Melkor & Purity: Book Two

by Kim Faulks

  No, his energy changed.

  He dropped his pack on the floor, tossed the keys onto the counter, then turned. I glanced at the keys and then to him. Two long strides, and he cut across the room.

  And my heart fluttered with the sight.

  He was so intense. So purposeful.

  So goddamn mine.

  He reached, grasped the straps of my pack off my shoulders, and dropped it to the floor. I never felt the loss of the weight because I was already floating.

  “You are my family,” he whispered. “The only family I’ll ever need. I’ve loved you from the first moment I saw you. I just never realized it.”

  His fingers skimmed my jaw, and my panicky heart gave a leap.

  I closed my eyes as my panting breaths got away from me.

  The kiss was soft, tender.

  I felt myself leaning into him, lifting my hands.

  Until he left tender behind.

  The kiss deepened, turning hungrier. Strong hands gripped my shoulders, pressing me against him. I was lost in this moment, lost under his need, yielding to his command.

  More than I ever thought I could.

  His tongue skirted mine, then pulled away. He was everywhere, fingers spearing through my hair, the other hand sliding over the curve of my ass. He was embers and flames, and hard obsidian stone. He was sulphur and sting.

  He was a Hellhound.

  He was my best friend.

  I ran my hands under his jacket, fingers skimming hard muscle, and in a second, the image of him shirtless came rushing back. Hard muscles, powerful arms. A body made for fighting, and a heart made for me.

  His splayed hand pressed me closer. His driving hips pressed his hardness against me, and I was breathtakingly aware of the change in his body.

  A fierce flare of yearning cut through me as he moved.

  Steps slipped away from me. I couldn’t hold onto anything but him.

  His warm lips moved against mine before they slipped to the side, raining soft kisses along the edge of my jaw and then down my neck.

  Desire flooded me, tearing a soft moan from my throat.

  Melkor stilled, breath fevered against my neck. “Do that again,” the husky words whispered against me.

  My feet moved, following as he led me, until the cool, slick glass pressed against my back. He was focused, so damn focused...so unlike the Melkor I knew.

  His hardened body drove between my thighs, chest smashed against mine. Still I couldn’t get enough. I was swept away—ignited by the feel of him.

  His lips moved lower, kissing the line of my collarbone before moving upwards.

  My body froze, hands stilled, as he crested a place at the back of my ear.

  Sending shock waves through my body.

  With a kind of desire I’d never knwn.

  It wasn’t a moan that slipped from my lips.

  It was a whimper.

  My knees trembled, and this time death didn’t linger at my door. If this was death, then I’d greedily throw myself into its waiting arms. The trail of his tongue made me shiver.

  My body tightened, nipples puckered, and I was lost.

  A pathetic sound slipped from my lips, and the rumble of his chuckle echoed against my ear. I felt the tremor in his chest, felt the reckless, savage lust as he pulled away.

  His lips glistened. His breathing was fast…faster than I’d ever seen it before.

  We’d slipped into a new gear, something even more powerful than it was before.

  “I love you,” he whispered. “More than anything I’ve ever known. You scared me today…you really scared me. I won’t waste another moment with you. We’re gonna take this as slow as we need. Whatever you need from me, I want you to take.”

  Desire coursed through me.

  Take from him? What was he saying? He leaned closer, pressing his body against me once more. He was watching me with a wild and fierce possession.

  He was telling me he was ready.

  He was telling me he’d wait.

  It was all on me, whatever I wanted, however slow, however fast. If I said now, would he take me into the bedroom? Would he turn his friend into his lover?

  Red flames blazed in his eyes. A kind of intensity I’d never seen before. I just swallowed, then nodded.

  I couldn’t speak, couldn’t do anything but panic and scream.

  And smile.

  All at once.

  There was a twitch in the middle of his forehead, before the perfect skin between his brows smoothed. He pushed his hand against the glass and drew away from me, and I felt the loss.

