by Alyssa Day
“Good morning,” he said.
Melody smiled up at him. Her smile was haunted by a glimmer of sadness, and there were dark circles under her eyes. He clearly wasn’t the only one who’d spent a sleepless night. “Thank you for the coffee.”
“Hi. You’re welcome. Is Serai okay? She was pretty amazing with that tiger shift and then helping Jack like that.” Melody’s voice broke on Jack’s name, and Reisen handed her a napkin. She took it and wiped her face, then leaned against Reisen’s arm for a moment before straightening and taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry. Jack was—Jack was good people. I hope he can come back, and that Quinn and Alaric can fix him.”
Daniel nodded, wishing he could offer her some words of comfort, but he’d seen shape-shifters lose their humanity before, and he’d never once seen one of them find his way back. The call of the wild was truly that—a call—and nature was a cruel mistress who kept her own once they had returned to her.
“What’s the plan for today?” Reisen asked, changing the subject as he exchanged a glance of mutual grim understanding with Daniel. The Atlantean had little hope of Jack’s return, either.
“We’ve got a mole,” Melody said.
Reisen raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“An inside source at the bank. She can’t work openly with us, because she’d lose her job, and she’s a single mom with three kids, but she’s on our side for sure. Vampires killed her husband, the bastards,” she added heatedly. Then she covered her mouth with one hand. “Oh, um, sorry, Daniel. I realize not all vampires are the bad guys.”
Daniel shrugged. “I’ve been a vampire for more than eleven thousand years, Melody, and have seen more evil perpetrated than you could imagine in your worst nightmares. By vampires and by humans; by witches and by shape-shifters. As you well know, one’s race or species doesn’t determine the depths of the darkness in one’s soul.”
“Poetically said,” Reisen said, narrowing his eyes. “I must ask, though, by what right is one so ancient traveling with a maiden of Atlantis? It is my sworn duty as a Warrior of Poseidon to protect humanity, and yet it is my duty as an Atlantean and a man to protect Serai.”
“Did she seem to need to be protected from me?” Daniel asked dryly. “You might be surprised to learn that she is as old as I am. We first met before Atlantis retreated from the world to the bottom of the ocean.”
Reisen inhaled sharply. “But . . . she’s that Serai? Conlan’s Serai?”
“Conlan’s no longer, not that he ever had claim to her,” Daniel growled. “He abandoned her for Quinn’s sister.”
Melody put a hand on Reisen’s arm and Daniel was surprised to see the warrior react to it, visibly calming. Something lay between the two of them, then, or at least the beginning of something. His gaze traveled between the fierce, proud Atlantean warrior and the small, oddly dressed, human woman. An unlikely match, but then what match was not when it came to these Atlanteans? He and Serai? Quinn and Alaric? Even Conlan and Riley, or Ven and Erin, or crazy Justice and Keely? Not to mention cursed Brennan and the lovely Tiernan.
The Atlantean goddess of love was either insane or an evil genius. Perhaps both.
“This is unproductive,” he finally said. “Serai and I have a mission to accomplish, or she and others may die.” As they drank their coffee, he filled them in on the details of Serai’s connection to the Emperor and what had happened to date.
At one point, Melody excused herself to go purchase pastries and more coffee, and Reisen aimed a long, measuring look at Daniel. “I’m not sure sharing all of this with a human was wise.”
Daniel glanced at Melody as she stood at the counter, paying for her purchases. “Quinn trusted her, and Quinn’s sister is high princess of Atlantis.” He shrugged. “Good enough for me. Are you still planning to help her with her plans concerning the bank?”
“I don’t know. I made a promise that I would, and yet your mission sounds more urgent.” Reisen ran a hand through his hair. “I’m not sure what to do.”
“Fulfill your promise and help Melody with the bank,” Daniel advised. “I don’t believe in coincidences. There might be some reason why the Emperor is being tampered with in the very same place that the head of this banker/ vampire consortium is operating.”
“That sounds improbable,” Reisen said.
“I know, but almost every critical event in this war has ranged from improbable to impossible. We have to keep this consortium from gaining a foothold, or the rebel cause may be doomed.”
Melody returned with a bulging bag and a tray with three more coffees, and Daniel took his cup and stood. “I thank you for the coffee, but I must return in case Serai has woken. We’ll rest here during the day, and then we’re heading out as soon as the sun goes down.”
Melody nodded. “What do you need? Do you have money?”
“Yes, and credit cards enough even to make this overpriced place shiver with glee,” he said dryly. “One benefit of living forever, I suppose. Do you need money? I know the rebels are chronically underfunded.”
Melody tilted her head. “Yes, and since I’m a bona fide computer genius, I happen to have traced a few of our extraordinarily large donations back to a certain vampire primator. Thank you.”
“I’m not Primator. I quit,” he said tersely. Tired of explaining that one.
“You think somebody else could do that job better?” Reisen demanded. “Poseidon’s balls, man, Atlantis needs allies in high places.”
