by Linsey Hall
Was he really masturbating in the shower? She remembered the hard bulge of his erection pressing against her. Yep, he was definitely relieving some pressure. The idea of him naked under the spray of water made her clench the sheets in her hands. What did he look like? Was he tan or pale? Which hand was he using? Both? Did he stroke quickly or slowly? Roughly or gently?
Was he thinking about her? She felt a coil of heat between her legs, reminding her of being pressed against the wall by Cadan’s hard body.
She began to glide her hand down her stomach to the sensitive flesh between her thighs. Her skin was soft under her fingertips, and in just a few short minutes the dreadful pressure and want would be gone. She’d become quite proficient over the years.
The sound of the shower turning off had her cursing softly and withdrawing her hand. He would be out any minute, and there was no time for her to take the edge off like he had. Maybe it had been a bad idea to stop him earlier.
She’d only lain there a moment when the bathroom door creaked open. Too curious to resist, she lifted one eyelash infinitesimally. Cadan walked out of the darkened bathroom, rubbing a towel against his hair.
She swallowed hard. He was dressed only in tight, black boxer briefs. The snug cotton concealed nothing, and his semi-erect shaft still pushed against the fabric. She dragged her gaze away from the enticing sight, taking in the rigid muscles of his abdomen and the broad planes of his pectoral muscles. He had those muscles along the sides of his stomach, the ones that led down his pelvis like an arrow. This way, they said.
The arm holding the towel flexed, showing off a bicep that could surely lift her off the ground. She pursed her lips. She wouldn’t make a peep.
But it was close. Her eyes were drawn back down, and after one wistful glance at his tight briefs, she took in strong, bulging thighs and sculpted calves. He looked like a damn Calvin Klein underwear model, but with a man’s muscles from work rather than built in the gym.
She’d clearly lost her mind. Of all the thoughts she should be occupying her brain with right now, that wasn’t one of them.
Moonlight filtering in through lace curtains highlighted the muscles of his back, which were sculpted like those of a Greek statue. She’d never been particularly interested in Greek art or history before, but perhaps she’d better look into it a little more.
She couldn’t look away as he pulled on a pair of jeans and dragged the chair over to the window. After sinking into it, he gazed out into the night, his eyes intense. But when weren’t his eyes intense?
God, she would be so embarrassed if someone could read her mind. She’d never dedicated this much synapse activity to a mere man before. It was beyond embarrassing.
But he wasn’t just any man, and it would be so easy to roll over and crook her finger at him.
~~~
A sharp cry broke through the early dawn stillness. Cadan sat bolt upright in the chair by the window and was at Diana’s side in seconds. She tossed weakly in her sleep, her face twisted with fear. A terrible trapped-animal noise came from her throat.
“Let go,” she cried.
Her fist made contact with the side of his head when he tried to keep her from thrashing. Definitely a nightmare.
Cadan gently gripped her shoulders and shook her lightly. “Diana, wake up.”
She thrashed, trying to lash out again. His hand trembled as he stroked her head. What was she dreaming of that terrified her so much?
“Please, lassie, wake up.” When she did nothing, he shook her again, slightly harder this time.
Diana gasped, and her eyes flew open in confusion. “What happened? Where am I?”
“Shhh, shhh.” He gathered her into his arms. “It’s all right. You just had a nightmare.”
She trembled in his arms. She seemed smaller than she ever had, and protectiveness welled within him, which turned to panic when she started to cry.
“Come on now, lassie, what is it? Doona cry.”
She began to gasp through her sobs.
Oh, shite. He didn’t know how to make this better, so he cradled her and stroked her hair. He’d do anything to keep her safe. But how was he supposed to protect her from dreams?
He sat up and gathered her closer to him, tucking her head underneath his chin. It felt so right to hold her. “It was a dream about your past.” There was no question in his mind.
“Yes,” she said, hiccupping, exhaustion tingeing her voice.
