Stormfront (Undertow Book 2)

by K. R. Conway

  Raef and I both turned to her and Kian, “The King’s Speech? What? No – pick something funny – or scary, Ana.”

  “I thought his stuttering was both unnerving and amusing,” added Kian, pulling another DVD from the boxes under the TV. I felt Raef’s hand graze my own as he got up, and suddenly these random touches once again meant something to me. Not just an accidental connection, but a stolen moment of affection we shared. Suddenly, I was heading back in the right direction with the boy I adored.

  A holiday freakin’ miracle for sure! What the heck did he hunt, and where can I find him more?

  Raef slid up next to Ana and poked around the box, finally pulling out a greenish colored movie. “How about this?” In his hand was How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

  My cheer for the furry green villain movie quickly dissolved into a pissed-off groan as the power flickered and finally cut out.

  “Terrific,” protested Ana as Kian muttered a small thanks to the weather, which spared him the rhyming abilities of little Cindy-Lou Who. He stood up and pulled Ana to her feet, “Come on Klutzy. Let’s go find the flashlights.”

  “Call me Klutzy again and I’ll key your new Range Rover,” she replied smoothly. I heard Kian demand that she stop pinching him as they left the room, with Kian leading the way as he saw easily without the light.

  In the fire-strewn darkness I could make out Raef’s strong, golden outline as he pushed the DVDs back into the cabinet and moved next to me. “Not afraid of the dark, are you?” he asked quietly.

  I smiled, his blue eyes nearly black in the room’s shadows. Outside, the wind sounded like an angry dragon, raging against the antique beams of my house. Inside however, the fire coated a small perimeter of the parlor in a haunting light, outlining the stunning profile of the devoted killer beside me.

  “With you next to me Raef, I fear nothing.”

  7 Eila

  The smell of cinnamon and coffee lured me out of my warm cocoon of sleep. I blinked into the early morning sunlight filling the parlor and listened to the echoing quiet of the house. The soft drip of Mae’s coffee maker confirmed that the power had returned and the brilliant blue outside the window revealed a crystal clear sky. I realized I must have nodded off in front of the fire last night, because I was still camped out on the floor, but somehow I had acquired what felt like a pillow. It was a bit too firm though.

  I moved slightly and realized the pillow was attached to a perfectly sculpted forearm . . . and hand, which had my long hair gently woven through its fingers. Something warm and solid tightened around my waist and my eyes widened as I realized Raef was tucked against my back, one of his arms supporting my head and the other clasped around my waist.

  Sweet baby dolphins everywhere, Raef was SPOONING me, his chest pressed firmly against my back.

  Now acutely aware of my surroundings, I could feel his warm breath on the back of my neck as he slept. I wanted to turn to him, but I was terrified he would wake and realize he had jumped headfirst into those revisions we had briefly mentioned last night.

  Heck, he was WAY MORE than touching me. He was holding me as if I would disappear - as if I would fade into the molecules in the air. I swallowed and stayed still, taking inventory of his hard body against mine, and how we seemed to fit so perfectly together.

  A metal pan scraped against something in the kitchen, breaking the silence of the house, and I felt Raef take a deep breath and stretch ever so slightly.

  Then he froze.

  Crap.

  I stayed still, hoping he would think I was asleep. Hoping he wouldn’t suddenly shoot across the room, taking with him the warmth and safety I felt in his arms.

  He didn’t move for what felt like forever, keeping his arm around my waist, but then I felt him softly spread his fingers out over my stomach. It took everything I had not to spontaneously combust.

  I felt his forehead touch the back of my neck and he drew a slow, deep breath against my shoulder blade. It sent electricity fanning out from my skin and down my arm. All ability to control myself fled my body and I dragged in a shaky breath.

  He loosened his grip and I rolled onto my back, his arm still behind my head and his hand just below my belly button. His fingers grazed the area of my skin that was now exposed thanks to a too-short tanktop.

  God bless the discount rack at Abercrombie.

  “Uh . . . good morning,” I said, my voice a little dry.

