by Kresley Cole
"A leech risked his life to save yours?"
"Yes. He's a staunch ally."
"And the rest?"
Carrow surveyed the other immortals, as though seeing them through his eyes. Mari and Bowen, both staring at Carrow and the vemon. Lucia and her winded husband Garreth. The bleeding Wroth brother, spoiling for another round, held back by Myst. Rydstrom, Sabine, and so many more.
Carrow shrugged. "I'd fight alongside all of them."
He exhaled. "Very well." Standing stiffly, he faced his opponents. "Then I ... apologize. I do not seek to war with my wife's allies."
Carrow knew how hard that had been for him to apologize, especially to a vampire. Luckily, the three appeared to ... not want to murder him in that instant.
Making light of his attack, she said, "Everybody here brawls all the time. You'll fit right in."
"If we're not to kill the vemon," Rydstrom said, "then you should alert us in advance."
Carrow gazed up at Malkom, grinning like a fool. "I had no idea he'd show."
"Okay, so everybody's cool?" Mari asked around. "Then can we please find out what happened on the island—while I work on your really-hard-to-get-off collar?"
"Are you okay?" Carrow asked Malkom. "Do you need to rest?"
He gave a sharp shake of his head, pulling his shoulders back.
So Carrow related everything that had occurred within the facility, from their capture and imprisonment to their escape via La Dorada.
Had Lucia and Garreth shared a worried glance at the mention of the Queen of Evil?
Once Carrow had finished, Lucia asked, "Did you see Regin?"
"She's there, and I believe she's gotten free."
Lucia sagged against Garreth. Then she said, "What do you mean, you believe? Why weren't you two together?"
"I didn't have a lot of say about, oh, anything. My power was nil." She flicked her collar, saying, "I'm not wearing this for flair. Look, Lucia, I know you're worried. But Regin was alive." Carrow thought back. "She did want you to know that Aidan was there. She said that I was to curse him. He hurt her. Repeatedly."
"Aidan? Dear gods."
Sabine said, "And what about my sister?"
Carrow said, "A Vrekener named Thronos took her."
"What?" The house appeared to rock again. "Thronos? Then Lanthe's definitely still on that cursed island. I will turn the Vrekener's mind inside out, show him nightmares he can never recover from." She added in an absent mutter, "Just as I did his father."
Rydstrom told Sabine, "Cwena, the witch will scry for Lanthe—"
"And what about Uilleam?" Garreth demanded. Turning to Bowen, he said, "He's your cousin, too. Get your wife to scry for him first."
Lucia said, "I've been around the world looking for Regin for weeks. Mariketa should locate her first."
A chorus of other voices rang out, immortals who wanted their loved ones found.
When Mari put her hands over her ears, Carrow cab-whistled for silence. "She can't scry for everyone's exact locations. It'd take her weeks. And even you guys can't afford that kind of overtime." She turned to Mari. "But you could get a ballpark for dozens, right?"
"I could tell you who is on that island. But not precisely where."
Carrow continued, "And even if she could locate one or two, anybody who goes to retrieve them will be in danger from the moment they set foot there. The Pravus immortals all have their powers. None of the Vertas do. La Dorada might still be skulking around for all we know. Plus, the humans will surely return to take back their facility."
"So you're calling for a war," Garreth said, looking like he was hot on the idea.
"And where is Nix?" Lucia asked. "Shouldn't we get her foresight before planning anything?"
Carrow shook her head. "There's a chance that I saw her on the island. I can't be sure, but I think it was her."
Garreth demanded of the crowd, "Then who will storm this place with the Lykae?"
Carrow smiled, setting them up for the kill. "And how are you going to get there, wolf? The island has some kind of mystical cloak over it."
"Nix told me no one can see it by boat or plane," Mari said.
Sabine flicked her claw-tipped hand at Malkom. "This ... being can return us. I'll pay him his weight in gold."
Malkom stepped forward. "I will go, relaying people there. And I do not want your gold."
Under her breath, Carrow said, "Um, demon, we're mercenaries here." She squired him to the side of the room. "If you want to join the family business, you gotta make them pay, okay?"
