“I returned it to its owner.”
“The hell you did.” She crossed her arms and stared at the blue sky as if the small puffs of cloud would provide divine answers. “Who did you give it to?”
Her eyes narrowed when he remained silent for a heartbeat too long and she lowered her gaze to his. “Let me guess? The magnificent, beautiful, perfect Angeline?”
“Yes. It was hers.” Ajax reached for her, but she backed away. “I am sorry, Emma. I had no idea you would ask about the stone. I knew it belonged to Angeline the moment Raiden laid it on my chest. It saved me. It brought me back from madness and broke me free from that cage. Having a piece of her soul with me helped me control myself when the darkness wanted me to kill. I had to return it to her. It was powerful, and I did not feel right keeping it from her.”
“God damn you.”
“What is it? What did I do wrong? How was returning the stone to its creator a sin?”
A tear gathered in the corner of her left eye and he wanted to wipe it from her cheek, but didn’t dare move. Emma was incensed. Hurt. Emotions clouded her clear blue eyes faster than he could ever hope to catalog them or respond. But the underlying emotion, the one constant, was pain.
“Where’s Angeline? Where is she?”
“Colorado.”
“Of course, keep the little woman away from the fight until it’s over. Keep her thousands of miles away while the rest of us figure out how to try to survive a freaking army of Triscani Hunters.” Emma called for her mentor, both telepathically and with a voice raised in frustration with him. “Bran!”
“What is the problem, Emma?”
“You’re an idiot. That’s the problem.” Emma held up her hand to stop him from stepping closer, but he ignored it. Let her burn him up, he needed answers. He grabbed her hand as she yelled for Bran again.
“Tell me. Now.”
“Let me go.” Even as she said it heat arced between them, heat and pain and sweet fire that he’d not tasted since she’d burned him clean on her kitchen floor.
“No.” Emma tried to free her hand, but Ajax refused to let go.
He pulled her a step closer, his desire to claim her at war with his conscience, his duty to his people, and his destiny as her Mark poured through their joined hands and lit his entire body on fire.
“No. No. Give it back.”
If he took her Mark, the Triscani would kill her. He’d be painting a giant target on her back and begging every Triscani on the planet to turn her to ash. The Immortals on Itara would reject and ridicule her.
He couldn’t do it, not when he knew it would put her at risk, when it would make her the Triscani’s primary target.
“As you wish.” Gathering every ounce of self-control he possessed, he refused the Mark, pushed her sweet fire back into her body, and hated the pain her saw in her eyes.
When it was over, she tugged her hand from his and panted, out of breath, no doubt as aroused as he. And just as hungry for more.
“I don’t understand why your body even reacted to my Mark. You already have a Marked Mate. Or did your precious Angeline turn you down?” She studied him and threw her hands in the air. “Oh my God. She did. No Angeline? So, now it’s on to plan B? Is that it? The poor little human girl still isn’t good enough for you even though the perfect, Immortal goddess that you really want turned you down?”
“No, Emma. I did meet Angeline and speak to her, but she is not the female I knew. I do not love her, and I did not ask for her Mark.”
“Yeah, well, you didn’t want mine either.” Emma doubled over as if he’d punched her in the stomach and raised both hands to her temples.
“You are wrong, Emma. I can’t accept your Mark yet because it would make you a target for the Triscani Hunters.”
“That’s an excuse. You’ve seen what I can do to Hunters.” She tugged on her hair, as if angry with it, before standing before him with her arms crossed.
“To one or perhaps two. Yes. But not hundreds, not on a battlefield. You’d burn one or two and lose consciousness. You’d be vulnerable and weak, and you’d be their primary target.”
“Nicodemus doesn’t see it that way. He thinks I need to Mark a Mate before the battle so that I’m stronger and my power is more stable.”
“Nicodemus is a selfish, arrogant fool if he doesn’t put your safety above his own selfish desires. You would burn out in the middle of battle and be easy prey.”