  “Good morning,” he replied, quietly. “I didn’t mean to wrap myself around you like that. I don’t even remember doing it.”

  Pfft . . . no worries!

  “You just needed a snuggle-buddy,” I replied, flashing him a knowing grin, but my face started to flush. Oh my god . . . that was so lame.

  Raef gave a soft smile and was about to reply, but a paisley pillow shot up from behind him and wacked him in the back of his head. “HEY!” he protested.

  “Will you two SHUT UP!” moaned Ana who was sprawled on the floor as well. “I think I might actually throw up in my mouth. Will you be my snuggly-swuggly pooh bear? UGH! Seriously – I’m gonna barf.”

  I blushed hot and sat up as Raef’s hand fell away from my tummy. He slowly got to his feet, tossing the pillow that attacked him onto the couch. He stretched, looking really well rested for the first time in weeks, and his black t-shirt rode up just enough to torment the heck out of me.

  He looked down to where I sat on the floor, scrambled hair and silly PJs most likely making me quite the sight to see. “I’m going to go bring in some more wood and see if Mae needs anything,” he said, taking his fine self and walking into the kitchen. I heard him greet Mae, though Mae returned a clipped Hello, and then the side door closed.

  I turned to Ana who was still sprawled on the floor with pillows and blankets. “What the hell woman?”

  “SNUGGLE BUDDY? That’s all you can come up with after not having your hands on him for how long?” laughed Ana.

  “Hey – at least I could speak. I was so shocked that he was with me, I thought I was hallucinating. Did you fall asleep down here too?”

  “No. I went to my room, but was freezing by one in the morning. Kian and Raef were down here talking while keeping the fire going, and you were drooling on the floor, so I figured I’d camp out too, minus the unsexy drooling of course.”

  “I do not drool!” I laughed, horrified.

  “Well, maybe not, but you do have a line indented on the side of your face from how you were sleeping,” she smirked.

  “I do not!” I protested, but then felt my cheek. Sure enough I had a long groove running the length of my face.

  Terrific.

  Mae appeared in the parlor doorway, her arms crossed over a stained plaid apron. “I need to talk to both you girls. Now, please.”

  That didn’t sound very promising. I glanced at Ana, who gave me a curious look, but we followed Mae back into the kitchen where feast preparations were in full swing.

  “Sit,” Mae instructed as she poured herself a fresh cup of coffee. She added some sugar and slowly turned to face us as she stirred the caffeine. The soft clink of her spoon against the cup seemed to echo ominously in the silent room. What was she up to?

  “Um – did I forget to take the trash out or something?” I asked, daring a nervous glance to Ana. Mae cleared her throat, a sure sign of whatever she was about to say was not going to be enjoyable.

  “Raef and Kian are lovely young men. They’ve helped me out enormously while the two of you have been laid-up, and I am very grateful for all they have done. However, what I am about to say is non-negotiable.”

  Oh please – don’t say it. Don’t go there.

  “Sex should be between two people that are in love and are mature enough to understand the ramifications of such an activity.”

  Yup. She went there. I’d bet the deed to the house it was because Raef had been curled around me, too.

  The color drained entirely from Ana’s face.

  “Mae – you really don’t .
. .” I started, but she raised a hand to silence me. It was very possible I would never recover from this conversation. I was sure Ana’s ears were shriveling off her head as Mae spoke.

  “I am not so naïve that I do not see how you four act around each other. It’s obvious that there are feelings that go far beyond friendship between you two and the boys. All I ask is that you girls are careful, use your head. Don’t do something you’re pressured into. And for heaven’s sake, if you are determined to do it, DON’T do it under this roof and always, always be protected.”

  Silence descended on the room, as if a black hole had opened up on the table, sucking all gravity and sound from the kitchen.

  Mae stood there, glancing at the two of us.

  I was so mortified. I slid my eyes to the kitchen door that Raef had passed through minutes ago. If he was still anywhere near the side of the house, his supernatural hearing would have just offered him an earful. Kill. Me. Now.

