Fate's Journey

by JL Madore

  As we stopped to gain our bearings, Kobi lifted his chin toward the bar. A woman wearing a bustier made of chains slid out of her booth and gestured for us to take it. We made our way through the crush, and he kissed her cheek as I settled onto the bench opposite him. “Thanks, beautiful. I owe you one.”

  “Hold you to it,” she said before dissolving into the crowd.

  “You know her?” I asked.

  “I know lots of people. What are you drinking?”

  Aside from him being in the service of my uncle and the derogatory comments he made about his nature, I didn’t know where the bravado ended, and the man began. I doubted many people did. “Double whiskey on ice.”

  Kobi hopped up and headed to the bar. The music seemed oddly out of step with the clientele, but the leather and chain gang shuffled across the wooden dance floor, regardless.

  Through the throng of bodies, I caught sight of a young girl with mottled blue skin. Tall and slim, with an unnaturally long neck, she stood at a highboy table on the other side of the crush. At first, I wondered if she was old enough to be out at a bar at night, but then I saw the man standing just over her shoulder.

  My curiosity heightened. What was he doing here?

  “I bought the bottle,” Kobi said, sliding back onto the bench. “Save us waiting for service.”

  I glanced back to where I’d seen Savage and sighed. The dancers filled in, blocking my line of sight. “You ready to hit the dance floor?”

  Kobi raised a brow. Ice clinked against the glass, bobbing in the amber liquid. “Are we on a timer I don’t know about? What about your drink?”

  I emptied the tumbler in four deep gulps. “Just anxious to get you on the dance floor.”

  Kobi sat back and frowned. Pressing his palms flat against the table, he tapped his fingers on the surface. “That’s the first time you’ve lied to me, Zophia. Make it the last, or this is over before it starts.”

  He waited until I nodded and then nodded in return.

  Sliding off the bench, he stretched his neck and offered his hand. The reach of his arm exposed the gun sheathed against his side. “Ready to hit the sawdust?”

  He led us toward the crush of dancers, and I realized something so obvious I felt stupid. Kobi was a male’s male, his body sculpted by practice and battle, from conflict and killing. Most of the men at Haven—Kobi, Bruin, Reign, Cowboy, and the rest—were not only the fighters they seemed, but killers. Takers of life. Violent and volatile.

  As the Keeper of Lives over the past centuries, I valued life as a miraculous and precious thing. If things went badly here, I did not doubt Kobi would kill to keep me safe.

  “What’s going on in there?” Kobi tapped my forehead.

  Nothing was on my lips but his warning from a moment ago remained fresh in my mind. “Just sorting through the realities of life in this realm.”

  He frowned. “Do you want to head back to the Dens?”

  I stepped chest to chest with him and slid my arm around his waist. “Not a chance. You promised me a tour of the dance floor. Show me what you’ve got, Demon.”

  ***

  Kobi was, in fact, a remarkable dancer. Our bodies moved in a synchronized flow which implied far more familiarity than we possessed with one another. And while I half expected him to use the physical closeness to further his seduction, his hands and body remained in polite positions and proximity to mine.

  As we moved with the crowd, the blue girl remained at her table in the back. The man she’d been speaking with moved to the bar. Where was Savage? Was it Savage? Maybe it hadn’t been him. I couldn’t be sure.

  A slow song started, and Kobi paused. His gaze said the next move was mine. I pressed against him, the softness of my breasts meeting the hard ridges of his chest. My reward was an unguarded smile. Running a finger over the piercings in his ear and brow, I brushed my lips across his. “Despite the reality of my life right now, this was a great way to end a stressful day. Thank you.”

  His gaze grew heated, his scent shifting to something spiced and musky. “It could have been better without your father interrupting us in the Gatehouse—”

  A tap on my shoulder had me stepping back.

  “Settle a bet.” A whiskey-soaked man with a paunch belly eyed me up and down. Squat and muscled, he was almost the same height as he was broad. “My buddy says you’re one of those Fate bitches. I say no Fate would come to Suzi’s. ‘You know of any other race with skin like hers?’ he says. So I come over to find out. Where you from, baby?”

