by S. E. Smith
Aron would have to avenge them both.
A blinding light cracked through the room like bottled lightning set free in too small a space. From the light and sound a woman emerged.
Aron blinked, sure his eyes played tricks on him. Eli backed away, then bolted faster than Aron’s weary eyes could follow. Judgment day had arrived at last. An Angel’s Fire had found him.
The Immortal female was petite by human standards, by Itaran’s she was nearly child sized. White-gold hair flowed down her back and crackled around her head like an aura or a halo. Her face was delicate and beautiful, the long blue gown she wore more summer robe than formal dress.
Where were the trappings of her station? Where were her rings? Her staff? The seal of the Queen? Where was her escort? Her Guard?
Regardless of her strange choice of dress, Aron sank to one knee and bowed his head. A lot could change in women’s fashion in eight centuries. He did not need to see the Queen’s insignia on her clothing to know what she was.
“Angelus Mortis.” He did not need to know her name. She was one of the first circle, the House of Judgment, blood relative to the Mater Mortis, to the Queen herself. She was also one of the few living creatures that could kill the Triscani without succumbing to their evil. The Angel’s Fire literally disintegrated personal energy fields on a subatomic level, breaking them apart into trillions of particles that were absorbed into the fields of energy all around them. Ashes to ashes took on a whole new meaning.
This female was death incarnate, and deliverer of justice for all Itarans, Triscani, Triad or those wandering the home world.
“Stop it, Aron. Get up. Let me see her before it’s too late.” The female knelt on the cold floor and pointed to the empty space before her. “Place her here, so I can have a look.”
Confused, Aron lay his precious cargo at the woman’s feet. She didn’t speak like the Angels of his mother’s memories. Based on what his mother had taught him, the Immortal females from the House of Judgment didn’t heal mortals, or speak to them, or kneel.
Ever.
“Who are you?” Aron knelt opposite her and took Zoey’s black hand in his own.
“They call me Celestina now, though that is not my true name.” She knelt over Zoey and looked into her unseeing eyes. “Damn it. She’s worse than I thought.”
“Can you save her?” He had nothing left, no heart, no soul, and no pride, not if Zoey were gone. He’d beg to join her. This woman could end his torment with one blast of her fire.
“No. But I know someone who can.” Celestina dug in Zoey’s vest pocket and pulled out a small stone.
“That’s how you found us? But how…?”
Celestina stood and pulled another stone from her pocket. “I’m a Seer and I know Doctor Hansen.” She put the stones together over her heart. “I had three days’ warning, but bad timing. It’s harder to get over here than I thought.”
Three days? She’d known of Zoey’s death for three days! A growl of anger erupted, but she waved him off.
“Hush, Aron. She’s not going to die. I’m sorry, but I needed them to capture Zoey so I could track Eli back to his master.” She held the stones tightly, but they glowed through the flesh of her closed fist, blue and gold. “They killed him, you know. The Doctor.”
“That is what Eli claimed.”
Celestina’s shoulders sagged and she wiped away a tear. “I didn’t see that. Damn it, anyway. I put the stone in Zoey’s clothes and gave the Doctor specific instructions. That wasn’t supposed to happen.” She looked at one of the young men standing guard at the portal. He couldn’t be more than eleven or twelve years old, another forbidden son abandoned to the evils of this world. He looked like any normal human boy, and obviously had not yet tasted his dark power. Celestina pinned him with a no-nonsense glare. “Get all of the Doctor’s samples and bring them to me. All of them.”
The boy nodded and disappeared. He was back in less than a minute with a black case Aron recognized from the doc’s office. Celestina took the bag and turned back to Aron. “You’ll have to carry her.”
Aron lifted Zoey and cradled her to him. When Celestina held out her hand, he stepped close so she could hook her arm with his. He let the Angel of Death take them wherever she wanted them to go.
*.*.*
Zoey woke in Aron’s arms. His skin looked a bit pale and gray, with lines around his mouth and eyes that hadn’t been there before. His clothes were torn in places and reeked of Triscani ash, just like hers did. She still had a metal band around her ankle, and she hated it on sight. The second she was out of here, she was going to have George torch it. Wherever here was.
She took a moment to admire the tempting, curved perfection of Aron’s lips and when she looked back up, she met concerned green eyes.
“How are you, my love? Do you hurt?”
