by Jaime Rush
He was caught between the warped memory and that sensual place she’d reached.
“You love me, Kade. You want to feel the mud over my breasts.” She grabbed a handful and rubbed it over them.
He stood frozen, his body reacting as his mind warred with his memory.
“Touch me, Kade. I need you to touch me.” Her hand moved over her breasts, fingers sliding between them as she held his gaze.
His dagger slid back to a tattoo, and he took three stiff steps toward her and dropped to his knees. His hands slid over the places her own hands had just been, their mouths colliding. She let go and slathered mud over him. He kept stroking her, kissing her fiercely. She ran her hands down his back, down to his firm ass, slippery with mud. He gripped her around the waist and pulled her pelvis against his.
He made sounds of pleasure as he plundered her mouth like a man starving. He squeezed her ass as he ground her into his erection. He was so hard it actually hurt, but she’d take that kind of pain any day.
He kissed to her jawline, her neck. Her Dragon instincts, already on alert, reared up as his mouth moved across that vulnerable area. He had her in his grip, his strong hands splayed on her back. She wouldn’t be able to move if he shifted to a violent memory and attacked her.
Hold on.
He arched her back as he kissed down her collarbone. His teeth grazed the inside curve of her breast. She could barely move within the confines of his grip. She couldn’t swallow past the fear in her throat. “Kade, stop kissing me. Now.”
He didn’t. His mouth moved over her nipple. His fingers dug into her back as he held her tight. She’d lost control of him.
“Kade, you will obey me now!”
He took her mouth so abruptly they both fell into the mud with a splash. Beneath him, trapped, not good. The hose was right by her head, pouring water over her hair, gurgling softly. She could reach for it if she could get her hand free and use it as a weapon. But he was still ravaging her mouth. She tasted the mud, felt the grit of it as their tongues slid together in a mad rush.
“I can’t…can’t stop kissing you, Vee. I…”
She clutched at his hair. “You have to— What did you call me?”
“Need… ,” he said, breathless, talking and kissing her at the same time. “Need…you, Vee. Burning through me.” He’d called her Vee.
Hope rushed through her, as hot as desire. “I’m here, babe. I need you, too, need you inside me.”
His body pressed hers into the soft earth. He cantilevered his weight, mindful of not crushing her. When he pulled back, he looked down at her with affection, running his hand over her face and painting her with even more mud. The smile on his face, the mist swirling in his eyes…
The mist was fully back.
“You’re my master?” he asked.
He was still in the fantasy. “Yes.”
“And we’re married.”
She nodded. “And trying to have a baby.”
He kept looking at her, his mind working to make sense of it, she guessed. She held her breath.
He slid his finger across her chin. “I don’t remember marrying you or seeing you in a wedding dress.”
“It was a lovely wedding. Five bridesmaids and groomsmen, on the beach.”
Panic flitted across his expression. “Why can’t I remember?”
“It’s okay. You have holes in your memory. Let’s not talk about that right now.”
“I do remember making love to you.” He slid his hand down over her breast. “And touching you like this. In the mud. In bed. Bits and pieces of heaven.”
She could hardly breathe. “Who am I?” She wanted to make sure.
He sputtered a laugh. “My wife. That’s what you just said.”
She felt like she was balancing a gem on a wire. Tug the wrong way, it would fall and shatter. “What’s my name?”
“Vee. Violet when you’re mad at me.”
She laughed, though it came out as more of a sob. “Who are you?”
His eyebrows furrowed again, just for a second. “Kade. Every time you said my name, it tugged me out of some dark place. I was in a shadowy alley, and then I was dancing with you. I was fighting a demon and then I was touching you.”
He looked down at her, letting his gaze move over her slowly. “I remember being in the mud with you. How beautiful and sexy you looked.” He got to his feet, then extended his hand and helped her up. He took the hose and poured the water over her, watching it wash away the mud. “How much more beautiful you look without it.”
