Smoke and Fire: Part 3 (9 page)

“Ryder willna allow anything to happen to you.”

Arian said it with such conviction, as if everyone could see it but her. Kinsey put her hands in her lap and looked at her plate. “Why do you say that?”

“Open your eyes, Kinsey. It’s right there for you to see, if you’ll allow yourself.”

She turned her head to him. “I assume you know my past with Ryder.”

“I do,” he said with a bow of his head. “Doona consider us gossiping about you, but rather a group worried about one of our brothers.”

She raised her hand to stop him. “Of course. There’s no need to explain. You’re a family, and families protect their own. The thing is, I thought he was The One.”

“And now he’s no’?” Arian asked with a frown.

Kinsey glanced around the table at all the faces talking, laughing, and enjoying life. “He left me.”

Arian blew out a breath. “Can you no’ forgive him?”

She didn’t know why she felt the need to confide in Arian. Having only just met him, she shouldn’t be telling him anything, and yet she opened up to him. “I’m afraid to.”

“You’re afraid he’ll hurt you again, aye?”

She nodded.

Arian shifted so that he was turned toward her. “Ryder is a good man. We all make mistakes. Immortality doesna mean we’re perfect. In many cases, we make more mistakes than mortals.”

“I couldn’t handle another heartbreak like that.”

“I was never in love before my Grace, so I can no’ pretend to know what you’re feeling. Although, I can tell you that you’re no’ the only one sitting at this table who’s been hurt in the past. There’s Sophie who was hurt terribly by the man she loved.”

Kinsey looked down the table to the left to see who Arian was looking at. There was a redhead with a vibrant smile who gave a nod to them. Kinsey looked at Arian. “So she forgave him?”

Arian made a face. “In order to move on with her life she did. It also gave her the power to love again with Darius.”

In other words, there wasn’t a soul at Dreagan who was in her same predicament. No one could begin to understand her worry about trusting someone who had ripped her heart out before.

“Everyone deserves a chance,” Arian said. “Con’s giving you one because Ryder asked. Consider giving Ryder another chance. You just might be surprised.”

By the time dessert arrived, Kinsey was more confused than ever. Her emotions were all tangled and mixed so she didn’t know where one ended and another began.

She wanted to be with Ryder, but the fear stopped her cold. The past three years had been the worst of her life. Lonely nights, lonesome holidays, and empty relationships that went nowhere.

They—whoever the hell “they” were—said that whatever didn’t kill you made you stronger.

Kinsey wasn’t so sure of that. She felt trampled, crushed by all she’d endured. Yes, she’d survived because a new day dawned and she had to work to pay her bills. So she got up, showered, dressed, and went to work.

At least there her mind was mostly occupied. It was after work when she had to think about dinner that got her. All her friends were in relationships, and she hated being the third wheel, so she never went with them.

Grocery shopping for one was miserable, but worse was when she went to the movies by herself. She hadn’t thought it would be a big deal. It’s not like she ever talked during a movie.

But it was sitting alone, no one to elbow at the funny parts, or cry with after a sad movie that struck her the most.

So very many lonely nights spent at her cottage. The few times she’d allowed her friends to set her up with blind dates had been disastrous—as they always are. And the dates she found online weren’t much better.

It wasn’t as if she got through a month and shouted for joy that she’d survived. She kept her head down and plowed through one day after the other, only belatedly realizing every New Year’s that another year had passed.

It wasn’t until she reached Dreagan that she felt like she was alive again.

All because of Ryder.

Their gazes clashed, locked. Held.

She knew what he wanted. It was there in his hazel depths. Kinsey gave him a smile. That’s all it took for Ryder to stand and walk around the table to her.

He held out his hand for her. Kinsey didn’t hesitate to give it to him. Neither looked around as they left the dining room and headed to his bedroom.

Whether she could open her heart to him or not, her body wasn’t going to be denied.

Chapter Thirty-four

Ryder shoved open the door to his room and pulled Kinsey in after him, not bothering to turn on any lights. She yanked at his shirt as he pushed her against the wall for a kiss.