Had he just called her “my love”? She could’ve sworn she’d heard him use that phrase in the prison cell, but had chalked it up to the imagination of a dying female, desperately in love with a man she could never keep.
“You should go, Aron. They’ll track the metal on my ankle.”
“No, they will not. I killed its maker in the tunnel outside my prison cell when I came for you. His will is no more, and he was the only one who could have followed his personal trail of power.”
Aron’s hand came to rest on her cheek and she leaned into his touch like a cat. Relief and a sense of stolen peace made her want to stretch out next to Aron and never leave this room. She was stretched out next to him on a king-size bed, their black leather outfits a mockery of goth extremes next to the billowy white curtains and soft pastel bedding. A warm, humid breeze blew over them through an open window and she would swear she smelled salt water. “Where are we?”
“I don’t know. A place called Florida. George has heard of it, but never been here.” Zoey smiled. Aron knew what George knew about this world, and not much else. Not yet.
“Florida didn’t exist in your time.”
“Not by that name.” He rubbed his thumb over her lip and she smiled up at him.
“How am I alive?” Not that she was complaining, mind you. But she’d fully expected to die. This was a pleasant surprise. Or, maybe she really had died, and this was what her version of the perfect afterlife was made of—a soft bed, a smiling Aron, and no one around. She doubted heaven could beat that.
“A Timewalker called Marina. She is an extraordinary healer. Her Marked is one of my kin, one of the forbidden sons. They drew the darkness out of you, out of both of us.”
“How?”
“I don’t know, Zoey. But it was not easy for her, and her Marked, Raiden, didn’t look very well either, when they were done.”
“But I’m alive?”
“Yes. Marina said you were related to her somehow, that you are a Descendant of her people.”
Extended family and distant cousins she’d never heard of. Big whoop. She hadn’t liked her real family that much, other than her sister. Aron mattered more. Much, much more. She kissed him, unable to resist. “And you’re alive?”
“Yes.”
She kissed him again, a flurry of quick, happy kisses across his face and jaw. But Aron, though he smiled, seemed too solemn for her liking. “What’s wrong, then? Why the long face? We made it.”
“The Doctor did not. He is dead and humanity’s best hope with him. The false king still seeks to destroy Earth, the Triads rule here, and you are not safe with me. You will never be safe with me.”
Zoey leaned over and placed her forehead to his, shared his breath and his disappointment. Soft sadness filled her for the doctor, but the pain wasn’t crippling. She’d only known him a few hours. “And why did you need the Doctor?”
“I gave him the knowledge and material needed to create a new virus I’ve named after the mythological Chimera. It will merge human, Timewalker and Itaran D.N.A.” Aron paused, and she sensed his internal debate over what to tell her and what to withhold in an effort to reduc
e her risk. “The knowledge and power of any infected human would give them a fighting chance against the Triads here on Earth. The Triscani walk in another dimension. The Itaran Queen will have to deal with them. But the Triads have free reign here, on Earth. The doctor was humanity’s best hope.”
“No. You are our best hope.” She laughed at him, kissed him full on the mouth, and melted in his arms, sank her spirit into his until their thoughts were one. There were other human doctors, thousands of them. They could find one good doctor willing to fight with them. Celestina had recovered Aron’s tissue samples and returned them to him so they could try again. And Zoey knew how to get around in this world, how to hide. As long as he never left her side again, she’d survive, Earth would survive. They’d make sure of it, together.
“I love you, woman. I love you. Don’t you ever, ever try to pull that soul-eating shit again.” He groaned, pulled her down, deepened the kiss, and reclaimed her from death’s door.
Zoey kissed him back, made her own demands. She wanted him naked and cooperative. Now. Those evil bastards running the Triads had been here a long, long time. Aron’s war could wait another day. Or two.
“I’m thinking a week, at least.” So, the man was reading her mind, too.
“Not long enough.” She moaned with want as his hands unbuttoned her shirt and he cupped her bare breast.
“Two weeks?” He pushed her shirt from her shoulders and she happily shrugged out of it, needing to be touched, to feel alive. To feel loved by this man.
“Not long enough.” Bare from the waist up, she tugged on his shirt until she sat on his lap, her bare breasts pressed to his muscled chest. The sensation was pure heaven. Maybe she was dead-man-dreaming after all. Nothing this good could be real.
