Embrace the Wild

  She hugged him. “Actually, I think it’s how we are together. I know I have a vine-gift, but I’ve never moved the water.”

  As Malik remained resting inside her, a new emotion moved through her chest, warming her, swelling her heart and bringing tears to her eyes. Was it possible that during all this time, beginning with so many chases through the forest, she’d been falling in love with him?

  Or maybe it went back farther, back to appreciating all that Malik was as the ruler of Ashleaf Realm, the man who instituted laws that saved lives, the man that fought prejudice wherever he found it, the same man who helped her to engage with the five fae so that together they succeeded in healing the protective shield over the colony.

  Whatever the case, how she felt about Malik had layers and texture, like the vines that had held them together, like the water that had seemed to come alive and flow over them while they made love.

  Maybe she didn’t understand all that was happening to her, but one question rose: after all that had happened, how could she ever let him go?

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Later, Malik flew Willow back to her house. After showering and cleaning up, he helped her make pastrami sandwiches, then suggested they grab a couple of beers and take their meal to the meditation porch. She agreed with a smile. That she wanted to kick back was exactly what he needed, and the thought crossed his mind that Willow was so his kind of woman.

  Settling into his chair, he contacted Evan first to make sure that all was in order at the entrance to the colony. Evan confirmed that he had half the Ashleaf Vampire Guard as well as all of Zane’s force on duty patrolling in the air and on the ground. They couldn’t control whether Axton returned while cloaked behind yet another invisibility charm, but he had his vampires in place no matter what Axton threw at them.

  Malik felt in his bones that Axton wouldn’t make another attempt tonight, but he wanted all the bases covered. Willow held the same sentiment, so he delivered a few standard orders about keeping on the alert and of course for rotating the Troll Brigade at dawn. After he hung up with Evan, he called Zane, talking everything over with him as well.

  Zane held a similar opinion about Axton, but said he’d be staying in Ashleaf for a couple of nights just in case. “Are you with Willow?”

  Malik glanced at her. “I am. Through the night.”

  Zane chuckled low then told him to stay right where he was and that he and Evan would look after both Vampire Guards.

  Malik rarely set his duties aside to be with a woman. But Willow was a helluva lot more than just sex and more maybe than he wanted to admit, so he didn’t fight Zane too hard.

  With his mind at ease, Malik took Willow to bed and made love to her again. The vines crept over the windowsill once more and bound them together, creating a wild paradise on her soft cotton sheets. This time, he slowed things down and worked every part of her body, taking from more than one vein and giving her the opportunity to pierce him as many times as she wanted as well.

  Maybe because she, too, felt that their time together would be limited, she took advantage of his suggestion and bit him in at least five different places until he shook with need. He had to admit he’d never spent such an erotic night with a woman in his life. He supposed they’d both been so bereft of meaningful relationships that something hungry had been released.

  Near dawn, Malik held her in his arms, but felt her disquiet.

  “Something’s bothering me,” she murmured.

  “You mean about us? About being together?”

  Smiling, she lifted up off his chest just enough to meet his gaze. “No, not at all. I’ve never been so content. I just feel as though I missed something, or I didn’t read Axton or the charm right. Something.”

  He patted her shoulder. “I have no doubt you always feel this way.”

  At that, she sighed deeply and collapsed on his chest. “You’re right. I’m worried most of the time.”

  “Well, you don’t have to be right now. I’m here.”

  At dawn, he fell asleep with his arms still holding her close and wishing he could stay there forever.

  When he woke up hours later, however, Willow was no longer in bed and panic hit him hard. Willow?

  I’m fine. I’m making oatmeal. What’s with the stress?

  He took a deep breath. Sweet Goddess, he was on edge. You weren’t in bed with me. I got worried.

  He felt her silence and thought something was off about that. Are you sure you’re all right?

  Just a headache, but I’m working on it.

  A headache? He thought this odd since most powerful fae had tremendous self-healing abilities. Of course, they’d both been under the gun.

  Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes. It’s almost full-dark.

  Thanks. I’ll be there after I shower.

  He shut down the communication and stared up at the finely crafted wood ceiling of Willow’s bedroom treehouse, Hank’s original work. He still couldn’t believe he was here, in Willow’s home, having made love to her repeatedly.

  Whatever the night had been, however, his mind reverted to his duties as Mastyr of Ashleaf, especially the need to make sure that not one more half-breed fell victim to The Society. And with Zane here, he could begin the process of moving at-risk families to Swanicott Island.

  With full-dark almost on him, his need to get back to his Vampire Guard built within him like a mounting pressure inside his chest. He shaved and showered, then brushed his long hair out, pulling it back in the woven Guardsman clasp. He hoped to hell that Zane’s black ops force had been able to track Axton down. Malik no longer cared what kind of repercussions resulted from arresting Axton. With a growing concern that he might be in league with the Ancient Fae, Malik had no other choice.

  And right now, he longed to be heading out in pursuit of Axton, rather than waiting here with Willow.

  By the time he sat down to breakfast with her, he’d made up his mind to get back to his Vampire Guard.

  “Malik, what’s going on? I can feel that you’re about ready to jump out of your skin.”

