by Harley James
She nodded, then tore her gaze from his to stare at the curling ocean waves. Ari took one step. When she followed, he took another. And another. Soon they were standing on the wet lip of the sand, and it was all Katherine could do not to scream, to loosen some of the tremendous pressure in her chest. Her sweaty fingers twined death-grip-tight to Ari’s, her other hand curling around their joined hands, her body turned toward his.
Maybe if she didn’t look at the water…
They took another step, and the water lapped at her toes.
She hopped back, her heart pounding so hard it hurt. “Oh God, I can’t!”
Ari let go of her hand to grip her head between his palms. “Yes. You. Can. Water is your element. It’s part of the very fabric of your existence. You can direct it. Control it. It’s your gift. Your weapon, you hear me? Fuck this fear, you own the ocean! You own it.”
She gritted her teeth and nodded rapidly. Don’t think, don’t think.
Dontthinkdontthinkdontthink…
She turned and reclaimed her Viking’s fingers, looking out into the horizon as she did it.
Then she walked into the water.
She panted through parted lips as the ocean pulled and sucked at her shins.
The unfamiliar liquid strength of the waves pulled her off balance, but Ari was at her back, supporting her with his whole body. Something brushed against her feet, raising the hairs all over her skin.
“It’s only debris,” he said earnestly into her hair. “Sand, shells, plant material. You’re doing perfect. You’re so strong, North, I love you so much.”
Tears welled up, sudden and hot. They scalded her cheeks as they fell. She turned around to face her One and Only—she knew that now—with the big scary ocean at her back. Trust, so hard to give—so awfully hard to yield—given.
Handed over to this one man, come what may. “I love you, too.”
He groaned and wrapped her in his arms. Their lips met, hot, electric as the waves churned at her knees. She gasped against his lips and pulled back to look down, but he captured her chin, bringing her gaze back to his to smile into her eyes. “The water is translating your energy, North. You win.”
Her lips quivered only slightly as they curled up. “We win.”
He laughed freely and grabbed her hand. They waded in further to their hips. The water was…
Vast, mysterious, alarming…
“Breathtaking!” she telepathically gushed at him, unable to suppress her wonder.
“It is, isn’t it? I love it when you’re breathless.” His eyes were hot, leaving her no question as to what he was fantasizing about. “Dip down a little for me, North. I want to see that white T-shirt get all wet, your nipples beckoning me to put my mouth on them, sucking... Whoa, fuck yeah, come here.”
As he lunged for her, she released his fingers, laughing, and dove down into the water. The disorienting underwater echoes suddenly brought the panic back full force. Her eyes snapped opened. Her lips gaped in a scream, bringing a rush of salt water into her mouth. She flailed harder when something grabbed her from behind. Mary’s face in the bubbles, raw terror clawing at her chest. Katherine struggled, sputtering and crying as her face broke the surface of the water, which had turned choppy, the skies a baleful gray.
“You’re safe. You’re in control, North. Command the water to calm. Do it. Do it now.”
Ari. Ari’s steady voice.
Water. She was in the water. Oh, God, the water was not steady.
But she was in Ari’s arms. She shuddered and stopped struggling.
“Good. Now calm the water.” Ari’s heart beat against her back as he lowered her feet to the sand once more.
She searched for the quivering thread of power deep within and plucked at it. Began to knit it to her essence, weaving her Guardian elemental power with her soul. She dug her toes into the sand, burying them, feeling the ocean around her start to energize in a new and completely different way than she’d ever felt. Like it was gathering toward her.
Ari’s laugh rang out. “That’s it. I feel it! The water wants to please you.”
The power built, heady and intoxicating. She raised her arms, and the water split, rising up twenty feet on either side of her and Ari where they stood on instantly dry sand. Ari whooped, clapping his hands. “You did it! You fucking did it, North!”
