by Teal Ceagh
Sera’s Gift
Teal Ceagh
Book 3 in the Destiny’s Trinities series.
Sera arrives in New York to help her brother Lindál, but a vampeen attack brings her face-to-face with two men and changes her life forever.
Diego Savage lives up to his name. Cynical, rebellious and a womanizer, he doesn’t believe in the trinities. With his scarred heart and terrible past it would take a miracle for him to change—or someone like Sera, with her special gift.
Blake Harvey, dedicated NYC police lieutenant, takes one look at the tall, supple woman with the crystal blue eyes and glowing skin and knows his life is about to change in ways he can’t even define, but his body is already responding with a power that is hard to deny.
The bonding has begun…
An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication
www.ellorascave.com
Sera’s Gift
ISBN 9781419925511
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Sera’s Gift Copyright © 2009 Teal Ceagh
Edited by Helen Woodall
Cover art by Syneca
Electronic book publication December 2009
The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing.
With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.
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This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
Sera’s Gift
Teal Ceagh
Trademarks Acknowledgement
The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:
Dumpster: Toccoa Metal Technologies, Inc.
Glock: Glock Inc.
Johnnie Walker: Diageo Brands B.V.
Maserati: Ferrari S.p.A Joint Stock Company Italy
Mauser: Mauser-Werke Oberndorf Waffensysteme GMBH LTD.
New York Times: The New York Times Company
Chapter One
Beth crept onto the roof just as dawn was breaking. In two years, she had grown far better at sneaking around. Despite her skill, she found she was staring at the sharp end of a crossbow as she emerged onto the open end of the roof and behind it, a pair of cool blue eyes. She let go of her knife and held up her hand. “It’s just me,” she said.
Lindál put down the crossbow. “Thought so,” he said sleepily and lay back down. He patted the quilt he had spread out on the tarred roof. “Join me.” He was wearing sweatpants so old they were nearly transparent with wear and washing, and made him look endearingly human…especially as she could see a hint of his tight ass.
“What are you doing up here?” she asked.
“I couldn’t sleep. I needed fresh air.”
“In New York? There’s no such thing, especially in August.” She lay next to him on the quilt and put her knife down beside her. She plucked her nightgown away from her sweaty skin.
“You couldn’t sleep either,” Lindál guessed. He glanced at her, his blue eyes narrowing. “The full assembly today. You feel you have to account for yourself, don’t you?”
The Seaveth Prophecies had predicted the coming of the Grimoré and they had indeed arrived. She and the two trinities that had formed, along with the vampires and elves, had spent nearly two years now fighting Grimoré incursions into the human population, while trying to keep humans ignorant of the Grimoré, vampires, elves and the demon world the Grimoré regularly recruited to do their dirty work.
Beth had insisted that a third trinity would form and that the formation of three trinities would spell the doom of the Grimoré. But so far, the final trinity had shown no sign of appearing. It had been over a year since the formation of the second trinity and everyone’s faith in her belief in the power of the three trinities was beginning to wane as they took heavy losses and the power of the Grimoré steadily ground them down.
Lindál was watching her, measuring her expressions as she thought it through. “You owe no explanation, Seaveth,” he said quietly, using her formal name to remind her of her rank. Queen of the trinities and therefore commander of the armies of vampires and elves. “The prophecies were made eons ago. No one, not even you, can build a timetable around them.”
She slid her hand into his blond locks, tucking them back behind his ears and kissed him. “What would I do without you, Lindál?”
His blue eyes grew stormy and she caught her breath, for she knew that look from long experience. Her clit tingled.
“Without me,” Lindál murmured, his long fingers brushing over the thin straps of her nightgown, sliding them off her shoulders, “I imagine you’d still be serving beer in McGinty’s, with that vampire pining uselessly after you and never having the courage to touch you.”
He flipped her on her back and straddled her and she caught her breath. “Oooh, you know Zack would have a piece of you if he heard you say that.”
Lindál gave a wicked smile. “But he’s not here and I am.” He reached over her head and picked up her knife and spun it on his palm like the hands on a clock face. It was an absentminded movement of a man much used to handling a knife.
“You didn’t have the guts to touch me either, Lindál,” she reminded him and sucked in a breath as he used the knife blade to shred her gown right down the center and spread it apart. He jabbed the knife into the tarmac by her head.
“But now I do,” he said and sucked the tip of her breast into his hot mouth. She grabbed at his head as silvery sparks of explosive pleasure ripped through her, straight to her already throbbing clitoris. Her pussy rippled, squeezing cream and preparing for him. What he was doing to her breast was such a wonderful sensation she would never tire of it. Her breath shortened.
She wound her leg over Lindál’s back, her heel pressing into his ass. It opened her up to him and she could feel the slickness between her legs, bathed by the air.
