What weighed heavily on Rowan was the news of Holly. There were too many new questions left lingering in the air. Where had Holly taken Lothar? Were they ok? What would Bain do when he saw her again? How would Bain respond to her being a vampire? Most importantly, Rowan questioned how and when to tell him. She loved her brother, but he was a hotheaded, arrogant ass sometimes, and she was sure he would storm Evan’s compound to try to beat, torture, and intimidate answers out of the vampire that she believed Evan really didn’t have.
“Rowan? Did you hear me?”
Rowan lifted her face to Cree, a sheepish smile on her face. “I am sorry; I was lost in thought.”
“What do you want to do about Bain?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I think we should keep him on the search for Mother and wait to drop the bomb about Holly… If for some reason we don’t find her and Lothar alive… I don’t want to re-break his heart over our little sister.”
Cree sighed. He understood where Rowan was coming from, but he didn’t agree with keeping Bain in the dark.
“Don’t sigh at me, Cree, there is too much going on for us lose Bain to his anger and pain.”
Cree nodded. “Fine, what’s the plan?”
“Gather the warriors; it’s time to make a plan. We have two of ours we need to bring home.”
Chapter Fourteen
Lothar held Holly close. The water was warm and still lapping against them. Holly’s breath tickled the sensitive skin of his neck just below where her little fangs had pierced his skin and she had fed upon him.
“You’re breathing,” he noted, as he reluctantly moved out of the water to the shore of the clear, beautiful lake.
He felt her lips press against his skin briefly before she sighed. “I am a strange vampire. I still have to breathe. Just not near as often as most Fae or humans for that matter.”
Lothar’s wings spread out behind him, and he lifted them towards the cave entrance. Holly split the water, allowing them easy access to the cave.
“Does that conjuring magic of yours extend to beds?”
“Ummhmm,” Holly murmured.
The back wall began to shimmer, a large bed filling the space. With four large posts and adorned with lush, white covers and lots of green-hued pillows. Lothar took long, steady step to the bed, where he gently deposited Holly on the plush bedding. She hadn’t bothered to conjure any new clothing, leaving her naked and exposed to his hungry eyes. Holly laid there, a seductive glint in her eye and a smooth smile lifting the corner of her lips.
“That smile is dangerous to my good senses.” Lothar climbed over her, his knees spreading her legs so he could find comfort cradled within her body. “Funny how humans seem to believe vampires are cold. You, my beautiful Holly, are a roaring fire, heat radiates from your smooth, sweet skin. I could stay wrapped in your warmth all day.”
Holly closed the distance between them and slanted her mouth over his. She kissed him deeply until he pulled back in need of air. “I sense a but in that previous statement. What’s the matter, Lothar?”
Lothar groaned and rolled off her. “As much as I hate to say it, I need food and you need to work on your flashing.”
She sighed and rolled over to stare down at him. “Fine, let’s go get some mangoes and have a little lunch. Maybe we can explore a little and try to figure out where we are, and then tomorrow we can try the flashing.”
Lothar tucked a honey-colored lock of hair behind her ear and smiled. “Are you stalling?”
“Maybe a little.”
“Because you don’t want to see your family?”
She nipped at his bottom lip before answering. “Partly. But this is a pretty romantic island; I think we should take advantage of it.”
Lothar growled as she kissed his neck, moved over his collarbone, and down the deep ridge that separated his eight pack of abs.
“I agree the island is romantic, but we can’t hide here.”
“One day is not hiding.” Her tongue swept around his navel before she continued lower. Lothar’s hands fisted the bedding as her tongue picked up the small bead of pre-come that glistened at the tip of his cock. “Holly…” His voice was a strained warning as her little mouth took all of him in.
Holly didn’t bother to respond with words as she suckled him softly, taking his hard flesh in and out of her mouth, teasing him with her tongue every time she pulled back.
“One day is not hiding,” he conceded as he buried his fingers in her thick curls.
****
Holly had indeed seen a mango grove. It was closer to dinner by the time they made it there. With a canvas bag she’d conjured, they filled up on mangoes and headed back towards the waterfall. The island was eerily quiet, missing the sounds that most untouched forests held.
“What’s bothering you?” Holly asked as they set the mangoes down on the small dining table.
“The island is too quiet. Did you see a single track in the grove, hear a single bird, or any creature for that matter?”
She tilted her head. Concern etched her delicate features. “I did not. Do you think it has something to do with the Fae magic you felt?”
Lothar lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know, but if we’re going to be stuck here, we should probably take the time to find out a little more about where we are.”
Holly nodded and turned to the rushing wall of water that hid them. She closed her eyes and called on her magic. The wall of water froze in front of them.
“A little added protection,” she offered as Lothar arched a brow at her.
“Perfect, let’s eat now.” Lothar grabbed a mango and turned it in his fingers; Holly held a peeler out to him and smiled.
****
“What? So you mean Lothar is missing?” Kale growled.
Uriah remained quiet, but you didn’t have to have the power to read others to see the pure concern on his face.
“And that fucking vampire won’t tell us where one of his leeches took him?” His eyes darted between Rowan and Cree. “What aren’t you telling us?” Bain was seething.
