The Gathering

by Jennifer Ashley

  Hunter’s gaze on her was intense, for her and her alone. “I need you, Leda,” he said, his voice fierce. “I don’t want to go back to what it was like before I met you. Never.”

  His look and his words cut her. Leda tried to keep her tone light. “Then find out what the goddesses want, and insist on returning. I’ll wait.”

  Hunter growled something under his breath, sounding like Mukasa when he rumbled in annoyance. He swept his brothers a glance. “All right. I’ll go with you. But first I say good-bye to Leda.”

  Adrian nodded, clasping Amber’s fingers tightly. “That’s fine. I didn’t think you’d have it any other way.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Hunter didn’t bother trying to find the right bedroom. He pulled Leda into the nearest one and laid her down on whosever bed it was, climbing over her as she smiled at him.

  He’d survived death magic and darkness, pain and torture, and he wanted to forget, to bury himself in Leda and know nothing but the taste and scent of her. He skimmed her shirt from her body and leaned down to take the hot point of her nipple into his mouth. She tasted salty and warm, overlaid with the sweetness that was Leda.

  He sensed the death magic in her again, cloying and tainting her beautiful aura. Leda had been willing to expose herself to it, knowing exactly what it would do to her. She’d made the sacrifice in order to find and save Hunter, and now she was willing to let him go discover what the goddesses wanted, even with the chance that he might never be able to return.

  Leda was a sweet, wonderful woman, and Hunter blessed whatever magic had dropped him onto her island that night. He opened her mouth with his kisses at the same time he unbuttoned her jeans and dipped his fingers inside to find her warmth.

  “Are you ready for me?” he asked.

  “I’ve been ready.” Leda traced the curve of his spine. “Why do you think I was sitting there waiting for you to wake up?”

  “I’ll have to take the death magic out of you again.” Hunter wagged a playful finger in her face. “Promise me you won’t go dabbling again. I might not be here to fix it, next time.”

  Leda nipped at his fingertip. “I promise.”

  She looked contrite, her lashes coyly shielding the blue of her eyes, and Hunter’s hard-on stiffened even more. “You are so going to pay for being cute,” he said.

  Her eyes widened playfully. “Being cute is a crime?”

  “It is after I was terrified I’d lose you. Come here.” Hunter wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, his teasing dying as he savored her, heart aching.

  They undressed each other, dropping jeans to the floor, Leda’s bra and shirt landing beside them. Hunter splayed his hand across her thighs and slid inside her.

  “An Immortal cock,” Leda murmured as he went in. “It goes on forever.”

  “Smart-ass.” Hunter pressed inside her, deeper, then still deeper, loving how she closed on him.

  He’d never get enough of her. Hunter knew he’d only be able to have her for a short time, a human lifespan, but he would love her as much as he possibly could. He’d do as she asked and listen to the goddesses, but they could find other flunkies to save the world this time. Hunter would ride out whatever crisis was next buried inside Leda.

  He slid out and back in again, enjoying the half moan of pleasure she made. Her eyes half closed, becoming gleaming slits of blue, as Hunter’s thrusts grew in strength. Her golden hair curled across her body, a cloud to wrap her.

  “Now,” Hunter said. “About that pesky death magic.”

  Leda lifted herself to him, ready. Lights formed between their close-pressed bodies, from white to scarlet, the chakras opening and aligning. Hunter felt the last chakra, red and hot where they joined, the pleasure raw.

  The death magic was easier to pull out of her than before, perhaps because Leda trusted him now. The first time they’d made love, she’d been hesitant, uncertain, but now she twined herself around Hunter and readily gave him her body, letting him reach down into her soul.

  She moaned and lifted to him, her pleasure deep and intense. Hunter kissed her mouth, and then the darkness came away from her, sticky and foul, to dissolve in Hunter’s hands like nightmares fleeing the dawn.

  Hunter joined his brothers in the room where Tain lay just after sundown. The coming night felt peaceful and cool, no longer containing the horrors of the growing dark. He heard laughter downstairs as Mai joked with Mac, and the deep tones of Ricco, who was just coming out for the night.