Lindál’s lips moved to her other breast and she moaned, her hips lifting. “Fuck me,” she begged. “Make me come. You know how hot what you’re doing makes me.”
“I know,” he agreed, his lips brushing against her breast. She could hear the laughter in his voice and the arousal. One of Lindál’s personal aphrodisiacs was the sight of her squirming with need.
He kept his attention on her breasts, his hands toying with them when his mouth was not. She really did begin to writhe on the quilt beneath him, her hips bucking under his thighs. She panted and moaned and tugged at his hips, trying to make him fuck her.
Finally, when she thought she could not stand it another second, Lindál stood and quickly stripped his sweats off. She lay panting on the quilt, her body gleaming with a fine sheen of perspiration, her heart racing, watching. He was as glorious as the day she had met him. His skin had the unearthly elven glow, still undimmed despite his exposure to the earth sun and elements, that so often stopped people in their tracks and
made them remark about “good health”. His muscles were even more well formed, now, after two years of hard work and better training. And his cock was long and hard and ready for her.
“My Beth,” he murmured, before spreading her legs, picking up her hips and ramming himself into her with a single thrust that made the tendons on the side of his neck stand out. She gave a groan of deep satisfaction. Good…oh, that was so good.
Lindál wrapped her legs around his waist and bent over her, one hand under her hips and began the slow, steady stroking she loved best. It wouldn’t last long. She could already feel her body gathering around his cock in a trembling pillar. Her breathing would stop if she didn’t come very soon. Lindál had spared her nothing.
Over his shoulder, she saw movement and her eyes widened. Alarmed, she tried to reach for the knife Lindál had put within her reach but Lindál was quicker. He snatched for the crossbow.
But Zack was quicker, still. His bare foot came down on the crossbow, keeping it pinned to the tarmac. “There’s a reason your instincts didn’t warn you, Lindál,” he said softly. His hand came down on Lindál’s shoulder. “I thought you two were sleeping, until I found you weren’t.”
Lindál smiled. “Too hot.” He nuzzled Beth’s breast and thrust into her again. She caught her breath and clutched at his shoulders desperately. Even so, she found she was watching Zack. He was studying them, the crotch of his jeans swelling and that made it even more thrilling.
Quickly, Zack stripped off his clothes and strode over to stand behind Lindál, watching his cock thrust into Beth. He caught Beth’s eye. “You’ve no idea how hot that looks from here, Beth. I could come just thinking about it.” His voice was thick with lust and his cock was red and flared purple at the head.
She moaned, her climax inching closer.
Zack bent and reached between her legs. She felt his hand stroke against her and Lindál, gathering moisture. Lubricant. God knew there was enough of it.
Zack coated his own cock with her lubricant and she caught her breath, knowing what he intended. Her pussy clenched, making Lindál groan in reaction. Zack positioned himself behind Lindál and pushed his cock up against Lindál’s anus. He grabbed a handful of Lindál’s hair and slid his cock into the elf’s ass, as Lindál pushed back, his eyes closing.
“What’s good for the gander…” Zack breathed and began to rock in and out of Lindál’s ass, in countertime with Lindál’s thrusts into Beth’s pussy.
The pure sensuality in their faces was always Beth’s undoing and now, with her climax so close, she knew she wasn’t going to last long enough. So she did something she didn’t do very often, she tapped into their emotions. Lindál had taught her how to do it but the three-way feedback had proved to be too overwhelming for all of them at once and they used it rarely. Now she sank into the black velvet landscape of emotional profiles in her vicinity and found the two men she loved most in the world and encompassed them. Raw lust, love, trust and eroticism showered her, immersed her, lifted her up and up and up…
Beth screamed, the back of her throat burning with the power of her climax. She could feel herself clench hard like a vise around Lindál, as he came in powerful shooting jerks. Zack choked off his own cry as he exploded into a swift, hard orgasm of his own, triggered by their shared emotional feedback.
Weakened, all three of them lay on the quilt to recover. Lindál curled himself around Beth and Zack fell on the other side of him, on his back, panting.
“I’m glad you don’t do that every time, Beth,” Zack said. “I feel like my balls are going to explode.”
“Crude, vampire. Crude.” Lindál shoved his elbow back.
“I feel like my cheekbones are coming out through my face,” Beth confessed. “And the back of my throat got ripped out.”
“It certainly sounded like it was being ripped out,” Zack chuckled.
Thunder rumbled overhead and with no more warning, it began to rain in heavy, stinging drops. Zack groaned. “Oh fuck, I really don’t want to move!”
Beth curled herself up tighter. “Me, neither.”
“It’s rain!” Lindál said, rolling onto his back and stretching out his arms. “Stay here. Enjoy it.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Zack said, sitting up and looking at Lindál with mock disbelief. Beth sat up too, the rain forcing her to make a move. She looked at Zack.
“Can you believe him?”
