by Evi Asher
“No.” Athera got up and dumped the supplies on the table. She was tempted to lie down and tell him she was wounded, just to feel his hands on her skin. She walked over to the door.
“Ath?”
His voice was a low rumble that made her body respond.
Athera stopped staring at the solid wooden door and turned around to look at Grave.
He was still sitting in a chair, his gaze burning into her. She took a moment to soak in his features—the strong lines of his jaw, with its slight darkening of stubble, the aristocratic length of his nose, the height of his cheekbones, the way his braid fell over his chest. She would have sighed dreamily if they weren’t eyebrow deep in shi—trouble. She had to start cleaning up her mouth. Seriously, she was sounding more and more like a proverbial sailor.
“You are staring,” he told her before he lifted his head and pinned her with a stare of his own.
“So what? So are you.”
Grave stood up and stalked over to her. Yes, frigging stalked, his body all liquid grace. Athera felt her temperature spike up. She had wanted this reaper from the first moment she’d laid eyes on him.
He stopped a breath away from touching her, forcing her to crane back her neck or she wouldn’t be able to maintain eye contact. “You will never have me, little phoenix.”
Had she spoken out loud?
“I see the need in your eyes, and I’m telling you now, it will never happen.”
Thank god, she hadn’t spoken out loud. However, the challenge was there in his words, the gauntlet he’d tossed at her the first time he rejected her. Athera didn’t do well with rejection, and she always got what she worked for.
“You saved my life.” She lifted a hand and put her index finger on his chest right over his breastbone. She dragged her finger down, using her nails to score through the fabric of his shirt.
She felt the moment his heart rate spiked.
“Nothing I wouldn’t have done for anyone else.”
* * * *
The lie tasted like ash in Grave’s mouth even as the words left his lips.
He would have helped anyone else, but Athera—damn it—she mattered more than anyone else.
The feeling made him uncomfortable. He couldn’t afford to want the phoenix. He couldn’t afford to grow feelings for her.
She tilted her head up and spoke in a husky tone. “I owe you.”
Images of how she could replay him flashed through his mind. She would step into his arm, all those soft curves pressed against him. She would rub her body against his aching one and he would let his hands roam her form.
His body responded to the thoughts and he couldn’t bring himself to stomp on the embers of the thoughts.
“Oh? What do you owe me?” He’d stepped even closer. He could feel the heat pouring off her skin.
One of her small hands reached up, and she laid her palm flat on his pecs.
“A kiss?” She sounded so unsure of herself, an innocence and brazenness all wrapped up into one. He was losing the battle.
“It’s a possibility.”
His body moved without his instruction and he had a last fleeting thought that he should be fighting this harder. His head bowed down and he rubbed his lips across hers.
So fucking soft. The thought blared through his mind, bullhorn-loud.
He tasted her lips again, and Athera melted against him, her body leaning into his as if she couldn’t hold herself up properly.
He teased at the seam of her lips with his tongue, waiting, patient, and she opened for him with a soft sigh.
Grave let his tongue flick against hers and she rewarded him with a small moan. She tasted like sunshine and summer. He knew he was going to make sure his kiss ruined her for any other male.
A stab of possessiveness hit him, square in the gut. He didn’t want any other male kissing this phoenix. She was his to kiss.
He lifted his hands, wrapping them around her head so he could tilt it for better access. He was holding on by a thread. Then Athera started kissing him back.
He was lost.
Her mouth was so hot, scalding and perfect. The heat from her mouth traveled into his body, searing a path straight to his hard cock.
He kissed her deeper, the need to climb into her arcing through his blood.
He let go of her head, his hands going to her hips. He pulled Athera against his hard cock, and she moaned as the length of him butted against her abdomen.
His hands slipped lower around her hips to her ass. He kneaded the firmness and pulled her against him again.
Athera bit his lip. Oh, she was a quick study. He stepped forward, herding her back until her butt was against the wall. His hands came up as he made a space between them, his thumbs hooking under her breasts.
She sucked in a breath, then let her own hands roam his chest, but her hands were going lower. Not higher.
Grave felt Athera’s nails scrape the waistband of his jeans—a moment’s hesitation—then her hot palm rubbed across his cock, causing the damn thing to jump like it had a life of its own.
Fuck, it felt so damn good.
Wait! What am I doing? If he had Athera, if he caved and they had sex... she’d die. The moment he entered her, she would die.
The fire in his veins turned to glacial ice. In one movement, Grave broke the kiss and forced himself to step away from the phoenix.
His breathing ragged, he closed his eyes to try to get control of his raging body.
“No.” Her word was a plea—Athera didn’t want him to move.
Grave opened his eyes. “I’m sorry, Ath... ”
He watched as her heavy lidded passion-filled eyes widened and filled with something else. Anger.
“You are stopping?” It was as if she wanted to make sure she understood.
“I have to.” His voice was as ragged as he felt.
“Why?” Anger vibrated in the words.
He clenched his jaw. He was not sharing his shame—not with her. Never. She wasn’t ever going to find out that he’d been accused of a rape he’d never committed. Only Cain’s defense of him had kept him free and not in prison.
