The Crossing (Immortals) (13 page)

She clung to him, her eyes glazing as the peak rushed at
her. Her hips jerked, her inner muscles clenching like a
fist. Quickening his rhythm, he angled his body up on his
elbows. He wanted to watch her as she broke.

It was as beautiful as he'd anticipated. Like the crash of
a wave in a storm. Her head tossed, her body arched, her
mouth opened on a soul-deep moan. Satisfaction rolled
through him. He thrust deep, spinning out her peak as
long as he could.

Eventually, though, the perfect moment had to end.
Artemis turned boneless, her body sinking into the mattress. Mac held himself hard and motionless inside her, as
her eyelids fluttered open. He took in her dazed expression. A slow grin spread over his face.

"That was lovely," he said, dipping his head for a kiss.
"You're lovely."

"I'm... I'm not." Her body was suddenly tense in his
arms, and something like fear flashed in her eyes. "Did...
did you come, too?"

"Not yet." He thrust gently, letting her feel how aroused
he still was. Painfully so, if truth be told. "But I intend to.
Very soon." He grinned. "If you're still willing?"

She closed her eyes briefly, and nodded, almost with relief. "More than willing. Her hips lifted, but the offer was
marred by the single tear that escaped from her closed eyes.

Mac caught the drop with a brush of his thumb.
"Come, now, love, why so sad?"

"Nothing," she choked out. "Nothing. Just..." She
shook her head. "That... what you made me feelit was amazing. It's never been like that for me before. Men never... plunge into my magic like that. They're
too... afraid of it. Of course," she added, humor creeping back into her voice, "a god doesn't have those kinds
of hang-ups."

"I'm only half a god," he reminded her with a laugh.

"Half is more than enough." She urged his mouth to hers.
He complied, and for the next moment or two, though he
was still buried deep inside her, all they did was kiss.

Until kisses weren't enough.

Artemis nipped and licked his lower lip. Her hands
moved to his arse, and her hips wriggled.

"Your turn," she said.

He smiled and resumed the dance. He'd take his turn,
and bring her with him as well.

He stoked their fire with slow, deep thrusts. Soon he
had her moaning. Thrashing. Her magic swirling. She was
close to a second fall. He felt the first stirrings of his own
orgasm.

Her magic stirred with it, swift and strong and sure. It
touched him. Called him. Delved into his soul. He felt her
there, close to his heart, close to that dark, unwanted void
he'd spent so long denying. Under her touch, the wound
didn't seem so ugly, or so hopeless.

Artemis's light filled his darkness. Her darkness fed his
light. The nagging sense of incompleteness that had
plagued him for the past year vanished like a bad dream.
This was what he'd been looking for. This union of light
and dark. Not a struggle, but a balance.

Freedom.

He thrust deep inside her. The leading edge of his orgasm tickled his senses. She was close to breaking a second
time as well. He could feel her inner muscles tremble as
they clamped tight around his shaft. Life magic surged in
his cock, and for the first time in Mac's long life, the urge
to release all of it-all his immortal soul's life-creating potential-was overwhelming. Artemis's mention of pregnancy had burrowed its way to a place deep inside him.
The seed of her suggestion had released tenuous roots.
He could do it. Create a new soul, a new life. A child.

There was a reason why that was a bad idea. At least,
Mac thought there must be. But logical thought was tricky
at the moment, with his hands and soul full of Artemis and
her magic. The only thing he knew for certain was how
completely right it felt to be buried inside her. The woman
was a perfect, pure, high note. His long life was like a song
that had been waiting for that single tone to complete it.
And now he'd found her.

He made his decision. When he went over that final
sweet edge, he'd let his creative magic flow free.

The spell. She had to spring it at the exact moment Mac's
climax hit.

But-oh gods!-how could she do that, with waves and
waves of pleasure and light flowing over her, under her,
through her?

Mac's fingers bit into Artemis's hips. His light and life
pumped into her body. He was rock-hard inside her, and
so incredibly deep. It felt as though his magic had found
the very center of her soul.

