Through the Fire (Daughter of Fire Book 1)

by Michelle Irwin

  A blush crept over my body as I thought about exactly how “strong enough” he looked. A daydream of being held tightly against his newly developed chest as the well-defined muscles of his arms held me securely overtook my mind for a moment, at least until the nerves over why he was taking so long reclaimed their rightful place.

  I sat on the hotel bed, with my knee bouncing uncontrollably. The unaccustomed luxury of the room only fueled my discomfort at the whole situation as I waited to see if he would follow my trail.

  For the umpteenth time, I wondered, Why here? Why now?

  Was it really him?

  Waiting impatiently on the hotel bed, I thought about the hint I’d given him. Maybe it was too cryptic. Surely Clay would understand it though?

  Leaping to my feet, I paced the room, desperate to shake loose some of the energy that threatened to burst out of me. I’d already done everything I could think of to pass the time: I’d showered, packed everything back in my bag . . . twice, and flicked through every single channel on the TV.

  My thoughts were splintered and erratic, swinging wildly from hope that he’d be knocking on the door at any moment to despair that he no longer cared for me. Maybe he believed in the Rain more adamantly than ever before. Maybe he had no doubts over his mission to kill me now.

  It was also conceivable that in the last few years he could’ve fallen for countless other women. The painful realization that he could have a girlfriend or worse . . . a wife, stabbed at my heart with precision strikes, inflicting an agony I wasn’t prepared for.

  After pacing the length of the room twice, I tried to force myself to stay still but failed miserably. My arms crossed and my fingers tapped against my elbow before I lifted my hand to my mouth and tapped my nails impatiently against my teeth.

  My gaze flicked to the phone on the bedside table, as if it would burst into life and provide answers to all of my silent questions.

  “Where are you, Clay?” I asked the room.

  A tapping drew my attention to the door. It wasn’t really a knock. It had been too quiet for that. I peered through the peephole, but the image was distorted, leaving me nervous and unsure of whether or not to open the door.

  “Evie,” whispered a voice that I recognized despite it being two years since I’d last heard it. “It’s me.”

  As I stood behind the door and opened it just a fraction, I wondered again whether it had been a wise choice to let Clay find me. After all, his family was merciless in their pursuit of nonhumans. I’d experienced that first hand and was still haunted by nightmares of the car chase. Ultimately, regardless of his motivation, Clay had chosen to leave me for them. There were no guarantees that he had any allegiance to me anymore. He’d saved my life once, many moons ago, but I had no way of knowing whether he’d regretted it every day since. His family could have just as easily swayed him back to their staunch views of a black and white world.

  I stepped back as the door inched wider. My breaths came in short, erratic bursts as I tried to wrestle my emotions back under control. There was a part of me so desperate to see him, I wanted to swing the door open and throw myself at him. Only, I had no idea how he would reciprocate.

  As Clay stepped into the room, his gaze searched for me. When our eyes met, the smile I’d seen on him earlier came to life across his features. One step into the room, he dropped everything in his arms. With his arms empty, he rushed toward me.

  My heart raced faster than his steps.

  He halted directly in front of me, a shadow passed over his features. He reached out for me before stopping at the last minute. Paused with his arm halfway toward my face, he stared at me with a weary expression. His eyes echoed the same doubts I’d had since spotting him.

  Two years was a long time. There were no guarantees for either of us. He’d walked away from me while I was still reeling from my father’s death, which should have been enough for me to hate him. Except, I never could. The last words I’d said to him, “Don’t bother,” rang in my mind. Did he believe them?

  “Clay,” I breathed, almost in disbelief that he could really be in front of me despite all the evidence.

  Covering the final distance between us, I placed my hand on his chest. His heart hammered against my palm. I closed my eyes to memorize the rhythm. One of his hands rose to caress my cheek.

