Intuition: The Premonition Series (64 page)

“Not now, we don’t need to talk about that now—I don’t want to think about them,” I reply as a shiver passes through me, making Reed pull me back from him to look into my eyes.

“You didn’t know he has an army, did you?” he asks, assessing the dread in my eyes.

“No. He told me he was powerful and I told him that the mere fact that he had to say that means that he’s not,” I reply, watching as the corners of Reed’s lips curve in a small smile that his eyes can not suppress.

He says softly, “There is little wonder why he wants you, and he is very resourceful, so we will not underestimate him again. You told me that he would come for you, didn’t you?” he asks. I nod because I don’t want him to hear fear in my voice. “I believed you when you told me that he would come…but I did not anticipate that he is willing to risk everything that he has achieved to have you—that means he is vulnerable. We have to find out who his allies are…” Reed trails off when I press my lips to his in a desperate attempt to make him stop talking about Brennus.

“Shh…No more talking about him,” I whisper to Reed when I pull back. “I’m here with you now and I’m not going to waste a second of that discussing him. I want to have this moment with you without him in it.”

“Are you afraid that we will not have many moments left together?” Reed asks, narrowing in on the core of my terror. His eyes are scanning mine, so I drop my eyes from him because I don’t want him to see just how sure I am that that is the case.

“When I was in my cell with the Gancanagh, I began to understand something that I should’ve made more clear to you. I was not being unrealistic when I spoke to the war council. There are only a couple of ways this can end,” I say, clutching Reed’s hand. “It’s a game to the death: Brennus’ or mine. This ends with me as an undead queen or when Brennus ceases to be. He’s not going to stop… ever.”

“Yes, he is desperate for you, and when he comes, there will be no mercy for him. He will cease to be,” Reed says emphatically with absolutely no doubt in his voice. But, there are no feelings of satisfaction in his pronouncement for me, which frightens me even more because I should burn for Brennus’ death, like I had burned for Alfred’s.

I pull away from Reed, moving toward the glass doors that lead to the lake. Reed catches my hand and pulls me back to him possessively. “Where are you going?” he asks, and his head dips nearer to mine, inhaling the scent of my hair just near my neck. Then, his eyes focus on the mark over my heart and he stills. The image of his wings that graces my skin just above my left breast is making his eyes grow dark, filling them with raw desire.

“Come with me, I’ll show you where I’m going,” I reply, tugging on his hand, leading him to the balcony doors. The doors exit onto a massive, elevated patio; it’s flanked on either side with lava stone steps. The steps travel down to the murky, volcanic beach below. The black sand is shrouded all around by hot, misty fog that dampens our skin before we even make it to the water’s edge. In contrast, the sky above is pristine and clear, flaunting every star in the sky like diamonds on fire, not that I can spare much of my attention for the stars with Reed at my side.

Stepping tentatively into the water, I realize that it’s deliciously warm. In the dark, the water looks almost sapphire blue, sparkling in the moonlight. The silica that the water contains is lending it an opal fire, which is such a sharp contrast to the black sand. Standing on my tiptoes, I wrap my arms around Reed’s neck while pressing my body into his. I brush my lips over his, and then I gently bite his lower lip, tugging on it teasingly, watching as his eyes cloud with a hunger that I know well.

Reed pulls back from me then and whispers, “Evie, we shouldn’t… the way I feel… so wild inside… I will hurt you,” I know what he is saying. It has been months since we have been together without the blanket of exhaustion to deaden our senses. Now, the butterflies have intensified since then, or maybe it’s that we haven’t been desensitized to them by being near one another constantly. Whatever the case, there is a churning need inside of me for Reed that is lethal and I feel that if I am denied him now, I will burn forever.

Without looking at him, I wade into the water, letting it swirl around my calves while I reach up and untie the strings that secure my top. I let it fall from me. I unleash my wings with a decisive snap, allowing them to stretch out boldly. When I turn around, I see the way his eyes are touching every part of me almost like a caress. I try to savor the feeling that his heated stare is making me feel, intoxicated and lovely.

“Reed, I know that you think that it’s better to wait until I evolve fully, but I don’t think I can wait any longer,” I murmur. “You are in my blood now and I’m in yours. We are bound to each other in every way possible but one and I…I don’t know where I’m going, I don’t even know what I’ve become, but I know that if I’m with you, then I’m free…I’m home. Let me show you what you mean to me. Let me pull you into my world, as you have pulled me into yours.”

From the edge of the water, I hear a tear as Reed’s shirt falls shredded to the beach. His powerful wings are arching out with vengeance. They are almost black in this light. The fierceness of his expression is heightening my senses as fear and desire mingle to increase my already palatable anticipation. Reed paces the beach. His wings are moving agitatedly, making noises like a sheet hanging on a clothesline, waving in the wind. There is a war going on within Reed. His hands are balled in fists at his sides while he struggles against his desires. Trying not to smile, I wade farther away from him into the comforting heat of the lagoon, waiting to see what he will do next.

