It was such a simple maneuver that she wanted to laugh, but she was no fool and this was no game. As with Dov, she would only catch him off guard once and she would be no match in a prolonged fight. She could almost hear Nardo yelling at her to get in and out quick. Her opponent had already snapped to his feet when the blue fire struck him.
“Fucking bitch,” he snarled as the electricity coursed through his body. A grimace of pain bared his fangs and his body began to convulse.
“Damn right,” she said. She kept the fire flowing until her hand began to shake, then swiped his knife from where it had fallen and staked him through the heart. She stooped beside him and watched the light fade from his eyes and smiled without humor. “Remember me to your friends in hell.”
She was so intent on watching her nightmare fade away, JJ failed to hear any movement behind her and she heard Hope’s cries of warning as only vague noise made by someone far away. It was Nardo’s voice that finally broke through.
“Down! Down! Under the car! Dammit, Joy, get down!”
She tried to turn, to find him in the dark, but the movement came with a wave of vertigo and, exhausted by the expenditure of energy, she swayed and collapsed to her knees. Her knees hit ad Primus’ leg and she slid-fell off of him and rolled onto her side. It was that which saved her.
The vampire fell headlong onto ad Primus’ body and, enticed by the warm rich blood that covered the Second’s chest, the creature began to feed.
JJ rolled onto her back and carefully inched her way under the van. It was a tight fit and with every inch gained, she was sure the monster would look up from his meal and drag her out into the open. She couldn’t fight him. She had nothing left.
She heard the pounding of boots and the roar of her name like a battle cry. Nardo’s boots came into view and then disappeared. The van shook with the impact of bodies crashing against it. She heard the crash of steel on steel and saw the point of a sword slide under the van where, caught on the running board, it stopped inches from her nose. The vampire’s head hit the pavement with a thud, landing on its side, vacant black eyes staring into hers. A cry rose up, a keening wail, a soul deep howl of pain, her name.
“Joy!”
“I’m here.”
He cried her name again and this time his voice sounded reedy and thin. JJ waited until he paused for breath and tried again. “I’m here, Nardo, I’m here, next to you, where I belong.”
Chapter 44
Nardo smoothly maneuvered the SUV around the truck in front of them, avoiding the spray of salt and sand shooting out from the back. More snow was predicted and the trucks were already out on the roads though once away from the city, they were few and far between. For now, though, the sky was clear and the stars sparkled bright. He’d left the interstate behind and was heading north following a two lane road to Perryville.
“Are we almost there?” JJ asked for the fiftieth time.
“I’m not telling, so quit asking,” Nardo answered as he had the other forty-nine times. “You’re not going to wear me down.” He slowed the Escalade to maneuver through a series of icy curves. “A guy might think you weren’t enjoying his company.”
They’d been riding for hours and she was, in fact, enjoying his company. She’d been afraid, at first. What if they couldn’t find anything to talk about outside of work? She needn’t have worried. They’d talked about anything and everything and even the stretches of silence between the conversations were comfortable. The only thing they’d skirted around was the fact that they were engaged.
Three nights ago, she went in to dinner, one of Grace’s dress-up-and-play-nice affairs, and found the whole House grinning at her like a coven of cats surrounding a barrel of cream.
JJ thought it was going to be a victory celebration and she grinned right back. She had a lot to celebrate. Lord Canaan had accepted her as a member of his House and had even offered her his knife to take ad Primus’ heart to prevent the bastard’s turning.
Moonlight Sanctuary had a new leader with the Council’s appointment of Callista an Addison and even though she wasn’t much liked by the members of the House, she had to be better than the fool she’d replaced. To her credit, she’d recognized Deter as a man she could trust and promoted him accordingly.
No one was sorry about the cancelation of the Ball and Grace made Canaan promise them all a night on the town to welcome in the New Year. JJ figured he used a little mind bending to get them reservations at the ritziest place in the city and JJ reluctantly admitted she was looking forward to wearing that killer dress.
So she was thrown off balance when she took her place next to Nardo and Canaan began to talk about division of assets and asked Nardo to state his intent.
It all happened so fast it was hard to follow and now that she had time to think about it, that was probably for the best. She’d known that Nardo had money in the bank, but she’d never guessed there was such an eye popping amount of it and he was pledging a good chunk to her. Everyone laughed when she waved her arms and objected.
“I don’t want your money. I don’t need it. And what would I do with a piece of your company? I don’t know anything about computers or games. Give it to Hope. She’s your partner.”
“Over my dead body,” Nico said solemnly and everyone laughed again.
She must have ranted for a good five minutes about all the things she didn’t want until Nardo grabbed her by the shoulders and laughingly asked,
“What do you want?”
“You, you idiot, only you!”
“Good,” he said and kissed her. He then drew a long chain from his pocket and fastened it around her neck.
The platinum snowflake now hung between her breasts. The filigreed design was so delicate it looked like it was made by Nature herself and six tiny diamonds adorned the points. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
And so it was done. According to Paenitentia tradition she and Nardo were engaged. She was kissed and hugged by everyone and awkwardly accepted their kisses and hugs, because she didn’t know what else to do.
