He brushed a kiss over her cheek and found wetness. He pulled back so he could see her, "Are you crying? I did hurt you, didn't I?"
She shook her head back and forth adamantly. "No." She said no, but her eyes were glistening. "Happy tears."
He relaxed just a little and put his elbows on either side of her so he could push tears away with the pads of both thumbs. "Seems oxymoronic to me."
She laughed quietly. "You're too smart for your own good, you know that?"
"That's what they used to say when... I was a kid."
Even in the darkness he could see that she was looking at him with something in her eyes that could be mistaken for adoration if he let his imagination run away with him, that look he'd seen at dinner in Siena. He ducked his head and brushed his cheek against hers.
Later, on her knees, sitting back on her heels and not the least inhibited about her nudity, Litha said, "Remember when you said you wanted someone entertaining?"
He laughed softly. "Unfortunately I do. What an idiotic thing to say."
"Look at me for a minute and don't look away."
"Why?"
"I don't think you believed me when I said I could be entertaining. I'm going to prove it."
It had been a long time since a woman had tried to tell Storm what to do. Undoubtedly this was the first time he had ever been both pleased and amused to obey. After a minute passed he smiled and reached for her.
"Well, it's not that looking at you without clothes on isn't entertaining. Because certainly it is, but, strictly speaking, I meant something more along the lines of..."
She put her fingers to his lips to shush him and smiled.
"Okay. Turn around now."
He turned his head and his mouth dropped open of its own accord. Thousands upon thousands of fireflies hovered over the river and danced in the trees on the other side. They swooped, darted, and flitted. It was a spectacle that was magical beyond imagination. Storm laughed out loud, a sound so joyful and so rare it startled him, almost making him jump like a puppy with a grown dog's bark.
In that moment, he realized he'd never felt that before - that special happiness that transcends life on earth taking you to a place in spirit called rapture.
When he turned to look at Litha, there were fireflies encircling her, lighting her face. So that's what love looks like. When he thought about the fact that he might have missed this, might have missed out on loving Litha...
He laughed again as he reached for her and pulled her into a thank you and thank-the-gods-for-you kiss. Her naked body went soft and invitingly pliant as she made a sound that could only be called a murmur of happiness. When he pulled back and looked around, the fireflies were gone as if they'd never been there.
He smiled down at her."Without a doubt you are the most entertaining woman who has ever lived. If you had just said so in the first place, we could have saved ourselves a lot of aggravation," he teased.
As they drank wine and nibbled from the cheese sampler he'd bought, Storm relaxed into the simple pleasure of being with a woman. He'd spent so much of his life in the company of men, doing things that were unsuitable for their delightfully softer female counterparts.
Lying on his back with Litha snuggled into his side, her head on his chest, he told her that he'd been thinking it was time for something different; that maybe all the changes around him meant moving on would be the best thing. Litha listened quietly, encouraging him to feel comfortable enough with her to say whatever was on his mind. She only hoped that whatever change he was envisioning had a place for her in it.
"Do you ever want to tell me what happened when you disappeared through that wall?'
She tensed. "Yes. But not tonight."
She knew she should have told him about her demon blood, but she had to know what it was like to be with him, even if it was only once. If it was wrong for her to withhold that little bit of information about herself, then she'd rather live with a little guilt than a lifetime of wondering.
Litha tiptoed back into the bunkroom, she saw that Elora's bunk, directly underneath hers, was empty. Katrina was AWOL as well. She pulled the sheet up to her waist. She was glad she didn't have a bunk mate because she smelled like sex; sex mixed with Storm's muskiness. It was powerful and raw and she wanted to permanently imprint the scent on her memory so that she could make it last forever. She closed her eyes and smiled in the darkness.
Elora woke with a start. It took a second to remember where she was. She'd slept in too many different beds in too many different rooms lately. She shook her mate and called to him in a forceful, breathy whisper.
"Ram! Ram!"
He opened his eyes, raised his head and glanced around to see what might have disturbed his wife, but found nothing threatening in the darkness or the silence.
She grabbed his hand and pulled it over to cover her flat tummy. "I felt the baby move."
He came fully awake then, turning toward her and pressing his hand gently, but more firmly. They lay still, waiting, looking at each other in the dim light, and, sure enough, after a few seconds her stomach seemed to move of its own accord under his palm. Ram's face split into a grin so big it was contagious and Elora found herself grinning back at him with only the moonlight as their witness.
Without moving his hand away, he snuggled closer.
"What's his name?"
"Aelshelm Storm Laiken-Hawking. We'll call him Helm."
Ram mouthed it in the darkness like he was trying it on. Then he whispered, "Helm! Stop eatin' out of the dog bowl right now or we'll be in big trouble with your mum!"
Elora found out how hard it can be to laugh without making a sound. Ram began a series of possible scenarios that all began with Helm exclamation mark. At length Elora realized he could go on like this forever, probably recounting incidents from his own history. It could have been her imagination, but it seemed to her that every time Ram whispered, "Helm!", the baby jumped.
"Stop!" she laughed. "The baby knows his name and doesn't know you're teasing. He thinks you're scolding him and his objection is being registered by the lining of my womb."