  The loss of his warmth.

  The loss of his weight.

  The loss of his lips on the line of my neck, and his rushed breath in my ear.

  A massive part of me wanted to whisper now…I’m ready now.

  But this wasn’t the right time, not with Redemption waiting for us. Not with the whisper of Unseelie in my head.

  I licked my lips and whispered the only thing I could. “Soon.”

  The corners of those shining lips curled, then a slow nod of his head as he took a step away. “I’m going to take a shower and then pack as many weapons as we can carry.”

  I just nodded, and in an instant, I wasn’t floating anymore.

  I was grounded in a world filled with pain and sadness and death.

  Sadness gripped me, like a fist around my heart, stealing the moment of pure bliss away. Melkor left, taking slow steps away as though he didn’t want to leave this bubble, either.

  But he did. He had to. I pushed off the glass cabinet filled with guns as he went into the bedroom.

  Guns all around us. Black steel shimmered under the bright lights inside the cases. This was my life now. This was the way it had to be, pockets of perfection pressed against violence and death. I heard the faint hiss of the shower coming on at the end of the hallway. Melkor was naked now. All it’d take would be one word, one kiss…a couple of strides forward, to take him from cold reality back to our perfect moment.

  I could lose him.

  I wrenched my gaze toward the hallway.

  My future slipped away with the thought.

  Fear gripped me, fear pushed me toward that moment. But was it enough to take the next step? Was it enough to change everything? I didn’t want our love built on fear. It was too shaky, too desperate, too everything.

  I wanted it to come from happiness, from a moment which wasn’t shadowed by the horror of our world.

  Just this one thing.

  That’s all I wanted to keep special.

  Just this one thing.

  I’d wait for my perfect moment. Wait for the darkness to recede just a little. I turned from the racks of guns. I just hoped we didn’t have to wait too long.

  And as always, I walked toward the kitchen.

  We were going on the road. We’d need guns. We’d need ammunition.

  We’d also need food.

  I yanked open the refrigerator and pulled out cold cuts, cheese, pickles, and anything I could find. The shower ended as I yanked open cupboards, pulling bottles and ring-pull cans free.

  This was what I could do.

  This was how I’d keep busy.

  While Melkor was keeping us safe, I’d keep us going.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Melkor

  I took a shuddering breath and braced my hand against the wall in the steam-filled bathroom. I could hear her out there in the kitchen, yanking open cupboards, trying to keep busy.

  “You’re an idiot,’ I murmured, and lifted my gaze to the mirror.

  The smear of fog was already turning cloudy. Still, I could see the doubt in my eyes. I shouldn’t have pushed her. Shouldn’t have made this desire real.

  What if I’d pushed too hard?

  What if she panics?

  What? Like she’s panicking out there now?

  I shoved against the wall and tore the towel from around my waist. I’d thought we were okay, thought she was ready, but the f
rantic look in her eyes when she whispered soon, told me something else.

  I’d fucked it up.

  Pushed her, panicked her.

  And now I didn’t know what to do. I dragged on my underwear and then my jeans, yanking up the zipper before I dragged my fingers through my hair. Just tell her you didn’t mean it. Tell her you were overcome with emotion…she’ll understand.

  I pulled the door to the bathroom open and listened. She was still there, heart beating frantically, whispering softly to herself. I snatched a shirt from the end of the bed and strode from the bedroom along the hall to the kitchen.

  She was bent over the counter, buttering…ten slices of bread? “You okay?”

  She flinched at the words, stilled the knife, then turned. “Yeah…yeah, of course”.

  Damn, she was beautiful when she was frantic.

  And she was beautiful when she wasn’t.

  I gave her a nod, then turned, snatched the keys from the counter, and grabbed the pack of weapons from the floor. I moved to the row of cabinets and walked along the glass. There were no locks on the fronts. I searched the sides and ran my fingers along the top edge.

  There was nothing.

