How could Ajax bring the Blackrose coven here when there was still a question about shipments? Titus had been forced to send a second shipment over land to the Lakes Region. And it had cost him a great deal. His missing generators would have been worth millions in the old world. In this one, it was worth an entire year of trade: of fish, timber, and other commodities. His deal with the Lakes Regions had taken a month to complete and was now at risk of collapse.
And Kyran hadn’t done a damned thing about it. The energy device shipment was seen last in the port of Chicago. Memories of Kyran’s interference with Desdemona back in the days before the veil, tightened Titus’s chest. He gritted his teeth so hard that his jaws started to ache. Titus forced himself to calm his anger.
Desdemona’s face was a mask. She was unreadable, staring at the screen.
“It’s him, isn’t it?” she whispered.
“Who?” he growled.
“The one. The one who loved me.”
“The one that loved you?” Titus growled.
“He gave me his rose,” Desdemona breathed.
“Kyran was a cad. He was back then and he still is now.”
“Can I talk to him?”
“Why would you want to do that?”
“It might help me remember my past life.”
“You already know what you need to about him,” Titus growled, crossing his arms.
"I know as much about him as I do about you," she said.
"The game is starting," Titus said as the players ran out onto the field and took formations.
It was vampires versus dragons, everyone in their humanoid form for fairness. Dragons were allowed one shift per game but any more than that was a penalty.
Titus rubbed his face and groaned inwardly, glancing over at Desdemona as she stared down at the field. His worst nightmare was manifesting now that Kyran was in the picture. Desdemona's eyes were wide, and he could smell the scent of her excitement. Ajax should have asked him before bringing the Blackrose coven here.
Kyran was playing quarterback for the Blackrose team. Ajax was the playing offensive linebacker. The teams met on the field, the ref tossing a coin to see who would possess first. The toss came up Blackrose so the ball was handed to Kyran. The teams took position. When the whistle blew, they clashed in the field. Kyran threw the ball as his teammate flew across the field to catch it. Ajax was there, jumping on the vampire with the full power of his dragon-infused human form. The teams piled on and the whistle blew to end the play.
Titus stood from the couch and pivoted around to the bar, he pulled a chilled glass of champagne out of the fridge and popped the cork. Desdemona turned around and looked at him questioningly. He gave her a cool smile and she turned away.
His heart felt like ice, as frozen as the ground outside. He had to get Desdemona out of here before Kyran saw her, or smelled her.
He poured champagne into flutes and carried them to the couch to offer one to Desdemona. She took it, looking up at him with those big brown eyes. He glanced at the soft curve of her breasts under the scooped neckline of her sweater. Her eyes glinted and he smelled her arousal.
No matter what she remembered, she was still the same girl she was then. Titus had no doubt about that. Desdemona could play games with the best of them. Her youth gave her the advantage in that department.
Would she do what she’d done the last time? Run off to Kyran the first chance she got? The night at the ritual, when he’d kissed her. He’d told her they had to wait. That he couldn’t commit to her yet. That they had to take things slow to see how it played out. She hadn’t wanted to listen. She wanted him to commit to her then and there. No matter if it was what was best for her.
She refused to understand, too young and impulsive to hear him. She only knew she felt heartbroken and disappointed. She couldn’t see the wisdom in his choices. She couldn’t understand how deeply he truly loved her.
Titus was afraid he would hit the same wall this time around. They were expected to have a baby as soon as possible. Something that wasn’t such a necessity before the veil. The witches, who many called birth goddesses, could often have a child a year for hundreds of years without stopping.
The world had been full of immortals at the time of the veil. Individual witches were not required to breed. Waiting was always better for them so they understood who they really were. Desdemona had never wanted to wait.
As precocious as she might have been two thousand years ago, and as precocious as she remained today, Titus doubted she could handle the demands of the life she’d believed she’d wanted back then. Her magic was as young as her body. Both would suffer the pressure of embarking on a life as a birth goddess at such a young age.
But she wanted to give him that. It was her deepest inner desire. To bring his children into the world to flourish and grow. Not even Orion and Lucia had many children back then. As Lucia was the Arch-Priestess of the temple, her duties had precluded her from doing so. And then they had lost all their children but Ajax in the war. It was one of the reasons Lucia had been willing to accept Gama’s spell. She’d been heartbroken by all the death.
Each year, hundreds of thousands of immortals died in the constant battle against the Surge. Millions of humans died. So many had died that humans collectively forgot what had existed before the veil.
It was during this time of turmoil that Desdemona wanted to leave the safety of the temple to embark on a life as his mate and the mother of his brood. He couldn’t see her do it, not until she was at least five hundred years older. Then it would have been appropriate. But at twenty-one? Never.
He turned to her, her eyes still glued on the screen in front of her. The players clashed on the field below. Even with Titus’s love of the game, he was too distracted to enjoy the novelty. When half-time rolled around, the entertainment came out onto the field. A collection of female dragons and vampires sang and danced on the field, their immortal beauty shining on the big screen. The humans in the stadium went wild for the grand finale when the singers displayed their supernatural talents on the field, fireworks bursting into the air.
