Love Beyond Flames

by Rebecca Royce

  His beloved. The love of so many lifetimes.

  Raquel set her coffee down on the table and knelt before him. "I'm safe. You need to sleep."

  His head ached. "I can't leave you unprotected."

  "I'm not alone. The other women are here. We've taken over this whole motel. I sincerely hope that Jason didn't mind us using his credit card." She smiled and he knew it was for his benefit. "We're taking care of things.

  You can rest."

  "How did you get me here?"

  Her eyes twinkled. "Would you believe that Ruby

  did it? Pointed at you guys and moved you? It wasn't pretty but we did it. The caves are gone. The Father is here. But we're safe, for now. Marina has wards up, as best as she can do them against the ultimate evil. The good news is they aren't checking credit card statements. Easier to hide from them here than some place remote." She touched the side of his cheek. "You still feel clammy. Trust me as I would you."

  He nodded. It was hard to argue with that kind of logic. "Don't go far from me."

  "I only went for coffee. I won't go far. I promise. I love you."

  With a body that didn't want to move the way he wanted it to, he walked back to the bed. The covers were scratchy. He hated everything about it. The whole thing felt too much like the foster homes or the small bed he'd had in his jail cell. He face-planted, his face flat on the pillow.

  "Well, it's not that." She must have been in his mind. Raquel climbed onto his back, pressing her breasts on him as she did. It was a testament to how exhausted he was that he didn't flip her over immediately and have his way with her. "I'll be your blanket. You don't need the scratchy one."

  He smiled. Yeah…that sounded okay.

  *****

  When he finally woke up, he knew he hadn't tried to rise too soon. His body felt soothed, clean of whatever had been all over him. He yawned. His muscles were relaxed.

  Raquel leaned down over him, smiling. "You're still the first to wake, Zane. So don't worry, tough guy."

  He smiled up at her. "The world is ending so how come you look so perky?"

  She kissed his lips. "Any day with you, Zane, is a better one."

  Chapter Ten

  They gathered outside the motel, next to a highway. It was much cooler than the caves but when Ruby had sent everyone on, it had to be a place she'd known. As it turned out, that had been to a motel in the Pocono Mountains. She'd gone there three times as a kid. It was winter and no one was there. The proprietor didn't ask too many questions. Ruby had paid the guy to leave them all alone.

  He showed up, went in his office, and that was that. Raquel rubbed circles on Zane's back. He hadn't said much since he'd woken up. She didn't feel the demon on him; with Charma's help he was clean. The healer was exhausted. In addition to taking care of Jason, she'd watched over Leonardo and Colin, too. This was after she'd pushed the demon out of everyone's heads.

  Charma was holding up pretty well, considering.

  That was when she noticed none of the guys were looking at one another. Every once in a while a car would whoosh by on the highway. It was the only sound.

  "All right, guys," she said, while she laced her fingers together. "You're all a little embarrassed. You attacked one another. It wasn't your fault. Sebastian's father is here. You couldn't have resisted it."

  Leonardo stared off into the horizon. "Have you

  heard from Alexa?"

  "Yes. She saved us from the Father. But not since.

  She's not come back."

  He nodded. "I see."

  She wondered if he did. "So you can all let yourselves off the hook and stop acting the way you are."

  Ruby grinned, her head on Christophe's shoulder. "So you pounded on each other a little bit? Not the end of the world."

  Christophe closed his eyes like they hurt. "Ruby."

  Marina shook her head. "It's okay."

  Drew spoke through gritted teeth. "We're aware that it's okay. You're making it worse."

  Were they? Raquel wasn't sure. How long were the guys going to act like they'd killed each other's dogs? "I…"

  Drew interrupted. "I'm sorry I got overtaken and threatened you, Zane."

  "Yeah. It was what it was." Her love really didn't seem to want to talk much on this subject. "Let's move on. We never did find the human who watched the zombie attack and wants to harm Raquel."

