Protected in Darkness (Misplaced Halos, 1)

by Nicole Edwards

  She could see the fury on Obsidian’s face. Knew he was pissed at her for insisting he do that.

  “I won’t apologize,” she told him as she rested her head against his shoulder.

  His only response was a rough growl as he carried her to the back staircase, up two flights of stairs to the third floor, through the living room, down the hall to his private quarters. The door opened before they got there, then slammed shut behind them with a resounding thud. Obsidian deposited her on the bed, then quickly relieved her of her clothes. His hands roamed over her as though he needed to confirm she wasn’t physically injured.

  “I’m fine, Obsidian.” She cupped his face, forced him to look at her.

  His eyes glowed, breaths racing in and out of his lungs.

  Not knowing what else to do, Penelope embraced him, bringing his mouth to hers.

  His arms banded around her as he eased her down to the mattress.

  “Don’t do that ever again,” he mumbled against her neck.

  His torment was so powerful she felt the ache inside her.

  “I won’t.” It was the least she could do.

  They remained just like that as they both succumbed to sleep, his arms securely around her.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Tuesday, August 6, 2019

  ECLIPSE WOKE TO THE SOUND OF THE shutters rising for the night. He’d spent a restless day in bed, attempting to sleep though it didn’t come easy.

  It wasn’t his body that plagued his efforts. No, the wound in his shoulder had healed completely, only a couple of hours after Obsidian had retrieved the bullet from his flesh.

  As he lay in bed, he stared up at the ceiling, the events of that morning replaying in his head. The humans in the alley, their argument, Eclipse getting shot, killing the human male. While all of that was fresh in his mind, it was the female he was fixated on. How wide her eyes had been when she stared at the crumpled body of the male whose life Eclipse had ended. He figured he’d been found already. Probably by some unsuspecting human who’d stumbled upon it. Leaving it there had been his only option. Disappearing the body only caused more issues. Missing persons became investigations the same as murder did.

  Eclipse could still see the female running out of the alley, glancing back only once before disappearing from view.

  Even now he could smell her, that sweet lavender scent. It overwhelmed his senses, an unfamiliar heat coursing in his veins. He stared at the ceiling, pictured her in his mind, and though he could no longer see her, he could feel her.

  Shaking off the weird sensation, he glanced around the room. Everything was as it should be, but it felt different, as though he was somewhere else other than the mansion.

  A knock sounded on his bedroom door moments before it opened.

  Ziana stepped into the room, a smile on her beautiful face. Dressed in her white robes, the Fae moved toward him, so graceful it was like she was gliding over the floors.

  “I heard about what happened last night. When I came to your room, you were asleep. Thought I’d come back,” she said, as though reminding him of her reason for being here.

  Eclipse didn’t need a reminder. He’d been feeding from Ziana for quite some time now. And yes, he knew he needed to feed because his strength was waning, especially after the bullet he’d taken. He should’ve been able to remove the bullet himself, but he’d waited too long, gotten too weak to do any good. Because of that, he’d caused Penelope pain which was another notch on his conscience.

  Pushing upright, Eclipse leaned against the headboard. Perhaps he could try.

  As Ziana moved closer, an unsettling feeling came over him. As though she shouldn’t be there.

  The instant her hand touched his arm, Eclipse hissed, the pain from that brief touch excruciating.

  “Out!” he ordered, willing the door open with his mind.

  The Fae stared at him in shock, much the same way the female in the alley had.

  “Go,” he growled, his voice lower. “Now.”

  “Of course.”

  Without a backward glance, Ziana ran from the room. He willed the door closed behind her.

  Once again, Eclipse couldn’t seem to move, staring into space as he sensed the female from the alley, her scent surrounding him as though she was right there with him.

  “Hey, it’s me,” came the soft voice in his mind.

  It was her. The female from the alley. In his head. He was connected to her, likely because he’d tasted her blood. While he didn’t know where she was, Eclipse could feel her emotions, hear the softness of her voice. She was calmer than she had been last night, her heart rate normal. If he hadn’t been there as it all went down, he would’ve never suspected she’d been assaulted. Perhaps she was good at hiding it.