When half-time was over, the loudspeakers in the stadium announced Titus and Desdemona’s presence in the VIP suite above the field. The cameras panned over to their faces behind the glass. Huge screens showed Titus’s dark expression and Desdemona’s shock. Ajax had a microphone in his hand, his helmet in the other.
“At this point in the game,” Ajax started, “I want to invite my uncle Titus Silverdrake down onto the field.”
Titus pinched his lips together, and glared at Ajax across the wide expanse, his grimace huge on the big screen, and shook his head slowly.
“Come, Uncle. You don’t want to disappoint the fans,” Ajax taunted.
He knew that Titus had a responsibility to the humans of the city. His position was in question with the clan and the allied immortals. Everyone expected something from him. Even his betrothed was no support.
He gritted his teeth and stood, nodding his head and giving the crowd a fake smile and staged wave. He drew out his glass pad and flicked his finger down the screen to activate the speaker in the stadium.
“I’d be happy to join the game,” Titus said in a tightly enthusiastic voice.
The crowd cheered. Desdemona looked bemused. Titus shoved his glass pad into his jacket pocket and downed the rest of his champagne. So much for wooing his virgin bride. He started out of the room and Desdemona drew up behind him and spoke as he reached the door.
“You’re going?” she asked, sounding irritated.
“I must. It is my duty to please the people.”
“What about me?”
“You will be comfortable here, won’t you? There is food and drink.”
“Right. Everything but you. That sounds familiar.”
He stared at her for a long time, dumbfounded at her cruelty. It stabbed into his heart.
“I’ll be back to take you home at the end of the game,” he said, before ste
pping out the door.
Chapter 12
Desdemona stared down at the field in confused dismay. Titus had left her yet again, and from what little she remembered about their previous life, she knew that it was a common occurrence. But Kyran was here now, running out onto the field in his black uniform and helmet. The idea of vampires and dragons playing a game of football against each other should have seemed completely absurd, and it would have been two years ago. But now, she was sitting in the nicest seat in the house watching bands of immortals face each other on a football field. The mortals in the seats surrounding the stadium cheered as the players took their positions.
Desdemona’s heart slammed in her chest as she watched the two men who held her heart in their hands face off against each other. Deep in her subconscious, she knew that she wanted Titus and had always wanted him. Even the two thousand years of constant reincarnation and her lack of solid memories could not erase the longing she’d felt for him all those many years ago. It was still raw and unsatisfied.
Her raw dissatisfaction with Titus piqued her previous connection to Kyran, the vampire she knew had been her friend. From what little she could remember, he had been good to her. He had supported her when Titus rejected her. He had offered her the rose she craved so deeply. But there was still so much that was foggy. She’d been unwilling to hear the truth about the past from anyone, Bridget or Titus. Now she was still stuck with so many questions.
And now all she wanted was answers.
The whistle blew and the teams charged at each other, bodies crushing and cracking under the force of immortal strength. Desdemona’s view gave her intimate details of the game. As the teams went through their plays, she could see the expressions on their faces up close and personal. Titus was playing quarterback against Kyran, quarterback for the Blackrose. Both men were strong and fast and capable. The vampires were slightly faster and more agile in their human form than the dragons but the dragons retained the strength and brute force of their dragon form even as humans.
Even without the shift, vampires and dragons were almost equally matched. According to the rules of the game, each dragon could shift once per game without penalty. She had seen several shifts so far that had saved plays for the Silverdrake team. But the score was tied up and the Blackrose had possession of the ball. Kyran called the play and tossed the ball through his legs to his receiver. He began to run toward the Blackrose goal, ready to catch the ball.
As the football flew through the air and Kyran ran on his agile legs, Titus came barreling across the field toward him. He was a five-thousand-year-old immortal and quick and agile as anyone. His strength was unsurpassed in the clan and that was why he had been made Alpha. He slammed brutally into Kyran just as the ball fell into the vampire’s arms. The ball went tumbling, still in play as Titus tackled Kyran to the ground.
The referee’s whistle blew and play was called. The Silverdrake clan regained possession and the players met again on the seventy-five-yard line. Desdemona had never been a huge sports fan, but watching the two men who she had shared so much with in the past fight each other on the field in front of her sent to a deep thrill of awakening through her body. It was as if every sense of herself as a woman and as a biological being were being teased at the sight of these two men fighting each other. Fighting over her.
The realization that she enjoyed it flitted through her mind, and she pushed it away. She didn’t want to be the type of girl who liked watching them fight over her, but Titus’s disconnected attitude irritated her beyond reason. There was something deep inside her that just wanted to get back at him, that wanted to hurt him for how he had hurt her. And the worst part was, she didn’t fully remember why.
But her anger and need for revenge felt almost compulsive. Titus had done something to her that had hurt her so deeply that it stayed in her mind and soul for two thousand years of reincarnations. If he was able to hurt her so deeply, she must really love him. Was that really what that meant?
She knew it did. Deep in the recesses of her subconscious, she’d known it from the second she laid eyes on him at the new temple. Regardless of his abrasiveness or his dismissiveness toward her, she knew she had a deep longing and attachment for this man that would never die. His attitude only made it worse.