“So, now I’m not powerful enough? Is that it? Would Angeline have been powerful enough?”
“She is a true Immortal, not a human, and much more difficult to kill.”
“Agh. Never mind. I’m sorry I asked. I should have already known the answer to that, but I’m just a lowly little human.” She turned her face away from him. “I don’t want to talk to you any more right now. Bran!”
His longtime friend and ally stepped from a portal to his left, a few short steps from them both.
“Did you two miss me already?”
Emma lowered her arms and took a step toward Bran. “I need you to take me to Angeline. Now.”
“Why? Do you wish her harm? You know your temper has always been as fiery as the hair on your head.” Bran studied Emma critically, from her flushed cheeks to the white fire that had expanded from tops of her feet to encompass the entire lower half of her legs. The woman was so angry at him she was burning.
“What? God, no. The woman is, evidently, a hell of a lot smarter than me. I just need to get something from her before I’m stuck here, forever, listening to him.” She pointed in Ajax’s direction, in case Bran couldn’t figure out to which male she referred.
Bran’s eyebrows arched and he looked at Ajax, who shrugged. “She won’t answer my questions.”
“I see.” Bran’s expression clearly indicated that he did. Emma took a few slow breaths and the fire that danced over her flesh disappeared. She completely ignored Ajax now, as if for her, he no longer existed. In a calm, rational voice she answered Bran’s question.
“Look, Angeline has something that’s mine, and I need to get it back.”
The soul stone belonged to Emma?
The pain she felt at his betrayal slammed into his body like a sledgehammer and he staggered, took a step back.
“I’m sorry, Emma. I did not know.”
“You should have.” And that was the beginning and end of the argument in her mind. He should have known.
But he was a king. A warrior. A male who was never allowed to be wrong. A male whose word had once been law to an entire planet. He did not have much practice reading the minds of human females.
“I’m sorry.”
Emma wiped a tear from her cheek and refused to look at him, her body squarely facing Bran. “Tell his royal worship that sometimes sorry isn’t enough.”
Bran bowed over her hand and apologized. “Emma, love, you know I’d take you to her, but I can’t, not for a couple days. I am in a council meeting with the other Archivers on the ship. I only came now because it seemed you were in an emergency.”
“This is an emergency.”
“I’m sorry. Ajax will have to take you.”
Bran opened a portal behind him and backed away from Emma. “I’m sorry. If you still need me to take you to her, I will do so after the Crux.” He disappeared.
“Emma. I am happy to take you to her.”
She turned to him, finally, and the ice in her eyes chilled him to the bone. “Fine. Let’s go.”
And because he was, indeed, an idiot, he asked her one more question. “You said you needed to ask me three things. That was only two. What was the third thing?”
“No way.” She shook her head and put her hands on her hips. “You can forget it.”
An image flashed through his mind, faster than she could sensor. Nicodemus with his lips on hers.
A kiss. She’d been going to ask him for a kiss.
He might not be able to accept her Mark, but a kiss was one need he was happy to answer. He m
oved faster than her human eyes would be able to track and pulled her body to his, lowered his head. Before she could blink, or move, or argue, he had her.
She was fire and ice in his arms, a more potent mix than anything he’d ever dreamt existed. Her Mark tempted and teased him, its energy hot and wild between them, heating his blood and hers until both their hearts raced and his body physically ached to touch her, skin to skin, chest to breast. He needed to taste her and explore every curve, claim every soft line and shadow as his own.
And she kissed him back, her hands buried in his hair, her body going up in flames. She was passion incarnate, an explosion of power and heat in his embrace.
But in her mind, behind the fire, there was a glacier of anger, of hurt and disappointment, of lost dreams and pain. Pain he’d caused her, and because he was the source, pain he knew he could not heal.
She’d firmly taken her heart and soul and locked them away behind an ice castle in her mind. Unbreakable and solid. As real to her as the fire in her body, as real as the Mark’s passion roaring through her blood, and just as strong.
