by Harley James
Her hands balled into fists as she ran down the stairs and rushed out into the mid-afternoon sunshine. Her bare feet sank into the warm sand as she made her way toward the surf. Sweat pooled between her breasts. Panic—fresh, hot, breathless—flared to life, and she froze, as she always did, ten feet from the water’s edge. The waves retreated, barrel-rolling tiny shells and strands of seaweed across the sand. She exhaled with a shudder.
The water element was her gift, yet her fear of the ocean—feeling the water rise up her ankles to drag her down and swallow her whole—nearly crippled her.
Such a paradox.
She stepped back five more steps and collected seashells, their smooth surfaces normally so soothing against her fingertips.
Now, each one gathered meant she was that much closer to facing Ari.
She sang an old Hawaiian song under her breath as the wind picked up and stirred loosened hairs from her bun as though pulled by Ari’s fingers. He’d always taken her hair down, pin by pin. He said he loved to undo her.
Oh, how he’d succeeded.
Her shadow lengthened on the sand. She looked out over the ocean as dark, moody clouds overtook the sun. Ari? Her heart skidded to a halt, then jackknifed in her chest, restarting at an impossible pace. An unnatural wind drove the waves higher, crashing violently against the sand, forcing her to retreat until she stumbled onto the tiles of her lanai. This abrupt weather change had to be him.
She pushed back up to her feet and swung around to look out over the ocean.
I hate him for always making me feel. I hate…
Him.
Right there, standing before her on the wet sand. Still so rawly masculine. Always aware of his ridiculous appeal. Always smirking, though this time there was an edge of cruelty to the curve of his lips. White shirt, bare feet, and tan trousers rolled up and wet around the ankles, as though he hadn’t just come from protecting the Dalai Lama in the frozen Himalayas.
He never felt the cold. Or self-loathing.
Must be nice to be born a Viking.
“Katherine.”
Her name fell deep and liquid from his lips, disorienting her. He stepped forward, crushing her in his arms, swinging her around. She grew dizzy from the motion and his sensual laughter. Memories poured through her. She let them come. Lost herself in the wonder, joy, and eventual heartbreak of them, knowing she was a fool for doing so.
Energy cleared the pathways in her mind, balanced her tummy, and heavens, she felt better than she had in ages.
Too bad they were so wretchedly unsuited.
She pushed out of his arms, conjuring a geyser of cold water to blast him in the back of the head for taking such liberties. He shook the water out of his eyes and from his sun-streaked blond hair—longer than she’d ever seen it—as he laughed in that captivating way.
Pure Ari.
His laughter was as intoxicating as his kiss.
She turned abruptly and forced herself not to dash into the house. He grabbed her hand, swinging her back around, the blue of his eyes clouding abruptly. “No more walls, Kat.”
Chapter 4
Ari’s euphoria bled away as he watched the storm break across Kat’s face. Her dark curling lashes framed washed-out irises, a feeble reminder of the fierce blue-green she’d been born with, the snapping intelligence in them a shadow of their former glory.
And her waterworks —which normally landed him on his ass—were now a squirt to the back of his head.
He swallowed back his shock. She was truly ill. He rubbed his thumb across the underside of her wrist where her pulse jumped. His initial elation at seeing her warred with his anger at her past rejection, as well as a new, unwelcome uneasiness about her well-being. “Kat—”
“No!” She jerked her arm away. “No more walls, you say? That’s rich coming from someone who was so emotionally unavailable you couldn’t even stand to be on the same island with me after I f-failed you.”
He blinked, taking a moment to process what she’d said.
Even she looked startled by her outburst.
“Whoa. The only failure we’re both guilty of is a breakdown in communication,” he said.
She held up a hand. “Let’s not reanalyze why we don’t belong together, okay? Jade obviously grossly overstated whatever trouble she called you to tattle about. I’m fine. Just like I’ve been for the last three years.”
Without you.
