Phoenix Crossing

by Cara Carnes

  Vira’s gaze narrowed. “I’ve never heard of phantoms, but I suppose they’re possible. Vanessa did request a Halloween theme. Tell me, hypothetically, how do you think one would expose such a threat?”

  I considered the possibilities, things innocuous enough to not be obvious. “Defensive measures might cause them to attack too soon. Speaking of preparations, I thought we could fog the atmosphere for Vanessa, to keep with her theme. Oh, and maybe fill the air with one of her newest perfume concoctions. She’d love the attention. Something with cinnamon and sage should do quite nicely.”

  The two scents caused me the most issues. Both sent me into sneezing fits and burned my nasal passages. I suspected they affected my phoenix, and I’d intended to test the theory a few days ago, but things had fallen apart. Besides, I hadn’t wanted to expose whoever followed me until tonight—when I had the forces necessary to destroy them.

  “I didn’t realize those were her favorite scents.”

  “Well, I’ve figured it out the hard way. She uses them all the time. Unfortunately, they make me sneeze. I’m thinking it’s my phoenix blood. Well, you saw for yourself how my mother reacted to them.”

  “So, we react to scents? That must be why I sneeze sometimes. Macen thought I had allergies.”

  “Our phoenix blood can’t handle those scents apparently. All phoenixes at the party tonight—you and me—will be sneezing our heads off.” I focused on Riles. “You okay with that?”

  “Of course. It’s not like I’ll be sneaking around. I don’t care if I sneeze a few times.” She blushed. “Macen thinks it’s cute when I sneeze.”

  “He thinks everything you do is cute,” Vira grumbled. “You two are disgusting.”

  “Great! Then you can scent the area. Vanessa will love it I’m sure.”

  Vira’s gaze narrowed. “I’m not okay with Riles sneezing all night. Making her uncomfortable is stupid. Vanessa wouldn’t want that.”

  “Tonight’s all about Vanessa. Sometimes, we make sacrifices for the greater good.” My gaze roamed the room. “Who knows? Maybe phantoms have issues with cinnamon and sage, too.”

  Vira’s eyes narrowed, and her lips thinned. The awareness within her guarded expression when it swept the room made me breathe in relief. She’d gotten the message.

  “She wouldn’t—” Riles halted her statement when Vira pinched her. “Ow!”

  “Let’s go track down those supplies and get the female wolves to work. There’s a lot to do.” Vira nodded at Macen when he and Lane closed the distance. “Riles is coming with me. You tagging along or getting a life of your own?”

  Lane hugged me when they departed. His husky voice slid through me like a sensuous caress. “You okay?”

  I nodded. My body tingled in awareness the moment his scent struck my nostrils. “Thank you for helping today.”

  He cupped my face. Heat settled in his eyes. My heartbeat knocked my pulse senseless with a harried patter echoing in my ears louder than a thousand horse hooves slamming against packed dirt. I scanned the area.

  “We alone?” he whispered. I tensed, shocked mute. “Easy.” His lips feathered across my cheek, his hands massaged my back. “Let’s go to my room.”

  I called my angel forward in case a phoenix spy heard his question. Losing Lane wasn’t an option any more than Riles being harmed. No matter the recourse, I’d get them safe. A few wolves studied us with obvious curiosity when we entered Wolf Hall. A couple of growls later—courtesy of Lane—and the path cleared. Handy trick.

  Too bad it didn’t work on phoenix assassins. The moment we hit the stairwell, I sneezed. Sage wafted through my nostrils. He paused, studying my face a moment. I sneezed again. My nostrils burned; my eyes itched and filled with moisture. How much were they burning?

  Growls rumbled on the first floor when a sneeze sounded from behind me. I darted toward the intruder as several of Lane’s warriors closed in on the sound. I forced my sluggish angel forward despite her protest and cast a weakened strain of angel fire toward the corner. Bands of white encircled a visible phoenix—a whelp.

  What the hell?

  I charged forward, dispersing the raw power so the young barely trained warrior tumbled to the ground. “Zack?”