She wasn’t going to find out that he’d been sentenced never to have real pleasure again.
“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you that.” He took another step back. Her proximity was making him ache. His damn balls were going to be blue. He wanted her so much—but not enough to kill her, never enough to kill her.
“Can’t or won’t?” Athera glared at him, and he knew he had to be honest with her.
“Won’t,” he admitted.
“I see.” She pursed her lips and walked past him to go sit on a chair in the room. He turned to look at her again. Her expression was tight, her anger leashed, but only barely.
Silence hung heavily in the air and he got more uncomfortable as the minutes stretched endlessly.
“Ath,” he started.
She held up a hand, but didn’t look at him.
“Don’t, okay? Don’t give me lame excuses. If you don’t want me, that’s okay, but don’t mess with my head.”
Crushing guilt fell over him.
“Who says I don’t want you?”
Her head snapped as she turned a look that could turn diamonds to dust on him.
“Athera, I do want you.”
She snorted. The damn phoenix actually snorted?
“Look.” She stood up and faced him as if she had something to say that needed her back straight and her head high.
“I—”
She held up her hand again, silencing him.
“Let me get this out, okay?”
Grave closed his mouth and waited.
“Good.” She nodded, then sucked in a deep breath. “I get it. I threw myself at you from minute one, and I tempted you. I mean, what man can resist all of this?” She waved her hands down her body to show she meant herself.
Despite the seriousness of the conversation, Grave wanted to smile.
“So you sto
pped resisting for a second, then came to your senses.” She shrugged. “For some reason, you just don’t want me. I’m clueless as to why, but hey, that’s life. I mean... ” She rolled her eyes, and he fought that smile again. “It’s obvious you haven’t been with anyone in a long time. So just let it go. You have your secrets, and I have mine.”
Wait! What? It was obvious he hadn’t been with anyone in a long time—so was she saying he was obviously rusty?
A frown creased his brow. Rusty? Hell, no. He’d show her just how well-oiled his machine was. He took a step toward Athera.
A soft knock on the door stopped him. He spun to look at the entrance to the room. The handle turned, but the door didn’t open. It was still locked.
He heard a muttered curse from outside the wooden plank, then he felt a surge of power and heard a click.
This time when the handle turned, the door opened.
Chapter Eleven
“That’s right, you dumb door. I’m the boss.”
It was the woman in the oil-slick cloak. Only now, the hood of it was down so her face was visible, and Athera felt two things at once.
One was awe, because the woman was stunning, and the other—Athera felt neon-green jealousy because the woman was stunning and Grave was staring.
The cloaked woman stepped into the room, shut the door behind her, and gave Athera and Grave a bright smile.
Athera noticed the woman had very long black hair woven into intricate French braids around the crown of her head. Threaded through it were streaks of pink and purple that only accented the darkness of the woman’s hair and her tanned skin.
Her eyes were brown, but not a normal brown. They were dark, almost like melted chocolate and Athera had to shake her head when she seemed to get mesmerized by the pools of brown.
“I’m Josephine.” She held out her hand to Athera. “My friends call me Josy, but don’t, because we aren’t friends yet.”
Athera took her hand and realized she must look like a complete idiot standing there with a puzzled gape for an expression.
Josephine laughed. The laugh was a rich sound that made Athera smile in return.
“I’m kidding.” Josephine shook Grave’s hand. “We are going to be friends, so feel free to call me Josy.”
“Who—”
Before Grave could say anything else, Josephine spoke over him. “Trinity is my cousin, and she sent me into this—” she waved her hand around to encompass the room, but obviously meant the vampire bunker—“den of iniquity.”
Athera was weary. “Trinity never said she had a cousin.”
“Probably not. Trin’s a bit of a black sheep in the family, you know, being tossed out of the witches’ guild and all. I’ve recently decided to follow her example.”
Trying to understand what Josy was saying and meaning was giving Athera a headache, like the one time she’d tried to read Romeo and Juliet. She could understand every word, but none of it made sense. “Witches’ guild?”
Grave was the one who answered her question. “All the eternals of this world tend to stick to their kind, but if you screw up, you get booted from your species and you become an outsider.”
“Outsiders Inc. That’s where the name comes from. Everyone there was kicked out of their group?”
Grave nodded. “I assume that is where the name came from.”
“Okay. Back to me.” Josephine grinned. “So I’m here in case you get into trouble.” She rolled her eyes. “And thank Mother Earth for that, because what happened... ” She gave them an exaggerated stare and waved her hands, like a teacher prompting a class.
She sighed when neither one of them supplied the answer. “You got into trouble. Thank goodness I was there, or those faery hounds would have had you as an appetizer.”
Athera gasped. “So that was you in my head during the fight?”
“Ah huh.” Josephine looked pleased with herself.
Grave looked pissed. “Explain, Athera.”
“When we were fighting the hounds, there was this buzzing in my head, and a voice.” She frowned at Josephine.
“Yes, I had to boost your power. It took me a minute there. You have strong shields.”
