He drew back, still driving into her. He held her gaze. “This is what went through my mind when you kissed me. I wanted to take you home and make love to you exactly like this. I remember thinking: I’ll take my time.”
She took a deep breath and another. He stroked her in the same almost languid movement, keeping time at bay. She wanted the moment extended as far as possible because right now, he belonged to her.
“I want you to see something.”
He nodded. He seemed to understand.
While he worked his hips, she accessed her time-pathing ability, but didn’t move into the continuum. Instead, she centered her thoughts on the mist she could create within both their minds, this new strange phenomenon.
She focused on the night it had been raining. She’d sat on the couch in Kyle’s apartment. Kyle was late in coming home. They were all supposed to go to the movies together.
The electricity had gone out, but the log fire had lit the room well enough. She and Devyn had been sharing wine and had laughed at the sudden loss of light. The mood had shifted swiftly, though.
He’d stared at her and she’d caught his lemon-oak scent. She knew now what it meant, but back then it had simply aroused her. Desire had swirled over her.
“Do you see the fire, Devyn? Are you sharing this time-path?”
“I’m there.” He kissed her again. “I almost leaned over to you and did this.” He slid his hand behind her neck and kissed her. It was as though she was watching a fantasy from the past get fulfilled right here in the present.
He thrust faster now and kept kissing her. I wanted to push you on your back, on the couch, and get your clothes off. I wanted to be inside you. I wanted to release while surrounded by your sex. I wanted to make you mine.
I wanted it, too. So much. They’d stared into each other’s eyes for a long, long time, not talking and she was there now, looking at him with the firelight dancing on his face. We’re fulfilling that desire now, right now. Do you feel it, Devyn?
I am. I’m with you. I have you on your back. I’m going to come inside you.
He surged into her, pushing harder and harder, faster and faster. She felt vibrations pour off his body and from his cock. His mating frequency swarmed over hers now.
Her body was on fire, just as he had said.
Passion and fire.
Desire rose in a wave of heat. She writhed as ecstasy took her back and forth between the firelight in the past and Devyn over her in the present.
Pleasure rained down on her as never before.
Her body began to crest, rising sharply to the pinnacle. At the same time, he arched away from her then roared as he released into her. He was wild and uncontrolled, rocking and thrusting.
Pleasure peaked. She opened her mouth and cried out over and over. Her voice mingled with his roars. A profound sensation exploded from their joined frequencies, enhancing the physical orgasm. Heat spread up through her abdomen and enveloped her chest and her heart. Tears flowed from her eyes.
As before, a lull occurred. This time, he kept thrusting. He knew what it meant. He stared down at her. She met his gaze. The firelight was gone from the past, but in its place was what felt like a tornado approaching.
“Are you ready?” His voice was so deep. The scent of lemons and oak flowed around her and made her tremble.
“Yes.”
She held onto his shoulders.
The second wave hit and he moved his hips vampire fast and groaned. He hunched over her and his roars once more erupted from his throat.
Her sex pulsed as yet another swell of ecstasy raced through her. She was cast into the heavens. Her mind swirled with light. She felt as though she’d gone to a place where time didn’t exist at all. She’d never felt such peace and such joy, all blended with the pleasure of being with Devyn.
Ecstasy continued to pulse through her until at last her heart began to settle. She returned to the present, to her skylight full of stars in her French bedroom, and to Devyn.
She felt his weight on her. She thought it the most beautiful sensation in the world. As she slowly began to return to herself, she surrounded his shoulders with her arms and held him close.
The present coalesced at last and she stared up at the stars through the skylight. She took a breath, then another. Her heart was still beating fast, but every other part of her felt more relaxed than in months, possibly since Kyle’s death.
Devyn made odd grunting sounds, but she sensed they came from a combination of contentment and the need to take in more air than he was.
He pathed. I don’t know where we went. But it was full of light.
She pet his head in slow strokes. You saw it, too? So, it wasn’t just me.
I saw it. Time didn’t seem to exist.
That was my take on it, but I have no idea where it was.
He slid his arms around her and levitated enough to embrace her fully. There it was again, how gentle he was with her. His weight didn’t compress her and the way he held her couldn’t have been tenderer.
He remained with his arms around her for a long time. She was smart enough not to disturb the moment. Instead, she gently stroked his back, his hair, his arms. Occasionally, one of her hands would steal all the way down to his buttocks.
The whole time, he remained buried inside her.
Finally, he drew back and smiled. “That was what I wanted to do to you that night by the fire.”
“It was the same for me.”
He searched her eyes. “We’re doing things together that seem impossible. We went back in time, again, but it felt like we were in both places at once.”
“Yes. That’s it exactly a kind of convergence of time. I’m still amazed. I don’t know how it’s even possible.”
He frowned slightly. “You amaze me, Emily. Sometimes when I’m with you, I think my life could be different.”
She dared not hope. Yet hope suddenly flew madly around her chest like a bird trapped inside a church.
He cupped her face with his hands. “You are dearer to me than anyone I have ever known. I need you to know that.”
