by Amber Kallyn
Her heart fell at his tone of voice. “If you would.” She struggled past the fear trying to swamp her to add, “Please.”
Dalia reached for Jordan again, but he stepped from her touch. Looking into Ashlyn’s eyes, he replied, “No.”
* * *
Connor sped down the highway towards Moss Creek, pushing the pick-up as fast as it would go. He needed to make sure Ashlyn had gotten to Jordan’s all right.
On the horizon, the sun was rising, and he could feel it attempting to steal his strength, his power. He ignored it, long used to working in the daylight when necessary.
As the scenery flashed by in a blur, his mind drifted to the long ago past. To the night everything had changed forever.
He and Ashlyn had snuck out around dusk. Connor took her to their favorite spot along the loch, where willows and wildflowers grew in abundance. He could smell the water, the blossoms. On the bank beneath the fronds of the trees, he’d laid Ashlyn down on the grass.
For hours, they’d held each other, talking about their future, the family they would have.
Eventually, the talking stopped.
She’d stood, teasing him as she slowly disrobed. When she was naked, he’d risen to his knees and worshipped her body.
Then the sounds of a raging battle came, along with the bells of the castle tower, calling the warriors to fight.
They raced back home, only to find devastation.
For a millennia, he’d thought her dead.
Now, she was not only alive, but nearly within his grasp.
Connor slammed the gas pedal down harder. He had to make sure she was safe.
And though he felt warmer than he had in eons, a small part of him stayed cold and untouched from the memories, remembering not long ago when he’d learned the traitor behind the attack on their clan had been Fionah MacDougal, his cousin and Jordan’s sister.
Even though Jordan had finally found the love of his life in a little spitfire, the betrayal by his sister had damaged a part of him, and Connor as well.
He didn’t know if that piece of him would ever heal, but realized it had changed him. Hardened him even more.
Because no matter what Ashlyn had once meant to him, a thousand years had passed. She’d stayed hidden.
Now, she was on the run with a demon half-breed.
Willingly.
That he couldn’t get past.
Couldn’t stop thinking about it, no matter his feelings had woken and his every urge was to hold her once more.
* * *
Ashlyn stared at Jordan, unable to comprehend what he was saying, other than she and Sean weren’t safe here. Numbly, she rose to her feet. “All right. We’ll be on our way then.”
Jordan crossed the distance between them and grabbed her arms. She tried to pull away, but her struggle was ineffectual.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he growled.
Images of dungeons and torture chambers flashed through her head.
Dalia slapped Jordan on the arm. “What he means is we’re happy to help you. But we want you to stay, rather than keep running. We can help stop this man who’s chasing you.”
Sean grinned. “Awesome.”
Their words barely broke through the fog of fear in her mind. Slowly, she met Jordan’s gaze, then Dalia’s. “I thank you, but Laroche is too strong. It’s too much of a risk to put you all in. Sean and I will figure this out on our own, if you’ll just—”
Jordan shook her slightly. “You are kin. You will stay.”
Her chin came up and her back stiffened at his order.
Dalia smacked him again. “Let her go. It’s her choice.” The woman took Ashlyn’s hand and led her back to the couch in front of the fire. “You’ll at least stay the day, won’t you? Recover your strength.”
“Aye,” Ashlyn replied as her thoughts finally came together.
“Good,” Dalia replied. “We’ll speak later. Let me show you to some rooms, all right?”
Ashlyn nodded, but Jordan stopped them. “Take the boy, but my cousin and I have a few more things to discuss.”
As she began to protest Sean leaving, Jordan added, “You have my word the boy is protected within my territory. Dalia will make sure all know and obey.”
The truth in his voice set her at ease. She nodded for Sean to follow the pink haired woman, then settled back in her seat, readying for an argument.
Jordan stood and walked to a long table at the back of the room and picked something up, then came to her side. He held out a miniature, a tiny painting from the past.