  Leonardo nodded. "No, we didn't. Maybe it's a good thing. If we'd found him like that we'd have been in big trouble."

  "And," Samuel added, "we clearly needed to be

  better prepared now that we know it's the big guy we're battling."

  "We're not anywhere near being able to do that. Not without Gia or Alexa." Raquel hated to speak that truth but there it was. "And…" A shiver moved through her and she sat up straight.

  No, it wasn't possible. She knew that feeling. She had it whenever Michael Dorstore came around. It wasn't possible he was here. She'd left him on the other side of the world.

  Unless…

  "Zane…" She stroked her hand down his back. "What have you been thinking about?"

  She'd pulled herself out of his head to concentrate on the dynamics around her. "Why?"

  "Are you by some chance using your powers?"

  His eyes widened. "Shit."

  "What's going on?" Gabriel looked between them. "Missing something here?"

  "Zane called Michael Dorstore here with his powers. He's somewhere around."

  Zane groaned. "I'm still working out how to stop that shit. I didn't mean to bring him here."

  "If you brought Dorstore, did you also bring the zombies?" Drew rose to his feet. "I'm not seeing any." Raquel could have thrown something. She knew Dorstore better than anyone in the universe. Why weren't they asking her?

  "I can feel him so he's close." That shut everyone else up. "And I don't think he brought zombies. But that doesn't mean if Sebastian bestowed that gift onto Dorstore—the zombie making ability—that we won't have some soon." She stood. "Let's find him."

  If ever there had been a statement that could have motivated the guys more, she couldn't have imagined what it was. The guys went from strained displeasure with each other, to working as a team instantly. Leonardo dished out orders and they rounded themselves up like they were designed to do so, which, she supposed, they actually were.

  Hunters and Warriors stuck in a world where there was usually no use for their skills.

  It didn't take them long to find him. He wasn't far. Dorstore was confused. Unlike Raquel, he wasn't used to being popped in and out of places without announcement. All zombie calling aside, she imagined Dorstore was still really confused. He'd been the run of the mill hitman-pimp before he'd discovered her and her fire starting abilities.

  Then she's been like candy to a child. He couldn't resist her.

  Now he was some kind of screwed up creature Sebastian helped create. Where was the demon? Laughing with his father?

  Dorstore laughed maniacally, pushing back against Drew who held the man's hands behind his back. He shook his head wildly. Zane walked quietly to him and punched Dorstore in his nose. The whack stopped him from screaming, which was at least a relief.

  "Everyone quit talking," Zane cried out. "He has tried to destroy my love's soul since childhood. He didn't know such a thing isn't possible. Even when we're not physically together, I hold half of it with me. It's mine. He can't and never will have it. But, he's hurt her time and again. And that can't be tolerated." A muscle ticced in his jaw. This was a side of Zane Raquel hadn't seen in a very long while. Lifetimes, maybe.

  He turned to look at her and her heart melted into a puddle of want. Was it wrong that she was so attracted to him when he had the potential to commit violence? "This is yours, Raquel. I'll break his neck if you want. Or you can."

  Her love stepped out of her way. For a moment, Raquel couldn't move. She walked toward Dorstore. It would be so easy to kill him right now. All she had to do was call upon her flames. Her target wasn
't moving in Drew's hold.

  That man had been making her miserable since she

  could remember existing on this planet. She used to set things on fire without meaning to. The wrong person—a social worker who worked for Dorstore on the side—had seen the event. She'd told Michael and that had been the end of any kind of normal life. Dorstore had kidnapped her, dragged her off to Europe where there were fewer eyes watching him—and dropped her in his mother's home.

  The woman had hated Raquel. Over the next few years, they'd moved and moved until Michael thought she was ready to kill for him.

  She had. Once.

  And the sounds of those people screaming in the building he'd had her burn down because they'd refused to pay him would haunt her the rest of her days. She'd never known pain like that, before or since. Even killing the zombies didn't physically assault her like that had.