  He met her gaze. “I’m sorry, Willow, but I have to get back to work.”

  She leaned forward slightly. “Of course, and I have no problem with that. It might even help.”

  At that, he poured milk on his oatmeal. “Why’s that?” He frowned at her. She had dark circles beneath her eyes. “Are you okay?”

  She rubbed her forehead. “I’ve got a headache this evening, and I’m having trouble focusing.”

  “Didn’t you sleep last night?”

  “Not much. I kept waking up with that same sense of having left something undone, but for the life of me I can’t figure out what it was.” She added a few raisins and brown sugar to her cereal.

  He’d never been that tight with any of the fae, so maybe headaches on occasion came with the job description. Although, with all that she’d been through, no wonder she hadn’t slept very well.

  But he also thought he needed to address at least one critical issue and to finally come clean about her father’s death. “Listen, there’s something I need to talk over with you, Willow. I hope that’s okay.”

  She looked up at him, wincing slightly and rubbing her temple once more. “Yes, please. Tell me anything you want. I mean that.”

  For a moment, however, he couldn’t speak, couldn’t quite bring himself to say what needed to be said, because he really liked Willow. In fact, he liked everything about her.

  But he squared his shoulders anyway. “First, I’m not inclined to complete the bond with you. At least not now. I have too damn much on my plate.”

  She let out a heavy huff of air. “I am so with you. I mean, I’ve loved having you in my bed and what we experienced in the pool together was amazing. But the Ashleaf Colony has to come first. I owe that to the memory of my parents and to every life born under my watch.”

  They shared the same level of obligation so that once again he hesitated. Part of him felt an overwhelming
need to stick close. But the other part demanded he get back to his men and to the larger concerns of his realm. “If our circumstances had been different,” he offered.

  She rested her chin in the palm of her hand. “I know. I’d totally go out with you if I was just a regular fae.”

  “And I’d ask you out if I weren’t Mastyr of Ashleaf.” But his conscience once more prompted him to make a clean breast of things. “But I’m not sure you’d say yes if you knew everything.”

  At that, she lifted her head and eased back against her chair, dropping her hands into her lap. “What do you mean?”

  Now his head started to hurt. “There’s something else that must be said. Something I have to tell you about the night your father died.”

  She grew very still. Her hazel eyes widened.

  “Shit, I don’t even know how to say this. I’ve hated that this moment would come, but maybe it’s for the best.”

  “Malik, I have the worst feeling—”

  “As you should.” He took the horrible plunge. “I was the one who killed your father that night.”

  Her fingers went to her lips. “Oh, Malik, no. Not you. Anyone but you.” Tears filled her eyes.

  “I should have told you sooner, but how could I? Few situations have hurt me as much as taking the life of a good, honest, hard-working man like your father.” He rushed on, “But he was deranged with grief. My squad had cornered him because he was threatening the lives of a troll family thought to be part of The Society. They weren’t, of course, but he wanted revenge. I tried to talk him down, but he held a knife to the troll’s throat. I only used my battle frequency at the very last moment, a killing shot to the head. As it was, the troll almost died.”

  There, he’d said the ugly truth about what had happened.

  Willow covered her face with her hands, resting her elbows on the table once more. He saw tears slide down her chin from beneath her fingers. “I always knew the killing had been justified, but it really hurts that it was you.”

  For a long moment, Malik stared at her, knowing he should do something to try to comfort her. But what rolled through his mind was that the time had come to step back from the whole blood rose situation.

  He stood up and pushed his chair in, his chest aching for reasons he didn’t fully understand. He wanted to keep apologizing but what good would that do?

  “If I could undo this, if there’d been any other way … ” He remembered seeing the blood spurt from the troll’s neck; he’d reacted instinctively when he’d killed her father.

  Dropping her hands, she lifted her face to him, eyes watery. “I believe you. I do.” More tears, then once more she rubbed her forehead.

  He sighed deeply. “I’m going to send two squads to serve as your private security detail.”

  She just nodded. “I’m sure that would be best.”

  The thought of Axton getting anywhere near her, though, had him shuddering.

  He’d keep the detail on her until he and Zane had run Axton to ground. In an emergency, Willow could send for Malik and he’d do whatever was needed to continue protecting the wraith colony or to prevent Axton from getting his hands on her. Even if Axton approached her because he bore an invisible spell, Willow could still alert the guards.

  Right now, however, he needed to get back to business.

  He contacted Evan and made the arrangements.

  Afterward, he carried his bowl to the sink and slowly cleaned it. He’d only taken a couple of bites. “Thank you for the oatmeal.” A strange kind of dullness filled his chest.

  “Don’t worry about the dishes.” Her voice sounded empty.

  He returned to the table, and glancing out the front window, he saw the squads had landed on the path in front of her house. “My men are here, and I have to go.”

  But she wouldn’t look at him.

  Guilt pummeled him once more. “Willow, I’m so sorry. I’ve had to live with this all these decades. If I’d had any other recourse –”

  At that, she met his gaze and at the same time rose to her feet. “I … I was never comfortable with your warrior lifestyle, Malik, so maybe it’s best to have things end right now. This was never a viable arrangement.”

