No Rest for the Wicked (24 page)

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) Kaderin assured herself she was not jealous that Emma was seventy years old and already

had found a gorgeous, mondo-rich king. Oh, and one who had proven he would die for

her and was at this moment ripping off her clothes with his fangs. Emma was everything

that was sweet and lovely, and after her trials—and near death—she deserved her new life

as Lachlain’s queen.

Still, Kaderin sighed, unable to help feeling very old and very alone. Then she recalled that

she wouldn’t be alone for long. She had a man coming over this very night... to do things

to her. She shivered, then shook herself. “Emma, about Bowen... ”

“Oh, Bowe. Sure, I know him. Know he’s supercali hot.” A male sound of displeasure had

her covering the phone and saying, “Not as hot as you are!”

So Emma’s new werewolf husband was the jealous type? Kaderin rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, Bowe’s got that tortured, brooding thing going on. He lost his mate in the eighteen

hundreds, and he’s done nothing but search for a way to reunite with her ever since.”

The breath left Kaderin’s body, and she sank onto the bed.

“Kaderin, I-I kind of have to go. Can you call me later?”

“Sure, Emma. Have fun,” she said absently, then hung up. At least now I know what I’m

truly up against. In Bowen’s mind, this win equaled the life of his mate. But how would he

know to enter? Who was the friend he’d referred to who’d alerted him to the contest?

Her dismay rapidly turning to ire, Kaderin dialed the coven, calling for Nïx.

For once, Kaderin found it fortunate when Regin answered. She wasted no time on

pleasantries. “Any reason you didn’t tell me Myst married a general in the Forbearer army,

more specifically a vampire?”

“Lookit, I didn’t want to distract you from your job,” Regin said. “This Hie is your Big

Thing. And I know when I first found out, I was seriously, fucking, shrieking distracted. I

mean, I knew you would never get freaked out—well, at least, you wouldn’t used to—but

I thought it would be prudent to just hold off a few days. It was my idea, not Myst’s.”

“This connection might have been nice to know in certain situations, Regin. For instance,

that vampire in Antarctica that you almost killed is now our brother-in-law!”

“No way! Nikolai Wroth’s brother?” A pause. “But does that matter? Can’t we still kill

him? I wouldn’t have told anyone if you wouldn’t have. What happens in the South Pole,

stays in the—”

“Regin, if you keep something like this from me again, I will annihilate you. You know

I’m stronger than you are.”

“Ah, but I’m wily.”

Kaderin exhaled. “How can Myst be certain he won’t turn?”

“I’m not exactly speaking to her.”

“Then just let me talk to Nïx.”

A second later, Nïx said in a jovial tone, “Kiddy-Kad!”

“Nïx, why is it that Bowen MacRieve—a Lykae who lost his mate—would know to enter

this competition to retrieve her? Let me add that I know Bowen attended Emma’s

wedding, as did you—a soothsayer.”

“Um, I dunno. Dumb luck?” Nïx said. Kaderin could just see Nïx twirling her silky black

hair, trying to appear innocent. Which reminded Kaderin... sometimes tasks repeated.

“Cut off all your hair,” she said, her tone seething. “Then shear it every day thereafter until

I tell you to stop.”

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)

“Go from Katie to Sinead? Well, I am sassy enough to pull it off—”

“Just do it!”

“Angry, Kaderin? How unlike you.”

“I’m livid, as you well know. Nïx, why would you do this to me? Why tell Bowen about

this? You had to know he will fight to the death to bring back that mate.”

“Oh, yes, especially since she died fleeing him! It’s been killing him slowly, making him

crazed. He hardly eats or sleeps and hasn’t glanced at another female since then.”

Kaderin put her forehead between her thumb and forefinger. “He’ll be unstoppable. They

live for nothing else.”

“More unstoppable than a guilt-ridden two-thousand-year-old Valkyrie who, incidentally,

keeps winning these things? I was thinking it’d be a wash.”

She exhaled, striving for calm. “Since you gave him information, now help me. Why am I

feeling now?”