  “I thought I’d never see you again,” I said, opening my eyes and leaning against his palm. The movement caused his fingertips to graze across the corner of my mouth. “And I wasn’t sure that you’d want to see me.”

  His smile turned coy.

  Unable to take the intensity of his stare a moment longer, I dropped my gaze away from his. His palm cupped my jaw, and his fingers toyed with the hair tucked behind my ear.

  “Did you actually think that I’d forgotten about what I said to you?” he asked.

  I smiled at his intuition. “I missed you,” I admitted. “Is that crazy?”

  He was silent until I lifted my eyes back to his. His gaze was sure and steady as he said, “Not at all.”

  The heat that had burned between us during our time together scorched the air.

  “I’ve been going crazy since I left you in Charlotte. I thought about you so much, hoping that you were safe and staying out of trouble.”

  I flinched at his words. My life hadn’t been trouble-free.

  “How on Earth did you know I’d be here? I desperately wanted to check up on you, but they were watching my actions so closely. I couldn’t risk it. But you’re here now. I still can’t believe it. You’re even more beautiful than I remember. Did you know I’d be here?”

  “I hoped you would be,” I said. Then, because I didn’t want to risk him asking questions about what I’d done since he’d left me, I pushed him for information. “What happened after you left?”

  “Eth was certain you’d drowned in the river, but they did their best to make sure you were an official suspect in the fire at your house just in case.”

  I nodded, recalling my run-in with the police because of my “wanted” status.

  “I told them that you never came home.” He gently caressed my cheeks with his thumbs. “I didn’t want them to know where I’d left you or that we’d seen each other again. I’d rather they continue thinking you’d drowned. Even after . . .” He cut himself off and swallowed hard. “Even when they thought I was on their side again, I never told them the truth. I couldn’t betray you, Evie, even when I tried to live their way.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He sighed. “After I went back to Dad, he forced me to undergo retraining with the Rain.” A dark look crossed his face and then he shook his head as if to clear an unpleasant thought. “For a time, it almost worked.”

  Even though I wasn’t exactly sure what “retraining” meant, his haunted eyes made me confident it wasn’t pleasant. I shuddered as I thought about what he must have gone through—all to cover up for me. During his confession, we’d moved even closer to each other. His hand ran over the back of my head, and his fingers went to the nape of my neck and traced the hair there.

  “What did they do to you?”

  Clay looked away from me, staring at a point on the wall somewhere over my left shoulder.

  “Nothing that hasn’t been done before, or wouldn’t happen again if I go against the code.”

  “They didn’t hurt you did they?” I asked. The thought that I might have been a cause of pain for Clay was devastating.

  He met my eyes and pain echoed deep within them, but he hid it quickly. “No, not physically. They just . . . tried to make me enthusiastic about the cause again. Reminding me of all the reasons we do this, that sort of thing. I made sure it looked like I was, and then for a while I started to believe in it again. I trained harder than I ever had, and I took every mission I was offered. But inside, it just felt different. I can’t see the objective as being so black and white any longer. I can’t help but wonder if some of the other things we’d killed were just like you
. As sweet, and loving, and caring as you.”

  A small smile flickered across my lips.

  “And that maybe . . . well, that they didn’t deserve to die.”

  Resisting the urge to shudder at his casual mention of the murders he’d had to commit, I dropped my forehead onto his chest.

  He kissed my hair softly before he continued. “Don’t get me wrong, I still believe in the things I’ve had to do—there are some things out there that are pure evil. I just wondered whether the Rain has some stuff wrong too.”

  Lifting my head, I smiled as bravely as I could. I wanted to shut out everything about what I was and who he was for just a little while. However, it was too much to hope for to have the typical reunion of young sweethearts ripped apart too early.

  “You opened up my eyes, Evie, and I won’t allow them to be closed again.” A moment later, he touched his lips to mine.

  I responded eagerly to his kiss. It had been too long since I’d experienced anything like that. Every part of me wanted him.

