Guardian (20 page)

“Your car?”

“They all belong to everyone. We have our favorites, though,” he said, brushing at a grease spot on his chin.

“I’m into bikes more than cars,” Nikki said.

He inclined his head and motioned for her to follow him. “Come on. I’ll show you the bikes.”

As they entered a side room he flipped a switch, illuminating the tarp-covered motorcycles. Gearhead vigorously rubbed his hands on a shop towel then grabbed the first tarp and tugged it off. It was a gleaming Harley Davidson. “Wow,” Nikki said, inspecting the custom paint. “Is it brand new?”

“Nah, it’s about fifteen years old,” he said as he pulled other tarps to reveal their offerings.

Huh. Apparently, Halflings weren’t the only things that didn’t age here.

When Nikki noticed a black bird on the side of one of the Harleys, she crossed the garage to examine it. She knelt to inspect the paint.

“That’s Raven’s.”

She spied Gearhead over the gas tank. “I thought you said they belonged to everyone.”

“Yeah.” He scrubbed the back of his head. “I did.”

“Can I take it for a ride?”

“No. It’s Raven’s.”

Okaaaay. “Where are the castle ruins?”

Gearhead’s gaze faltered for a moment, but it was enough that she noticed.

She threw a leg over the bike. He flinched.

“I’m just wondering because I’d like to know where they are.” That was the biggest nonexplanation on the planet.

“Raven’s ruins?”

She hoped her own eyes didn’t falter as she nodded, grasped the handlebars, and tilted the bike up. “It’s comfortable,” she said, gesturing to the seat.

“Yeah. Get off it.”

“If Raven was here, he’d let me take it.”

Gearhead turned from her. “He’s not here. When he gets back, you can ask him.”

Nikki tilted the bike back onto its kickstand. “You do believe he’s coming back, right?” Hope that entered her voice and drifted through the cavernous garage. Glancing around, the remaining tarp-covered mounds suddenly looked like freshly dug graves. Each one shaped slightly different, each one representing a life that was no more.

Gearhead brought her the cover for Raven’s bike. “He’s coming back.” A tiny flicker of a smile soothed her.

Reverently, she blanketed the bike while Gearhead watched in silence.

“So, which one can I take?”

“How about the Kawasaki Ninja?” Gearhead led her to a wall where a row of keys sat at the ready.

“Yippee. That’ll be a treat,” she deadpanned.

He scrutinized the key rings until he found one that read KN–05. “Here ya go.”

She didn’t take the keys he offered, and instead studied the display. “Your secret code? K for Kawasaki, N for Ninja, and the year it was made?”

“Not much of a secret code. Why are you going to the ruins?”

She kept her eyes on the various key rings. “I want to help Raven, and I thought if I go there, maybe it’ll give me some inspiration about how to help him.”

“That’s stupid.”

She nodded. “I know. So is your secret code.”

Gearhead busied himself pulling the tarp from the Ninja while Nikki stood by, and told her how to get to the ruins. It was about a forty-five minute ride to the bottom of the hill. At the hilltop were the remnants of a long-dilapidated and abandoned castle. “You’ll have to walk up the mountain to the ruins. It’s too rough for a bike. The road will crumble beneath the tires. Trust me, don’t drive up.”

“I got it.”

He tossed her a helmet. “Here, see how that fits.” He hit a button on the wall and the garage door opened.

“It’s too big. Are there others?”

He sighed. “Be right back. They’re on the wall in the other room.”

As soon as he left, Nikki snagged the keys, ripped off the tarp, jumped onto Raven’s bike, and tore out of the garage.

Yes , this is definitely Raven’s domain, Nikki decided as she scrutinized the monstrous formation of ruins. It was a little creepy at night, but the moon’s bright glow helped ease her apprehension. Walls stretched to the sky, but crumbled into uneven mountains of stone; too weak to fulfill their destiny, too proud to give up their place. It had taken her awhile to find the stairway, but as soon as she made her way to the top, the remnants of the castle that once was became visible. The flat terrace, where she now stood, could have been a stone courtyard in Viennesse or in any other palace, if not for the eroding walls and columns.

She stopped in the center, her eyes examining the moonlit structure.

A sound behind her made her jump. She spun but saw nothing. The wind coaxed her to the terrace edge. She tested the crumbling ground, found it sturdy enough, and stepped into an open space along the palace wall, stopping when her toes dangled over the side.

A tilt of the head revealed a star-confetti sky hovered above. From this vantage point, she could view the Rhine River off to the right, which snaked through the land and shimmered from the moon’s rays.

Nikki captured the night air in her lungs and spread her arms. If only she had wings. She’d dive off this edge and let the wind take her. In answer to her request, the cool night breeze surged.

“You gonna jump?”

She turned without thinking. One foot slipped off the edge while the other tried unsuccessfully to clamber for better traction. Her arms, already spread, began a series of swirls and jerks as she slipped, and she lurched to grab the stone wall.

But rather than cold, hard rock, they found warm, strong flesh. Arms encircled her, materializing from nowhere. They held her, hands flattening on her back, pulling her closer.

Nikki sucked a breath of panic until she recognized his scent.

Raven.

Instinctively, she buried her head in his neck and dug her hands into the back of his shirt. She tried to breathe, tried to speak, but all that came from her tightened throat was a choked sob. As she trembled against him, he shuddered and drew her even closer.