It was too deep. Too good. Her balance was slipping.

A wave of pure bliss rose. She was a split second from
coming a second time. The knowledge stunned her. She'd
slept with few men; none had really dared to know her this
completely. Sometimes, she'd managed a pleasant climax.
But a mind-shattering orgasm? Two? Incredible.

It would be sheer disaster if she came a second time
now. If she did, she'd never complete the spell. And it had
to be finished, no matter what the effort cost.

Falling forward, supporting her weight on rigid arms,
she wriggled her hips, trying desperately to tilt away from the devastating sensations. A shudder ran through her, and
for one awful second she thought she'd fly right over the
edge. Then-blessedly, horribly-the peak receded.

Numbness descended; her pleasure faded to a faint blur.
It was the first part of her spell. Thank the gods, she'd regained the upper hand. It was imperative that she keep it.
Her lust drained away. The haze of sensual yearning
lifted. Her mind cleared like a winter sky.

Mac's wild thrusts continued, but now it was as if she
were outside herself, hovering above the bed. Not feeling:
watching. Waiting. He jerked hard, gasping her name. His
fingers branded her hips as he stiffened inside her.

Now.

She parted her lips and whispered a word so ugly, so
foul, her soul recoiled. Bitter regret burned in Artemis's
throat. Mac was the most generous, most incredible lover
she'd ever known. What he'd made her feel... no. She
wouldn't dwell on that. Not now, not ever. Their association was over. When he came back to himself and realized
what she'd done, he would hate her.

The knowledge brought a stab of pain in the vicinity of
her heart, but she shoved the discomfort aside. There
would be time enough for regrets later. There always was.

Mac's spine arched; guttural pleasure vibrated in his
throat. The spell broke with a sound like a dam cracking.
Tongues of hellfire sprang up at the four corners of the bed.
From the flames, four death arcs rose, curving gracefully
overhead. The leading ends touched down in the centers of
the bed's four sides, forming an arched cage above the mattress. Ruthlessly, she tightened the strands of her spell.

Time warped, suspending Mac at the peak of his perfect
bliss. Working swiftly, she ran her mind along the edges of
Mac's soul. She'd never skimmed someone so powerful.
Was he aware of the death magic hovering above him? He
didn't seem to be. His soul was drenched in brilliant light.

Orgasm. It was the most powerful light/dark experi ence. An act that made new human life possible, yet the
French had once named it "the little death." Sexual release
paved a path straight to a soul's essence. Artemis's death
spell had widened that path, giving her leverage to extract
what she needed from Mac's soul.

She cast her senses toward him. Mac's divine spirit was
so bright she could only view it obliquely. His power stole
her breath. He was so strong. So alive. Immortal. She told
herself that the drop of his soul she needed was nothing. A
penny to a billionaire. Unfortunately, the rationalization
did nothing to lessen her guilt. A theft was a theft.

But she wouldn't balk. Not now, when she was so close
to the next step in saving Zander. Hardly daring to
breathe, Artemis reached out and touched Mac's life energy. Whispering spell words of both life and death, she
gathered a single strand of life essence into her body.

The burst of bright-hot energy nearly undid her. White
and dazzling, Mac's life essence was far more vast than
that of an entire city of faeries. It was so pure. So brilliant.
So good. Tears stung her eyes.

His soul was wild and free, like his father's kingdom, the
sea. Potent and sexual as the earth, the Sidhe realm. Artemis
desperately wanted to linger, to know him better, but she
didn't dare. It was past time to break their connection.

Except that she couldn't seem to summon the will to do
it. The temptation to know him, really know him, drew
her like a magnet. Such a connection could never happen
in love-she was a fool to even think that word. But
joined as they were, body and mind, Artemis had the brief
power to go deeper into his soul. If she was careful, he
would never know.

It was wrong; she didn't delude herself that it wasn't.
Artemis was nothing if not honest-at least with herself.
A part of her screamed for her to stop. But it was a weak
part of her will, and she knew it would lose. She wanted so
badly to be close to him one last time.

