Blaze of Honor (RBMC: South Australia Book 1)

by Khloe Wren

  Turning off the water, I wrung my hair out and stepped out of the shower to find Spark there smirking at me. I nearly slipped on the tile in my shock but managed to grab the shower door before I went down.

  “Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

  He just folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall. “Not my fault you didn’t hear me over the shower, I didn’t sneak. Trust me, if I was going to sneak in here, I would have snuck all the way into the shower with you. And I did consider it, but figured you probably needed a break.”

  With an eye roll, I reached for a towel. “Yes. I definitely need a break. Pretty sure a woman’s body isn’t designed to go from virgin to nymph overnight, Spark.”

  He chuckled and strode over to me, trailing a finger down my cheek before taking the towel from my hands and taking over.

  “Poor baby.”

  He made fast work of drying me off before he pulled me against his clothed body and kissed me senseless. Again. When my mind finally came back online, I pushed him away with a growl.

  “Enough! We need to talk. You need to keep your hands — and mouth — to yourself for long enough for us to sort out what we’re going to do. Hopefully before I end up burning down your house when the lightning next comes for me!”

  With a chuckle at my outburst, he handed me the towel and backed off. After I had my hair wrapped in the towel, I reached for the pile of clothing. Finding the knickers, I started to get dressed.

  “Has it ever happened when you’ve been inside a building before?”

  “I don’t think so. I can only remember it happening outside, although it did still manage to catch me the few times I tried to hide from it under bushes. And the one time I’d hid in a small cave. I honestly don’t know if it would find me here in the house, but I really don’t want to test it. So tell me, why — and how — do you think you can help me? I don’t understand how being immortal is a plus here.”

  He returned to his position against the wall as he watched me dress. It was a little unnerving and had me hurrying to finish. I pulled on the sports bra he’d gotten me and tried to not get it too tangled against my damp skin while he was observing me. Heat rose across my cheeks as I stumbled through things I normally did with ease. I hated being the center of attention, and was uncomfortable under the scrutiny.

  “I didn’t finish explaining everything about myself and my brothers. About how my father managed to make us immortal. Although, I doubt immortality was actually his intention.”

  I slipped on the shorts and t-shirt before I looked back at him.

  “What was his intention?”

  “His wife had birthed two stillborn daughters. He needed heirs, and he wanted sons. He reached out to the gods and somehow managed to convince several to help him with his task.”

  With a frown I took the towel off my hair and reached for the comb he’d bought me.

  “I don’t know much about Ancient Egypt. I gather from what you’ve said, they worshiped more than one god?”

  He nodded. “They had many. The god I was linked to was Ra. He was the king of the heavens, said to control the seasons with his powers over light and heat.”

  Sectioning off some of my hair, I started combing out the knots that even the conditioner hadn’t been able to budge. It didn’t take long for me to realize the task was going to take some time. I looked over all the products he’d bought and grabbed a couple that should work with helping me detangle the mess that was currently my hair. Not only had I wet it then slept on it last night, but after so many days of not showering or brushing my hair, some of it was nearly twisted in dreadlocks. Grabbing up the things I wanted to try, I turned toward Spark.

  “Let’s go sit out in the lounge room and have this chat. My hair is going to take some time to deal with. Might as well get comfortable.”

  He opened the door and allowed me to move past him out into the bedroom. I noticed he’d made the bed and opened the curtains. Seemed my man was a bit of a neat freak. Not that I minded. I liked things neat and tidy, too.

  Once we made it to the lounge, Spark stopped me before I sat.

  “Here, let me move some shit around so I sit behind you. Then I can help.”

  I eyed his hairless scalp. “Um, not sure you’re qualified for this one, babe.”

  He chuckled and shook his head. “Just let me try and help, yeah?”

  With an eye roll, I let him shift things around so I could sit on the ottoman in front of him, allowing us both to be able to reach my hair with ease.

  “So, are you like a human version of this Ra guy?”

  He scoffed. “No, I’m no god. Just infused with some of his powers. I can control heat and light. So I’m good with fire, to a degree.”

  “Is that where Spark came from?”

  He chuckled again, and I shivered in response to the deep rumble. “No, I got my road name after a bunch of my club brothers pissed me off so I went and took some of the spark plugs out of their bikes. Good times.”

  That had me grinning as I sprayed a section of my hair with detangler and started combing at a knot. “Sounds like fun. Did they learn to not piss you off after that?”

  He took some hair between his fingers and grabbed a cream product that he proceeded to rub into a tangle of knots. “Not really, no. But after I did it a few times, they learned to check they had all their plugs before they started their bikes if they’d pissed me off recently. Anyhow, back to the original topic. Each of my brothers has a different affinity and skillset. Stone’s affinity is with the earth. Falcon, who Aaron is collecting from the airport at the moment, has an affinity with the air.”

  “What about Aaron?”

  “Ah, he’s a different breed from the rest of us. Remember how I said he’s not technically my brother?”

  I nodded.

