by Joy Nash
“Murderer!”
She landed a hard, painful kick to his knee, and her sudden burst of strength caught him by surprise. He bent her arm—the one not holding the disc—behind her back. When she opened her mouth, he clamped his free hand over it.
Hauling her against his body, he hissed in her ear, “Don’t even think about screaming. I didn’t kill Ben-Meir.”
No, the relic she clutched between her breasts had murdered the archeologist. He’d stake his life on it. What had stopped the blood magic from attacking Cade, he didn’t know.
She bit his hand. Grunting, he pressed his other hand to her chest and spoke a single word. Her eyes went wide. A moment later her lids drooped and her body went limp. Cade removed his palm. Her chest expanded convulsively, and then she released a sigh. Her body slumped forward.
He caught her around the waist before she fell. The gold disc tumbled from her fingers and thunked onto the floor. Rolling across the uneven floorboards, it traced a wobbling path, jumping the edge of a small rug and landing on Ben-Meir’s dead body. The smell of red, rotted blood intensified.
Cade stared uneasily at the disc, loath to touch it. But he could hardly leave lethal Watcher blood magic behind for anyone to find. Bracing Maddie’s weight on one knee, he bent to retrieve the amulet.
The gold burned his fingers. He cursed, nearly dropping the thing. Snatching up a square of cloth he spied on the floor, he wrapped the amulet and shoved it into his pocket. It lay unnaturally warm against his thigh.
Which clan’s magic did it contain? he wondered. Artur would know; he was uncanny at sensing the nuances of power. Cade wondered, too, what Artur would do with the relic. But these were questions to be answered later.
He strode to the window and looked out. The camp remained silent; the fatal disturbance had gone unremarked. With luck, Ben-Meir’s body wouldn’t be discovered until dawn. By then, Cade would have Maddie miles away. Hefting her limp body over his shoulder, he carried her off into the night.
Chapter Nine
He paused before his tent. “Lilith.”
“Yes, Father?”
A smile touched his lips. “Remove your headscarf, Daughter. I would gaze upon your face.”
Heat rushed to her cheeks, but she did as he commanded, unwinding the long cloth that provided protection from the desert sun and winds. Underneath, her long dark curls were unbound, and his dark eyes passed over her.
“Your magic,” he said. “It shines.” Then, softly, as if to himself: “Why have I never noticed?”
“I am female.”
“Indeed.” Reaching past her, he pulled back the tent flap. “Come.”
Her heart pounded as she preceded him into the dwelling’s antechamber. A bowl, a jug of water, oils, and perfume lay at hand. He sat on a low stool.
“Bathe my feet, Daughter. Then tend to your own.”
It was a familiar ritual. Kneeling, she poured water into a bowl and added three drops of oil scented with jasmine. Kneeling before him, she removed his sandals.
His feet were beautiful, large and well shaped. She placed them in the water and gently sponged them. When they were clean, she blotted them with a dry length of cloth. He nodded his approval and rose.
She took his place on the stool as he stood waiting. Quickly she stripped off her sandals and made use of the same bowl. Then, when the water, dirty twice over, had been discarded, and the damp towel hung to dry, he lifted the flap leading to the tent’s inner chamber.
“Come, Lilith.”
Maddie woke with a jolt. And another. And another. It took a moment for her to realize she was no longer in her father’s tent.
No. Not her father. The girl Lilith’s father. A dream. It had only been a dream.
The world jolted again. She grabbed for something solid. Her hand connected with a dashboard.
She was in a car? A jeep. Dr. Ben-Meir’s jeep, if she wasn’t mistaken. The top was down. The vehicle was speeding through pitch-black desert with Cade Leucetius at the wheel. The headlights were off.
She grabbed for the safety strap. There was no moon, and the stars didn’t begin to shed enough light. Were they even on a road? They couldn’t be. The roads in Israel weren’t this bad.
The front wheels hit a rock or a rut. The vehicle bounced and shuddered. Sand whipped over the windshield and into her face. Her eyes stung and her nostrils burned. She ducked her head behind the glass.
