A Phoenix Is Forever

by Ashlyn Chase

  He raised his glass of champagne in salute to his daughter. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Would he miss his daughter? Nope. She was a pain in the ass who went through his money like it was growing on trees. The million wouldn’t last long. Well, she was his wife’s problem now. He couldn’t very well have stayed in Boston. He would have ended up doing time, and he couldn’t risk that. No way he was going to spend the rest of his life in jail with the same lowlifes he’d put there.

  A knock sounded at the door. A muffled female voice announced, “Massage for Mr. Mooney?”

  He grinned and got up, opening the door. Standing there was the most gorgeous redhead he’d ever seen. Wearing a tight white sheer blouse with a black bra underneath and a short black skirt showing off a pair of legs in sky-high red heels, her hair was in a bun near the top of her head. He couldn’t wait to run his hands through it. He loved redheads. “Now this is what I call room service.” He opened the door wider as she waltzed in with a portable massage table.

  She gave him a perky smile and said, “You’ll have to strip for me, Mr. Mooney, so I can give you the best massage you’ve ever had.”

  “Sure thing.” He quickly removed his clothes, dropping them on the floor as she efficiently and expertly set up the massage table. He was already rock-hard as he watched her bend over and adjust the legs of the table. Her ass was round, and her tits were huge, just the way he liked.

  She stood up and saw his erection, a slow smile spreading across her face. “You’re a very naughty boy, Mr. Mooney.” She wagged her finger at him.

  “Well, I hope you can teach me to behave.” He grinned wolfishly.

  “You’ll just have to get onto the table and find out.”

  He quickly hopped onto the table and lay there on his back, knowing full well what she’d be massaging first. He was fairly agile for his age. Wolves usually remained in good shape well into their later years. He had a slight paunch, but that wouldn’t keep him from indulging in a good fuck.

  “Now, let’s get started,” she crooned. “I’m going to give you something you’ll never forget.”

  “Ooh, I can’t wait,” he breathed.

  She reached under the table and pulled up two heavy straps, buckling them over his chest and legs.

  “Wow, this is new.” He chuckled as she tightened the straps.

  “Oh, yes,” she replied, bending over, her lips hovering over his. He groaned as her breasts rubbed against his chest. “I’m the best there is.”

  “I bet you are.”

  The redhead stepped back and proceeded to unbutton her blouse. He was so hard, he’d probably come the minute her lips touched his cock.

  She popped open one button and then reached up to unfasten her bun.

  All of a sudden, her skimpy outfit changed to a long white tunic.

  “What the fuck?”

  “Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.” She crossed her arms over her chest and walked around the table. “Did you really think you could get away?” She strolled to the door and opened it. In walked four burly blond men wearing dark sunglasses and black suits.

  “Who are you?”

  She walked closer to him and bent close to his face. “I’m Karma. I was sent by my sister, Gaia. It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature…or try to.”

  His eyes widened. “Your sister is Mother Nature?”

  “Yes indeed. Now that you know who I am, I’ll tell you what I’m going to do with you.”

  “Y-you don’t have jurisdiction over me. You can’t do this. There’s a council. I’ll notify them.”

  She narrowed her eyes and said in a cold voice, “My sister is the council. It’s called GAIA, which stands for Gods and Immortals Association. And when she turned you over to me, she said, ‘Karma, do what you will.’ In other words, whatever I say goes. The council has heard about how you purposely exposed your wolf to a human, plus your other illicit activities. It stops now. You, Sergeant Butts, are finally getting what you deserve.”

  He began to struggle against the straps but stopped when the burly men surrounded him.

  “Wh-what are you going to do?”

  She snapped her fingers, and the room began to spin. Feeling dizzy and nauseous, he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was no longer in the hotel. He was in a cage with bars. But it wasn’t a jail cell. No, it was much worse. There was very little light, but on the other side of the bars were the blond men and the sound of a loud engine whirring. It seemed as if he was in the cargo hold of an airplane. He was still completely naked and strapped to the table. Panic set in as he realized he was fucked.

  “We’ll be in the Arctic circle before you know it. Enjoy the rest of your life, Mr. Mooney,” Karma said with a smirk. “Oh, by the way, we created a little accident back home in Boston. A terrible tragedy. Your car went up in flames. Not enough human remains left to identify you. I’m afraid you’re now deceased.” She chuckled. “Oh, well, at least your long-suffering wife will have all your money to console her. I made sure all that cash you wired into that secret offshore bank account got wired back to her. After all, she won’t be getting your pension anymore, given what a rat you are. Speaking of rats…” She stepped out of the cage and stood beside her burly bodyguards. “Enjoy your new roommates.”

  A scratching sound echoed from the corners of the cage.

  “You can’t leave me here!”

  “Oh yes, I can, Sergeant. This is what you get for causing a child to become motherless. My sister Mother Nature and I take exception to any harm done to the nurturers of this world. You were fucked the minute you ran that woman off the road.”

  “It wasn’t me.”

  “You ordered it.”

  The scratching grew louder and louder.

