“Could you forget you heard that?”
“You love me?”
“I love you.”
Chapter Twenty-one
The trip home seemed much faster than the trip out. When they got back everyone sat and debriefed. Aran and his family were already gone. Rylee could have used the distraction. All she could think of was the fact that Phoenix never said he loved her. Was she pushing it? It was too fast, of course, it was. Would she lose the one person who made her heart speed up?
Why hadn’t they gone all the way? God, she felt like a teen. In a minute she was about to pick a daisy and resort to the old he loves me, he loves me not.
“You’re quiet.”
Rylee looked up to see Piper talking to her. The dining room was empty of everyone but the sisters.
“Thinking,” she shrugged.
“While you’re thinking I’m going to make us tea,” Brandi told her. “We deserve it.” Serenity and Quinn went with her.
“I did a lot of thinking when Thrice and I got together,” Piper told her.
“You did?”
“Yeah, he didn’t think he deserved me. He was sure that he would die, and he deserved death. It made him not want to connect with me. He also suffered abuse that made him unable at times to connect with me.”
“How did you know he cared?”
“There has never been another woman beside me in his bed.”
“Oh.”
“From what Quinn told me, the only woman Phoenix ever looked at was you.”
“I know he cares. Every time he gets close, he doesn’t back off, he just doesn’t take it to the next step.”
“Then I guess the balls in your court.”
Rylee leaned forward and hugged Piper. “Your right.”
“Tea’s done.” Brandi came in carrying two cups, followed by Serenity and Quinn.
Quinn’s phone rang. “Who’s calling at this hour?” She took one look at the screen and answered quickly. “Mila! How are you?”
She nodded her head as Mila spoke. “You can come here. What do you mean you don’t want to intrude? Do you have an apartment, a job? Then you’re coming here. Fine, be that way. I’ll buy you a house. Argue all you want either come here or I’ll buy you a house, a fucking mansion if you want one. Everyone wants to meet you, I talk about you all the time. If you don’t show, I’ll track you down. While in the past that used to be an idle threat, I now have the means to do it. Perfect see you soon.”
Quinn hung up. “You guys are going to love Mila. She’s well, she was like the sister I never had growing up. We met when we were teens. It didn’t take more than a minute for us to be as thick as thieves. She got sick and needed to leave the country to be treated, now she’s coming back, and I can’t wait for my sister to meet my sisters.”
“Before she comes, I think Rylee has business to take care of.” Piper stood and stretched. “I want to cuddle with Thrice. I love the way he…”
“TMI,” Brandi shouted. That led to laughter as they took the cups to the kitchen and made their way to bed.
Phoenix was sitting in the bed with his back against the headboard and the cover pulled up to his waist when Rylee walked in. The rest of the apartment was silent, everyone else was asleep and Marc was off doing whatever A.I.’s do.
She went to the closet and undressed. She grabbed a simple nightgown one that was cute, but not seductive. It said, ‘Aim for the stars.’ Maybe that’s what she was doing. She held off and went to take care of her nightly needs before she finally climbed into the bed with Phoenix.
Rylee settled against the headboard her arm flush against Phoenix’s. In soft words, she told him about what she saw the first time she entered the slipstream.
“We call him the reaper. Although others call his kind collectors. Mekhi, Jabari, Thrice, Akron and I all encountered him. He killed our original brothers. The ones we were linked to, the ones who were created in the lab at the same time as we were. He left one of the six alive.”
She reached down and took his hand squeezing it gently. Her leg moved until the heat of her body was penetrating his.
“The scientists liked to play games. We were their salvation, the ones who stood between them and having their planet taken over by another planet hell-bent on destroying them for gain. They didn’t appreciate that they had to rely on us. To them we were crude, animals, sentient weapons made to be used and then destroyed. We were also fodder for experiments.
“My brothers and I were the only created with the ability to manipulate fire. If there were others, I never met them. The day I met the reaper I’d been separated from my brothers. They were to run through our normal games without me. We were all good, but I was the youngest and I burned the hottest. No one knew why, and we didn’t care.”
He stopped talking his eyes closed as the past came back to haunt him.
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes.” Her answer was immediate, she trusted Phoenix with her life, body, and soul.
A small smile graced his face before he pulled her closer. He stepped into the bond that she created between the two of them when she bit him.
Rylee was standing in a room, more of a cage made from solid walls with an observation window. She could feel eyes on them. A shiver of disgust went down her back. These were the scientists that Phoenix spoke of. They couldn’t hurt her in his memory, but they could and did hurt him.
“Why did you stay?” He turned to look at her. “I mean why did all of you stay. Why didn’t you rise up, stage the biggest coup that the universe ever saw?”
“In some ways, we are a slave to our DNA. When the scientist created us, they incorporated one set of DNA in every created they made. It makes us brothers or cousins. The Stalose live by their word. When they created us, they do so with the instinct and unwritten agreement that we would protect their planet until every threat big and small was destroyed. When that was accomplished it was like a chain holding us in place broke. We fled the planet all of us. No one was willing to see if they had a failsafe they could use.”
