Myths & Magic: A Science Fiction and Fantasy Collection

by Kerry Adrienne

  Adam opened a link and she sent the information to his phone. At least she was malleable, cooperative, and seemed to trust us. Hurray for another link on the clueless chain of clues.

  I angled my head against his steady shoulder. The world rear-ended my thoughts: Zoe, Ronan, Adam, Dominion Research, Rifts, Illuminaria, and fairies. Welcome to my new world of truth and lies. We have nutcase cookies filled with crap chips.

  “Ronan should be here,” I murmured, sinking into the deep velour couch. “Call him. He doesn’t answer my calls.”

  Adam called and received the same voicemail of avoidance. The second he clicked off, his phone rang. He held the phone between our ears. I anticipated Ronan’s voice, but thirteen gave no quarter. “Ronan wasn’t on the flight,” Jon’s scratchy voice said. “I’ll check other flights and report back.”

  My heart plunged into my stomach. I thrust off the couch, gave Kiera a brutal look. “Can you wait here while we talk in private?”

  She cringed deeper into her chair. “Sure thing.”

  I handed her the remote for the flat screen. This time she hugged the chair arm and pasted herself to the seatback. Was I an ogre all of a sudden?

  Adam followed me into the first of two master bedrooms. A burgundy and gold comforter with a thousand pillows adorned the king-sized bed. I salivated at the comfort begging my thrashed body to take it on a trip through the stars. I didn’t give a hoot if there wasn’t a pot of Belgian chocolate waiting at the end of the rainbow either.

  “Calm down.” He gripped my shoulders. “He’ll be here.”

  “Do you think one of his father’s trackers snagged him?” I picked at the gauze tied around my palm and probed Adam’s pale, soulless eyes, trying to reach into his thoughts. “What if he’s hurt or dead somewhere? What if he betrayed us? What if we’ve walked into a trap? Maybe Kiera’s baiting us?” Every minutia incurred my distrust until otherwise proven innocent.

  “Don’t start doubting him. Not after everything we’ve been through.” Adam glowered at me for the first time since we’d met. “Get your shit together and be a member of the team.”

  “What team?” I flung away from him. “The doppel-brutes who abducted me from my sane, boring life?” The hollow life I trudged through? Ronan already held my life in his hands. It didn’t sit well and encouraged me to look for subliminal clues in ice cubes if I couldn’t find them in my head.

  A scream rose in my throat before I gulped it down. “It’s my fault Zoe was snatched. I feel like I’m chasing a mirage.” Not only did tears swamp my eyes, but sobs racked me. I must’ve soaked up energy from a hormone clinic. I hid my face against Adam’s chest. He held me while I bawled like a two-year-old hosting a temper tantrum, party of one.

  “Aria.” Empathy and passion wore heavy on my name.

  I linked my arms around his waist. Adam kissed the top of my head, tightening his arms even after I wiped my nose on his shirt. “Sorry,” I mumbled.

  His chuckle rumbled against my face. “I’d gladly wear your snot-rags if it means I get to hold you.”

  I sniffed hard. “Are you flirting with me?” My voice was croaky from anguish. Although desire wasn’t far behind if that fire dipping into no man’s land was my girlie parts revving up.

  He chuckled. “Is it working?”

  “Maybe.” I wasn’t ready to commit to squat, not when I couldn’t tell if my desire stemmed from Adam, his doppelgänger link to Ronan, or a fae glamour. Not when I felt the same desire for Ronan. Hell to the no. “Your pain better?”

  “You have no idea.”

  He slid his hand beneath my multiple layers to massage my back, sending more warm swirling currents of need through me. Oh, hell to the no squared.

  “Kiera feels it.”

  I fingered my eyes dry. “Damn if I’m gonna sleep naked with you two smothering me for the slightest touch.”

  A groan escaped Adam. “I was hoping I’d get you all to myself.” Eyes glowing around the fringes, his hair curled and uncurled around his shoulders. I palmed his cheek. Pain in his eyes booted my good sense into the ether. If I could provide him with a scant few hours of relief, I’d do it. To hell with the consequences. I nodded.

  He brushed my cheek with a crooked finger. “You can wear all the clothes you want.”

  “I may have to if you insist on sleeping in a morgue.” I ran a hand over my forehead, shoving aside my hair, brushing aside my multifaceted reservations.