Rowan sighed. “Bain, cool your heels. The vampire that flashed out of there with Lothar is a young vampire who has yet to control the power; somehow, she ran into Lothar and they flashed away. Evan can’t locate them, but is certain that they are alive.”
“How the fuck does he know that? And, more importantly, why the hell do you believe anything that comes out of his blood-sucking mouth?”
“Stop,” Rowan hissed. “I have heard enough of your hatred.” Rowan sighed as Bain arched a brow at her. “You will continue your search for the vampires that took Mother. Uriah will help you.” She looked to Uriah, daring him to argue.
Uriah dipped his chin, erring on the side of caution and keeping his mouth shut.
“Kale, you and Katarina, if she is up for it, will be working with Lucas, getting the drifter’s refugees registered with us, while Cree handles Evan.”
The room cleared of everyone but Bain and Rowan. Bain kept a steady eye on his sister as she made her way to the door and shut it behind his retreating brothers.
“You do realize that you just shut Cree out of his own office, right?” Bain quipped.
Rowan sighed. “Yes.”
“What is wrong with you?”
“So many things…” She rubbed her temples before continuing. “Look, Bain. I love you, and in spite of your bad attitude, I always support you, but we will be working with the vampires, and I can’t deal with these outbursts. We need to work together and regardless of what you think you know about the situation with Holly, there is always more than meets the eye in situations like this.”
Bain narrowed his violet gaze on her. “What I know about the situation with Holly is what that bastard vampire told me, and since she is no longer around to explain anything to me, I will never know the rest of the story. What I do know is that while you took lead of the Light and Mother basked in the attention it provided her, I was in the Human World, search
ing for our baby sister.”
“Don’t be an ass, Bain. I mourned Holly, and I did everything I could to aid in the search for her.”
Bain blew out a deep breath. “Sorry, I know you tried.”
Rowan smiled. He was such a man-child, and he knew how to look at her and make her feel bad for chiding him, or in this case, calling him out for being a jackass.
Chapter Fifteen
“Focus, Holly.” Lothar crossed his arms over his chest, keeping a steady gaze on her.
“I am trying,” she grumbled.
Lothar arched a brow at her. “Are you really, though?”
Holly smirked at him. She had been trying, she really had. However, Lothar looked adorable scowling at her. He was trying for tough, but he was just a gorgeous distraction. They had been at this for hours now; the sun was starting its descent in the sky. Yet, it was still hot and muggy.
Trying to focus and find the magic that would carry them back to Vegas was eluding her. It hadn’t helped when Lothar had stripped off his shirt; all she could focus on then was the ripped muscles of his toned chest and stomach and the way his arms flexed as he crossed them over that muscled chest… Well, it made her care less about getting off the island and more about wanting to lick him.
“Well, I was,” she said haughtily.
Lothar chuckled and reached out, pulling her to him.
“You’re a distraction,” she murmured against his bare chest.
Lothar tipped her chin up, brushing his lips against hers softly, before dipping his tongue in her mouth to kiss her deeply. “You can do this—I know you can.”
“I don’t know how I did it last time.”
“You have to find that same emotion, that trigger, that pulled your power to the surface.”
Fear and despair had pulled at her and try as she might to find something to elicit those feelings, she just couldn’t find them and focus on the vampire compound, where she intended to send them when she finally got them off the island. Holly knew part of her was holding back. That little part of her brain that feared coming clean to her family was working against her instead of helping her to take them back. She was going to have to figure out how to reconcile her conflicting emotions and how her family fit into it.
Holly nodded. “This might take some time. So you’re not allowed to get mad at me.” She reached up and smoothed her finger over his brow, and then down along his stubble-covered jaw. “And quit scowling, you look too adorable.”
Lothar shook his head. Few had ever called him adorable.
“Adorable?”
“Yep. Adorable, sexy, handsome… there are so many ways to describe you, but when you scowl at me, you’re just adorable.” She snickered.
Lothar lifted her into his arms, pulling her legs around his waist. “Come on, we’re done for the day. It is too damn hot to stand out here any longer.”
Holly smiled. “Ocean or lake?”
“I was thinking naked in the cave.”
“Mmm, I like the way you think,” she purred.
****
“Acacia! What are you doing?” Jelena shrieked as she entered their archives. Acacia stood behind the sacred scrolls, chanting a summoning spell.
Acacia had finished the ancient words before lifting her head to meet her sister’s furious gaze. Meriah ran into the room only moments later.
“What did you do?” Jelena demanded.
“What I had to. We need to know what’s coming and how to stop it. I figure the best place to start is to see who is on the island.”
“Acacia, we are not meant to meddle. Did you not learn that lesson with Kale?”
“Who says? Why do we have access to things like this?” She slammed her palms against the scrolls that were housed in a thick, leather case. “Why would the answers that could save you be readily available if we’re not meant to use them?”
A tear slipped down Acacia’s face as she pleaded with her sisters.
Jelena sighed. “Because our wants affect the free will of our charges, don’t you see that?”
