by Alix Sharpe
“That was stupid of me to keep it from you—“
“Hale. You never slept with her.”
“What?” he said, attempting to sit up.
“Soren had a memory block, so I could only See patches, but when I looked into your memories I pieced it together. Soren poisoned you both. The Elves wanted him to abduct a Mage, so he slipped a drug into one of Angeline’s bottles. You shared it with her. When he came for her, he saw you were there too, so he abandoned his plan. But then he found Myra and decided to try to take her instead.”
“Then why did the Elves try to kill Myra that day?” he said.
“I don’t know,” she said, “Soren had a block on that part of his mind. Maybe the two that attacked them didn’t know about the plan, or maybe she said no to their recruitment. Hale. If they really are recruiting wizards…”
“Then we will be the ones to stop them. Our platoon can do anything now that we’ve got a badass Field Diviner.”
“Badass huh?” she smirked. “Well, I mean I am pretty much a legend at camp now. Everyone’s talking about how I took out 12 Elves with Hale Draven and came out with barely a scratch. You, meanwhile…”
He laughed and pulled her to his chest.
They lie there for a while, quietly pondering everything they’d been through in such a short time.
Something dark nagged at the corner of his mind. “Keira. What do you think the Elf meant, when he said they’d take Earth ‘back’?”
“I’m not sure. I thought that was weird too. Demonic delusions, maybe? Elf propaganda?”
“Or there’s something we don’t know about.”
“Or that,” she said, softly. “Whatever it is. We’ll figure it out together. But first you have to get better,” Keira reached up and brushed his cheek. “I already told the Captain everything, we can make some moves while you heal.”
“Everything? Even the part about—“
“Everything,” she said, sitting up.
“Shit,” he laughed, “now it’s going to be even more awkward between us. The past 3 years we have been assuming we slept together. Now we’ll have to not talk about not talking about it. Hey. Why did we wake up naked together then?”
“Because Soren’s poison made you both sweat. It was a pretty entertaining memory to watch. You both stumbled around the tent, taking your clothes off, not even acknowledging each other’s nudity.”
“I’m glad my being poisoned amuses you,” Hale rolled his eyes.
“Maybe that’s my consolation for dealing with you,” she grinned. Then her smile fell and her face grew solemn. “I’m sorry Hale. About everything. About believing Soren. About Jessa.” She reached out and squeezed his hand. “Dreams are from one perspective. For too long I’ve only trusted what I can See. I’ve completely forgotten how to listen. I trust you Hale. I need you to teach me, not just how to develop my Sight, but how to look deeper.”
“You already know how to do that, Keira.” He laughed gently and shook his head. He took a deep breath. He had to tell her. No more holding back. “When you looked at me, you saw so much more than just a soldier, so much more than just my past. I love that with you, there’s a future. It’s a future I want to fight for now, with you by my side.”
He stopped for a second and looked deep into those big, grey eyes.
“I love you, Keira Clearwater. I know it’s only been a matter of days but I just know, Keira. This must be like what it’s like being a Diviner. I just know.”
Keira laughed and leaned closer, planting a sweet kiss on the tip of his bruised nose. “That’s not at all what it’s like. Divination is just patches and wisps, obscurities up for translation. What you’re describing sounds much more like Mage work.”
“How so?” he asked, attempting to raise an eyebrow but for the shiny new scar tugging against him. He smiled and winced at the same time.
“Because Mages pull nothing out of thin air and make it into something,” she said, biting her lip.
“Like this?” Hale said, flicking his wrist. Nothing happened.
Keira laughed and pulled his amulet out of her pocket, the blue pendant sparkling in the early morning light. She leaned forward and placed it gently around his neck.
“Like… this?” he said, trying again. Jones the black cat manifested on top of the scratchy hospital blanket. The cat blinked rapidly, confusion contorting its tiny, adorable face.
“Just like that. You might not be able to touch him, but he’s real to you.” Keira leaned forward and kissed him once more, this time on the lips, this time slowly. “Just like this,” she said, whispering against his mouth. “Just like us. I love you too, Hale Draven… despite everything in that head of yours.” She grinned, teasing.
Jones the cat leapt off the bed with an indignant meow as Hale shifted beneath Keira. He lifted his unwrapped arm and caressed her cheek, pulling her in deeper, parting her lips with his tongue.
“You need to hurry up and get better,” Keira said, panting heavily as she pulled away.
