by Hati Bell
“We’ll talk about it later.”
“No, I want to know now.”
“Ten. Large,” Ravi answered, his tone businesslike. “I accept cash or any goods of similar value. No credit cards.”
Amber paled and Drake suppressed a curse. “We’ll figure something out. Let’s go.”
“I’m not bloody figuring out anything with you, Kincaid,” Ian sneered. “I’d rather hand in my kneecaps than accept anything from you.”
Ravi pulled the cigarette from behind his ear. “I didn’t think it was possible, O’Neill, but you just rose in my esteem. You can leave with your kneecaps intact this time.”
“Don’t you lay a hand on him!” Amber screeched.
Drake put an arm around her waist when she wanted to lunge at Ravi.
“And what if I don’t?” Ravi asked, clearly not intimidated whatsoever.
He felt her body shake and heat up. Judging by Ravi’s cocked eyebrows, Drake wasn’t the only one noticing the change in her.
“Your eyes smolder like the fires in the Catacombs,” Ravi said, giving Drake a look. “What is it with you and fiery women? First Jade, now a phoenix.”
He felt Amber tighten when Ravi mentioned his ex-girlfriend. She obviously didn’t like to be reminded of the time Jade had attacked her. “Let it go, Ravi. We both know I’m the one you have a bone to pick with.”
“I’m not so sure about that.” Ravi’s eyes roamed over Amber’s body, making Drake growl. “She must be fireworks in bed.”
This time it was Benn pulling Drake back before he smashed in Ravi’s head.
“You’re looking good, cous,” Benn greeted Ravi. “As good as someone can look after being formatted in the Catacombs for a year.”
For the first time since Drake had seen Ravi again, he smiled a genuine smile. That was the effect Benn had on people. He could clear out the tension from any bad situation.
“I’ve heard you will be whipped for good soon,” Ravi greeted him back. “When’s the big day?”
“In six months.” Benn beamed like he always did discussing anything related to Cally.
No one deserved it more to be happy, but sometimes Drake envied his carefree relationship.
Ian stormed off without saying another word. Amber grabbed Seth’s hand when he wanted to follow after her brother. “Thank you for being there for him, Seth.”
The dryad nodded and went after his friend.
They barely spoke on the drive over to Amber’s—no, Lancaster’s—house. She seemed pensive, lost in thought.
“I saw Ian die in my vision tonight,” she said softly, when he killed the engine at the driveway. “That hulking dragon with gold front teeth broke his neck. Ravi merely watched as my brother fell to the floor, as if he were nothing more than a piece of garbage. He just lit a smoke and continued counting his money.”
“I thought you didn’t have visions anymore.” He hated knowing they were back, hurting her. He also feared they would hurt both of them when she would see him for who he really was.
“I did as well. They were probably dormant because of the inflaming and everything. Matteo thinks my body and mind are still adjusting to the changes I’ve been going through.” She looked him straight in the eye. “I see more than just the future you know. I also get bits and pieces of the past. It’s probably temporary.”
Drake stiffened. She knows. “Amber, I…”
She scooted over, until she was plastered to his side. “There’s no need to apologize. I saw the fight in the old factory with the goblins who were on your tail. You didn’t have another choice but to defend yourself.”
He relaxed and changed the subject. “Promise me you’ll never walk into the White Shark again.”
“The owner, Ravi. You know him.”
It wasn’t a question. “Ravi Sengupta was my best friend, until over a year ago when he was transported to the Catacombs. I recently discovered that Kincaid was behind it, thinking Ravi had a bad influence on me.” He could see she was beginning to connect the dots.
“He’s the one who introduced you to cage fighting.”
“He’s more than that. He was my best friend, my mentor, my brother. Ravi saved me from myself.”
“By making you fight inside a cage for money.”
