“Zakkery?!” Hope didn’t even think about the “ewww” before she squealed it. “Gaia, are you insane? I don’t want him.” Her nose wrinkled. “Ick. He’s so… small.”
“Small? He is larger than most of your species.” Kingu’s eyes narrowed. “Or do you mean he possesses a very small…?”
Hope cut him off. “No, I don’t mean small like that. Lord, way to kill the mood.” She gave a “let me go” wiggled and Kingu set her down, the bastard. Luckily her sweater hadn’t gotten ripped from her body, because now it was a very short dress. “I’ve never seen Zakkery naked, for crying out loud. I’ve never been with a man, at all. I told you that.”
“No, you didn’t.” His eyes burned hot. “Trust me, I would remember that conversation.”
“Well, I told you I didn’t have much of a love life, didn’t I?” What did she have to do? Skywrite it? “I wouldn’t just fall into bed with some Smoke Phase.”
“And yet you appeared willing to let me fuck you against a wall.” Kingu bit off cruelly. “You think that I don’t see the truth? That I am that far gone, I would allow you to make a fool of me? You are trying to manipulate me into helping you stop the Banished Phases, or letting you go free, and I will not fall for your tricks.”
“Hey wait a minute, I wasn’t going to fuck you.” Hope was flat out insulted by the insinuation. Soul mates and Matches didn’t “fuck.” Well, maybe they sometimes did, but only for fun after their initial coming together. What she and Kingu shared was holy. He should know that, being a god and all.
His expression went even darker. He loomed over her, his body was so aroused she had no idea how he was holding back from her. “If you doubt what was about to happen, then you really are a virgin.”
“I know I am. If you’re trying to insult me with that revelation, it’s not gonna work. I’m well aware the fact I’ve waited.”
Her virginity wasn’t something she was ashamed of or proud of, it was just a fact of her life. She’d been waiting for Kingu and now he was here. It seemed very simple, really, except Mr. Cold Shower wanted to complicate it.
“Waited?” His voice was dangerous. “For who? Me?” He made a disgusted sound and stepped farther away from her. His face was set into stony lines of disbelief and anger. “You lie. No one would wait so long and then give their virginity to a monster. Not without an ulterior motive.”
Alright, now he was just upsetting her. Hope’s mouth thinned. It pissed her off that Kingu had just basically called her a liar and whore. That he refused to be seduced like a good soul mate should. That he’d pulled back after bringing her so close to a shattering climax. That he made the word “monster” sound like a bad thing.
Her day had sucked enough already, she didn’t have to put up with his attitude on top of it. He’d left her achy and unfulfilled and now he was making it her fault?
Oh hell no.
“I’ve waited for my soul mate.” She said very distinctly. “He’s the one I will make love to, when he begs me for forgiveness. If you see him, tell him I’ll be in my room, trying to figure out how to stop the Banished Phases.” She swept past Kingu and stalked up the stairs. She got distinct impression he was staring at her bare rear end as she stomped up the stairs. Well, he’d better enjoy the view, because she sooo wasn’t letting him see her half-naked again until she heard some serious groveling.
“You touch another man, Hope, and I will kill him.” The threat was ice cold. “Your soul belongs to me.”
She stopped at the top of the steps and glared back down at him. “You won’t get one damn thing from me that I don’t give freely. If you want my soul, you’re gonna have to find your own and give it to me return.”
Chapter Ten
I had learned to dwell with pleasure, as a beloved daydream,
on the thought of the separation of these elements.
Robert Louis Stevenson- “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”
The problem with having no friends was that you sometimes had to turn to your enemies for advice. It pissed Kingu off, but he didn’t see another option. He wanted Hope badly enough to try anything and he only knew of one person who could help him win her.
Zakkery opened the door to his igloo shaped home and arched a brow. He was still dressed like a punk rock groupie, right down to the safety pin earring spearing his left lope. “I already gave the necklace to my client, if that’s what you’re here for.”
“I don’t care about that. I want to talk about Hope.”