So many emotions bombarded her, Nikki couldn’t form words. Raven. Alive. And safe.

When the first shades of propriety revisited her, she unfisted her hands and tried to push away from him.

“Don’t,” he whispered against her ear, burrowing deeply into the waves of her hair. With his head tilted down, his long, slow exhale scorched her neck, and for a moment she wondered if her body might combust. His hands and arms finally loosened, and she thought she’d be able to step away, but when her muscles tightened in response, he pulled her back into an embrace so tight it felt impossible to distinguish where one body stopped and the other began.

For a moment Nikki allowed herself to dissolve against him. He was alive. He was okay. And he’d finally come home. Involuntarily, her mouth whispered his name.

In response, he adjusted his stance to accommodate her. A breeze swirled up the side of the castle wall and lifted her hair. She cast a glance downward. “Raven, we’re right on the edge.”

More than you know , he wanted to say.

But rather than follow her gaze, he tugged her to one side, where a castle wall waited to support them.

Pinning her to the wall, he loosened his arms just enough to look into her eyes. In those golden depths, he was home.

She’d wrecked him. Wrecked him with her fierce desire to fight and her strength to stand when her whole world crumbled, had wrecked him with her eyes that beckoned him—even when her head told her not to allow it.

Her breathing was a series of short, hot puffs. Partially because of nearly falling off the wall, partially because of him.

Her body had warmed as soon as he grabbed her, and her muscles gave way, thawing beneath his touch when she’d realized it was him. Him. Not Mace. Not anyone else. And even now as she tried to rationalize her reaction, he could see it—the love in her eyes and the absolute uncertainty of what to do with that emotion and what it meant for both of them.

When she sighed, he pulled the breath she released into his own being. Intoxicating, it entered his lungs, burning out all doubt.

Unsteady hands flattened against his chest. “Raven,” she said. Her voice held an apologetic tone that he would have ignored had it not felt like an ice-cold splash of water. “Raven, please.” She squirmed against the wall, still breathy, but her voice regaining its strength.

“You can’t deny this,” he said.

“What?” More force in her words now, a sign her head was finding control over her emotions. No matter; he knew how to fix that.

He pressed closer. “This.” His hands slid along her side. But she shook her head, ignoring her body’s response to him. “I don’t even know what this is!”

“I told you a long time ago you are in love with me.” 

She released such a long sigh, it was painful for him to listen. “Raven, I’m with Mace. He’s right for me. I know that now.”

He could hear the doubt in her voice, every word ringing with uncertainty. Still trying to convince herself.

“And I know you’re right for me.”

“No,” she said as her smooth forehead crinkled and her eyes glistening with tiny droplets of moisture. “I’m not.” His hands stopped moving.

As she blinked, the tears slid onto her lashes, where they sat like diamonds waiting to be sifted from the silt.

He worked to keep his voice even. “How do you know?” One of the larger tears dropped below the outer corner of her eye. “Because I love Mace.”

When Raven bent toward it, her eyes closed. His lips found the tear and kissed it away. “You love me too.”

For a moment, he knew she was trapped. Her body stiffened, but her soul reached for him, a struggle so strong he tangibly felt the war. Finally, she said, “It’s not the same.” 

“It is. You know it is or you wouldn’t have come here.” Still holding her captive with his body position, he dropped his hands away from her. “Why are you here, Nikki?”

When her hands fidgeted to reach for him, she clamped her teeth together. “I thought … I thought …” But no more words came.

“You knew I’d be here.”

“No.” Her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. Perfect. “You knew I’d be here or you wouldn’t have brought my bike.” 

When a confused frown betrayed her, he nodded toward the winding stairway leading to the road below. “I heard the motor when you stopped at the bottom of the hill. Only one Harley sounds like that.” 

He took her hands in his, cradled them against his chest. “You knew I’d be here. You may not have known with your head. But you knew with your heart. Remember what I taught you on the boat? There’s a difference between head knowledge and heart knowledge.”

More confusion skated across her features as plainly as if a movie ran before her eyes.

“Tell me this doesn’t feel right and I’ll leave.”

“Raven, it’s not right because …” A little panic entered her voice. “Because it’s not right.”

“Does it feel right when we’re together?” Then he went for the kill. “Who helped you master the faith ball? Who soothed you until you read the sign that told us where to find the train?”

He could sense the victory approaching. “Mace couldn’t do that, Nikki. I’m the one you were meant to love. You know that.” She closed her eyes, trying to shut him out.

“Just say it,” he coaxed her. “Does it feel right when we’re together?”

Her tense little gusts full of excitement and surrender were back. On the tail of one, she whispered almost painfully, “Yes.” Triumph bathed over him. His head dipped closer to her scent, to the source of those words. The admission not only clarified everything, it devoured every obstacle in the way. His arms found their way around her again. She didn’t fight. As if weakened, she clung to him and pressed against the wall at her back like an unstable child on a slippery slope, waiting for the moment when gravity won and dragged her down. And though he held her—the only thing he’d wanted for a long time—Raven couldn’t mistake the sensation that surged within him. Expecting to feel at peace, he felt unsettled. For the briefest moment, he pondered this new alarm.

Nikki was always strong. Except now. He’d beat her down.

And weakness was one thing Nikki couldn’t afford. But conquest breached the warning. “Come on, Nikki, let’s go for a ride.”