declared her hair soap free she rounded on him and stretched up to press her lips into his. It was feverish and unpracticed but he didn’t care, simply seizing her face with his hands and responding with equal fervor. His fingers delved into her wet hair as she pressed him back to the shower wall and rubbed every part of her wet body against his hot one. How could she have denied herself for so long?