“Because it’s time for you to.”

“Oh, since you explained it that way.” Kaderin rolled her eyes. “Will I win the Hie?”

“Lemme check.” She hummed, and Kaderin could almost see her peering at the ceiling in

concentration—

The phone dropped.

A chill crept up Kaderin’s spine just before Nïx’s screams erupted.

“Nïx!” Kaderin snapped. “Nïx, what’s going on?”

A minute later, Regin had the phone. “What the hell did you say to her?” In the

background, thunder boomed in a deafening succession like cannon blasts. Nïx sobbed

hysterically.

“I just asked her if I’ll win the Hie! Why? What’s happening?”

“I don’t know—I’ve never seen her like this! She’s white as a ghost and mumbling

incoherently.” To Nïx, Regin said, “Calm down, sweet. What’s upset you?”

Kaderin heard Nïx’s voice, heard her desperate ramblings, but couldn’t make out the

actual words. “What is she saying?” Kaderin demanded.

“Oh, Kad,” Regin whispered, all her temper gone. “She said... ” Regin swallowed audibly.

“She said that... in the competition, before the next full moon... you’re going to... die.”

Die? Kaderin frowned in confusion, wringing her hands around the phone. How should

one respond to that? I can’t imagine. Her inane reply: “Oh.”

Regin, fired up once more, said, “Get out of the competition now!”

“You know that won’t help,” Kaderin murmured. “When your number’s up, it’s up.”

“Yeah, but you can still freaking duck.”

“Regin, how can you say something like that?” Kaderin demanded, even knowing she

herself had once said much the same. The memory of Furie lashing out at her was as clear

as if it happened yesterday. For her own heedless words, Kaderin had had her arm broken

and her skull and sternum fractured.

“Where are you right now? We’ll come get you, guard you in the coven.”

“Nïx could be mistaken,” Kaderin offered, surprised to find her eyes had watered in a rush.

“Or she read the premonition wrong.” But she said that only for Regin’s benefit. Kaderin

knew Nïx was never wrong. And she’d never seen the death of a Valkyrie before.

“Nïx is presently rolling on the floor. Something is happening.”

“Oh.” How brave Furie had been to go meet her destiny, how stoic.

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) Kaderin could aspire to that.

“Damn it, Kad, tell us where you are!”

“Regin, only cowards don’t meet their fate. If I’m to die in this competition, then that’s

the hand I was dealt. I’ll play it out.”

“You’re talking crazy. You shouldn’t be alone right now, not with this news.”

She tilted her head, staring out the window. “I... won’t be.” Because dusk was in a couple

of hours. “I’ll be fine, Regin. I’ll check in later,” she added, then hung up, turning off the

ringer.

Kaderin knew that in the days leading up to the full moon, her coven would fight to find

her, calling incessantly, trying to track her movements through her phone and credit-card

use, as well as through the Accord’s network. But Kaderin knew all the tricks, and if she

didn’t want to be found, then she wouldn’t be.

She shook. The sun continued to set, and she had a vampire coming over.

24

D id you dress for me?” Sebastian visibly swallowed when Kaderin stood at his arrival.

He’d been doing that tentative-step thing as he entered, but after his gaze raked her from

head to toe, he strode forward as though pushed. There was no mistaking his appreciation

of her tight black sweater, short skirt, and strappy heels.

She was glad when his avid gaze strayed again to her breasts, or he might have seen her

dropped jaw.

The vampire was undeniably hot.

He was so tall that the highest point of the plane’s seven-foot ceiling barely cleared his

height. He wore dark jeans that highlighted his narrow hips and a dark shirt that molded to

his muscles. Everything was tasteful and seriously expensive. His face was completely

healed, and his longish black hair was damp at his collar from a recent shower.

Sexy. He has too much of a biological advantage. What female could be expected to turn

him away when he wanted to be inside her?