  Holding me tightly to him, he deepened the kiss, and my tongue searched desperately for his. Sighing into my mouth, he pulled my body flush against his. My hands roamed freely, tracing the length of his back and wrapping around his neck. The heat between us ignited rapidly into something I’d tried and failed to recreate with both Brian and Aiden.

  His hands ran down my spine and onto my lower back, gripping the fabric as he pressed against my body to close the gap between us.

  Fisting my fingers into his hair, I pulled him closer to me so that I could enjoy every second of our contact.

  His lips left mine to caress the column of my throat, and he trailed soft, wet kisses down my neck and into the collar of my shirt. Trailing his fingers down to my thigh, he hitched my leg up to wrap around his waist. His need for me was obvious.

  “Evie,” he murmured in reverence against my ear before claiming my mouth again.

  Stepping forward, he pushed me backward until I was flush with the wall, grasping my hips tightly as if fearful I would disappear if he loosened his hold even a little. His kisses were desperate and spoke volumes to places deep inside my body.

  I hummed with pleasure. Before I could second guess anything else, I tugged my hands through his hair. With my hold, I pulled his head back and exposed his scruffy jaw. A grin stole across my lips at the sounds that escaped him as I peppered feather-light kisses across his jawline. After running my hands across his broad shoulders, I went to push off his leather jacket.

  I’d waited too long for this particular reunion. There was no reason to delay things even a moment longer.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “WAIT,” HE murmured after breaking off the kiss.

  I whimpered as he slowly unraveled himself from me and stepped back.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, chuckling slightly at my reaction. “I just think it would be best if we moved on rather quickly. I don’t want to get caught here, in this hotel. That was rather clever by the way, including the phone number for the Reunion Church in Phoenix in your clue.”

  I smiled at the compliment. I’d heard of the church a while earlier and had decided it would play a part in any messages I was to leave for Clay to lead him back to me. Of course, I hadn’t known for certain that I would see him again, or that he would try to find me if I did, but I had hoped.

  “Are you packed?” Clay asked.

  I nodded. “Always.”

  He frowned, but I couldn’t say whether it was at the memory of the last time I told him I was always packed or the fact that my life still revolved around needing to flee at a moment’s notice. A moment later, he shook off the darkness that had overtaken him.

  “I brought something for you,” he said, stepping back and grabbing the bags from the floor. He fished through them for a moment before pulling out a long ruby-red evening gown, a small clutch, and a pair of matching wedges. The silky material looked like it was in constant motion as he held it in his hands.

  “I can’t wear that,” I insisted.

  “There’s a convention of sorts going on tonight. You’ll stand out less if you’re dressed up than you would in your usual fare.”

  In reverence, I reached for the dress, lifting one corner of the material and letting it slip back through my fingers. “I’ve never worn anything so nice.”

  “Just try it on. I wasn’t sure about the size.”

  “But—”

  He reached for my hand and rubbed his thumb softly across my palm. “Please, Evie. Trust me?”

  Grabbing the hanger of the dress, I disappeared into the bathroom. I undressed quickly and pulled the silky material over my head. As soon as I had pushed my arms through the straps, I let the rest of the dress fall. It slipped easily down my body and came to rest a few inches above the floor. The size wasn’t exactly perfect—it could have been taken in a little around the waist—but the style of the dress meant it didn’t matter too much. Looking at myself in the mirror, I couldn’t believe what I saw.

  Staring at my reflection, I couldn’t remember a time when I’d dressed so femininely. My usual clothes were designed to hide who I truly was—this dress seemed to expose it all. I wondered for a moment what it must be like to live a life where dressing up was a regular occurrence, where dresses and skirts weren’t foreign objects.

  The only thing wrong with my image was my bra; the thick, practical straps ruined the lines of the whole dress. I slipped the straps of my bra off and assessed the difference, deciding that I could go braless for one night.

