Immortal Awakening: Immortal Heart (8 page)

He smiled at her. “Who would have guessed the day would come when you would want to keep me close.”

She laughed softly. “I think I’ve known… well, ever since the day you kissed me. That’s why it pissed me off so much.”

Amusement lit Makyle’s face as he shook his head at her. “Such a stubborn woman.”

Stubborn indeed
. Reaching back, she placed her hand on his freshly shaven cheek and leaned in. Her lips found his, and her lids slid shut as she slipped her tongue past his warm lips to explore all she could of him. His hand tightened on her hip, and he pulled her closer. She moaned softly as her ass pressed against his hardening length.

Running her hand from his face down his arm to rest over his hand, she guided it from her hip across her stomach and to the waistband of her boy-short panties. “Lower, Makyle.”

With a soft growl, he slipped his fingers past the elastic of her waistband, over her damp, trimmed curls. Using his thumb and forefinger, he spread her lips and dipped his finger deep inside of her. She pulled her mouth from his and moaned softly. His lips found her neck and began caressing her soft skin as his finger moved in and out of her slick heat, eliciting small whimpers and moans.

She was losing herself, releasing all that had defined her for so many years, and as scary as the truth was… she was falling in love with the Immortal Ruler.

Samira’s fingers snaked through and fisted Makyle’s wet hair. With a firm grasp, she pulled his head back, and her mouth captured his once more. Liquid fire heated her veins as he pushed her closer to an exquisite orgasm. With a flick of his thumb against her bud of nerves, Samira tumbled over the edge. Her screams were muffled by his mouth as he kissed her deeply.

Pulling back from him, she gasped, fighting to catch her breath. “God,” she sighed.

Makyle grinned at her. “You don’t have to call me God.”

With her fingers still buried in his black mane, she yanked his head back. “You are so fucking arrogant.”

“True.” He grinned, wrapped his arm around her waist, and rolled her to her back. He bit into his wrist and pressed it to her lips.

She hesitated briefly but let her tongue lap at the crimson liquid as her lips sealed over the wound. She drank deeply of the blood that she had only tasted once but had changed her life forever.

Makyle’s eyes grazed over her creamy flesh as she drank from him and the last reminders of his time in the Underworld disappeared from her skin. He took that moment to truly enjoy the beauty before him. Once she released his wrist, he kissed her, hard, and descended on her full breast, taking her pink nipple to suckle upon. Her hand landed above her left breast, covering the one scar he couldn’t heal.

“Don’t hide it from me,” he said, lifting his head from her nipple to catch her gaze.

She let her head fall back and sighed. “I don’t want you to focus on it.”

“Because you fear that it will affect how beautiful I think you are? Or because you don’t want me to be reminded that I was the one to scar you?”

“Oh Jesus, Makyle… I just don’t want it to be what you see when you look at me.”

He shook his head. “I see many things when I look at you, the least of which is that scar. You’re beautiful, Samira.”

Her head fell back as his mouth went back to work, assaulting her flesh in the most pleasurable of ways.

“Which way did he go?” Bain rumbled lowly, as he and Kale stood before the forest that separated the Light and Dark lands.

Kale gestured towards the forest. “He’s probably hiding in there, like he has for so many years in the Underworld. I can’t believe he hitched a ride with us.”

“It’s our luck as of late,” Bain smirked. “There is always a curve ball.”

Kale grunted, pulled his sword free from the sheath on his back, and headed into the forest. He grimaced at the sight of some of the trees. They were, in a sense, deformed from the battle that took place here so many months ago—there were Fae trapped within the trees, thanks to the Meliae spirits. With a keen eye, Kale scanned the shadow-draped forest.

“It’s damn creepy in here now,” Kale whispered, as he and Bain moved deeper into the forest.

Bain stopped and squinted as he studied one of the trees. With a flick of his finger, a piece of gray-colored bark flew from the nose of an ogre frozen in the trunk of an ash tree.

“That it is,” Bain agreed. With a two-finger gesture, they split up and continued to move silently through the forest.

An hour later, Kale found Bain at the Dark Land border. Bain tipped his chin towards Darion’s lands. “He’s probably already past our borders. We’ll need to see what Cree wants us to do.”

Kale nodded. “You okay, big man?”

Bain nodded. “I fucking hate them… and my mother is one of them.”

Kale slapped Bain on the back but could find no words to help him. “Come on, let’s get back.”

****

Zarek stormed through the halls of the Black Castle. Throwing open the doors to the study, he was met with a pair of knowing, citrine eyes, and an emerald stare lit with curiosity.

“Problem?” Alistair queried, his tone lending credence to the knowing hint in his eyes.

“Yes, there is a problem. He’s gone!” Zarek snapped.

Alistair returned his gaze to the scroll in his lap. “Yes, and he’s not the only one.”

Zarek’s stare cooled even further. “Go on,” he ground out through bared teeth.

“Kadar is missing as well. My guess is that we had some visitors of the warrior variety.”

“And Makyle’s pet, Isabelle, no doubt.”

“I believe he thinks of her more as a daughter than a pet,” Josiah corrected. “The question is—where were you? It was your turn to check on him.”

Zarek crossed his arms over his chest. “I did check on him. He was passed out at the hands of a banshee. I let her know that they were to keep him alive.”

Alistair shook his head. “Then you… what?”

Zarek growled, “You don’t need to keep track of my movements, Alistair. However, I will tell you that I was collecting a soul.”

Josiah stood and made his way over to the large fireplace that rarely housed flames, but he tossed a couple logs in and lit the hearth. “I would have taken the list while you watched over our brother.”

Zarek sighed. He could never please them. “Makyle was fine when I left him.”

