Tainted Kiss

by Sharon Kay

  The rope slid out of its knot and Nevo’s unconscious body dropped. Arawn caught him under the arms. Nevo’s blood flowed down Arawn’s black and grey camo jacket. “Fuck, I can see his goddamn arteries. Ria, where’s Raniero?”

  “Here.” The tall fighter came to stand closer. “The Splinters are running away. Fucking cowards.” He growled a curse at Nevo’s limp shoulders.

  Mathias and Gin ran up from behind Ria. “They’re escaping into the caves! We have a chance to get them if we—”

  “No.” Arawn shook his head. “We need to get Nevo to Ashina.”

  “But we—”

  “I said no.” Arawn pulled out his transportation amulet. “We’re on their goddamn home turf. They know those tunnels and hidey holes better than us. They know which are sturdy and which might be on the verge of collapse. We don’t know how many more of those assholes are hidden inside. We could be walking into a trap.” He heaved out an angry breath. “We’ll make a better plan and we’ll come back.”

  Mathias’s eyes flared with the heat of battle, but he nodded. He took out his own amulet and grabbed Gin’s hand. “See you three back in HQ.”

  Raniero stepped forward to take Nevo’s body from Arawn, but the leader shook his head. “He’s my soldier. I’ll bring him in.”

  The olive-skinned fighter nodded. “I’m letting Ashina know we’re imminent.”

  Ria and Raniero each linked an arm through one of Arawn’s, then he invoked the spell to open the portal. A giant shimmering ring appeared, and they stepped in.

  Ria tightened her grip on Arawn as they rocketed through the darkness. Her stomach was unsettled, but the urgency to get Nevo home pushed it to the back of her mind.

  They landed in a clumsy heap on the grass at the back of HQ. Arawn had turned in midair to cushion Nevo’s fall as best he could. Ashina dashed toward them.

  Arawn shifted Nevo into a cradle hold against his chest. Blood covered both of them as he started to get to his feet.

  Ashina stopped him. “No. Lay him down.”

  Arawn complied, and Ashina placed both hands on the sides of Nevo’s head and froze. “Oh no,” she whispered.

  “No, what?” Arawn growled.

  Ashina didn’t answer, only moved her hands to hover over Nevo’s heart. “No, no, no. Come on, Nevo.” She closed her eyes.

  The air pulsed with the warm, lush feeling of her healer’s magic. She murmured soft words in an ancient dialect of Demonish.

  Ria held her breath, fighting tears. She glanced at Arawn, whose face was grim as he stared at Ashina.

  Abruptly the healer stopped her magic and her words and dropped her hands to her sides. “No,” she whispered.

  Ria clapped a hand over her mouth.

  Raniero came up behind Ashina and folded her into his embrace. Her green eyes filled with moisture. “I’m sorry, Arawn. He lost too much blood.”

  “Mother fucker!” Arawn bellowed.

  A tear trickled down Ria’s cheek as she stared at Nevo’s body, bloodied and lifeless. He had been a frequent part of her teams, even had a crush on her way back when. Cold disbelief crawled through her veins and guilt turned her stomach to lead as she thought about how Nevo had undoubtedly spent his last night. This wasn’t fair. He was a brave, worthy male. She knelt at his side and took his still-warm hand in hers. “I’m sorry, Nevo.”

  The air beside her swooshed and Gin’s arms came around her shoulders. “You guys are so strong,” she whispered. “I-I never expected…”

  Mathias crouched down on Ria’s other side and took her hand. “I know you well enough to feel the guilt rolling off you,” he said quietly. “Don’t do that to yourself.”

  “It was my botched getaway,” Ria said. Her voice felt hollow. Her soul felt heavy. She got to her feet, needing to make sense of this fucked up chain of events.

  Arawn. Her feet moved toward him of their own accord because she craved time with him, craved his touch. She coveted the calm, no nonsense authority that he projected. Like a beacon that drew her to a safe place, she needed him. And she sensed he needed her.

  For as guilty as she felt about this, she guessed he carried a much heavier version of the load.

  He paced ten feet away, on the phone, and his voice carried clearly to her ears.

