Flame's Embrace

by Pillar, Amanda

  “Nika?” He wrapped his arms around me. “Talk to me. Something is wrong.”

  I swallowed. “Do you remember the prophecy we used to hear on the streets when we were young? When they were recruiting you, and I was learning about who and what I was.” I pushed my head against his chest and listened to his heartbeat. It was strong and steady. I counted the beats because I had to, like I had to breathe.

  “The end times.” He whispered the words. “There were ten last night.”

  I loved how quickly he followed my train of thought. “There were ten.”

  James

  Three days after the explosion in Varhegy, we were called to the conclave. We often limited gatherings such as this, because it required pulling knights from their positions around the world. In a digital age, we could conclave over the computer, but our seniors were not fans.

  If anything, the mere suggestion that we rely on the internet for such sacred business shocked them so profoundly, they’d ended the last conclave early. Nika had laughed about it for days. Her entertainment made the incident tolerable, but I had little time or patience for the elders holding us back. Tradition had its place. Absolutely. But we had to adapt as our ancestors did.

  We certainly didn’t run around with bronze swords, now did we?

  Leaning against the wall of the old cathedral, Noel smoked a cigarette as Nika and I approached. The hint of blue smoke he sent skyward as his glance fell immediately put me on my guard. Noel nodded to me, but his gaze tracked to Nika. She was all smiles as she released my arm and went to give Noel a hug. Our brother in arms held her gently, relief etched into his features.

  We never spoke of the shared fear.

  We never would.

  “You look cross,” Nika said as she withdrew, the very lightness of her casting away the shadows of the day. “Have you been scolded already?”

  “Oh, I hope not,” I grunted. “I enjoy it when they take Noel to task.”

  “It is good to know you have my well-being in mind, Jaime,” he said with an easy smile that never touched his eyes. He dropped his cigarette and crushed it out with his boot. “They summoned only the twelve of us.”

  The twelve of us.

  Our unit.

  “Conclave is not for a unit.” Conclaves were for greater gatherings.

  “I know,” Noel said with a curt nod, and his gaze flicked to Nika once, then to me. She let out a little sigh before threading her arm through mine.

  Noel didn’t want to discuss his concerns in front of her. “She’s a knight as well,” I reminded him. “Do not disrespect her.”

  Head snapping back, Noel put a fist over his heart before he focused on Nika fully. “My apologies. I only wish to protect you.”

  “I know,” she murmured, her acknowledgement far gentler than mine had been. “But we protect each other. Now quickly, tell us what concerns you before we go inside. James is already vexed with having to forgo our plans for the day.”

  We’d had no plans for the day. Yes, I was vexed that we’d been summoned so abruptly. However, this was our lot, so we would go. Our oaths were binding.

  “The attack the other night has upset the elders something fiercely.”

  I didn’t glance at Nika. I didn’t have to. My love’s face, though open and expressive, revealed nothing either.

  “Prophecies,” I said carefully, “are always open to interpretation.”

  With a snort, Noel shot me an irritated look. “If it’s dusty, ancient, and layered in subtext, they treat it like a viral tweet, and you know that. But that’s not why they want a conclave…”

  My brother continued, but I didn’t hear the next words because I’d already made the leap. If they thought the war was gearing up, they were calling us together because they wanted us to recruit.

  The Knights of St. Lazarus would be opening their ranks to new orphans and wretches.

  Something we hadn’t needed to do in twenty years.

  Nika’s expression tightened, and I bit back the urge to swear.

  I understood the need to recruit those who had no one. With none to miss us, it was easier if we died. But it had been a lot easier to take children when we’d been kids than it would be now. There were agencies—even on the streets of Bulgaria—who watched out for them, and not that many kids running amok as it was. They weren’t street urchins, they were orphans. In Bulgaria, taking care of those with no families had become a social service, part of the Department of Child Protection and Social Assistance Agency, who tried to keep children in a safe, supportive, and stimulating family environment. Someone would notice if they went missing.

  Nika stared up at me. “What are you thinking?”

  “That all of this sucks.” I had many more thoughts than that, but none I was willing to share. If we were doing this, then we’d have to use mystical ways to call them to us. That meant bringing the mystics into this, and I hated that. The smug, ‘we can control magic’ attitudes while they sneered at our weapons always set me on the wrong path for days.

  Nika winked at Noel before she patted my arm. “I’m sure you can handle being around Sue and Sophie for a few days without losing your cool. The last time, you made it almost eight hours.”

  She’d read my mind as only she could ever do. Noel smirked. “Oh yes, they’re big fans of his. Sophie in particular. They’re bound to be best friends.”

  I ignored them and headed inside. If we needed recruits, then we needed them. The elders had survived as long as they had by knowing just these things. But still…I hated it. Some of them wouldn’t live through training, and we were going to have to somehow make peace with that.

  Nika took my arm again. “I’m sorry. I know they’re rough on you.”