Katherine’s heart swelled. She swung to kiss Ari, and in her peripheral vision saw a tsunami building a half mile away. Moving fast. “Ari!” She pointed, heart in her throat, and sent a surge of power to meet the turbulent mass of water. It shattered against the wave in a plume of spray, which gathered into a huge cloud. The sky darkened further, lightning flashed, and thunder concussed the sky like a giant shaking a box full of magnets.
And still the sea swell bore toward them.
And riding the crest of the waves…
Leviathan.
Chapter 25
Ari’s mind spun with possible solutions. Leviathan had no doubt observed that Kat was overcoming her fear of the water, and was on the cusp of being able to exert the full force of her liquid powers. He was also sure Leviathan knew her time to sway Kat with lies was coming to an end. Which meant she would be more desperate.
And a desperate archdemon in possession of a holy relic was bad all the way around.
The best chance they probably had right now was to use relic against relic. Which would either turn out excellent, or it would be catastrophic. If they brought the Chains of St. Peter out of the sanctorum’s reliquary and failed to beat Leviathan, the relic would fall into her keeping.
Ari stepped closer to Kat, but kept his eyes on the wave Leviathan rode. “Let’s get back to Aqua.”
“You want to retreat?”
The disbelief in her voice almost made him reconsider. “We need time to plan, plus I’m not sure what level of power an archdemon has when shot up with holy relic juice. Let’s go.”
“I don’t want to bring more danger to my staff.”
“For all we know, she already has the Rephaim beating down the doors while we’re here.”
Thankfully that was enough motivation to get her to stream with him to the nightclub. When they arrived, Jade was preparing more holy weapons while Maddox and Raj were patrolling the poolside terrace, the roof, and the sidewalk outside the entrance. Makoa and Stark were helping the priests with new exorcisms. The club didn’t open for another hour, but human clubbers, mostly Waikiki tourists, were already lining up behind the velvet ropes, chatting animatedly about what an experience tonight promised to be.
Poor bastards. They had no idea how right they were. He hoped he’d be alive at the evening’s end to wipe the minds of those whose survived.
Dorian, a rookie Guardian from Nate’s club, was supervising Konani’s etching of a new Devil’s Trap in the ceiling plaster. Ari smiled and waved him over. As he made his way toward them, Kat grabbed a bottle of chrism oil off the back to the bar. “Alexios summoned an eternally promiscuous, teenage Guardian to look after my relic?”
Ari’s gaze shot to Dorian before smiling. “Well, Raj is here, and he’s almost as old as Alexios, so he has lots of Guardian babysitting experience. And on the bright side, if Dorian gets an STD, at least it won’t kill him.”
Kat pulled a box off a shelf. “I’m not worried about him.”
Dorian wrinkled his nose at them. “Yo, I heard all that.”
Ari leaned down to Katherine’s ear. “If you need an outlet for your anxiety, beat up on me. Dorian’s doing us a favor. Cut him some slack.”
Kat pursed her lips momentarily. “I guess you’re right.” She raised a sassy eyebrow at Dorian. “Thanks for your assistance, lad.”
Dorian’s dark eyes twinkled back at her. “Hey lady, I can’t help it if I’m not as elderly as y’all. Wait, you want me to talk slower? How about louder? CAN. YOU. HEAR. ME. N—”
“That’ll do, Dorian,” Ari warned, watching to make sure Kat didn’t do anything they’d both regret.
> Dorian’s broad shoulders shook with mirth as he raised a hand to high-five and bro-hug Ari. “Hey man, we’re cool. I told y’all you had nothing to worry about. I know Lady K’s crusty on the outside, soft and goo—”
Ari flushed a rapid pulse of air up Dorian’s nose to put a stop to that incendiary comment. As Dorian wheezed and coughed, Ari slung a friendly arm over his shoulders. “Unlike a few of our snooty Guardian brethren, I don’t mind a little youth in our ranks. You must have half a decade under your belt now, right?”
“Hell yeah, man. I’m no greenhorn anymore. I’m hoping Michael will be giving me my own relic to guard in a year or so. I’ve been building quite a badass rep among the incubus. Those fallen angels don’t scare me at all.”
