Phoenix Blood (Old School Book 1)

by Jenny Schwartz

  She closed the distance between them, her shocked expression softening to one of desire.

  “You are beautiful.” His voice deepened and roughened with emotion breaking free. “You have three cute freckles on the bridge of your nose and the sweetest mouth. I remember how it was when we made love. The world melted.”

  She smiled. “I think it was me who melted.”

  He put his hands on her shoulders, slowly caressing the length of her arms, back up to her shoulder blades, down to her hips, up and around, over her stomach, to her breasts, and all the time he watched her face.

  Her lips parted, soft breaths feathering faster as her arousal grew.

  “I remember.” His voice was hoarse. “How sensitive your breasts are. I could make you come just by touching you here.” He molded her breasts through her shirt and bra, feeling the warm weight of them, finding the teasing hint of her taut nipples. “I remember how they tasted.”

  “Marcus.”

  “So sweet.” He dropped to his knees and rested his face against her stomach. “As precious as hearing you say my name.”

  “Why are you kneeling?” she whispered, running her hands through his hair. He’d loved scalp massages and she’d given the best.

  “So that I don’t seduce you,” he answered honestly.

  She knelt, leaning into him. “You seduce me by breathing, by being here, by being you.”

  He kissed her hungrily, passionately, till they both swayed and laughed, and he stood and brought her to her feet, too.

  She rested against him, her hand over his latest scar, fingers tracing it, soothing and inciting.

  “I saw you ram the van,” Marcus said.

  Sadie smiled. Those had to be the oddest love words, but the timbre of his voice, husky and approving, made them a compliment. “I was going back to find you.”

  The muscles of his arms flexed around her as he responded to her confession. “Into the truck, beautiful.”

  She glanced at him, surprised.

  “We still need to reach Taos, tonight,” he said. “I saw Karma’s phoenix form just before the magic healed me.”

  Sadie looked around for the phoenix and found Karma perched on the roof of the truck.

  The bird swooped down and into the truck through the open driver’s door. She settled on the cup holder, tail feathers lying over the driver’s seat.

  Marcus stared at the phoenix for a second before looking back at Sadie. “You’re wearing the amulet and it puzzled me. If the amulet lets the wearer see through any glamour, I couldn’t work out why you saw Karma’s bird of paradise form and not her true self.” He broke off as he reached into the truck for his backpack and pulled out a t-shirt. He dragged it on. “I think I understand, now. The bird of paradise is Karma’s physical form, as the eagle was her mother’s. But in spirit form.” His chest rose and fell deeply. “I’m not being blasphemous, but it was almost a religious experience.”

  Sadie thought of the terrible new scars on his stomach. The passion she felt from kissing and touching him quieted into a haunted awareness of how nearly she’d lost him. “A near-death experience?” she suggested carefully.

  “Perhaps.” He didn’t seem interested in his own near-death. He put his arm around her and walked her around the truck to the passenger door. “Karma is power and fire. She is magic as a living force.” He watched Sadie climb into her seat and rested his hand a moment on her knee. His fingers were warm; humanly, healthily warm. They felt so good touching her, both a promise and reassurance even if his mind was busy with intellectual puzzles. “I don’t know how Grandfather caged a phoenix for so long. Those must have been strongly ensorcelled shackles.”

  He closed the door and walked, lean and muscled, easy in his strength, around the front of the truck to get in the driver’s seat; first brushing Karma’s tail feathers out of the way. The truck started with a low roar. “The shackles were melted blobs of silver and other metals after the explosion that killed Karma’s mother and cracked open Karma’s shell.”

  “Did you see…?” Sadie glanced at Karma and dropped her voice to a whisper. “Karma’s mom’s body?”

  The bird tilted its head to one side, studying Sadie, seemingly undisturbed by her question—if Karma even understood it.

  “No. I assume it incinerated.” He extracted a bag of sunflower seeds from the pocket in the driver’s door and passed them to Sadie.

  She opened the bag and tipped some seeds into her palm, holding them out to Karma.