He held it over her head, and she closed her eyes. She was afraid, so afraid, to hope he was coming back to her permanently. But that was all she had, hope and Kade there with her, right now. She took the hose and sprayed him down, then dropped it.
He pulled her into him, kissing her with such ferocity that they staggered back until they hit the workshop’s wall. He dug his fingers into her wet hair, then dragged them down her sides. “I need you. The need…it’s like a fire inside me…devouring me,” he said on staggered breaths. She felt the truth of his need in the desperate growl of his voice.
Because I brought you back, reached deep into you. She touched his face. “I need you, too. Because I’m madly, crazy in love with you.” The words slipped out. She was. Oh, she so was.
His mouth crashed into hers. He grabbed her ass and hoisted her up, bracing her back against the wall. She wrapped her legs around his waist and felt him drive into her. A sound between a gasp and a groan came from deep within as she clutched him. She tilted her head back, and he moved his mouth down her throat.
He held her securely, moaning as he thrust in and out. He felt so damned good filling her, loving her, squeezing her behind and murmuring, “I’m madly, crazy in love with you, too, Vee.” Her name. Her.
She lost herself to him, to their lovemaking. He buried his face in the crook of her neck, softly biting her skin. Those nips only ramped up the coil of pressure building and swirling inside her. Her Dragon loved them, urging her to nip back. She dug her nails into his back, drawing them down to the curve of his ass. The orgasm claimed her, shook her, and tightened every muscle in her body.
He kept moving, her spasms causing him to growl like a lion, and then his body jerked as he came in one final thrust. He held on tight, shuddering in his pleasure. She watched him come back to himself, catching her breath as his chest rose and fell in sync with his breathing. She waited for his eyes to open, for him to see her. Her and not an enemy or some other woman.
He smiled as he took her in. “I’m taking you to the house and properly loving you on our bed.” He blinked, relief coloring his expression. “I remember the Series 7 chair. Have we utilized that chair in sinful ways?”
A whistle pierced the air, rising high, low, and high again. Are you all right?
She stuck her pinky in her mouth and answered. “My brothers are coming to the house. We’ll have to wait on the chair and the bed.”
“The couch, the kitchen counter…” He set her down, then picked up the hose and gently washed her thighs and then himself. “It’s like I can’t get enough of you, babe.”
Babe. She stifled a sigh.
They turned off the hose, retrieved their clothing, and walked to the house. He laced his fingers with hers, just as she’d ordered him to do earlier. He gave her a devilish smile. “Playing master and slave is a huge turn-on.”
She gave him the same kind of smile. “I like ordering you around.”
Once they reached the house, they dried off and got dressed. She heard the three approach. “Wait for me inside, slave.”
He raised an eyebrow at her command, which was so much better than the robotic way he’d obeyed before. He was in there.
“Say ‘yes, master,’” she whispered.
He bowed. “Yes, master.”
Her heart clutched at the sight. She didn’t want to lose him. “I have to talk to my brothers alone for a few minutes.” She kissed him, a quick peck. “Start dinn
er.”
He went inside, and she met them halfway across the yard. She had to prepare them. Mia looked as though she’d been crying, which made Violet feel vaguely guilty for having incredible sex at the same time.
Jessup said, “Where is he? And why is your hair wet?”
She touched her damp strands. “Long story.” No way was she getting into how she’d reached Kade’s mind. “He’s inside, getting dinner ready.”
“Does that mean—”
“He’s back. Mostly,” she added, before Mia could get too excited. “I had to put memories in his head that didn’t happen. It was the only way to draw him out of the real memories. I had to make up things as I went. So he thinks we’re married. He doesn’t seem to remember anything about the bore or being captured. I’m afraid to trigger something, so we have to play along with what he thinks is real.”
Mia nodded. “Whatever we have to do. Does he remember me?”
“I don’t know. We’ll find out.” She nodded for them to follow.
“Meanwhile, we still have these sons of bitches to deal with,” Jessup said.
“And a Kade who doesn’t know who our enemies are,” Violet added.
