“Leave it, Hame.”
Carn slipped around him and out of the bedroom, but Hame snared his arm. “You can’t walk away from this. You disappear to stalk another man, and I deserve to know why.”
“You want a reward for your snooping? For your prying?” Carn hissed.
“You of all people know what the prophecies bring, and you dare say I’m nothing but a nosey fishwife?”
“You’re certainly screeching like one.”
Hame balled his hands to stop them ripping through Carn’s hard shell. “Tell me who Peter is!”
“He’s my son.”
A sucking hole opened in Hame’s chest. “Your…your son? What do you mean? Since when…what?”
“Peter is my son.”
“You say that like it’s some kind of answer. When did you have a son? Who with?”
“It was a mistake.”
“No, a mistake is using salt instead of sugar. This is a major fuck-up.”
“I’m not talking about this.”
“You are.” He shoved him against the wall. “Tell me.”
Carn’s eyes searched his, darting around before locking dead on center. Hame’s mind tingled under the scrutiny, and they were frozen together for one second. Carn’s shoulders relaxed for a moment before they rose up again. Tensed once more, he spoke.
“I’m sure you can figure it out.”
“I want to hear it from your lips.”
“Fine. Thirty years ago, I fucked a woman, and she gave birth to Peter. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to lose you.”
He blinked, picturing Carn with her. The image drowned in scarlet. “Then you shouldn’t have fucked someone else. And now you have a son? And what? He calls you dad?”
“He doesn’t know who I am,” he said, scratches in his voice.
“Then why visit him?”
“Because it’s nice to know I’ve done something good in this world, something that has a place in it.”
Hame’s heart seized at the rawness in Carn’s voice. “You have a place. We have a place.”
“No, we don’t. We exist beside the world; we’re not part of it. We became immortal and that severed us from everything. I wanted to live through him a little.”
“Then you should have told me. Why keep him a secret?”
Carn bit hard on his bottom lip and studied him before his voice came out flat. “Because I was frightened you’d leave me.”
“You should have trusted me. You owed me that.”
“It happened one stupid night when I went searching for something to make me feel. Then time went by and it was fine but…I saw her again and there he was.” He shrugged; his eyes unreadable.
God. When did I stop being able to read Carn?
“I thought I could forget him.”
“Is that where you were? Watching Peter?”
His eyes fluttered closed and his breath came out forced. “I have nothing else in my life except him and you.”
“What makes you think I still want you?” His voice caught, and he clenched his jaw. Pieces of his heart splintered into the storm.
“I have to believe that,” Carn begged. “Because even with this distance between us, even considering what I’ve done, you’re the reason I’m still here. You’re the reason I’ve survived.”
Carn took Hame’s hand, and the block on his visions crumbled.
X
“Which do you want first: the good news or the bad news?”
From Zoe’s expression, Aurelia doubted she wanted to hear any of it.
“Just tell me.” Worrying about Hame had burned up all her patience. Even so, she’d welcomed the siblings’ summons as it got her out of the mountain. The tunnels had never helped her escape her thoughts.
The brother and sister lived in a three-bedroom apartment overflowing with electronics, hard drives, wires and all the other paraphernalia of the twenty-first century she loathed. So now she added annoyance of flashing lights and whirring fans cooling god-knows-what to her troubles. She should have met them in the pub.
Zoe frowned. “Are you okay?”
“It’s nothing. What did you find?”
The sister folded her arms, raised an eyebrow. She leant back in her ergonomic chair. Waiting.
“I don’t have time for this.” Aurelia turning to Zach sitting opposite her.
He hesitated, perhaps considering who’d berate him more. His eyes darted between them, then he closed his mouth. Apparently, Zoe was the bigger bitch.
She rolled her eyes. “Fine! I’m fine. I’m better than ever. Now will you please get on with it?”
“Liar,” Zoe said. “Anyway, the witch Carn visited a little while ago, his name is Roland. We met him.”