When he met her eyes again, he had such a ravenous look that she grew flustered, feeling

a blush creeping over her cheekbones. Blushing. Now the vampire has me blushing. “This

is how I usually dress.” After nervously trying on thirty combinations of clothing. “That is,

when I’m not fighting, running, or climbing.”

He reached forward to brush his hand at her nape. “Or diving from cliffs to tackle

unwitting sirens,” he said with a half grin.

So, he was going to be charming tonight? Little did he know that she was a-sure-thing. He

didn’t have to unleash an arsenal of devastating good looks and that quiet, unstudied

charm.

She was his tonight.

Before he’d arrived, she had been miserable. She’d felt so alone and so, well, doomed.

After much soul searching, Kaderin had made a decision.

In the young, immortal words of Regin: Fuck it. If she was going to die, Kaderin was

going to have one night of passion before her dirt nap. And she couldn’t think of anyone

she wanted to be with more than him—for this one night.

She’d told him this was how she usually dressed, and that was true, but she didn’t want

him to suspect that she’d tried on everything in her bag twice. She’d stared in the mirror,

considering her appearance for the first time in ages, wondering what he would find

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) attractive about her—or was it merely the blooding that made him fancy her? She’d been

so anxious about being intimate with a man after so long, she could scarcely close the tiny

fastenings on her heels.

Sad but true, she was grateful to him for his company. If he weren’t here, she would have

done nothing but mull her death, but now he was with her, and there was something in his

eyes, something a bit alarming that thrilled her.

She bit her bottom lip. Call her Betty Fucking Crocker, because the cake was so going to

be worth the bake.

“You look beautiful.” Such simple words, but the way he said them, his eyes so

compelling, gave her shivers.

She glanced down at herself and back up. “Not too small?”

That gorgeous grin again. Gazing at his chiseled, masculine face changing expressions was

a decadent pleasure. “I love how you are made. Even as I’d worried about hurting you

when I touched you.” Listening to the low timbre of his voice was just as blissful. She

knew she shouldn’t enjoy these things so much, and yet she couldn’t help it.

“Hurting me?” She gave a light laugh. “Losing limbs hurts. Boiling oil hurts. Whatever

you can dish out, I can take—if I wish to.”

He closed in, all hot, massive male, towering over her. Gods, he smelled good.

“And do you wish to, Kaderin?”

Yes! She wanted him to kiss her, to lick her body. Him, a vampire. When she nodded

breathlessly, his hand cupped her face, drawing her in so he could take her lips.

His kiss was gentle at first—though she could tell he struggled to make it so. Then he

groaned, and it turned desperate, that gallows kiss. Tonight she shared the sentiment

completely.

The lights blinked twice, and she finally forced herself to break away. “We’re about to

take off. It’s, uh, customary to sit.”

He dropped into the closest seat, seizing her waist, then dragged her across his lap. When

he settled her ass over his rampant erection, he hissed in a breath, and she gasped,

reminded of his size.

In an awkward attempt at conversation, she asked, “H-have you ever been on a plane

before?”

“No.” He brushed her hair from her neck to press a sizzling kiss to the bared skin. “And I

doubt that I’ll remember much of flying this time.”

When he nuzzled her neck, she stiffened and pulled away. “No biting?”

“No, I promise,” he said. “I am sorry it happened that night.”

As her uncontrollable emotions continued to do, unbidden words bubbled up from

nowhere. “Sebastian, no matter what happens in the future, I want you to know that I’m...

” She glanced down and murmured, “I’m glad you’re here now.”

But he curled his finger under her chin and caught her eyes. He looked proud of her.

“Thank you for telling me this.”

“I just felt I should.”

“These feelings are confusing, are they not? Mine are, too. But we’ll muddle our way

through.”

She wouldn’t be around long enough to...

With that thought in her mind, she turned to straddle him. Her hands trembled as she

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) cradled his face. She leaned in to press her lips against the corner of his mouth, his cheek,

and lower to his neck, then returned to brush her lips fully against his. As before, the mere

contact of his lips with hers made her breathy and abandoned. She tilted her head to