The Bastard

by Inez Kelley

  He grunted, a wordless burst of hot air that said nothing. He turned his back, stomping the few feet into an open cabin with a console and steering wheel. A fast glance at the illuminated screen furrowed his brows deeper and the glossed wood wheel spun with his vicious yank. The boat turned. It wasn’t a jerky move, simply the water licking at the sides shifted and the sails arched in a new direction with a gentle flap. The mild side dip of the hull barely challenged her balance.

  The moon drifted in the sky, moving from one fixed spot to another, the stars trailing in its wake. Lacy knew nothing about boats or sailing, but even her untrained eye could see he was in complete control of the vessel. Stiff-spined, he stood gripping the wheel with huge fisted hands and refused to face her. It didn’t mean she couldn’t read him. Every line in his body was taut and rigid.

  “Everything I saw that night was real. There was a man with you who melted to dust. Those men who attacked me had snake tongues. You were swinging that axe. And you held a knife to my throat. Why’d you stop, Erik? Why didn’t you just kill me?”

  His fist pounded on the console. “God damn it, Lace. You’re Scion, you know that now. Scionim.”

  “So? Better a dead Scion than one in Samael’s hands. What stopped you?”

  Chest heaving, he twisted around and glared. Anger reddened his cheeks. “You thanked me.”

  “Words.” She crossed the wooden deck until she could see every single lash that circled his eyes. “Just words.”

  “You touched me.”

  The admission was a whisper. She stroked over his cheek, giving him the same caress she had that night. His eyes closed in surrender as he turned his mouth to her palm.

  “I’d forgotten how soft a gentle woman’s touch was. Not during sex, but like that, like this, in tenderness. I couldn’t kill you then and I can’t now.” His chin firmed in her palm. “Love doesn’t make me strong, it makes me weak. As much power as Hildy had over me, you have the same. You could ask me to jump off a cliff and I’d do it, just to make you happy.”

  She brushed his mouth with a feather-light kiss. “I’d never ask you to jump.”

  Hard arms crushed around her, hauling her up as his kiss assaulted her mouth. It was an assault, a rough, crude outpouring of emotion without finesse or refinement. Her heart sang tasting his tongue, his muscles quivering under hand, feeling his love in its raw, exposed state. His past didn’t matter. No matter what sins he’d committed or what God he prayed to, his heart belonged to her.

  He wasn’t evil. He was a man of a different time, raised with a different view of life, one of violence and death. But he’d lived a thousand years, learned and grown, accepted his lot and fought to improve it. She couldn’t find any condemnation in her heart, only love for him.

  She pulled away, her fingers digging into his shoulders. “I love you. I don’t doubt you loved your wife, but what she did, what she felt for you, wasn’t this. Love doesn’t hurt, ever.”

  “I’ve hurt you. I’ve drugged you, kidnapped you, tied you to my bed like a slave. I’ve lied to you.”

  “You did all those things to keep me safe. You didn’t kill me and you didn’t let anyone else do it, either. Real love doesn’t take advantage. It doesn’t coerce and manipulate or threaten. I can’t make you trust me, but I will never hurt you, Erik. I’d rather end up dust than do that.”

  “Damn, Lace. I can’t be with you. I don’t age. Unless some Leech gets me, in a hundred years, I’ll still look the same. I can’t watch you die, not even of old age.”

  Uncertainty loosened her grip and he let her slide down his body until her feet touched the wood deck. But he didn’t let go and neither did she. “So we work around it somehow. Maybe we can grab ten or fifteen years before I get all wrinkled and disgusting to you.”

  His head jerked back. “You will never be disgusting to me. I was an old man once, remember? But you can’t tell me in twenty years you won’t look at me and start hating the fact that one day you’ll die and I won’t. You deserve a man who can grow old beside you, give you those babies you want and be there for them as they grow up.”

  “You’re just going to walk away from this? Let me go and never regret it?”

  “I have no choice and I love you too much to steal your life.”

  Her lip quivered. Tucking it under her teeth, she fisted her hands in his shirt. “When?”

  “Your Immunity’s building. In fourteen days, you’ll no longer be in danger from Samael. I’ll take you to Annie’s, kiss you goodbye and walk away.”