  “Yes, Mom. It’s me, Orianna. No, I’m okay. He didn’t hurt me. This guy … this guy appeared, killed him.”

  Wait.

  The voice definitely belonged to the female from the alley, the one he’d felt the strange connection to. But the male had called her Amber.

  She’d said her name was Orianna.

  Orianna McKay.

  His amsouelot.

  The voice sounded in his head again. “He thought I was Amber, Mom. And he was going to hurt me. Said Dad owed him money.” A brief pause. “I know. I’ll be careful. But I’m staying here. I can’t leave until I find her.”

  The voice trailed off and Eclipse sank into the pillow, even as a sense of loss took up residence in his chest.

  Holy fuck.

  This was not at all the way he’d expected this would play out. His amsouelot seeing him get shot, watching him eliminate a male, as though it was a natural response.

  Was she terrified of him now? How could she ever look him in the eye knowing he’d killed someone?

  Suddenly, an overwhelming heat consumed him. His cock raged to life, harder than he’d ever felt it. And in his mind, he felt the connection with the female. He heard the soft rasps of her breath as well as … it sounded like water. The shower, maybe?

  Oh, fuck.

  Shoving the blankets down, he reached for his cock, fisting it tightly. With his eyes closed, Eclipse dropped his head back against the headboard as he roughly jerked his erection, desperate to find a release he doubted was waiting for him.

  He’d already learned what the touch of a female did to him. The pain from Ziana’s soft fingers had been like holding a live wire.

  Eclipse focused on the sounds drifting through his mind as he inched closer to release.

  Oh, God!

  His eyes flew open as the words whispered in his head. Her voice was familiar, yet not.

  Soft whimpers reverberated all up in his gray matter. That was when he realized the sound of water had disappeared, replaced by a subtle vibrating hum.

  She was pleasuring herself with a vibrator, likely seeking the same release Eclipse was. He wondered whether she knew she would never find it. Not the sort of release that would take the edge off, anyway. She needed him the same as he needed her. Only she wouldn’t understand any of it. The female had no clue who he was, much less that the only way to satisfy the hunger was to surrender to him.

  Eclipse let the sweet sounds of her moans and whimpers fill his head as he stroked himself. It seemed to go on forever, the release just out of reach. When her moans grew louder, more desperate, he reached out to her mentally, not expecting to connect, but wishing like hell he could.

  Then he felt her, the connection.

  Please. I need to come. Oh, please.

  Eclipse filled his thoughts with images of her beautiful face, allowed his imagination to take it further, fantasizing about his tongue stroking her, laving her, bringing her the pleasure she sought.

  Oh, God! Oh, yes!

  He could feel her tension as she reached for her release, desperate for it.

  His head dropped back with a thud, his body tensing as he imagined himself plunging inside the warm depths of her body.

  A soft, sensu
al cry sounded in his head as the female came. Her satisfied moans had his hand stilling, his cock pulsing as he came in a rush, the sensation plowing through his body, unlike anything he’d ever experienced at the hands of another.

  It took everything in him to break the connection, to come back to himself.

  While his body was temporarily sated, the painful longing was still there, seemingly growing stronger with every passing second. That brief, tenuous connection wouldn’t be enough to sustain either of them.

  Which meant…

  Though he had no idea how to find her again, Eclipse knew he had to.

  OBSIDIAN SPENT THE NIGHT ENTANGLED IN PENELOPE’S arms, soothing himself with the warmth of her body after he’d healed his brother. He was still off, having watched his amsouelot endure the pain he’d felt as he had removed the bullet from Eclipse’s shoulder. It wasn’t that he hadn’t wanted to help him, but he would’ve avoided it if there’d been any other way.

  Unfortunately, since none of his brothers had been home, the burden had befallen him. The fiestreigh didn’t have the powers to heal like the warriors did. Had Kandarie been there, or even Torak, they would’ve been able to do it the old fashioned way, but they were off with Cimmerian and Piceous, searching for the amsouelots.