  The Immortals had brought their weapons to the bedroom, necessary if they wanted to open the way to Ravenscroft. Hunter had made love to Leda twice more after removing the death magic from her. After the last time, they’d crashed to the bed in exhaustion, drowsing in the afternoon heat.

  When Hunter had risen to join his brothers again, Leda had put her arms around him and given him a sleepy kiss, but she hadn’t clung, hadn’t begged him not to go. She’d understood, and was ready to be strong for him.

  His brother’s ladies hadn’t come to see them off either. Each of the Immortals looked grim and unhappy as they took positions around Tain’s bed.

  The one person who walked in the door before they left was Samantha. Bandages covered one arm, and she had red contusions on her face.

  “Amber told me what you were going to do,” she said. “Will this save him?”

  “It’s his best chance,” Adrian said.

  Samantha’s gaze flicked to Tain and rested on his face. “I was dying after that battle,” she said in a quiet voice. “His magic kept me from slipping away altogether. It felt . . .” She drew a breath, then shook her head. “When he wakes up . . . tell him thanks.”

  Adrian gave her a nod. Samantha looked back at the collected brothers a moment longer, then her gaze went to Tain again. A sort of hunger flickered through her eyes, which she quickly masked, before she turned and left the room.

  “Brave girl,” Hunter said. “If more demons were like her, they wouldn’t be so bad.”

  “Can we get on with this?” Darius asked, impatience in every part of him.

  Hunter raised his sword, which burst into fierce flame. “Right away. Wouldn’t want to keep you from Sekhmet’s lectures too long.”

  “You know, you were more fun when you were unconscious,” Darius shot back.

  Kalen lifted his spear, its tip beginning to glow. “Now I remember why I avoid you all.”

  “Because he likes to play with his great big spear all by himself,” Hunter said, straight-faced.

  Adrian brought his sword up, giving the other three a deprecating glance, and then they brought their weapons together. A crackling white light appeared where the tips touched, the air burst open, and they fell forward into the fragrant green fields of Ravenscroft.

  “What can we do?” Lexi asked, pacing the kitchen. “I feel so ineffectual here, just waiting.”

  Leda understood. It had been two days since the Immortals had disappeared back into Ravenscroft, and Lexi in particular had found the interval jarring. Christine had filled the time with painting a new picture, but by the way she scowled at her canvas, Leda suspected it wasn’t going well.

  “You can stay out of my kitchen for one,” Pearl glowered as Lexi paced by her again. “How I can fix a meal with four moping women underfoot is beyond my ken.”

  The witches exchanged a glance and trooped out the back door, by tacit agreement moving down the short hill to the grove. Mukasa was sleeping there, in the shade, liking the place now that it had gone back to normal. Magic did linger in the grove—a crackle of life magic every once in a while made a bough burst into bloom, or a strain of music cascade through—probably left over from Mac’s spell.

  The four decided to cast a circle to calm their nerves if nothing else. Amber traced the pattern in the earth and Lexi sent flickers of flame into the air at the four corners, calling the element of fire.

  Leda loved working with other witches who not only had great magic but also true spirituality.
They each lent their strength and their innate benevolence, brushing Leda’s air magic with peace. Life magic filled the circle, subtly and softly, not with the overwhelming fire-heat of magic like the Immortals’, but the soothing and bolstering calm of connection with the Mother Goddess.

  The four witches knelt at the points of the compass, Amber taking earth and north, Leda east for air, Lexi south for fire, and Christine west for water. They each spoke a prayer to the Goddess, and then said one altogether.

  Nothing dramatic happened, but Leda felt the comfort of the Goddess enter the circle, enhanced by her air magic and the magics of the other three witches. The cradling strength in the circle was incredible—love, magic, and caring all wrapped together.

  Residue from the spell the Immortals had woven to save Tain lingered in the grove. In her meditation Leda could feel Hunter’s love for his brothers embedded there, as well as the love he’d extended to Leda.