  “Atum, the Egyptian god of creation, came down to the human world to guard the six of us when Tutankhamun’s tomb was opened and our souls escaped our prison.”

  That had me turning to face him. “Hold up. How did you and your brothers end up in the tomb in the first place? You’re all immortal, right? So you couldn’t have been dead.”

  He held my gaze and my heart skipped a beat at where my mind went.

  “After Tutankhamun died, his widow, Ankhesenamun, was forced to marry the next pharaoh, Ay, who had been an advisor to King Tut. He’d known about us boys, how we were created. Ankhesenamun feared us and the power we’d hold when we were grown. She convinced Ay that we posed a threat against him — even though all six of us were still babies at the time. By the time they caught some thieves who had raided Tutankhamun’s crypt, they decided the best way to deal with us was to entomb us with our father. So when they returned all of his possessions to be sealed, they put us six in there too.”

  My heart ached and I set aside my hair stuff to climb into his lap and hug him close.

  “How horrible!”

  His arms banded around me and held me in place as he pressed a kiss to my temple.

  “There’s no need to get upset over it. None of us have any memory of that event. It was a very long time ago.”

  Not get upset? I was outraged on his and his brothers’ behalf!

  “They locked six babies up with no food or water! I hope someone stepped in and served some justice on your behalf. Although, considering no one came to release you, I’m not holding my breath.” I paused to sigh. “Why must the world be so cruel and unfair?”

  Chapter Ten

  Spark

  Since this was the first time I’d ever told my history to anyone, it was also the first time I’d had someone get angry on my behalf over it. It was a strange feeling. Brianna hadn’t been there, hadn’t had anything to do with the decisions made, yet she was raging over it. Her cheeks had flushed and tears leaked from her eyes. With a gentle smile, I brushed them away before I leaned in and kissed her lips softly. Once again this delicate little woman had absolutely slayed me.

  “Life is wha
t it is. Gotta take the good with the bad, and try to only focus on the good. As far as them paying for their actions, Aaron has always refused to tell us, but the history books state that Ay had died only a few years after Tutankhamun. From shortly after Ay’s death, there’s no record of Ankhesenamun. I’m guessing they paid a price for messing with children linked so closely to the gods. I’m not sure why they didn’t release us from the tomb right away. Maybe they couldn’t break the seals or something. I’m pretty sure Aaron knows exactly what happened but he will not speak of it.”

  She didn’t try to get off my lap, just leaned over to collect her stuff so she could get back to working on her matted hair. I let her do it without my assistance this time since I hadn’t had much luck earlier. She’d totally had a point about me not being qualified to help. Instead, I enjoyed the simple pleasure of having her so close.

  “So Aaron has powers too, right?”

  I nodded, “Yeah, but I couldn’t tell you what exactly they are. Even after all these years, he’ll pull out some trick we didn’t know he could conjure up.”

  “So how do you think you can help me with my situation?”

  I started tracing patterns over the skin just above her knee, loving how she shivered at my touch.

  “Honestly? I’m not sure yet. But we’ll come up with something. We need to figure out who, or what, is possessing you before we can work out a plan of attack. I was thinking on it earlier and my instincts are that this all started earlier than when you found your dad’s workshop. What do you know about the accident at the daycare center? When and where was it?”

  As much as I was enjoying the feel of her skin under my palm, I needed to focus on not getting distracted by her allure before we finished discussing her situation. Pulling my hand away from her leg, I slipped my phone from my pocket and brought up the search results I’d been looking at earlier.

  “I don’t know a whole lot. It was in Newcastle. My legs got caught under the car and I was in hospital for a while. I’m sure you noticed all the scarring. There was a fire.”

  Looking away from my phone screen, I ran my gaze over her legs. I was no expert, so I couldn’t say what exactly set my radar off about those marks, but I highly doubted they were caused by the reason she’d been given. There were no lines from either surgery or cuts. The scars were solely from flames, not from being crushed.

  “I was researching daycare center accidents earlier and I found a couple that could have been yours, but I didn’t know the location or the year. Take a look at this article. It covers a car going through the front wall of a daycare center in Newcastle around the time you could have been there.”

  She took my phone and read the article. I guessed she read it a few times as she was silent for several minutes and the article wasn’t a long one. I played with a curl she’d detangled while she read, waiting for the inevitable question.

  “There’s no mention of anyone getting injured.”

  She looked up from the screen and the mix of hurt, anger and confusion in her gaze tore at my insides.

  “I don’t believe that’s how you got hurt. I actually doubt you were ever even at that daycare center. Did you ever ask your father about it? Or look it up online?”

  She shook her head with a frown. “No. Well, I asked Dad about it but same as when I asked about my mum, he refused to answer. I don’t know why I never looked it up. I can’t say I ever even thought to.”

  I was starting to believe her father may not have been her birth father at all, and that he was either some kind of supernatural being or the spirit that had messed with Brianna’s life had gifted him some extra skills to keep her in line. But I had no idea how to suggest that to Brianna without causing her further pain.

  “What’s your earliest memory?”

