by Karen Lynch
“Worse than the last one?”
He grimaced. “No, a murren hangover pretty much tops the list. Well, except for Glaen, although I’ve never been drunk enough to try that one.”
“Glaen?”
“Fae drink,” he said as he turned a corner.
I couldn’t hold back my gasp. “But I thought Fae food was poison to us. Why would you drink that?”
“I wouldn’t. Niall told me he tried it once on a dare, and he couldn’t walk for two days.” Chris grinned. “Did Sara ever tell you about the time she beat a gulak in a Glaen drinking contest?”
I gaped at him. Gulaks were huge, scaly demons like reptiles on two legs, and they were mean brutes. Not even Sara would befriend one of those.
“You’re messing with me.”
“You should know by now that most stories about Sara tend to be true, especially the most outlandish ones. Ask her about it tomorrow.”
“Did the gulak die?”
“Yes, but not from the Glaen. He made the mistake of pissing off Nikolas.”
“Oh.”
Having seen Nikolas in action a few times, I didn’t want to imagine what a pissed-off Nikolas was like.
We reached the campus, and Chris drove us to Paige’s sorority where we parked two houses down on the other side of the street. It gave us an unobstructed view of the house but put us far enough away to not draw attention.
Mason and Brock came over to give us a brief update of the comings and goings in the house before they took off for the night. Then Chris and I settled in for our long shift.
I pulled the food from the bag, not surprised to see burgers and fries. If you send a male for food, chances are you’re getting burgers or pizza.
“Are these the same?” I asked, holding up two of the four large burgers.
Chris peered at them and pointed to the one in my right hand.
“That one’s yours. No onion or tomato.”
“Thanks. I hate picking those off.”
“I know,” he said as he took his burger from me.
I felt a silly burst of pleasure over the fact that he’d noticed and remembered how I liked my burgers. It was such a simple thing, but it made me smile.
“What’s that smile for?”
I lifted a large container of fries from the bag and laid it on the console between us.
“This smells amazing, and I just realized how hungry I am.”
It wasn’t a total lie. I was hungry, and the food was making my mouth water.
He unwrapped his burger. “Dig in.”
Chris and I didn’t speak much as we ate our dinner, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence like it would have been two weeks ago. It was nice just being around him, and my Mori was somewhat content as long as it could sense him. It would never be fully content until I gave it what it wanted and completed the bond with Chris. My heart and mind were getting there, but not fast enough for my impatient Mori.
Activity at the sorority house picked up as people began to arrive for the party. I watched two young men hoist a large beer keg from the back of a truck and lug it up the front steps, and I wondered why humans drank so much. I hadn’t been among them much before I came to Los Angeles, and I was fascinated by their behavior, especially their social habits.
Music was filtering from the house by the time I finished my meal. I picked up the bag to throw away my wrappers and realized there was another container at the bottom.
“What’s this?” I asked as I pulled the foil container from the bag.
Chris wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. “Dessert.”
“Ooh.”
I lifted the top off the container and revealed a massive slice of cheesecake inside.
“New York-style,” he said. “I hope you like it.”
I stared at him. “You remembered.”
A tiny lump formed in my throat. It wasn’t the cake that made me emotional, but that he hadn’t forgotten it was my favorite.
Chris’s answering smile was so tender it made my heart ache.
“I remember everything about you.”
The lump in my throat doubled in size. I was incapable of speech as those five simple words broke through another one of the walls I’d erected to protect my heart.
“Hey,” he said softly.
He reached across the seat and gently brushed away a tear I hadn’t realized was rolling down my face. His fingers lingered against my cheek as his eyes held mine.
“What’s wrong?”
How did I tell him I was crying over a piece of cake because I’d spent the last four years thinking the most important person in my world had forgotten about me? That this small gesture meant more to me than I could put into words?
“Why?” I asked in a small voice. “Why did you never come back?”
I hadn’t meant to ask that question, but as soon as it came out, I knew it was the one I desperately needed him to answer. All he’d told me was that he’d left because it was for the best. What did that mean? And why had he stayed away?
Sadness and regret darkened his eyes, and his hand left my cheek to hold one of mine. He entwined our fingers as if he was afraid I’d run away.
“That day you came to see me at my apartment, I almost didn’t recognize you when I opened the door. I’d gone home expecting to see my sweet little Dove, and I found a beautiful, desirable young woman instead.”
My breathing faltered.
“I thought there was something wrong with me,” he said roughly. “You were sixteen, at that place between a girl and a woman, and nowhere near ready for what I was feeling for you. Just having those thoughts about you made me ashamed.
“I left because I couldn’t face you, feeling like I did. I planned to clear my head, get it out of my system, and then go back.”
He looked out the windshield and back at me as if he was trying to find the right words.
“But I never got you out of my system. I never stopped wanting you.”
I inhaled sharply.