She didn’t understand. “Fighting was an outlet for me, since I was angry all the time. It wasn’t just about the money.” If that had been the case he would’ve taken odd jobs in Dorset or London. He could’ve made good money doing small burglaries, nicking cars, or transporting money. Of course, Somerset would’ve been off limits, unless you wanted to be obliterated by Kincaid. The crime rate for supes in Somerset was extremely low since in the end you always got caught and ended up in a hellhole.
“So, what went wrong?”
“I dropped him, that’s what went wrong.” He sighed. “My best friend was sent to the Catacombs and I didn’t even try to find him. Ravi may be a dangerous asshole, but his anger towards me is justified.”
She took his hand. “No one knows where the Catacombs are. Also, the Council would’ve chased you to the end of the world had you succeeded in breaking him out.”
He smiled wryly. She was always defending him. “Kincaid has ways to make the impossible possible. Maybe I could’ve pressured him. Except right after Ravi was taken I met you and honestly, I just didn’t want to go on a wild goose chase. The idea of not seeing you made me anxious. It still does.” Also, deep down he’d known that Kincaid would never help him. His grandfather had put too much effort in getting rid of Ravi. He’d tried to do the same thing with Logan by trying to let him take the fall for Nurse Croft’s murder.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she assured him.
“Good, ‘cause I’m not letting you go.” He swallowed his jealousy when he dropped Amber off at Lancaster’s door. He hated leaving her here, but he had to admit it was probably the safest place for her right now. “Don’t forget about your promise. Don’t go back there.”
“I made no such promise,” she sputtered as she unfastened her seatbelt. “He’s my brother. The only family I’ve got left. I just can’t believe he could be so stupid to get into such debt. I wish he’d talk to me instead of avoiding me.”
Drake understood Ian all too well. “Maybe he was ashamed.”
“Shame or not, I’m still his sister. He should know I’m there for him.” She pensively looked at the cottage. “Maybe Matteo can give him a loan.”
“Why would you ask for Lancaster’s help instead of mine?” He tried to keep the hurt out of his voice, but it was difficult.
Her eyes softened. “First of all, I don’t think you have that much money lying around. And even if you did, you’ve seen Ian’s reaction. He seems so… bitter. He’ll never take your money. I don’t want this to cause a rift between us. I can’t lose the last of my family.”
He sighed and took her in his arms. “I hate it when you’re right and I hate it this mean you’ll be owing Lancaster. The thought of leaving you behind with him once again, drives me crazy,” he finally admitted.” It makes me want to rip out his intestines.
He could feel her smile against him. “There’s no need to be jealous. You know I’m not interested in him. Which is by the way mutual.”
“And it better stay that way, if he knows what’s good for him.”
“Trust me, Matteo Lancaster isn’t my type. He’s conceited and thinks inferi are second-class citizens. In his world they’re just one step up from a cockroach. I could never love someone so cold-blooded and with so little respect for life.”
His blood chilled when images of Turnpike played through his head. He took in her scent, vowing she would never find out what had really happened there.
SEVENTEEN
When Amber had invited him over yesterday, Drake had had something else in mind than a sparring session. Still, he had no reason to complain. The plus side was: he lay on top of her, inhaling her delicious scent. Down side was; they lay on top of a fitness
mat in Lancaster’s gym instead of in his bed.
“You’re not even really trying,” she complained while trying to wriggle out from under him.
He licked the sweat from her neck and grinned when she blushed. “If I try any harder you won’t have any clothes left on.” He grimaced when he saw the tear in her tank top. Every time her back hit the floor he feared he had been too rough with her.
“They’re only clothes. I have closets full of them.”
His inner dragon roared at the thought of another man buying her clothes. He rolled off of her and pulled her up with him. Keep it together, Drake. Last thing she needs right now is your jealousy. “What’s the first thing you do at the sight of trouble?” he repeated.
She rolled her eyes and took the defensive stance he’d thought her. “Call Matteo first and then you.”
