by Nina Bangs
“I’ll help.” Tor walked to stand beside Utah.
Fin just nodded. He knelt beside Adam. They all did the same. Utah clasped Fin’s and Lia’s hands. Tor took Lia’s other hand. Then they waited.
Fin stretched his free hand over Adam, palm up. He closed his eyes.
Utah thought the sensation would be the same as he’d felt when they took Kione’s pain. It wasn’t.
It was worse. It felt as though everything inside him was liquefying and then oozing out through his pores. He broke into a cold sweat. Nausea made him close his eyes and concentrate on not humiliating himself.
Beside him, he heard Lia’s small whimper.
To hell with his promise not to go all protective on her. She was his mate, and she was suffering. He visualized a steel door closing between them. Then he sealed that door so tight that nothing could get through it, not even the liquid fire that was now a river of agony racing through his veins. He tightened his grip on Fin’s hand and opened himself to more and more and more . . .
Lia punched him. Hard. He grunted his surprise.
“Don’t you dare do that. We share everything—love, happiness, pain. Don’t cheat me out of any of it.”
“She’s damn right.” Tor growled his agreement. “You cut her off, and you cut me off with her. She’s pack now. We bring Rap back together or not at all.”
Utah said nothing, just swung the door open. Then he concentrated on getting through this without screaming.
Suddenly, a small ball of light appeared in Fin’s palm. Lia gripped his hand harder as Fin lowered the light to Adam’s eyes. The light disappeared.
Still on their knees, they waited.
Dread pulled at Utah. Finally, when he felt he couldn’t stand it another minute, Adam blinked.
He looked at each of them in turn, and then Adam smiled. “Jeez, I never thought I’d see your ugly mugs again.” His gaze stopped at Lia. “Except for you. You’re not ugly, and I don’t know you.” His grin widened. “But I’d like to.”
Lia returned his grin. “I’m Utah’s mate. Welcome home, Rap.”
Rap. He was back. The realization sucked all the breath from Utah’s lungs. Tor jumped to his feet, dragged Rap after him, and then pulled him into a bear hug.
Utah and Lia rose to their feet more slowly. He felt a little wobbly as he wrapped his arms around his brother. He should be saying something emotional, but instead, he put all his feelings into the hug.
Rap punched his shoulder, but Utah didn’t miss the wet sheen in his eyes. “Wow, a mate. I go away for a little while and look what happens.” Then he hugged Lia. “You take care of him.”
Lia wrapped her arm around Utah’s waist. “We’ll take care of each other.”
Rap grinned. Then he frowned. “I’m not in the same body. What do I look like?”
Lia studied him. “You’ve got dark hair, gold eyes, and a perfect face. Women will love you.”
Rap looked relieved. “Good. Women are important.”
Tor dragged Rap toward the trail leading down from the volcano. “Let’s head back to Fin’s condo. I’ll catch you up on the way there. We have things to celebrate tonight.”
Utah watched them walk away, then looked over at Fin. He was gazing up at the night sky. What did Fin see in that sky? Was he thinking about Seven? Because Utah figured there was history between those two.
Utah and Lia joined him. Utah looked at the sky too. He could see plenty of stars now that the volcano had settled down. No more steam. He lowered his gaze to the city lights spread out below them. People could return home now.
Utah coughed. “Look, I want to thank—”
“Don’t thank me. Don’t ever thank me.”
Utah sensed bitterness behind those words and wondered.
“What is Rap now?” Lia leaned into Utah.
“He’s more than he ever was. He took Adam’s nature, so he’s vampire. But his soul is still raptor.” Fin never dropped his gaze from the sky.
Lia looked thoughtful. “I spoke with you during my journey to Utah’s soul. You never told me who you were.”
“I never did, did I?” Fin looked away from the sky long enough to smile at her. “Go celebrate your marriage and Rap’s return, and forget about unanswered questions for the night.”
“Sounds like a good idea.” Utah took Lia’s hand and headed away from Fin and all his mysteries.
Hand in hand, they walked silently for a while before pausing in a small meadow. The flowers were already dying without Seven’s heat.
He had to make things clear to her. “I’ll be tough to live with. I’ll always have to fight my beast. Sometimes I’ll need him, but other times he’ll just be a pain in the ass.”
She laughed. “You don’t think living with a newbie vampire will be a treat, do you? I’ll have a steep learning curve.”
Lia turned and walked into his arms. He lowered his head and traced her bottom lip with his tongue. She tasted of night, sex, and love.
“I’d make love to you right here, but it’s too cold.” She slid her fingers into his hair and pulled his face closer. “Not that we wouldn’t set the woods ablaze once we started.”
He wrapped his arms around her and slipped his hands beneath her top. Her skin felt cool and smooth. He kissed the sensitive skin behind her ear and whispered, “I think we should skip the party, hmm?”
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
Her soft laughter stirred his hunger. He grabbed her hand and hurried her to the car.
She settled into the seat and remained quiet while he drove. Probably frozen in terror. He was breaking sound barriers tonight.
Finally, she spoke. “You know, I think I’ve figured things out.”
“Uh-huh.” One mile to Fin’s.
“It’s all about perspective.”
“Sure.” A half mile to Fin’s.
“Most people think 2012 is an ending. Generates lots of negative energy.”
“Right.” He roared into the parking garage, pulled into a space, and hit the brakes.
Lia put her hand on the dash to stop her forward momentum. “But I don’t think of it that way.”
He leaped from the car, ran around to the passenger side, ripped open the door, and scooped her up in his arms.
Laughing, she flung her arms around his neck and held on as he suffered through the hour-long elevator ride up to Fin’s floor; rushed past an astonished Ty, who opened the condo door; and finally set Lia down on her bed.
She stared up at him. “A hundred years from now, I’ll look back at 2012 as—”
He dropped onto the bed beside her and gathered her to him.
“The beginning.”
Acknowledgments
Utah and Lia would still be wandering aimlessly through Portland’s Shanghai Tunnels without the guidance of several people. Mega thanks go out to Cindy U’Ren for all her help in making Portland come alive for me. She was the next best thing to being there. And I have no words for how much I appreciate Gerry Bartlett’s input. She has critiqued every one of my Gods of the Night books and not once said, “You have to be kidding.”
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Copyright © 2010 by Nina Bangs
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nbsp; ISBN 978-0-06-203626-1
EPub Edition © January 2011 ISBN: 9780062036261
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