They walked inside and to the kitchen, where Kade had every cabinet door open. He turned as they came in and smiled. “Oh, hey, Mia. Did I forget that you were coming for dinner?” His expression shadowed. “I can’t remember much of anything. Like where anything is in our kitchen.” He gave Violet a pained look. “How long have we been married?”
“Just eight months.”
He seemed to search for that memory. “I have pieces of memories. Like…like a broken mirror. There are a bunch of shards that reflect something back to me, but there are a lot of empty spots where the shards have fallen to the floor.” Fear flickered across his face, but he gave her a heart-clenching smile. “I have bits and pieces of you.”
She hoped it wasn’t the one where he was going to kill her. His memories were a house of cards. She put her hand to his cheek. “It’s okay, sweetheart. They’ll come back. Don’t push it.”
He took her hand in his. “Was I in an accident?”
She wrestled with when to tell him the truth. “Ferro…” She let the word hang, checking his reaction.
“My boss?” No, he recalled nothing about his betrayal by the mildly curious expression on his face. “What about him?”
“He’s a bad, bad man,” she said, exactly how Kade had once referred to himself.
Kade blinked, like he’d heard that phrase before. She saw the wobble, felt his hand tighten on hers.
Quickly she said, “The doctor said to let the memories come back on their own.” Amazing how easy the lies flowed. It hit her then, that her and Kade’s whole relationship was built on lies.
He brushed a strand of hair from her forehead. “This has been hard on you. I see the strain in your eyes.” She tightened her mouth, nodding. He pulled her into his arms, his body strong and warm and real. “I love you, Vee. I may not remember everything, but I feel that.”
She had to choke back a sob. She held on tight to him, glancing over at their audience. Mia, particularly, watched with surprised wonder. Her eyes were teary, and in them Violet saw the same mixture of both hope and fear.
Kade backed up, and he seemed to only then become aware of the others and gave them a sheepish grin. “Sorry, the world falls away when I look at Vee.”
Jessup couldn’t hide his sharp grin. “Yeah, it’s been like that since you two first met.”
“You’re Vee’s brothers.” Kade pointed at him, snapping his fingers as he obviously tried to recall his name. “Jessie? No, Jessup. And Ryan.”
Relief passed over their features, until Kade frowned. “We were fighting. Why?” That blank darkness crept across his eyes.
Violet shook his arm. “Like brothers do,” she said brightly. “Wrestling.”
He blinked, coming back. “But I saw—”
“Don’t worry about that. I’m starved.”
Kade took the three in. “Do you want to join us?”
Out of Kade’s sight, she gestured for them to go. “They have to keep an eye on the property. We’ve had some trouble here lately.”
Kade’s eyebrows furrowed. “I should be out there, too.” He turned his arm so that his dagger showed. His fingers traced the V, and for a moment he was lost in the sight of it.
“Kade?”
“I fight for a living. I can help.” He remembered his identity as a Vega. Because it was so ingrained in him probably.
She patted his arm. “You have to recuperate. You can fight soon.”
The mist in his eyes swirled at the prospect. He liked fighting for the right and just.
“First we eat,” she said.
He leaned close, nuzzling her neck. “And then we work more on making babies.”
She couldn’t help but look at her brothers at that one. Their shocked expressions almost made her choke. Why, oh why, had she uttered that particular embellishment?
Kade straightened. “Guess I shouldn’t talk about that kind of thing in front of your brothers. We’ll see you around then. Be careful. And, Ryan, if you put the moves on my sister and break her heart, I’ll cut off your appendages one by one. Got it?”
Violet only then noticed Ryan’s proximity to Mia, how closely he’d been watching her reactions to Kade. How he cared what she felt.
Ryan looked surprised and embarrassed, but he swallowed back words of denial. “I won’t hurt her, I promise.”
Those words stilled Kade. He had said similar words to her mother. The blankness moved across his eyes as the memory tried to come.