They frantically removed each other’s clothes, losing their balance and laughing through their kisses. The laughter died the moment they were finally skin to skin.

With his chest heaving and desire coiling tightly within him, he ran his hands down her back and over her shapely bum to her thighs. He gripped her legs and lifted her so that she straddled him.

He pressed her against the wall, kissing her deeply. Her nails gently scoured his scalp as she moaned and shifted her hips.

Ryder tightened his grip to keep her still. But she was having none of that. She reached between them and grasped his engorged rod, her fingers stroking and teasing.

He moaned, belatedly realizing Kinsey had broken the kiss and somehow managed to slip from his hands. Ryder looked down to find her kneeling in front of him.

His cock jumped eagerly when she lifted her face to him and smiled seductively. A breath left him in a whoosh when her lips slid over his head, taking him deep in her mouth.

The pleasure of her warm mouth over him was exquisite. He closed his eyes and dropped his head back as he fisted his hand in her hair.

The strings that bound him to Kinsey strengthened, tightened as they shared their bodies. The future crystalized before him, and he knew Kinsey had to be a part of it.

She’d softened toward him already, but Ryder knew it still wasn’t enough. He was going to have to prove himself in a big way. Then spend the rest of eternity making up for being the fool who’d walked away from her and the love they shared.

Ryder groaned aloud when she cupped his sac, rolling his balls in her hand. He pulled out of her mouth and tugged her to her feet.

Then he had her against the wall, one hand hooked beneath a knee as he slid inside her. Kinsey’s eyes went wide as he filled her.

There was no need for words. Their hands and lips—their bodies—said everything. The beauty of their lovemaking, the deep connection it wrought, couldn’t be denied by either of them.

And as he looked into Kinsey’s violet eyes, she knew it as well. Whatever walls she’d kept erected around her heart the previous night were coming down, one by one.

Ryder could feel it, sense it. He didn’t bust through them, but instead opted to let them fall when she wanted. Three years ago she began to love him not knowing the real him. Now she knew—everything.

This time her decision would be based on all the facts.

Their gazes were locked as he began to move his hips in long, hard thrusts. Ryder felt his love for her growing, encompassing every inch of him.

He’d left Glasgow without ever telling her. He wasn’t going to make that mistake again.

“I love you.”

Her lips parted, her gaze searching his to see if he spoke the truth. Ryder was done hiding anything from Kinsey. He wanted her to know every part of him—the good, the bad, and the ugly. She was the only one for him, the only one he could ever see himself standing with.

Ryder didn’t expect her to respond, nor did he let her. He increased his rhythm, pushing her toward her climax. He needed to hear her scream of pleasure, to know that he gave her fulfillment.

He held her close, heart to heart. She was his life, his very breath.

Her fingers dug into his scalp and her breath hitched a moment before he felt her clench around him. She moaned, her eyes falling shut as the climax swept over her.

Ryder watched the pleasure cross her face, the ecstasy and delight that pulled her lips into a small smile that made his gut clench.

His arms held her as she sagged against him. He bent and grasped her other leg, keeping himself deep inside her as he walked to the chair.

He then sat, his hands moving to her hips. Kinsey dropped her head back, her lips open on a soft sigh. With her hands on his shoulders, she began to move her hips.

His balls tightened when she rolled her head from one shoulder to the other before straightening. Then her eyes slowly opened, the seductive glint in her violet depths making his heart beat faster.

Only Kinsey made him feel this way. Millions of years, and a single woman moved him as no one else ever had—or even came close.

The moonlight streamed through the window over her. Ryder caressed a hand up her back as she rotated her hips. As if she knew she held him in thrall, she pushed him back when he attempted to rise up for a kiss.

She then reached up and pulled her hair free of the ponytail that was half-fallen. He groaned as she shook out her long dark locks.

All the while she continued to move her hips, keeping him at the edge of a climax.

To his delight she ran her hands down her chest, pausing to cup her breasts and pinch her nipples. Ryder sucked in a breath when the tiny buds hardened.

Did she have any idea how sexy she was? How she kept him teetering on a climax with little effort?

Ryder followed her hands as they continued down her front to where their bodies met. She caressed her swollen clit and moaned.