It made sense that was how they held a race more powerful than them making them do their bidding.
There was no place to sit except the floor, it was barely wide enough for him to sit and stretch out his legs. He drew her to the wall farthest away from the view screen before they sat.
“Why does he always get to take it easy?” There was attempted derision followed by good-natured laughing.
The voices were in Phoenix's head. Rylee heard them as he heard them.
“This room contains our power. It doesn’t stop it, but it dampens it enough that we cannot break free. It’s also supposed to keep us from communicating. Needless to say, we never informed the scientists that part of their test was a fail. My brothers liked to tease me. Being the youngest had its advantages and disadvantages.”
“Name a disadvantage.”
“They would protect me even if it meant they died.”
She blinked her eyes fast hoping the tears she felt wouldn’t fall. The love his brothers had for him and the love that Phoenix felt towards them was thick through the mental communication.
“Has anyone seen that before?” The bantering voices died off as the oldest brother directed them.
Phoenix and Rylee were pulled through the brother’s bond until they sat in Jai’ell’s mind. He was linking them all together to puzzle out what was happening.
In front of them stood the same black evil that entered her apartment. Now he was in his original form. He looked more like a thundercloud or a wave that promised death. His eyes were all black and his hands were more snake-like than fingers. No wonder she hated snakes.
The brothers were in the air dodging balls of what looked like lightening that was being thrown at them from a machine.
“Wargames,” Phoenix whispered in her ear even as he worked hard to solve the puzzle of who entered their sector. “An alarm was never raised. The scientists allowed this creature in. I never und
erstood the purpose.”
Jai’ell came up with a swift plan to disarm the creature. Contain he ordered don’t kill. The five brothers went into action with Phoenix and Rylee riding along in Jai’ell’s mind.
It was perfect. She could feel Jai’ell’s pleasure until the first brother reached the reaper. He pulled out a staff that sliced the brother open causing him to lose altitude. The fire that burned brightly abruptly when out.
“Retreat,” Jai’ell called even as he flung himself towards the ground to catch their brother.
The reaper didn’t stop he went after the others. Whatever was on his staff sickened them, he gutted them one at a time until all that was left was Jai’ell holding the form of his broken brother.
The help he anticipated, other created, the scientists, it never came.
Jai’ell stood when the reaper appeared in front of him. With a wave of his hand, his brother's broken bodies littered the ground around him.
“How many more of you are there? Two. Two Firebirds left in the universe. My Firebirds. You will come with me or I will kill you.”
Jai’ell’s flames burned hot.
When the reaper came for him he met him in battle. “You’re not the one I want. I’ll take what you harbor in your mind.”
Jai’ell thrust Phoenix out. “Now, little brother, you get to live for all of us.”
They were back in their bedroom.
“He died for me.”
“He died to avenge his brothers and to save your life. What are you doing with that life?”
“I am using it to save your life and the life of my family.”
“Is that what your brother's wanted Phoenix. Did they want you to stop living in anticipation of death?”
“You don’t understand if I mate with you, if I finish the bond you may die when I die!” Frustration rolled through the room. He wanted her. There was no part of him that selfless. How could he claim her when he knew the very real consequences of his bite?
“Am I not to be given a choice?”
“You saw what happened, the reaper has a weapon I cannot fight against.
“Kryptonite.”
“What night?”
“Please tell me you’ve watched Superman movies.” She shook her head sadly when she saw he looked clueless. “Superman is a superhero from Krypton.”
“I don’t know where that planet is.”
Her mouth opened and closed. “Moving on. There was only one thing that could weaken him. It was kryptonite, it came from his planet that was destroyed. Whatever the reaper had in his staff was your kryptonite.”
“It came from my original planet that’s why it stopped my brothers. I don’t know where the planet is I’ve never met another of my find.”
“You’re the last one Phoenix.” She waited to let that sink in. We never think of ourselves as the sole surviving member of a race. Why should we? There has never been a reason too before.
“He came after the others and walked away empty handed. He didn’t care they weren’t what he wanted. He could find others with Mekhi’s healing, or Jabari’s ability to call to the dead. There are other time walkers and survivors of abuse with the ability to absorb what their mates become. He never wanted them. They were a distraction. He always wanted…”
“You. The last surviving member of a dead race. He made you valuable by killing your brothers.”
Phoenix stood. He needed to get away to think. He strode out to the balcony. His body was consumed with fire before his shape changed. This time she saw a magnificent creature within the fire. The reaper had called him a firebird, and he was right on every account. This was Phoenix. He was reddish-orange and beautiful. He climbed the night sky. She watched until she could no longer see him.
Whatever happened next was in his hands.
Chapter Twenty-one
Rylee woke up to a warm hand stroking her cheek. She opened her eyes to meet Phoenix’s reddish-orange gaze.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t running from you, I needed…” She placed her hand in front of his lips.
