Noah (41 page)

Now, between the issues with Syreena, the loss of control of the rogues, and the deaths of Stephan and three other highly valued and powerful members of the Vanguard, Damien wondered if they weren’t right to doubt him. Feeling suddenly defeated, the Vampire Prince let his legs fold and he sat down hard upon the stairs, dragging Jasmine down to her knees between his legs as they held each other tightly.

He was the only one she would ever have allowed this close to her. They had loved one another since she’d been but a girl and he’d first taken her under his wing. Now she was the second most powerful Vampire in all the world, if not the second oldest, and the only one he would ever honestly fear losing to in a battle if it ever came to it. Simply because his heart could never sustain the level of betrayal it would take for her to ever challenge him.

No. Her loyalties were sound, for all her blustering and bitching about Syreena. With her by his side, he need never worry about his throne. She and he could face anything thrown at them.

Had it been a year earlier.

Had he not had others to worry about now besides the two of them and all of Vampire society.

Damien glanced up at the stone ceiling, as if he could see all the way through it to his bedchamber and his bride within it. She was asleep now, healing quickly, settled under the care of the Monk Siena had sent to aid her. The Queen of the Lycanthropes and her Consort, the Demon Elijah, were also ensconced upstairs in a guest chamber, having come as soon as they’d heard of the attack upon their relation.

These were his family now. And they meant far more to him than a society of vagabond Nightwalkers who didn’t have enough sense between themselves to be cautious and respectful of the opportunity he’d tried to give them by opening up the possibility of marriage, love, and true mates to them. They were so inured in their fickleness and debauchery that they couldn’t see it all for the gift it was.

To be fair, though, neither could they really feel enough to care. As a whole, his society was pained and bored, jaded beyond words and hurting without understanding why. They didn’t understand that they were lost, and that if only they would show patience and wisdom, he would try to help them find themselves again…as he had found himself. Even Jasmine, the stubborn daughter of his heart, if not his blood, had fought him tooth and nail all of this time even though she was loyal to him. In truth, she was afraid that his depth of love for Syreena would eventually preclude her from his life. She was afraid that if she listened to the lure of it too closely she would be charmed into thinking she had need of another herself. Jasmine was soft at heart, for all her quills. She, more than any of them, had been sensitive all of her years, falling into melancholy and torpor again and again because she couldn’t bear the loneliness of the aboveground world.

But she had buried it all under anger, backbone, and an attitude tougher to scale than the Himalayas. Now one of her two best friends was gone, presumed dead judging by the amount of blood they had found with his scent on it. The psychic resonance of violence and death had reeked from the clearing Stephan had been destroyed in. Damien and Jasmine could still hear the warrior’s death screams emanating from the earth and air, from his very blood. Vampires in a victorious bloodlust were capable of any number of depravities, so only the Goddess knew what the sick bastards who murdered him had done with the body.

Now all Damien and his loved ones could do was grieve together.

And wait to see what came with the new dusk.

Kestra was filthy after her ordeals of the evening, having been a receptacle for blood, mud, and bark and who knew what else, so Noah didn’t have to read her mind on the matter of a bath. He settled her on the edge of the tub while it filled with hot water. It was large and square and snuggled into a corner that included a bench in an alcove of stained glass and decorative stone and marble.

“This is the famed bathtub you’ve bragged about?” she teased him with her best bored tone and an exaggerated rolling of her eyes.

Noah turned from his task of adding a strongly scented oil mixture into the water. His eyes flashed with amusement and he raised a brow at her.

“It’s not all that impressive. No Jacuzzi,” she pointed out.

“No electricity. Nor will you find technology in a Demon household, as you discovered earlier. They do not agree with our biochemistry.”

“Yes, well, they agree with mine.” She pouted, pushing out her bottom lip and tempting him with its sexy fullness.

Noah moved to stand before her, then lowered into a crouch. He used a single fingertip on her knee for contact. “I am afraid this is something else that will change for you. Of course, there is electricity in the village, so if you miss anything too terribly you are welcome to seek it there. I could arrange for you to have a little cabin so you can hide from our primitive ways. You can have cable, hair dryers, and even high-speed computer connections.”

“Is that so?” She looked duly surprised.

“Yes. Tech may not agree with us, but it is necessary in this day and age. I have human associates who are situated in the village who work for me in this fashion.”

“Do they know who…what you are?”

“One or two. Longtime family friends. Heirs of longtime family friends. I need others to work full-time to manage my wealth as I have more pressing matters to attend to. Sometimes it is a matter of information I need. I would be a poor leader if I allowed myself to be ignorant of the times around me, even though those times do not always agree with parts of me.”

“Yes. I can understand that. And no, I don’t need electricity. I was a Marine, if you recall, and this”—she flipped a hand to indicate the luxury of the bathroom—“is hardly roughing it.”

“Hardly,” he agreed with a chuckle.