I don’t have more than a fraction of a second to wait as I am swept up off my feet and carried further out into the water by Reed. When he is waist deep, he slowly lowers me into the water again, allowing my body to slide down his until my feet reach the sand beneath us. I melt against him as he nibbles my ear and tugs on it gently, making my whole body ignite from my core. “I can’t fight you,” he says effacingly. “I can fight everything but you. Evie…if I begin to hurt you, you must stop me…” he begins to say.

“Shhh…a little pain is nothing compared to the pleasure of being with you,” I whisper in his ear as the fog gathers around us, hiding us from the water’s edge and I can believe, in this moment, that we are the only two beings that exist in the world.

Slowly, Reed gathers me to him as the heat from his lips press to mine, stirring passion in me that is like an inferno. His lips break from mine as he brings them lower to my neck, and then to the symbol of him branded in my skin. He presses sultry kisses into the image of his wings, making my fingers cling to the muscles of his back. He speaks to me in Angel with his lips still pressed to my skin, making me feel beautiful in a carnal way that I have never felt before.

Raising my head back up, I capture his head in my hands, entwining my fingers in his damp hair. “What did you say?” I whisper in his ear.

Reed’s cheek brushes mine as he gently strokes my hair, and then he says, “I was telling you that I have waited for you to come to me for an eternity. You set me free and I would wait for you forever because there is nothing about you that I would change…you are perfect.”

The flood of desire his words create almost overwhelms me. Letting my hands drop from his hair, they rest on his shoulders. My fingertips slide slowly down his back under his wings, feeling his skin against mine while I press my body to his. Reed’s fingertips trace a line down my neck and over my collarbone.

“You are certain you are ready for this, that this is what you want?” His voice is strained and sexy, making my heart beat faster because he is asking me if it is him that I truly want.

“You are what I want,” I reply breathlessly. “It’s you that I love. It will always be you,” I whisper to him.

“Evie…” Reed says my name softly, before he touches his lips to mine.

“I will never be able to stay away from you,” I whisper dreamily.

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Reed replies, holding me tight in his arms while he carries me to the water’s edge. I can’t help the smile that is pulling at my lips after I hear his reply because it’s the echo of mine after our first kiss.

He lays me down on the sand as he sinks to the ground next to me and then he immediately pulls me in his arms once again so that I can rest my head on his chest. The cool night air, blowing against my skin, feels wonderful after the heat of the water and the fire that consumed us. Looking up at the night sky, my breath catches in my chest. I see the cascading, emerald and azure colored lights bleeding across the skyline. I had been so wrapped up in Reed that I hadn’t noticed it.

“Reed, it’s the northern lights!” I say with a hushed tone. Gazing at the serpentine, green shimmer, that almost matches the color of Reed’s eyes, it seems like it is dancing in the sky above us.

“Evie…promise me something,” Reed says in a serious tone, bringing my hand to his lips.

“Anything,” I reply, feeling Reed kiss my hand as I watch the lights above raining color down on us.

“Never disappear from me again,” he says softly. My heart contracts in my chest because his voice contains the pain and hurt I had created when I had left him.

I think about his request for a moment, knowing that it may not be within my power to comply with that request, so I say, “I will never willingly leave you again…but if I do disappear, know that I will fight to come back to you.”

Reed is above me in a fraction of a second, his intense stare boring into my eyes as he says, “Then, know that I will never stop looking for you because we are one.” He presses me back into the sand and makes love to me again with a stormy strength that leaves no doubt in my mind that I am his and he is mine. Earth and Sky.

Glossary

a ghra – beloved

aingeal – angel

fella – Gancanagh soldier

Gancanagh – undead Faerie who possesses toxic skin, which can enthrall his victim with a simple touch.

máistir – master

mill – a fistfight

muirnin – sweetheart

mo chroí – my heart

mo shíorghrá – my eternal love

na – not

rua – red-haired

sclábhaí – slave

wan – human woman

Acknowledgements

Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Raven.” The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe. New York: Random House, Inc., Vintage Books Edition, 1975. Pg. 945.

Jade Dragon Mountain

He can’t hide from me. Not that he is ever trying to, but still, it’s impossible. I know where he is at all times. I’m attuned to his voice, his scent… the beat of his heart. It’s my favorite pastime these days— stalking Reed. It’s a game that I play without knowing that I’m playing it half the time. I hunt him… and he lets me.

As I move through the stone-walled courtyard, my bare feet make almost no sound while I traverse the stone bridge that crosses a tranquil, plunge pool in the middle of the Zen garden. A galaxy of stars reflects in the water beneath me, but they can’t hold my attention. Reed is ahead of me, in the bedroom of the Naxi-inspired pagoda that we have been sharing. He is poring over maps of the surrounding terrain. Reed studies these maps frequently, learning everything he can about Lijiang and the Jade Dragon Mountain that has been our base of operations since we arrived in China last week. He has been very busy—too busy.