  “Ana.” He stopped and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Get Nevo’s next of kin on the line.”

  C

  HAPTER 19

  ARAWN CLOSED HIS EYES AND waited, phone to his ear, as Ana followed his request to contact Nevo’s family. He fucking hated this part of his job, but he wouldn’t let anyone else do it. He was the boss, the leader, the commander. He acknowledged victories and looked at defeats as lessons to learn from. He cared for his fighters, since they formed tight bonds of brotherhood spun in trenches of blood and dark magic. They became a secondary family.

  Or in some cases, the only family, as more than one angry-youth-Lash-turned-Watcher could attest to.

  But the finality of a soldier’s death always gave him pause. Especially this time.

  A quick attack, outnumbered by the enemy. A throat, slashed but not severed…bleeding out too soon.

  Lottie…

  “Sir?” Ana’s voice at his ear yanked him from his dark reverie.

  He cleared his throat and opened his eyes. “Yeah.”

  “I have Nevo’s mother, Della, on the other line.”

  “Put her through.”

  A click, then another, then quick feminine breaths huffed across the line. “Hello?” Birds squawked in the background amidst the rhythmic crashing of waves.

  Nevo grew up in a fishing village, Arawn recalled. “Hello, Della. This is Arawn.”

  “Oh. Oh! My stars, hello, Commander. What-what can I do for you, sir?”

  “I’d like you to sit down, Della,” Arawn said, putting a gentle command in his voice.

  She gasped. “Oh, gods.”

  “By all the gods, I am truly sorry to have to deliver this news over the phone,” Arawn began.

  Della’s sobs and shaky breathing told him she already guessed the reason for his call.

  His Watchers did dangerous work. That was the job. Every time. And though their families were often proud, they also knew that this exact phone call was a grim possibility.

  “Your son died today in service to the Watchers and to the Lash race. He died an honorable death.”

  Della’s keening broke through the connection, loud enough that Arawn was sure the others heard it. “I’m sorry, ma’am. Your son was a loyal and integral member of my force.”

  “My boy…Oh gods.” Della’s broken half sobs tore at his heart. “Is there…do you have…”

  “One of my inner circle Watchers will bring him to you today, ma’am.”

  “Thank you. My sweet boy…I-I—” the connection crackled and then a new voice picked up.

  “Hello? This is Lila, Della’s daughter…”

  “Lila, this is Arawn—”

  A sharp intake of breath sounded.

  “Nevo…is your brother?” Arawn paused for all of a split second to debate using is or was.

  “Yes.”

  A slender hand caressed his bicep and the sweet fragrance of orange blossom invaded his nostrils. He looked down to see Ria at his side and he wrapped his arm around her.

  Gods bless her, she didn’t care that he was covered in blood. She simply pressed closer, silent, lending him her strength when he knew she had to feel bad herself.

  Arawn reiterated his speech to Lila, the same words he’d used with Della.

  Lila listened and when he was done she said, “Thank you for this phone call and for sending my brother back to us. We’ll hold the burial service as soon as we can. Will you honor us by attending?”

  “Of course. With deepest respect, we will stand with you and venerate our fallen brother,” Arawn said softly.

  Lila promised to be in touch with the exact details, and Arawn ended the call.

  Shoving the phone in his back
pocket, he pulled Ria close. She still wore her brown beanie and he pulled it off her head, needing to feel her soft blond curls against his cheek.

  He took a selfish minute and absorbed her strength, her grace, her sweet nature. She tucked herself against his chest like she belonged there, and his heart swelled with a sense of rightness.

  After a minute, he heard the swish-thud of heavy footsteps in the grass. “Raniero,” Arawn said, looking up at his mercenary Watcher. “I need you to bring Nevo to his home village. Ana can get you the coordinates and family details.”

  “Consider it done.”

  “How’s Ashina?” Arawn asked. The healer rarely if ever lost patients.

  “Taking it hard. She said he probably died in the portal. But we did all we could. We couldn’t leave him there, and that was our only way back.”

  “Take her with you to Nevo’s home, if she wants,” Arawn said. “She’s a damn good healer.”