  “Not to mention all the lying and cheating you put your wife through. Your daughter grew up into a brat, thanks to you. I’ll have to see what I can do about her.”

  “Who called you? How did you find out about this?”

  “A little birdie told me.”

  The scratching echoed all around him. He pissed himself when he felt the first nibble on his leg.

  “Get me out of this cage!”

  “Soon. Sven has the key.”

  One of the blond bodyguards held up a thick metal key to the heavy padlock.

  She snapped her fingers, and the straps holding him to the massage table disappeared.

  “You’re an idiot. I can just shift into wolf form, and these rats become my lunch.”

  “That’s the idea. When you parachute out into the Arctic, you and your new pack—who don’t like you very much, I’m afraid—will have a snack before you have to spend the rest of your long-ass life hunting down caribou.”

  “So where’s my parachute?”

  She shrugged and gave him a wave. “Toodles. Enjoy your new home.”

  He cursed. He would be cursing for the rest of his “long-ass life.”

  * * *

  Dawn’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding.”

  “Nope,” Luca said.

  “Karma herself?”

  “Yup.”

  “How did you manage that?”

  “Her sister, Gaia, asked my dad to keep her informed of significant paranormal crimes, since she gets pretty busy and can’t be everywhere at once.”

  “I had no idea how well-connected your family is.”

  Luca chuckled. “The important thing is that bastard won’t be scheming and taking advantage of humans ever again.”

  Dawn and Luca were lying side by side in bed at her place, cuddling.

  Annette would be staying with the Fierros for a few more days, which thrilled Gabriella, since she had someone new to fuss over. They had notified the hospital administrator to let her know about the circumstances of the midnight release, telling her the night nurse should not be blamed for
a missing patient. They couldn’t have been talked out of taking her.

  Earlier that day, they had all had lunch in the Fierros’ dining room, including Jack and Mandy. Mandy didn’t seem too badly off, considering what she’d been through. She was grieving the loss of her mother, certainly, but she was obviously happy to be with her daddy. Jack had taken an emergency leave of absence to help them both bond and heal.

  Gabriella had promised to check on them later and told Mandy she could come over and play whenever she liked. Mandy had nodded, shoving a huge forkful of pancake, dripping with syrup, into her mouth, making everyone burst into laughter.

  Luca and Dawn had dropped off Jack and Mandy, letting them know they would stop by soon. “I can’t thank you enough,” Jack had told them as he held Mandy tightly in his arms. “You’re a hero,” he had said to Dawn.

  “Yes, she is,” Luca had said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

  Later that night in bed, Dawn swallowed a lump in her throat. She was no hero. She’d almost failed to rescue the girl. It took three tries to find her. She never wanted to go through that again.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” Luca tipped her chin up and drew her gaze to his. “Why so gloomy?”

  Her eyes filled with tears. “Jack called me a hero.”

  “You are a hero.”

  “No, I’m not. I should have rescued Mandy that first time.”

  “You tried, remember? If you’d gone into that room, Ice might have killed you both.” He tucked a wisp of her hair behind her ear. She hadn’t realized how much longer it had gotten. With so much happening over the past weeks, her hair was the last thing on her mind. Luca had told her he loved the soft waves, so she decided to let it grow.

  “What if I failed on the last attempt? Mandy could have been killed. I can’t make that kind of mistake again.”

  “You sound like a cop,” he said, kissing her on the forehead. “If anything like this happens again, we’ll work together as a team and get it right the first time. We were both rookies at this—me a rookie cop and you a rookie psychic detective. But we learned a lot, didn’t we?”

  Dawn sighed. “Yeah, we did.”

  “And Mandy is with her dad, where she belongs. And Butts is in…well, Karma put him where he can’t hurt anyone.”

  “What about Ice and Carla?”

  “They’re in jail. Most likely, it won’t go to trial. Lawyers love plea deals. Even if it does, I think Mick will flip on them to save himself. They’ll be put away for a long time.”

  “Carla could have turned it around,” Dawn said quietly. “She could have done the right thing, but she didn’t.”

  “I guess she’d gotten so used to doing the wrong thing that she didn’t know any other way. Or she let the gang talk her into colluding with them.”

  “I almost went down that same road.”

  “No. You’re nothing like Carla.” Luca pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her fiercely. “You’re an amazing, caring, courageous woman, and I love you.”

  “I love you back,” she whispered thickly. “I love you so much.”

  Luca kissed her tears away, then moved back to her mouth. He kissed her tenderly, like he was handling a precious gift.

  She almost couldn’t take it. “Let me show you how much I love you,” Dawn said.

  Luca grinned. “What did you have in mind?”

  “Roll onto your back,” she whispered.

  Luca gladly did as she asked and folded his hands behind his head. “And now?”

  “And now, just lie there and enjoy.”

  She took his already erect cock in her mouth as far as she could, then applying suction, she drew back almost all the way to the tip.

  He groaned and arched slightly. She took that as a good sign and kept going. She circled the shaft with her tongue, and when it was good and wet, she pushed down until she was almost all the way to the hilt. She didn’t want to choke. There was nothing sexy about a good gag reflex.