And then this evening she awoke to find Nardo already up and gone. On his pillow lay a single red rose and a note.
“Baby,” it said in Nardo’s chicken scratch print, “I think we deserve some time together – alone. Grace has packed everything you need and Manon left you an outfit in your room. See you at sunset, Nardo.”
“Now we’re almost there.” Nardo pointed his chin at the neon sign ahead. The Bide-A-Wee Motel it proclaimed. “According to Hope it’s the most romantic place in Perryville,” he told her as he turned into the lot. “Fortunately, Nico has better taste and a friend named Sam who made all the arrangements. Be right back.”
He returned with a key and scribbled directions and after several turns onto twisty roads, they found the red post marked TOLBERT. Nardo inched the SUV down the tree lined drive and watched Joy from the corner of his eye. Her shining eyes were proof he’d chosen well.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, “Like something from a dream.”
The cabin was nestled among towering firs, their branches laden with silvery white. Snow covered the roof and smoke rose from the chimney. Faint yellow light glowed through the windows from the fireplace within. Other than the path that was dug to the steps and the porch, the surrounding yard was pristine and untouched.
“Like something from a dream,” she said again and stepped from the car, never taking her eyes from the cabin.
Nardo stood with the hatch open, forgetting the suitcases within as he watched Joy approach the cabin. Her arms were held wide as if she could embrace the scene. Halfway up the path she turned in a circle, her head thrown back, taking in the trees and the starry sky.
Manon had chosen well. The white leggings were formfitting and the fur edging of her boots matched the fur trim of her hood. The silvery jacket shimmered against the background of snow. But as beautiful as the outfit was, it dulled in comparison to the woman wearing it. Her smil
e was radiant and it lit up his world. She was his angel, his Joy.
Her laughter broke the silence and she ran to the porch.
“Hurry, hurry. The key, the key. I want to see.”
The cabin was one large room with a loft above for sleeping. Nardo added a log to the fire and checked his watch. Joy never took off her coat. The sliding doors to the deck caught her eye and she was gone. It gave him time to unpack Broadbent’s contribution; a bottle of Pol Roger Winston Churchill champagne along with two crystal flutes and a box of Teuscher Chocolates with a silver plate for serving. Nardo had never heard of either the champagne or the chocolates, but he trusted the Professor to buy the best.
He carried the tray out to the deck and placed it on a table in the snow. Faint light beyond the tips of the trees told him he was right on time. Thank you Professor.
“What’s this?” she asked eying the tray, “Champagne, chocolate and a rose all in one starry night. I never expected this.”
It was the truth. She’d never been and never would be a girly-girl, but she’d wondered from time to time what it would be like to be treated to a night of romance.
“But you should have. I should have brought you flowers and candy and roses from the very beginning. I should have asked you for a date, taken you to dinner, taken you dancing.”
“It doesn’t…” she began, but he placed his finger against her lips.
“Don’t. Please. Let me finish. I should have done those things and more. I should have shown that you were more to me than someone to share my bed. I should have, but I didn’t, because I didn’t know how. The other night I surprised you with the mating agreement because that was what Canaan and Nico did, but you’re not Grace or Hope. It made you uncomfortable. I should have told you how it was done. I should have asked you to be my mate.
“I love you Joy Justice, but I don’t want you to promise more than you can give. I want to love you and keep you and care for you for the rest of my life. I want you to be my mate and if you agree, I’ll try my damnedest to make the next twenty years the best of your life and then I’ll offer you twenty more. But if you can’t make that commitment, I’ll understand and I’ll take whatever you offer and be grateful for it. If it’s only six months, I’ll die a happy man because for six months of my life I’ll have had Joy.”
She turned away from him and looked out over the shallow valley below. A tear slipped from the corner of her eye and he prepared for the worst. If she would only give him six months, he would use every day of it to change her mind.
“I’ve been cold since I woke up on a trash heap knowing only my name. Cold and dead, like I was living but I wasn’t alive. I saw people around me laughing and loving. I could go through the motions but I couldn’t feel a thing. That’s what all those men were about, Nardo. I just wanted to feel something, anything. I just wanted to be warm. And then I met you.”
She laughed a little though the tears were streaming down her face. “You wanted to kill me and still, inside, I felt something warm and alive. And the feeling grew into love and then something more. Hope says it’s what the poets try to write about, but their words are never enough. That’s what I feel for you, Nardo. Something more. I wasn’t upset the other night. I was overwhelmed. You offered so much and asked for so little.”
She bowed her head and reached for his hand as honesty won out over bravado. “Okay, I was a little freaked. I’ve been through a mating ceremony before.” She turned her head to look at him standing there so patiently, waiting for her to go on. “The memories are there now and they’ll always be there, but I won’t let them rule my life. You told me once that it was good to have someone you can believe in. Well, I believe in you and I want you to know that you can always believe in me.”
JJ straightened her shoulders and threw her head back and shouted to the stars overhead and to heavens above. “I wish above all else to take Bernardo ad Tormeo for my mate because I love him above all else. He’s the breath in my lungs and the beat of my heart and the warmth of my soul and I promise to spend the rest of my life showing him how much he means to me.”