When she’d told him about the telepathic connections she shared with Matteo, it had hurt him somewhere inside in a place he didn’t even know existed. The phoenix had a connection with her Drake could never have. However, Matteo being the one to reach her fastest was a fact he couldn’t deny. Only thing keeping him from going insane with jealousy was the fact that she was open about it. She didn’t have a cheater inside her. Except when she has a vision of her dying in your arms and neglects to tell you. He pushed that thought away and circled her, looking for an opening.
She followed his lead, giving him a hesitant look. “What if I can’t? What if there’s no one to help me?”
“Not going to happen. You know your safety is prio one. Same goes for Matteo,” he reluctantly admitted. He might loath the phoenix, but couldn’t deny that the well-being of his promesi—now that she was alive and kicking—seemed to be his top priority. Apparently that was how the phoenix laws worked. She bit her bottom lip and that’s when he knew something was up. “What’s going on, love?” Their run-in with Ravi had been three days ago and he figured Amber’s request to learn self-defense was triggered by that.
She sat down onto the floor and folded her arms over her knees. “You know how my visions work, right?”
“Yeah. You get one when you touch someone’s skin. You only get a new one about the same person if the first vision has come to life.”
She took a deep breath. “I’ve had a new vision.”
He plopped down across her in a heartbeat. “About the past or the future?”
“The future,” she said. “I haven’t had one about the past apart from that one time. Benedict believes those visions weren’t about the past, but I’ve had them because of the people who touched me during my coma. So they are belated visions, so to speak. Since my body is still adjusting to this whole phoenix thing, it took some time for the visions to catch up with me. Ever since I inflamed, my visions come and go as they please. With some people, like with you and Benedict, I only see black. When it comes to myself… I did see something more clear.”
He didn’t like the shadows underneath her eyes. “Tell me what you’re afraid of.”
“In my nightmare I’m in some kind of crypt.” She visibly swallowed. “I screamed my lungs out for help, but no one came. It was so dark, Drake. So damn dark.”
He pulled her in his lap, afraid she’d disappear if he didn’t hold on to her. “You sure it wasn’t a regular nightmare? Like a reaction to how you felt during your coma?”
“No nightmare has ever felt so real. I couldn’t move and felt someone holding a knife to my face. That’s the last thing I remember.”
He cradled her face in his palms. “Listen to me. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. Wherever you may be or go, I will find you. I will always find you.”
Her hands slid beneath his shirt, stroking his back. “I’m tired of constantly living in fear.”
He knew the feeling all too well. His biggest fear was losing her, together with himself. He’d do anything to cast her fears away, make her feel something else. Be it even for a little while.
Drake nuzzled her ear and then kissed her. She opened her mouth, letting him in. He continued to taste her, trailing kisses down her neck, as his hands tunneled through her hair. With a moan she grabbed the back of his neck, pressing her lips on his. He liked her new, bolder side. He pulled her top over her head, dropping it on the floor. The minute he felt her soft skin, he almost lost control. He pinned her underneath him, his body between her raised knees. There wasn’t an inch of space separating them, just the way he liked it. He moved his hips and she wrapped her arms around his neck, grinding against him. He could feel her burning for him, as he was for her. Her smoldering fingertips gently brushing his neck, her gasps and moans adding to his pleasure.
His hand went to her tights that were like a second skin on her body. Clothes. They had on too many clothes. He moaned when her hands wrapped in his strands of hair, pulling him closer as if she couldn’t get enough of him. He ignored the pain when she stroked his cheek. It had been over a year since they necked like this, him burning for her.
He’d barely finished that thought when she pushed against his chest and wriggled from underneath him. She had a blush on her cheeks and was panting, looking frantic. “What’s going on, love?”
Amber snatched her tank top off the floor and put it back on. “What is going on?” she said, sounding incredulous. “I hurt you!”
He relaxed. “Oh, that.”
“Excuse me? I almost burn you alive and that’s your reaction?” Her eyes narrowed. “You’re not even surprised, are you?”
“Dragons don’t burn. Come back here.”
“I don’t think so! Maybe you can’t be burned by a regular fire, but phoenix fire even hurts a dragon and you know it. Why didn’t you say something?”