Night shielded the landscape. Beside her, she could only just make out the details of Cade’s solid form. He wore a white shirt with short sleeves. He looked too large for the jeep. The steering wheel was a toy in his big hands.
A hot wave of lust glided through her, scouring her raw. An aching pulse leaped between her thighs. She muffled a groan. God, she wanted him so badly it burned. And he hadn’t so much as glanced at her. What was she doing here, in Ben-Meir’s jeep, with Cade? She tried to remember, but the near past was a dense fog.
Her arousal spiraled; she tried not to squirm in her seat. And failed. She stared at his hands, imagining them on her breasts and between her legs. Lust stabbed her belly and twisted. This time, she did groan.
He glanced her way. “Awake. That’s good. How do you feel?”
Horny as all hell.
“Like shit,” she muttered.
The jeep slammed into another rut; she nearly broke her nose on the dash. Her stomach lurched up her throat. Bracing an arm, she made a belated grab for the seat belt.
“For God’s sake! Slow down.”
He laughed. “Sit back and relax.”
“You’re out of your mind.” Fear washed through her. “What’s going on? Where the hell are we going? And why . . . why am I even with you?”
He sent her a swift sidelong glance. “You don’t remember?”
“Remember what?”
“What happened earlier tonight.”
The jeep lurched. Her teeth cracked together. “N-nothing happened. I . . . I went to bed. And . . .” Bits and pieces of memory were coming back to her. “I had a dream . . .”
“Of course. You’ve had quite a few dreams lately, haven’t you? Very vivid ones.”
She gaped at him. “What do you know about my dreams?”
“I know they seem as real as your waking life.”
That was the truth. It frightened her that somehow he knew. How? She hadn’t told a soul.
His gaze remained facing forward. Though how he could possibly see what was ahead in the darkness she didn’t know.
“And when you woke?” he asked. “After the dream? What then?”
She tried to remember. “I . . . couldn’t sleep. I went to the dig. Yes, that’s it. I went to the Watcher well. There was something I had to find—” Sudden panic nearly choked her. “Where is it? Where’s the disc?”
“I have it.”
She sat up, rigid. “Give it to me. Give it to me now.”
He hesitated, then slid his hand into his pocket. Even in the stygian darkness, she caught a faint glimmer of red light as the cloth fell away.
She snatched the relic and hugged it to her chest. Warmth spread through her body. Her shoulders sagged, her breath sighing from her lungs. Yes.
Cade’s expression was inscrutable. “You found that in the Watcher well?”
She hugged it tighter. She didn’t want him looking at it. “Yes. Buried at the bottom.”
“How did you know it was there?”
“I . . .” She broke off. “I don’t know. Instinct?” If a mysterious red light qualified as instinct.
He snorted. “Something a little stronger than instinct, I’d say.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He didn’t answer. “After you found it, you took it back to Ben-Meir?”
“I took it to the work hut, yes. I wanted to clean it off. Dr. Ben-Meir was there. He’d fallen asleep. I woke him up . . .” She frowned. “That’s the last thing I remember.”
Cade was silent. The jeep lurched on.
> “Where are we going?” she asked.
“You’ll find out when we get there.”
“This is Dr. Ben-Meir’s jeep. Did he . . . did he lend it to you?”
“No,” Cade said. “I stole it.”
Fear bled through Maddie’s veins. “Then . . . why am I with you? Are you . . . are you kidnapping me?”
“I’m taking you, yes. You can call it kidnapping if you like.”
She sucked in a breath. He sounded so cool, so calm. Clearly, the man was insane. A psychopath. “Are you going to kill me?”
He made a sound of disgust. “If I wanted to do that, caraid, you’d be long dead.”
“Rape me, then?”
He yanked the steering wheel hard to the right. The sudden movement threw Maddie to the left, and her shoulder collided with his. The contact was electric. The desire that had been building the past few days rushed at her with blinding force. Raw need clawed at her vitals. She clenched her fists, digging her nails into her palms. She would not grab him. Would not rip off his shirt and run her hands over his smooth, bare chest. She would not beg.