She took it, staring down at her long lost family, her parents, siblings, and herself at a seemingly impossible young age. “It’s been so long.”
“Aye. So it has.”
She met his gaze. “Do you remember them still?”
“As if it was yesterday.”
“I, too. And it still hurts, even after all this time.”
“Aye. But now we have new things to keep us warm in the dark of the night, yes?”
She thought of her son, and nodded. “To a point, I suppose.”
Jordan sat next to her. “You know,” he paused, cleared his throat, “Connor would help you.”
She jerked from his grasp. “Connor would kill my son.”
Jordan clasped her hand and waited until she looked at him. “Connor does what is right, not just as ordered.”
“Oh, he’s changed then?” she asked. “Because the Connor I knew was bound to duty.”
“No, but for you—”
“For me he’d do nothing. Not any longer,” she replied. Not once he found out all that had been done to her. No, then, he would turn away out of disgust.
“You don’t know that,” Jordan replied, staring into her face, assessing her words.
“I won’t chance my son’s life.”
“Yet, the boy is Connor’s son too, aye?”
“Perhaps long ago, he would have been. Before the demon captured me, and manipulated my son while I was pregnant. But now... Can you imagine a Judge claiming a demon half-breed as their child?”
“Nay, but perhaps you should at least give him a chance.”
She shrugged as tiredness swept over her. There was no point in this argument. She wouldn’t tell Jordan of all the things in her past. If she couldn’t get around them, how would anyone else be able to?
The door opened and Dalia slipped inside. “Jordan,” she admonished. “Ashlyn needs to rest.”
“Thank you for your kindness in letting us stay.” She left the room, then stopped at the base of a sweeping staircase, unsure where to go.
From the room behind her, Dalia whispered to Jordan, “Poor girl, a small kindness seems like something she’s unused to.”
“Talk to her,” Jordan replied.
“About what?”
“You’ll know.”
Dalia came into the hall, then glanced from Ashlyn to the door she’d just come through. Pink flushed up her cheeks, but she smiled merrily. “Let me show you your room. It’s right next to Sean’s.”
The woman hopped up the stairs with a boundless energy while, feeling like an old maid, Ashlyn followed.
After checking in on Sean, Dalia showed her to a room nearby. It too was different from her childhood home. The room was huge, a window sweeping one wall, a bed taking up quite a bit of space along another. Bookshelves surrounded a stone fireplace, already warming the room with its colorful blaze. In front of it, a long couch spread next to a table covered with clothing.
“Sean told me you guys lost your things,” Dalia said. “Hopefully something in there will fit.”
Ashlyn glanced at the beautiful clothing. “Thank you,” she pushed past the painful lump in her chest.
After pointing out the bathroom door, cleverly hidden in the wall, Dalia closed the heavy drapes to block out the growing sunlight. “Please, let me know if you need anything. I’m still getting used to this whole mistress of the manor thing, and I don’t want to shirk my dutie
s.”
Ashlyn caught the woman’s contagious grin and tried to smile back.
“Rest now,” Dalia said. “I’ll bring you some food in the evening.”
“Thank you.” Ashlyn watched the spirited woman leave, then letting her hand drift over the silken bedspread, she went to the clothes and chose some pajamas.
Lying in bed, the only light coming from the flickering fire, Ashlyn couldn’t sleep.
Her thoughts circled, relentless.
Sean was safe... for now.
Laroche would find them.
He always did.
Yet, she knew they would have to face the demon some day. Perhaps, taking Jordan’s offer might be for the best. She hated putting anyone else in danger, yet, if they could be rid of Laroche once and for all, Sean could, for the first time in his life, settle. Be normal.
They could find someplace away from other vampires, where he wouldn’t be looked at as a freak. Where he wouldn’t be hunted.
If Jordan could help her do that, then any danger was worth it.
She settled deeper into the soft bed, resolute.