Meriah stepped in then. “Deep down, you know right and wrong, I don’t want to lose her either but these scrolls and the spells they hold, are our past, not our future. They’re learning tools, not meant to be used.”
Acacia shook her head. “It’s too late now.” She shrugged. “Right or wrong, we will have some answers soon.”
“What did you send to the island?” Jelena asked.
Acacia shook her head. “I sent nothing.”
Meriah and Jelena exchanged desperate looks.
“What’d you do?” Meriah all but whispered the question.
“I woke the island.”
“You didn’t, tell me you didn’t?” Jelena pleaded.
“It’s done,” Acacia stated flatly. “We will soon know who breached its soil.”
Meriah shook her head. She knew that the spell Acacia would have used to awaken the Fates Island would connect her to the creatures that would now stalk the lands in search of what did not belong. The real question was—what would they do when they found what they were searching for?
“This will not end well. You know not what you’ve done,” Jelena said, turning from her sisters as she walked out. She didn’t stop when Acacia called out to her.
“Where are you going?”
She was returning to the one person she knew could ease the fear that rippled through her. Uriah.
****
Uriah sat in his room. Discarding his shirt, he then pulled his boots off. He and Bain had scoured the woods around Bain’s childhood home. There was nothing to find and something told him Rowan knew that. He had a deep suspicion that she was trying to keep Bain preoccupied. That meant he was back in the game, following the pissed-off warrior. They had all gotten so used to the happy Bain, thanks to Izzy, but since the vampires stepped in, and Rowan shut him down on his concerns about trusting them, he was a growling, irritable bastard again. Uriah chuckled to himself as he sort of missed that version of Bain… scratch that. He thought he’d missed it.
“What’s put that smile on your face?” Jelena materialized from the shadows, leaving Uriah to wonder how long she’d been there.
“Just reminiscing. I didn’t expect to see you so soon. What happened before? I was sure that was a good-bye.”
She shook her head as she moved to stand in front of him. Her hands reached out to cup his face. “Things are complicated.”
“They always have been. Especially for us.”
She smiled. “Us,” she whispered. “Tell me what is happening around here.”
“Okay, well Lothar and Esperanza are both missing.”
She titled her head at him. “I didn’t know. Are you okay?”
“I think so, Lothar is a capable warrior.”
She nodded. “Yes, he is.” She smiled softly. “You all are—I have enjoyed being a small part of your lives,”
“You’re more than a small part. You are what keeps us alive.”
“I wish I could be sure that I will always be around to continue to keep you safe.”
“What’s wrong, Jelena? Something has put worry all over your beautiful face.”
“You think I am beautiful?”
Uriah laughed, placing his hands over hers. “You know I do.”
“Good. Because it’s my turn to break the rules.” She moved to straddle his lap, bringing her lips to meet his in a needy kiss.
“Jelena?”
“Do you not want this? Do you not want me?”
Uriah shook his head. “You’re all I’ve ever wanted. For centuries I have dreamt of kissing you. But something is wrong. Talk to me.”
She smiled softly. “I never understood what is was… what I felt… and I know now. That if there were some way, I would always choose you. So please, Uriah. Don’t stop this,” she said, cutting off any further concern he had over her actions.
Jelena’s hands shook as she moved them down his bare chest to the waistband of his jea
ns. With her mind set on having just one pure moment of love with him, she worked open his button and carefully slid down his zipper.
Uriah groaned into her mouth as she found his hardening flesh and grasped him carefully.
For all her years of living and ruling the Underworld, she had remained chaste, and still her body’s need drove her forward. Fear be damned! It had no place in this moment. Uriah stood, keeping her wrapped in his arms. His pants fell to the floor as he sat down gently on his bed. Pulling at the deep, red tie of her flowing, white gown, it fell open around her to reveal perfect, pale skin. Uriah licked his lips as he looked at every curve of the woman he had craved for so many years. Goose bumps began to pop up on her soft skin. Uriah lifted his gaze to hers. Her beautiful face was framed with her black hair fanning out around her.
“You’re cold.” He moved to lie next to her and kissed her gently as he pulled the cover over them.
She sighed as her hand ran down his side.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She shook her head. “I’ve wanted this for far too long. Please don’t make me wait any longer.”
Uriah smiled as he moved between her thighs and settled his elbows on either side of her head. He kissed her, harder this time, as he rubbed his cock gently against her now-glistening silk folds. With one swift thrust, he slid deep inside of her. She whimpered and he stilled, allowing her to adjust to the pressure that filled her warm sheath. With a soft kiss, she began rolling her hips slowly. Uriah moved deeply inside of her, pulling back he locked his gaze with her beautiful, pale jade eyes as he made love to his Immortal.
Chapter Sixteen
The island erupted, the earth shaking beneath them as they lay curled in bed. The walls crumbled as rock and dust filled the air.
“What is that?” Holly yelled over the roar around them. Lothar hoisted her into his arms, sprinting for the wall of water, turning so his back broke through the thin layer of ice Holly had conjured and he took the brunt of the punishing stream of water beyond. His wings opened in time to lift them from the fast-approaching ground. Holly wrapped her arms around him as he lifted them into the air.
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