Eventually she was forced to stop his litany mid sentence with her own mouth. Which was okay with him.
***
CHAPTER_21
Storm was glad to be wearing a long sleeve shirt. He turned it up at the cuff to just under the teeth marks he had left on his own skin. Throughout the day, whenever no one was looking, he pulled his sleeve up to admire the bite print and relive the memory of how it came to be there. Having marks on his body was hardly novel. Vampire hunters sustain a lot of bodily evidence of violence. But this was the first time he had ever delighted in a skin deep memento.
The wedding invitations, sent electronically because there was no time to do anything else, had stipulated Shoes Optional, Bare Toes Preferred. Kay and his groomsmen wore jeans and untucked, pinpoint oxford shirts with button down collars, sleeves rolled up. Kay's was white. Storm's was yellow. Ram's was blue.
The bride, her maids, and Elora wore solid color, summery dresses in various shades of the wearer's choosing. Katrina's, of course, was white. All the women carried bouquets made from delicate stems of yellow orchids plaited with end branches from the huge willow tree across the river.
The priest from the Congregation of the Children of Norway waited at the head of the bridal bower that had been procured from a rental place in San Antonio. He looked a little warm in his robes, but was smiling. Next to him, all four members of Bad Company stood together looking like they belonged that way.
The music started. It was a greatly slowed down version of "Bang My Bell" played live on a single electric mandolin. Squoozie was first to walk the carpet aisle that had been laid on top of the grass. She was followed by Dandie who winked at her boyfriend on the way by and Urz who smiled at her boyfriend on the way by.
Next came Litha who moved with such grace it almost seemed she wasn't touching ground. Her dress was a featherweight, boat necked, jerse
y knit, the same deep green as her eyes. It draped her curves beautifully and fell to mid shin where it fluttered around her legs in a handkerchief cut. When she'd bought it, she never expected to wear it barefooted, but somehow it worked. Her focus was trained on Storm standing at the end of the aisle next to Kay. She wore a serene, Mona-Lisa smile like a woman well-loved and never took her eyes away from him.
Storm started to swallow, but felt his throat constrict with some hard-to-identify emotion that might be longing.
Last, of course, was Katrina who looked every bit the radiant bride. No one would guess that she had been abducted and held captive in a demon's lair less than a fortnight in the past. Kay could not have looked happier and his friends could not have been happier for him.
When the bride and groom took their places, the wedding party turned toward them as they had been instructed to do in rehearsal. That left Storm and Litha experiencing the wedding ceremony facing each other, three feet apart. Their eyes were locked on each other as they listened to the priest talk at length about the history and significance of marriage, about its implications personally, socially, and economically. The officiate talked about the blessings of life partnerships that do not waver, but grow stronger and sweeter over time. He talked about the wonder of love, its healing properties and sustaining gifts, and what a miracle it is when the right two people find each other in such a complicated world.
Katrina had to nudge Litha to get her attention so that she could hand off the bouquet and join hands with Kay. The priest related the story of the couple's meeting on the first day of kindergarten, how she had cried when her mother had left and how Kay had rushed to console her and let her know that she had a friend and that she would never be alone.
He went on to tell the guests that the couple had chosen to compose their own pledges to each other. The bride went first and recited a variation on traditional vows. She stumbled a couple of times because she was emotional and everyone present was moved by the obvious depth of her feeling.
Then it was Kay's turn. He looked down at Katrina with absolute adoration shining in his eyes. "You could say my vows are lyrical because they're taken from one of your favorite songs. I knew I could never say what's in my heart any better than this.
I, Chaos Erik Caelian, vow that I'm never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down...
By the time Kay got to the third line of the chorus, Katrina had big tears running down her face as did Kay's only groomswoman, the knight who never fails to cry at the slightest suggestion of sentimentality. Storm and Litha had resumed their silent communion.
When he finished reciting his vows, the priest pronounced them married. After they kissed, Katrina retrieved her bouquet then everybody including Katrina laughed when Kay surprised the bride by swooping her up in his arms to carry her down the aisle to the joyous recorded music of "Bang My Bell" played in real time. If anybody could pull that off and look good doing it, it was Kay.
Litha turned toward the guests with her bouquet in her right hand and waited for Storm to offer his arm, but he stood transfixed and immobile, still staring at Litha.
Storm was a good listener and he had listened to the proceedings with careful solemnity. Kay had loved Katrina since they were babies while Storm had known Litha for only a matter of days if you counted the time she was in this dimension. And, yet, with every line Kay said to Katrina, Storm had been looking at Litha thinking, "That's exactly how I feel about her. That's the face I want to see morning, noon, and night for the rest of the strange life that seems to be playing out for me."
He was hit with a stroke of clarity as surely as if a lightning bolt had descended from the sky and touched him in the solar plexus. And he was decided.
Like the pair who had just married, he didn't want to waste any more time either. So, instead of offering his arm to walk Litha up the aisle behind the bride and groom, he turned away from the little congregation, putting the wedding guests at his back and held out his left hand to Litha.