The unspoken words hung between them, as daunting as any enemy fortifications he’d ever faced.
“You’ve never been a decent liar. Your eyes show your struggle, and I feel it in your body. It’s time we mended our discord.” He stepped toward her, maintaining eye contact. He pushed through the ether that stretched between them to seek out her heart’s rhythm with his Guardian senses. When he matched his heart’s cadence to hers, the thrill of their intimate connection surged through his blood. The white grains of sand at his feet grew luminous.
Marvelous.
Hues, feelings… her. It was all entwined, coming back in a rush that made him want to throw back his head and howl to the Valkyries like the crazed Viking berserkers from his ancient raiding party. He’d forgotten how a Guardian’s senses stormed to life when in sync with his soul mate.
He slowed his breathing. She remained rooted to the spot while he threaded his fingers through her chilled ones to increase their skin-to-skin contact. The need to comfort her, to soothe her racing heart, and bolster her dangerously low energy levels quenched his anger. Softened his bruised pride.
His other hand cupped her cheek, once so soft and full. Now it was sunken, the skin pale and dry. Touching her, impressions cascaded through him—pain, darkness, hopelessness. He frowned, clasping her hand tighter, but she shook her head and forcefully broke their connection, wiping her cheeks.
“Stay out of my head. You have no right.”
“Kat, my God…” Fragments of his own grief drifted through him like murky shadows in fjord caverns. He’d been patient these past three years, giving her time to realize that his actions—finding Jade—was his way of helping her deal with the loss of their baby and her soul-deep scars from losing her family at such a young age.
She’d had far more loss in her life than anyone should have to bear.
But she’d been so wrathful when he’d returned with Jade.
“I won’t allow you to suffer another day.”
She flushed briefly before resuming that aloofness that was her hallmark. “You will gladly offer your body in service to my weakness because it’s your duty, right?” Her lips curled coldly. “I’d rather purchase new batteries for my hand-held, so you can go stuff your damn soul mate obligation. And my name is Katherine.”
He stepped closer, watching with satisfaction as more color rose in her cheeks. He’d missed every reserved, bitchy edge of her because he knew better than anyone what was down beneath it all. Still waters ran deep. And those passionate undercurrents belonged to him whether it pissed her off or not. “No vibrator in this lifetime or the next will satisfy you the way I can.”
“Get over yourself, Viking. And for Heaven’s sake, stop crowding me. I don’t have the energy to pretend I like you.”
“I’m not sure I like you either, so we’re even. However, if you expire, you’ll no longer be able to boss people around. I know you’d hate that.”
“Stop acting so sanctimonious, Ari. You’re only here because if I get too sick, you’ll start feeling it in your bones, too.”
“I’m still pissed, yes. How much rejection do you expect a man to take? Nothing I said would change your mind so I buried myself in my duties. But if you think I’m only here for myself right now, you never really knew me.”
He was ashamed at how much he wanted to hear her deny his words. How much he hungered for her to say she did know him. That she was sorry for all the times she pushed him away.
Without answering, she walked away from her house, toward the rocky shoreline. Another rejection. He should go and
stay gone this time. But the ache to touch her, to feel her body rise and fall over his, to laugh together the way they often had after making love…that ache never went away, regardless of how many oceans he put between them.
In the good times in her arms, he’d felt as free as he ever had on the high seas.
Suddenly, a wave of dark energy detonated through the air, turning flowers, shrubs, and trees black. Birds fell from the sky and their treetop perches.
A chill darted down Ari’s spine. He turned to look out over the ocean. In the distance, a woman garbed in inky blue hovered over the suddenly still water. The ocean—unmoving—was the most unnatural thing he’d ever seen.
After Jade’s urgent call this morning, he’d reached out telepathically to Alexios, wanting to find out if there was anything he should know before showing up in Hawaii. The Guardian leader immediately mentioned Leviathan—one of the archdemons freed at Nate Temple’s Minneapolis club during last month’s rending of an Earth-Hell Seam.
