Scarlet Night (Limited Edition) (36 page)

“Zane...”
she whispered and lifted her head to his, “… I would
never
want to see somebody else the way I see you. No matter what you think you know, I do—and I always will—love you.”

Feeling a well of happiness, h
e smiled and gingerly pressed his lips to hers.

Holding the kiss for a long, tender moment,
Serena slowly parted his lips with her tongue and capturing his mouth completely with her own. As his tongue met hers, he felt a flash of heat and in the passion of the moment, he heard a growl but couldn’t bring himself to care who it had come from.

His arms lifted as her hands moved quick, desperate to separate their bodies from their clothing. Their mouths parted momentarily to get their shirts off and pressed back, mor
e passion growing between them. Without breaking the kiss, he peeled away her pants along with his and pushed himself over Serena on the bed and continued to kiss her as they once again became one.

Nothing else mattered at that moment.

It was simply Zane and Serena’s world.

Zoey
smiled and adjusted herself against Isaac’s chest as they settled into bed, “You were so incredible today!”

Isaac smirked, “So were you,” he rubbed his palm along her sides, “I had no idea you were such a great fighter!”

“I wasn’t that great,” Zoey blushed, “I just felt like I had to work harder because of everybody else.”

“Well, either way, I’ve never seen anybody fight that way!” Isaac kissed the top of her head, “You were so graceful!”

“I owe a lot of that to Serena,” Zoey confessed, “Seeing her grow and learn over the past few days really gave me something to aspire to.” She smiled, “She’s gotten stronger since I first met her. A lot stronger!”

“I bet. You and Zane are certainly great teachers, but…” he bit his lip and looked down.

“But what?” Zoey looked up.

“I was just wondering if you think she’s ready for what she’s taking on. I mean, I agree that she’s strong and everything,
but is that going to be enough to rebuild her father’s clan
and
become their leader?” Isaac sighed as he looked down at her nervously, “I don’t mean to be rude, but she hasn’t had to do
anything
like this. I’ve only had to lead the small pack of therions in the woods and
that’s
challenging enough.”

Zoey moved closer to her lover and sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder. Her short, blue
, pixie styled hair fell over her face, “I know what you mean, Isaac, and I understand your concern. But I have to be hopeful. She’s Gregori’s daughter, and I’ve seen too many incredible things from him to make a judgment just yet.” She confessed, smiling up at him, “I know it’s weird, but I have faith in her.”

“
That’s enough for me,” Isaac admitted, “And besides, since she agreed to rebuild with my pack as members I’ll be happy to help in any way I can.” He smiled.

Zoey smiled
, “It means a lot to me to know that we’ll be clan-mate’s and that we’ll have a chance to rebuild like this. It’s going to be great!” She turned to Isaac and leaned closer, catching his lips in hers and simply relishing in the moment of being in Isaac’s embrace.

Nikki sighed as she sat in the forest, watching the moon
from the clearing that, only hours earlier, she and the others had battled so ferociously in. Her emotions had overwhelmed her and had wrecked her mind and she needed a break.

It was just too tolling to be
that
close to him and not be able to do anything about it.

She had finally allowed herself to see him again and
, though she had known it was the wrong approach, she hadn’t been able to help herself. Though she couldn’t even be sure if she was wasting her time or not, seeing Zane’s face back at the tribe’s land had been too much of an opportunity to let pass. She
had
to know the truth! Though she hadn’t been completely honest with him when she first saw Zane, she’d known it had been him that she was looking for and, she wouldn’t have been able to figure out where to even start. Staring at the sky and letting out a deep sigh, she allowed herself to close her eyes as the memories built within her.

It was all driving her insane!

She’d just been missing him so much and, ever since she’d lost him all those years back, she’d been traveling alone and taking on any odd job that presented itself to her in whatever no-name town she’d happened across. And, while each new “home” was effective in helping her to help clear her thoughts for a time, the pain of her memories never failed to find her time and time again. It was becoming all-too clear that she would never be able to move on without some sense of closure.

Like it or not, she
had
to know the truth.