“Tell me about it.” He hoped dread didn’t color his. He couldn’t stifle the fear of what she might have dreamed. “Why were you upset?”
“I was her again, but I wasn’t dying this time. I’ve always been dying in the dream. I’ve felt everything—the pain, the horror—and I thought that was the worst feeling in the world. But I was wrong.”
His stomach turned. She’d felt Boudica’s death? “How many times have you felt it?”
“More than I can count since I was a child. But it’s always the same dream—an overwhelming sense of betrayal. And the knife.”
The knife. He swallowed. “What was the dream now? What could be worse than dying so many times?”
His stomach turned. He had no doubt that she remembered it all accurately—the feelings, both physical and emotional. They wouldn’t be normal dreams, created from imagination and suggestion. They would be ingrained memories, which in Boudica’s case were full of tragedy and misery.
“I’m tied up and being carried over the shoulder of the same man who holds me while I die. I couldn’t… I couldn’t control any of it.” She pushed away from him and climbed out of bed. It was cold in the room, but she didn’t seem to notice as she began to pace, her eyes distant, with the waxy look of a person about to be ill.
“It was cold. Raining in a never-ending drizzle. I was so angry with him, probably because he was abducting me, and I was screaming at him, trying to reason with him. But he wouldn’t listen, and carried me to a small round house in the middle of the woods. I could only think, Not now. He can’t keep me from this. I must be there. Everything depends upon this.” She stopped by the window, her hands tightly gripping the stone sill as she gazed out.
“But he left me there. Tied up and alone.” She drew in a ragged breath. “While my daughters needed me. God, I was scared. And mad. Maybe that’s why I felt betrayed when I died.”
“You won’t die again. I’m going to protect you, lassie.” His voice, his vow, was fierce.
She turned and gave him a wan but appreciative smile. Then her gaze turned questioning. “But why did he lock me up? Make me a prisoner?”
Cadan looked away.
“Tell me. This is something you know, isn’t it? Who are the girls? Did I really have daughters?”
“You know that I canna say, lassie.” Would he if he could? He knew now how much her dreams must bother her, how much she hated being out of control. This was the worst iteration yet of her nightmares.
“No, I know that you won’t say.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Esha tapped her foot and scowled at the zero that popped up next to Missed Calls on her phone. As if he could sense her anger, the Chairman stalked around her workspace, tail twitching. It had been two days since she had gone to Warren with her information about the underground. She hadn’t heard from him, and who knew what could be happening down there?
“Doesn’t he realize this is important?” she asked the Chairman as she paced.
He hissed absently, as if he were saying bastard. At least, that’s what she liked to think. He was probably just sweetening her up for potential tuna.
“That was the biggest mess of evil I’ve ever seen.”
She was fed up. Fed up with not being taken seriously, fed up with being an outcast, and fed up with Warren. She was done playing Little Miss Nice Soulceress, and she was going to do something about it. The Chairman looked at her balefully.
“All right. I guess I’ve never been Little Miss Nice Soulceress. But let’s go. I want to check out the un
derground again.”
She was feeling good today. She’d passed by a huge contingent of witches this afternoon—off to some party she hadn’t been invited to, probably—and she’d picked up an enormous burst of power from them. They would barely notice the lack, and it would regenerate anyway, but she was ready for anything that came at her. She was almost drunk with the power.
“Get a move on, Chairman, we’re blowing this lemonade stand.”
She grabbed her keys off the table near the door and sailed out of the room, heading for her car. She didn’t want aetherwalking to burn off some of her power and the Chairman loved the ride, often standing with his front paws on the dash while he stared intently out the front window.
Soon, they were creeping through the underground gloom once again. Only this time, they knew where they were headed. The Chairman stalked ahead of her, not bothering with minor scents scattered here and there. He was hunting big game, and this mysterious evil was the biggest they’d ever found. They reached the large chamber in less than thirty minutes, anxious to see if it had changed.
“Slow down, Chairman,” Esha whispered.