  Apparently, she was doing it just right. He moved his hands from behind his head to her hair and gently ran his fingers through her silky strands.

  “Oh, babe. I love that.”

  She didn’t respond, but no reply was needed. His moans of pleasure guided her.

  When at last he said, “I can’t take any more,” and pushed her shoulders away, her mouth let go with a pop.

  “Ahh… That was incredible. Now it’s your turn.” He flipped her over onto her back and crept down the bed until he was eye level with her sex.

  He returned the favor with gusto, bringing her to an earth-shattering orgasm. And another…and another! She was limp when he finished.

  He let her recover—sort of. While her chest heaved, he took a nipple into his mouth and sucked the sensitive bud until she was arching and moaning again. After giving the other one equal treatment, he cupped her face and said, “Are you ready for me?”

  She giggled. “I don’t think I could be any more ready. But do we need a condom? I’m not ovulating.”

  “I don’t know, do we? Shifters don’t get diseases.”

  “In that case, I’m ready when you are.”

  With a broad smile, he moved to kneel between her spread legs. Entering her slowly, they maintained eye contact. He rocked into and out of her until she had to close her eyes and moan. She could feel the incredible sensual tension building again.

  At last, she shattered. She had to hold a pillow over her mouth to scream out her powerful climax without alerting the police in three counties.

  While she was coming, Luca’s body jerked, and she knew he was finishing with her. He had incredible stamina, but she doubted many men could hold out much longer, since her vaginal muscles were squeezing and pulsing like crazy.

  At last, they were both spent. As they lay side by side, sweating but holding hands, he said, “You must love me a lot.”

  She laughed. “More than even that.”

  Chapter 17

  “You did it,” Lynda said.

  “Did I?”

  Dawn was sitting on a bench, gazing at the fountain at the Christian Science Center. It was early in the morning, quiet and peaceful. She’d left Luca sleeping at her place, putting a note and a bagel for him beside the bed.

  Lynda sat beside her. “Of course you did. You did everything you were supposed to do.”

  She was wearing a light-blue tracksuit as if just going for a run, yet not a hair was out of place.

  “What if Suzie hadn’t left? I wouldn’t have been able to rescue Mandy. Or what if her gun was loaded? What if Ice had come back?”

  “And what if a spaceship landed on your head as you were crossing the street?”

  “Huh?”

  Lynda smiled.

  Dawn shook her head. “What’s the use of having good karma if so much is out of your control?”

  “You can’t control the world. You can only control your own actions.”

  “It sounds so easy, but it’s harder than I thought it would be.” Dawn blew out a breath.

  “What is this really about?” Lynda asked her, reaching into her purse and handing Dawn a Hershey’s Kiss.

  Dawn popped the chocolate in her mouth and welcomed its soothing, chocolatey sweetness. “What if I don’t deserve any of this?”

  “Of course you do. You worked very hard to get where you are. You’re amazing. Do you know that? You inspire everyone around you, even people you don’t know. You may get a ‘thank you’ at your job when you help someone wrangle their software program—or not. That doesn’t mean you’re not doing your job. Right?”

  Dawn snorted. “That’s just computer stuff.”

  “Really? Just computer stuff? Most of those students who call you are desperate for help, with a lot riding on that assignment or term paper. Many are adult learners who didn’t grow up with
computers and haven’t the faintest idea what to do when there’s a glitch. You help them get through it.

  “Not to mention the loving care you show Annette, the kids you help at the Youth Community Center, and,” she said softly, “the love you feel for Luca. He’s a gem, but you make him even better. He does the same for you.

  “And look at your determination to rescue Mandy! Even though cops have to face things like that every day, do you think they could have solved that crime as quickly? Especially with someone on the inside making sure they didn’t? No, it might have lasted months or years, eventually becoming a cold case.”

  “Saving someone’s life is awesome, but failing to must be hell.”

  “Welcome to life. Nobody bats one thousand. Not cops, not doctors, not social workers. Neither can we.”

  Dawn stared at Lynda, and now it was she who gazed at the fountain. “Remember when I told you that not everyone can make that change?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, Carla was one of my people.”

  “What?”

  “Years ago, I found her. A few weeks after Annette saved her from that asshole husband. I approached her and tried to bring her into the organization. She tried at first. But after a month, she stopped coming in for her weekly meetings. I reached out to her many times, and she just blew me off. She said she liked her life the way it was. She didn’t want to complicate things. I told her she had an opportunity to help all those runaways and street kids who ended up in her store. She refused to listen. So after a while, I just had to wipe her memory of Karma Cleaners and let it go.”

  “I—I’m sorry.”

  “So you see, all we can do is try. And if we fail, we move on to the next person and try again.”

  “I think I understand.” Dawn wrapped her arm around Lynda’s shoulders. “You know what, LC?”

  “What?”

  “You’re pretty amazing yourself.”

  “Thanks, kiddo. Now, how about we do a little retail therapy? My treat. Goddess Fashions is having a flash sale today.” She glanced at her watch. “It’ll be starting in about fifteen minutes.”