Maybe it was her fae senses or maybe she simply knew this man, but the door to the imagined church opened. Hope flew across the threshold and out into the night.
She saw him clearly in that moment. She could make love to him a thousand times and he’d still feel compelled to walk away.
“If you do this, Dev, I mean, if you leave, I need you to know this can’t happen again. I’m glad it did, because I love you. But I can see you’re already halfway out the door, aren’t you?”
He frowned and caressed her face with both hands. “I know you want more from me and I wish a thousand times over I could give you what you need. I can’t, Em.” Tears touched his dark brown eyes.
Though her heart ached, the odd, almost amusing thought went through her head that if a trip to Paradise and back couldn’t bring Devyn around, then nothing could. In a way, it was liberating.
She caught his wrist then turned her head to kiss the palm of his hand.
She then settled back into the pillow. “I know what you’ve said is true. You can’t change what’s unfixable in your heart. It’s also helped me to make up my mind. I intend to ask Vojalie and Davido to find me a mate as soon as possible. I know until I bond with someone, I’ll be in danger from the worst elements of the Nine Realms. I’m this terrible prize that will now be pursued. You’re the one I want, but I also know how much Kyle’s death has put a chasm between us. It’s profound and I see now that it’s insuperable.
“But I’m already out of time. I mean, even if you felt there was some hope eventually you’d have a change of heart, I can’t put off taking a mate. It’s too dangerous.”
Devyn lifted a hand to cover his eyes. She could feel he was overcome. He drew a deep breath and sat up a little straighter. “I wish more than life itself I could commit to you. But I can’t. And I have no right to ask you to wait in case one day what I feel here,” he slapp
ed his hand on his chest, “might suddenly and miraculously transform. But I do love you. I want you to know that. I always will.”
“I know.” She sensed a terrible weight within his spirit, something she couldn’t repair. Kyle’s death had done this to him and there was nothing she could do.
Chapter Seven
When Devyn finally left Emily’s home, he had to hunt for the mist keyhole again. He found it after about a minute of searching and once more could tell it was meant only for him. Not even Mastyr Stone would be able to use it.
Stone would have approved these measures. Emily was tucked up in her French cottage home, with her skylights, her green garden, and her silk drapes. The security of the mist relieved his mind.
She was snug and safe.
He could let her go now. He needed to turn her over to Vojalie and Davido, just as Emily had said. They were two of the wisest folk in the Nine Realms. They would know the right vampire for her.
Even thinking about another mastyr feeding from her, brought his fangs thrumming in his gums once more.
Sweet Goddess, the lovemaking had taken him to a place he’d never been before, a place where time didn’t exist. He’d gotten to relive memories of the coffee shop and later sharing wine by a log fire on a rainy night.
He wished this could be his future. But he knew himself. Tonight’s lovemaking hadn’t been a beginning. It had been a farewell.
What he didn’t get was what any of it meant? Why a blood rose? Why time-pathing and convergence? And why was Leonus so determined to have her? Although the increase in power would be enough motivation for a vampire like Leonus. Some men craved power more than anything else in the Nine Realms.
He finally passed through the mist and reached the open night air. As he hovered, unwilling to leave right away, he felt like his heart was being torn from its moorings all over again.
The first time had been during the days following his brother’s death. The part Devyn played in not showing up to help Kyle battle an overwhelming number of Invictus had destroyed something within Devyn’s spirit. Now, he’d left Emily for good, believing he could do nothing else. He no longer questioned his feelings for her. He loved her.
But he couldn’t be with Kyle’s woman. She would always belong to his brother. He knew she couldn’t understand and he had to live with that.
As he levitated into the air, he caught a scent on the wind, very faint, but it was there. It smelled like eggs that had gone bad. Really bad. He knew some of the dark fae carried a stench. The infamous Margetta had.
Rising forty feet into the air and well above the treetops, he levitated in place then rotated in a slow circle. He searched the air first then made a second revolution to scan the woodland and the properties below.
He couldn’t see Emily’s house at all. The mist Vojalie had made confused the eye and the mind. If he looked up and down the line of houses that backed up to the streamside park and running path, he could tell he was in her neighborhood. He’d seen these houses from the air dozens of times. But he could no longer visually locate her home.
When the smell dissipated and the air grew quiet around him, his fears eased back. Whatever had been there was gone now.
As he hovered high above the stream, he thought about returning to Boylbury. But he wasn’t ready to go home just yet. He felt uneasy, unsettled.
Maybe he’d have a beer at the Wild Boar before seeking his bed for the day.
Having made the decision, he headed south. The bar wasn’t even a half-mile away. He was there under less than a minute and he’d only been cruising. Being with Emily had definitely cranked up his power level.
At least twenty bikes were parked out front, and a number of shifters and a few trolls were on the sidewalk smoking and flirting.
He landed across the street and jogged through the noisy evening traffic to finally reach the entrance.
The moment he walked through the door, however, something felt different about the place. It was packed, as usual, and there were plenty of women to go round.
But there were definitely more vampires than typically showed up any night of the week. Shifters tended to congregate at the Wild Boar.
He grew very still as several vampires turned to watch him.