  She stopped playing with her hair and slumped against me, tucking her head in under my chin. She was such a tiny thing. Curled up like she was, she fit perfectly in my embrace, as though she were made for me.

  “I can remember the odd moment from when I was in the hospital after the accident. Mostly it’s just pain and white walls. My first solid memory is of moving into the house in Drake, of having my own room all to myself.” She paused. “I can’t remember why it was such a big deal to have my own room. Why can’t I remember that?”

  Her body tensed against me and I tightened my arms around her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

  “I’d say someone has interfered with your early memories. It’d be good if we could ask your father some questions, but I’m not sure how we’re going to pull that off. When we came upon you, I’m quite certain you were moments away from killing him. It seems the one who takes you over wants him dead.”

  She nodded, but stayed silent.

  “I think the best thing we can do for now is focus on what we can actually accomplish.”

  She sat straight and turned to look at me. “What can we do?”

  “Make you strong. Get you eating regular, healthy meals. Exercise, and mental exercises, too. We need to get you to a point where you can take control of your powers. You managed to move a short way with your lightning, imagine what you can do if you could focus for long periods of time. We might be able to get you to the point you can take control back when the lightning snatches you.”

  She grinned at me and there was a spark in her gaze. Clearly, she liked that idea. She looked so fucking adorable I couldn’t resist leaning in and kissing her lush mouth again. Her stomach growling had me pulling back with a chuckle as her face flushed.

  “Let’s start that with some breakfast. Bacon and eggs sound good to you?”

  Brianna

  Just the thought of being able to take control over the lightning, to maybe be able to use it like some sort of super-power had me excited. Once we were done eating, we got geared up to go for a run and headed out into the warm morning air. With a happy sigh I stretched my back out and looked up at the sun, enjoying the heat of the rays on my face. I couldn’t remember the last time I could stop and enjoy a moment like this, to breathe smoke-free air and not have to worry about where I was or how I was going to escape. To have my belly full and not be thirsty was a basic pleasure I didn’t think I’d ever take for granted again.

  It really was the simple things that were important.

  “Ready to go?”

  Spark’s voice sounded strained and I glanced at him to see he had a pained expression on his face. I quickly made my way over to him and cupped his cheek in my palm while I rested the other on his chest.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Instantly, his strong arms banded around me, pulling me in tightly against him as he turned his head and kissed my palm.

  “Nothing’s wrong, rohi. You looked so fucking sexy just now, I’m a little uncomfortable.”

  That had me chuckling.

  “Seems only fair. After last night and this morning, I’m a little uncomfortable myself.”

  He rubbed his hand up and down my back.

  “Fuck, Bri. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. To be honest, I’ve never been like this with a woman. So completely insatiable.”

  He was getting way too serious. I had so much on my mind already with what was going on that I didn’t have the energy to worry about what was growing between Spark and myself. I tried to use some humor to change the subject.

  “Surely, you’re not trying to tell me you too were a virgin before last night? I may not know about MCs in real life, but I read a lot and I can’t imagine that real bikers are any less slutty than the fictional ones.”

  With a laugh, he released me and gave my butt a light slap. “Can’t say I’ve ever read a book about an MC to know how we’d compare, but no, I was no saint before meeting you. But the way I feel about you? That’s all new, rohi.”

  I moved a step or two away to start stretching my legs so we could get moving.

  “Right. I’m sure you’ve never wanted to fuck a woman senseless before.”

  With a g
rowl, he glared at me. “I ain’t joking about what’s between us, Brianna. What’s going on here is so much more than fucking and you know it. Don’t cheapen it. This connection between us? It’s so much more than us being exceptional together sexually. I get that you’re scared. Your life has been turned on its head in more ways than one, but me and you? We’re solid, and I’m not going anywhere. You can count on me. Count on the fact that when the chips are down, I’ll be right next to you. Now, before I drag you back inside to prove how good we are together, let’s go for that run, yeah?”

  I shook my head at his words, staring down at my shoes, trying to work out how the hell to deal with what he was saying. “Dragging me back to bed wouldn’t prove we have more than sex between us, Spark.”

  “And that is the only reason I haven’t done it. Well, that and I know you have to be sore.”

  He came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, surrounding me with his soothing sage scent. After nuzzling his face in against my throat, he pressed a kiss there before moving away.

  “C’mon, let’s get rolling.”

  I led the way down the windy road, wishing I still had my phone and headphones so I could listen to something as I jogged. Seeing Spark beside me, keeping pace, made me realize that maybe I didn’t need my fictional heroes as much as I had before. I mean, he might not be Russian, but he sure as hell had the tragic backstory and was a biker.

  In comfortable silence, we continued on with me picking tracks and roads that led up a rise until I saw a place where I’d be able to look out and see the whole area from. Stopping, I put my hands on my hips and ran my gaze over the view of the surrounding landscape. It wasn’t as heavily wooded here as it was around Drake, but it was still beautiful. Rows of grapevines broke up sections of natural bushland and the roads were all lined with tall gums. It was like a scene from a postcard, it was that pretty.