  “I can keep you warm enough.” A heart-stopping smile transformed his gray face.

  The warmth between us made me want to curl up in bed with him that instant, draw his heat into me, assuage his pain. Logically, it had to be our aural bond, but I was beginning to feel something far greater, far scarier, far too twisted up with my feelings for Ronan.

  Chapter 13

  Adam and I rejoined Kiera pacing a canal through the paisley ocean in the living room.

  “It’s late,” she said, nervously dry-washing her hands. “Can we meet tomorrow?”

  “We’ll call you.” Adam touched her arm. “Please don’t talk to anyone at Dominion Research or tell anyone you met us.”

  I took her hand. She curled her fingers around mine, her body nearly dripping into a puddle of bliss. What am I, fairy speed now?

  “You do know what’s going on?” Hope dusted gold flakes into her dull peepers.

  “Sort of.” I hugged her and she clung to me, lost and alone in this new unknown.

  Adam escorted her down to the lobby. The minute the door clicked shut, I located the address for Riley’s Dominion Research on my smartphone. When Adam entered the suite, a Seattle street map was spitting out on the printer built into the suite’s workstation. Just in case my GPS failed. Never could rely upon my luck.

  “Don’t even think about it,” he growled out in true Ronan fashion.

  I snatched the page from the printer, stuffed it in my jacket. “We need a backup plan.”

  “No plan includes going anywhere near Riley or his research facility.” He spread his long legs in a he-man defensive stance that mimicked his darker half. “They’ll sense you before you’re in sight of the gate.”

  “Who said anything about going through a gate?”

  Adam stalked closer, like a pit bull licking his chops at a kitten. His eyes glowed violet, skin darkening to the color of Seattle rain clouds. Reaching for me, he clamped his fingers onto my arm. “We’re going to bed before we both drop from exhaustion.”

  Our auras tingled in a dizzying wash. The sensation of Ronan’s aura was still achingly present and it was hard to separate the two. I fell against him, my nipples growing taut against his warm, solid chest. Aura drunk, I craned my neck back to look into the pain hazing his eyes. How could I refuse? For once, my head and body were in sync. First, I needed to scrub the day off my skin…before I did something I’d regret.

  After soaking in jetted bliss, I felt sparkling clean and limber with some clarity restored. My signature scent—Zoe’s birthday gift to me—in the bathwater filled the steamy room with a weave of freesia and vanilla. I washed my face with my disposable wipes, drying off quickly. I loathed the smothering, deadly feel of water on my face.

  Unfortunately, my mind refused to wind down as thoughts of Ronan, both confusingly delicious and equally rotten, nagged me. Of course, agonizing over Zoe left a constant ache in my heart.

  I heard Adam talking to Jon on the phone. By the time I slipped out of the bathroom, he was lounging on the bed, wearing a white T-shirt and gray shorts, not at all abashed at my seeing his deathbed glimmer. I knew what hid beneath that sickness so it didn’t bother me. And I wanted the comfort of Adam’s body draped around mine in my maelstrom of emotions and fear.

  Not that I had designs on doing more than sleeping, I realized I hadn’t slept with a man in over a year. Not since I’d dumped my boyfriend of two years once I’d found him coiled butt-naked around one of my lucky charm clients—a former friend now on mine and Zoe’s shitlist—in my bed.
It wasn’t that I missed that intimacy much either. My unearthly bond to Adam was undeniable, and he drew me to him like a moth to a zapper, scary and liberating at once. How much of it was the bond versus reality? Or Ronan’s other half? How hard would the zapper sting? Time to up my anti-crazy dosage of chocolate.

  An admiring smile crinkled Adam’s eyes. “There’s another bed.” Uncertainty erased his dimple.

  “Leave it for Ronan.” Suspicious, I scrunched my eyes. “He’s coming, right?” I stood in my short satin robe outside the bathroom door, gripping my tote, Mom’s envelopes stuffed securely inside.

  “On his way.” Adam held up his hand to forestall my scathing look, which didn’t work, of course. “He has as much to lose as you.”

  Housekeeping would have to hose me off the walls if I didn’t shut down for the night. Sighing, I stomped to the closet and snuck the envelopes inside the safe, realizing I hadn’t thoroughly read the papers from Mom’s chest. I’d peeked inside the packet again on the plane, enough to know I had some or all the missing parts to the Illuminaria. I wanted alone time to really dig into them without divulging my secret to Ronan or Adam. Yet. Other than going to the bathroom, I hadn’t had a moment to myself. To escape my life just for a few hours, I dialed a seascape into the built-in sound machine. Waves lapped the shoreline and a foghorn blew in the distance.