The moon chose that moment to rise above the trees. It cast its silvery radiance over the snow laden branches and transformed the expanse of meadow into a sea of glitter and glass. They watched the light creep up the hill until they were captured in its glow.
“It’s a present meant only for you,” Nardo whispered as he gathered her into his arms.
“Only for us,” she whispered back before she kissed him.
A burning sensation stabbed through her chest at the place right over her heart. Startled and a little afraid, she stepped back and met Nardo’s eyes, alarmed and as wide as her own. And then he smiled and the smile turned into a grin and the grin turned into a shout of laughter. He lifted her by her waist and whirled her around the slippery deck.
“We’re mated,” he laughed as he set her back down. He opened his jacket and tore at his shirt. He showed her the white rose nestled among the lilies over his heart. He placed his hand above her left breast. “You have one, too. You spoke from your heart and I spoke from mine. Nico told me it worked that way, but I didn’t believe.”
“I want to see,” she said and reached for the zipper on her jacket, but Nardo stopped her.
“And so do I, my snow angel, but not here. Let’s go in by the fire where we can drink our champagne, where I can kiss you and not worry about frostbite.” He turned and picked up the tray. “Your chocolates are probably ice cubes by now.”
JJ followed him into the cabin. It was only twenty feet to the fireplace where her mate had already thrown pillows on the soft rug before it, but in those twenty feet, she had time enough to think about what was about to happen. They would make love and then…
“Nardo,” she whispered and waited until he looked up from removing the cork from the champagne.
He set the bottle down and came to her when he saw the look of apprehension on her face. “What is it, baby? Are you sorry it happened this way?”
JJ placed her hands on his chest. “No, no, not sorry. It’s what I wanted more than anything, but…” She closed her eyes. “Do you want a blood bond?”
He kissed her forehead. “Yes,” he said quietly and began to unzip her jacket. “I want it, because it means I’ll be bound to you for the rest of my life, but that doesn’t mean it has to happen. For most people, it doesn’t happen.” He slipped the jacket from her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. “But more than a red rose or a white, I want you.” He slid his hands beneath the white silk shirt and raised it up over her breasts and she lifted her arms so he could remove it. He fingered the bloom above her breast. “You are my Joy and this is all I need.”
“I want it, too, but…” She hated the tremble in her voice. She hated that what that bastard had done to her so long ago still had such power over her tonight of all nights.
“I know, baby, I know.” He drew her down to the floor. “Make love to me Joy, make love with me.”
He was slow and gentle in his lovemaking, almost reverent. He removed the rest of her clothes and then removed his own, never taking his eyes from hers. He covered her body with his, resting his weight on his forearms and he kissed her. His kiss was soft and tender and his tongue played across her lips seeking, but not demanding entrance and when she invited him in, he was careful to let her set the pace. Her body relaxed and her arms wrapped around him. The tips of her fingers played up and down his spine.
JJ felt the heat rise between them and knew it was more than the firelight that played along their bodies. The warmth seemed to radiate from the tiny white rose at her breast and when Nardo moved his attentions from her mouth to that breast, it ignited a fire within her that was more than the passion of sex alone. At her urging, he returned to her mouth where she kissed him with a hunger that ignited his lust.
He tried to keep his weight from crushing the graceful body beneath him, but Joy was having none of it. She wrapped those long, lithe legs a
round him and pulled him to her. They rolled together; kissing, sucking, licking, tasting every inch of each other in a tangle of arms and legs and lips and teeth. He was so aroused that when she knelt beside him and took his throbbing erection into her mouth, surrounding him with her silken warmth, he hissed with sweet agony.
His hand stroked and squeezed the firm muscles of her ass. There was nothing soft about his warrior mate in spite of her delicate looking dancer’s frame. He loved her strength, her power. Her vulnerability, he knew, lay within and she had shared that softness and precious fragility with him and he was honored by it.
His hand slipped between her legs and his fingers found her sweet, moist core. His middle finger plunged within to search for that spot he knew would drive her wild while another finger toyed with her clit. His rhythm matched the rhythm of her mouth. He felt the tension began to build in Joy’s body and the movement of her hips drove his fingers deeper.
The pressure of the coming orgasm built and built and then exploded with a vibrant release of energy and ecstasy, but even as JJ threw back her head and cried out Nardo’s name, she knew it wasn’t enough. She needed more.
“Please, please, please,” she chanted, her voice little more than a hiss of breath.
Nardo must have understood her need because he rolled her underneath him and entered her in one smooth move. She wrapped her legs around him and raised her hips to meet his thrusts. Still, it wasn’t enough. She wove her fingers through his hair and drew him into a kiss. Through it, she poured out her most profound desire.
This man, this Paenitentia, had become the Guardian of her heart. She could be weak and he would protect her. She could be afraid and he would comfort her. She could be strong and he would admire her. He accepted her as she was and yet, because of his belief in her, she wanted to be better, to be more. She knew she could tell him everything, and he would never look at her with anything but love. She trusted him as she trusted no one else on earth. And she wanted to be a part of him and he a part of her.
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