“Too bad stupidity isn’t painful,” Kat muttered, moving off to converse with Stark, Makoa, and Father Angus near three dazed-looking humans they’d picked up off the streets. They must’ve been recently exorcised. Score three more for Team Good.
“I’ll do the mind wipes. Just give me a sec,” Ari told Kat telepathically.
She shook her head without bothering to look back at him. Fine, he’d let her do it without interfering, but he’d definitely be on watch to make sure she wasn’t overtaxing herself. She needed to be as close to full strength as possible when the showdown came with Leviathan.
“Any Rephaim activity around here in the last couple of hours?” he asked Dorian.
“No. I almost wish they’d poked their heads around because I’ve been itching to try out my dragon-scroll dagger I bartered with Jinx for. That little ninja piece of ass drives a hard bargain.”
Ari swatted him on the back of the head.
“Ow, what the hell, man?” The younger Guardian slid the dagger back into his waistband.
“If you think it’s okay to call a woman a ‘piece of ass’ and have no fear of what fallen angels can do, you’re a long way from being entrusted with your own relic. Besides that, you won’t be alive much longer if Jinx hears you call her, or anyone else, something so disrespectful. Now, how many exorcisms has Father Angus performed since we left?”
“Eight. Raj mind-wiped two of them before he and Maddox went out to do another patrol of the perimeter. Of the six more that need to be done, three are on the floor there”—he pointed to where Kat was placing her hands on a young woman’s forehead—“and the other three are sleeping in the employee lounge. Mind-wiping isn’t my strong suit yet, but I got the Sandman powers down pat.”
“I’ll take care of the rest of the mind wipes. You head outside with Raj and Maddox, paying particular attention to the ocean side.”
“I’m on it.”
“Dorian.”
The young Guardian swung back, his hand already on the door. “Yeah?”
“Fire’s your element, right?”
“Damn straight. I light ’em up and burn those bitches down, Grimm.”
Good. Elemental diversity for the coming fight would be important. He had air, Kat had water, and Raj possessed the rare ether power, like Alexios. Their various energies would work synergistically against Leviathan. Hopefully it will be enough.
Once he and Kat had wiped the remaining human minds of what they’d experienced during their demonic possession and sent them home, Ari pulled her aside.
She spoke before he had a chance. “Why hasn’t she come yet? She was obviously ready for a confrontation back at my house. And she had to know we’d come here because of the Chains. I don’t understand what she’s waiting for.”
“She knew it would have this effect on you. Remember, she lives for manipulating people’s emotions. The more rattled she can make you, the more your power diminishes.”
“I can’t take this waiting, plus we have to get the Rod of Moses back. Why don’t we go after her?”
“And face her Rephaim army on their turf?”
Her shoulders sagged as she slid onto a barstool. “Well, what do you suggest?”
“How long will it take to unward the Chains?”
“The minute that relic comes out of the reliquary, it becomes vulnerable. Look what happened to the Rod of Moses.”
“We’re about to go toe-to-toe with an archdemon, North. We have to pull out all the stops because we only get one chance when this shit finally goes down. Right now, with you, me, Dorian, and Raj, we have all but the earth element represented. That’s definitely in our favor, but consider the opposition. An archdemon alone is bad enough, but she has who knows how many Rephaim and a holy relic in her corner. I relish a challenge, but even I don’t like those odds. Using the Chains of St. Peter would help balance the battle.”
She ran a hand through her hair. He realized then that she’d kept it down after their time in the water. Maybe that’s why her staff had been looking at her with an unusual amount of interest. He kissed her forehead and squeezed her shoulders. “Let’s get this over with and get on with our lives. I want to adopt a house full of children with you.”
“Oh Jesus, are you kidding me? I’d make a horrible mother. I own a nightclub. And we hunt demons.”
“So we’ll be unconventional parents—we’ll teach them how to do it, too!”
The ground suddenly quaked with such force Kat tumbled into Ari. As they stumbled, they locked eyes.
She’s here.