  Never again did he want to witness Penelope suffering like that. He couldn’t bear it.

  Now he was looking for a distraction, anything to keep the memories of those events at bay.

  “Where are we at?” he asked the group when he joined them in the sunroom.

  Nearly everyone sat up straight, eyes lifting from the laptops in front of them.

  Magnar was the first to speak. “We’ve got no reliable intel on Perfidious, Seraphina, or Sirius. Not since the sighting of them in Flagstaff a few days ago.”

  Son of a bitch.

  Obsidian glanced from one male to the next. “Where’s Reidar?”

  “He’s in your office. Said he was going to reach out to Kaj. See if he could get an update on the vampires.”

  At least the male was working.

  “Stygian?” he prompted.

  Søren was the one to offer a response. “He’s getting ready to take off again. Mordecai’s grabbing a few things.”

  “Is he leaving you behind?”

  “He said I’m of better use here than out there.”

  Since Søren was Stygian’s lieterra, it was rare for the males not to be together out in the field. On the other hand, Obsidian understood Stygian’s reasoning. Søren was as gifted with technology as Gryffyth, so his expertise was behind a computer. It made sense for Søren to remain back and run things from here. Granted, he wasn’t sure Søren was pleased about it. Like Taayin, the male did enjoy his time in the field.

  The sound of footsteps came from behind him, moving quickly. Obsidian turned to see Ziana heading toward them at a fast clip, her face pinched.

  “Problem?”

  She nodded, stopping before him. “It’s Eclipse. I think something’s wrong. I went to check on him. After what happened last night, I knew he needed to feed.” Her amethyst eyes lowered. “He yelled at me to leave.”

  Not sure what to do with that information, Obsidian stared at the Fae.

  Her eyes lifted. “When I touched him, he recoiled.”

  Obsidian’s gaze shot to the ceiling as though he could see his brother above him.

  “I think he found his amsouelot,” Ziana added.

  “Thanks for letting me know. I’ll go talk to him.” Obsidian turned to face the others. “For those of you heading out, be safe. And get back here as soon as you can.”

  Without waiting for a response, he headed toward the stairs. After using his palm print to get through the secured door, Obsidian walked through the living space, down the hallway toward Eclipse’s room. He paused there for a moment, glanced at the closed doors to the bedrooms of his brothers. The thought of them out there without him didn’t sit well, even though he knew there was no other option. Time was quickly running out for all of them. Eventually, the demons would catch up to them.

  Good thing was, they didn’t have a set time frame. Bad thing: God could smite them all at any given moment. Which meant they had to work fast because not only did they have to find the amsouelots, they also had to complete the lintamair. And that … that was by far the most difficult of all.

  Stygian appeared. The second his eyes landed on him, he frowned.

  “What is it?”

  He nodded toward Eclipse’s door. “He ran Ziana off when she went to feed him. I think he’s found his amsouelot.”

  “That’s good news, right?”

  “You’d think.” Obsidian peered at the closed door to his own room, allowed his senses to expand until he located Penelope. She was sitting in their bed, watching something on her iPad. “We need to come up with a plan. Let’s get everyone on the phone and we’ll hash it out.”

  Stygian nodded. “I’ll grab Eclipse.”

  While his brother remained in the hallway, Obsidian returned to the living room to place the calls to his brothers, getting them all on the line.

  The four of them were chatting amongst themselves when Stygian and Eclipse joined him a few minutes later. Eclipse looked a little worse for wear, which made him believe Ziana was right. He’d found his amsouelot, but it hadn’t turned out the way he’d expected.

  “We’ve got six males we can release,” Obsidian informed them as his brothers took seats on the sofa, the others going quiet on the phone. “And with Eclipse staying back, that’s at least one for each of you.”

  “If I might make a suggestion,” Shadow said. “I think it would benefit us all if Gryffyth would stay back. His tracking’s unparalleled and those of us who haven’t pinned down our amsouelots could really use his expertise.”