As she closed her eyes, trying to sleep, her mind took her to another place, another time. One where she had been innocent, loved and protected by the only man who’d ever opened her heart.
Now she only felt cold and bitterly alone.
Chapter Six
Connor slammed the breaks. The truck squealed to a stop in front of the towering castle. He jumped out and barreled up the steps, forcing one of the doors open. Inside, Jordan sat in a wooden chair just outside his receiving chamber. His wife, Dalia, stretched over his lap, tracing his jaw.
They froze, glancing up at him.
“Where is she?” Connor demanded.
Jordan raised a brow. “Where is who?”
With a growl, he said softly, “Don’t play games with me. Did Ashlyn make it or not?”
His heart thundered as panic fired his blood. If she wasn’t here...
Dalia glanced at Jordan. “She didn’t say he was coming.”
“I don’t think she knew,” Jordan replied. “Ashlyn is sleeping, so you’ll leave her be for now.”
His gut untied. “So she’s safe.” Crossing the entryway, he pushed into Jordan’s receiving chamber, went to the bar and poured himself a triple shot of old scotch.
After downing it, he poured another, then slumped in the chair by the fire, staring into the flames. Jordan followed him inside and closed the door. After getting his own drink, he sat across from Connor, rolling the glass between his palms.
“Did you kill the demon she was with?” Connor asked tensely.
“Nay.”
His eyes widened and he stared at Jordan in disbelief. “Why not?”
Shrugging, Jordan took a sip.
Slamming his glass on the table, Connor stated, “Where is he?”
“He?” Jordan took another sip. “You mean the boy?”
“He’s not a boy,” Connor replied, rubbing his knuckles together. “He’s a demon.”
“Only a half-breed.”
“Don’t give me that shit. He needs to be put down. Why is she even with a demon?”
Jordan straightened. “Connor, you’re tense. You need to eat, then get some sleep. We’ll figure things out in the morning.” He stood. “I tell you now, the boy has my protection.”
Connor’s mouth dropped open. “You’re protecting him?”
“Aye.”
In disbelief, he watched Jordan stride from the room.
He sat back in the chair, then grabbed the glass and threw it into the fire. The flames hissed, then roared from the alcohol.
What in the hell type of screwed up, upside down mess had he walked in to?
* * *
As the sun set, Ashlyn sat across from Sean in the garden, finishing breakfast and watching the water fall from the colorful mermaid.
“The artist was talented,” Sean said, reaching over to trace the lines defining each multi-hued scale of the mermaid’s body.
“I suppose,” she replied.
Sean glanced at her. “My mother, the artist, ‘supposes’ whoever made this was talented?”
She looked over the stone creature, with its hair artfully covering the woman’s large chest, her body seamlessly changing from skin to fish.
“Okay, what’s on your mind?” Sean asked, moving to sit by her on the bench.
Jordan strode towards them, his face dark with emotion, almost... worry. For her and Sean?
“The Judge, Connor, is here,” she stated.
Sean glanced around the garden as if the man would jump out at them. She wouldn’t be surprised if he did. Jordan nodded, not asking how she knew.
She didn’t want to admit she remembered his smell as clearly as if it had been yesterday when he’d last held her. She didn’t know where he’d slept, but as soon as she’d woken, she’d known.
Jordan clasped his hands behind his back. “I’ve let him know you and your son are under my protection.”
She nodded, but wasn’t reassured. The Connor she’d known wouldn’t have cared, and wouldn’t stop him from doing his duty. Now that he was a Judge, that duty was something she couldn’t allow.
“You should consider telling him the truth of the past,” Jordan cautioned. “It will help.”
She glanced at Sean, who was once again studying the carved fountain. The tension in his shoulders said he was hanging on every word.
“Perhaps,” she replied.
“Have you thought more about letting me help you?” Jordan asked.
Sean turned, staring at her. “We should accept their offer.”
She sighed, resigned. “Aye. I know.”
Sean gifted her with a rare, shining smile full of hope.