Screams poured into the building from the crowd gathered out front. Ari ran to open the door, letting the people flow inside to safety. “Earthq-q-quake! We c-can’t be inside!” stammered a coed in five-inch platform heels, caught up in the massive current of bodies streaming into the club.
“Everyone’s okay,” Konani yelled over the melee. “Aqua’s earthquake resistant!”
Ari wasn’t worried about earthquakes either. And not just because Aqua’s inner skeleton had extra steel bracing, giant rubber pads, and embedded hydraulic shock absorbers designed to withstand shifts in the earth’s crust.
Leviathan’s power was water-based, not land-based, so this land movement was probably about as severe as it was going to get. She didn’t have the juice to cause significant damage using terra plates. What was troubling, however, was that she’d likely generated an underwater disturbance to create a—
“Tsunami!”
The Civil Defense sirens blared, and people screamed louder. Kat’s hand pressed against Ari’s back as she shouted orders to her staff to get everyone to the upper level, lock down the cement shutters, and sprinkle salt along the perimeter of the rooms. She grabbed his shirt in her fist. “Can you calm them down? They’re safe from the elements in this cement bunker, but they’re going to kill each other in their panic before the demons even get to them.”
He raised both hands, palms outward, to emit a massive pulse of energy to stimulate serene alpha brain waves in all the humans. Then he grabbed Katherine’s wrist before she could spin away from him. “I don’t want you out of my sight.”
“That’s not practical right now, Grimm. We have work to do. But first…” Her eyes blazed into his. “We need to find an unoccupied closet so we can bond, then we’ll unward the Chains.”
Whoa.
Had she really said what he thought he’d heard? He watched a flush creep up her neck.
She glared at him. “Do we have to light candles and be horizontal to make it official, or can we drop our pants, say a few sappy words and, presto, we’re good to go?”
Ari put his hands on his head and pulled his hair to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. She wanted to motherfucking bond.
“For chrissakes, North, you want to do this now?” He could hear and feel the wind howling outside, banging detritus against the side of the building. A wall of water traveling at four hundred miles an hour was bearing down on Waikiki, and she picked now to bond.
“It will give us extra mojo, won’t it?”
“Well, yeah, but this isn’t something you do just because you need an edge.”
Something exceptionally large and metallic—a car maybe—slammed into the side of the building, rainin
g plaster dust from the ceiling onto the floor. Stark ran to the Devil’s Trap with a broom to make sure the circle of protection wasn’t marred or covered.
“Can’t think of a better reason to up my edge than when facing sudden annihilation,” Kat cried.
She wanted to bond not because she wanted to finally join her everlasting soul with his, but because she wanted extra juice to fight Leviathan.
As much as he wished it would be for the right reason, he couldn’t deny the cold reality that they needed every advantage. He grabbed her arm and steered her toward the men’s bathroom, trying to tamp down the racing of his pulse and the anger simmering in his veins at the way this was going down.
“I don’t care what you have to do, but keep the demons the fuck out of here for five minutes,” he barked at Dorian and Raj, not even waiting to see the looks on their faces as he shoved the bathroom door open.
Three people cowering in the stalls ran out after one glimpse of his face. When they exited the room, he flipped the lock and passed his hand over the door, adding a ward to keep unwelcome guests out.
“Ari, I—”
He unzipped her pants, pulled her jeans and thong down her body and hoisted her to the cold countertop. Everything inside him protested what was happening. But death was knocking on their door, and her protection as his bonded mate mattered more than her pleasure or whatever fantasies he’d had about this moment of their joining.
He wanted to give her languid whispers and, hell yes, candlelight. A long body massage followed by a sensual meal, then a bubble bath and roses.
Instead it was fluorescent lights and a goddamn quickie.
He couldn’t even look at her as he unzipped his fly and brought his swollen erection to her softness.
It was over in less than sixty seconds. The sacred words exchanged in a place where people washed germ-filled hands and vomited excess alcohol.
They were well and truly mated now, but as he watched her fix her clothes and race from the room without looking back, he knew he’d never forget the tears rolling down her cheeks as he’d climaxed.