Somehow she managed to scuttle back to her side of the jeep. She clung to the passenger door, legs pressed tightly together, gasping.
He gave a low, humorless laugh. “I think we both know it won’t be rape.”
Won’t be. An anticipatory tingle shot to her nerve endings and she sucked in a breath. “I . . . This isn’t me. This isn’t right. You’ve drugged me, haven’t you? Slipped some aphrodisiac thing into my dinner or my canteen.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
“You must have. It doesn’t make sense, otherwise. How much I—”
“Want me?” he suggested.
Yes. Desperately.
She pressed her lips together and didn’t open them until she was sure she could control what she said. “You can’t do this. You can’t just kidnap me! It’s crazy. They’ll find you. You’ll be arrested.”
He shot her a glance, then shifted his eyes back to the windshield. When he spoke, his voice held a new softness. “I’m sorry, caraid. Truly, I am. I wish there was some other path for your life to take. But there isn’t. You should sleep now, while you still can. Later, you won’t be able to.”
“You’re insane,” she whispered, her fingers creeping to the door handle. He made no sense at all.
How he saw the movement in the darkness, she didn’t know. “Thinking of jumping? Stupid idea. There’s nowhere to run. I’d be on you in two seconds.”
She swallowed. “Why are you doing this? Why would you want to? I’m nothing special.”
He gave a short laugh. “I’d have to disagree, caraid. There aren’t many like you.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You’ll know soon enough. Right now, you need rest.”
He said another word, one she didn’t understand. It sounded heavy. Peaceful. She thought she’d heard it before. A warm wave swept over her and her eyelids drooped.
Drugged, she thought. I’ve been drugged. It was her last thought before sleep claimed her.
Sheepskin pelts covered the floor of her father’s tent. Lilith’s clean, bare toes curled into the unexpected luxury. Soft drapes hung on the walls. An oil lamp, suspended from the tent’s arched frame, spilled soft light. Spices, smoldering in a brass brazier, spun sweet haze into the air.
Her father entered the tent behind her and dropped the skin over the entrance. Lilith stood awkwardly gazing about in awe. A low couch strewn with cushions occupied the center of the space. Before it stood a table scattered with precious items: A jeweled dagger crossed the rim of a hammered bronze cup. Gems of all colors and nuggets of silver and gold surrounded it. Engraved discs of metal and stone were strewn across the polished wood.
Lilith’s eyes lit on a figurine in the shape of a naked woman. Pendulous breasts hung to a rounded belly. Beside that, a rendition of an erect male member, cast in bronze, stood boldly upright.
Lilith blushed at that last and hastily looked away.
“Leave us,” her father said.
With a start, Lilith realized they were not alone. In a shadowed corner two women lay on a bed, arms and legs entwined. At her father’s order, they disentangled their limbs and rose. Their life auras did not shine with the red of Watcher magic but with the white sparkle of human essence.
Lilith recognized the pair. They were human women, Ayalesh and Nivah, her father’s favorite concubines. Their kohl-darkened eyelids exuded mystery. Men could not look away when their reddened lips pouted, but no man of the tribe would dare touch what belonged to their master. The entire Watcher settlement treated them like queens. Lilith herself bowed low whenever they passed. Before this moment, neither woman had given her a second look. Before this moment, Lilith had never seen them naked.
Though her cheeks flooded with heat, she could not draw her eyes from that smooth expanse of feminine skin, from those perfect, rounded breasts, from the rouged nipples, from the jewels nestled in the curling hair between their thighs.
The women were clearly not pleased to see Lilith in their domain. Nivah shot her a daggerlike glance as she reached for her silken tunic. Ayalesh’s expression was more circumspect, but venom filled her eyes.
When they turned to their master, only smiles graced their painted faces. They bowed low.
“As you wish, Lord Azazel.”
Azazel’s eyes lingered on their departure. When they had gone, he turned to her. “Are you like them, Lilith? Have you known a man’s touch?”
She blushed furiously. “No, Father! I have not. I am . . . I am pure.”