“I kept in touch with Rachel, and she let me know how you were doing. You seemed happy and I didn’t want to confuse or upset you, so I stayed away.” He let out a ragged breath. “I missed you, but I told myself I was doing what was best for you.”
I found my voice. “You wanted me?”
His green eyes blazed with need so raw it stole my breath.
“Since that day, I’ve never wanted anyone but you.”
My throat worked. “But those other women –”
“Meant nothing to me,” he declared. “I enjoyed their company as they enjoyed mine, but I used them to try to forget the one I really wanted.”
My head spun from his confession. He’d left to protect me from him. He had to have known I’d never say no if he’d given in to his desire, not after I’d professed my love for him.
“Why didn’t you call me? I thought you forgot me.” I tried to keep the quiver out of my voice and failed.
“God, Beth. I could never forget you. I thought if I heard your voice, I’d give in and go home to see you. I was weak when it came to you, and you were so young.”
“But I became an adult, and you still didn’t come,” I said accusingly as the old doubts and hurts resurfaced.
“I wanted to. I planned to go so many times.” He let out a harsh laugh full of self-recrimination. “Something always came up to stop me. I think a part of me was afraid you wouldn’t want to see me after all that time.”
I stared at the street and tried to process everything he’d told me. All this time I’d believed he’d left because he didn’t want me in his life anymore. Yes, he’d sent me presents for my birthday and Christmas, but I’d thought he did that out of obligation, nothing more.
“Do you think our Mori always knew we were mates?” I asked without looking at him.
His fingers flexed around mine. “Yes.”
“Did you know?”
“No.”
I closed my eyes. “If you’d known, would y
ou have come back?”
“Beth.” He tugged on my hand until I turned to look at him again. “If I’d known that what I felt for you was a natural reaction to my mate, nothing would have kept me from you.”
Emotion welled beneath my breastbone, and I released it in a long, shuddering breath. In its wake, I felt lighter as I let go of most of the pain I’d been carrying all these years.
Chris released my hand and leaned over to pull me into his embrace. I pressed my face into the crook of his neck, wishing the console wasn’t in the way. All I wanted to do was climb into his lap and start making up for all the lost days.
Chris let me go and said, “Slide your seat back.”
I did as he’d said, and I was rewarded when he hoisted his body over the console. Before I could protest that we wouldn’t fit, he lifted me and slid into my seat, lowering me sideways onto his lap. It was still a tight fit, but neither of us was complaining.
He wrapped one arm around my waist and used his other hand to turn my face toward his.
“Do you know how long I’ve wanted to hold you like this?” he asked huskily, sending a shiver of pleasure through me.
He trailed a finger down my throat to my collarbone.
“To touch you like this.”
His mouth was so close I could feel his warm breath.
“To kiss you like this.”
“Oh,” I breathed.
He brushed his lips chastely against mine, once, twice, before he captured my mouth in a hungry kiss. My lips parted for his demanding tongue, and I clutched his shoulders as he explored my mouth until my entire body buzzed from the sensual assault.
He broke the kiss so his lips could blaze a trail along my jaw. Needing more, I tilted my face up, exposing the column of my throat to him. He let out a low groan that made my toes curl, and he kissed his way down my throat to the collar of my button-up shirt.
My heart began to pound when he tugged the material down and pressed his lips to the swell of my breast. I burned with a need I’d never felt before, but things were moving so fast. The few boys I’d dated at home hadn’t gone beyond kissing. But Chris was a man, and he wouldn’t want to stop there.
He lifted his head and kissed me again with a reverence that made tears prick my eyes. When he finally ended the kiss, I curled against him with my head on his shoulder and his arms around me. I didn’t know why I felt so emotional and needy, but all I wanted was for him to hold me like he’d never let me go.
He sighed as he toyed with the end of my ponytail. I could feel reality about to burst our happy little bubble.
“You make it very hard to think about work.”
“But we have a job to do,” I murmured.
I reached over and opened the passenger door. As I moved to get out, Chris’s arms tightened around me.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he demanded playfully.
I swatted at his arm. “You need to get back into your seat, and this is a lot easier than climbing over the console. Not to mention we have garbage everywhere after your little maneuver.”
He laughed and let me go. I got out of the SUV, and he followed me. Looking at the mess we’d created, I made a face when I spotted a flattened foil container on the floor.
“I don’t think the cheesecake made it.”
Chris nuzzled the back of my neck. “I’ll buy you a whole cake tomorrow.”
“Okay,” I squeaked.
I heard his chuckle as he walked around to the driver’s door. Shaking my head, I picked up our garbage and stuffed it all in the takeout bag. He’d bought dinner, so it was only fair that I cleaned up.
“Beth,” Chris said in a low voice that no longer held a trace of amusement.
I looked up from reaching for the cheesecake container to see him staring intently out the windshield. I peered over the dash, but saw nothing out of place.
“What?” I whispered.
“We have company. Four houses down on the other side of the street.”
I followed his gaze to a dark sedan parked on the street. Sharpening my vision, I made out the shapes of two people in the front seat.