Her Mark burned through her and its sweet fire teased him, but it did not leap to his flesh, not this time.
Ajax kissed her like it was the last time, because it was. He couldn’t risk her life, couldn’t sacrifice her future happiness for his duty, his destiny. She deserved a male who could put her first, who could love and protect her at all times and dedicate his life to keeping her safe and happy.
And as much as it hurt both of them, he knew that he was not that male.
Chapter Eight
Angeline’s office was empty. When Emma walked in the front door to the reception desk and asked for an appointment, when she very politely inquired when the corporate attorney would return, she’d been informed that Miss Angeline Dupre had signed out of the office and wasn’t expected back for a week.
Of course, the secretary would be happy to take Emma’s name, but not tell her anything else. Emma debated using her telepathy to try to dig for answers, but she was so upset right now, she might fry the poor woman’s brain instead of search through it.
Men sucked. That was the only thought that repeated over and over in her mind like a two-word ticker tape.
Men sucked, and her stone was gone, and that kiss had been a monumental mistake. She'd wanted to know if she'd had no reaction to Nicodemus's kiss because of him, or because she simply wasn’t wired for hot sex.
Now she had her answer, and regretted the knowledge. Ajax lit her hair on fire, that was the only way she could describe the way her body responded to him, her obsession with the memory of his lips on hers, and her hunger for more. And the man loved another woman. And when that Immortal female hadn’t Marked him, had he returned for her? Hell no. She didn’t even qualify as his runner-up, second choice, guess I’ll take you because the powerful, beautiful, Immortal female I wanted, the woman I really loved, doesn’t exist anymore. Emma didn’t even rate Plan B.
Such bullshit.
She just couldn’t live with a male who had no respect for her intellect, her gifts, or her heart. He claimed he rejected her Mark to protect her from becoming a Triscani target. News flash, your highness, she was already a target.
Just more lies.
Whatever. If he’d wanted her, he could have accepted her Mark and shipped her off to Alaska until the battle was over. Now? Now she was going into battle alone, but that was somehow supposed to be safer for her because she wouldn’t be identified as his Queen?
It didn’t make any sense to her. A much more logical explanation was that he just didn’t want her and was looking for a way to soften the blow. That was the more likely option. That was the option that made her want to kill Bran for decades of lies. That was the option that broke her heart.
She should have just fried his ass on her kitchen floor. That would have hurt less.
Emma walked back outside to the male who stood waiting for her. The one who drove her crazy and made her want to throw things. The first and only man she’d ever wanted naked, and she couldn’t have him. She would not do that to herself. She’d saved herself for love, not lust with a playboy alien who was more interested in war than he was in her. Her libido could just go jump in an ice pond.
“She’s not here. Not expected back for a week.”
Ajax looked down at her with no expression. “I doubt she would have left the stone behind, but we should search her office.” He grabbed her hand and ported them both into the Angeline’s private office. The door was closed and Emma made sure it was locked before looking around.
The place was immaculate. Leather-bound law books lined perfectly stained cherry bookshelves. Various college degrees and awards were hung on the walls precisely spaced and at right angles. Her desk was spotless and there wasn’t an ounce of paper in sight. No folders. No note pads. No forgotten pens or paper clips. It looked like a page from a decorator’s magazine, arranged for display and perfect. Not a place where anyone actually worked.
“Neat freak much?” Emma walked to the desk and pulled open the equally well-organized drawers. None of them were locked. The woman’s office took obsessive compulsive to a whole new level.
Ajax scowled and looked around, checking the walls and small filing cabinets off to one side. “She was not like this before. When I knew her on Itara, she influenced people with a soft voice and kind words. People listened to her because she took care of them. People trusted her with their secrets because they did not view her as a threat. She was more likely to have a flower in her hand than a pen.”
Emma stood, hands on her hips. She’d looked in every drawer, every nook and cranny. No stone. “Well, I think she got over that. If this is her office, I’d hate to see her house. Or try to face off with her in court. I bet she’s one hell of a lawyer.”