  “Please don’t kill me. I won’t say nothing, I swear, Xandra. I swear. He’s got my family. I had to do obey, or they’d get….” He erupted into sobs.

  Fuck. Uncle Lucian had Zack following me—a first-year trainee, barely able to remain midair for an hour? He had zero business handling a covert mission. “You’re the one following me?”

  “Baldar’s got all us first years taking rotations. One’s watching the demon vampire, another’s on your sister. Baldar takes my place at night and watches you himself.” He shook his head and blanched when Logan grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and hauled him to standing. “Please don’t kill me.”

  A wet spot appeared on his pants as he quaked in terror. Rage rose within me. I’d allowed my uncle and Baldar to strip my power with whelps?

  “Wait? This is a warrior of the Realm?” Logan moaned. “He pissed his pants.”

  Zack tensed. “Everyone in our world fears Xandra. We considered her invincible until now. No one believed Baldar and King Lucian would manage to manacle her.”

  I’d been stupid, too terrified of them harming Riles to be the warrior I’d been since birth. Because of my ineptness, my father had died. “Does Baldar know anything of our plans?”

  He shook his head. “N-no. We’ve seen things we should’ve reported the past few days, but after last night, I told the others we needed to choose a side and stand strong. I mean, if you could make a plan and strike after what they did to….”

  I raked my hands through my hair and released a pensive breath. I could’ve taken down those watching me without breaking a sweat. Baldar hadn’t bothered using the elite assassins. He’d sent the babies still in training. The very ones I’d been training.

  “When does Baldar take over?”

  “I’m to report my findings at sunset. Then he decides whether I return or if he’ll take my place.”

  “You tell him about the party and that I convinced Vira Riles would be safer in Demonia. She’s going tonight, at midnight, along with Macen and a small pack of wolf warriors.”

  “You’re sending your own sister into Demonia?” Zack’s eyes widened, and he took a couple steps away from me.

  “Jesus,” Logan ground out.

  I didn’t have time to hold Zack’s hand or assure him things would be okay with his family. They were probably dead. He would be, too, by the end of the night unless he got gone while he could.

  “Go. Do what I told you. You saw what they did to my father?” I waited for his grim nod. “If you cross me, Zack, and put my sister or this pack at risk, I’ll do a thousand times worse to you, after making you watch your family’s torture.”

  He tore off for parts unknown. A wise warrior would circle the wagons with his counterparts, ensure they were all in agreement to crossing their king to save their asses. I waited for the lecture, the scorn over the tactics I’d used. My gaze darted from Logan to the warriors near him. Then to Lane.

  I swallowed under his intensity. The others headed around the corner, returning to wherever they’d been. Regret rattled my insides, no doubt my phoenix striking the cage I’d put her in.

  I should’ve killed Zack. The insidious realization left my insides sour and my mind blackened. My soul cried for what I’d take part in tonight. No phoenix who entered Demonia could live. Uncle Lucian and Baldar had to be destroyed, and the first strike meant obliterating their squadrons. Once the largest cog—the assassins—fell, the rest would crumble.

  Bitterness coated my tongue as I trudged behind Lane up the stairs, turned the corner, and then headed down the corridor, sneezing the whole time. My nostrils burned, my lungs wheezed. I was a hot mess, and I couldn’t help but wonder why the sexier-than-hell wolf shuffling me into his bedroom wanted anything to do with me.
>
  His bedroom.

  Awareness, hot and heavy, assailed me the moment I stepped foot into the room. I’d been too in shock last night to appreciate the sheer masculinity, how everything in the room exemplified him. Dark hardwood furniture with smooth, even lines. No muss, no fuss, sheer brute power in each inch of the gorgeous handcrafted work.

  I stared at the huge four-poster bed. I’d been in it. With him. Arousal flared, weighing down my limbs with a euphoric calm. My nipples hardened beneath my shirt. The door slammed behind us. The locks clicked into place. Sealed in his room. Alone. My body tingled in awareness.

  He turned me to face him, his fingers running along my cheek. The wound I’d forgotten about settled between us, an unspoken nemesis to the primal need building inside me. “I can’t talk about it. Please.”

  “What did he do to you?” Lane demanded.