What the hell was going on?
Then he got it. He was looking at a profound number of mastyr vampires and his fangs once more thrummed in his gums, ready to descend. A growl even formed in his throat.
The Wild Boar was crawling with mastyrs and not just from Tannisford. He recognized at least two from neighboring Camberlaune. Mastyrs tended to know each other. They were a small club and were ranked according to power levels. The most powerful became ruling mastyrs, like Stone.
Normally, there wasn’t competitiveness among mastyrs. They all suffered in the same way. More often than not, it was about commiseration.
Which meant only one thing could have brought so many under the same roof: Rumors about a blood rose in Millerell.
A whole host of obscenities traveled through his head. He didn’t bother ordering a beer. Something stronger wouldn’t help, either.
Instead, he backed out onto the street.
Holy motherfucker.
Now what was he supposed to do?
For a sudden strange moment, what he’d experienced with Emily earlier flowed through him, the past reaching into the present and descending on him. He turned and leaned against the building, only this time, it wasn’t Emily he saw.
It was Kyle.
Devyn was outside the infamous hotel and yelling at his brother about being unfaithful to Emily. Kyle had been remorseful as anything, tears in his eyes.
As plain as night, Devyn heard his brother’s voice only it was in the present as in right now. What a crock, Devyn. I was so full of shit. Did you really believe me? Did you really think I would change?
Devyn looked left then right, but the street was blurred. What the fuck? Was it possible he’d slid into the time-path? He must have. It felt like a residual energy from having been with Emily.
And had he really heard Kyle’s voice?
He reached out telepathically. Kyle? Is that you? Are you here?
If my Guardian Angel finds out what I’m up to, I’m toast. I’ll be working the shit squad here in the afterlife for a millennium, so listen up. Go after Emily and be with her. I knew you loved her from the beginning, but I wouldn’t let her go. She was such a good, honest soul, she never gave up on me and I knew exactly how to keep her trapped in our relationship. I was as big a prick as was ever born.
But you deserve her, Devyn. You always did. And by the way, the only reason I died that night was because I was playing the big shot. I went after a wraith-pair that had a mastyr attached to it. Not even you could have fought him off. So, take your guilt and shove it up your ass or anywhere else you can find to put it away forever.
And one more thing, brother. Mastyr Leonus was the one I fought. He disappeared before the others reached my position. Since my passing, I’ve learned he’d been in an Invictus bond until Mitrana had the wraith killed. They’ve been devising all kinds of plans since to do some damage in Tannisford. Mitrana has seen the future regarding Emily’s capacity as a blood rose. She’s been determined for months that Leonus would bond with her. That’s why they’ve wanted you dead. Looks like Mitrana saw you in the future as well. Killing me that night was merely a bonus.
What this means is despite Vojalie’s mist, Emily’s house isn’t safe. Mitrana can work the continuum. It’s only a matter of time before she locates Emily, even through the mist.
Aw, shit, my angel just showed up. Be seeing you soon, but not if you do the right thing and bond with Em. There was a slight pause, then Kyle’s voice shouting. I’m coming. Stop your scowling, Gabriel. Yes, I know Devyn is worth a thousand of me… There was more garbled conversation between what appeared to be the legendary archangel Gabriel and Kyle. Human-based Earth and the Nine Realms shared a lot of things in common.
Then all fell silent, the hotel experience dissipated and the air was no longer blurred. He felt his brother’s absence as powerfully as he’d felt his presence.
For a long, long moment, Devyn stood fixed in one spot. So many things flew through his head, he found it tough to put them in any reasonable order.
He’d just had a visitation from beyond the grave. Kyle had spoken with him, told him things that changed everything. Yet it seemed impossible.
But it was Kyle. He was sure of it. Kyle with an angel trying to teach him something. And somehow, Kyle had found a way to reach past the veil of death and talk to him. Maybe in the time-path. He doubted he would ever know.
Unbelievable.
He crossed the street, heading north, then flew into the air. He had to get to Emily’s house.
Like Stone said, nothing was more important than keeping Emily safe.
~ ~ ~
Emily had showered slowly, then put her original clothes back on, down to her bunny slippers. She’d shed a few tears as well with the warm water running down her back. Though not nearly as many as last time. She really did understand Devyn’s deepest hurt and guilt.
She was resolved to do exactly what she’d told Devyn she would do. She also kept reminding herself what she’d said was very true. If a trip to Paradise and back couldn’t move him out of his dark feelings, then nothing she could say ever would.
It really was time to move on.
Her nightly chores returned her to normal life as though nothing special had happened. She had dishes to do, a meal to prepare and an entire host of mastyr vampires to check out on the Nine Realms webisphere over the next few hours.
With her night’s tasks ordered, she actually found herself smiling. She straightened her shoulders, tugged down the bottom of her shirt, and shushed her way once more along the slate floors of her home in her very comfortable pink rabbit slippers.
She had some dusting to do, as well as a little vacuuming. She also wanted to rearrange the bookshelves to the left of her living room fireplace. Now there was a chore that had been yelling at her for months.
Time to get some things done. Time to move on.