Sebastian (12 page)

Gritting his teeth, Sebastian stalked into the most absolute darkness possible. The ground started to slope, soon he could hear a whisper of a conversation. There was a man. And there was Nicolette’s voice! She was still alive, and his heart soared. He moved faster, but when the voices raised in anger, he had to force himself not to break into a run.

The light around the bend of the tunnel was flickering orange shadows, and on the wall, he could see two silhouettes. Suddenly Nicolette’s scream shattered the air.

Throwing away all caution, Sebastian ran.

NICOLETTE STARED NUMBLY at the hair that had been hacked from the nape of her neck. The man let it dribble out of his hands. He was about to say something else when an unearthly roar came from the tunnel behind them.

“Get your hands off of her, Templar!”

Sebastian roared into the chamber like a force of nature. He clipped the man hard with his shoulder, forcing him away from Nicolette's prone form. She watched in horror as the Templar turned with the speed of a whirlwind. The knife that had so recently been used on her was turned towards Sebastian's unprotected body.
 

Sebastian barely blocked it, but step by step, he backed the Templar away from Nicolette. He feinted with his own knife: at the man's face, his belly and his chest. But it seemed the Templar was as skilled as he was, and he refused to give more ground.
 

“Come for your little whore?” the man taunted.

Sebastian's response was an enraged roar.

Nicolette's heart was beating out of her chest. She didn't know what to do. But she did know she couldn’t just lay there. Then she realized she didn’t have to. She craned her neck, watching the two men locked in their battle. If she straightened her legs, she might be able to reach the Templar. She writhed on the ground, trying to scoot closer and keep him in sight. The seconds felt like hours, but then she saw her chance. With a quick but inelegant movement, she flexed her entire body and lashed out with her tied feet. The attack landed squarely on the back of the Templar's knee. He went down with an angry shout.

That was all it took. The moment the man was down, Sebastian made a gesture with his hand, and the stone rose up around the Templar. The earth itself came up to shackle the man to the ground. In less than a second, the Templar was bound more firmly than human hands could ever have done.

The man shrieked, and Sebastian stared down at him for a long moment, but then whirled quickly to Nicolette. In an instant, he was on his knees by her side. His knife sought and found her bindings. He helped her to sit up and, for a long moment, he only held her tightly.
 

“Thank you for still being alive,” he whispered into her hair. She laughed shakily, her stomach hurting. “Can you walk?”

She nodded. But as she tried to stand she realized she was still under the effect of whatever the man had drugged her with. The world tilted. But Sebastian’s strong arms supported her, and then swept her up. She felt the press of his hard chest against her, and she wrapped her arms wearily around his neck.

“I’ve got you,” he said quietly, turning to go.

“What about him?”

Behind them, the man was cursing them, swearing that he would slaughter them both, but Sebastian ignored him.

“We're leaving him.”
 

Wordlessly, Sebastian carried her through the twisting dark passages. Soon the Templar's curses were just a distant echo. The darkness was so absolute that Nicolette was almost glad to have been unconscious when she’d been packed into the cave in the first place. She was just beginning to get claustrophobic when she saw a glimmer of light ahead.
 

When they stepped out into the summer afternoon, she blinked. Gently, Sebastian lowered her to the grass. A familiar croak made her look up, and Karas alighted on her shoulder.

Laughing weakly, she stroked Karas's crest.

With a startled caw, Karas tightened his claws on her shoulder, making her flinch. A moment later, she could feel what had startled him. There was a fine tremor in the ground, and with every second, it became stronger. An unearthly quiet that blanketed the area, but slowly, a low rumble built into a roar.

Sebastian was facing the cave entrance, his back taut and his fists clenched. When the cave mouth started to collapse in on itself, he growled so deep and loud that Nicolette flinched. The roar of the ground stopped suddenly and, when she opened her eyes, the entrance to the cave was gone. Only deep, sharp cracks and pits in the new surface hinted that it hadn’t been there for centuries. After a few rainfalls, it would be impossible to tell that there had been a cave there at all.