  Purity watched me from behind the counter, wrapping and packing the mountain of sandwiches. She ate when she was nervous. She made me eat when she was downright scared.

  I shoved the keys into my pocket and grabbed the top of a cabinet. The base of my palm pressed against the glass.

  A hum carried across the surface and the glass turned green.

  I dropped my hand, then tried again, only this time pressing my entire hand to the surface, and waited. The entire print turned green against the glass. The vibration grew louder, rattling the glass, until the entire cabinet shook, and then, with a click, the glass door slid sideways.

  Exhilaration raced through me. I glanced over my shoulder at Purity, beaming.

  “How did they know?” she murmured.

  I shook my head, then stilled. “Two weeks ago, Alma asked for our prints, do you remember?”

  “I thought that was a goddamn spell,” she murmured. “No, a curse.”

  I shook my head and gave a chuckle. “No curse. They must have our records in the database.”

  I reached inside and grabbed a shotgun carved with sigils…sigils I’d seen before. Black steel shone under the overhead lights as I pulled the weapon free and turned it over in my hands.

  The markings were of the Shadowed realm. Weapons used by hunters. I turned, shoved it into the pack, then reached for another. I tested the weight of daggers and grasped brass knuckles with talismans embedded in the metal. I took it all, stopping with the sound of footsteps behind me.

  The back of her finger skimmed my cheek before her palm flattened under my jaw, turning my head toward her. Waves of pure sunshine fell around me as her hair brushed my face.

  Her kiss was tender, and sweet…and perfect.

  She pulled away and straightened.

  It was all I could do not to rise and take her mouth once more.

  It was all I could do to keep my body in check.

  “I love you,” she whispered. “And I’m ready.”

  Fire lashed through me. I flinched, then rose from the floor. “Really?”

  All I could see was her underneath me.

  Her scent on my skin.

  Golden hair all around me, tangled in my fingers, her thighs wrapped around mine.

  “The food is all packed,” she murmured.

  “The food?” I jerked my gaze to the bags on the counter.

  “Yeah, the food, Mel.”

  My heart was racing. I licked my lips…for a second, I’d thought.

  Get it together, you asshole. I forced a smile. “Good. Yeah, sure, okay. I’ll get this together and we’re good to go.”

  “Mel…” she called my name.

  I turned to her, ready to crawl into a hole.

  “You are mine, you’ll always be mine. I want us to take our time. We have the rest of our lives, right?”

  Hope flared like a shooting star. “We absolutely have the rest of our lives.”

  And as I said the words, faint markings appeared on the side of her face, high along her cheek bone. Unseelie markings. Powerful markings. I took a step closer and lifted my hand and traced the runes with my thumb.

  I’d take that magic.

  I’d honor it, for as long as it kept her safe.

  “Which will end in an hour if we don’t get to the Circle,” I murmured. “The Unseelie waits for no man.”

  “Or woman,” she added, and smiled.

  I dropped my hand from her face, bent, and grasped the bags from the floor. The pack in her hand rattled as she heaved it into the air. She had enough food in there for an army…or maybe it was just enough for us, for a while at least.

  “Ready?” I murmured.

  She gave a nod, and smiled. “Ready.”

  I took a look around the apartment. We’d left the weapon cabinets empty, and the refrigerator bare. We could’ve had a good life here, a normal life…

  Maybe in another lifetime.

  With Purity leading the way, I strode toward the doorway. She opened the door and waited for me to pass before locking it behind us. We’d both left our homes behind. But it didn’t matter where I slept, or where salvation found me, as long as I was with her.

  I followed her down to the truck and stowed the bags away. We were in the truck, engine purring, before I knew. I waited for the click of her seatbelt before I shoved it into gear and pulled onto the street.

  I drove along the streets to the Circle while Purity stared out the window. By the time we turned the last corner, the outside crowd was already starting to thin.

  I pulled into the driveway and caught sight of the Unseelie as he strode from the open door of the building, hauling packs toward his waiting truck.

