by Evi Asher
He watched her burn, becoming a pile of ashes at his feet…
Now, there is hope he might be able to get his She, his one true mate, back.
There might be a miracle that allows him to hold her again. Or will she be snatched from him before he has a chance to claim her as his own?
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Forever Burning
Copyright © 2014 Evi Asher
ISBN: 978-1-77111-796-8
Cover art by Carmen Waters
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Published by eXtasy Books
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Forever Burning
Eternals: Burning Book 3
By
Evi Asher
Dedication
To Athena, my beasty because you’ve been there to hold my hand with every crisis, and you named me in the end. Geo is waiting…
I would like to add a very special thank you to my editor, Tex. The best editor an author could ask for. He made this whole process a pleasure and a fun experience. Thank you, Tex. You really are the best.
Chapter One
Archer roared and collapsed to his knees. His head flung back, letting his face bathe in the light of the moon that enchanted his kind.
Neither man nor beast, however, saw it, but the agony of loss in the depths of failure united them.
Scarlet was no more than a heated heap of ashes, scattering in the moonlit clearing. She was gone forever— his She. The mate he was supposed to spend the rest of his long eternity with was gone forever.
They had not saved the Eternal they’d been given charge of since they were cubs—the woman of their vision. They had failed Scarlet.
Archer wanted to follow her to the beyond. He didn’t want to live with his heart in shattered pieces, his hope of a future burned to ashes.
“The Kalick is lifted. Scarlet of the Pyro is no more.”
Archer swung his head and stood with a roar, throwing himself at Geo.
The enforcer let Archer tackle him to the ground, and took the punch that Archer threw.
“Hit me all you want, Archer. I’m sorry this had to happen.”
Archer took another swing, but Heath grabbed him from behind and pulled him off.
“Let me go! He killed Scarlet!” Archer fought the restraining hands, but they weren’t going to let him go.
The angel got up off the ground and dusted himself off.
“Her fire killed her, I didn’t.”
“You backed her into a corner. You were the reason she burned.”
That must have hit a nerve, because Geo surged forward, shoving his face right in Archer’s. Heath and Erik had to fight to hold on to Archer.
“Who the fuck were you? Her self-proclaimed protector?”
Archer slumped in the arms that held him, a broken sob escaping his chest. “I failed. She’s gone. My She is dead.”
“What the fuck?” Tate hissed the words, his eyes turning to the ashes on the ground. “Who is that?”
Archer turned his head to see a female standing right next to Scarlet’s ashes. He surged out of the restraining arms that held him.
“Get away from there. Who are you?”
She looked up at him, and Archer took a step back, her eyes something he’d never seen before. They held no iris or pupil, and they weren’t a solid color like most Eternals. Fire danced in her eyes, mimicking the color of her long flowing hair.
“Who are you?” he repeated, but Archer was wary. He’d never seen a creature like this before.
Instinct, and his inner wolf, told him that his crew had formed a semi circle behind him. They had his back if shit and fan collided.
She still hadn’t spoken. She took a step forward and knelt next to the ash. Bringing her hands palm up to waist level, she started to murmur in a language that Archer had never heard before.
“Does anyone know what’s going on down here?” he asked, keeping his eyes on the woman with the blaze-colored hair.
“You can tickle me with a porcupine if I know,” Erik replied.
“Not a fucking clue,” Tate added.
“I’ve never seen, heard, or read anything about this.” Zane’s tone was awed.
She stood and turned to Archer, bowing her head. “Thank you, Archer of the Lycan. You have given my people a gift. We owe you a debt of honor.” Meeting his eyes, she smiled. “A great gift.”
Geo moved to stand next to Archer. “Something’s happening with Scarlet’s ashes.”
“Yes, indeed, it is working.” The smile on her face widened as she turned her head to look back at the ashes.
“It’s burning again.”
Zane stepped forward, but the female stepped in front of him.
“Do not go closer—it is not safe for you.”
Archer stared into the inferno, his heart pounding in his throat. He stepped closer, not caring that Zane had been warned away.
The fire, exploding upwards, threw Archer, landing him on his back. Immediately he used his arm to shield his face from the nuclear heat.
The rest of the Eternals had fled backwards to the edge of the clearing, but the flame-eyed Eternal remained at Archer’s side.
“Isn’t she beautiful?” She spoke in a voice quiet with awe, but Archer heard her.
He scrambled to stand and peered into the bright light, looking for what she found so beautiful.
The glaring burn had coalesced into the shape of a...wolf? With still more blazes around the wolf, it was difficult to see detail.
“What the fuck?” Archer squinted his eyes, and focused in on the large timber wolf. It curled forward and began to transform.