He had taken her from the temple to be his bride, but nevertheless she felt as if he did not care for her. And he had never said a single thing to make her think otherwise. All of his words about trying to protect her only sounded like excuses. If Desdemona was going to be used as some kind of broodmare, at least she could be loved for it. And she didn’t believe Titus would ever love her.
She knew however that Kyran would. She could still remember the day he’d given her the rose, and Titus giving her a rose soon after. She could remember her anger at receiving Titus’s rose. She’d told them both she would choose neither.
When an immortal claimed his mate, no other immortals could touch her. Titus had not claimed her yet, which meant other immortals could still win her hand, and Titus could do nothing about it.
When the game finally ended, it was the Silverdrake clan up by only a few points, Titus making the final play just as the clock ran out.
The fans went wild in the bleachers, jumping to their feet to cheer for their immortal leader. Everyone was so happy and impressed with Titus that Desdemona began to grow nervous. She’d been sitting in the VIP suite watching the game, contemplating how she might play the two men off each other, even though she couldn’t quite admit that to herself.
When she watched the team lift Titus up on their shoulders and carry him around the field in celebration, she was confronted by her own selfishness and shame. Maybe she needed to give Titus a chance. She hadn’t exactly been the sweetest girl since arriving in St. Louis. She knew it was true. No matter how justified she felt in her actions.
The door to the VIP suite swung open and Ajax and several other young immortals from the Silverdrake clan pushed inside, followed closely by Kyran and his Blackrose entourage. Desdemona shot to her feet from the couch with her mouth open in shock as the men went to the bar and began pouring themselves drinks.
“You don’t mind if we use the suite for the after-game party, do you?” Ajax asked.
“Where is Titus? Why isn’t he here?”
“I never gave you permission to use the suite,” Titus said, coming through the door.
He had changed out of his uniform and into street clothes like the other players. He was wearing dark jeans and a red sweater that hugged the firm musculature of his body. Titus crossed the room and stood between Desdemona and Kyran. The vampire was at the bar with Ajax. He held a glass of top shelf vodka and slowly brought it to his lips, his eyes never leaving Desdemona for a second.
She felt Kyran’s eyes burn into her and sweep across the rise of her chest. She was flushed with arousal and shame. In her scattered memories of the past, she always felt that Kyran cared for her. He’d been her friend and confidant. Mostly, she told him about her disappointment in Titus. The memories started to flood back as Kyran gulped down his vodka and slammed his glass on the bar. He strode across the room toward Desdemona where she stood behind Titus.
“Patrice?” he said hesitantly. “Is that you?”
“That’s what they called me two thousand years ago,” she said breathlessly.
Her heart so wildly slammed in her ears it deafened her from her own thoughts.
“What are you doing here?”
“Desdemona is my betrothed,” Titus said.
“Betrothed?” Kyran asked. “You haven’t claimed her yet?”
“I’ve only just arrived,” Desdemona croaked.
“If you were my mate, I wouldn’t wait to claim you,” Kyran said.
“Things never change, do they?” Titus said in a tight voice.
“Relax, Titus, you should celebrate your victory.”
Titus growled at Kyran, and Desdemona bristled with anxiety. She could feel the heat of the men
’s competition radiating between them and she stepped away, not wanting to get in the middle of it. Her previous fantasies about having two men fight over her went right out the window when confronted with the reality of it. She didn’t want them to fight over her. She didn’t want them to fight at all. In fact, she wished that they would both leave her alone.
“I think I’ll get a drink,” Desdemona said, sidestepping around Titus and the edge of the couch to make her way to the bar where Ajax was playing bartender for the immortal players who had gathered in the VIP room.
“What’ll you have?” Ajax asked her.
“Could you pour me another glass of champagne?” she asked.
As a nineteen-year-old who’d been living on a rustic compound and then a witch school, Desdemona did not have the greatest tolerance for alcohol. She was already beginning to feel a little tipsy from the two glasses she’d already had. But with the two men who had fought over her in her previous lifetime, standing in the same room, staring each other down, she thought that maybe now was a good time to work on her tolerance level. If worse came to worst, at least she’d get a little drunk.
Ajax poured her another glass of champagne and set it on the bar in front of her. She thanked him and slowly brought the flute to her lips.
“What are you going to do about that?” Ajax asked her, nodding toward Titus and Kyran as they stared each other down across the back of the couch.
“What can I do about it?” she asked, gulping down more of her champagne.
“You can do what you agreed to and allow my uncle to claim you. None of us can afford a witch getting between immortal allies right now. As much as I feel for your plight, Desdemona, you have to accept your responsibility for the future of our world.”
“I have to accept responsibility for the future of the world? Nice. What about everyone else?”
“Everyone else? We are all doing our part. For example, today, I put together a football game to entertain all the humans living in the city. Something like that is incredible for morale. People are going to be buzzed for weeks to come, all thanks to me. But you? You are just playing the leaders of two of the strongest clans against each other. That is not very helpful.”