“You found out your brothers were killed for no other reason than to make you the most sought-after commodity in the universe. I would have run too. The other thing is I probably would have stayed away for weeks, months, years!”
He laughed at the way she twisted her mouth and her eyes were comic big. Rylee did that to him. She eased his hurt and pain, made his heart thump painfully wanting to be around her forever.
“I don’t get to make your choices Rylee. Like I didn’t get to make my brothers. They would all gladly die for me, and I, them.”
“What are you saying love?”
“I want to finish the connection. I want you to be my mate, Rylee. I love you. I always thought I could love the girl with the grass-green eyes and the fire red hair. Once I got to know you I knew it was so much more than your looks or the nice way you always greeted me. I love the determination that lives in your soul. I love the way you overcome your fears even though at times they show. Your willingness to face danger for those that you love is rare. Then there is the way you make me feel. I want you to be my mate and maybe someday the mother of our red-hot children.”
“I love you; I love you. I love you.” She threw herself into his arms kissing him with everything she had within her before she started to giggle.
“What so funny?” He smacked her behind before soothing it with his large palm.
“I just had a glimpse of you trying to explain to our son why he can’t set his friends on fire.”
Phoenix groaned. If they made it through the reaper, the future was going to be…something he couldn’t wait to experience.
“There will be no sons, unless I mate with you, bite you, while I have my wicked way with you.”
“For a male who never saw Superman, you do have a certain flair for words.” Rylee moved back to expose her nude body. She laughed when Phoenix almost swallowed his tongue.
“I think you approve.”
He stood stripping down before he climbed on the bed. His cock was full and heavy. Rylee wanted to skip to the main event, but he wasn’t haven’t it. He traced her lips with his tongue.
“I love how you taste. It's fire mixed with vanilla and apple.”
“You make me sound like an exotic dessert.” Her tongue chased after his trying to entice him into her mouth.
“That’s exactly what you taste like an exotic forbidden dessert that belongs to me.”
She was his, every part of her; heart, body, mind, and soul belonged to Phoenix. Now she understood what she didn’t when the women at the bar spoke jealously of someone being so deeply committed to a man that they gave up all others for him. It was more than jealousy. It was a desire to be loved so deeply that you knew the other half of your soul would never leave you. It didn’t happen enough, but it wasn’t as rare as people thought.
Phoenix took her mouth in a kiss that made her heart pound. She didn’t fight it; she wrapped herself around him like a clinging vine. Holding on for dear life in the heart of the storm, she kissed him back. The flavor of fire and masculinity overtook her senses making her head pound. He was the one for her. If the love affair lasted a day or all eternity, she was in for everything that came their way.
He broke the kiss coming up for air.
“You’re seductive and potent.”
“Don’t you ever forget.” The heat in her voice went with the fire in her eyes.
He nipped at the side of her mouth before traveling down her cheek to the edge of her jaw. He placed little kisses along it. She squirmed under him. There was no way she should be sensitive there, but she was. The squirming was making her already needy nipples tighten as she rubbed against him.
“I need you Phoenix.”
“You’re going to get me, love, every hard inch.” He licked the curve of her neck. “I’m going to bite you here.”
She moaned at the thought of his teeth in her skin. Her pussy pulsed with the thought of belonging to
him for eternity. This is what she looked for her whole life. Someone to be her partner in crime as well as a partner in saving the world. She wanted someone who had her back no matter what came. She thought of the one example she had seen when she turned to the news. Yeah, she was looking for someone like him.
He kissed and nibbled his way down until he was licking the top of her breast. She moved restlessly on the bed. Her face was flushed with need while her eyes glittered with desire. When his hand came up to cup her breast squeezing it, her hips thrust up. A long deep moan came from her.
He bent over and took her other nipple in his mouth sucking it as he worked the one that was between his fingers. She clung to his shoulders afraid to fall getting lost in the emotions he stirred.
He licked a path between her breast breathing heavily. “I promise to love you.” He rubbed his cheek against the side of her breast allowing the warm skin to heat him.
He kissed downward until he was nuzzling where her breasts connected to her body. His tongue flicked out to lick her. “I promise to cherish you.”
He continued to kiss downward with slow tender moves that made her restless. His hands followed the path igniting the fire that lived within her. When her hair began to spark he gave a deep throaty laugh.
“I promise to protect you.” He stopped at her belly button fascinated with how it went in. His tongue explored it while she gave moans and small sounds begging him for more. “I love this. It's proof that you were connected to someone who cared.”
She wanted to tell him he was wrong that all mothers didn’t care. He was right her mother had cared. The thoughts flew away when he placed his mouth over her belly button and sucked. Was it directly connected to her clit because she was vibrating with need?
“Rylee?” His voice was ragged. The need was so easy to hear, and she could feel it too as his cock thrust against her leg.
“I need you Phoenix, don’t make me wait.”
His head lowered, then he licked her before tugging on her clit with just a bare hint of his teeth. Her head went back as she screamed from the feel of his mouth on her. He rose up an intimidating male looming over her.
Phoenix (The Broken Book 5) Page 13