Aurelia’s nostrils flared. “You had no idea what you were walking into,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Carn hadn’t returned,” she continued unperturbed. “No one of interest had approached Roland since that first meeting. It was an acceptable risk.”
She nearly told them how stupid and reckless they’d been, but Zoe held up her hand.
“Please save the yelling for later. The good news is he’s still only a moderate-level witch.”
“And the bad news?”
“Carn definitely wasn’t working on our behalf.”
Her heart kicked inside her chest. “I have to warn Hame.”
I’ve left him in danger.
Zach asked her something, but she didn’t hear him.
“Aurelia!” he barked. “Don’t you want to know about Roland?”
She sighed. Hame would have to wait a little longer. “Why is he still alive? If he said no to Xadrak, he’d be dead.”
“He’s smooth,” Zoe said, with a slight curve of her lips. “He bargained for more time to consider the offer.”
“Or he wants you to think he did. He could already be part of Xadrak’s horde.” She wasn’t about to let some silver-tongued Englishman hoodwink her, not after Carn had done that so spectacularly.
“We’ve checked him. He’s clean,” the brother said.
“That doesn’t mean anything now. If Carn belongs to Xadrak, he’s discovered a way to mask the infection.” Maybe he’d worked for the demon from before he’d come to her. No other witch she’d encountered smelled of violets. What if that had been the sign he was not who he seemed?
No, she would have known back then. She’d scoured him deeply in search of the taint. Carn hadn’t turned bad until later. But when? And why?
“Gabriela helped,” Zach said.
The petite Spanish witch had an amazing ability for getting the truth out of people, a skill that made Aurelia uneasy when she was around.
“She says he hasn’t fallen to Xadrak. And that he’s frightened.”
“He confirmed the same to us.”
“Obviously.” Sarcasm dripping from her tongue.
Zoe’s lips thinned. “We’ve done everything we can to ensure he’s not tainted. Trust us.”
But trust was harder to find than meat in wartime. She couldn’t even trust her own judgement. She’d thought she had Carn all figured out, the power-hungry bastard with his eye on her Hame. She had treated him tough so he’d see no reason to stick around. But Hame hadn’t shared her contempt. He’d wanted the man in his bed. He’d also told her to trust him, to treat him right. Is that why Carn had gone bad?
What’s done is done.
Carn made his choice and he’d be held to account for it.
But Zach and Zoe…they were hers through and through. She’d found them. She’d encouraged them and taught them, as she had the others. She’d created her coven. Perhaps there didn’t have to be the rift between her and Carn, and she could have mended it years ago. But instead she sought to absolve her guilt by doing whatever she could for her followers. And, dare she think it, they had become her friends as well.
“I trust you,” she forced out. “I’m sorry for not showing greater faith.” Zoe looked as if she was about to hug her, so Aurelia
hurried on. “Will he aid us?”
Zach smiled knowingly. “He will. For a price.”
“I wouldn’t have expected anything else. Where is he now?”
“We have him. He’s ready.”
“Good. Train him as quickly as you can, because I have a feeling we’re going to need everyone ready for battle sooner than we think.”
“Especially once Carn realizes we have Roland,” Zach said.
Fingers squirmed in her gut, twisting and pinching. She fidgeted in her seat, but the movement did little to ease her worry. Carn could come for him at any moment, then he’d know they’d interceded. Putting Roland back was too dangerous, even with full power and training; Carn was too skilled, too strong—perhaps stronger than she knew.
Events were moving faster than she liked with too much left unknown. They still didn’t have the key, and while she now knew Carn served Xadrak, she didn’t know anything about his plans.
Except that they have something to do with Peter.
“On second thoughts, give Roland’s training to one of the others,” Aurelia said. “I need your help with something else.”
XI
Hame’s head pounded with the clamoring inside his skull. His vision blurred, and his stomach pitched. Knees buckling, he collapsed, but Carn caught him.