Alexios, an honorable Spartan warrior from 521 BC and sole exception to the you-have-to-be-an-asshole-to-qualify Guardian selection process, had spoken of Leviathan bringing waters of chaos.
Ari squeezed his fists at his sides, a bygone, yet familiar aggression rising as he watched Satan’s daughter hover over the water. He opened his palms toward the sea, calling to the air masses that had freakishly deserted the vicinity around the archdemon.
The archdemon’s halo of chestnut hair seemed to have a life of its own. She shook her head and yelled something in an otherworldly language that made the hairs rise on the back of his neck. Had to be Enochian—the language of angels.
But she wasn’t an angel, so how could she speak it? Had her father, the original fallen angel, taught her?
Ari squinted, his acute Guardian eyesight bringing her—heartbroken?—expression into focus.
Definitely not the look he expected. “Go in the house and refortify your wards with all possible haste,” he told Katherine, keeping his eyes on Leviathan who extended a hand, then let it drop.
In the next instant, the demon princess was gone.
What the hell? When the tide resumed, some of the fallen birds staggered to their feet. Ari glanced behind him, but Katherine was nowhere in sight. Once more, he sent his senses among the competing air pressures in all directions around the property—this time searching for Katherine’s essence.
She was in the house, but he couldn’t detect any lingering traces of her wards. He frowned. Guardians had always called upon her when powerful protection spells were needed. Usually those talents extended to her own fortress.
Her now unprotected home spoke volumes about her physical decline.
How long had she been so sick? For the last three days, aches and pains and nausea had washed over him at unexpected times. It wasn’t until Jade called that he realized his symptoms were coming from his connection to Kat.
He reached into the ether, opening the Guardian pathway to contact Alexios about Leviathan. Moments later, Alexios appeared on the sand. His haunted amber eyes hinted at a tormented soul, capable of extreme violence.
And the type of love that goes down in history books.
“You didn’t have to come all this way. I know you haven’t been able to find Sophia in this lifetime—”
Ari was ass-down in the sand before he could even blink.
“We’re not discussing my business.” Alexios’s low voice rumbled in the air. “Katherine has suffered for too long, Grimm. Does your arrival mean you will no longer neglect your duties to your soul mate?”
Ari rolled to his feet. “I’m not going anywhere.” He brushed his hands on his pants. “I will care for her.” It would leave more scars, but after she was well, he’d try to forget her on the open seas…or maybe he’d return to the Himalayas. Mount Everest was not nearly as cold as Kat’s heart.
Alexios assessed him. “You and Katherine need to lay aside your wounded vanities. Disharmony between soul mates creates weakness within our ranks. With four archdemons loose, there could be no worse time for vulnerability.”
Ari made no comment.
If only it were that easy to heal two battered hearts.
“Let me know if you need help with the water demon,” Alexios said. “I haven’t faced her before, but there’ve been reports that she’s a loner in Hell.”
Ari nodded. Loners could be the most dangerous opponents because they were good at keeping secrets.
No one knew how Alexios obtained his information, but besides being Archangel Michael’s favorite, he was one of the few Guardians who could manipulate the ether—the metaphysical energy of the atmosphere and inherent in all living things.
Every Guardian had one physical element they could control, but Alexios could harness the power of all of them. He could stir the sea, propel the wind, detonate volcanoes, and grow mammoth sequoias from aught but a seed.
He could also destroy a man’s mind with a whisper.
Ari looked out to sea. “Leviathan was right there, watching Kat’s house, and she was very much alone.”
“Did she attempt contact?”
“No. She drew further into herself when she felt my energy. She looked upset. Almost lost. It was odd. Maybe she was feeling the ill effects of being in daylight for too long? I don’t know. If she’s here to take possession of Kat’s relic, why hasn’t she made a move for it in the two weeks she’s been here?” Another thing he hadn’t known before Jade’s call, otherwise he would’ve come sooner.