“Oh man, this should be good.” He stepped aside and gestured for Kingu to come inside.
Kingu had expected more of a battle before the Smoke Phase allowed him into his home. It wasn’t like he’d ever come visiting before. Suspicious of a trap, Kingu scowled and ducked through the doorway. The curved ceiling brushed against his head, but he was used to encountering that problem.
The rest of Zakkery’s house surprised him.
The Cloudland was full of circular buildings of various sizes and property values. Most of Banished Phases with Zakkery’s level of infamy had appropriated mansion for themselves on the rounded hilltops outside the town. The biggest and the best the dead Cloud Phases had to offer was theirs for the taking. Zakkery could have had a luxurious home beside the rest of the worst of his kind.
Instead, he’d chosen modest white bungalow on a nearly deserted street that bordered the park. There was a neat picket fence around the property and a whirligig in the yard. A carefully painted Cloud Phase endlessly spun a wooden cloud in an asymmetrical circle so it created different shapes.
The stupid decoration made Kingu sad for some reason.
Truthfully though, the most shocking part of all was that Kingu understood why Zakkery chose to live in Cloud Kingdom suburbia and not in one of the extinct Cloud Phases’ mini-palaces.
In the more exclusive neighborhoods, there were more people.
Zakkery’s home kept him separate from the other Phases, at the same time allowing him a strategic position in the heart of town. No one could spy on him, but he could still watch all their daily moments.
It was… smart.
“I’d ask you to sit down, but I think you might crush my chairs.” Zakkery closed the door behind Kingu and led the way into the living room. He must have kept the furnishings as the previous owners left them, because everything was decorated in soft shades of sunset. Given his normal taste level, Zakkery would surely prefer graffiti on the walls and naked hula girl lamps.
There was a duffle bag open on one of sofas and Kingu realized that Zakkery was packing. No doubt he was planning to get out of Dodge now that he had what he wanted. Kingu understood the impulse.
“I don’t require a seat.” Kingu glanced out the window into the pastel park. He could see his own fortress on the other side of the puffy trees. His eyes unerringly went to the balcony of Hope’s room.
“I take it you’re done being pissed at me for stopping by to get the necklace, earlier?”
“No. I’m still pissed and will remain that way. You handed my woman over to a monster.”
“I handed her over to you.”
“Exactly.” Kingu stared broodingly out at the landscape. “What do you know of soul mates?”
Zakkery flopped down on his peach colored sofa and lit a cigarette. A laptop computer sat on the cushion beside him. “Why? Unless…” He laid a dramatic palm against his chest. “Do you feel this connection between us, too? Because, if I’m not the only one who wants to just give into the passion…”
Kingu slanted him an impatient look. “Hope claims to have a soul mate. What does it mean to Phases?”
Zakkery lost his taunting smile. “Nothing. Soul mates are a human deal.” He concentrated on propping his sneakers up on the coffee table. The former owner’s old magazines were still arranged in a neat stack.
“Well, Hope says she will only accept her soul mate, so there must be something Elemental about the bond.”
It made Kingu wild to
even think about it. To imagine another man touching her, as he had. Tasting her heat and passion. Feeling her arms come around him or hear the whimpering sounds she made. Someone she would no doubt smile at and stay with willingly.
Someone with a fucking soul to give her when she asked for it.
He swore savagely and looked back at Zakkery. “Well?”
Zakkery stared at him without expression. The son-of-a-bitch knew something. Kingu could tell. Beating the information out of the Phase suddenly seemed like a wonderful idea. Gods knew, he was dying to punch the shit out of somebody.
Kingu stalked closer to the couch, intent on taking his frustration out on Zakkery’s annoyingly perfect face. He got within striking distance, but then he spotted the laptop screen. The word “Hope” jumped out at him like neon and Kingu stopped short, scanning the page. It looked like some kind of census report or family tree.
“What the hell are you doing?” The question was more astonished than angry, simply because Kingu was completely baffled by what Zakkery could be up to. “Are you researching my woman’s lineage?”