“And I am happy to know I can access the Net and online trading from the village. Or anything else like it. All in all, I’d say you have a pretty comfortable arrangement going on around here.” She glanced away from him, fidgeting with a tatter on her dress a little. “I can’t find too many complaints about the possibility of living here.”

Noah felt his heart take a huge leap upward into his throat. It was the closest she’d come to telling him she wanted to stay. Oh, he was certain she already understood she
needed
to stay, but this was her way of making it her own choice. And she was choosing him. He could hardly breathe with the sudden surge of excitement that ran through him. He felt like a kid let loose in a candy shop. It took all of his effort and skill at moderating his expression so that when she looked up he wouldn’t scare the hell out of her.

Her eyes met his, searching him for a response. He was far too happy to conceal everything he was feeling, so she could see the pleasure in his eyes and knew he understood the point of her comment. His hand closed warmly over her knee, his palm moving in a gentle stroke up her thigh, gingerly brushing over bruises and half-healed lacerations.

“We should get you in this bath,” he said gently. “The oil is an herbal mixture Jacob made up for me. It is fairly strong, I warn you, but it will relieve your sore muscles and skin. It will also help you to sleep.”

He reached for her torn dress, his fingers curling around what remained of the hem. Her hands immediately lowered to cover his, staying his actions.

“Noah,” she said softly.

He smiled a little crookedly and looked into her troubled gaze. “Surely we have gotten over the shyness stage of our relationship,” he admonished teasingly.

“No.” She shook her head and smiled when he arched a brow. “I mean, yes. Yes, we’re over the shyness stage. I only meant…” She released one of his hands so she could thread her fingers through a long, waving curl of his hair, sliding them down the soft length of it. Her voice was hoarse as she boldly explained her meaning. “I don’t want to sleep, Noah. It’s Samhain, and I don’t want to sleep.”

Noah dropped forward onto his knees, his balance completely lost as his head swam with heat and meaning. He couldn’t speak, could barely swallow, as the sensation spread throughout his body. He shook his head, trying to refocus himself, the effort tremendous because she so easily aroused him. He reached up to push back her tangled hair, little bits of dead leaves fluttering free of it as he did so.

“Kes…no,” he said quietly, pulling her to him so he could press a fervent kiss to her temple. “You have been through enough. It is time for you to rest now.”

She smiled, the expression whimsical. Kestra turned her face against him, taking a deep breath as she nuzzled first his neck, then his coarse cheek, letting the shadow of his jaw scrape over her face. She ended the caress with the brush of her lips over his ear, and she felt him shudder.

“Noble as that sentiment may be,” she whispered, then, deliberately and slowly, “Baby,” she continued, feeling his sharp intake of breath right to her satisfied soul, “I need you. I need you to make love to me tonight.”

Noah made a low sound in his throat, a noise of masculine agony that only a severe battle of conscience could create. But Kestra felt his hand flatten out against her thigh, curving almost helplessly over her hip as he pulled her down onto his thighs. She pushed off with her feet, hitching herself higher than he intended, clutching his hips with her thighs, snuggling herself flush to his belly and chest. She wound her arms around his neck and hugged him warmly. His arms, tense and powerful, banded around her and dragged her more tightly into the embrace.

Kestra then framed his face with her hands and pulled him to her mouth. She had barely parted her lips against his when his hand cradled her head and he cast their weight to the side, rolling over until she was beneath his heated body and accepting the sudden and thorough aggression of his kiss. His tongue sought hers in an explosion of deep, velvety strokes, his need voluble in a chained groan. His hold kept her head and shoulders off the cold marble of the hard floor, but it allowed for a brace behind her hips that settled him perfectly against her. Her heat bled through his clothing quickly, and he was instantly reminded of his earlier intentions on his desk, and the fact that she wore nothing but the threads of the dress.

Kestra felt his reaction. She felt him hardening and swelling against her, the rampant burn of heat flaring in answer to his uncontrollable need for her. She liked knowing he couldn’t control his need for her.

No sooner was the thought in her mind than he was launching himself back away from her, gasping deeply for a much-needed breath as he rose on his knees, half dragging her with him because she clung so tightly to him.

“No! Kes, no…” He groaned when she followed him, covering his mouth again for a brief instant before he cradled her face with his hands and pulled her away. “Please,” he begged hoarsely, “please do not make me choose between honor and need, baby. Please…”

The request was so pained that it bought him her complete attention, as well as a respite from her aggression. He closed his eyes for a moment in a bid for inner and outer control. Then he forced himself to look at her, taking in her bruises and wounds and her soiled body. It gave him the anchoring he sought, as he knew it would. He stood abruptly, grabbing her hands and pulling her to her feet. He stepped to turn off the bathwater, then straightened to run both hands through his hair before turning back to look at her with a long exhalation.

“Bathe,” he commanded her, trying not to sound short but failing.

She merely laughed at his back as he walked sharply away from her.

“We’ll continue this discussion when I’m through,” she called before he could shut the door.

“No, we will not,” he called back, slamming the door shut.