She grinned. Zack took any opportunity to give Lindál shit about his affinity for water, or any of his more elven traits. “Can I take your shirt?” she asked him.
“You’re not going to help me out here?” Zack asked.
“You’re a big boy. Fight your own fights.” She slipped on the shirt he had been wearing over the top of the remnants of the ruined nightgown and picked up her knife. “I’ve got a full assembly to prepare for and cover stories to concoct for the New York Police Department, who are growing less gullible with each passing week.”
* * * * *
“Lieutenant!”
Blake jumped and realized he’d fallen asleep in his chair, the same moment he realized it was morning already. He glanced around at his office door. Anna Maria had her head around the door, looking at him. “You clocking off?” he said, glancing at his watch. Six a.m. Her night shift was over.
“You okay, boss?” she asked.
“Long night,” he said, trying to make it sound like he did this all the time. He stood up, stretching carefully, feeling the bones in his neck.
“’Kay. Night, boss.” She let the door shut itself.
He looked out the window. Daylight was trying to break through thunderclouds outside his windows. A soggy, fetid, miserable August day that matched his mood. He glanced at the three in-trays on his desk, all of them overloaded. They stood next to his computer, which was another two hundred and sixty gigabytes of hell screaming at him for attention.
What was happening in his city? Twelve years in the department and he no longer thought he understood New York and its denizens. He’d spent all night doing basic regression analysis. And the numbers frightened him. If things went on this way, New York would turn into an uncivilized all-out crime zone in about six weeks. The police department was slowly losing ground. It just didn’t have the numbers to cope. Rape and murder were the top two favorites, with decapitations being numero uno on the hit parade. But number three on the New York Times Best Seller List right now was Missing Persons. People were vanishing without trace in numbers higher than six hundred percent more than any time in the last three centuries…and that included two world wars, famines and plagues.
And the police couldn’t do a damn thing about it, except record particulars and wait. They were overtaxed by the murders and rapes already. A missing person was a lesser concern.
Blake pushed his hand through his hair. God, what a fucking nightmare.
The other lieutenants in the other departments across the boroughs made light of it. They were mostly older and had seen tough times before and while they all heard the same unsettling rumors about the cults, the gangs, the animalistic behavior, they were in denial. They didn’t want to look at the big picture.
The figures Blake had projected last night didn’t lie, though. Something was going on. But right now he couldn’t see what it was. Despite all the information flowing into his desk, it eluded him. Sometimes, like now when his energy was low, it felt like there was someone else out there manipulating the information that reached him, so that he couldn’t see the truth. Not all of it, anyway.
He bumped his forehead against the window and felt the chill spread across his flesh. It reminded him of how hot and tired he was. He’d been in these clothes for over twenty-four hours. He needed a break. So did his mind. He was slipping into paranoid delusions.
He picked up his jacket and logged off the computer. A few hours sleep, a shower and food, then he’d head back here. Things would look different, then. Maybe.
He clocked out and walk
ed home to his apartment, feeling at odds with the day. Manhattan was just firing up for a busy day of commerce, while he was going home to sleep. He glanced up at the skyscrapers as he passed them. It all looked so innocent and normal.
Who’d’ve thought there was such a time bomb ticking away in her guts?
* * * * *
When Mia came bustling into the boardroom, Alexander felt his heart jump. Even after a year, she still managed to make him pause to catch his breath when she arrived after a small absence. She was here in his life. And she was never going away again.
He kept reminding himself to be thankful to whatever entity or force designed the trinities and chose him to be part of them. Him, Mia and Wyatt. How had he got so lucky? He was careful never to question that good fortune, but to grasp it with both hands and to work his ass off in service of the trinities and Seaveth, in gratitude.
Mia came up to him with the small smile she kept for him and Wyatt alone. “You’re brooding,” she said.
“Guilty.”
“I’ll shake you about it later,” she said. “Right now, we need to head to the keep for the assembly. The car is waiting.” She looked at the huge watch on her wrist. “And Wyatt still hasn’t shown up. Did he call you at all?”
“No call. No text. But he knows he has to be here. He’ll show, Mia. In a year, has he never not shown up for an assembly?”
“There’s always a first time,” she said darkly, thumbing through her Palm Pilot. She had become the staffing agency’s chief executive officer and completely indispensable, running both the private and public personas of the agency like clockwork and liaising with the Earthwing clan’s seniors and Seaveth’s portfolio with seamless efficiency.
Wyatt had returned to hunting but even there, Mia had left her mark, organizing and commercializing his ventures and bringing recruits to his doorstep. Now Wyatt’s hunting was an organized trade, with tools, equipment, partners and income. Wyatt had been stunned that demon hunting could raise revenue in a human world but Mia had shown him how to bring in profit for himself and make it attractive to other demon hunter and vampire investors and just like that, Wyatt had found himself an entrepreneur.