“How do you know it’s them?” I asked, feeling my pulse speed up.
Chris reached for his phone. “They pulled up a few minutes ago, and they haven’t moved since.”
“Maybe they’re waiting for someone at the party.”
“I’m sure they are,” he said, shooting off a text.
He got a reply less than thirty seconds later. After he read it, he turned to me.
“I need you to promise to stay here when this goes down. Seamus, Niall, and I will handle it.”
I started to protest, and he cut me off.
“Some of these guys are a lot stronger than normal Incubi. You’re an amazing fighter, but you don’t have the strength to fight the stronger ones. It’s safer for you to stay here until we know what we’re up against.”
He was right. The only reason Mason and I had been able to kill the Incubus on the boat was because we’d had the element of surprise on our side. If I’d faced off against him alone, it would have been a different story.
“Okay. I promise.”
“Thank you.”
I looked at the sedan again. “What will you do?”
“Niall and Seamus are out back. Seamus is going inside to find Paige. Once he does, Niall and I will check out the car.”
He reached across me and opened the glove compartment to retrieve a small leather bundle, which he handed to me.
“Here.”
“What’s this?”
“It’s a Taser. I picked it up today.”
I removed the Taser from its case and stared at it, not quite sure how to react to the fact he wanted me to use a human weapon. “You want me to use a Taser? I already have weapons.”
He gave me a half smile. “I know, but I don’t want to take any chances. If a human girl can get away from an Incubus with a Taser, then I want you to have one, too. At least for this job.”
When I didn’t respond, he said the one thing guaranteed to get me to agree to his request.
“It’ll give me some peace of mind knowing you have it.”
I huffed. “Fine.”
Chris’s phone buzzed. He read the text and swore.
“What is it?”
“Seamus can’t find Paige. He’s checking upstairs now.”
“She has to be in there. One of us would have seen her –”
I stared at Chris. We could have had an earthquake, and I wouldn’t have noticed it during that kiss. What if Paige had left the house – or worse, been taken – while Chris and I were too caught up in each other to see it?
The front door of the sorority house opened, and I watched anxiously as two couples came out. Their staggering steps said they’d all had too much to drink. At the bottom of the steps, they waved goodbye, and one couple headed toward the house across the street. Without them blocking my view, I was able to see the faces of the other couple.
“Paige,” I said in relief.
Chris was out of the SUV in a heartbeat and reaching under his seat for a pair of long knives. With a last glance at me, he ran toward the couple that was almost abreast of the sedan.
The car doors opened, and two people jumped out. If I had any doubt about who they were, it disappeared the second they went straight for Chris at inhuman speed.
The two Incubi came at Chris at the same time, and I saw the glint of metal in their hands. It was two on one, and they were armed.
Chris met them, the three moving so fast I couldn’t see who struck first. It was several heart-pounding seconds before they separated, and I saw one of the Incubi stagger a little. Chris looked unhurt, but it was impossible to say for sure.
The uninjured Incubus lunged at Chris, and they circled each other. Behind them, another Incubus was putting Paige in the back of the car.
My hands gripped the Taser so hard it creaked as I frantically searched for Niall. Where was he?
Chris stumbled. The Incubi closed in.
“Chris,” I cried and reached for the door handle.
Movement by the sorority house caught my eye, and I watched as someone sped toward the fight. My breath caught when I recognized Niall’s red hair. He didn’t move as quickly as Chris, but he was still a match for the Incubi.
Metal flashed. One of the Incubi went down and didn’t get up.
The car lights came on, illuminating Chris and Niall fighting the second Incubus. Chris shouted something, and Niall ran to the car, which had started to back up.
My heart leaped into my throat. Paige.
A small scream erupted from me when the door beside me flew open. I caught the glint of silver in the dark eyes as the Incubus grabbed my wrist in a vise-like grip and hauled me from the SUV.
He dragged me toward the back of the SUV, away from the others. I knew immediately why Chris had made me promise to stay in the vehicle. My strength was puny compared to the demon that wrapped one arm around my middle as the other hand clamped over my mouth to silence me.
I experienced a moment of terrifying helplessness, and I knew this must be how Paige had felt when she was attacked. But she’d escaped, and she wasn’t nearly as strong as I was.
It took me several precious seconds to twist enough to hit him in the ribs with the Taser. He grunted, but his hold didn’t loosen.
I hit him again.
His steps faltered, and the hand covering my mouth slipped.
I sucked in my breath and let out a yell as I struck a third time.
His hand came down and slammed into my wrist. Pain shot up my arm as the Taser flew from my numb fingers.
The Incubus released me. I was free. I spun to face him.
His fist was the last thing I saw before stars exploded in front of my eyes.
Then there was blackness.
Chapter 19
Chris
I HEARD BETH shout as my blade sank into the Incubus’s chest. I spun toward the SUV, and fear gripped me when I saw the cab light on and the open passenger door. And no sign of Beth.