  Ana, no doubt ready to perform a self-inflicted mental exorcism to erase the past few moments, hopped up from her seat as if she had been scalded.

  “Right. Good talk. Will keep it under advisement. Gotta get dressed,” she declared, bolting from the room. I think her little feet actually left a smoke trail in their wake. Her leg was definitely all healed.

  I glanced at Mae and she eyed me over her steaming cup of coffee as she took a sip.

  Somebody save me.

  8 Raef

  The instant I made it out the side door I gasped for the icy air to fill my lungs. I tried to right my head, tried to get my thoughts back into order, but somehow I had wound myself around Eila last night and slept. Really, REALLY slept. It was the best night’s rest I had had in years. Not just in the last few months, but in decades.

  I remember laying down next to her when she began softly talking in her sleep. She was saying my name, but she seemed frightened, the dream apparently threading its way into a nightmare. I couldn’t understand all that she said, but I began talking to her quietly, telling her I was with her. Telling her she wasn’t alone and praying I wasn’t the monster in her dream.

  At one point she moved and rolled onto my arm, and her fears seemed to fall away when she made contact with me. Not wanting to disturb her, I laid there, on the floor next to her, letting her use my arm as a pillow.

  Then I fell asleep . . . and woke up wrapped around her.

  As I reran the evening in my head, Kian came around the side of the house, an axe hanging easily from his hand. He swung it lazily into a large stump near the steps and it lodged itself at a perfect angle.

  “So, correct me if I am wrong Raef, but wasn’t there some ultra-dumb idea that you and Sparky had about NOT touching each other? Because what I saw this morning didn’t seem to line up with my understanding of the Keep-Away game.”

  “Yeah – that was an accident.”

  Kian just laughed. “Keep telling yourself that and maybe some sucker in another galaxy will believe you. You guys are just too –“

  I held up my hand to quiet Kian’s irritating speech as I heard Eila’s voice in the kitchen. We both could hear her easily through the walls of her home, a perk of being a soul thief. She was talking about trash, and then Mae started talking about us and . . .

  Damn.

  Apparently when she wanted to be, Mae Johnson was nothing if not direct. Kian and I stood frozen in place in the driveway, listening.

  After what had to be the worse anti-pep-talk ever, Ana excused herself abruptly and Eila managed to get away a few seconds later. Kian opened his mouth to say something, no doubt snarky, but then just shook his head as he walked away. Mae Johnson had left Kian O’Reilly speechless. I needed to buy her a trophy.

  A few seconds later, my phone pinged and I pulled it from my jacket. Eila had texted me:

  ~~ OMG. Did U hear that?

  I winced. I took a moment before responding. Honesty I supposed was the best policy . . . just not this time.

  Hear what? ~~

  ~~ NEVERMIND!

  I couldn’t help but laugh. The reality was, getting involved with a human in that way wasn’t a good idea and Eila knew it. Humans were breakable, and Mortis? Mortis played rough. We stuck to our own kind in that arena. Plus, Eila wasn’t just human – she was Lunaterra and she didn’t know how to control her power yet. That could go very badly for both of us. It would probably result in a real burning bed.

  That whole idea would not be wise. Crazy even. I was supposed to be protecting her and going in that direction with Eila was the polar opposite of playing it safe. I wasn’t even supposed to be touching her, though I blew that rule right out of the water last night. Thank goodness Eila seemed okay with me next to her. Plus – she seemed onboard with the “revisions” idea.

  I loved that about her. She just went for it – for life, for new experiences. She was fearless and didn’t hold back. She gave of herself freely, never expecting repayment. She loved fiercely, lived fiercely, and consumed my universe like an endless star.

  Of course, Eila wasn’t just Lunaterra. She was also Mortis . . . like me. She existed because a Lunaterra and a Mortis had a child together, which brought me back to the whole idea of her and me.

  We shared something – a warped but potent electricity, which wove between us in an intoxicating way. I saw it spark inside her when I was close to her, and felt it like a beautiful, icy burn when I kissed her. But to go that far with her? No. No way.