“Why?” he said with a devilish grin.
“Oh, you know why,” she giggled, leaning in for more.
“No,” Hale said, flicking his wrist behind her. “You better show me what you mean.”
Keira turned and looked back over her shoulder. A brick wall had appeared at the foot of Hale’s bed, rising all the way to the ceiling. “They’re going to know that’s out of place.”
“Then let’s hope any passerby are clever enough to figure out what it means. Unlike you and your tent with the boots…”
“Stop,” Keira laughed, “don’t remind me.”
“But it’s such a funny story,” he said, smirking as he pulled her closer. “Better distract me before I retell it in detail.”
Keira rocked against him, silencing him with a kiss. She moaned into his mouth, scooting closer. “I want you so bad,” she whispered, nipping an unbruised section of his jaw.
He grabbed her hand and slid it down his torso, barely able to hold back his wolfish smirk. “As you can see, my lower half is practically unharmed.” He brushed her palm over the bulge tenting under the sheets.
“Clearly,” she said, letting out a short laugh. “Good thing when those Elves were aiming for your ‘vital organs’ they had a different understanding of how Hale Draven defines ‘vital’.”
“It’s vital I get inside you immediately,” he said, voice strained with arousal.
Keira languidly slid off the bed as he watched, her lack of urgency irritating, yet exhilarating, all at once. Hale laughed, she’d be toying with him until they were 90.
She unclasped her pants slowly and let them fall to the floor, her panties along with them. She climbed under the blanket and straddled him, her warm thighs embracing him on either side.
“Hale,” she said, hovering above him, “how about a little mood lighting? Candlelight just won’t do. I’m thinking something celestial. I’m about to rock your world.”
“You are my world, Keira, and I’m going to rock you so hard, you’ll be the one seeing stars. Galaxies. All of space and time. Anything, and everything, for you.”
Thank you for reading!
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Turn to the next page for an exclusive sneak peek at the next in this series:
Flames Untamed (Spells of Surrenders Book Two)
Epilogue: Sneak Peek
Spells of Surrender Book Two: Flames Untamed (Draft)
Those asshole Elves just did not want to die, not even for the great Kyle Kallen. He’d been tracking the bastards for two whole days after he found that body they’d left behind. Then he got careless and stood upwind. They caught his scent, which he knew couldn’t be pleasant at
that point. Not that those reeking, grey flesh-bags smelled any better.
At least he’d managed to crush one of them with a boulder. He leapt over the pulverized body as the other two circled him with blades raised. His flames danced in his hands as he waited for one of them to make the next move. Nasty shitheads. You hear the word Elf and you picture Marilyn-blonde pansies in silver dresses gazing at the stars. That was not what Kyle Kallen was dealing with. Only thing those slimy monsters had in common with the Nancy Boys of fairytales were the pointy ears.
Kyle watched as the two sets of beady, jaundice yellow eyes studied him closely. Well, one and a half sets. He tagged one of them with a rock to the skull earlier and by the looks of the bloody, smashed up socket, it didn’t appear the monster would be using that eye any time soon. That’s okay, Kyle intended to blast his head off and save him a visit to the optometrist.
“Why’d you take the goddamn amulet?” Kyle said, pushing a little more heat into his flames for effect.
“Prrretty,” hissed One-eyed-Joe.
“I know I am,” Kyle said, flipping his filthy, shoulder-length blonde hair, lips curling into an amused smirk, “but I don’t swing that way. Ladies only.” Er. “Human ladies only.” He added as an afterthought.
“Funny man shall diiiie,” said the other.
“Okay, serious as shit,” Kyle said stepping back over the splay of Elf guts underfoot. “Why did you take that dude’s amulet after you killed him? I know it’s not to get all glammed up. You’re ugly as sin, there’s no fixing that mug.”
The one-eyed Elf tucked a claw inside the front of its tattered tunic and flashed a hint of the stolen black amulet. Black huh? A Diviner. Poor bastard probably hadn’t stood a chance against those monsters. Kyle flexed his arm muscles, preparing to obliterate the smug dickhead demon.
He barely had time to move as a shadow shifted in the corner of his eye. A whistling zipped past his ear. The metallic clang of a knife smacked a rock behind him.
“Oh, tricky, tricky,” he said, angling himself to get both Elves solidly back into view. “Next time try dangling a pretty lady in front of me. Might distract me for a little longer.” He chuckled to himself at the opportunity to say something completely cheesy. “Oh wait, there won’t be a next time.”