  Raniero nodded and walked back to his mate. He gave her a quick kiss and then, with Mathias’s help, carried Nevo’s body inside to clean him up before delivering him to his family.

  Ria watched them and waved at Gin, who had linked arms with Ashina and followed the men inside. She turned back to Arawn. “So, the service will be in a few days?”

  “Yeah. I’ll have Ana post all the details, so anyone not on assignment can go.” He looked down at her beautiful face, streaked with dirt and blood, and cupped her jaw. “This isn’t your fault.”

  She swallowed hard. “Part of me knows that…but another part is screaming that if I had made a clean getaway, none of this would have happened. No one would be missing.”

  “Stop.” He slid his hands down to her biceps. “None of us could have known about Thane’s spell charges, how potent they’d be. That’s what changed the game. Not anything you did.”

  She nodded. “Makes me even more worried for Jude and Scorpio.”

  “We’ll find them. I swear it.” He tucked her under his arm and steered her toward the building’s entrance. “I need to take care of some things.”

  “Okay. I need to clean up anyway.”

  They walked across the lush grass, and when they reached the door Arawn held it open for her. Ria stepped in and turned back to give him a smile. “I’ll see you later.”

  “Later.” He watched her walk toward the rotunda, the scent of orange blossom, battle, smoke, and death mingling. He took out his phone and texted Ana his instructions, then headed up a back stairway to the fifth, and uppermost, floor.

  This level held rooms for different purposes, and a balcony overlooking the back yard of HQ. It also held his own suite of rooms, which were in one corner of the floor, behind the elevators. He had access to the elevator shafts, his own stairwell, balcony, and rooftop access. He reached the heavily carved wooden door and pressed his palm to the sensor next to it.

  With a click, the lock disengaged and he pushed into his room.

  Early evening sun poured through the windows on the west wall, scattering rays of light onto the mahogany furniture of the main room. Everything was done in black and shades of brown, the way he liked it. Not that he was much on decorating. Color never impressed him much.

  The blue of Ria’s eyes popped into his mind. Well, there was always an exception.

  He stalked to his bathroom, where he stripped off his bloody clothing. He walked into the enormous shower area, which was a six-foot-square sandstone-colored tile deal with two showerheads and a bench. He washed off quickly, going through the motions.

  It was his second shower of the day. Gods, retuning here after his night with Ria seemed like days ago, not mere hours.

  She’d done well today, holding her own and eliminating a good number of the enemy. But he knew how she felt. He knew her guilt, lived with it as if it were a shadow next to him all these years.

  And even if Nevo’s death had not been in retaliation for a specific act, his man had been used as leverage against him. Because he had decided to look for a sword.

  He scowled and shut off the water, wondering if he’d made the right choice. Had he endangered them all because of a goose chase, as Ria dubbed it? His people didn’t die in the line of duty often. And when they did, it was a sobering reminder how short life could be. For all their accelerated healing, for all their strength, Lash demons were still mortal.

  Their time among the living had a start and end date. Soon, he’d offer condolences to the family of a loyal male.

  But right now, he had another person on his mind. The one woman who in the past could ease him down from anger, doubt, bravado. Anytime he needed Lottie to talk sense into him, she always had.

  He dried off and walked into his bedroom to get dressed. As he pulled on a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt, his eyes dropped to a small black lacquered box on his dresser. He picked it up and sat on one of his wide wingtip chairs.

  He opened the hinged lid. Inside, nestled in folds of red velvet, lay a necklace he’d given to Lottie when they’d mated. The heart-shaped pendant was all he had left of her.

  Picking it up, he savored the cool slide of the silver chain between his fingers. The charm that hung at the end seemed simple, but was actually quite rare. A fire opal which glowed with red, orange, and yellow pulsed with warmth as it absorbed the sunlight. And around the edges lay a border of tiny rubies.

  A heart to symbolize their love. Fire to symbolize their race. All Lash demons could summon fire in the palms of their hands, not just the warriors.

  Arawn held the charm in his palm and rubbed his thumb over it. Lottie. He’d gotten through her burial ceremony, barely, before departing on a mandatory leave from duty. He’d run for days, miles, until he dropped.