Athera thought about ripping into the witch for digging around in her skull, but then realized her skull would have been puppy chow without Josy’s help.
“Thank you for your help.”
“No problem, and save the thank you’s. We aren’t done yet.”
“What do you mean?” Grave asked.
Josy glanced over at the chairs, then moved past them to plop down into one. “Oh, that’s better. I get tired when I have to expend as much energy as I had to during the fight.”
Athera sat down in the couch opposite Josy, “I have a couple of questions.” She was expecting Grave to take the last free chair, so she was surprised when he pulled it right next to hers and sat down so close that his denim-covered thigh was against hers. She could feel the heat of his body through the fabric.
This action distracted her from her questions. Her mind hit rewind to that kiss, and it filled up her gray matter with the pleasure he’d given her. She’d known any physical contact with the reaper would be life changing from their first kiss, and she’d been right.
“Helllooo.” Josephine elongated the word to get her attention.
Athera felt her cheeks get hot, because she realized she’d been staring at Grave. He was looking over at Josy, but when Josephine called out to Athera, he turned his head and her gaze met his with a blast of heat. She wondered if he was thinking of the kiss, too.
Gods, the male turned her into a hormone-riddled wreck.
Say that fast five times. The errant thought made her laugh, and the laughter helped her get her mind back to the conversation and her questions, despite the strange looks she was getting from the others.
“Okay, question one. How is it that you are in the vampire court and no one chucked you in with ghouls and hounds?”
“I made myself invaluable to the king. I help him out with a spell now and then and he gives me safe passage.”
“Fair enough.” Grave nodded. “He won’t be too pleased with you helping us.”
“True, but A, I don’t intend for him to find out, and B, I’m leaving with you, so I’ll be safe even if he does.”
Grave sat forward putting his elbows on his knees. “What do you mean, leaving with you? We can’t leave until Ryder lets us in the archives.”
Josy shifted in her chair at the sound of Ryder’s name and Athera had a sudden suspicion. “You are scared of Ryder?” she asked.
Josy’s back shot straight as she sat up in her chair and Athera knew she’d hit a nerve.
“No I’m not. I’ve never met the man. Why would I be scared of him?”
There was something going on there and Athera was going to figure it out. She loved a good puzzle.
“Besides, you don’t need his archive,” Josy added.
“Um, yes we do,” Athera pointed out. “It’s the only place we can find out what the weapon is that will kill Nexanthon.”
“No, it isn’t. I know where you can get the information you need, and without having to play vampire games.”
“Why the hell didn’t Trinity tell us this to start with?” Grave demanded.
“Because she didn’t know that this is my territory and my information.”
“Tell us.”
Grave was frowning and Athera was amazed at how demanding he was sounding.
“No.” Josephine crossed her arms over her chest and sat back in her chair.
“Why the hell not?” Grave looked like he was about to jump out his chair and shake the witch, so Athera put a hand on his arm. His body went still.
“Why no, Josy?” Athera said in a gentler tone.
“Quid pro quo.” Josy reached up and patted the French braid in her hair.
Athera looked over at Grave and shrugged.
“Okay, what do you want?”
Josephine grinne
d, clearly feeling the victory. “I want a favor. Not right now, but when I come and ask, I want you to return the favor, no questions asked.”
A glance passed between Athera and Grave again. She nodded her head subtly.
“The favor has to be within reason,” Grave stated.
“Yes,” Josephine agreed.
Athera nodded. “Okay.”
“Done,” Josephine said and there was a ringing sense of finality to her words.
It was then that Athera realized the witch had used a spell to seal the deal.
Gah, and people warned you never to make a deal with the devil. It was more like never make a deal with a witch.
The door was shoved open and closed so quickly, it took Athera a moment to notice that Wyatt had come into the room. He stood with his back against the door as if taking everything in.
He glared at the witch. “What are you doing here, Josy?”
Grave had moved forward to get up. Athera was sure he would have attacked had anyone but Wyatt come through the door.
Josephine tossed her head back, her eyebrow arching. “I could ask you the same thing, vampire.”
He shook his head as if he’d decided it wasn’t worth the argument. His gaze moved from Grave to Athera. “I’ve come to get you two... out of here.”
“We were planning on leaving.” Grave glanced at Athera before he met Wyatt’s gaze. “Why do you look so flustered?”
“The king... ” Wyatt started, then stopped, running a hand through his hair in obvious frustration.
“Someone has been whispering in his ear that the vampires would be safer from Nexanthon if they killed you.”
“What!” Athera felt her eyes widen in shock. Tossing them into a fight for entertainment was one thing, but she was sure the king had known they would win. Out and out murder was something else.
Athera was stunned. “Where is Ryder? He told the king we were his guests.”
“He was sent on an errand he couldn’t refuse. The king knew Ryder would interfere, and it gets worse.” Wyatt frowned as he sat down. “We don’t have time for this.”
“Make time.” Grave’s voice was icy.
Wyatt gritted his teeth in obvious frustration. “The king didn’t listen to that piece of stupid advice about killing you both. He got clever instead.”