“You’ve got to be shitting me!” Archer heard one of the others exclaim, so he knew he wasn’t hallucinating.
The form uncurled, and Archer felt his jaw drop open as a feminine figure appeared in the intense orange light. Her whole being was burning like some ethereal vision, her arms thrown away from her body as she floated up inside the flame.
“What is it?” He didn’t realize he’d said it aloud until the woman next to him answered.
“She is a Phœnix.”
“A what?” His turned his face towards the Eternal who had spoken, only to snap his head back to look at the burning figure. He was afraid he missed something.
“Your legends would call her a fire bird—or wolf, in this case—a phoenix.”
Archer could hear the joy in her tone.
He watched as the blazing creature floated back down to the ground and dropped her arms to her side. She stepped out of the fire at her feet, and Archer watched in shocked silence as she transformed again, this time taking human form.
It started at her feet as they touched the ground. From her toes up, she became a person. Skin tones and flesh took the place of golden yellow and orange hues.
&
nbsp; Archer’s eyes flew to her face as he realized who he was looking at. He shrugged out of his coat and dashed forward, wrapping his arms and his coat around her naked form as the last tips of her hair became the long, dark, silky mass he knew.
“Fuck, Scarlet? Are you really here?” He didn’t let go of her even when she answered him. “You are crushing me. Let me breathe and I’ll answer.”
Archer closed his arms tighter.
Chapter Two
Someone behind Scarlet and Archer cleared their throat, and Archer felt Heath step closer. Geo moved forward at the same time and Archer let a low growl crawl across the air toward the enforcer.
“I’m not going to hurt her,” Geo assured as he raised his hands, palm forward. “Her Kalick was enforced—the others saw her perish. Scarlet’s slate has nary a scribble.”
Archer’s eyes flashed, but he made no move towards Geo.
“So happy you are okay, Scarlet, dear, but curiosity eats me.” Geo tilted his head to look at her.
Scarlet didn’t step out of Archer’s arms to answer. “I don’t know. I think you are asking the wrong person.”
As one, the Eternals turned their eyes towards the Eternal who had told them Scarlet was a phoenix.
She shook her head from side to side. “I can say no more than I have already said.”
Scarlet tensed in Archer’s arms. Her head fell back and her eyes found and locked on the fat moon in the night sky.
“It’s okay.” Archer pulled her closer, running his hand up and down her spine. He had an idea what was coming.
“Does the moon still hold a pull on her wolf?”
The female’s eyes widened in surprise. “You know she still has a beast?”
Archer’s stare went flat. “I am Lycan.” What he didn’t add was that Scarlet was his She, his mate, and because of that, he could feel every stretch and tingle of her other soul. So, the question was moot. He knew Scarlet’s creature wanted to run, and he wanted this strange woman to confirm it.
Her brow drew down in thought as if she was contemplating something. “Yes, you are Lycan, but that has little to do with this.” She turned her contemplative gaze to Scarlet. “In this, he is right. The moon still holds sway over your wolf, so you must transform, and run, or the pain will be too much to bear.”
“Listen…whoever you are.” Tate moved forward. “We need some answers. We’ve never come across anything like—”
“And you never will again. What you saw this night is one in infinity, something so rare that not even the Eternals of this plane know of it except in rumor and mythology.”
Archer could feel another spasm of moon-need pass through Scarlet, and he felt an answering call in his beast.
He had two things to accomplish this night. The first was to run with his mate and the second was to claim her, and the moon’s pull on his wolf made the urges overwhelming. He could fight off his Lycan half for now if it meant getting answers from her, but Scarlet was still too new at the pull to have such control.
“Archer.” The word was a whisper against his chest and it made him tremble with need. “Need to turn now.”
“Give me one second, belan.”
Archer turned his head to Tate. “Get as many answers from her as you can.”
“Now?” Scarlet asked.
“Yes.” Archer had barely uttered the words when the woman in his arms began to burn.
He barked out a cry and stepped back, but had sustained no damage. Not even his clothes were singed.
Before him stood the large flaming timber wolf. As he watched, she dulled the fire until just the wolf stood before him.
She threw back her head, and howled to the sky.
Archer could do nothing but answer her howl as he shifted to full wolf form as well.
When the moon pull was at its strongest, Lycans always assumed full wolf form. Their wolf-man form was used in the time between the full moon, or when they had to fight.
Scarlet turned and ran for the forest with Archer on her heals. They left the rest to stare after them as they melted like wraiths into the night.
They ran for what felt like hours, but seconds at the same time. A path through the forest opened wherever they laid a well-placed paw. The night creatures of the forest quieted whenever Scarlet and Archer passed, as if sensing apex predators in their midst’s.