“I wasn’t sure about that, and also—” he grinned “—I wasn’t exactly thinking. This is just part of being a phoenix, love. When your emotions heat up, like when you get turned on, you just literally heat up. No biggie.” Obviously those were the wrong words. Her eyes sparked with fire, which actually proved his point, but he wasn’t dense enough to say that out loud.
“So you’re saying that I will just... burst into flames whenever I kiss a man? Any man?”
Shut your hole, Drake. This is like when a woman asks if she looks fat in that dress. You only have two options: saying no or changing the subject. “How did we get here?” he changed the subject. “Don’t worry. It’ll heal.”
She pushed against his chest. “I don’t want you to have to heal. I want for my boyfriend to not be in pain when I kiss him. What kind of a twisted relationship would that be?”
He figured it was more of a rhetorical question but he answered it anyway after he took her back in his arms. She was as stiff as a board, but relaxed when he kept stroking her back. “One where my ego gets a boost because my girlfriend is burning with desire for me. Literally,” he joked.
“I hate what I’ve become.” She sounded so forlorn.
“It’s going to be okay. You just have to get a handle on this whole being-a-phoenix thing. It’s just one of the things that have changed about you. If you ask me, they’ve made you even stronger and better.”
“Really?” She didn’t sound convinced.
“Cross my heart.”
“So you’re okay with me spontaneously heating up when I kiss you?”
“Like I said, it’s an ego boost.” He gave her an appreciative look, so there would be no doubt about how he felt about her.
She remained looking skeptical. “Right. And you don’t mind me living under the same roof as the man who handed you over to Crassus to be tortured, or that I have acknowledged him as my promesi?”
The green monster on his back came alive with a vengeance, but he reigned it in. “I hate every word of that sentence,” he admitted. “But that’s just the way it is. Besides, those things aren’t about you, but about your living conditions. Also it’s temporary. We’re leaving this place as soon as we can.” Only two more months until he received his inheritance. He’d never have to see his grandfather
, aunt, Henry, or Malcolm ever again. He could finally plan a future with Amber.
“Are we now?”
This time it were his eyes that were burning with determination. “Yeah, we are, love.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. Am I interrupting the lovebirds?” a snarky voice sounded from behind them.
Drake’s hands automatically changed into claws when he saw Faey. She looked all bad-ass in her black tights and tee with the message “It’s not me. It’s you.” “What are you doing here?”
“Unlike you, I live here, draconi. So, if anybody should be asking that question it would be me. What are you doing here?”
Amber pulled him with towards a bench. She handed him a towel and took one herself. “Drake’s teaching me self-defense.”
Faey made a derisive sound in the back of her throat. “I’m sure that sugar-coated approach will make your enemies shake in their boots during the Demillennium. It should be just as useful as the yoga you do after having burned up another batch of sheets. Being serene and all that crap is the answer to everything, right? Maybe you could also politely ask your opponent to go easy on you? You know, so the fight—” she made air-quotes “—will be more fair.”
Amber threw down her towel. “You know what? I’ve just had it up to here with your surly attitude, Xena. Stop pretending you’re a martial arts expert. Also, the last Demillennium was during the middle ages. According to Benedict you were born in the twentieth century. So, you weren’t even there the last time it happened.”
A ball of fire formed in Faey’s hand. “I don’t know who this Xena is but if you call me names one more time, I will…”
Drake put himself between Amber and Faey, but then a certain crazy phoenix traced inside the gym just in time.
Benedict put his hands over Faey’s fireball, effectively extinguishing it. “That wasn’t an insult, Warrior Princess, but sarcasm. Had you been watching TV for the past two decades you would have known that.” He rolled his eyes at them. “Unfortunately the reference to the sexy Xena is lost on my sister-in-law, as it would be if you’d refer to any other popular TV show. Don’t hold it against her.” He was obviously apologizing for something else rather than Faey’s lack of pop culture knowledge.