Ajax seemed to agree. “Yes. Well, with her mother, she’d have to be just to survive.”
“Who’s her mother?”
He pulled all the files out of a drawer and then meticulously began to put them back. “She was a member of the Third Circle. Very powerful. Only eight Immortals on Itara outranked her in the government, and one of those was the Queen.”
“Wow.” Okay. So, he’d married well in his last life. Emma walked around a small corner to a small sitting area with one beige suede chair and a small side table decorated with a beautiful lamp. A small footstool was tucked against it, and Emma could easily imagine the attorney spending long nights with her feet up, reading in that chair. Two photos were on the wall, and one of them, she was sure, was Angeline.
“Hair like black silk. Eyes golden amber. Tall…”
And there she was. The woman who’d held Ajax’s heart for centuries. Emma had to give her credit. She was gorgeous. And smart. A real blue blood on Itara. An Immortal. And very, very well organized. “She must have taken the soul stone with her.”
Ajax closed the last drawer silently. “Unfortunately, I agree.”
“So, now we have to find her.” Emma pulled her new cell phone from her back pocket. She’d picked it up while shopping with Katherine, and was glad she had as she hit speed dial. “Katherine? It’s Emma. Didn’t you say you knew someone who could find people who didn’t want to be found?”
Katherine’s answer gave her a much needed boost of confidence. “Yes. My boy Drew can find anybody.”
“Nice. Her name is Angeline Dupre. She’s a corporate attorney in Denver and her office is off Lincoln, but she’s not here. Out for a week. I need to know where she is, and I need to know today. It’s kind of an emergency.”
“No problem. I’ll get him on it. I’ll text you as soon as I get something from him.”
“Thank you.” Emma hung up and shoved the phone into her back pocket. “Okay. It’s not here. I doubt anything of real value is here. She seems like the kind of woman who’d be way too careful for that. Let’s go.”
Ajax didn’t move and she was forced to look at him. “Why is it an emergency, Emma? Why do you n
eed the stone so badly?”
Emma debated what to tell him and what not to. No one but her parents and Bran, and apparently she needed to add Celestina to this list, knew what she could do. She didn’t feel comfortable sharing everything with him, but she didn’t want to lie, and she didn’t want him to downplay the importance of finding it. She had to have it before the Crux. She was too vulnerable without the ability to jump.
“It’s a soul stone.”
“Yes.”
“It’s mine.”
“But what piece of you is locked within it, Emma? What power does it hold?”
“I don’t want to lie to you, Ajax.”
“So don’t.”
Emma sighed. “Let’s just say I need it back by tomorrow, or, according to Celestina, it’ll be a bit too easy for Droghan to cut off my head.”
“I would never allow that.”
“Well, my guess is you won’t be there to stop him.” She walked to stand beside him and grabbed his hand. The wave of heat that flowed through her at the simple touch just made her angrier. “Get me out of here, please.”
“When did you speak with Celestina?”
“This morning.”
“When? And why would I not be with you to fight Droghan? Why did she not speak to the rest of us?”
“Probably because you’re a bunch of hot-headed, stubborn males who don’t listen to reason.”
That stung, she could tell by the angry crease between his brows. “Is Nicodemus included on this list of stubborn males?”
“Does he have a penis?” Her cell phone buzzed in her back pocket before he could come up with an answer. Katherine. Damn, the woman hadn’t been kidding. Five minutes. Tops.
Emma read the text and looked at Ajax. She was done playing by these Immortals’ rules. Her entire life had been dictated by them. First Bran, even before she was born, and then the Triscani, who’d hunted her every minute she was breathing, Celestina stole her jump power, and now, Ajax toyed with her heart like a kid with a yo-yo. No. She was tired of that game. Time to take back control of her own life, and to do that, she needed that soul stone.
White Fire: Timewalker Chronicles, Book 5 Page 8