Scarlet led and Archer followed her, his chase an intense battle of wills. Scarlet was beginning to think he had something in mind far more serious than a romp through the forest, but her thoughts wouldn’t let her dwell on it. She lived and breathed second to second, her beast in complete control, and Scarlet didn’t fight the creature.
She had been told that a made Lycan and their inner wolf had to find a truce. She’d assumed from the way it was worded that it was far more difficult for a made Lycan to reach that truce than it was for a born Lycan to gain an accord. A made Lycan wasn’t as natural after all, but rather, a sudden mesh of two identities, and it had to be more like multiple identity disorder than not.
Scarlet and her creature were an exception. The second the thought entered her mind, her wolf gave a warm rumble of approval. They had been through the proverbial trial of fire, and they’d made it through the other side. Now, fire was part of them both, as if an extension of their beings, and they both knew fire was what bound them to each other, a power no ordinary Lycan had.
But we aren’t Lycan
The thought was not Scarlet’s.
No, we aren’t. We are Phœnix. I always thought phoenixes were birds.
Apparently, that was not the case. Scarlet and her Lycan let a wolfy grin touch their muzzle before veering off the path.
Scarlet’s animal had had her fill of moon and night. She was ready to let her human form take control again.
“I have an idea.” It came out as a yip and growl through her wolf mouth, but Scarlet ran faster, losing Archer for a moment.
She found an old oak tree she liked, one where she would wait for Archer to catch up. Scarlet transformed, her wolf form bursting to flames, then changing into her human shape. She concentrated on what she wanted from the fire, cursing a little when she couldn’t get it the way she wanted. She tried something else, then smiled when it worked. When she took her human form again, she had it right.
Wearing an outfit that resembled a summer sundress, spaghetti straps, and a deep red color, Scarlet leaned against the bark of the oak tree.
“Oh, this is a good trick.” Scarlet grinned, having avoided the whole naked-after-transformation thing.
“I’m going to disagree.” Archer’s voice came from behind a tree, and she strained her night vision to see, but she couldn’t see him.
“Why are you disagreeing?” Scarlet asked, her voice a little breathy. He’d sounded like a predator, his voice a bass growl, and it made the fine hairs on her arms stand up, and her beast uncurl to rumble in anticipation.
Archer stepped out behind the tree, his human form naked, his step proud as he walked toward her in the small clearing, and with every step he took, he watched her with that predatory hunger.
Scarlet couldn’t help herself. She let her eyes travel his body, so proudly naked, and she felt her body respond.
His broad shoulders, tapering down to his narrow waist, all that cut flesh, all the hard planes of his muscles, this man was majestic.
Her eyes moved lower and widened as she saw his erection growing as she looked at it.
“Because, now, I have to get you naked, and it’s extra work.”
Velvet—Scarlet was sure his voice had become velvet as it brushed all along her skin with a decadence that made her want to writhe in pleasure.
He reached her in two long strides and pushed her up against the oak tree. Scarlet felt the rough bark of the tree on her back, and the hardness of his body pushed against her breasts, and her breath grew ragged. Would this be it?
“You always eat me with your eyes. It makes me want you more, and I didn’t think I
could want you any more than I already do.” He locked his gaze on her mouth, and without realizing she was doing it, her tongue darted out to moisten her lips.
He dropped his head, his lips grazing hers. Scarlet laid her hands on his chest and splayed her fingers across it, wanting to feel as much of his hard body as she could.
He deepened the kiss, and she moaned into it.
His mouth was fire, the best kind of heat, eating her from the inside out. She couldn’t get enough, and breathing was becoming an issue, but one she would ignore as long as he kept kissing her with this mind numbing intensity.
He pushed his hard length against her body and Scarlet couldn’t help but roll her hips against him. Archer’s groan of pleasure was an aphrodisiac to her senses, and she wanted to make him make sounds like that all night long.
He broke the kiss to caress his lips along her neck, his hair tickling her face as he traced a path to her ear with soft licks and nips of his even white teeth.
“Did you know you are mine?”
He didn’t give her chance to answer before he dropped his hands, hooking them behind her thighs to hoist them up and push her hot core against his throbbing cock. The long slits in her dress accommodated the movement.
“What?” She was breathless and confused and he wasn’t helping matters when he rocked his hips into hers, sending a delicious thrill up her body.
“I won’t lose you again.” His voice husky, he slid the straps of her dress down and leaned back a little, looking at the breasts he’d revealed.
“So perfect.” He cupped one breast with his warm, callused hand, pinching the nipple between his thumb and forefinger, making Scarlet groan his name in reaction.
She reached up and tangled her hands through his dark hair. If he carried on like this, she was going to burn up, and not in her new phoenix way.
“Archer… I need more.”