  “Later. After the party.”

  “Now.” Lane tugged my hair and leaned forward until our lips almost touched. “Don’t make me run through a thousand nightmares, not when I saw the fucker’s handiwork last night. Give it to me straight, so I can take it away.”

  There was no taking the scar away. The desperation in his voice made me falter. I wanted him to abolish the pain, the torment I’d endured. I wanted nothing but him, the pleasure he incited with each brush of his fingers along my skin.

  “Tell me.”

  I’d have an easier time putting out a fire in hell with an eyedropper than refusing him anything. My beasts scrabbled, seeking purchase along my skin as he glided fingers down my arms, along my sides. “They crave your touch, need you so much I ache.”

  “Tell me, and I’ll take all the pain away, Xan. Let me in, and I’ll love you until all you remember is me.”

  Yes. My hands greedily sought his heat, maneuvering beneath his shirt to sprawl across his chest. He removed the soft cotton material and pulled me closer. I leaned in and feathered kisses along his chest. Terrified the words he wanted would rip us apart, I remained silent and inhaled his scent until both beasts were satisfied they’d remember for an eternity.

  I’d seen many mated couples torn apart by what Uncle Lucian did to me. Warrior-strong men tended toward possessive natures, unable to handle their women carrying another man’s mark. Anger brewed in my chest, a soulful ache for what I’d never had the chance to claim.

  Mate.

  Both beasts screamed the word, ready to possess the strong alpha wolf as their own. No conceivable plan made him mine. He’d never accept a marked woman. I’d never let him. He deserved a beautiful face, an innocent soul to lighten his dark. What light I salvaged amidst the carnage of my life served as a beacon, a call to war for whoever controlled me at the time.

  My father had at one point, then my uncle. On the cusp of freedom if I defeated Uncle Lucian, yet I wanted to be controlled, claimed by Lane. I wanted to be his everything—the first scent he smelled each morning, the first taste on his tongue, his warmth on cold nights, and the reason he laughed, loved, and thrived. Feeling a life born of our union growing in my belly would make me the proudest being in existence.

  “Love me tonight, Lane. Make me forget everything except us.”

  ***

  Lane

  I intended to punch every hole remaining in my asshole card and send an IOU to hell for the rest because no way in hell could I walk away from Xan, though I knew I had no business doing half the shit I wanted to with her.

  To her.

  I had a thousand questions and little time to get answers, but we needed the intimacy more. The fact she’d put off answering my request told me what I needed. Bad resided under the bandage, a permanent reminder of the prick who’d taken her father and targeted her family.

  Threatened my pack.

  Maybe I was better off not knowing until my wolf prepared for the answer. A startled gasp escaped her full lips as I lifted her, moved toward the bed. I tossed her on it and then made quick work of my shirt and pants. I covered her fully when she moved, my lips claiming hers.

  She nipped my tongue. I swept inside her sweet mouth. I growled and pinned her arms above her head. A soft moan escaped and wrapped around me like a sensuous stroke along my hardened dick.

  I pressed her deeper into the mattress and she hissed her displeasure. Delving her tongue into my mouth, she battled for control as though testing my ability to command her. I severed the contact and smiled down at her, allowing my wolf to appear in my gaze. Her eyes sparked with awareness. Xan could handle my feral needs. I nipped her neck, admiring how she stilled beneath me.

  She shivered as my hands trailed downward and captured her shirt. Tugging upward, I exhaled on a moan of pleasure and bared her skin. I studied each scar, counting as I went. My wolf howled in delight, but not at the pain she’d endured. He admired the warrior strength encased in soft, sensuous curves and the fact she met my gaze without fear.

  She shimmied out of the remaining clothing. My hands roamed across the exposed flesh, pausing to cup her full breasts. Her nipples pearled, tiny nubs designed for my mouth. Heat coursed along my skin where she touched.

  Her soft, supple skin almost rippled beneath my tongue. She writhed upward, pressing her breast deeper into my mouth. I suckled the sensitive bud as I pinned her against my bed. I settled my weight between her parted legs.

