Elijah: The Nightwalkers

by Jacquelyn Frank

  “Ruth! I will rip her head off right here and now, I swear it!” Elijah barked meanly into the night air. “End this! Meet your fate like the warrior you once were!”

  Ruth materialized once more, this time with such violence that several of her compatriots were blown back off their feet. Elijah was instantly on edge when he realized the traitor had appeared right behind Siena. He needn’t have worried. Siena had apparently been prepared for just such a tactic. She was a blur of golden fur as she whirled around with amazing speed. Ruth reacted, throwing out her arms as she tried to leap back. But Siena was faster, her reflexes honed as true as her targeting abilities. The Werecat’s claws ripped through the front of Ruth’s dress, scoring through chiffon and flesh.

  The Elder Mind Demon screamed in pain, staggering back, her eyes wide with sudden fear as the Werecat snarled and crouched, black and gold pupils narrowing on her as if she were going to be the cat’s next meal. Her senses became aware of the Enforcers approaching, that the ranks of her camp were dwindling down to nothing, and that if she stayed and fought for her daughter a moment longer, she was very likely going to be captured as well. The last thing in the world she wanted was to come under the retribution of the Enforcers and the King. If she were captured, she would no doubt die for her crimes.

  In a last desperate attempt to save her child, Ruth tried to think of a way to help Mary escape a similar fate. She had only a heartbeat to come to a solution before she would find herself under the pounce of the cat and her rending claws. With desperation, Ruth stole a digging pole with a metal-tipped spike that a hunter was using some distance away as a speared projectile against Gideon. It reappeared mid-flight, heading straight for Elijah and her daughter, who protected his chest. But Mary was just small enough against the giant so that her shoulder was sitting just below the span of ribs that covered the Warrior Captain’s heart.

  The projectile was too unexpected and moving too fast even for Elijah to react. But Siena had already begun to fly at this Demon bitch who had caused her so much pain. Without realizing Ruth had launched a last, lethal attack at her mate, she leapt onto the Demon woman with a bone-chilling scream. Startled, Ruth fell back with fear, her full attention forced to pay focus to that horrible, animalistic war cry. It was only her centuries of reflexive training as a warrior that made her scramble in the right direction to avoid the claws aiming to disembowel her with a single stroke.

  Too late, Ruth realized she had lost control of the spear she had aimed at Elijah’s heart. Scrambling again to avoid Siena’s deadly accurate pounce, she whirled to check if she had freed her daughter from the giant’s throttling hold.

  For a moment, empowering delight surged through Ruth as she saw the warrior kneeling, hunched over in the long grass. In the next second, however, he turned to face her and his mate, shock and pain written over his expression. Ruth’s eyes moved down, and her entire world exploded into agony and rage. Cradled in the blond giant’s arms was her daughter, speared through her heart by the weapon Ruth had intended for the Warrior Captain.

  Ruth’s vision went black and then red, the inconceivable picture and understanding of it echoing through her unbalanced mind with maddening persistence. With it came the calm and clarity only insanity could provide in such a moment. She turned reddened eyes of hatred onto the Werecat before her and snarled low in her throat.

  “This is not over,” she hissed to Siena. “You will all pay for my child with your own. You have my curse on that! All of you!”

  Then Ruth teleported away with one last violent withdrawal, leaving for good now that there was no longer anything to keep her there. With the Demon traitor’s chill words still ringing in her ears, Siena turned to look back at Elijah. Only then did she realize how serious a threat it was that Ruth had just made.

  Mary was dead.

  And Ruth had promised to see to it that they paid for it with the blood of their own children.

  CHAPTER 19

  The wind that swirled onto the balcony outside the library of the solitary log cabin solidified in the coming dawn into the forms of the Queen and the warrior. They were already wrapped securely around each other, almost as if supporting each other. They were worn out both mentally and physically, so they were probably doing exactly that. Elijah moved first, reaching to touch his warm, firm lips to the recently knitted cut slashing across her golden brow.

  “I look forward to the time when Gideon will actually be able to assist your people in healing,” he said softly against her skin, his heart clearly in the desire. He hated to see her harmed even in the slightest. It would take him a great deal of time to forget the sight of her, blistered and broken in her sickbed.

  “Shh…” Siena soothed him on a soft breath, her mouth drifting to his throat. “I am in your mind, warrior.” It was as much a scolding as it was a reminder. She was not accustomed to being worried over any more than he was. “Gideon is quite brilliant. I have no doubts that he will find his way into our chemistry. Meanwhile, this will heal rapidly enough on its own.”

  She lifted her head from his and looked around slowly, taking in the lightening darkness that surrounded them. The entire night was gone, though it had only been a few hours since they had risen for battle. Elijah had swept them through numerous time zones, following the curve of darkness until they had come there, where dawn was breaking.

  “This is not Lycanthrope territory,” she remarked, looking at the sprawling, treeless prairie and the moat of long grasses blowing in the natural breeze. Autumn was just beginning in this place. The first snows were due any moment in her home province.

  “Exactly,” Elijah murmured, pressing warm lips into her hair as he drew her closer. “No castle. No guards. No ambassadors, Counselors, or Generals…”

  “No night,” she pointed out dryly.