  The phoenix chirruped happily before settling in to crunch the seeds. She seemed such an ordinary bird. Even when Sadie squinted, she couldn’t see a hint of Karma’s spiritual form. But if she’d somehow activated and guided Marcus’s magic to heal him, which was what he described, then Sadie was Karma’s biggest fan. She poured more sunflower seeds into her palm.

  They reached the highway, and speeding along it, caught each other up on their individual activities from the handover meeting Vanessa had set up in Venice Beach on Saturday to the clumsiness of the griffin form. Even as Sadie listened to Marcus’s abbreviated description of his fight with the wizard in werewolf form, happiness shimmered through her. He had survived. More than that, he’d healed himself. Even if the fever in his blood returned, if he’d healed himself once, he could do it again.

  “You’re not going to die.” The words burst out of her, interrupting his consideration of the Nelson Davies’s likely next attack.

  “No sooner than anyone else.” Marcus grinned. He reached across Karma to squeeze Sadie’s hand, ignoring the dust of sunflower seeds that clung to it.

  Her fingers tangled and clung to his. “You can make plans for the future.” She heard an embarrassing level of hope and wistfulness in her voice.

  He took his gaze off the road for an instant, just long enough for the emotions visible in his eyes to scorch her. “I want to plan for our future.”

  She squeezed his hand, convulsively. “Yes.”

  Warmth enveloped her and she felt a phantom kiss on her mouth. “Marcus?”

  “Mmm?” He ran his thumb over her knuckles.

  “Your magic is touching me.”

  He released her hand. “It is? It doesn’t seem to respond to commands or structure, but to emotion. I can try and stop it. What is it doing?”

  “Wrapping me in warmth and feathering what feels like kisses toward my left ear. The sensations are pleasant.” An understatement. “But I want you touching me, not your magic.”

  The warmth and kisses faded, sweetly reluctant.

  “I want that, too.” He cleared his throat. “Tonight?”

  A blush that was at least half arousal heated her skin. “One bed in our hotel room tonight.”

  Sadie smiled with delight and a touch of nervousness.

  Marcus had done better, far better, than an hotel room. While she’d taken her turn at driving, he’d booked an entire cabin. The wilderness retreat was an adobe structure with Spanish tiles on the floor and cheerful painted walls. Colorful rugs on the floor and draped over comfortable sofas made the place homey. A fire burned in the rustic fireplace and a table was set near it, laid for dinner for two. From the kitchen came the appetizing aroma of a hot meal keeping warm in the oven.

  Outside, the stars were bright overhead and there were no close neighbors. The place was magical, a dream location for a honeymoon.

  “I need to set a ward,” Marcus said prosaically, but broke off to kiss Sadie, taking her unaware and stealing her breath even as her heart started rocketing. “Ward first, then romance,” he growled.

  “I’ll be waiting.” She wandered through the house while he walked a perimeter outside. Karma was out there with him. Sadie glimpsed the two as dark shadows in the twilight. If the phoenix was tempted by the freedom of her ancestral San Juan Mountains, it didn’t show.

  Marcus returned inside, leaving a window open for Karma to come and go.

  The phoenix chirruped and flew out.

  “She’ll be back,�
�� Sadie said, responding to the solemn look in his eyes and the seriousness of his expression. “You’ll miss her when she does leave.”

  “Karma was the only being I let myself care about in nine years. But now I have you.” Fierce possessiveness deepened his voice.

  “You definitely have me.” While he’d set the ward, she’d had a quick shower. There were no seduction clothes in her duffel bag, so she’d done her best by going braless with a soft chambray shirt and cut-off shorts. She was barefoot and wished that she’d painted her toenails at home last weekend.

  By the smile in Marcus’s eyes, he saw no deficiencies. He reached for her and she went willingly into his arms. Their kisses were tender and slow.

  “I should shower and shave.” He rasped a thumb along his stubbled jawline.

  “I like the sexy pirate look.” She caressed his face.