They hovered in the entrance, peering into the darkness as she made her fireball glow brighter. It smelled just as stale and rancid as it had the other night. Once again, she had to amp up the power to the orb of light in her hand. A flashlight would have worked as well, but it wasn’t nearly as cool. Apparently she only cared about wasting power when it came to things that made her look less like a badass. Oh well, a girl had to have her priorities.
As the light expanded, Esha made out the edges of writhing shadows. The Chairman hissed when one leapt out toward them, but they were still a good twenty feet away. Hadn’t the shadows been farther from the entrance the other night? Yes, definitely.
Yet these shadows were big and strong enough that she could almost get a feeling for the nature of the evil. She breathed deeply and exhaled with a shudder.
“Chairman, come here.” Contact with her familiar would amplify her powers and possibly allow her to figure out where the shadows were from.
The Chairman wound himself around her legs, staring intently, ceaselessly, at the shadows. His citrine eyes glowed, and when Esha closed hers, images and feelings began to fly at her from the tangle of shadows. Desperation, fear, rage, and a sick kind of joy made her stomach turn. Souls gathered and writhed around one stronger force.
Images began to form behind her eyelids—not of a person, as she expected, but of a place that was gloomy gray, broken only by details of black and red. A river. A boat, with a ferryman standing in the bow, punting his way across the river. People—no, souls—huddled behind him in the boat.
She focused harder and her effort drew her farther into the world her vision had entered. A great beast rose before her, like a dog with three heads. It guarded a gate, allowing some souls through, but keeping others from leaving. A great force had gathered behind him, pushing to escape, the souls reaching out to her, almost touching her with cold and clammy claws of misery and desperation.
She sucked in a bracing breath and went deeper into the vision, passing wandering souls and desolate trees. She caught a glimpse of fields and made it into a copse of trees before a shock of power hit her.
She stumbled backward, gasping, desperate to leave the vision. She was near the source, but the power was too great. If she stayed until she was too weak, she’d be trapped. Forever.
Trembling, she focused her power with an effort that felt like she was crushing her organs, and ripped herself from the vision.
She stumbled back into the wall. Screamed. A huge figure bore down upon her, humanoid in shape, but details of its form were indistinguishable from the endless dark that surrounded it.
Terrified, she threw her fireball at the figure. As it glanced off its cheek, it illuminated his face.
“Warren? What are you doing here?” she cried.
Had he come from the shadows? What the hell had he been doing there? She hadn’t seen him when she’d gone in.
“Gods damn it, Esha. I told you no’ to come back here.” A red welt streaked across a glass-sharp cheekbone where the fireball had grazed him. His face was all hard angles, a beautiful composition of living sculpture animated by rage.
When he reached her, he grabbed her arm and jerked her toward him, forcing her to look up to meet his eyes. She hated the vulnerability of the stance, particularly with him. She rarely had to tilt her head to look at anyone. She stood nearly six feet tall, but Warren towered over her by at least six inches.
“Why did you come back here?” He all but growled the words, his full lips curving in a snarl.
Heart thundering in her chest, she pushed him, her hand making no dent in the firm muscle of his chest. He didn’t budge an inch, so she shoved harder.
“To do what you were supposed to. Damn it, Warren, you didn’t even—” Her words were swallowed by the fear that leapt into her throat when the shadows expand and pulsed menacingly behind Warren’s back. She swore that a great black claw reached out. “We need to go, Warren, now.”
“No’ until I’m done with you.” He shook her arm, sounding like he wanted to punish her.
What did he intend to do? Turn her over his knee? She wouldn’t necessarily argue, but now was so not the time. The portal was expanding and shrinking repeatedly, its energy growing by the second.
“Warren, this is bad. We need to go. Now.” She looked around for the Chairman. “Come here, Chairman, we’re getting out of here.”
The cat was at her side in an instant. Strongest together, he never left her side in times of trouble. The Chairman twined himself around her ankles.