He trembled in Carn’s arms. Prophecies amassed beyond his crumbling walls, ready to launch on his meagre defenses. What would be left of him once they broke through?
Carn carried him into their room and lay him onto the bed. Was he being left alone? He clutched Carn’s hand, and Carn squeezed back, grounding him. The balance between his mind and body levelled, helped by the mattress’s soft firmness and the pillow’s gentle cradling. But the most effective thing of all was Carn’s warm, fierce hold.
Pain seared through Hame’s mind like a burning arrow fired across the sky. Somewhere he heard a warning that it was not wise to stay, but he lacked the strength to comply. He tumbled into darkness.
The next morning, he woke beneath the covers. The sickness had faded, but he sat up slowly in case the pain hadn’t withdrawn completely.
Carn wasn’t next to him, but the sheets on his side of the bed were rumpled. He touched them. Was he watching Peter? Was he on one of Xadrak’s errands?
“Do you feel better?”
Hame’s head whipped to the doorway where Carn stood dressed in jeans and a navy blue T-shirt. He didn’t smile, just looked as if he awaited further instructions.
There was still a lot they had to talk about, but the hard look in Carn’s eye had gone, and Hame didn’t have it in him to again bash his head against the past. Not when the borders of his mind were so permeable. Still, he couldn’t smile and beckon him nearer. And he had work to do.
“Yes. Thank you.” He returned the same neutral expression.
He threw off the covers and walked into the bathroom to shower. As he washed, he prepared himself like a priest cleansing before a holy ceremony. Expectation hummed within him, awakening his power.
He shut off the water, dried himself, and returned to the bedroom. Carn had gone. Hame put on a pair of cotton pants and a white singlet. His sanctuary beckoned, summoning him across the house and to the door.
“If you’re going out there, you should put on more than that,” Carn said behind him.
He stopped short as the back of his neck tingled beneath Carn’s watchfulness. There was no mocking tone; instead a concern that purred against him.
You lied to me.
“I’ll be fine.” He opened the door onto the forest skirted with mist. Shivers rippled through the soles of his bare feet.
“At least take this with you,” Carn said.
Hame looked over his shoulder and Carn held out an orange and brown blanket. Slowly he accepted it, but when he caught the little lift at the corner of Carn’s mouth, he hurried outside.
The call insisted now, and he was only too relieved to comply. This was his final chance to see as an oracle was meant to see. If he refused, that was it. He really would go blind.
Cold earth and damp air chilled his legs and spine, and he was grateful for the blanket he wrapped around his shoulders. He bolted through the fog, down the path and into the circle of stones. He tumbled into his seat beneath the dolmen, but he didn’t have time to properly settle himself. The visions pounded on the gate. They breeched the walls, and an endless horde surged forward, trampling him beneath their assault.
When Hame resurfaced, an orange glow smeared the horizon. The visions had held him captive until he knew and experienced everything. Only when they were finished was he released. The dying light turned the ferns and tree trunks black. The quiet echoed.
Cold seeped through the blanket and pulled his skin taut. He pushed both hands through his hair, scraping his fingers across his scalp. He stared into the forest. He’d been shown so many things, some as clear as if they’d been X-rayed, others as opaque as ink.
A rustle of leaves turned his head, and a shadow rose. He was pleased he had a guardian, even if that guardian was going to hurt him.
Not yet. He won’t harm me yet.
He stretched his arms above his head, and the blanket fell. He leaned forward, easing his body’s stiffness. He jiggled his legs and cut off the rush of pins and needles. All the while he felt Carn watching.
“How long have you been there?” He arched his back. His spine cracked, releasing a flood of satisfaction.
“Long enough to worry you’d never return,” Carn said quietly.
He smiled. Remembered visions flashed. He sucked air through his teeth and pressed his hand against his temple.
“What did you see?” Carn asked, nearer this time.
When Hame opened his eyes, his lover was almost inside the stone circle. He wished Carn could take those final few steps.