  “Then I have fourteen days.”

  Fourteen days. Two weeks. He was the one solid thing in her life recently, the one thing she could cling to when the loss and destruction threatened to overwhelm her. How could he just walk away? How could she let him go? She’d loved him, hated him, worried for him, feared him, only to come back around to something that never left. She loved him.

  It didn’t seem fair. She’d finally found her hero knight in tarnished armor and yet she couldn’t keep him. Loss tripped along her heart but she shoved it aside, refusing to let what little time they had be stained with sorrow.

  Sea salt spiced his skin and it tingled her tongue as she licked along his neck. Sharper, bolder, the flavor drowned out the taste of the tears she swallowed. Rough, unseen whiskers burned her lips. His mouth was firm, his tongue soft as it slicked between her lips. He wrapped his arms around her and she sighed into his kiss, sure she’d never find a more perfect place.

  He tipped her head back, his tongue rolling over hers until they both grew breathless. The firm muscles of his stomach clenched when she slid her hands under his shirt. She loved the feel of him, so hard, so warm. Smooth skin flowed under her palms as she encircled his waist, slipping her fingers into the back of his jeans. A hard ridge formed, pressing into her stomach, and she rocked against it.

  Without breaking from her lips, Erik thrust one hand behind him to the instrument console, flipped or turned some switch, she wasn’t sure. All she knew or cared about was he grabbed hold of her ass and lifted her. Just a few steps away, an open doorway led below deck. The few stairs weren’t real stairs, more like an angled ladder, but his feet never faltered.

  The ceiling was low, too low for his six-two height. He couldn’t stand up fully so he kept his head bent, his tongue trailing along her neck. With silent whispers and unspoken promises, they shed their clothes and sank onto the narrow bunk. The ocean rocked them with a gentle lullaby, but sleep came nowhere near the darkened cabin.

  “I wish I’d met you in my first life.”

  Love shone brightly from his eyes as they followed his fingers, stroking her skin as if she were exotic satin. His gaze soaked in every inch of her body, as if he were trying to memorize every freckle and curve. One large finger traced along her collarbone, delved into the hollow at her throat then skimmed up to touch her lips.

  She turned her cheek into his palm. “I love you.”

  “Ek ann thér, Lace. Ek ann thér,” he echoed.

  Broad shoulders filling the mattress, Erik tugged her atop him. He cupped her breasts, lifting and bringing them to his mouth for tender, gentle kisses. Every stroke, every caress, every touch was snow-soft and steeped in longing. His hair feathered through her fingers and she flashed back to that first day, when he’d leaned over her in the truck and she’d touched it for the first time. Had it only been weeks ago? Surely she’d known him for a lifetime, loved him for a lifetime.

  “I’m never going to find love like this again.”

  “You will,” he whispered, “with a good man.”

  “He’ll never be my hero.”

  Pain swam across his eyes before he pinched them closed. He bowed his head, burying his face in the curve of her neck. A staggered breath washed along her skin followed by his tongue. His thumbs circled her nipples, drawing them to hard points that ached for his mouth. The slow-stoked hunger grew and he skimmed his lips across one peak, flicked it with the tip of his tongue then sucked it de
ep. Wet emptiness pulsed inside her and she arched back, giving him more access and pressing her hips firmer to his thighs. Thick-corded muscles dug into her ass, intensifying her need.

  The rock-hard plane of his chest smoothed under her traveling hands. Hot, smooth skin over iron-hard muscles shifted as he dragged his mouth from her neck to her mouth. The warm marble of his shoulders provided a solid anchor and she clung to him, desperate to drink in every drop of his kiss. The hard length of his cock caught between them and she rubbed her belly along his shaft. A gasp opened his eyes.

  Strong hands stroked down her back and gripped her hips, rocking her against him. The lips of her sex grew wet and soft, needing his driving hardness. She sat back, rose to her knees and gripped his shaft, slicking along the seam of her pussy.

  “Lace, my wallet.”