  The truth was, even though she had her flames…she didn't have any more of an offensive ability than any of the other women. All of them could kill. She wasn't meant to.

  "I think it would be very easy for me to raise my hand and kill him." She swallowed. "Only I'm not made for killing. I don't know why they gave me all of these flames. I'm not equipped to use them."

  Zane reached out and touched the side of her face. "Having a gentle soul, even in times of terrible strife, is not a crime, my love."

  "What should we do with him?" She nodded toward Michael Dorstore.

  "You aren't made for violence. I am." She understood what Zane said the second he uttered the words. Her issues with causing death? He had no such qualms. "Unless you tell me no."

  Raquel would never tell Zane who he was. He wanted to get rid of the man who had caused her so much pain.

  "You are mine." His voice in her mind was steady. He didn't even sound angry. This was the way of things. She hurt and he fixed.

  "Hold on," Charma called out and they turned to look at her. The healers hated violence. Raquel was sure she was about to hear all the reasons why they weren't to harm Michael.

  Charma approached Michael Dorstore. "This man was evil before Sebastian ever touched him. He hurt you when you were a child and tried to control almost your entire life, Raquel. You stood up to him. The how and why of that speaks to your character, which doesn't surprise me at all. We Outsider ladies are made of strong stuff." Charma stood right in front of Dorstore. "I don't think killing him is enough. You kill him and this ends."

  Jason called from behind Raquel. "Charma are you sure?"

  "Very." She turned to touch Raquel. A gentle hand on Raquel's shoulder, Raquel could hardly feel it. "I think he should feel what you felt."

  Quickly, Charma took her hand off Raquel and placed it on Michael's arm. The man jittered and then he started to scream. To cry. To shake. Charma watched, a blank expression on her face. It took Raquel a moment to realize what happened. Charma had given Michael a taste of Raquel's pain.

  She grabbed Charma's arm. "How did you do that?"

  "It was something I did once upon a time a long time ago. Not in this life. I simply remembered I could do it and decided this man deserved a taste of his own pain. It's not even the whole thing. Just a taste. Puny male can barely manage the little he's been given." She shrugged. "Death without knowledge was too kind for him. Zane, if you want to kill him now that's your decision."

  With a pat on Raquel's shoulder, she walked toward Jason's open arms.

  "Great." And just like that, Zane broke Michael's neck.

  One. Two. Three. And the terror of her childhood was gone.

  She stared at his head, hanging at an unnatural way and…

  Zane put his arm around her and moved her along. "Do you hate me for doing it? I've got to tell you'd I'd do it again and, even if you do hate me for doing it so suddenly, I'd do it again. The man needed to be dead."

  She could hear the insecurity hidden under the bravado of his question. He was really worried she'd judge him for taking care of the man who tormented her? "I've seen you kill people before."

  "Not in this life."

  And therein lay the rub. They hadn't had the whatdid-you/what-did-I do in this life conversation. It should never have been a problem. They'd never been this separated before. Maybe there had been a few years here and there in other lifetimes they hadn't spent together. But not like this one.

  He had brought up what he saw as his misdeeds in this life several times. "Okay, I think we need to go somewhere and speak. Are you up for that?"

  Her love actually paled a little bit. "Of course. I'll always talk to you."

  Zane was universally much more of a doer than a talker. That had not changed. She took him back to the crummy motel room she wouldn't mind not seeing again.

  For now, she supposed it worked. She'd stayed in much worse places.

  When the door closed behind him, she poked him in the shoulder. "Stop acting like you're some kind of sociopathic mass murderer. Doing what you have to do to survive is different than enjoying killing. You didn't make Dorstore suffer. I'd say you were downright humane. It was very fast."

  "My love." He looked away. "Before I knew who I was, who you were, I was a lost kid with no family. It seemed the whole world wanted me dead. I stole, I lied, I beat people up. And sometimes I had to kill or be killed. It got to where I don't even feel remorse about it anymore. I think my soul, I think something in it, died."