“Ah,” he said. “Good. You will remain so.”
“Of course, Father! I would never shame you. It will be as you wish.”
He gestured her to a seat on the couch. He took a place beside her, an arm’s length or more away. Leaning forward, he lifted the chalice and dagger. He placed the blade on the table, the cup into Lilith’s hands.
“You offered me water, Daughter. I offer you wine. Drink.”
She took the cup and pressed her lips to the rim. The wine was bitter and very strong. Heat blossomed in her chest. Fire, licking her heart. Azazel leaned back against the cushions.
“Drink it all, child. Then we will talk.”
She obeyed without question.
The wine, the tent, Lilith, Azazel—all of it vanished in a crackle of fire. Blue flames. Maddie jumped to her feet—she’d been kneeling—and backed away. She didn’t get far. Her shoulders hit a wall. Her palms flattened against it.
She was still dreaming. She knew it, and yet she didn’t quite believe. The strange fire was so real, so close. Heat licked her face, her breasts, her belly. Searching, tormenting. She looked down, and realized she was naked. Vulnerable. Trapped.
Then the fire vanished and rekindled in her womb. That flame taunted her breasts, her arms, her legs. It licked between her legs. She writhed and sobbed. She wanted to make it stop. She knew she couldn’t. At least, not by herself . . .
She parted her legs, pressed them together. Oh, God. She was going mad.
She woke clawing at Cade’s arm. Her skin was flushed and slick with sweat. The dream fire burned under her skin and smoldered between her thighs. A sob caught in her throat. She wanted. She needed.
With a strength that seemed to come from somewhere outside herself, she pried Cade’s right hand from the steering wheel. The jeep gave a sickening lurch to the left, the right tires lifting off the ground.
“Blast it.” He threw his weight to the right. The vehicle slammed back to the earth. “Hold up, love.”
“I can’t.” She heard herself moan. The sound was more animal than human. She was burning up; the fire was inside her. She couldn’t get away. “I . . . can’t wait. Now, Cade. God. It has to be now.”
His reply was surprisingly gentle. “I know, caraid. I know.”
The jeep bounced to a halt. Cade barely had time to shift into park before Maddie pounced, slidin
g atop him, legs splayed wide. Wedged between the steering wheel and the hard bulge of his erection, she wanted their clothes gone. Now. She rubbed against him. Too damn many layers of cloth. The friction brought no real relief. She needed him closer. She needed more. She needed him inside her.
They were in such tight quarters she couldn’t even fit her hands between their bodies to undo his jeans. She wriggled, trying to get into better position. From a point above her head, her rational brain looked down on the scene in horror.
Cade’s hot hands molded the sides of her torso. Between her legs, he was hard as a rock. His breath heaved almost as violently as hers.
He jerked his hips. His hard-on was a stabbing between her legs and she cursed their clothes. His palms cupped her shoulder, her face, her breasts. He plucked at her nipples through her T-shirt and she choked out a moan.
“Not . . . enough room.”
“Wait.”
He fumbled at the door; the latch clicked. His big body lurched backward. Maddie knew a moment of weightlessness as she tumbled after him. She landed atop him, her hands braced on his chest, her knees scraping desert sand.
Vertigo. Something was wrong with her head. The world was whirling, lurching. She couldn’t get her bearings. The disorientation brought with it blinding panic. Her life was spinning out of control. How would she ever find her way back? Perhaps it would be better to give up. Give in to the roaring chaos.
Terror squeezed the air from her lungs. Consciousness faded. Red and black blotches filled her vision, but Cade’s voice, steady and strong, at last cut through the madness.
“Maddie. Maddie. Come back to me, caraid.”
“I can’t—”
“You can. I’m here. Grab onto me.”
The world rolled to the left. Something solid connected with her shoulders. It was the ground.
Cade was there above her. His silhouette blotted the stars. Red light clung to his head and shoulders, and when he moved, the illumination dissolved into a trail of crimson sparks. Need speared her womb. She arched her hips. She had to have him inside her. She grabbed fistfuls of his shirt.