  Lacy froze. She didn’t want barriers and latex. She wanted him, all of him, skin on skin and heart to heart. They had fourteen days, could make love ten times a day and she’d be responsible, but just this once, out here in the middle of endless black waters, she wanted this. Just once, one time to be with him with nothing between them. Although disease was out of the question, she knew the risk she took as she seated his broad cockhead at her entrance. The chances of conceiving his baby were slim, but she wouldn’t be sad if it happened. At least that way, she could keep some small part of him.

  “Lacy.” His fingers dug into her hips.

  She locked her eyes with his and sank slowly down, engulfing each hard velvety inch. The sensual glide of hot flesh on flesh parted her lips with a moan. The muscles in his jaw twitched but he didn’t move. When not a whisper of air separated them, he released a shaking breath.

  “Oh, Lace, babe, please.”

  The first rise of her hips ricocheted pleasure through her. The descent tweaked her sensitive bud against him. He twined his fingers with hers, supporting her as she rode them both toward climax. She rocked and he bowed, she ground and he thrust. The boat swayed in rhythm with the sea and they caught it, used it, mastered it. A slick sheen coated them as they moved as one, each striving for the same goal, unable to make it alone.

  Release coiled tight in her belly. Lacy moved faster, urging him to join her. Too tall for the bunk, Erik used his feet against the wall for leverage and pushed into her. Her hands squeezed his and her nails gouged into his skin. The muscles in his stomach trembled.

  “Lacy.” Her name was a warning she ignored, taking him over and over, never wanting to let him go.

  A spark ignited, vibrating along her spine and rippling out to every nerve ending. A sizzle surged through her with electric crackles. Her body clamped around him as her thighs quaked. A cry tore from him and he bucked upward. Lacy couldn’t make a sound. Everything centered on the deep pulse of him perfectly fitted inside of her.

  Gulping breath and letting tensed muscles relax, she sank into the welcome space of his arms. She pressed a light kiss to his chest as his words rushed back to her. Love is the deadliest weapon out there. It certainly was. Her love for him had killed any chance another man might have had.

  His heart thumped beneath her cheek. In a hundred years, that heart would still be beating and she’d be long gone from the Earth.

  “Remember me,” she whispered.

  His arms tightened. “How could I forget the woman who made me warm when I’d been cold for centuries?”

  Chapter Nineteen

  “What is that?”

  Daybreak streamed in the tiny cabin windows and bathed her in pink. Vike listened, letting his hand glide up Lacy’s back. A poignant call rang out again. “Whales. They’re singing to their mates.”

  “Can we see them?”

  “Maybe. It depends on how close we are.”

  She sprang from the bunk, grabbing his shirt and yanking it over her head. He tugged on his jeans with a chuckle as her feet bounded up the ladder.

  She was kneeling on the bench, peering over the side with the curve of her ass shining in the dawn’s light. Her freed hair snapped in the easy wind as she pointed off the port side. “Over there! I saw one.”

  “Keep watching,” he called, sliding into the wheelhouse. “If one is singing, there are others around.”

  Nothing blinked on the screen and the wind was steady. He made a slight course adjustment. Not enough to disturb the whale pod but just to give them several more hours before they’d encounter any other human life. He joined her on the bench. Settling her slender shoulders against his chest, he joined her in watching the sea.

  “There, Erik, look.”

  Five rounded backs breached the surface, dark spots in the glowing waters. The pod kept a leisurely pace and flanked them for several minutes, their chorus like bellows echoing in the quiet morning. Vike tightened his embrace and rested his chin against the crown of her head. The sea, Lacy and the song of nature’s giants filled him with a tranquility that seeped into his marrow. For once in his life, he wasn’t going to be a selfish bastard. He was going to do the right thing and let her go. But fuck, it hurt.

  A rumble from her stomach made him laugh. “You’re hungry.”

  She laid her head back on his shoulder. “Sorry. We burned a few thousand calories. I can’t help that I require food.”

  His teeth ground together. He didn’t have anything on board. “Lucky for you I can Leap anywhere. What do you want to eat?”

  “Mmm, French fries, the saltier the better.”