“It’s nothing.” Zakkery slammed the computer shut. “I thought I remembered seeing Hope before and I was trying to place her.”
Kingu’s jaw tightened, still not liking the idea of Zakkery within three kingdoms of Hope. “She thinks you are too small.” He announced with a deal of pleasure.
“First time I ever heard that complain.” Typical Zakkery response, but there was something serious in his eyes.
Kingu’s head tilted. What was this really about? What had Zakkery found out about Hope? Kingu’s heart rate increased. “Tell me.” He ordered. “If there’s a problem with Hope, I need to know about.”
“Just so you don’t become an even bigger problem for her.” Zakkery expelled a stream of smoke and shook his head. “You’re the one who says you’re a monster.”
Asshole.
“Tell me what you know. Now.”
Silence.
Was Zakkery… worried about Hope? Belated concern, perhaps, but at least someone else was troubled by the idea that a tiny girl had been taken prisoner by an ancient god who wanted to ravish her. Kingu had thought he was the only one disturbed by it and that included his seductive little captive.
“There is nothing that would make me turn against her, if that’s why you’re hesitating.” Kingu said grudgingly, wanting to speed up the process. “Although it’s somewhat late for you to consider her welfare, considering you handed her over to me on a platter.”
Zakkery glanced at him sharply. “You can blame me for giving you the girl, but I had nothing to do with it.” He said after a moment. “Not really. No matter what, you would have taken Hope. It was obvious you’d claimed her from the first second you saw her. I never worried about you mistreating a woman. Especially, not that woman. Maybe you are a monster, but that girl is still gonna wrap you around her finger in –like-- a day.”
It had taken less than an hour, actually.
“So… no.” Zakkery continued. “I don’t think you’re stupid enough to hurt Hope. When men like us are handed something that rare, we don’t throw it away. We protect it.”
For once, Kingu didn’t complain about Zakkery saying they were in anyway alike. “The woman is my treasure.” He said simply.
“I know.” Zakkery slowly nodded. “Anyway, I knew Hope’s grandfather. It took me awhile to put it together, but that’s why I remembered her. He’s the only one on the Council who didn’t vote to Banish me.”
That seemed to be a theme in Hope’s life.
“Hope said she was abandoned by her parents and her grandfather raised her. I take it he was a saint.”
The Color Phase grandfather had evidently forgiven sinners and spread nothing but noble charity. That must be where Hope got her gentle heart and desire to save the world.
“Oberon? A… saint?” Zakkery’s mouth twitched. “Is that Hope’s take on him?”
“Yes. You disagree?”
“Not when it comes to her, I guess.” Zakkery allowed. “He was fanatically protective of her. They all are. You never saw a family so proud. Like she hung the stars.” He studied the end of his cigarette. “All of us should have had that kind of home.”
Kingu let out a relieved breath. Hope had been alone in this world when he’d had no idea she even existed. If she’d been miserable, he never would have forgiven himself for not finding her sooner. Even knowing he’d been locked up by Kay at the time, Kingu still felt the overriding need to make sure Hope’s childhood had been full of color and joy.
If only one of them could have had that kind of life, he would have wanted it for Hope.
“She was loved?” He had to make sure. “They took care of her?”
“They would die for her.” Zakkery met his eyes. “I know they would. She is the baby of that House, Kingu. They will do anything to get her back.”
“Hope’s not going anywhere.” It was a vow.
“Just don’t harm her family when they come.” Zakkery insisted. “If you don’t listen to another word I say, listen to that. She won’t forgive you if you hurt them. She idolizes those nuts. I saw her with Oberon when she was a kid. The guy was a vicious killer and the size of a sequoia, but she’d sit on his lap like he was Santa Claus.”
Kingu obviously needed to study Color Phase culture because he’d had no clue those idiots were actually trained assassins. “I have no intention of killing her relatives. Is that all you found out about her? You don’t know who her soul mate might be?”