  “No problem,” he countered with a chuckle. “Trust me. My point is that there are no enemies, no threats, and most of all no immediate worries that cannot wait for a few hours.”

  “That is an impossibility to achieve with that insane creature roaming the planet,” she sighed in sad response.

  “Until we know exactly where she has run off to, it is momentarily out of our hands. Only Jacob and Isabella have a hope of finding out where she has gone. She has gotten too good at covering her tracks for it to be left to the skills of a warrior, no matter my power. The Enforcer was born with the innate ability to track his own. He will find her. She is cursed and blackened, mutated and poisoned, but she is still a Demon.” Elijah sighed, closing his eyes as the dawn breeze brought the scent of earth and grass around them. “She will hide, will make it damn near impossible, but I have unfailing faith in Jacob. Meanwhile, kitten, we can’t live our lives only to hunt and battle her. It would give her a victory the extent of which even she could not imagine.”

  Siena shuddered softly, reaching to wrap her slender hands around his thickly muscled biceps, her thumb stroking the band that bound him to her.

  “When I think of how close you came to being killed…”

  “Never. I am faster and stronger than her tricks, kitten. I was nothing but air by the time the weapon struck Mary. I only wish I’d had the time and strength to protect her as well, but with the wound on my arm…” He sighed softly as her gentle fingers traced that healing blade mark beneath her hand. “There is a part of me that will forgive Mary for what she did under the sway of her love for her parent.”

  “I never will,” Siena insisted hotly, blinking the burn in her eyes away as she rested her cheek over his heart. “Defying your parent for what you believe is right is a hard choice, but a choice you must make if you face it. I was not much older than Mary when I made that choice. I even accepted the realization that one day my father would have to die, that he must die, if what was right was to ever come to fruition.” She looked up when he tensed beneath her touch. “It is the cycle of life on this Earth that the young shall inherit their place upon it in the wake of their parents’ deaths. Every living
creature, animal or humanoid, fulfills this perpetual destiny. You know this,” she insisted intensely, her voice falling to a hoarse whisper.

  “I know this,” he agreed quietly. “But for intelligent species, being a part of this cycle in so direct a manner does not come easy.”

  “It shouldn’t. I would hope it never does for either of us.”

  Siena lifted her head and, breathing deep of the wind, took in all the alien scents of this part of North America that she had never been to.

  “I have traveled so little in my lifetime,” she noted, taking another deep breath, scenting everything from flora to fauna. “I am always amazed that the air itself can smell so different just by changing location.”

  “Yes. It is a remarkable phenomenon. Somewhat like you and I, and this bonding we are sharing. Unique, yet simplistic in its makeup.”

  “Mmm,” she agreed. Then she stepped back from him with a smile. “The sun is creeping up on us. Don’t you think it is time you showed me your home?”

  “The tour,” he said with a low, mischievous chuckle, reaching to sweep her off her feet and into his arms as he kicked open the library doors and crossed the threshold with her, “can wait until later. I have other plans that will require you to become familiar with only one room of this house.”

  “The bedroom?”

  “The bedroom,” he agreed, making her laugh that sexy, robust laugh that he loved so much. He instantly felt the fire of need for her burning the surfaces of his skin, sparked by that throaty, decadent laugh.

  “Did it never occur to you that, after defeating an archenemy and routing out a forest full of necromancers, I might be a little too tired for the kind of plans you have?”

  “It had,” he said with a silly grin as he strode across the upper landing and into the master suite, “but you are too much like me, Siena. After the heat of battle, the heat of passion is the first thing you crave. Besides, I was promised a game of connect the dots, and I intend to collect.”

  “I would not be much of a Queen if I began reneging on my promises,” she mused agreeably.

  “You don’t have it in you to go back on your word, kitten,” he said with a grin as he dropped her legs and let her slide down his broad body very slowly, allowing himself the well-earned luxury of the feel of her.

  Siena responded instantly to the sensation of his rock-hard muscles against her own suppleness as they contacted her sliding body everywhere. Taking a deep breath, she released it in a slow purr of pleasure as she cuddled sexily against him. She burrowed a cheek into his shoulder, absorbing with every last molecule she owned the awareness of his hands rubbing over her back.

  “So this is what it is like to be truly alone,” she murmured contentedly.

  “You are not alone,” he reminded her softly.

  “No, but we are.”

  “We were alone at Jinaeri’s.”

  “Time we wasted,” she retorted, lifting her head to look into his eyes.

  “Black,” he said.

  “What?” she asked.

  “You are supposed to say ‘white,’” he told her in a conspiratorial whisper. “I could swear you live for the thrill of contradicting me.”

  Siena laughed, his humor delighting her so much that she wrapped strong arms around his neck and found his mouth with firm, insistent lips. She wooed him with silky, skillful kisses. The assertive sweep of her tongue teasing his into play captivated him completely. When she finally released him, he was breathless and warm beneath her seeking fingertips. The Queen spread eager palms over the expanse of the broad chest that was rising and falling so quickly.