“Yes, and everything I do or have ever done should be predicated on what Atlantis needs, of course,” Daniel drawled. “Especially since it was Atlantean soldiers who dragged Serai away from me when I lay dying on the ground all those millennia ago. Atlantean mages and priests who decided to imprison her, so she could serve as brood mare to your royal studs in some distant future. Oh, yeah. Whatever Atlantis wants, I’m all over that.”
Reisen’s eyes flashed emerald fire, and he rose halfway out of his seat before he reconsidered and sat back down heavily. “Well. I’d be a liar or a fool if I tried to pretend that my goals have never collided with those of the powers that be in Atlantis. But the world needs good men to do good things, or it will be overrun with evil before too much longer.”
Melody, who’d sat silently watching them during the exchange, her eyes enormous, suddenly glared at Reisen and elbowed him in the side. “Hey! Good men and good women, thank you very much. Now maybe we could make with the friendship and figure out our day.”
She pointed to Daniel before he could speak. “You. If you’re going to be hiking at all, and I bet you are, if they’re skulking around trying to hide this gem you talked about, you’ll need gear and provisions. I’ll get someone to bring it to you.”
Daniel inclined his head in thanks.
“You,” she said, turning to Reisen, who seemed to be trying hard not to smile as the small human female put them both in their respective places. “I know you want to help Serai. But I need you, too. Can we compromise? You help me today and tonight, and then we’ll both find Daniel and Serai and help them. Both objectives met, and Melody doesn’t get killed while trying to rob a bank all by herself.”
“I will not let anything happen to you,” Reisen said, his eyes flashing again.
Daniel thought about the arrogance in the warrior’s voice, and a realization came to him. “Is it Lord Reisen, by any chance?”
Reisen nodded, though bitterness was evident in the hard lines of his face. “It was. Reisen of Mycenae. But I thought I knew a better path for Atlantis, and my error cost me everything.”
“You attempted a coup, or so I heard,” Daniel said.
“Conlan had been gone, prisoner to your evil goddess Anubisa, for seven long years. I thought he was dead, and Atlantis deserved real leadership, not a group of shell-shocked warriors waiting for a dead prince to return,” Reisen said, each word falling like a chunk of granite to the table.
“But he was alive,” Daniel said, stating the obvious, realizing how mu
ch it must have cost the warrior to realize he’d been wrong.
“He was alive,” Reisen agreed. “And so a coup became treachery, and I lost a hand in the process. No less than I deserve, or so most of Atlantis thinks.”
“Then they suck. I’m sure you did what you thought was best,” Melody said hotly. “What else can any of us do, especially in these crazy times? I’m one of the worst cyber criminals in the world, probably, and do you think I ever envisioned a life of crime? No, no, and no. But what I do is crucial to the rebel cause, and a little threat like a life sentence in Alcatraz isn’t going to stop me.”
“I don’t think they use Alcatraz to house prisoners anymore. It’s a tourist attraction now,” Daniel pointed out, trying to help the obviously distraught woman.
She rolled her eyes. “So missing the point, dude. Anyway, we need to go. Like, now. Our meet with the woman from the bank is coming up soon. We’ll be in touch as soon as we can.”
She dug around in her ever-present backpack for a while and then handed him a small phone. “Untraceable, disposable cell. Not much use in the canyons, of course, but my number is programmed in.”
“I can contact Serai on the Atlantean shared mental pathway, if that is possible between us,” Reisen said, and Daniel quashed a momentary pang of jealousy at the idea. Of course her fellow Atlanteans would be able to communicate with her in ways that Daniel never could. It was perfectly reasonable.
It was his own problem that “perfectly reasonable” was stabbing him in the gut.
“Good luck to you. I hope your meeting is successful. It would be very helpful to discover who exactly is involved in this scheme.”
They stood, and Melody picked up the remaining cup of coffee and the bag of pastries and held them out to Daniel. “Take these for Serai, okay? And tell her . . . tell her I’d like to get to know her. I bet she could use a girlfriend, since hers are all, well, you know what I mean.”
“I’m sure she could. Thank you.”
Daniel headed back to his hotel room, where Serai hopefully still slept. So many strange alliances and friendships had formed during the course of the rebellion. Life and hope always found a way, and perhaps it had taken one small human with blue-tipped hair and far too much makeup to remind him of that.
It wouldn’t be the strangest thing to have happened to him since that fateful day when Atlantis was attacked. Not by a long shot.
Serai woke to an empty room and lay there, disoriented, for a few seconds until it all came back to her. The escape from Atlantis. The danger she was in and the mission she must complete. The battle. Daniel.
Daniel.
Her cheeks flamed as she remembered what he’d done to her—what they’d done together. In the very bed in which she now lay. She lifted the sheet and saw that, yes, she was still shamelessly nude, so she could banish any thought that she might have only dreamed the events of the night. Her lips curved into a smile as she remembered the glorious things he’d done to her oh-so-willing body, but then she sat up in a rush, electrified by a sudden thought.
Was she even still a maiden at all?
The door opened as if in answer to her unspoken question, and she gasped until she realized it was Daniel, entering quietly and holding a cup and a small paper bag.
“You went for breakfast? Without me?”
He looked up and smiled at her. A little bit smugly, actually, and she blushed again and clutched the sheets to her chest all the more tightly.