  I stepped in front of Kobi and pulled his hands across my front before he could reach for his weapon or start a bar-brawl. “You’re right. I’m not a Fate. Tell your buddy he’s buying the next round.”

  “So, what are you?” He stared with an unwelcome level of interest. Others noticed and stopped to stare too.

  “She’s a woman of worth, ass-lick,” Kobi said.

  I patted Kobi’s fists where they clenched at my navel. “I’m just a girl out for a night with a friend. So, if you’ll excuse us.” I turned in Kobi’s arms and reached around the back of his neck. His gaze had darkened to black, the playful seducer gone, the demon warrior at the foreground.

  “Ignore him,” I whispered. “Let’s grab our bottle and take a road trip.”

  He gave me a slight nod, and we headed back to our booth. We hadn’t gotten ten feet when a vice-grip on my wrist yanked me back.

  It was the same man, looking more determined. “You know, now that I see you close up, I agree with him. You’re a fucking Fate. I’d bet my life on it.”

  Kobi grabbed the guy by the arm, drew his gun, and pushed the barrel to the center of his forehead. The smell of burnt flesh hit my nostrils at the same moment the man hollered and released my arm. Kobi pushed him back, a red handprint welted and smoking on the man’s flesh. “You are betting your life on it, so be sure it’s worth it to you.”

  “Don’t threaten him.” A second man rushed in. He stared from his friend’s arm to Kobi and back again. “What the fuck are you?”

  “Nothing anyone with half a brain messes with. So, the question is, do you have half a brain?”

  “Fuck you. You think you’re a big man because you have a gun? You know how to shoot that thing, slim?”

  Kobi grinned. “I do, so you’d be wise to drop this. Get back to your evening, and we’ll be on our way.”

  “Like hell,” someone said from behind me.

  “Yeah, it’s a lot like that.” Kobi handed me the gun. His eyes flipped to demon red as he turned back to our admirers. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  The dance floor exploded into a flurry of fists and blood. Glass shattered, men flew. Someone grabbed me around the waist and dragged me backward. I spun to hit them with the gun when I recognized the black glare staring down at me.

  Stay here, Savage said, shoving me behind the bar. He tightened my grip on the gun and pointed the muzzle toward the grungy floor. Don’t kill anyone unless you have to.

  He launched straight into the fray, fists up. Within moments, he worked his way back to Kobi.

  When Kobi saw him, he lit up with a genuine smile. The two of them settled in and fought back to back. They had obviously done this before and seemed to enjoy it.

  They worked through the drunken attackers in tandem. The thud of fists to flesh died down, and soon they made their way back to the bar. Savage held up two fingers. The burly gray-haired woman beside me set down her bat and uncapped a couple of bottles.

  Savage kept one and handed the other to Kobi.

  Instead of taking a drink, Kobi guided me past our empty booth and grabbed the bottle of whiskey from the table. “Let’s get some air, shall we?”

  The moon hung low and almost full, reflecting silver off the chrome and glossy paint of the motorcycles. Once we reached Bruin’s bike, Kobi and Savage shucked off their jackets and tipped back their beers.

  “Thanks for the assist, my man,” Kobi said. “It looked like that beast in pla
id got you good with the pool cue.”

  Savage lifted his shirt to reveal a red welt coming up purple across his side. The tattoos on his arms and neck continued across his entire upper body.

  Kobi dumped the melted ice from my glass and poured me a drink. “You good?”

  “Fine.” I drank a fair bit and found it was truer than I realized. “That was my first bar brawl.”

  Kobi eyed his bloody knuckles and flexed his fingers. “Are you planning on making them a regular thing?”

  “First-hand experiences—absolutely. Drunken bar fights—not necessarily. It was over a lot faster than I imagined.”

  The entrance doors slammed open and paunch-belly, and drunk-buddy hobbled over to two bikes parked on the far end of the row. They never looked our way, though I had the feeling they knew exactly where we were.

  Kobi finished his beer and set the bottle on the pavement. Savage did the same. With his hands empty, he signed a few signals and then headed back inside.

  “What did he say?”