  It was difficult for Hunter to love, she’d come to understand. He’d lost too much and suffered too much to care easily, and yet Hunter helped everyone he met. He was a giving man who wouldn’t believe Leda if she told him how giving he was.

  The quietness of the grove bound the witches together—Christine and the amazing depth of her water magic, an artistry that made her aura a splendid blue; Lexi, her aura fiery and sparkling, like her personality. Amber had a no-nonsense connection to the earth, the threads of her magic golden and white, serene in her knowledge of Adrian’s love.

  A silver light, the witches’ magic joined, wove around Leda’s body, a loving caress. It made a sound like shimmering wind chimes, and drifted away.

  Each of the witches opened her eyes and each let out a little sigh. “Did you feel that?” Amber asked. “It was wonderful.”

  Mukasa, who’d been dozing during the ritual, came abruptly alert. He raised his head then climbed to his feet with a grunt, faced the center of the grove, and growled.

  The silver light from the witches’ circle dove in a sharp arc to the middle of the clearing, and then exploded into blue and white, the impact sending Leda and the others staggering. Only Mukasa remained on his feet, his golden eyes animated.

  Four warriors burst out of the light, Adrian, Darius, Kalen, and Hunter, demigod magic swirling around them like a whirlwind. The air crackled and hummed, snakes of electricity sizzling through the clearing. Hunter’s sword flamed as he lifted it, his eyes flashing green as they had when Kali had infused him with power.

  A tendril of magic wrapped around Leda and yanked her to Hunter. She landed against his side, and Hunter’s strong, muscular arms closed around her. She began laughing despite the tears on her face, incoherent in her joy to see him again. Hunter held her close, the flame of his sword dying off, and he laid his cheek against her hair.

  “I’m back, baby. Told you I wouldn’t leave you forever.”

  Leda hugged him hard, dimly aware of the other couples greeting each other with the same fierce happiness. “Thank you,” she whispered. She clung to him a little longer then raised her head. “Where’s Tain? Did he stay in Ravenscroft? Was he healed?”

  “One thing at a time . . .”

  Hunter’s words were cut off by another explosion of sound and light, and Tain walked through a slit in the air, his face grim.

  The crack closed behind him, and the light dissolved. Snakes of power whipped once more through the clearing, sparkling and hissing, and then died away with tiny pops.

  “He’s fine,” Hunter said. “We’re leaving, sweetheart. Pack some bags—or don’t bother. We’ll pick up what we need on the way.”

  Leda stared at him. “Why? Where are we going?”

  “Anywhere, darling. Anywhere we want.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Hunter caught Leda in his arms and swung her around, squeezing her tight. “No more Calling spell, no more doing the goddesses’ bidding, just time to hang out with my girl.”

  Leda tried to catch her breath, and looked to Adrian for enlightenment. Adrian had his arms around Amber, his dark eyes holding a mixture of mirth and joy. “The goddesses have released us from our duty,” he said. “After centuries righting the world’s wrongs we, in essence, are on vacation.”

  Kalen broke in, his warm voice smooth but animated. “To have our own lives, with family.”

  Hunter grinned down at Leda. “To carry on the race of Immortals, he means. No more being loners.” He kissed Leda. “So I figure you and I can go back to your island and spend some time in the sun, sea, and sand, without much in the way of clothes.”

  Leda looked past him at Tain, who remained a little apart from the others, his red hair dappled by the sun through the trees. “Tain as well?”

  Tain heard her. “I’ve been released from my obligations,” he said in his deep but lilting voice. “But I won’t be doing any settling down soon, I think.”

  “You’re always welcome to stay here with us,” Adrian said, gesturing to Amber’s rambling house. “Anywhere I happen to be, in fact. I looked for you for a long time, Tain. I don’t want to lose you again.”

  “And I appreciate it.” Tain’s smile was grim. “But there is much I need to do, much I need to make up for.”

  “What Kehksut made you become wasn’t your fault,” Adrian said quickly.