And it was more than he could take.

In a split second he had her on her back on the floor as he pounded into her body, the need to claim her body and heart burning fiercely within him.

She met his thrusts, urging him onward. And when he drove so deep inside her that he touched her womb, she held him tight as he climaxed.

*   *   *

Rhi stared in silence at the piece of paper on the table in front of her. Just as Balladyn had said, it took them going through over sixty books, gathering the clues and pieces together.

The only hiccup came with some of the older texts that were faded too badly to make out. Not even magic fixed them. Those were the parts Balladyn had guessed at, and she agreed with his assumptions.

Then there were the books in an ancient Fae language that hadn’t been used in eons. Rhi understood only a word or two out of an entire paragraph. Balladyn, at least, knew a little more than she, enough to put things together.

It hadn’t taken much to place the words in the correct order. Even as she read them a fourth time, it still sent a shiver over her.

Fae be warned. A group with immense power and magic are judge, jury, and executioners for Death—Reapers. They enforce the law and right balance. Be advised, if a Fae discovers a Reaper …

That’s all they had. It infuriated Rhi that they couldn’t finish the message. She wanted to know what would happen if a Fae discovered a Reaper. Rhi was also curious to know if there was more to the message they hadn’t found yet.

Sixty books to find thirty-three words.

“Do you still have someone following you?” Balladyn asked.

Rhi stopped herself from glancing to the side to her watcher just in time. She regretted telling Balladyn about him now. Maybe Rhi was wrong, but she didn’t think her watcher meant her any harm.

“No. I think I was being paranoid.”

Balladyn’s red eyes narrowed as he closed the tome in his hand and gently set it down as he stared at her. “You’ve never been paranoid.”

“True,” she said with a shrug. “Then again, I’ve never left the Queen’s Guard and told Usaeil off either.”

For a long moment Balladyn watched her before he gave a nod. “Perhaps you’re right. As long as you don’t have that same feeling anymore.”

“I don’t.”

“There’s that, at least.” He closed more books and gathered a few in his arms before he walked to the cases and began to shelve them away. “Do you feel better about seeing the passage?”

Rhi sank into the high-backed chair that looked as if it had come right out of the Renaissance period and sighed. “I wish I could say yes.”

“I tried to warn you.”

“How do we find the rest?”

Balladyn glanced at her over his shoulder as he put away the last book in his hand. He turned and walked back to the table and gathered more books. “Did you not hear me when I said my library was more extensive than any Fae’s?”

“I did actually.”

“Then you’ll understand when I say I’ve been through each of my books. Twice. There’s nothing else. Perhaps whoever was leaving the messages was stopped by the Reapers.”

Rhi looked to where her watcher stood. “That’s definitely a possibility.”

“But you don’t think so.” Balladyn gave a little shake of his head and grinned as he returned to putting away the books.

Rhi observed him for a moment. “You do have a nice collection. But is it every book?”

“No one even knows how many books there are. Most of what I acquired was pillaged from the Fae realm after the Light left. Many I couldn’t get to because some Dark destroyed them.”

“I need to find the rest of the message.”

Balladyn paused while shelving a book. He slid it into place and laid the remaining books in his hands on a shelf as he turned to her. “Why? Why is this so important to you?”

“I wish I could explain, but I don’t understand it myself. It’s something I have to do.”

He strode to her, pulling her to her feet. “Don’t. It doesn’t matter what the rest of the message says. It’s enough of the warning at the beginning. Don’t meddle with these Reapers, Rhi.”

“So you admit they’re here.”

He sighed and dropped his arms. “I never said they weren’t.”

“Have you seen one?”

Balladyn looked away, refusing to meet her gaze. That was a cue that he knew something.

Rhi moved into his line of sight and forced him to meet her gaze. “You know something. Spill.”

“Rhi,” he began.

She held up a hand and said, “Eh. Don’t even try. Just tell me what you know.”

“Dammit,” Balladyn muttered and ran a hand over his jaw. He stared at Rhi for a long stretch of silence. Then he said, “There’s been mention of a Fae seen in Edinburgh with white hair.”