Alexios shrugged. “I gave up demon psychology a thousand years ago, but what we started seeing last month at Nate’s club is that these archdemons are able to tolerate sunlight a lot better than when we’ve faced them in the past.”
“One more Guardian advantage we can no longer count on.”
Alexios nodded. “Be ready for anything. And don’t trust a damn thing any of them say.”
“I won’t.” Ari glanced at Kat’s house, anxious to set his own wards there. “I have a good tracker in the Himalayas if you haven’t looked there for Sophia yet.”
Alexios vanished in an explosion of beach. It took Ari the better part of a minute to extract himself from the sand-pocolypse.
Touchy.
Then again, he would be too if his soul mate was hunted by demons in each of her reincarnations.
Lately, all the Guardians were uptight.
Ari shook the remaining sand out of his hair and refilled the ten-foot hole in the beach using massive pulses of wind. Then he opened his palm and moved his arm through the air to send highly charged molecules into all layers of the atmosphere to serve as tripwires, alerting him to encroaching evil energy.
Because Leviathan would be back.
But he—and Kat—would be ready.
Chapter 5
Katherine slipped out of her cotton shift and into a sleeveless designer dress and python knee-high boots. Her gaze kept wandering out her second-story bedroom window that overlooked the beach. Ari stood there like a Norse warrior venerated in stone. How such a vibrant, restless man could stand so still like that had always fascinated her. He was either a cyclone or a statue.
A man of contradictions.
But of course, not many of them were visible until you really got to know him. Trust him.
That was probably true of everyone, but she’d never bared her soul to anyone like she had to Ari.
Katherine went to her dresser mirror to repin her bun, fingers shaking slightly. His presence had rejuvenated her more than all the sleep, meditation, and nutritious food she’d had in the last several months. It would be irrational to deny herself such healing.
The problem was how to convince her heart to turn off its boom-badda-boom-boom every time he curved his sexy lips at her. Because they didn’t work as a couple.
Katherine glanced at Ari on the beach once more before hurrying down to the garage. By the time she slid into her convertible, Ari was opening the passenger door. She squelched a flush of pleas
ure. He’d always been able to gauge her location, having some sort of thermal-sensing air GPS where she was concerned.
She frowned, put the top up on the convertible, and started the ignition. “I’m going to work. There’s bound to be lots of chaos when the club gets into full swing. When I left, there was a Possessed on the premises. There’s probably more by now.”
“Perfect. You know I thrive in mayhem. And I look forward to a complete tour of Aqua. I only got through the upper terrace before you threw me out the last time.”
She held back a snort at the thought of anyone besides Alexios, Raj, or an archangel physically removing Ari from anywhere. If he’d really wanted to stay, there would have been nothing she could’ve done to make him leave.
She pulled out of the garage and sped toward Highway 61 to Waikiki Beach. “You only stay when it’s convenient for you,” she said finally, wishing she hadn’t opened her damn mouth when she heard him sigh.
“You’re wrong, Kat. I’ve tried to be respectful of your space these last few years, even though you misunderstood my intentions when I left to find Jade. But you clearly need me to stay this time.”
“You are so full of yourself. You think you were being heroic for finding my long-lost family member and giving me time to get over losing the baby, but what about you, Ari?” She glanced over at his steely jaw. “Have you ever thought that maybe you left because you couldn’t deal with your own feelings?”
He’d robbed them of the chance to mourn their baby together.
His gaze swung from the view out the windshield to her. “Are you kidding me? We’ve never been a touchy-feely couple. Talking about my emotions and how gutted I felt when our baby died wasn’t going to help anything.” The miles sped by as the silence deepened in the car. Ari looked out the passenger window. “Besides you, I wanted our baby more than I ever wanted anything in the thousand-plus years I’ve been alive. You were drowning in your grief. I wasn’t going to heap my pain on yours.”
Katherine’s head leaned back against the headrest. “But that’s what people do—they share. It reminds us we’re not…” Alone.