“You buried him,” Nicolette said shakily.

Sebastian nodded his head. “He was dead from the moment he touched you.”
 

Nicolette stared at Sebastian as he slowly turned to her. So many emotions flashed across his face in quick succession. Rage, concern, relief, and—was that final one love? After everything she had done? Tears welled up in her eyes as she reached out to him.

“Sebastian,” she whispered lowly, his name sounding like a prayer.
 

He knelt in front of her, taking both her hands in his.

“Nicolette,” he started, but she placed a finger gently on his lips.

“No,” she said, her voice quavering, the words tumbling out. “I was a fool. I could have got you killed. I couldn’t have lived with that. I just couldn’t. I can’t.” Tears started to fall. “I can’t live without you.”

“Oh, Nicolette,” he murmured, even as he crushed her in his arms. “You don’t have to,” he said, his voice strained. In one fluid motion, he swept her up in his arms and stood. His blazing eyes seemed to see into her. “Not ever.”

NICOLETTE WATCHED THE sunset from the hotel room's balcony. Chicago was a city that never slowed down enough to sleep, but she could find peace gazing out towards the lake. Lake Michigan was serene and tranquil, and Nicolette tried to keep calm. Karas, uninterested in the city for the moment, perched on the back of one of the hotel chairs, keeping an eye on her and occasionally interjecting with a soft caw.
 

When the key turned in the hotel room lock, she was up in a flash. She was in Sebastian's arms before he had completely closed the door behind him.

“Well, hello beautiful,” he said, burying his face in her dark hair.
 

She’d had it cut, but left it long enough to hide the wound that was still healing at the back of her neck. It hung just below her chin now in a slightly wavy bob. She felt free from the weight of it and all the years she had spent running. Though she thought she might grow it back, it would have a different meaning if she did.

“What did they say?”
 

Sebastian was never a man to mince words. He nodded.

“They said yes.”

“I can come with you wherever you go?”
 

“According to my discretion, yes.”

“That means every mission, right?”

“It means according to my discretion,” he said with a grin.

Though she had joined the other witches and warlocks a month ago, she had found herself camped at headquarters for most of that time. While Sebastian and other members of the Magus Corps fought Templars in New Mexico, she’d bitten her nails and waited anxiously for any word. She felt as though she hadn't slept the entire time he was gone. When he came back, she had all but refused to let him leave their bed for a full forty-eight hours.

Then she’d asked to see the Commandant. Surprised but then nervous to have been given admittance, she had nevertheless firmly requested to be sent wherever Sebastian went. The Commandant had been dubious until she had demonstrated her aura reading abilities. Their usefulness in the field was undeniable. After that, it had been a matter of getting fully approved. With no small amount of satisfaction, she knew she would never be separated from Sebastian again. Her smirk faded when she saw his serious look, and pulled away slightly.

“What? What's the matter?”

With his hands on her shoulders, he guided her to the chair where Karas perched and seated her there. As she watched in amazement, he knelt in front of her and produced a small velvet box.

“Oh, Sebastian!”
 

“Nicolette Erling, when we first met, you told me that love has many faces. I think, though, that for me, it only has one––yours. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
 

He opened the box, and Nicolette's jaw dropped.

Inside the satin-lined box was a beautiful platinum ring, but instead of a white diamond, the gem in the center was a yellow diamond. It had a deep, rich, and
golden
hue. When she looked up, she could see the glimmer of gold that circled Sebastian's head.

“Yes,” she whispered, “Oh Sebastian, yes.”

With a wide smile, he slipped the ring onto her finger, and in the next motion, he lifted her up and carried her towards the bed.

“This isn't always the easiest life,” he warned her, lying her down on the yielding mattress. “I won't always be the easiest man to be with.”