  Suddenly I tensed as a horrible thought, dark and possessive, took hold inside of me. What if a boy had used her and then left her? What if some boy took her sweet, wild nature and shattered her heart? When I met her, she never mentioned a boyfriend in her past, but then again, we never discussed such details as we were preoccupied with running from a clan of Mortis who wanted her as a weapon. But what if some boy had seen her as a brief fling and tossed her aside? He could kiss his life goodbye if he had.

  My phone pinged and mercifully snapped me out of my way-too-vivid imagination.

  ~~ Ana and I are going to the cemetery.

  Not alone they weren’t.

  K – I’ll drive you. ~~

  ~~ You don’t have to.

  I’ll just follow you anyway. ~~

  ~~ Sky falling, Chicken Little?

  With you? Always. ~~

  I stared at the screen a moment longer. Ana was going to visit her father’s gravesite, which Kian would definitely want to know. I walked around the side of the house, where Kian was leaning against the wood stack, his face turned into the sun.

  He heard me coming and sighed, “I miss the south. I can’t understand why anyone would willingly stay in this frozen wasteland. I sure as hell haven’t done so for more than a century. New Englanders have a screw loose, I swear.”

  When I didn’t respond he opened his eyes and looked at me. I must have had a strained expression on my face, because he got serious fast, “What is it?”

  I held up my phone, “Ana and E are heading to the cemetery, I’m going to drive them. I just thought you should know.” Kian pushed away from the woodpile just as the side door to the house banged open. He moved quickly past me and I followed. Ana and Eila were coming out of the house, Ana making a beeline for the Jeep.

  She looked upset. Ana Lane never looked upset.

  She was the text-book definition of a locked vault.

  Kian saw it too and quickly got next to her and started walking with her. He was as distressed as she was, “What’s the matter? What’s wrong?”

  “I’m okay,” she said quietly as she continued to head toward the Jeep, her bottom lip trembling ever so slightly. She was holding it together, but barely. What in the world was going on?

  Kian got right in front of her, but was careful not to touch her, as if doing so would cause a chain reaction in Ana. In some ways, Ana’s father was in the ground because of him, a fact that would always hang over the two of them. “You’re not okay. I can see you’re not. Please, don’t shut me out.”

 
; Ana couldn’t seem to force any words through her mouth, no doubt afraid that her faltering strength would crack.

  “Pix! Talk to me – what is it?” pleaded Kian. Ana halted in her tracks, blinking a few times, apparently stunned. Kian even seemed a bit floored at what he had just said, but then she pushed past him. As she moved towards the car, I could see the pain in Kian’s face mirror Ana’s.

  I could feel his agony even at a distance.

  Eila walked by me, a sad but determined look on her face, and squeezed my arm while handing me the keys to her Wrangler. Ana was already flipping the passenger seat forward and climbing into the back. She slammed the seat back into place and wiped at her cheek with a mitten-covered hand, keeping her eyes focused out the plastic side window. I walked past Kian as Eila climbed into the seat beside the driver’s.

  I shut the door for her and came around the hood, but Kian intercepted me. “Text me when you get there and let me know what’s up. You keep my girl safe, Raef.” It was a command, not a request, and I understood his need to know Ana was alright. I nodded and climbed into the Jeep.

  As we backed down the driveway, I glanced back to look at Kian. He was standing in the driveway watching us leave, his hands in his jacket pockets, left behind and forgotten.

  9 Eila

  Ana had gotten the call from one of the cemetery workers when she was changing. The groundskeeper had told her that a tree had come down during last night’s storm and landed on several grave stones, including her Dad’s. Apparently it was smashed.

  I had never seen Ana so withdrawn. So hurt.

  The way she carried her pain almost looked like guilt.

  Honestly, I was angry that she was called at all – she’s eighteen for crying out loud and it’s Thanksgiving! But then I realized that there was no one else to call. It was just Ana – no parents, no relatives, no trust fund to ensure she could make it in this world.