  He slammed the door as I nosed our truck forward. Jesse sat in Redemption’s passenger’s seat, staring at us.

  “Do you think we’ll find her?”

  I turned my head at the words. Doubt crowded her eyes. Doubt and fear made me want to smile and tell her ‘of course we will’ but there was no place for false pretense. That wouldn’t prepare us for anything. “I hope so.”

  She gave a nod as the Unseelie’s truck started with a growl. Redemption eased out of the parking lot, stopping long enough for the gates to roll open and then close behind him before pulling up alongside us.

  “We tracked the container. It’s about five hundred miles west of here. We’ll drive all night, find the place in the morning, and decide from there.” He turned to scan the covered bed of the Raptor. “I take it you found the cabinets and the contents?”

  “Yeah,” I answered, knowing full well what he meant. “Locked and loaded.”

  Redemption gave a nod and then glanced at Purity. His dark eyes shone before he flinched and reached for the window control. “Try to keep up, Hound,” he muttered, and turned to the road once more.

  He wanted to say something to Purity, something about what had happened back at Varday. We’d made a deal with something primal, something powerful.

  And the warrior was scared.

  City streets flowed into one. I followed the truck to where the streets were choked with those trying to flee. I stared into frantic gazes of men and women hunched over behind steering wheels, desperate to escape the only place where they had a chance of getting through this alive.

  We crawled forward, bumper to bumper, while horns blared and people raged. Purity leaned forward, stabbed the button for the stereo, and scrolled through the stations until she found something with a fun beat and soft melody.

  “Lucifer will kill him, won’t he? Deimos, I mean. He’ll have to.”

  The dark words slipped from her lips. I didn’t have to look at her to see the acceptance in her eyes. “I don’t know. We’ll find the keys, send all the Soulless to Hell once more, and then whatever happens…happens.”

  I t
ried to keep the truth from my words. I tried to keep death from her door, but it found her anyway. I reached over and grasped her hand. We’d be done with this in a few days…the keys…the Soulless.

  And then what?

  She couldn’t go back home. Not now. I doubted she even wanted to. She was a hunter, we both were, so we’d make a life together.

  I followed Redemption out onto the highway until the first opportunity to turn came, and he took it, spinning tires as we headed inland. The truck’s motor growled as the speedometer climbed. I focused on the road as Purity’s phone gave a beep. She reached out, grasped it from the dashboard, and stared at the screen. “It’s Jesse. They have a location, using the satellite to track the box. He said the locator is still moving, but it’s slow.”

  I gave her a nod and clenched my fists around the steering wheel.

  She reached into the pack, grabbed a stack of sandwiches, and peeled open the wrapper, handing me half. “It’s pickles, your favorite.”

  I smiled at her, grabbed the food, and ate while she took the other half and sent Jesse a text. We slipped into a sense of ease as the white lines blurred and the sun dipped toward the horizon.

  We pulled into a gas station and I took the other side of the pump. Redemption climbed out and strode toward the other side of the pump. I shoved the truck door closed behind me and reached for the hose.

  Jesse climbed out, staring at the screen on his phone, as Purity rounded the front of the truck and headed toward him.

  I twisted the cap, shoved the nozzle into the opening, and squeezed the trigger. The choking stench of gasoline filled the air as Purity murmured to Jesse. “What’s wrong?”

  He fumbled with his phone, muttering under his breath. He stabbed at the screen, fingers flying across the buttons, before he lifted his head. “I think this thing is broken.”

  Redemption cut him a savage glare. “I told you to stop logging in. It’s programmed to update every ten seconds.”

  “But it hasn’t moved for the last ten minutes. It’s just sitting there…blinking.”

  He stared at the screen as my stomach sank.

  “Maybe they just stopped like us?” Purity leaned close to peer over his shoulder.

  “Ah, guys,” Jesse murmured. “It’s gone.”