“Warren, wrap your arm around my waist.” She shot him a look that said, Do it or regret it.
“You want to aetherwalk,” he said, wariness in his voice.
“Yeah, trust me, I’m the fastest way out of here and you really want to get out of here right now.”
Warren hesitated, but once again, her face must have spoken volumes and he wrapped his arm around her waist in a kind of embrace. Trying to ignore the feel of his arm around her because it would break her concentration, she closed her eyes and focused on her flat.
When her eyes snapped open, they were standing in the middle of the room. The Chairman untwined himself and sauntered off. Warren’s eyes were still closed and she took a second to appreciate the feel of his arm wrapped around her. Strong, but not bulky with too much muscle. Perfect. It felt so good just to be held.
Regretfully, she tapped his shoulder.
He stiffened and looked down at her but didn’t remove his arm from around her waist.
“Damn it, Esha, you scared the shite out of me.” His brow was creased, his eyes worried.
Concern? For her? Her chest warmed while her head reeled. But nay, that couldn’t possibly be right. He couldn’t be concerned for her. He didn’t even like her. She frowned up at him, confused.
~~~
Esha’s frown snapped Warren back to reality and he jerked his hand away from her waist, regretful and yet relieved to break the contact. He had been worried and having his arm wrapped around her made it all seem so much more real. So much worse, the risk she’d taken.
But his arm still burned with the memory of her. She had a long, lean, supple kind of strength, one that was suited to her work as a mercenary. Despite the feeling of being sucked through a straw while aetherwalking, the soft press of her breasts against his chest caught his mind in a snare. Their softness was a contrast to her lean, muscular form. The feel of them would follow him, of that he was sure. Straight into his dreams.
When he met her eyes, there was fear bright within. She worried her bottom lip with white teeth that contrasted with the red of her mouth. Her garnet lips and amber eyes were the only flashes of color in an otherwise pale face.
She looked like a sin he wanted to commit.
Bloody hell, celibacy had never been this hard. He hadn’t been truly interested in a wo
man in centuries. Why this one? She had the ability to really see him, and it freaked him the hell out. And on the whole, soulceresses shouldn’t be trusted. If only he could make himself remember that.
“Why did you go back there alone?”
“I already told you that.” The confusion cleared from her face and annoyance rang in her tone. “You weren’t doing your damned job. You were supposed to check out the tunnel, but I didn’t hear back from you for days.”
His mind buzzed with anger. “That’s what you think? That’s why you disobeyed me and went back to the underground?”
“Disobeyed?” She laughed. “I’m not yours to command. And you didn’t do anything about my warning, so I had to go back.”
He dragged a hand down his face. “Damn it, that’s no’ what I meant. I just doona want you getting hurt. I sent two guardians to the chamber to guard it and asked Lea to check if something like this has happened before. We haven’t learned anything yet, so I dinna call you. You’re jumping the damn gun on this.”
“I didn’t see the guards.”
“How do you think I knew you were there?”
“So they were hiding?”
“Of course. Do you think we advertise our presence when performing reconnaissance?”
“Fine. Whatever. You tried, but they can’t see what I can.” She inhaled deeply, then said, “It’s a partial portal to the fucking Roman afterworld.”
“As in, hell?” he asked.
She nodded. “Probably Erebus. It was pretty depressing, but it didn’t look as torturous as Tartarus or as nice as Elysium.” She described what she’d seen and he had to agree.
“Well, shit.”
She wouldn’t joke about this. Portals to the afterworlds opened rarely and were always bad news. Maintaining peace between the afterworlds was a primary reason the university had been founded. A big part of that involved keeping the denizens of the afterworlds where they ought to be.
Now that an afterworld was threatening to open onto earth, they had a real problem. It might have been easier if it had been a heaven, or even one of the middle-of-the-road afterworlds, but a godsdamned hell? Souls would flood out as soon as the portal was strong enough to carry them through the aether.