  “Willow.” No words followed because he didn’t know what to say; he’d made his decision. Oddly, his chest started hurting in the worst way.

  Part of him wanted to pull her into his arms, but once more he felt an incredible pressure to get back to his Guardsmen. “I’ll send someone to gather up my things.”

  She nodded, wiping another stray tear from her cheek.

  He left by way of the front door, and after issuing orders to the Guardsmen, he flew swiftly up above the canopy of the dense forest, then sped back to his house.

  He contacted Zane mind-to-mind, asking about the black ops team, but they’d had no luck through the previous night locating Axton. Malik was disappointed, but not especially surprised.

  A few minutes later, he landed on the front walk of his home, then opened the door. But the moment he crossed the threshold, a strange dizziness passed through his head that made him pause. Once the sensation drifted away, he tried to take a step forward, but couldn’t. In fact he couldn’t move at all. What the fuck?

  He tried to call out to his housekeeper, but even his voice was frozen.

  Mentally, he reached out for Zane, but he couldn’t path, not to Zane, not to anyone.

  Panic set in so that for the next couple of minutes he did everything he could think of to either move his feet or to reach someone telepathically but nothing worked.

  It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened. Right now he was caught in a powerful fae spell. To his knowledge, not even Alexandra the Bad could create a stasis spell, which meant that Zane’s was right after all.

  And Margetta had come for him.

  He thought about Willow’s headache, her uneasiness, and that she hadn’t slept well. Dammit, if he hadn’t been so caught up in leaving her, he might have figured out that something fae had been at work in her treehouse as well, disturbing her dreams and causing her pain.

  Another wave of panic flowed through him. He didn’t have to be told that right now Axton was already inside Willow’s home and that Malik couldn’t do a damn thing about it because he was trapped in his own house.

  ~ ~ ~

  Willow hadn’t moved from the time that Malik left. Instead, she sat with her elbows on the table, her head in her hands. She’d never experienced such a bad headache in her life and no amount of self-healing seemed to offer any relief. It was as though someone was pounding on her telepathic frequency demanding admittance, yet when she searched the vibration, nothing was there.

  But there was something more. She regretted letting Malik leave without assuring him that she didn’t blame him for killing her father. She had just been so taken aback by his confession, that she hadn’t been able to process it quickly enough. And Malik had looked so stricken when he’d told her, but he’d left before she could tell him that she really did understand and that he was forgiven. She’d had decades to come to terms with what had happened.

  She rubbed her temples, wishing the headache would let up.

  Then suddenly, the pain was gone. But why?

  “Hello, Willow. Sweet Goddess but you smell like heaven.”

  Willow looked up. “Oh, no.”

  Axton.

  She glanced around. He appeared to be alone, yet she could feel a powerful fae presence supporting him. And just like that, she understood the whole picture, why she hadn’t slept well and why she’d had a headache and why the pain had just now vanished; she’d been under a terrible spell and now the spell had been broken.

  In its stead, however, a great evil had entered her treehouse.

  Margetta the Ancient Fae, the creator of the Invictus scourge, had come to call.

  “Take her,” a female voice whispered along the air currents of the room.

  She rose to her feet, wanting to face the enem
y while standing. “You’ve been behind all of this, Mistress Margetta?” She glanced around the space, looking for any sign of the woman.

  “Of course.” The voice had a wavy, disguised sound, as though cloaked, a protective spell, maybe, that kept her hidden. “And all I needed to do was to wait for Malik to leave you as I knew he would.

  “I want the wraiths in that little colony you’ve been hiding and I mean to have each and every one. They’ll make a fine army and Axton intends to help me pair them up with the willing citizens of The Society. Now isn’t that a match made in heaven?”

  Willow’s heart raced. There had to be a way out of this mess, but how? And already her desire for Axton began to swell within her. The blood rose gift was anxious to feed any mastyr vampire who drew near.

  Then a golden light appeared, and Margetta made herself visible. Willow turned toward her and gasped. The woman was so beautiful for someone with such a twisted soul. She had long blond hair, a lovely straight nose and wide-set, violet eyes.

  “You’re Margetta the Ancient Fae.”

  “I am.”

  She waved a hand toward Willow that froze her in place. She’d heard rumors that the most powerful fae could create a stasis spell, but she’d never felt one before.

  Margetta drew close to Axton and took his hand, leading him toward Willow.

  Willow tried to back up, to move away, to run, but she was paralyzed. She tried to scream, but her voice was frozen as well.

  When the Ancient Fae took Willow’s hand, a powerful shudder of revulsion rolled through her. She’d never touched evil before, but she could feel that something very sadistic ran through Margetta’s veins.

  Willow breathed hard as Axton took her hand. He gripped it hard, squeezing until it hurt, but she couldn’t cry out.

  “You’ll do as you’re told, Mistress,” Axton said. “I have command of you now, and you will do whatever I say.”

  Margetta ran a hand down Willow’s head and hair. “Axton is going to drink from you now and somewhere in that drinking you’d better choose to bond with him, or he will take you all the way to the grave, do you understand? You bond or you die.”