“Nothing.” His knees popped as he stood, and he walked stiffly past Carn.
“You’re lying.” Carn’s voice slithered out of the darkness.
Hame stopped. He still couldn’t see Carn’s eyes, but he had seen Carn’s deal with Xadrak: his servitude in exchange for Hame’s safety. But the act hadn’t been as selfless as Carn wanted to believe.
“I saw us.”
Carn stepped close enough for his body heat to spread across Hame’s chest. “What happens?”
He couldn’t give an answer, not one that would do any good. If he told the truth now, there would be no hope for them or anyone. Xadrak would win. He held on to the pieces of himself that had splintered through Carn’s deceptions—Peter the biggest shard of all. He gripped it, drawing blood. He would hold his tongue, but even as he winced from the hurt, it wasn’t enough to subdue the churning need in his ribcage to hold Carn for what could be the last time.
He closed the gap between them, his chest pressing against Carn’s. His hand slid up the side of his lover’s face. Carn jerked back.
Don’t leave.
If he left now, that would be the end of them. But Carn leaned into him, hands coming up to Hame’s face, and he guided him to his lips.
They barely touched, but after meeting no resistance, Hame pressed harder, and that old hunger broke like a thunderstorm over a desert. His heart thrummed, ripples shooting along the surface of his skin. His hands gripped Carn’s hips, and he moaned into his lover’s mouth as a blaze ignited in his groin. Carn’s lips broke from his but then they were on his neck, sucking hard enough to mark.
Gripping Carn’s hair, Hame tugged it, provoking a feral groan, then he wrenched harder to break the suction. Hame gasped as he was let go, the air tickling his wet skin, and pulled Carn up the path to the house. He tried to slow at the door, but Carn rammed him from behind. They stumbled through as the door opened and they rushed into the bedroom. Hame’s body burned as they fell onto the mattress, the blond giant pinning him, eyes wild, mouth ready to bite.
This is worth saving.
They ripped the clothes from each other. The sight of Carn’s naked chiseled bod
y made his cock throb painfully and the fire swirled low down in the pit of his stomach. Hame’s fingertips scraped down Carn’s chest, over hard nipples, and down his stomach. He curled his hand around Carn’s erection. Held in his palm, he gently moved his hand up and down, the feel of it hard and silken. Carn’s back arched and his eyelids fluttered.
Hame studied as much of Carn as he could see, banking every memory of his lover’s body: Carn’s locks the color of late-harvest wheat, the curve of his chest with its dusting of hair, his nipples firm in the middle of large, dark areola—all part of the man he hoped to rescue.
Down his gaze roamed, stuttering over the uneven alignment of his abs, the V along his groin, and the familiar sight of his shaft. Before the night was done, he’d trace his fingers over the triangle of moles on his back, but now, as the slickness of Carn’s arousal wet his wrist, his need to feel Carn inside him howled.
He raised his hips so Carn could enter. Eyes of blue slate locked onto his, and he found his way with certain aim. They had always been good at this. They had always fit. And as Carn pierced him he cried out and squeezed his eyes against tears that weren’t for pain.
This had never hurt; not with Carn.
Instead it was a spear through them both, staking them together until they either survived or tore each other apart.
XII
A claw wrapped around Carn’s throat, cutting off his breath. Gasping, he struggled against the phantom, but there was nothing to fight, only an endless crushing black. He woke when the last bit of air had been torn from his lungs. His chest expanded, grateful for the ability to breathe, but the grip on his windpipe lingered. Looking at Hame’s sleeping body, it tightened again, urging him to commit such a heinous act that it forced him from the bed. He grabbed his clothes and scurried out of the room.
Fog covered everything outside the windows. Carn dressed, vanished, and hurtled through the ether, unsure of where he wanted to go but knowing it had to be far and quiet and open. Xadrak tugged inside him, a summons he normally wouldn’t ignore, but right now he was too fragile to answer.
Burning Blood: Bonds of Blood: Book 2 Page 22