  He’d been near Tarsa, a lush subtropical peninsula where the fierce Tarsa demons lived. They weren’t known for hospitality, but had dragged him in from the jungle where he’d surely have been devoured by the nasty beings that crawled Torth at night.

  The peninsula’s leaders had wanted to see their fishing and lumber businesses prosper. They saw in Arawn a fellow warrior and also the chance to ally with the Lash. Arawn had drowned his sorrows in the plentiful rum of the peninsula, until his commander summoned him back.

  But nothing had banished the images from his mind. Nothing filled the gaping maw left by the broken mate bond. Nothing had eased the raw edge of his pain, until Ria had joined his ranks. And even then he’d shunned the possibility of being with her, still consumed by the looming darkness of remorse.

  Lottie. He held her name and her pretty smiling face in his mind now, recalling their early years as mates. The concept of forever had been intertwined with her name, rooted so deeply, even after her death, that he never expected there to be room for another.

  Sudden warmth washed over him. He blinked down at the necklace, jolted by the odd combination of surprise and reassurance. And out of nowhere, the always-familiar feeling of Lottie’s love pulsed once in his heart just like it had when they’d been bonded. One unexpected second, one heartbeat, but in it, he felt her presence telling him two things, unequivocally and without hesitation.

  Be at peace, love.

  You deserve to know joy again.

  His breath hitched as he stared at the fire opal. Tranquility settled in every cell and he felt the heaviness he’d carried for so long scatter like blossoms on the wind. Lottie would always be a part of him. But losing her didn’t have to define him.

  He swallowed, humbled by this chance flicker of emotion through a long-severed bond. Tiny but crystal clear.

  Because you were defined by your character, your actions, your history…and abruptly the weight of his ancestors crashed on his shoulders, negating the liberation of letting go of his guilt.

  The tantalizing possibility of forever with Ria would always be tainted by the ugly hurdle of his lineage.

  C

  HAPTER 20

  RIA WALKED AT ARAWN’S SIDE through the main square of Bedwyn, Nevo’s home village. Warm wind whipped off
the sea, making waves crash on the beach beyond the rows of clapboard buildings. The sun shone brightly and the odor of the fisheries wafted on the February air. But no fishermen called out to one another. No kids ran shrieking through the park up ahead.

  The whole village had paused to honor their fallen son.

  Behind them were Gin and Mathias, Raniero and Ashina, and many Lash demons from HQ. Watcher burial ceremonies weren’t common because often when they died in battle, there was no body. All Lash enemies knew they, like many predators, were susceptible to fire and beheading. Most other injuries healed.

  Today was special. Honor, duty, and sacrifice hung heavy in the seaside air.

  Arawn strode with his shoulders back and head high, looking every bit the lethal leader in his all-black ensemble. Ria had been left speechless when the group gathered at HQ to leave for Bedwyn, and she saw him appear in a suit. Black tie, black dress shirt, and tailored to perfection, all Ria had done was stare.

  She’d never seen him in a suit. Didn’t know if he owned one. But gods, he was drop dead sexy in it.

  She forced those thoughts from her mind now, feeling inappropriate. This was a burial, for heaven’s sake. The result of her mission going wrong.

  “This must be his family.” Arawn’s deep voice drew her out of the dark spiral of guilt.

  Two women approached, one taller than the other, and both bore a striking resemblance to Nevo. Same black hair, same gray eyes.

  It was impossible to tell a Lash demon’s age, since, well, they aged so slowly. Even the Elders, the ones who were over a thousand years old, only looked to be about forty or fifty human years.

  “I’m Lila,” the taller female said to Arawn.

  Arawn stopped and took Lila’s hand, pressing it between both of his. “I’m Arawn.” He turned to the other woman. “You must be Della?”

  “Yes.” The woman’s eyes were red-rimmed, but a flicker of pride showed through the sadness. “Thank you for coming, sir.”

  Arawn grasped her hand like he had Lila’s. “Your son was a good soldier and a worthy male. He served with strength and dedication.”