“I left a note for you,” he said, indicating the pillow next to her with a nod. As he’d said, there was a note, his bold masculine handwriting slanted across the page.
Gone to get coffee and make plans with Reisen. Back soon.—Daniel
She realized it was the first time she’d ever seen his handwriting. “It looks like you. Your writing. Bold and unhesitating.”
He crossed the room and handed her the cup, which smelled deliciously of coffee and spice. She took a sip as he sat next to her on the bed.
“I was certainly bold last night,” he said, and she choked on the coffee. He grinned at her, that masculine triumph even more strongly written on his face now.
“Am I still a maiden?” She blurted out the question before embarrassment could stop her, and was intrigued to see the hot red flush that climbed up his cheekbones.
“I—What? Yes. Yes, I mean, you’re . . . you’re still, well, what we did, ah, I mean—”
She helped him out before he strangled on his answer. Oddly enough, his embarrassment helped her past her own. “It’s a simple question. Did you, ah, push past any obstruction with your fingers last night?”
He swallowed audibly, almost a gulping sound, and suddenly she wanted to laugh.
“No, I was careful not to, you know, I didn’t want to hurt you, only bring you pleasure, and . . . oh, hell, are you sorry?”
Pain creased his face, and she sobered at the idea that she’d caused him to regret any part of the magical moments he’d shared with her.
“No, Daniel. It was a gift, what you gave to me last night. I only wondered if I were still a maiden because it’s a burden I so long to be rid of. Without my maidenhood, I lose my value in the game of kings and their need for breeding stock,” she said bitterly.
He took the cup out of her hand and placed it gently on the table beside the bed, and then pulled her into his arms. “Oh, sweetheart. It’s not like that anymore. Virginity isn’t a prized commodity in today’s world, at least not in most areas of the world. People are valued for who they are, not for the lack of bedding experience.”
She snuggled into his embrace, content to hold and be held by him for a few minutes, before responding. “Can you be sure it is so in Atlantis? And if yes, why didn’t they release us long ago?”
“I don’t know. I can’t speak to how things are in Atlantis, but I have met Riley and I doubt Conlan wanted her for her virginity. She’s past the age when women . . . Ah, well, anyway, I doubt it.”
She looked up into his face and smiled to see her big, tough warrior vampire mage turning red again. An impish idea took hold of her. “Should we talk about our feelings now?”
The look of horror on his face made her laugh out loud.
“I was kidding, silly man. Some things have not changed in all these years, I see, and some subjects are still better discussed with one’s girlfriends.”
Daniel shook his head. “You must be feeling better if you’re up to torturing me, you little imp.”
She tried on what she hoped was a seductive smile, and he bent his head to hers and captured her mouth in a long and deliciously satisfying kiss. She was quite breathless by the time he raised his head, and little tingles raced through her nerve endings.
“Maybe we should talk about this,” he said, jumping up to pace across the floor and away from her. He had a slightly panicked expression on his face, and she wondered what she’d done wrong.
Or right.
She experimented by letting the sheet drop, just the barest inch or so, so that more of the upper slopes of her breasts were visible, and Daniel’s eyes darkened.
“You’re playing dangerous games with me,” he said. “We are trapped in this room until the sun goes down, and I can make very sure there is no question at all about your maiden status by that time, if you wish it so.”
It was her turn to freeze as she realized she might be playing with fire, and she wasn’t quite sure she was ready to face that kind of flame. She pulled the sheet back up.
“I’m not . . . I don’t—”
“Not yet?” He smiled but looked disappointed enough to satisfy her pride.
“Perhaps not ever, Mage,” she said haughtily, to cover her sudden shyness. “Do not take my acceptance of your advances for granted.”
He just laughed. “I wasn’t the one draping myself oh-so-prettily in that bedsheet, Princess.”
She blushed again and then lifted one shoulder. “Perhaps we should move on. If you will turn your back, I will dress, and we
can discuss your meeting with Reisen.”
He shook his head and his gaze seared over her. She wouldn’t be surprised if he could see right through the sheet. “I don’t think so. I told you once already that I wouldn’t miss an opportunity to see your beautiful body, and you have no reason to be shy with me. I touched and tasted every inch of that perfect skin last night.”
She caught her breath at the memory of his dark head bent against her breasts, and for a crazy moment, she was tempted to toss the sheet aside, walk nude across the floor, and throw her arms around him. He’d be the one unable to catch his breath then.
Before she could decide one way or the other, he sighed. “Okay. I’m no gentleman, but I can pretend to be one for long enough for you to get dressed. We do have a lot to discuss. But move quickly before my instincts win out over this moment of chivalry and I pounce on you.”
He turned around and she jumped out of the bed and ran to the bathroom, not stopping until she closed the door behind her.
His deep laughter followed her into the bathroom, and she listened through the door.
“Oh, sweetheart. You do have the most glorious ass I’ve ever seen.”
She looked at herself in the mirror and confirmed that her face was every bit as bright red as she’d feared, but even as the wave of shyness and embarrassment swept over her, she also admitted to a very feminine feeling of satisfaction.
The most glorious bottom he’d ever seen.
Not bad for an eleven-thousand-year-old woman.
Chapter 14