Violet gripped his arm. “Kade, let’s work on dinner. I’ll show you where everything is again.”
She needed him to remember his past, and she was terrified that when he did, she would lose him forever.
Chapter 20
Ferro paced his living room. Onyx would kill another Fringer, start the war, and then they would move forward on the last phase of the plan. He couldn’t stand losing. His ego railed and raged. Ferro glanced at his watch. Kade would be insane by now. Violet would not have him as her ally.
She would have her people, of course, and Mia. He wanted Violet dead. He wanted to kill her. Onyx had her own reasons for wanting to tear Violet limb from limb, but hadn’t Ferro done enough for her? He’d taken her in, taught her skills, and now gave her the opportunity to live forever. He would take this one thing for himself.
He stopped, feeling the shimmering presence of Drakos. His image appeared, a fierce Dragon who did not look pleased.
“I know what you are thinking,” Drakos said. “Do not do it. I grow closer to dying each day. You and Onyx have nearly enough power between you to Breathe into me and save me. If one of you dies, so do I. We are too close to risk it.”
Ferro had said the same thing to Onyx. “I know, I know. I just can’t stand losing. They are all inferior to me, and yet they have won. Violet has won.”
“Calm your ego. Do not let it rule you. Onyx is ready to make the final kill in the Fringe?”
“Yes. She has chosen a target that will ensure maximum outrage. The evidence will point directly to the Castanegas, which will no doubt push the clans over the edge.” And someone else would kill Violet. Not his fangs tearing into her scales, not his claw sinking into her kill zone. Not his satisfaction to watch her die while she stared into the face of her killer.
“So she will die, and you will get what you want.”
Ferro ran his hand down his face, nodding. “Yes. I will go Breathe another Dragon to sate my restlessness. More power for you.”
“Very well. Make sure you continue to choose the once-powerful but now weak. The addicts who should not be out there anyway.”
“Yes, sire.”
Drakos faded away. Ferro grabbed his keys and headed to the door leading into his garage. He texted Onyx as soon as he was on his way.
“I’m in position,” she whispered several min
utes later. “I’m waiting for it to get darker. I can’t afford for them to see me. The Murphys are already discussing how to wreak revenge on whoever’s behind the murders. I’ve seen members of the Peregrine clan here, too. They’re still not completely sure it’s the Castanegas. I have Jessup’s jeans and Gatorland employee shirt, properly shredded. It’s a shame he won’t be able to grab them up when he Catalyzes back to human and retreats after murdering the child.”
“That should push them all over the edge, and the whole clan will die.” He glanced at the clock. Her plan would give him time to steal the prize right out from under her selfish snout.
Kade stirred spaghetti sauce and tried to figure out what the hell was going on. Beside him, Violet poured pasta into the pot of boiling water. She caught him looking at her. Her hesitant smile was filled with worry and fear and love, everything a wife would probably feel if her husband didn’t remember much of his life.
Except he didn’t think she was his wife. He had feelings for her, yes. When he woke from what felt like a nightmare-addled sleep and was making love with her, it felt good. Her body felt familiar, her mouth tasted like home, and burying himself deep inside her…completely right.
He glanced down at his hand. No wedding ring. She wore a ring but not a band. Maybe they weren’t traditional people. He glanced into the living room. He remembered the Jacobsen chair. Knew their bedroom was down the hall. But he didn’t know what she did for a living. He only had pieces of his own career. His head hurt whenever he thought about the missing bits, like a drill tunneling into his brain. He rubbed his forehead, wincing at a sore spot on his forehead.
“You all right?” she asked, giving him her divided attention while she separated the strands of spaghetti with a big fork.
“No.” Might as well be honest. He was an honest person. Wasn’t he?
She moved closer, placing her hands on his chest. He could see indecision on her face, her mouth slightly open, wanting to say something. She had a cut on her lip, and it was a little swollen. A memory tugged at him, and he brushed his finger gently over it. “Did I hit you?” The thought horrified him.