Noah paced three brisk circuits down the length of his room before stopping to tunnel his fingers through his hair once again.

When exactly had he been delegated to a defensive position in these matters? Every time he turned around, she was wreaking havoc with his equilibrium. As long as he could remember, he’d been a very assertive personality when it came to dealing with women.

But she wasn’t like any other woman in the world. He cared little for any of those in his history. Kestra held his heart. Because of this, he wanted to treat her like the treasure she was. He couldn’t bear the idea of hurting her or being thoughtless with her. Perhaps he was being overcautious, but he would rather that than callous. No. He was in the right here and he was certain of it. She never seemed to recognize her own limitations. He didn’t care if it was Samhain and Beltane all wrapped into one. None of that mattered when he knew she was hurting and exhausted.

But damn him to hell if she wasn’t the most enticing creature on the planet. If she was determined, he knew she would push his buttons, just as she knew she could. She was already a proficient. Hell, she had been an adept before they’d even met. He supposed he could hope for the best, that Jacob’s herb oil would do the trick and straighten out her priorities a little. Sometimes it was as if she had no sense of self-preservation.

“Noah!”

Noah’s head jerked up when he heard the cry, his heart instantly leaping into overdrive. He hurried to the door, and then hesitated. He was instantly suspicious. He had avoided mind contact with her to afford her privacy, but he couldn’t withstand any more of her tricky teasing, so he sought to touch her thoughts for the reason to her call.

Noah!

That level of horrified fear screaming through his mind was no trick. Noah crashed into the bathroom, fire instantly bursting from his fingers, immolating them to the ready. The only thing he saw, however, was Kestra seated and submerged in the bath. Then, after a beat, he saw she was shaking.

And that the water was glowing a phosphorescent green.

He hurried over to her, hearing her panicked breathing and his name in a succession of cries that pitched higher with every iteration. His hands plunged into the water, dragging her slick body against his own.

The glow came with her. It clung to her skin like an aura. Noah could see auras just as she could, but he had never seen one with this uniformity of color. Nor this level of brightness. The glow was also increasing in field and ferocity.

“Easy, baby,” he soothed her quickly, reaching to jerk a towel around her body.

He swung her up into his arms and carried her into the bedroom. He carefully set her onto the floor just beyond the foot of the bed, right in the center of a rug. He kneeled behind her, his knees bracketing her hips as he tucked her head under his chin and wrapped secure arms around her. He wasn’t afraid. He could feel the energy emanating from her, growing stronger and stronger, seemingly with every second he spent notched up against her.

“Listen, Kes,” he said in a softly modulated tone meant to bring her calm. “This is energy, and it is originating from within you, not an outside source. Do you understand?” She nodded and he heard her swallow hard. “You can control this. Do not let it control you. This is your power, whatever it becomes. It is no different than any other ability we are born with. It is innate, but it is also up to us to truly find the way to master it. Understand?”

“Yes,” she said on a gasp, but he could hear her getting her breathing under control. He didn’t blame her for her fear. The first time fire had blossomed from his body he’d been terrified. Especially because the incident had been triggered by anger and had been uncontrollable.

“Good,” he praised her gently as she controlled herself to a more reasonable level. “Hold out your hands, sweetheart. Look. See how the power is strongest there?” Her wet hair brushed his chin when she nodded. “This usually means that your hands will be the best point of focus. You can channel this through your hands.”

“Is it…is it an expulsion or an absorption?” she asked tremulously.

Clever girl
, he thought, his delight in her mind making him hug her tightly in spite of the fact that she could present a danger to him so long as her power was unknown and uncontrolled.

“This I do not know,” he told her. “But if I were to judge by the amount of energy you are burning, I would say expulsion.”

“But I don’t feel tired. I should feel tired.”

Logic did dictate that had she been burning her own energy, she would be exhausting herself. And she was nothing if not logical. He sighed softly against the shell of her ear.

“Because it is my energy you are burning,
Kikilia
,” he told her gently.

She gasped, instantly trying to pull away from him. He felt her trepidation. She was afraid of draining him. Of hurting him.

“No,” he said, holding her firmly. “You cannot hurt me. You are a novice and I am an Elder Demon. The drain on my resources, even with my lack of sleep and the battles of the night, is negligible. Trust me, baby.”

“Okay,” she breathed, nodding readily. It pleased him that she did trust him and that she didn’t even search his eyes or his thoughts before agreeing with him.

“We are symbiotic,” he said. “We are one, inasmuch as we are two. I am the left hand. You are the right. What you take in, you must expel, or you will burn yourself out like a lightbulb faced with a power surge. First, feel the place within that draws power from me. Feel out and familiarize yourself with that connection.”

“I can’t. I don’t know what you mean!”

“Shh.”

Noah took her chin in hand and tilted her face up to him. He looked down into her wide eyes and smiled gently, every movement and every thought slow and easy so he wouldn’t lead her to panic.

“I think I know what triggered this,” he said, his lips twitching with amusement. “Your hormones were in an uproar.”