  They were. And I never really understood why. I wasn’t any worse or better than anyone here. I was already in a bad mood, and that didn’t help anything. Nika’s words when she’d snuggled on my lap before promptly falling asleep again—a worry I was hiding from her, since she did seem much more tired lately—still resonated in my mind. There had been ten.

  That was the first part of the prophecy.

  And if that was the case, we’d be losing more than just our new recruits. A lot of us were going to die, too. In the end battle. I looked at Nika before I kissed her gently on her cheek. She smiled at me, but I could see the concern in her gaze. I wasn’t always great with public displays. I just forgot because my mind got so caught up in things around me. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to kiss her all the time. I was a terrible boyfriend.

  And she wasn’t going to die. No matter how tired she seemed.

  Nika

  The skies threatened with a storm all the way home, but I made it into the foyer of the old synagogue just scant seconds before the storm let loose. I let out a little chortle of delight at the boom of thunder and the splinters of lightning.

  I really did love a good storm, especially since I was home and James would be waiting for me upstairs. In the two weeks since the conclave, it had been relatively quiet. The quiet would not last. James, my poor love, he hated the recruiting.

  So far, we had been kept out of it. It had been Noel’s doing more than mine. While my heart wept for those children, I understood the necessity as much as anyone. Not all lives can be saved. Not all can be protected. Some will be sacrificed.

  How many times had I given my life?

  Shaking off the thought, I pulled the scarf from my hair and then hurried upstairs. The scents of stew and fresh bread awaited me. Someone—namely my beloved— went to the market. James also stood in the center of our living room, arms folded, his stern expression severe.

  “You’re late.”

  I shot a glance to the clock and then grinned at him. “Two minutes, and I was in the building. I just paused to watch it rain.” A smile flickered at the corners of his mouth as he shook his head. I dropped my jacket and scarf along with the sack of items I’d gone in search of. Nothing was
breakable. In two strides, I was across the room and in his arms.

  James lifted me easily and banded his arms around me. The wild strength there always promised protection. Cupping his face, I kissed him. He tasted of mint, bits of chocolate, and the blackberry tart tea he took in the late afternoon after a bad day.

  My breath a whisper against his lips, I asked, “Is everything all right?”

  “It is,” he assured me, and kissed me again. The stroke of his tongue threatened to unravel all my carefully thought out plans. Fisting his hair, I gave a tug, and he pulled back to eye me. Those dark eyes could see past any layer, they would find me in the great beyond when that day came. “I am well, Nika. I promise.”

  I studied him carefully. The lines at the corners of his eyes. The scar below his left eyebrow from a weapon’s training accident when we were younger. I had a similar scar once—a few lives ago. Another scar along his nape from where a demon had tried to relieve him of his head and the first time we discovered what I could do.

  Everything had been decimated that day.

  All but James himself.

  “We need to talk,” I murmured and immediately, his guard went up and his eyes shuttered. The warrior held me, his hands as gentle as a lover, but every part of him braced for attack. “I went to the doctor.”

  I avoided the physicians. I never had much use for them. What injuries I sustained would heal, and when I was reborn, everything was remade. How many times now had James taken my virginity?

  It was my turn to smile.

  “You went to the doctor,” he repeated carefully, and then he set me down as though I were made of spun glass rather than a woman nearly his height. While I was leaner to his brawn, I’d bested him more than once in the fighting arena.

  “I did.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I have been so tired.” Exhausted really. A rebirth often wore me out, but I always recovered in a couple of days.

  Not so this time.

  His throat flexed as he swallowed. “Did you see the conclave physician?”

  “Well, I could hardly go to the doctors at the hospital, could I?” I was trying to make this light, but the longer it took, the graver he grew. I could not let him stumble in the dark. “While no physician or mystic can tell us when or how—the doctor did tell me why I’d been so tired. Why we will be excused from our duties for the next few months.”

  I chose my words carefully. James would need time to prepare for this. I needed some time, too. But it was done, and the joy that rippled through me when the doctor told me how far along I was had only been tempered by the knowledge that this last rebirth had been for both of us.

  Our child would be a phoenix.

  James’ burden had just grown.

  “Few months,” he said slowly. I was already placing his hand against my abdomen when his gaze snapped to mine.

  I saw the second he recognized what I was telling him. I was pregnant. His mouth fell open. We knew so little about me and my kind. We were always women, but we weren’t sure whether our mothers had been phoenixes or not. Maybe we were simply something that happened randomly. Or chosen. Or something.

  But now we knew. I could get pregnant. And I was going to have a phoenix. I just knew it.

  His gaze met mine with so much love, I felt like I could gladly drown in it. Of course, that wasn’t a possibility. If I drowned, I’d rebirth, and it might risk the baby. Or so the physician worried and I didn’t disabuse him of the concern. The truth was I’d already rebirthed with this baby already—the last time it happened—and she was still with us. Somehow. Like a miracle.

  But it would stop now. I absolutely could not risk what another rebirth could do to her, and if I wasn’t fighting, then I needed James to stay safe as well. We were going to be parents. That thought was so bizarre.