  I pulled my hair out of its usual ponytail and let it fall around my shoulders. I gave it a little shake, trying to inject some extra life into it. I would have to put it back up again before we left, but I’d just wanted to see what I could look like if I was allowed to be normal for once. The person who stared back at me from the mirror almost belonged in the world of opulence that this hotel offered—it was someone with a life that was miles apart from my own.

  Picking up the clothes I’d been wearing, I folded them together ready to pack—a habit in my life that was hard to break.

  I took one last look in the mirror before turning to leave the room. As I placed my hand on the doorknob, self-consciousness overtook me. What would Clay think of what he saw? Would I be as attractive as any other woman that he’d taken out at one time or another? I took a steadying breath and opened the door before stepping out to find him.

  The first thing I noticed was that he’d changed as well. He still wore his faded denim jeans, but he’d slipped off his leather jacket and traded it for a tailored suit jacket.

  “Wow, Evie, you look . . .” He swallowed audibly. His gaze traced the length of my body and scorched a trail as if he were the one with the ability to ignite. It was enough to leave me exposed—as if more than just my skin was revealed. I wrapped my arms around myself.

  “We really need to get out of here,” he said, but instead of making any move to go, he moved toward me and kissed me again. “Before I do something really stupid, like change my mind and stay here all night.” He pulled away with a smile as he traced his fingers along my collarbone, sliding over the thin dress strap that rested on my shoulder. “You’re going to be trouble, I can tell.”

  Clay grabbed the pile of clothes I had in my hand and pushed them into the top of my backpack. He gave me the shoes and clutch that matched the dress that I wore. I threw the clutch onto the bed and grabbed the wedges to put them on.

  “Is there anything breakable in here?” he asked, holding up my bag.

  I shook my head. “Just clothes.”

  Walking over to the window, he slid it open before tossing my bag out onto the rooftop.

  “I’ll be right back,” he said before squeezing himself out behind it.

  I watched as he walked to the end of the roof and dropped my bag onto the ground below.

  “It’ll be easier if we don’t look like we’re going anywhere,” he explained when he returned. “There’s a loading bay
down there, and I’ve dropped it behind some of the bins so no one will spot it.”

  It was starting to aggravate me that he’d only just walked back into my life and already assumed he knew best. For the last few years, I’d managed to keep myself alive and well. Okay, there had been some near misses and stupid choices, but I was still here. In fact, I could recall exactly which place he was talking about from my own assessment of the hotel before booking the room.

  “I do know what I’m doing,” I said, perhaps a little too sharply.

  Placing his hand on my arm, he comforted me. “I know you do. I also know it’s harder for two people to pass through unseen. We need to blend, at least until we get the hell out of Dodge.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He sighed. “I didn’t want to scare you, but it’s extremely dangerous here at the moment. There are some wicked things going down, the convention is actually a rare meeting of three covens of witches. My father and some other members of the Rain are in town, amped up and ready to kill anyone appearing to be with them. That’s why I was at the museum—research.”

  Stepping behind me, he wrapped his arms around my waist, crossing his hands at my belly. His lips slid tantalizingly over my collarbone. “I won’t let anybody hurt you, Evie. And I’m not going anywhere without you. I walked away from you once; I don’t have the strength to do it again.”

  Relaxing into his hold, I allowed my head to tip back against his chest. “All right, what’s the plan?”

  “The crowds are already starting to come in, that’ll give us some coverage. We’ll skirt through the lobby, around the edges of the party and slip out the front door. Then we’ll grab your bag and get out of here.”

  “Wait,” I said, pulling instantly out of his hold. “The party is here? At this hotel?”

  “Why do you think I want to get you the hell away from this place?”

  “Wouldn’t it be easier for us both to sneak out that window?” I asked. It would mean changing out of the beautiful new dress he’d coerced me into, but I would probably be more comfortable in my jeans anyway. Then I remembered my jeans, my bra, everything I had was in the bag he’d dropped out the window.