  I set my stun gun on the nightstand and stripped down to my fuchsia camisole with matching boy shorts. The glacial temperature sprouted gooseflesh on my arms, and my nipples beaded. Desire ignited in Adam’s eyes, and a flush sailed up from my toes. I’d have worn long sleeves except I wanted him to have access to as much skin as I was willing to give. For healing purposes. Really.

  He scooted to the middle of the bed and lifted the covers for me. I eased my sore body down, rolling on my side to face him, luxuriating in the sumptuous pillowtop mattress. Fin dashed into the room and bought a corner of the bed to worship me from afar, her gaze glued to me as if she were afraid I’d disappear. Funny pup.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to sleep in the other room?”

  A shivery laugh escaped me. “No. Now warm me up, will ya?”

  Adam’s arms wrapped around me like vines seeking water and sun. His hard body against mine created fantastic tingles of heat scoring me. Linking my arms around his neck, I snuggled into him. Without a thought, I twined my legs around his, bypassing all real estate in between. The sandalwood smell and hard feel of his body stroked my senses, forcing me to inhale through my mouth to resist the temptation.

  He smoothed his hands along the planes of my back, depositing a trail of heat. “Warmer?”

  “Umm, yes.” Our auras blended, one sifting in and out of the other. His hard tension eased as his pain fled, and the friction of our bodies burned away my last chills. We lay contentedly for several long moments, the soft pillowy mattress a boon to my tender, weary body.

  Doubts meandered through my mind. “How’s security here?” My thirteen pendant hung temporarily on a silver chain around my neck. I pressed it against Adam’s T-shirt, hoping the good vibes kept my unluck at bay. Sleep was never a good place for me as I couldn’t control my bad luck.

  “Alarm’s set. Gun’s in the nightstand.” He breathed in deeply. “You smell nice.”

  Heavenly spice wafted off him, but I wasn’t about to admit it to raise his hopes. “Do you feel better?”

  Adam slipped a forefinger beneath my chin, tipping my head back. We gazed into each other’s eyes, his irises shifting from pale violet to indigo. My heart flip-flopped madly.

  “I feel awesome.”

  I caught my breath, resting my cheek over his hammering heart. Waves crashing upon the beach and sea birds applauding filled the spaces between heartbeats.

  “Aria,” he said in that dusky, sultry way that sought an entrance to my heart.

  I walked my fingers up his arm, magic quivering up my hand. “Why aren’t you taken?”

  Shivers of delight followed the touch of his hot hand stroking my back, his body a furnace beneath the covers. “I hadn’t met you yet.”

  My knees weakened, and I tried to ignore the pleasant ache his words left in my limbs. “Right.” I giggled to defray my muddled nervousness. “You don’t even know me.”

  His eyes searched mine, reaching into my thoughts, possessing my soul. “Everything inside me tells me all I need to know.”

  I groaned into his chest. Every woman’s fantasy in my clutches and I was torn into confetti whirling in a cyclone. The doppelgänger bond was going to bite me big time. Holy hell, I’m so messed up.

  Locks of Adam’s opalescent hair feathered my skin, seeking nourishment from my pure aura. I caressed his brittle tresses, giving what little healing I had to offer.

  A heavy silence loomed between us. Fuzzy thoughts and feelings assailed me. What would change with Kiera on the scene? Where was her doppelgänger? Was her doppelgänger one of the Forbidden Thirteen? What could I offer Adam, Ronan, and any of the other sorcerers and doppelgängers that might pop up? What if I made their lives and the world worse?

  Fear of the unknown nibbled away at my confidence. What if I couldn’t sort out my feelings about the doppelgänger bond with Ronan and Adam? Argh! Someday, we’d look back on all this, laugh nervously, and change the subject. Yes, denial was my new best friend. I turned around in Adam’s arms to avoid his uncanny allure.

  “Goodnight, Blondie.” Adam spooned around me.

  I yawned. “Goodnight, fairy-sorcerer-doppelgänger king.”

  His biceps stiffened below my head. I let sleep tame my rampant thoughts.