  When we’d talked about it—and I’d always said absolutely no because it was terrifying, the thought of keeping a little person safe—we’d talked about adoption. This was a whole different level, and even though I was terrified, I wanted it. So much.

  His mouth met mine with the gentlest of kisses. “You make all my dreams come true.”

  I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on. “That is what you do for me.”

  “There is just one thing.” He picked me up in his arms and brought me down onto the couch. “You have to marry me. Please understand why. I never had a family, and what I want for this baby is—”

  “Yes,” I interrupted him. I’d held off because I didn’t know what life I’d have been able to give him. I wanted him free if he suddenly had too much. However, this changed everything. I was going to let myself believe, give myself permission to think that forever was possible for two street rats like us, one of whom died and was reborn in flames. “I will.”

  His smile was huge. This was a day of a lot of firsts. I couldn’t think of another time I’d ever seen James smile as much as he was right now.

  He dropped his hand to touch my stomach. “You’re tired. Anything else?”

  “I’m a little bit nauseated. A lot of normal for someone as odd as me.” I loved this moment. This might be my favorite moment ever.

  I’d no sooner thought that than I saw the demon. I gasped, pushing at James’ shoulders. They’d never come to our home before. It was warded, strongly, against such intrusions. Unless somehow, they had been taken down.

  James thrust me behind him, his shoulders stiffening as he faced the shadow. The demon tried to form, but it flickered—an image trapped between our wards. Relief flooded me, followed by a riot of fury. How dare they come here…

  “We know,” the demon said, its screeching voice threatening to pierce my ears. “We know and we are legion.”

  “Begone,” James said, his voice slicing right through the cacophony. With my hands pressed against his back, I could feel the power surging through him. I’d told him once that what pulled me to him from the beginning was his fierce devotion. When James believed in something, he believed with all his heart and his soul.

  A light shone from within him that pressed that shadow back until its shrill screams transformed from defiance to agony, and then it was so much ash before even that too vanished. In the sudden stillness of our home, his harsh breaths echoed the riot in my heart.

  James turned, and his gaze sought mine as he lifted a hand to cup my face. “They’ll never touch her.”

  He believed it.

  I believed him.

  “We’ll keep her safe,” I promised him. I would protect him and her as he would protect us.

  That stern visage softened as he cradled my face in his hands. “I love you, Nika.” An oath.

  A gift.

  “And I, you…”

  “You will marry me.” As if I needed the reminder.

  Head back, I laughed. “Yes, my love…I will marry you.”

  He scooped me up, and then his mouth covered mine. “Tomorrow,” he said as he carried me to our bed. “First light.”

  “Yes,” I sighed, content to agree to whatever he wanted or needed. Tomorrow.

  We had battled for today for so long.

  Now, we would fight for tomorrow.

  About Heather

  USA Today bestselling author, Heather Long, likes long walks in the park, science fiction, superheroes, Marines, and men who aren’t douche bags. Her books are filled with heroes and heroines tangled in romance as hot as Texas summertime. From paranormal historical westerns to contemporary military romance, Heather might switch genres, but one thing is true in all of her stories—her characters drive the books. When she’s not wrangling her menagerie of animals, she devotes her time to family and friends she considers family. She believes if you like your heroes so real you could lick the grit off their chest, and your heroines so likable, you’re sure you’ve been friends with women just like them, you’ll enjoy her worlds as much as she does. Visit her website at heatherlong.net to discover m
ore books.

  To keep up with Heather and all her series join her reader’s group:

  https://www.facebook.com/groups/HeathersPack/

  About Rebecca

  As a teenager, I would hide in my room to read my favorite romance novels when I was supposed to be doing my homework.

  I am the mother of three adorable boys and I am fortunate to be married to my best friend. I live in Austin Texas where I am determined to eat all the barbecue in town.

  I am in love with science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal and try to use all of these elements in my writing. I’ve been told I’m a little bloodthirsty so I hope that when you read my work you’ll enjoy the action packed ride that always ends in romance. I love to write series because I love to see characters develop over time and it always makes me happy to see my favorite characters make guest appearances in other books.

  In my world anything is possible, anything can happen, and you should suspect that it will.

  I’d love to hear from you! Please visit my website at www.rebeccaroyce.com to sign up for my newsletter and learn about my books!

  Here’s where you can find me online:

  Rebecca’s Randomness Reading Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/RebeccasRandomness/

  https://www.rebeccaroyce.com

  Don’t Flirt with Demons

  Grace McGinty

  For Mollie

  Ukobach is all yours! No take backs.

  Enjoy!

  G x

  Chapter One

  Tonight, my eyebrows taught me several life lessons.

  One; no cheating asshole of an ex-boyfriend was worth breaking your apartment’s open-fire rules. Because it will set off the interior fire alarms, and then the sprinklers will come on and soak everything. Every. Damn. Thing.

  Two; do not share the bottle of vodka you’ve been sipping all night with the fire pit you created using pictures of your good-for-nothing douche of an ex. It will flare up like a massive fireball and burn off your eyebrows and lashes.