She stared at a bush, at one perfect, blood red rose in bloom. “I’ve decided it is for the best.”
She didn’t mention, didn’t want to dwell on the fact she was using them. Counting on the long-lost family connection Jordan seemed to feel. She did too, but it wouldn’t stop her from taking their offer to help.
Anything to kill Laroche.
A spark of guilt pricked at her conscience, but she pushed it away. They could help keep Sean safe. That was her only concern.
Yet, knowing it might change things, she still had to warn them. “The danger will be great to all here—vampires, humans, anyone the demon Laroche can get his claws on.”
He nodded. “Perhaps. But he won’t find it easy. We have a local wolf pack, do they need to be warned?”
She met his gaze. “Laroche will use anyone, take whatever he can get from them, body, magic and soul.”
Shivering, she turned back to the rose. Its petals looked soft as velvet, covered with blood. Blinking, she forced herself to glance away as memories whispered at the back of her mind, memories of being chained in a dungeon, and used however the demon had wanted.
* * *
Connor dreamed again, as he’d been doing every night since he’d seen Ashlyn once more.
She walked down the hall of their clan’s castle, carrying a basket of yarn. Silent, he snuck up behind her, kissing the back of her neck.
She squeaked and spun. Yarn flew everywhere. Laughing, he retrieved each and every one while she stood, arms crossed over her chest, trying to glare, but failing miserably. Her eyes twinkled and her lips twitched with amusement.
“You’re going to get me in trouble,” she said. “Our mothers are waiting on me.”
He grinned, going down on one knee and holding up the last bit of yarn. “M’Lady, your thread.”
She giggled, plucking it from his hand and leaning down to bestow a smoldering kiss.
He’d risen, grabbing her waist and dragging her to the wall. Her basket fell and yarn once more scattered over the wooden floor.
They hadn’t cared as they slipped behind a covered alcove and made love.
He tasted her lips, reveled in the smoothness of her skin, the sweetness of her scent.
/> Jerking awake, Connor could still smell her.
He got up, his gaze falling on a steaming mug of blood. Dalia was amazing at reading people. Hell, how had she known he would wake soon? How could he have slept through her coming into the room?
Shaking his head, he drew open the drapes as he downed the warm drink, welcoming the twilight. In the distance, the sky was still painted orange and red by the sunset.
Jerking on his clothes, he left his bedroom, and headed downstairs, following the scent of strawberries and wildflowers.
He headed outside, into the maze-like garden. Ahead, beneath the sounds of the mermaid fountain, he heard Ashlyn’s bell-like voice, mixed with that of a man. He walked faster, turning into the circular clearing.
On the far side, Ashlyn sat next to the demon half-breed, holding his hand. They sat so close, their thighs touched. Their heads bent together as they spoke.
The demon lifted his head, laughing, and Ashlyn’s eyes sparkled with love and happiness.
Fury boiled his blood.
The woman was in love with the demon?
After haunting his dreams for eons now, he was to find her alive, yet her heart taken... by something which shouldn’t even exist.
He strode forward, not bothering to be silent.
Ashlyn glanced up. Her face drained of color but for two red spots riding high on her cheeks. She jumped to her feet, moving in front of the demon.
Barely restraining himself, Connor gritted his teeth and growled, “Ashlyn. How nice to see you alive after so many years.”
“Connor,” she replied softly, wringing her hands.
The sight of her fear, fear for the demon, pushed him over the edge. “Move away while I take care of him.”
She lifted her chin and her eyes blazed red. “You won’t lay a hand on Sean.”
Behind her, the demon stood, pushing Ashlyn to the side. His hand on her arm made Connor’s blood boil faster, hotter.
“You protect your lover then, aye? Well, darling,” he spat, “Plea all you want. It won’t save him. He’s a half-breed, and my job is to kill him.”
Her mouth dropped open and emotions from hilarity to fury raced over her face. “Lover?”