After all, he had been
the
only
one who could stop her suffering in the past, and if there was
any
hope—any chance that she could find some way to have him back or to at least find closure to his absence—then she was determined to find it.

She frowned, looking up into the sky.

She had to go back to the clan.

“
H
ey Zane?”

Silence.

Serena frowned and rolled over, leaning her head on his shoulder as he continued to stare up into the canopy of starlight as it cut through the openings in the treetop’s canopy. “Zane? Is everything alright?”

Zane
’s eyes shifted slowly from one constellation to the next as whatever was haunting his thoughts kept him distracted and staring off into the distance.

Whatever it was, it looked like he was upset by it.

Biting her lip, Serena sat up and nudged him in the ribs, “Hey! Earth-to-vacant-eyed Zane!”

He
blinked and finally turned his attention to her, realizing that he’d been zoning out and frowned. He was making her worry and he didn’t mean for that. Their path towards rebuilding their lives was just beginning and, though this was a happy and prosperous chance for all of them, he couldn’t help but worry about what could possibly go wrong.

After all, The Council was keeping tabs on all of them now, and they were sure to put a stop to anything and everything they saw as a threat.

“I’m sorry, Serena. I was just thinking,” Zane answered finally.

“Really? I hadn’t noticed! I just thought you were
ignoring
me because you never wanted to see me naked again!” She stuck out her tongue and rolled her eyes, “You want to tell me what’s the matter?”

Zane sighed and shrugged, “I’m just nervous about rebuilding. I don’t want to end like the Odin clan.”

“I know,” Serena bit her lip, remembering the stories, “But haven’t you heard? The Stryker boy’s been turning his own situation around since waking up to that nightmare.” Serena smiled “ From what I hear he’s ruffling a lot of feathers, so obviously he’s not letting the Odin situation stop him!” She smirked and leaned back, staring up at the sky. “He
does
sound like he’d be interesting to meet!” She giggled.

Zane sneered and shook his head, “He sounds like a loose cannon, to me! I heard he went on some solo run in Maine
and left a clusterfuck of a mess. Some obscene number of human casualties left in the woods. Apparently The Council was cleaning up after his little camping trip for nearly two weeks!” Zane turned away, growling, “Must be nice to carry the Stryker name like that!”

“Oh? You mean like how I get to carry the Vailean name?”

Zane scoffed, “Hardly!”

“
Aw! I think somebody’s jealous?” Serena chuckled, winking, “Afraid I’m gonna hop the Stryker boy if I got the chance?”

Zane
sneered and turned back to her, “Like he could
handle
you!” He laughed and rested his head in Serena’s lap, finally feeling relaxed in her presence.

With the fear of Keith destroying all of Gregori’s hard work behind
them, and the impending threat of execution from an angry Council fading like a bad memory, the only
real
threat wasn’t in what was, but only what could be.

Serena smiled
as she thought of how, in only a short time, she’d gone from living day-by-day in uncertainty and loneliness to having an epic new chapter in not only her life, but in the lives of all those in her new clan; a clan that she would be overseeing with Zane by her side. Blushing at the thought, she gazed down into his gloriously mismatched eyes and ran her hand across his cheek.

“I love you so much, Zane.”

Zane blushed, “I’ll never get tired of hearing that.”

Serena nodded and smiled,
“And I’ll never get tired of saying it.” She laughed and nodded, looking over at Zane for a moment. Her smile broadened as his gaze bore into her. “I was wondering…”

“Hmm?” Zane looked over at her, “What is it?”

“Well, I was thinking: if I’m going to be in charge and whatnot, I should probably have a—” her eyes widened and she turned suddenly as a wave of dark blue auric energy approached. “No…” her purple aura flared angrily as she shot to her feet as she shrieked in rage, “You?”

Zane frowned, not understanding her sudden outburst but standing up beside her, “Serena? What is it? What are you—”

Kristine’s aura broke through the darkness as she strolled towards them, “I heard you’d dragged your bitch-ass out of whatever shit-hole you’d been squatting in, slut! And I
know
you weren’t about to forget about what you did to us!”