“Clearly he is even better now.” Alistair took one more dig before setting the scroll aside, standing up, and walking to Zarek. “What would you like to do?”

“I can’t sense him,” Zarek admitted.

“Nor can I. Josiah?”

“No, he’s not on my radar at all. Can you sense Kadar?”

Alistair shook his head. “I could briefly, but I lost him a short while ago.”

Zarek grinned. “The Light Fae have them both. No doubt using the same magic they did before to hide the child and Makyle from us.”

“Perhaps,” Josiah acknowledged. It was the most likely scenario.

“Then we need to go get him,” Zarek announced and headed for the door, only turning around when Alistair and Josiah didn’t immediately follow. “Is there a problem?”

“No, but first there needs to be a discussion. We need to decide the lengths we are willing to go in order to bring Makyle back.”

Zarek furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, if the Light are unwilling to return him, how far will we go to get him back?”

“He belongs here. We will take back what is ours.”

Josiah nodded. “And therein lies the problem. We don’t own Makyle—he is our equal. I’m not even sure we had a right to punish or judge him.”

“You’re going soft,” Zarek accused. “We chose this together.”

“Yes, we did. However, what gave us the right to decide his fate?”

“The Fates did!” Zarek shouted. “This is why we were created—we judge those who perish in the Middle World. We rule this domain as a collective. He went against the collective, and together we decided on his punishment. It’s what we do. It’s what we’ve always done.”

“To others,” Alistair interjected calmly, “not to one another. We must stay calm, and we must, as a collective, agree what to do now. Personally, I am more concerned with finding Kadar.”

“He is inconsequential—but a blip on our radar.”

“Wrong. He was the one foolish enough in life to attempt to overthrow us. He was also the only one to make it as far as this castle. He has been with us long enough that I question his sanity, and I guarantee his desire for vengeance. He will try again, and while I have no doubt he will fail—miserably, in fact—I would feel better about putting him back where he belongs sooner rather than later.”

Zarek sighed and moved back into the great room to take his seat. “Perhaps we should talk before we act.”

“Perhaps,” Alistair agreed, taking a seat across from Zarek as Josiah moved to take another of four seats set around a black, marble table near the fireplace.

****

“How are my girls?” Bain asked as he quietly entered the living area that connected his and Izzy’s room to Kyra’s.

Izzy looked up from the sleeping girl in her lap to smile at him. “We’re good. She woke when I came to check on her and insisted on waiting for her daddy, so we put on a movie.”

Bain looked to the television and arched a brow. “
Rise of the Guardians
? Huh?”

Izzy chuckled. “I suggested Ratatouille, but she didn’t think it a good choice… Garcia was annoyed that we woke him in the first place, putting rats on the screen to scamper around after he had to move from the bed to the couch. Seemed like adding insult to injury.”

Bain smiled as he sat next to Izzy. He pressed a quick kiss to her lips, and then placed one on Kyra’s forehead, before scratching under Garcia’s chin. Kyra loved Garcia and the fat tabby had come to follow her around all the time. Bain was not at all surprised he’d been curled up on Kyra’s bed before settling half on Izzy’s lap with Kyra’s small arms wrapped around his robust frame.

“Well, they both seem quite content now.”

Izzy nodded as she gently stroked Kyra’s curls. “You took a long time… how’d it go?”

Bain blew out a deep breath. “We lost him at the border.”

She squeezed his hand. “He had a head start… so what now?”

“Kale’s headed to the dungeon to speak with Cree. I think he realized I needed to see my girls.”

“Ah, the dungeon,” Izzy said with a forced smile. “What is he going to do with all of them? Is there any space even left down there?”

Bain grunted. “There is still space. And I wish I knew what Cree planned to do with all of them.”

“Do you think any of them are redeemable?”

Bain shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. There is only one prisoner I know for sure about. And no, he is not.”

Izzy shook her head. “Are you ever going to let it go? Zander helped us not all that long ago.”

Bain narrowed his eyes. “After he nearly got you killed.”

Izzy shrugged. “If not for him, I never would have met you and Uriah that night, and we wouldn’t be sitting here now.”

Bain sighed and stood up. With another quick brush of his lips to hers, he lifted Kyra into his arms. “Don’t make me admit any gratitude towards that asshole. We were meant to be, sweetheart. I say we should be thankful to Makyle and forget about Zander.”

Kyra lifted her head to look at Bain, her beautiful eyes hooded with sleep.

“Asshole is a bad word, Daddy,” she murmured sleepily.

Izzy held back a snicker but grinned at Bain with an arched brow.

“You’re right, little one… that’s why
you
aren’t supposed to say it.”

“Okay, Daddy,” she agreed, before laying her head on his shoulder and yawning. “Good night, Izzy. Love you.”

Izzy stood and kissed her cheek. “I love you too, kiddo. We’ll see you for breakfast tomorrow.”

“Okay. Banana pancakes—you promised.”

Izzy laughed. “Banana pancakes sound perfect.”

Bain made a face of disgust. “What have you done to her?” he whispered.

Izzy grinned. “I have opened up the possibilities of breakfast.” She backed away from him, heading into their bedroom. With Kyra’s back to her and Bain’s gaze locked on her, she slowly lifted her shirt over her head and winked at him. “Hurry up, big man.”

“Come to grace me with your sparkling personality?” Trevan quipped good-naturedly as Kale hit the bottom of the steps that led to the dungeon.

“Well, that, and I am looking for our illustrious leader.”

“Ah, well, I believe he is checking in on our favorite prisoner.”

Kale chuckled. “What is he hoping to discover from Zander now?”

Trevan shook his head. “I have no answer to that.”

“So, how’s your sister?” Kale asked, as they began down the damp hall.