  He dropped a kiss on her crown and peeled himself away. It took only a minute to grab a new shirt from the below deck and slide loafers on his feet. With one last check of the instrument panel, he sent her a cocky grin. “Just keep watching. You might catch sight of a straggler. Sometimes mothers and their calves are slower than the rest of the pod. Be right back.”

  With only a thought, he Leaped into Brighton, England. Bright daylight made him blink, his Leap carrying him backward across time zones that he rarely thought of any longer. Street vendors sold paper wrapped fish and chips and he aimed toward one. He had to wait behind two men kissing. The scene didn’t bother him in the slightest but the smaller man’s green Mohawk did raise his brows.

  “Ya have a problem with it, mate?”

  Vike shrugged at the man beside him. “Nope. My country has an old saying, svá ergisk hverr sem eldisk.”

  “Meaning?”

  Meaning some men on long sea voyages didn’t care who was beneath them and, in old age, no one cared. “Basically, whatever floats your boat.”

  A flirty finger stroked his arm. “So what floats yours and do I have a chance at getting on board?”

  Biting back a laugh, Vike shook his head. “Don’t think my girlfriend would like it.”

  “Never know. Some gals like to watch.”

  The young man’s hand reached to touch Vike’s chest, but the kissers had collected their food and moved away. He stepped to the vendor and ordered two servings, forgoing the vinegar but adding extra salt to the chips, then tucked tall bottles of Minute Maid juice into his bag.

  The man behind him watched with interested eyes that slid from the food to Vike’s lips. “Don’t have a shot, do I?”

  “No, sorry.”

  The man shrugged. “All the good ones are straight.”

  The salty, greasy smell hung heavily as Vike rounded a pub, escaping from people’s sight with a grin. Lacy would get a kick out his getting hit on by a man after the way they’d spent the last few hours. Picturing the laughter in her eyes, he Leaped back to the Sunstone. His raw Mark burned as he materialized.

  The sack crashed to the deck as he screamed her name. Lacy lay in a pool of blood, her chest ripped open, lifeless eyes staring at the early morning sky. Above her, Galina crouched, soul-bag in her hand and an evil malice curling her mouth.

  “I win, Forsaken.”

  He lunged with a battle cry but the bitch Leaped and his fingers closed around nothing. The salt-rich air now carried the pungent odor of copper and death. His knees crashed to the deck, Lacy’s
blood soaking into his jeans. A ravaged scream ripped from his mouth. He failed. He lost her.

  Tears streamed from his chin as he cradled her. Galina took her soul and he’d let it happen because he’d been so consumed with love, he hadn’t stopped to think of the dangers. Misery gutted him until he felt as shredded as her chest. Ice formed in his chest, a frost that burned. He was soul-cold and it hurt with a pain he’d never felt before. That place that Lacy had warmed was silent.

  Not caring if a cargo ship swept in and shattered his prized Sunstone to splinters, he picked up Lacy’s shell and Leaped, every thought in his head of safety. Safety that was too late for the woman he loved.

  The sun hadn’t risen this far west and the mountains gripped the last hours of night like a blanket in winter. Ice crackled on the dead grass beneath his feet as he took form in H2Q’s Quad, Lacy’s blood dripping to stain the frost. A light shone like a beacon through the kitchen windows. Framed by Lacy’s ruffled curtains, Rex looked out the window. His mouth pulled back into a soundless yell then he disappeared from sight only to reappear seconds later running from the patio door.

  Myth and Dray followed. Nomad and Omen entered the Quad from the medi-room side. They all stood, gaping at the lifeless body in his arms. The dog whined, so like a human cry that it shattered the quiet air. There was a beep of a cell phone and someone murmuring in a low voice. Before the phone went dark, Sela and Zale hurried from an entrance on the left.

  Vike’s knees gave out. He fell to the ground still clutching her. He wouldn’t let the pre-winter Earth steal what little body heat remained. He needed her to stay warm a little while. He needed…

  Sela knelt and stroked the hair from his eyes. “Where is Lacy’s soul?”

  “I went to get her food. Five minutes maybe. Galina got to her.”

  Defeat echoed on exhales and floated on curses from all around him. Vike couldn’t look from Sela’s gaze. “Dust me.”