  She leaned up to kiss him, a slow caress of his mouth. He sucked in his breath and then dove into kissing her. Eventually, she pulled back but held his gaze, nose-tonose. "Your soul is just fine. Everything about this has been wrong. From day one. You think you're the only person here who has killed? Don't forget, the ancestors told me everyone's stories. There are a lot of Outsiders in our company who would rather forget the things they had to do to survive. You're here, that's what matters."

  She took off her shirt and felt powerful when his gaze immediately fell to stare at her breasts, heat in his eyes. "Do you need me to say I forgive you? I forgive you."

  "Raquel…"

  She stepped back. "Come here, Zane."

  He did just as she asked. When he reached her, his hands came down on her breasts. Squeezing, and not gently, he made her cry out. Yes, she wanted him. She craved him inside of her body and wanted him to know— soul to soul—that nothing had changed for her and never would.

  She didn't care what he had done to stay alive and come back to her, she was just glad he had.

  He brought her down on the bed where he came over her. When she would have kissed him, he moved until he took her nipple in his mouth instead. She had to smile, she'd offered him her breasts and she couldn't expect him to be distracted from them.

  She held onto the back of his neck and enjoyed the ride. He growled before he moved to her other one. Pleasure formed between her legs. He bit down and a ripple of pain moved through her before the edge was taken off by a wave of pleasure. She sighed. Yes, she loved how Zane knew what she needed when she didn't even know it herself.

  "I love you." His voice vibrated over her like a heat wave. He tugged at her pants and she did the same to his clothing. She wanted his naked body against her, craved to feel the safety that came with being surrounded by his strength.

  She shivered, hard, against him, anticipation of what would come next riding through her. His smile was wicked. "Put your hands over your head. Hold on to the ugly headboard and don't let go. Not until I tell you to." "Yes." She nodded.

  He liked to boss her around in bed and she liked him to.

  She gripped onto the headboard as he pushed her legs apart, to make room for himself. "You don't get to come, Raquel, until I tell you to."

  "What if I'm not sure I can obey that particular command?"

  He grinned. "Then we'll have to keep working on it until you do."

  Her heart pounded at the promise behind that statement. She should ask him what working on it entailed. Being Zane, he could have any number of steamy, devious plans in store for her. Instea
d, she nodded. Whatever Zane did in the bedroom, it always left her panting.

  Her pussy clenched as he moved lower. His mouth pressed against her and she sighed. Zane found her clit and massaged it with his tongue. She closed her eyes. Some things were too intense to be handled with her eyes open. Sometimes she needed to just feel things. He moaned and it increased her pleasure.

  She sucked in her breath. She couldn't find her pleasure until he told her to. She bit down on her lip. This was going to be hard.

  "Not yet," he whispered against her before he stroked her again with his tongue.

  She shuddered. "Cruel."

  "Absolutely." He replaced his tongue with his index finger. "To both of us."

  Raquel couldn't let go of the headboard or she would be gripping the sheets. "Why?"

  "Fun." He breathed in a long breath. "When I put my tongue on you again, you can come. As hard and long as you want."

  He seemed to move ridiculously slowly. She watched him through hooded eyes, wanting him so much. Finally, Zane caressed her clit with his tongue and she came hard. It took no time; she called out his name while pleasure zapped through her body. Her legs clenched at the same time as her hips bucked off the bed.

  Zane leaned upwards, watching her with love in his eyes. She shifted until she could look at him, still panting. "Love you." She needed to say it as much as he needed to hear it.

  He kissed her, hard, over and over before he answered. "You are the reason for everything. I love you, too."

  He pressed deep inside of her and her muscles loosened to welcome him home. Soon he was fully engulfed. She loved this feeling. Oh, the pleasure that was about to come was fantastic too but there was that moment—when he was fully inside of her before either of them moved, when they were so perfectly joined that she couldn't tell where she started and he ended—that she loved to simply be.

  "I love it too, darling."

  Zane was in her head. She smiled. They really were truly joined in all ways.