Zakkery shrugged like it was no big deal. “No. But, if Hope has a soul mate, then she’s probably part human.” The words were flat, but his eyes stayed watchful. “That’s the only explanation, I have for you. And it fits with what I know about her past. Humans and Elementals can interbreed. We didn’t know that before this year, but it’s probably been happening forever.”
Kingu blinked, his mind going back to Hope’s reaction about Tessie.
Do you not like humans? Or people who are maybe just –like-- part human?
Her lack of powers… The un-Phase-like curves of her body… Her worried look when he’d consigned the whole species to hell…
Fuck.
Elementals and humans could mate, but he hadn’t thought that any of their offspring lived in this realm. Let alone that one of them would be his woman, with the soul as pure as snow and the body of a fertility goddess. He should have expected the unexpected concerning that girl, though. What had Hope told him? Weird things happened around her.
Fuck.
Zakkery reached over to stub out the cigarette, even though it wasn’t finished. “When she was born, it must have been quite the scandal. I’ll bet you a dollar that’s why her parents abandoned her and it’s probably why Hope’s family has always kept her so quiet. A lot of Phases are a little prejudice against the humes. I probably shouldn’t even have told you.”
Kingu’s eyes narrowed, halfway between incredulous and insulted. “You think I would harm Hope over this? Over anything?”
He’d waited for this woman for more lifetimes than Zakkery could ever comprehend. His powers reached for her like she was heaven itself. Hope was the one who Kingu had searched for. The only one he’d ever wanted.
His only one.
Nothing else mattered, at all.
“Well, you’re kinda uppity about being a god, so it did occur to me you might think that you can do better than a really young, half-breed, blonde with no powers and psycho relatives.”
Hope did have powers. Kingu was sure of that, but he had no intention of informing the Smoke Phase or anyone else until he figured out what they were.
“How old is Hope?” He asked as if that was the only part of Zakkery’s thinly veiled warning that he cared about. As if he didn’t almost roar that Hope could be a gods damn mermaid for all he cared, so she stayed by his side. He didn’t want to reveal how quickly she was enslaving him, even though he had a feeling Zakkery already knew.
Kingu literally had suits older than that hanging in his closet.
“Shit.” The word was resigned. The woman was so new to the world, she’d never known a time without telephones or electric light bulbs. The humans had already been making films when she was a child, for gods’ sake. Kingu still jolted when he saw the pictures moving on screen, but Hope was too young to know what a revelation they’d once been. To her, even black and white pictures probably seem old.
What would Hope think of his age? Knowing that he’d seen worlds crumble to dust and empires come and go like ripples in a pond? Kingu must seem ancient to a being with barely a century of living under her belt. Gods knew he often felt ancient.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Given Hope’s talent for falling into trouble, I did wonder how she survived past infancy. Now I know: She hasn’t, yet.”
“Nope.” Zakkery’s eyes gleamed. “So, this is where I go on instinct and trust that you’re not gonna hurt her. If I thought you’d try punishing Hope because of her age, or family, or polluted DNA or whatever, I would seriously reconsider handing her over to you. I could have just kept her for myself.”
Kingu seized the front of his Ramones shirt, moving so quickly Zakkery didn’t have a chance to evade him. “Hope is better than any of us, you fucking moron! She’s the only one in this whole universe not polluted and she’s mine.”
Zakkery didn’t try to fight back. “I know.” He said, instead. “Just so you know it, too.” There was no jealousy or anger in his face, just uncharacteristic sincerity. “I’m not stupid. I get that she’s your Match and I’m not going to interfere in that. But I’m not kidding. I like the girl. She’s… clean.”
Kingu shoved him back with a curse, unable to work up any enthusiasm for slaughtering a man simply because he saw the truth. Hope was clean. “Just don’t touch her.” He warned, again.
Unbelievable.
Zakkery didn’t care about another being in the realm but he’d apparently taken a shine to Hope. How did the girl manage to attract all the monsters of the world?
Treasure of the Fire Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 4) Page 16