In a low tone, he said, " 'Tis the only way to get them to accept me."
And Carrow knew how he longed to be accepted. "I think you'll be surprised, big guy. But for now, let's concentrate on feathering our nest, then work on the acceptance, all right?"
When he grudgingly agreed, Carrow turned to the others and raised her voice. "Mari will scry tonight, Malkom will prepare for mass teleporting, and I'll draw up schematics of the island. We'll try to contact Conrad and see if he has any intel we can use. Then we'll come up with a battle plan and leave at dawn."
Mari added, "Anybody who wants on that island, I have some paperwork and payment options."
Carrow nodded. "Tomorrow morning, we go to war."
Malkom tensed beside her. "We?" he growled, tracing her outside.
She blinked up at him. She'd thought he was going to be unstoppable before he could trace. "Malkom, if you go, then I do, too. Remember the I'm never letting you out of my sight part from earlier?" He opened his mouth to argue, but she said, "If you're happy, then I'll be strong enough to watch over you as well as you do me." As soon as things calmed down, she'd explain that she'd learned to empower herself, that between his happiness and her own, she'd be one formidable Wicca. "So I'll just have to make you ecstatic."
"Witch, you already have." He drew her close, resting his chin on her head. "When I heard what you said in there, in front of everyone?"
"I would die for you, Malkom. Can you trust that? Can you believe in me again?"
Against her hair, he murmured, "Right now, I can do anything."
Chapter 48
Though Malkom and Carrow still had much to discuss with the immortals downstairs, he couldn't be easy until he saw Ruby with his own eyes. Carrow had told him, "She freaked out, shrieking for you. I mean, I knew you'd made an impression, but Elianna had to mick her, knock her out."
So they started for Carrow's room to check on the girl. On the way, he gazed around at all the new and peculiar things he saw. Carrow's memories had prepared him for much, but still, this proved bewildering. He itched to investigate everything unfamiliar.
They'd just passed through the doorway leading to a spacious suite when Carrow's torque dropped to the ground.
"Ah, Mari, thank you," she murmured, kicking the band away.
He could sense magics flowing through Carrow, now uninterrupted—just as he sensed them steeped in every inch of this coven.
Magics surrounding him. 'Twas not so disturbing as he might have imagined.
She rolled her head, massaging her nape. "Gods, that's nice to get rid of."
Eyes fixed on her bared neck, Malkom skimmed the backs of his fingers down that pale length. Their gazes met.
"Crow, is that you?" Ruby sleepily asked from the bed.
Carrow bit her bottom lip. With a sigh, she crossed to her. "It's me, honey." She sat beside the girl.
"Did you get Malkom back?"
He drew closer, easing down beside Carrow. "I am here, deela."
Instantly, Ruby's face lit up into a smile. "Crow, you swore you'd bring him home!" She launched herself at Malkom, hugging him with all her might.
Over the girl's shoulder, Malkom met eyes with Carrow. She'd promised her new daughter to bring him back, had been ready to fight her own allies to reach him.
Earlier, with her every word, his jaw had slackened. He'd wanted to have proof of her affection, to be certain of it. Now her feelings—and hi
s place in her world—were abundantly clear.
His chest had grown tight, even as the knot in his gut had disappeared.
"Actually, he brought himself home," Carrow said. "He can trace now."
Ruby pulled back with narrowed eyes. "But is he staying?"
Carrow gazed at him as well.
He answered, "From now on, I stay with you two, my wife and our young one. 'Twill always be so."
Ruby laughed, bestowing another hug, while Carrow's eyes flickered amidst tears. "We wouldn't have it any other way, demon."
He'd just committed his life to theirs, had told his wife and adopted daughter in so many words that he would be with them, protecting them till the day he died.
Still he felt no apprehension about their futures, only anticipation. To dream without dreading...
Carrow slipped her hand in his, then said to Ruby, "Hey, your gang is downstairs. They've missed you. I was thinking a slumber party and pizza, if you aren't too tired—"
"They're here?" Ruby scrambled to the floor. "I have to show them Malkom!"