“If I had wanted easy, I would have stayed with the circus,” she said. “You're what I want. You're who I want, and I will want you forever.”

“Do you mean that?”
 

“Oh yes.”

He studied her for a moment, but in the next his mouth crashed down on hers. Now that she knew him better, she reveled in the strength of his powerful body arching over hers. That strength was there to protect her, and her own powers, still growing and thriving, were designed to protect him as well. She returned his kiss with a will, and then she reached up to pull his shirt over his head.

“I want all of this off,” she demanded breathlessly. “I can't stand there being something between us. I need all of you.”

He stripped in a matter of moments, and then his hands were on her clothes. She heard the rough tearing of fabric, but it didn’t matter. Past caring, she had come to embrace the wildness and love they shared.

But when they were both naked, they paused.

“This is forever?” Nicolette asked, her voice soft.
 

He nodded. “Oh yes, my love. Forever.”
 

They were almost clumsy in their haste to touch each other. Every scar on Sebastian's body was precious to Nicolette. At first she had hated them for the pain they represented. But now she knew them for what they were. They were a testament to how well he had survived, and how safe he had kept himself for her. As the years went on, she would likely pick up a few scars of her own. But so long as he was with her, she would never bear them alone.
 

Impulsively, she pushed him down on the bed and began to kiss his scars. She started with the vicious slash on his flank, and moved through them one by one. She knew the stories for a few of them. The others she would learn in time.

At first Sebastian lay still as she kissed him, but in only moments, she heard him moan. She smiled, and kissed the scar on his right bicep again. It was short and deep, a sign of a stab rather than a slash. She ran the tip of her tongue along its length.

“How does it feel?” she whispered.

It took him a moment to respond.

“Sensitive,” he said. “Some of that skin is thick, but it seems to make the area around it more sensitive.”

“Oh good,” she murmured, and she licked the sensitive spot again.

She ended by lightly lapping around the newest scar, still pink from his time in New Mexico. It was a bullet graze, and she couldn’t help but shudder at the risks he ran. Had the gun been aimed only several inches to the left…

It was as though he could tell when her thoughts turned to darker places. He sat up.

“You’re thinking too much,” he whispered hoarsely. “Worrying. Let me take some of that worry away, love.”

He traced the curves of her body with his fingertips, waking up her skin inch by inch.
 
She felt like water in his hands, flowing and peaceful. But as he ghosted his touch over her sensitive nipples and between her parted legs, her body ached for him. She wanted him, as much as she wanted to breathe, but he only teased her, running his clever hands over her again and again.
 

“This is torture,” she protested through gritted teeth, and his laugh was lighter than she had every heard it.

“It is, but there is an end in sight.”

Instead of rising over her, he rolled her on her side, and curved himself against her back. She could feel his manhood harden against the curve of her rear, and his arm rested heavy along her side. For a long moment, he contented himself with nibbling at her nape and playing with her lobe. But then his hand dipped down between her legs.

“Oh!”
 

His fingers found her clit with unwavering precision, and with just a few deft and tender strokes, he made her buck against him. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to press forward against his maddening fingers or whether she wanted to press herself back against his hardness, but soon realized that the decision was being taken away from her. She rocked back and forth in the bracket of his arm, and it wasn't long before he was moaning from the feel of her as well.

“Sebastian, I need you now,” she whispered, and she felt as much as heard his agreement whispered against her neck.
 

The touch of his manhood against her wet cleft made her gasp. She knew he hadn't stopped for a condom. This was a step they were taking together. For her, it would always be him. It would be him forever.

With his hand steadying her hip, he pushed into her with a long and uninterrupted stroke, and then he paused. She felt how full she was with him. His ragged breath brushed against the soft skin of her shoulder.

“Sebastian?”

“Yes?”

“Don't hold back.”

It was as if the words had unchained something deep inside him. The grip he took on her hip was just a little bit short of bruising. He thrust himself to the hilt before withdrawing to thrust again.