She had no idea what he was doing, but, whatever it was, she was all in. From the moment she had gotten a look at the tall, dark knight who stepped into the headquarters foyer on a rainy day in Edinburgh her heart had informed her that she was never going to be the same and wouldn't want to be. The bouquet was transferred to her left hand so that she could put her right hand in his which then left them facing the priest.
At the other end of the carpet, Katrina had been set on her feet and signaled for them to stop the music. The wedding guests grew quiet and waited, not knowing what to think.
Storm was wearing the sort of look of intensity that only he could generate. “Marry me.” He squeezed her hand just a little. "Right now."
Litha's eyes went wide and her lips parted as she took in a gasp. Her confused emotions raised goose bumps all over her body at the same time her eyes filled with liquid. One of those tears spilled over onto her cheek.
Storm stepped into her as he reached up to catch it with his free hand. “None of that. It's going to be good.” She searched his face. He was so powerfully confident and so reassuring. "Our life is going to be a firefly picnic." That smile didn't give any indication that there was any doubt in his heart. Which was one of the reasons why it was going to be so hard and so painful to make all that hope and magic come crashing down on their heads like an avalanche.
She leaned into him and whispered. "I can't. There's something I have to tell you."
When he pulled back to look at her, she saw the disappointment that crossed his face. He turned to the crowd. "Okay, everybody. Just relax. Back in five."
He grabbed Litha's hand and pulled her toward the river, just far enough away so they could talk without being heard.
"Speak," he said.
She looked around, anywhere but directly at him, and rubbed her palms on the skirt of her dress. This was a development she couldn't have anticipated or prepared for in a hundred years.
"I really should have told you before."
"Litha. Come on. How bad can it be?"
She mustered the courage to look up into his face, pressed her lips together then blew out a breath. "Depends on how you look at it. No matter what, you can't tell anybody else."
His disappointment was turning into concern and he took on that all-business, serious expression that was vintage Storm. "Alright."
She told him the whole story. Start to finish even though she told it fast and abbreviated parts of it. She didn't think the fact that Storm was so still and quiet was a very good sign. She finished with, "That's it"
"That's it? Katrina told us that as soon as she came back."
Litha was shocked. "You knew already?" He nodded. "So you're saying it's okay with you? That I'm... only part human?"
Storm hesitated for a beat and then laughed. "Litha, my three best friends in the world, the rest of B Team - not one of them is fully human. I'm the odd man out. Kay's a berserker. Ram's an elf. Elora - well, I guess she's elf plus. Why would it make any difference to me? Demon's just a word.
"You risked everything to rescue somebody you didn't even know. Goodness just doesn't come any shinier than that. If demon blood is part of what makes you who you are, then I'm glad for it."
Of all the possible reactions Litha had imagined, well, that wasn't one of them. She hadn't realized how tense she was and how much she'd been dreading this moment until relief settled over her. She threw her arms around his neck.
Then he added, with a touch of awe, "And. There's the car."
She pulled back so she could see his face and determine whether he was kidding or not. He just looked at her and blinked once. "Well, regardless, that's not all."
"That's not all?" he parroted. "You just said 'that's it'."
She positioned herself so that his body blocked her from the view of the wedding assembly. Then she pulled a little ball of blue and orange flame into her hands.
"Okay. I heard about that, too, but seeing it is really something else. We're going to n
eed some ground rules for arguing with each other."
"I didn't even know I could do this until that night in the Hung Goose pub. I was so crazy jealous seeing you dancing and touching those other..."
"So I guess Elora was right. I did owe the bill for the damage that night."
She looked confused. "The bill?"
"Yeah. Elora insisted that the fire was my fault and made me pay the bill for damage and lost business. We argued about it. It seemed irrational to me to conclude that it was my fault, but I agreed to pay for it because..." He sighed deeply, looked out at the river for an instant, and then back at her. "...because I felt guilty I guess. What I did that night was shameful. I was trying to provoke your jealousy. The damndest thing is that I couldn't even tell you why." The corners of his mouth twitched. "Of course, I didn't know I was literally playing with fire." That got a tentative smile from her. "But I can tell you I'm sorry I put you through that."
He put his arms around her and eased her closer. "If you did that to me, I'd want to do a lot more than just burn the place down. And I would probably hurt people who touched you more than I should. I won't share you with other boys."
She looked up at him like she wasn't ready to believe her own good fortune. "You still want me."
His arms tightened and he brushed his lips over her nose. "Litha Brandywine, my very own half-demon, fire-starting, incredibly sexy witch, you're looking at the guy who's never gonna give you up."
What she saw in his face and heard in his voice let her know that he had settled into a love for her that was burning as steady and even as the flame of a pilot light. But what completely undid her was that what she saw in those intense, black eyes just happened to be what she needed most in a mate. Fearlessness.
The priest had just finished dabbing his brow and chin with a white handkerchief. “I can’t marry you. It wouldn’t be legal and, no offense... " He glanced from one to the other. "...but I'm guessing you're not Children of Norway.”
The Witch's Dream - A Paranormal Romance (The Order of the Black Swan, BOOK TWO) Page 29