Show me to them? She is ... proud.
"Well, we can't keep them waiting," Carrow said. "Go get Mari to pop off your torque. Unless you want to keep it on until you're eighteen, 'cause I'm okay with that."
"Crow!"
"All right, all right. Hey, before I forget to tell you, while you're in spell school tomorrow, Malkom and I are going on a mercenary gig. But we'll be back by dinner."
"Okay. Can we have chicken dinosaurs?"
"I'm sure Malkom would love to try them." She grinned up at him. "He does so enjoy his phicken."
"I like this bed," Malkom told Carrow, his voice rumbling with contentment.
Carrow glanced over at him from one of her closets. While she'd been readying her clothing and supplies for their new job, he'd lain back in her bed with his arms crossed under his head and a light sheet covering his body. His feet stretched out over the end of her California king.
How could he look so absolutely right among all her things? Especially when males didn't usually go tromping around inside Andoain, much less a giant demon at home in a witch's bed.
In the hours since the other immortals had left, he'd examined most of her belongings, the plumbing, the air-conditioning, the TV, myriad appliances.
And he'd been "shown" to Ruby's friends. Carrow would never forget his reaction when Ruby had proudly introduced him as her stepdemon. He'd been briefly surprised, then moved. The same as when she'd declared him her husband.
He'd later admitted, "I have rarely been introduced as 'my' anything. 'Tis welcome now."
Ruby's friends had gazed up at him with owl eyes, but eventually they'd gotten used to him. When they'd learned he'd never had pizza before, they'd all waited with bated breath to see if he'd like it. Carrow thought he'd exaggerated his reaction just a jot for their enjoyment and loved him all the more for it.
Now the slumber party in the attic was in full swing, music blaring from the karaoke machine, kids laughing.
Malkom grinned, seeming to love the noise. So long was he alone...
"What else do you like?" she asked, determined to make him happy in her world.
"Showers."
She quirked a brow. "You liked what we did to each other in the shower." That had only been the appetizer to the main course she planned. Beneath her unassuming robe, she wore her raciest lingerie.
" 'Tis true," he said with a shameless grin. She loved it when he smiled. Tonight, he had often, awkwardly at first, but he was getting the hang of it.
"Is this where you want to live?" he asked.
"Actually, I've got my eye on a house right down the street." She hurriedly piled up her folded clothes for tomorrow. She was gearing up tonight because once she got into that bed with him, she didn't intend to leave it until they departed bright and early. "It's got a pool."
"I think I traced there earlier. I must have seen it in your memories." Then his demeanor grew stern. "I will want to purchase it for my family."
"Baby, if you get Lanthe back for Sabine"—she slapped her hands, rubbing them together—"then it's ours, all ours."
He relaxed again. "The rage demons seemed decent enough."
As Carrow had caught up with Mari and Elianna, Malkom had been waylaid by the demons.
"And what were you talking to them about for so long?"
"King Rydstrom wishes me to war with them in the coming Accession."
"Did you tell him it'll cost him?"
Malkom nodded. "The king told me I had a clever—and violently devoted—wife. I was prideful."
She patted her hair. "I try. You're going to make a fortune as a mercenary, you know. Guarding people, fighting battles."
"And what were you talking to your friends about?"
"About how you and I are going to be Ruby's parents." Elianna and Mari had been completely supportive, pledging to help Carrow as much as she needed.
Then the three of them had teared up as they'd raised a glass to Amanda, a small tribute until a proper service could be held. Carrow had added a silent thanks to her cousin for having such a remarkable kid.
"I also told my friends how much I adore you," Carrow said.
"This is mutual."
"Oh, and how I think you're utterly fantastic in bed."
He scowled at that until he saw she was dead serious. Then he gave a modest shrug. "Also mutual."
"We've already gotten two wedding gifts. Elianna put a mystical noise dampener on our room, so no one can hear me having my wicked way with you."
He raised a brow, his erection already tenting the sheet in readiness.