  “Reign has him working this bar. If he finds out anything about Abaddon or his plans, he’ll report it in the morning. You’re wrong about him, you know.”

  I finished my drink and set my glass beside the two bottles. My fingers fumbled with the strap of my helmet under my chin and Kobi reached over to help me out. “Any chance you’d let me drive the bike?”

  His roaring laughter drowned out the low murmur of male voices and thumping music inside the bar. The jocularity ended fast when he met my gaze. “Sorry. I wasn’t laughing at the idea of you driving. I imagined what Bruin would do to me if I let it happen.” He lifted my chin with his finger and leaned closer. “Not tonight, and not with this bike, but if you want to learn, I’m happy to take you out and teach you.”

  I stepped back and wandered down the line of motorcycles. The artistry of the custom painted designs was one thing, but the freedom and power they represented . . . “You must think I’m ridiculous.”

  “Why the hell would I?”

  “How could you not? For centuries, I’ve recorded the lives and events in this realm yet know nothing of life. I understand the dangers you all face, yet have never experienced the loss of a loved one or the threat of life and death. I’ve never actually done anything. I’ve only ever watched.”

  He toed the dirt with his boot and frowned. “You sell yourself short, Zo. Conquering the spin cycle and watching someone you love bleed out in front of you doesn’t suddenly make you an authentic, card-carrying member of the realm. Where shit counts is in here.”

  His fingers splayed on his chest as he stepped forward. “You know which side of the line to stand on when push comes to shove. If you take a deep breath and your lungs fill, there’s still time for all the other shit. Give yourself a break. Continue to seize your moments one experience at a time, and you’ll get there.”

  My gaze locked on his mouth and I seized my moment. The instant our tongues met, I groaned. His lips were like warm silk, his tongue a seasoned marauder. I met him, body to body. I coiled my leg around his thigh and ran my hands up the back of his shirt.

  If Dane hadn’t interrupted us at the Gatehouse earlier, I wouldn’t be aching with a consuming hunger that scorched my insides beyond all sense. Dane. Betrayal pierced me anew. My breath caught, but I wouldn’t let him win. He removed my responsibilities, fine. With nothing to weigh me down, freedom to act was my new life’s purpose.

  An Escalade parked beneath a crooked oak tree at the back of the parking lot gave me an idea. I rubbed the straining denim of Kobi’s pants, and his hips thrust into my palm. “Follow me.” I threw my molecules into the night air and headed across the parking lot.

  Car locks and windows kept out humans and people who couldn’t dematerialize but did nothing to deter preternaturals who needed an entry point. I rematerialized on the back seat of the massive vehicle, and Kobi misted in, right behind me.

  “I like the way you think,” Kobi said, pulling the latch to lower the seat back to recline. He hovered over me, a silent promise dancing in his gaze.

  Everything about him radiated sex. From the grace of his body to the smell of his skin to the way the simplest touch from him made me wet. “I can’t wait to get back.”

  Kobi didn’t need convincing. He had Mika’s leather gear off me and tossed in the back in a matter of seconds. His boots and pants were gone a second later. Tall and lean, the man had the body of a well-conditioned athlete. My lovers before him had inherited their physique from the Fae bloodline. Members of the Pantheon. Aristocrats. Kobi earned his body by fighting and having endless, amazing sex.

  “You’re truly safe?” I leaned back along the leather seat and let my knees fall open.

  He knelt at my feet and licked his lips. The sudden hunger in his face hit me low in the belly. “One-hundred percent.” His finger trailed through the moisture heating my sex, and I shuddered. “You’re not shy, are you?”

  I swung my legs over his shoulders and arched my hips. “Not even a bit.”

  His breath tingled warmly against my flesh as his head dropped. The texture of his manicured goatee prickled and brushed my flesh. My hips bucked, and he laid an arm across my pelvis. “Gods, you taste as good as you smell.”

  I cried out as he spread me wider and lapped hard against my core. Fingers and tongue. Lips and goatee. The sensations overwhelmed. My legs trembled as he folded and pinned me to the seat to gain the best access.