At least he cracked himself up. He had to, seeing as how he was on his own. But it was perfectly fine. He didn’t need any help to take down a couple of bloated bat-faces anyway.
He reeled his arm back and pitched a ball of flame at one Elf, and then the other. They knocked them both right back at him sending them ricocheting off their swords.
“Ah you guys are a bit quicker than your buddy, Sticky, over there, aren’t you?” Kyle said, clapping his hands together, conjuring a much larger, singular ball of fire. He needed to take one of them out, he couldn’t deal with this whole two at a time bullshit. One-on-one was the only way to declare yourself a true winner, but these crusty cretins had no honor.
Then again. What did he know about honor? It didn’t matter. He didn’t have time for a little guilt trip down memory lane. Not when it was monster crushin’ time.
He stepped backwards again, toward the edge of the hill the boulder had gone flying down. Both Elves inched forward after him. Just like he’d planned. When One-eyed-Joe hit the mark, Kyle launched his fiery comet. It wooshed away above his attackers’ heads and for a split second a glint of victory gleamed in all 3 yellow, jaundiced eyes. Then with a raging crackle, a huge black branch fell and pierced One-eyed-Joe through his one remaining eye. The Elf collapsed instantly, bones cracking in its chest under the weight of the fallen limb.
Its brethren hissed and flung another blade at Kyle. This time he was the one to knock the projectile from its path. An amused grin pulled at his lips. “Sorry about your friend. Now you can see why I don’t keep any myself.”
Kyle pulled a throwing knife from his belt and pressed the blade between both of his palms. He gritted his teeth as the steel instantly grew hot in his hands.
The Elf lunged at him.
Kyle tossed the dagger up and caught it by the hilt.
The Elf raised its sword, prepared to counter his attack.
Kyle flung the knife at the beast.
Metal clanked on metal as the weapons connected. And there it was again. That split second of victory sparking in those disgusting sallow eyes. But the moment that red-hot blade met with the Elven sword, those sparks of victory were replaced with sparks of fire. A spray of glowing embers showered down directly into the Elf’s hideous face. It dropped its guard for a second, but a second was all it took for Kyle to take off its foul head and send it rolling across the forest floor. The disembodied skull came to rest right next to No-eyed-Joe.
“Friends forever I guess,” Kyle laughed to himself as he wiped his long-knife on his pants. He leaned down and picked up his throwing knife from the ground and slid it back into his belt, blade still hot to the touch.
He sauntered over and nudged the bloody, bodiless head out of the way. He dipped down and heaved the massive branch off the crumpled Elf body and shoved it aside. He snatched the golden chain and ripped the amulet from No-eyed-Joe’s neck, its punctured skull bobbing from the force.
“Goddammit,” Kyle huffed as he lifted the amulet and looked straight through the circular gold fitting. He’d popped out and shattered the black pendant that should have resided within. Those damn things might have been made with tempered glass, but they were far from shatterproof as far as he’d seen. Granted, he tended to play a little rougher than your average warrior, but still.
He shoved the broken amulet into his pack and cracked his neck. Now that he’d concluded that chapter in his adventures of Elf-stalking, he needed to find a new storyline. Well, maybe he hadn’t completely ended it. He figured he should probably go check where that boulder had rolled off to in case he’d blocked a road or something.
He stepped through the trees and crested the hill. Was that—
He squinted into the blinding sunlight. Yes. It was. A totally naked chick kneeling on the ground, ass in the air. Perhaps a higher power sought to reward him for his demon-slaying prowess. He chuckled and shook his head. Either that or One-eyed-Joe had actually killed him and this was heaven. He could tell even from that distance: that ass was angelic. He bit back his curious grin and began his trek down the hill.
As he got closer he realized the bare-assed babe was less kneeling, and more frantically patting around on the ground. He fought the urge to roll his eyes. The hot ones were always crazy.
Then he spotted the rut marks in the mud at his feet. He followed the path with his eyes. The tracks ran right by the woman. Shit. She wasn’t a lunatic, he’d thrown a giant rock at her and fucked something up. He had to help her.
He sprinted the rest of the way down the hill, grass whipping at his legs as he tore towards her. With less than 10 yards between them, she jumped up and spun to face him, knives raised and no apparent shits given to the fact that she was completely naked.