  “I’m leaving Søren here, too,” Stygian informed him. “That should help. I’ll have him reach out to your lieterras, figure out how they can best assist each of you.”

  “What about you, Stygian? Where’re you heading off to?” Aphotic asked.

  “Massachusetts,” he replied. “Søren thinks he’s pinpointed her.”

  “That’s good news,” Cimmerian stated. “You’re faring better than I am. We’ve trekked through the entire Midwest and beyond with no luck. Well, unless you count the demon nest we took out in Idaho.”

  While that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, it wasn’t the end goal right now, but Obsidian didn’t have to tell him that.

  “Shadow?” Stygian prompted. “You still in Canada?”

  “For now. But we’re returning tomorrow night. She’s not here.”

  Obsidian sighed, hating to hear more bad news.

  “Aphotic? Any chance you can get your female back here?”

  The laugh that rumbled through the phone rang with doubt. “It’s a wonder she’s even talking to me.”

  A round of genuine laughter sounded.

  “You mean, for once in your life, you have to work to get the girl?” Piceous taunted. “Must suck to be you.”

  “Hey. Give it time. She’ll come around.” Obsidian could hear the smile in Aphotic’s voice. “They always do. What about Eclipse?”

  Glancing up, he locked on Eclipse, who had his head back, eyes closed. “I found her.”

  “That’s fucking awesome, brother. Congrats,” Aphotic noted.

  “Yeah. I wouldn’t pat me on the back yet.” Eclipse lifted his head, opened his eyes. “I killed a male in her presence. I’m pretty sure she’ll be running scared.”

  Well, that fucking sucked.

  No one bothered to ask him who he’d killed because they all knew it had been warranted. Eclipse was one of the most level-headed. He wouldn’t take a life unless it was inevitable.

  For the next few minutes, they outlined who would go where before disconnecting the call.

  “Winnie’s been asking for a tour of the mansion. I figured I could get Asmia and Penelope to give her one,” Obsidian informed Eclipse and Stygian. “
While they do that, we’ll meet with the fiestreigh. Get our shit together so we can get you all back here ASAP.”

  Stygian nodded as Eclipse pushed to his feet.

  “I need a drink,” he grumbled.

  “Then let’s meet in the bar,” he told him, referring to the recreation space underground.

  “I’ll let the others know,” Stygian said.

  When they disappeared, Obsidian made his way into his bedroom. The instant his eyes landed on Penelope, a sense of calm came over him. And when she smiled, more warmth spread through his entire being.

  “I heard you out there,” she said, dropping her legs over the side of the bed. “I didn’t want to interrupt.”

  “You’re welcome anytime,” he assured her.

  “Is everything all right?”

  He went on to explain the statuses of his brothers and their ongoing searches.

  “I’m sure they’ll find them,” she said softly.

  “The question is, will they find them in time?” He exhaled heavily, then sat in the leather chair beside the bed.

  Penelope came over, allowed him to pull her into his lap.

  “In time for what?”

  “Before…” He wasn’t sure he could say the words out loud.

  “Before what?”

  He cleared his throat. “Before God eliminates them.”

  Penelope’s sharp inhale had him realizing how harsh that sounded.

  “Eliminates them? You mean kills them?”

  “Like you and me, my brothers’ souls are tethered to their amsouelot. If Lucifer gets his hands on an amsouelot, he gains access to her mate’s soul. In essence, we become his warrior. Considering our powers, God won’t allow that to happen. He’s ordered Michael to eliminate the amsouelot if the lintamair hasn’t been completed.”

  “The mating ritual?”

  Obsidian nodded.

  “You mentioned it’s a formal thing,” she said, her fingers trailing over his scalp, as though she was trying to soothe him.

  “Yeah. And it requires a full moon, which, as you probably know, only comes around once a month.”

  Penelope’s hand cupped his cheek, urging him to look at her. Obsidian met her beautiful golden eyes.