"She also conjured you a new wardrobe." Carrow opened her second closet to display all his new clothes. At his amazed expression, she said, "They'll all fit. Eli's a genius at stuff like that." Absently adjusting the silky black ribbon tied around her wrist, Carrow said, "And Mariketa gave us a present, too. Something very valuable. But it's a surprise."
She wondered how he'd react to that gift. I'll know soon enough. "By the way, we're going to have a wedding celebration here at the coven when everything settles down." She might have felt a pang that her birth parents wouldn't be there for the festivities, but luckily Carrow's entire family would be. Mari, Elianna, Ruby, and Malkom.
"I liked the witches."
"Because they were all whispering about how gorgeous you are, and you could hear every word," she said as she finished prepping. Carrow had noticed his neck had gotten red, and he'd looked flummoxed a couple of times.
"I am only interested in one witch. Come to me, ara."
She sauntered over to the bed. "You like my bed, showers, and my coven. But how do you like this?" She let her robe pool at her feet, revealing tight black garters, fishnet thigh-highs, a black silk bustier, and a matching thong. Hey, it's his welcoming party after all.
He swallowed, brows drawn. "Gods almighty, woman." With that incredible speed, he swung his legs over the side of the bed, snagging her around the waist.
She gave a delighted cry as he pulled her onto his lap.
With clear fascination, he fingered the lace edge of her bodice. "I like very much."
"So do you want to know what Mari gave us?" She held up a wrist, displaying the ribbon. "It's enchanted with a contraception spell. A very coveted gift."
When he frowned, she leaned forward, murmuring, "You can come inside me, and I still won't get pregnant."
"But I want to—"
She interrupted him with a brief kiss. "Let's get settled into the new house with Ruby first. So she can get used to life with us." Carrow knew that there would be adjustments and rough patches ahead. She didn't think the little girl had fully comprehended her mom was gone.
When Malkom was still hesitant, she said, "Ruby's going to need all the attention we can give her. And we've got plenty of time. Since we're going to live forever and all."
He exhaled. "Very well. We are agreed. For now."
"Then let's see if
this ribbon works," she purred at his ear, making his erection pulse beneath her. "You don't have to hold back tonight, Malkom. I'm stronger, and I want everything you have."
"I want to give it to you, wife." He curled his fingers under her chin, drawing her in for a kiss. He grazed his lips against hers so tenderly, with teasing flicks of his tongue. Then he grew more aggressive, deepening the kiss while pinching her nipples through the silk, until she was squirming over his shaft.
"Spread your legs," he said against her lips.
When she did, he lazily petted her panties. "These are damp."
"Then you should take them off me—"
Rip. She trembled when he tore them free.
His fingers returned to stroke, and his lids went heavy when he found her so aroused. Satisfaction soared through him, and she felt it. "Oh, demon! I want that, too. All of you. Now."
"Must make sure you're ready," he said, his voice husky. After biting off a claw, he delved his forefinger between her folds. He slipped it deep as his thumb began circling her swollen clitoris.
With a sigh of pleasure, she gripped his shoulders to lean back, letting her knees fall open in surrender.
Slowly thrusting and softly circling. Over and over. He watched as his fingers played, spreading her, rubbing. And beneath her ass, his shaft stirred against her sensitive skin.
"Demon," she whispered, already nearing her peak. "I'm close. ..."
He stopped at once, withdrawing his fingers, making her whimper.
"Straddle me," he commanded as he sucked his glistening finger, shuddering with pleasure at her taste. "My female is delicious."
Shivering, she maneuvered herself over his lap.
Once she was poised above his shaft, he fisted it with his free hand. "Come to me. Take me into that sweet sex."
"Malkom," she gasped, lowering herself. When the crown breached her entrance, he growled, ripping the cups from her bodice so he could suckle her, licking one nipple while rolling the other between his wet fingers.
She couldn't hold on. "Ah, gods!" With only the tip inside her, she began to come, her slick orgasm sending her slipping down his length. She wanted to throw back her head to scream with pleasure, but he rose up from her breast to meet her gaze, his hands capturing her face.