  Tain shook his head. “Kehksut wove a spell around me, and I couldn’t break it. After a while I didn’t want to. It was easier to give in.” His eyes went dark with memories. “I shouldn’t have given in.”

  Leda felt Hunter flinch. “I for one don’t blame you,” he said to Tain. “Kehksut hurt me bad, but it wasn’t even a thousandth of what you suffered. Easier to take something that awful if you make yourself believe you like it.”

  Tain looked away, across the sun-drenched grove, where the green and yellow streamers from Beltane still danced from the branches. “I don’t understand a lot of what happened to me, but I know I caused much destruction. People died because I didn’t fight Kehksut hard enough. I did these things, not Kehksut, not the demons. Me.”

  The brothers exchanged glances but said nothing, the four men more comfortable with silence than declarations.

  “So I’ll be going.” Tain smiled, his handsome face for a moment taking on the devastating Immortal sinfulness that marked all the brothers. He gave Amber a nod. “Thank you for your hospitality.”

  “Our home is open to you any time,” Amber said.

  “Ours too,” Darius added, and Lexi nodded. “Wherever it might be.”

  Kalen made a conceding gesture at the same time his arm tightened around Christine. “My castle is yours.”

  All eyes turned expectantly to Hunter.

  “What?” Hunter demanded. “I want to be alone with my lady while I can, without the lot of you interrupting. Besides, Tain is right. He doesn’t need his concerned older brothers constantly watching him, waiting for him to become a demon-obsessed slave again. He needs time, not mother hens.”

  Tain laughed, sounding almost normal. “It’s all right, Hunter. I won’t bother you.”

  “Well,” Hunter said with a shrug. “If you do need a place to crash, the island’s nice and isolated. That is, except for the Undines. And Leda’s animals. And that assistant of hers who likes to come blundering in.”

  “Sounds like paradise,” Tain said, his smile wry. “But I need to go my own way for a while. I want to get reacquainted with myself, to find out what happened in the world all those years I was imprisoned. Starting now.”

  Before the others could say another word, Tain turned on his heel, his swords sheathed across his back, and strode off down the green. His dark jeans and black coat blended into the shadows for a moment, a beam of sunshine caught on his impossibly red hair, and then he was gone.

  Adrian took a step after him, then stopped, resigned.

  “Let him go,” Hunter said. “He’ll be all right.”

  “Yeah, maybe he will,” Adrian answered, still worried.

  Hunter grinned. �
�Of course he will be. He’s an Immortal. And maybe he’ll find himself a good witch and settle down too.” He pulled Leda close and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “The four of us can’t have gotten all the luck.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “It was sad to say good-bye,” Leda said a week later. “I was just getting to know everyone.”

  “Sad?” Hunter answered. They were readying the boat in Los Angeles, about to sail it back to Leda’s island. Despite Hunter wanting to run off from Seattle as soon as he’d returned from Ravenscroft, Leda had persuaded him they needed to take their time, pack, provision themselves, and take leave of the others.

  Hunter planted his strong bare feet on the deck and worked to untie the sails. “To go back to your tropical island, with the sun and sand and you, and no one bothering us?” he said. “Can’t say that I’m sad.”

  “How long will we . . . will you . . . stay on the island?”

  Hunter sent her a grin, but his eyes were unreadable. “Until you vote me off.”

  He leaned over to grab something on the deck, giving Leda a nice view of his fine ass molded by his jeans. Hunter was a master at turning on the charm, distracting her with sexiness, making her stop asking questions.

  Kali and the other goddesses had given Hunter a respite to be with Leda, but they’d said nothing about forever, nothing about Leda having anything but her mortal lifespan.

  She and Hunter had said their good-byes to the others before boarding Septimus’s private jet for Los Angeles—she’d had to explain to Hunter that a regular flight out of Sea-Tac would probably object to transporting a lion. Septimus had flown up on his plane not long after Kehksut had been defeated, bringing Kelly with him. He and Ricco had instantly gone into executive mode, sitting in Amber’s kitchen all night talking plans and takeovers, and conducting cell-phone conversations with who knew who.