  He inhaled, breathing in her scent and touch, obviously relishing both. “I don’t want to scratch you,” he said determinedly and strode out of the living room to the bedroom.

  She set out the meal while he showered. They had a spicy beef stew and fresh bread rolls with three kinds of ice cream in the freezer for dessert. The fridge also held fresh fruit and other breakfast supplies for the morning. Investigation of the cupboards revealed candles in chunky glass holders. She grabbed two and put them on the intimate table for two near the fireplace. As she lit them, the fire in the hearth flared.

  “Sorry I startled you.” Marcus stood in the doorway. “The magic escaped me. You…this…it’s like something from a dream.” A dream he hadn’t dared to imagine for nine years.

  She abandoned the candles and table and ran to him, catching his hand and pulling him into the room. It hurt her heart to see him waiting in the doorway, caught in a habit of exile.

  The meal was excellent. They ate without talking much. Marcus refused wine and Sadie felt the same. Her senses and emotions were already on overload. She sipped chilled water and watched him finish his beef stew. Her own appetite was small, but she hadn’t had to heal a mortal injury or transform into a fantastical creature.

  When she realized she was staring at him, she turned her gaze to the fireplace. Firelight played over the stone of it and drew her gaze to the glowing heart of the flames. She’d met a man once who claimed to read the future in fire.

  She jolted out of her dreamy trance when Marcus stood and took their plates to the kitchen.

  “Stay where you are.” He refused her attempt to help. When he returned, he asked if she wanted ice cream.

  She smiled into the dark intensity of his eyes that burned hotter than the flames in the fireplace. “No.” She stood. “It’s not ice cream I want for dessert.”

  He slid his arms around her as if they’d dance. Instead, they kissed and their bodies moved in fractional slides of skin against clothing against skin. He undid the buttons of her shirt and anticipation gripped her so hard that she barely had breath to plead one word.

  “Bed,” she whispered.

  “Are we in a hurry?” He stared at her breasts, his hands gentle at the sides of them, holding back her shirt.

  “I am.”

  He smiled.

  She watched the curve of his mouth and a deep tremor started low in her belly.

  “I want to see you by fire and candlelight.” He eased her shirt off and an indescribable groan escaped him, a rumbling sound of longing and approval.

  “I’m not that beautiful,” she said, half-laughing and wholly reassured. Nine years had changed her.

  He caressed her breasts gently. “You are to me.” Moving swiftly, he grabbed cushions and piled them in front of the fire before urging her down onto them. He pulled off his t-shirt and the firelight played over his tanned skin and over his scars.

  But Sadie refused to think of his scars. She leaned back against the cushions and the position arched her back and pushed forward her breasts.

  Marcus licked his tongue over his lower lip. Then he lowered himself over her, bracing his weight on his arms.

  She trailed her fingers down his spine.

  He licked her right nipple and she quivered. He circled the bud with his tongue.

  She dragged her nails up his back.

  He massaged her left breast while he licked and sucked her right one, creating a rhythm that tugged all the nerves in her body to high alert, to wanting. She rocked with his rhythm. She pressed her hands into his back, urging him closer, urging him on.

  “Tell me want you want. Tell me what you like,” he said before sucking her left breast into his mouth.

  She lifted up against him, crying out, but not quite climaxing.

  He undid the button on her denim cut-offs.

  She listened to the rasp of the zip.

  He rolled onto his back and she rolled with him, coming to rest over him, on her knees, palms either side of his head. He grabbed cushions and stuffed them under his head, raising himself so that he could reach her breasts even as his thrust his fingers inside her shorts. She rode his hand as he sucked her breasts, alternating between them till she came.

  “Foreplay.” He leaned up and kissed her panting mouth ardently. “Now, bed.”

  He stripped off his jeans just inside the bedroom, while she, a touch shy, but determined, dealt with her shorts and panties. He beat her to the bed. The room was shadowed and he was a darker shadow waiting for her. She crawled in and over him and they touched and stroked and kissed until he broke away to fumble for a condom, refusing her offer to help, and putting it on with shaking hands.