“A month?” Aron leaned down and nibbled along her collar bone, driving her crazy before finally taking a nipple into his mouth.
“No.” She broke from his hold to strip naked before tugging off his pants. When he lay naked and beautifully ready before her, she climbed slowly up the bed, stopping to kiss and nuzzle every long, delicious inch of his legs on the way to her true goal. When she took him into her mouth, he groaned and buried his hands in her hair. His one word was more a growl than human speech, but she understood him perfectly.
“Forever.”
Zoey opened the lock on her heart and let every ounce of love she felt out, shoved it at him like a tidal wave. But she needed to say it, to make sure he heard the words. She looked up at him and smiled. “I love you, Aron, so much.”
He lifted her from the bed and rolled her beneath him. Braced on his elbows, he stared into her eyes as he filled her, slowly, completely. She’d fight by this man, die with him, and live by his side for a very long time in between.
Lifting her hips in welcome, she clung to him, wrapped her legs around his waist and brought the memory of Celestina’s whispered promise to the front of her mind.
According to the Seer, a Marked Descendant, mated to an Immortal, could live a very, very long time indeed.
Aron read her thoughts. “Forever.”
Then his mouth conquered, his body moved, and his love enveloped her in sweet fire. They’d plan their battle against the monsters tomorrow, find another doctor who could create the Chimera virus.
Right now, this incredible man was hers to hold, hers to love.
Forever sounded just about perfect.
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About the Author
Michele Callahan is a wife, mother, romance and science fiction addict, and founder of RomCon, the only Fan Convention geared toward women who read romance and genre fiction. Suffering from a healthy case of sci-fi/fantasy fever, Michele never turns down an opportunity to sit through a Star Wars, True Blood, Game of Thrones, LOTR, or Matrix marathon.
Her favorite things in books; hot heroes, superpowers, freakish things that can’t be explained by modern science, and true love! Her past jobs include fast-food drive through goddess, nurse’s aide, cashier, anatomy & physiology instructor, medical office nurse, and entrepreneur. When she’s at home her life is ruled by her family plus two 100 pound rescue dogs and their wagging tails (which should really be classified as dangerous weapons.)
Her all-time favorite movie list includes: The Matrix, Terminator, Star Wars – The Empire Strikes Back, The Princess Bride, Braveheart, and Jerry Maguire. (BTW - She doesn’t understand that list either…)
You can contact Michele via e-mail:
Michele (at) michelecallahan.com
Or via Facebook, Goodreads, and Twitter – Links on her website.
Books by Michele Callahan
Timewalker Chronicles
RED NIGHT
SILVER STORM
BLUE ABYSS (June 2014)
BLACK GATE (July 2014)
WHITE FIRE (August 2014)
The Chimera Series
CHIMERA BORN (June 2014)
Coming Soon – Chimera’s Kiss
The Ozera Wars
ROGUE’S DESTINY
QUEEN’S DESTINY
WARRIOR’S DESTINY
THE DESTINY TRILOGY (Omnibus of the 1st three titles)
Coming Soon – Hunter’s Destiny
Alphas Unleashed
Cover Design © 2014 by RomCon®
Cover Photo © tankist276 @ fotolia.com
Visit my website @ http://www.michelecallahan.com
Find me at RomCon: http://www.romcon.com
A Warrior’s Heart
Marastin Dow Warriors book 1.1
Copyright © 2014 by S. E. Smith
Sealed With A Kiss
Copyright © 2014 by Rashda Khan
Dead Drop
Copyright © 2014 by Carolyn Jewel
Chimera Born
Book 1 of the Chimera
Copyright © 2014 by Michele Callahan
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, people, places and events are completely a product of the authors imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.
No part of this book may be reproduced or copied in any form or format, by electronic, digital, or mechanical means including, but not limited to, information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the copyright holder. An exception is granted to book reviewers who may quote up to 250 words in a review.
Thank you very much for honoring the hours of hard work each author puts into a story.
Table of Contents
About the Anthology
The Table of Contents
A Warrior’s Heart
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Epilogue
Author’s Note
About S. E. Smith
Sealed With A Kiss
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Epilogue
About Mina Khan
Dead Drop
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Cha
pter 16
Chapter 17
About Carolyn Jewel
Chimera Born
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
About Michele Callahan
Copyright