  I wanted the moment to last an eternity, but the time we had together was limited. Her mouth claimed mine as I moved upward. Deft fingers trailed down my spine, along my waist to my front. I groaned when she wrapped them around my shaft.

  “I want to taste you in my throat,” she whispered.

  “Fuck, Xan. Keep talking dirty and this ends fast.”

  “I want you, Wolf. Don’t make me wait.”

  I trailed my fingers along her slick folds. She writhed and angled until two of my digits thrust into her. I teased her clit. A primal rumble rose from her. Her nails dug into skin along my forearms.

  “Lane, please.”

  To hell with slow.

  Mine.

  The possessive growl rose from me. She pulled me closer, guiding my aching dick into her wet pussy. I thrust into her and our pleasured moans collided in a searing kiss meant to mark, claim.

  Mine.

  She scratched and clawed, tugged and pushed. Each move tested my dominance. I pulled out, turned her over, and thrust deep into her from behind. Threading my hand in her hair, I fucked her hard and fast, like I’d wanted to have her the moment I’d seen her months ago.

  “Lane.” My name on her lips felt right. Real.

  The slap of flesh on flesh combined with the wet heat of her squeezing my cock powered me to the edge, a pleasurable abyss I’d never encountered with another female. None of them handled me as well as her. They’d all smiled and taken what I gave, never fought and demanded what they wanted.

  She met each thrust with one of her own, pushing and squeezing. Jesus. Her pussy worked my dick in a viselike grip I felt in my balls. They tightened. I pulled her upward until she pressed against my chest. She spread her legs wider and rode my shaft.

  “You feel so good in me,” she whispered.

  I flicked my thumbs along her hardened nipples and then traced an invisible path down her stomach to light in slow, steady strokes along her clit. I chuckled when she squirmed away from the contact.

  My hand locked her in place, on my dick. “You belong here. Every night.”

  “Yes.”

  I rubbed her clit and nipped her throat. “Come for me, Xan.”

  I closed my eyes and relished her cries of release as my own rippled through me.

  Mine.

  As we both collapsed, my mind settled on the harsh fact we couldn’t remain locked in each other’s arms for long. Something bad was going down tonight, and I had no clue how to protect the woman I’d somehow fallen for. Whether she wanted me involved or not, I’d give her all the help I could.

  I’d call in the family pack, after I tasted her sweet skin, memorized every glorious in
ch of her body.

  Chapter Nine

  “Revenge, the sweetest morsel to the mouth that ever was cooked in hell.”

  —Sir Walter Scott, The Heart of Midlothian

  Xandra

  I watched him fasten his belt in a jumbled mixture of euphoria and agitation. My beasts flexed so near the surface they’d almost taken their own identity. Their need for his wolf became a palpable presence in my mind, a taste on my tongue. The pounding on the door continued, but Lane didn’t look any more ready to handle whoever waited on the other side than I.

  Curling up in the sheets branded with his scent would be a marvelous use of the evening. Relishing how his touch ignited me, how he carried me to the pinnacle of desire and held me there until I couldn’t imagine an existence without him.

  I reached for my clothes and dutifully dressed, my gaze sweeping over his bare body and the scars I’d intended to spend a few hours memorizing, questioning. Like he had mine. My skin heated beneath the intensity.

  “You ready?” he asked.

  No. Leaving here, the connection we’d created pained me worse than anything my uncle did. We wouldn’t return here unscathed and pick up where we’d left off. Once I walked out the door, I’d never be in Lane’s life again. Or anyone’s.

  My plan was a one-way ticket to right all the wrongs I’d committed under my uncle’s name. It’d take a miracle for tonight to end with Severin and his men safe, winners of the war. He’d make an excellent king. My world needed him, not me—an abomination.

  I was expendable to everyone, except perhaps Lane. The rage in his gaze when it settled on my cheek left me trembling. “Promise me you won’t take risks tonight.”

  “I’ll promise if you do, too.”

  I forced a grin and glared at the door when the pounding continued. “They aren’t taking the hint to go away.”

  “I need your promise more than I need to deal with them.” He stroked my jaw, beneath the scarred remnants of my uncle’s branding. “Tonight, he pays for what he did.”