  When he entered her, it was as if her heart repaired itself after nine broken years. The emptiness that she’d denied existed at the center of her life was now filled. She kissed Marcus desperately, helplessly, joyously, as he started to move.

  He was so strong, a man tested by life and standing tall. A man alone who’d found her and held her close.

  The shivering tease of a building second climax stole away her capacity to think. She locked herself to him and moved as he demanded as the rhythm between them crashed into overload.

  “Sadie.” Her name tore from his throat as he climaxed.

  She held him as her orgasm shattered her utterly. Pleasure melted her bones. She simply lay there, even later, when he’d disposed of the condom in the bathroom and returned to her. By the moonlight that shone through the window she saw his expression; relaxed as it hadn’t been in days. Smiling. Loving.

  “I’d hug you,” she said. “But…ugh.” She flopped her arms in explanation.

  “I don’t mind.” He lay beside her and adjusted her to fit in his arms, tangling their legs, entwining them.

  She fell asleep to the gentle caress of his hand at her hip.

  Marcus didn’t sleep. Sleep wasn’t possible when a man was this happy. He held Sadie and refused to think of the past or future. She was in his arms, now, and that was everything.

  Chapter 13

  “We have to free Karma this morning,” Marcus said. “I’d like it if we could make it to Flagstaff for the night. That would make tomorrow’s drive easier.” His words were prosaic, but the expression in his dark eyes as he sat on the edge of the bed, drinking coffee and watching Sadie comb and braid her hair was anything but ordinary.

  His gaze felt like a full body caress to her.

  They’d made love again before dawn, waking naturally and turning to one another. To wake to love and being loved was amazing. Sadie felt as if she glowed, her happiness an aura around her. “Once we’ve delivered the amulet, we can go away somewhere.”

  He smiled at her and stood, setting the coffee mug down on a chest of drawers so that he could slide his arms around her. “I would like that very much.”

  “Will Nelson or others try to follow us?” She worried about the danger she’d brought to Marcus. He’d taken the threat to her onto himself. He’d reported that the ward around the Taos cabin hadn’t been disturbed, but that didn’t mean Nelson wasn’t somewhere nearby, making plans.

  Marc
us’s smile faded, but not as if he worried.

  She recognized the stern line of his mouth as desire and stretched up to kiss him, drawn to him as powerfully as iron to a magnet. He ran his hands from her butt, up her back and along her throat to cup her face. The feel of his calloused fingers, strong and gentle, holding her head for his sensual kiss was exciting. She trusted him and her trust fed his confidence. The coaxing hesitance of his seduction last night had given place to a sure touch that was about her pleasure, while assuring her that he got his own.

  She turned her head within his hold and flicked out her tongue to lick his thumb. He ran it along her lower lip as their gazes locked. She sucked his thumb into her mouth.

  Nine years ago they’d played teasing games of light-hearted discovery. Now, they were different people. They brought different experiences and strengths to their relationship. Different expectations. Different desires.

  Sadie wanted to chase the haunted shadows out of Marcus’s eyes and soul. At the same time, she wanted to honor the trauma he’d endured and survived. She was falling in love all over again with a complex, self-sacrificing man.

  She touched the button of his jeans.

  He caught her wrist. “We have to go.” His thumb slipped from her mouth.

  “I know. Things to do, phoenixes to free.” He’d held her wrist, but her fingers were free to stroke the front of his jeans.

  Humor laced his voice. “Is it phoenixes you’re thinking of freeing?”

  She laughed and withdrew her hand. “I’ll show you, tonight.” They really did have to get on the road.

  “I look forward to it.” He kissed her hungrily before stepping away.

  Karma waited for them in the living room, on the sill of the window that Marcus had left open for her. The dawn light struck golden highlights in her tail feathers and head crest. She was looking into the house rather than out at freedom.

  Would she let Marcus leave her or would she break his heart and follow him? He wanted her to be free.