  “I love to feel you breathe,” she whispered, closing her eyes and allowing her face to reflect her honest pleasure at the sensation, the sound, and the very essence of his life moving in and out of his body. Her passion for so simple a function stirred him all the deeper.

  “Siena,” he exhaled, closing his eyes as her seeking hands swept slowly over him.

  “Back at the Ancient’s home, when I saw Gideon and felt that he was dead, all I could think about was that if something could kill such a great being…what chance could you possibly have against it? I was certain I would never feel you breathe again,” she said, her voice vibrating with the gentle rasp of remembered fear, the tightening touch of her hands on his moving chest clearly the only thing keeping that emotion at bay and in the past where it belonged.

  “Siena…” he hushed gently, cradling the back of her head with both hands, interlacing his fingers through her hair as he looked into her golden eyes.

  “You promised me, Elijah, that when I was well and when our enemies were defeated, I could speak aloud what I feel.”

  He watched her blink quickly, trying to discard the dampness in her eyes. He reached out with his thumbs to touch the soft corners of her golden lashes, making ready to catch any tear that dared to escape his vigilance. His heart tightened with her emotion and it flooded through him, radiating like sunlight and moonlight.

  “Siena, before you say anything I need to ask you something.”

  “Yes. I know. You have been thinking hard about something you have been concerned will disturb me. I felt it the entire time we traveled here.”

  “I have to get used to your perception of my thoughts,” he said regretfully. “Forgive me, I was not trying to be deceptive.”

  “I know that,” she insisted. “You were doing what any wise person would. You were thinking through your thoughts before voicing them. Although I must tell you that whatever it is, I do not believe it warrants so much of your concern. I am not as unreasonable as you think I am.”

  “You promise to hear me out?”

  “Always,” she assured him.

  “Very well.” He began to speak, his cadence quick and clipped, the efficiency of a distasteful task but one that must be completed. “In light of today’s events and all the danger I believe we are going to be facing, I must ask you to temporarily release me from my promise to resign my post with Noah. This situation is going to become much more volatile before it is resolved. As of now, there is no one I trust to replace me who will garner the respect and the power that I do with Noah’s forces. Noah is a great leader, but he is more of a scholar than he is warrior. As formidable as he is in battle, it is not where his talents or his energies are best spent. He relies on me heavily to manage matters of security and defense, and I believe that if I leave, it will prove to be an advantage to this renegade we seek. I would sooner sleep in an iron coffin than give Ruth such power.”

  “Elijah,” Siena whispered softly, reaching to frame his face with warm, long-fingered hands. “If you serve Noah, you still serve me. If you recall, I never asked you to resign your commission. You made the offer as a gesture, and I was honored by it. Just knowing that you would have made such an astounding commitment to those who don’t even know or accept you yet is enough to impress on me the seriousness of your need to be a part of my life and my people’s lives. That feeling will not change. Besides, you were meant to be who you are, in the position you are in, just as I am. I would no more want you to resign it than I would want you to ask me to resign as Queen.

  “We will manage,” she assured him. “We will muddle through with patience and as much refusal of bias and petty behaviors as we possibly can. And you are right; it is no time for extravagant changes. There will be enough adjustments as it is. Live with me, love with me. All else do as you deem necessary. Besides,” she smiled, “I feel that I will be spending great amounts of time between the courts, just as I think Noah will feel compelled to do. As leaders, we must set the example for the others who will be watching us for guidance on how to discard the old scars and prejudices of the past.”

  “Watching longtime enemies come together in a joined effort will have an interesting impact. I believe your next overture might be best served in Damien’s direction. He has been habitually solitary of other Nightwalkers for as long as I have heard of him, but of late he has come among us of h
is own design. He showed a singular concern for your life that I, personally, will always be grateful for.”

  “Elijah, I do not wish to talk about state matters all day long. Why do I have the sensation that you are avoiding what I wish to discuss with you?”

  The warrior released his hold on her face, stepping back with a telling awkwardness. He turned and studied the artistically stained glass windows that were so popular with his people, surrounding the entire bedroom in their many casements. The soft-colored light was a great pleasure to sleep under, allowing just enough lethargy to make Demons sleepy and relaxed without overwhelming them and dragging them down into a state that made it impossible for them to protect themselves in the event of an attack or emergency.

  Still, he realized as he looked at Siena over his shoulder, even that soft light would be harmful to her. And if he was using it as a reason to continue to avoid his emotions of the moment, then so be it. Siena was aware of his thoughts but was also aware he was using his concerns over the sunlight like a shield, preventing himself and her from seeing what had suddenly disturbed his peace of mind. She watched him with steady, neutral thoughts, though, as he closed his eyes and stirred up scudding clouds. She smiled as the darkness of them drifted over the house.

  “Are you going to maintain cloud cover the entire day?”

  “No.” He smiled slightly. “I am not able to continue to focus my power even in my sleep. I think maybe Gideon and Noah would be the only ones who wouldn’t surprise me if they could do that.”

  She was about to ask what his plan was, but the cloud cover suddenly split apart, pouring out a sudden rain shower of impressive weight. He turned toward her slightly and grinned, wiggling an egotistical brow of mischief.