  The cab of the truck filled with the heady fragrance of sex, the tinted windows providing them an insulated playground of light and shadows. Kobi’s fingers delved, titillating and teasing, as my release built in a thundering rush. I dug my heels into his back and gripped his hair, urging him on.

  Kobi was aggressive but not harsh. Greedy but not selfish.

  His fingers gripped my hips, pulling my core against his kisses as if nothing was enough. I came hard, shattering and bucking to relentless swipes of his tongue. He eased off only while I rode out my release and then came at me again. Over and over, he repeated his ministrations, my body defenseless but to come for him again and again.

  I wasn’t quiet. I cried out in the glory of it. Called his name. Only after I begged for him to be inside me did he relent.

  Even inside a vehicle that large, it was awkward having him come over me. His legs were long, his body humming like the sexual predator he was by nature. The interior spun as he repositioned us. Suddenly, he was on his back, reclining, and I lay on his chest.

  “You wanted to ride me earlier,” he said, positioning himself at my core. “I’d hate for you to miss out on one of your experiences.”

  The penetration was a raw pleasure. I stiffened, grabbing the seat behind him as I adjusted. I slid down his shaft like wet satin on hot steel, but he was large and incredibly hard. “My legs can barely hold me.”

  Kobi chuckled, the vibration shared through our joined bodies. “You’ll need to work out if you’re going to keep up, lacy girl. You’ve spent too much time sitting at your loom.”

  Kobi took my breast into his mouth, and I threw my head back. Firm hands gripped my hips once again and guided me up and down until I thought I might pass out.

  It was so good. So incredibly good.

  Damp with sweat, my body ignited again, clenching and pulling at him deep inside me. Kobi’s hips flexed as he slammed me down one last time. He came with a hoarse groan. The sound echoed inside the enclosed space as the corded muscles in his neck strained.

  It was a long while before we could breathe well enough to speak. We laid, still joined, the stale air of the truck cab rife with the smell of our bodies.

  “Car sex,” Kobi said, kissing the top of my head. “Is that a new one for your list?”

  “The being in the car part and the sex in the car part.”

  “Really? You’ve never been in a car?”

  I toyed with his nipple ring and laughed. “No, but I’d say we checked it off the list quite effectively.”

&nbs
p; Kobi chuckled beneath me, his hand squeezing the globe of my butt. “I’m glad you consider it covered. When I can walk again, maybe we should get out of this guy’s truck and home to bed. I gotta work in the morning.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  After Jade and Aust left to escort my mother back to her sanctuary, I wandered the abandoned living areas of the Dens and wondered what I might do to fill my day. Kobi was off on warrior duty. Bruin, Cowboy, and Julian left to ready for the Were Solstice Summit, and Mika and Bree were heading out to the ancient ruin site to tend to details for that as well.

  As they paused in the foyer rotunda to slip on their jackets, I read the missive of welcome painted on the stone wall: We believe in the right to bear arms and the right to arm BEARS.

  “Might I join you, ladies?” I asked. “I find myself searching for purpose this morning.”

  Mika chuckled. “Of course, come along. Have you ever seen Were males working up a sweat? It’s a beautiful sight. We couldn’t let you miss it.”

  Bree nodded and held the door open for me to pass. “It’s such a hardship spending our days overseeing construction. Sharing the burden of our duties will be good. Come along.”

  Mika, Bree, and I made our way deep into the forest, to the outer edge of the destruction left by Abaddon’s attack. The ruin site had long stood a tribute to the ancient ways of the Fae gods. The ley lines crisscrossed deep within the grounds below making it a particularly magical location.

  Abaddon’s bombs had detonated within the clearing of the standing stones, bringing the nomenclature of ruin site to an incredible new level. Trees lay uprooted, cavities of earth blasted open like gaping maws, stone pillars and plinths splintered as if constructed of kindling and not stone.

  “Bad, eh?” An indigenous boy with a purple mohawk sidled up next to me. “It’s a shit-ton better than last week. We thought we were in backhoe territory. Seriously, it looked like there was no coming back from the damage done.”

  “It’s horrendous. Infuriating,” I said. “I witnessed the battle, yet still find the damage hard to believe.”