She shut her eyes and slipped farther down the path her
magic had opened. Farther into Mac's life essence. What
she discovered there amazed her.

Oh, not the proof that Mac was kindhearted and honorable. He was a creature of life magic, after all, and she'd
already sensed his ultimate goodness. No, it was his unexpected vulnerability that astonished her. Such a human
weakness was so at odds with his cocky, confident facade.

Here was a demigod whose deepest wish was lovehuman love. Mac wondered if he deserved it, if he would
ever find it, if there was a chance that any human woman
would ever look past what he was to see who he was. At a
deep level, he was afraid to find out. His poignant, littleboy fear of rejection tugged at Artemis's heart.

Who would have thought?

She felt Mac's mind stir, stretching for awareness. She'd
stayed too long! Hastily, she retreated, drawing back into
her own body and soul. It hurt. Badly. She wanted to stay,
wanted to hold him, wanted to become part of him.

Wanted to love him.

The thought caused the air to vacate her lungs. Love
him? Who was she kidding? She'd just violated his soul in
the most terrible, underhanded way. Once he woke, the
only feeling he'd have for her would be disgust.

She felt that something precious had died. Which was
ridiculous, because from the beginning, everything she'd
shared with Mac had been a lie. Pushing her grief asideby now, she was very good at that-she released her hold
on the spell. Mac's orgasm evaporated; his body relaxed.
Breath huffed from his lungs. Tension drained from
his beautiful face. He softened inside her, a faint smile on
his lips.

Fighting sudden tears, Artemis cradled Mac's stolen life
essence in the arms of her soul. As she rose to her knees, a
keen sense of loss scoured her as his shaft slipped from her
body. She was about to move off him completely when his eyelids fluttered and opened. His green eyes, frowning,
met hers.

She froze.

He'd caught her out.

How long she remained motionless-naked, guilty, vulnerable, waiting for his anger to coil and strike-she
couldn't have guessed. It felt like forever. In reality, it was
probably only a few seconds.

Then his forehead smoothed, and his eyes lost their focus. His voice, a mere whisper, brushed her senses.

"Ah well. I hope you won't mind, love."

She stared at him. Mind? Mind what? She was the one
who'd done the unconscionable. For a moment, she
thought he would say more. Then his eyelids fluttered
closed, and his body relaxed into sleep.

It was over. She'd done it. Artemis didn't move for a full
minute. She couldn't; she was trembling too badly.

When at last she was able to leave him, she went slowly.
Carefully. Their bodies clung with the slight suction their
mingled sweat had created, but only for an instant.

She was free. A wave of loss broke over her. She only
just managed not to fling herself back onto the bed and
into his arms and beg for his forgiveness. Impossible, of
course. What she'd done was unforgivable.

Gingerly, feeling as though her heart had sustained a violent blow, she stood facing the window as she reined in
her unruly emotions. Where was her famous balance now?
She needed it, desperately.

She blanked her mind and concentrated on her mantras.
The soothing vibrations helped her redisover a small measure of her equilibrium. Digging her small pack from the
bottom of the duffel, she tugged open the zipper and slid
the moonstone from its pouch.

She cradled the gem in her left palm. The spark of Mac's
life essence glowed in her heart, expanding until white light
filled her chest. A whispered spell sent the energy zinging down her arm and into her hand. In the space of a heartbeat,
Mac's life essence drained from her soul and flashed into the
moonstone.

Some of her own energy drained with it. Knees suddenly
trembling, she steadied herself with a hand on the luggage
rack. She allowed herself a single moment of weakness. A
tear rolled from her eye to splash on Mac's soft carpet. The
moonstone, now saturated, was a hot, living presence in
her fist.

She slid the stone back into its silk-platinum pouch, tying the strings tightly, but leaving the chain dangling. She
slipped it over her neck.

She'd done it. She had what she needed for her rendezvous with Malachi. She only hoped she could get to
him on time.

Demons insisted on punctuality.