  “Why did you call me fairy king?” Adam’s chest turned steely against my spine.

  “Everything inside and outside me tells me all I need to know.” I drifted off into the universe of the dead, a fallen lock of Adam’s hair clasped in my fingers.

  Chapter 14

  Groggy and barely awake, I luxuriated in the warm air whooshing over my face, noticed the emptiness of the bed where my fairy blanket had lain. Ronan’s aura played fitfully with mine, his flawed energy shooting holes through it and scattering it around us. I rolled around in the mound of covers Adam must have layered upon me. As I clawed out of the cocoon, my bruised body screamed bloody murder and I stifled a whimper.

  Ronan sat on the edge of the bed, watching me, a wry smile quirking up his lips.

  Giving him my most disdainful glare, I lunged into his arms and he captured me in a fierce hug. Stiff and sore body be damned. “I should curse your luck on the spot if I wasn’t so glad to see you. What happened to you? Are you okay?” I drew back on my knees and dog-eyed the rusty stain saturating his shirt. My heart skipped a beat. “Oh, Ronan!”

  “Glad to see you too.” He lightly traced the purpling bruise climbing my left arm, his touch leaving me tingling. “Are you okay?”

  I fingered the small bumps on the back of my head and winced. “I might live to get shot at again.”

  He drew away. “Where’s Adam?”

  I nodded my head at the closed bedroom door. “He’s not out there?”

  “No.” His gaze roamed over me, then the bed, eyes burning first with lust, then jealousy. “You slept together?”

  Surprise pinged my belly, but I impaled him with The Look. “What’s it to you? You don’t even like me.”

  He scowled. “I never said that.”

  “True.” I picked at his bloodstained sleeve. He jerked away as though I carried a doppelgänger-destroying plague. “Quit being an ass. Let me doctor that.”

  I trounced into the bathroom for the first aid supplies from my cosmetics case. Never travel without them. Why risk even more bad luck? Quickly, I brushed my teeth and rinsed out my morning mouth.

  When I returned to the bedroom, Ronan had already stripped off his Seattle Seahawks T-shirt and plunked down on the bed, holding a piece of hotel notepaper. I tried to ignore the fire climbing my neck at the sight of his rippling abdomen, thick biceps, and heavenly forearms. His sinf
ul butt mashed my robe, and I couldn’t cover my body’s betrayal.

  Yet the state of his shoulder easily quashed my lustful discomfort. He’d torn off his bandage and red rivulets blended into the wicked vines of his tricolored tattoo. I patted his wound with the wet cloth, applying pressure to staunch the bleeding. “How’d you tear it open?”

  His biceps twitched. “Somehow, somewhere.”

  I pinched his forearm and when he tried to catch my wrist, I whisked my hand away. “What dimension is that on?” If he had another brain, it would be so freaking lonely.

  “Adam left a note.” He ignored me as usual. “He went into the office for a couple of hours before others arrived. Jax is guarding the door.”

  My blood bubbled. “Jax?” I slathered antibacterial cream on his wound.

  “Jon’s brother.” He set the note on the nightstand, threw a small tube of Med-Stitch on the bed.

  I eased closer to examine the edges of the wound for infection. “Is Jax guarding me or holding me prisoner?”

  “Probably both.” Ronan tilted his head back to size me up. “What’s up with that, Aria? What’d you do?” He averted his reddening face, coughed into his fist.

  “What?” I picked dried blood off his arm.

  His agitated aura stirred the air. I slanted a glance at his face, my boobs all but sticking in his mouth. Geez, the perfect subliminal turn-on for the poor barbarian. My own heat dialed up ten notches. Subtly, I shifted my chest out of his face. “Sorry, you’re sitting on my robe.”

  “I’m not sorry.” Ronan didn’t make a move to free my cover-up.

  I tried to ignore him, but touching him ignited sparks in my blood that left me jittery—in an unfamiliar desirable way. Easing to the side, I fingered a coating of Med-Stitch onto his wound. “Let it dry.” I gathered the stained towels and rushed to the bathroom, needing the distance before my body betrayed me further. He followed, closing fast behind me, resting his hands on my shoulders. The towels fell in a heap on the vanity. We studied our reflections in the mirror. Light glinted off his glossy jet hair, startling against his tired face. The set of his chin suggested a renewed stubborn streak compelling me to rip into. “Where were you?”