EdgeofEcstasy (16 page)

Hayden nodded, though his eyes looked far away.

“We don’t have many friends in this industry,” Hayden said,
his voice that of a lost little boy.

Despite their arguing and fights, despite everything, Daniel
felt a flash of warmth and kinship to the wizard. He dug with his good hand
into his pants pocket and withdrew one of his cards. Handing it over, he waited
a moment for the wizard to take it and look at it.

“If you feel like a change, I work as a consultant to the
Enforcers. You need to be picky about who you work with, but I’d be happy to
point you in the right direction,” he said firmly. “We might not be on close
enough terms to go to a hockey match and drink ourselves stupid, but I
certainly count you as a friend, not a mere pain-in-the-ass acquaintance. Give
me a call sometime—we can meet up and discuss things.”

“Things?” Hayden repeated cautiously, burned once and now
hesitant. Daniel smiled. It was a rare gesture for him and showed his genuine
understanding.

“Things,” he repeated. “Work or social—we can watch a match
or work out together, maybe. Just…things. You know.”

Hayden nodded slowly and some of the darkness and shadows
lifted from his eyes. Daniel could see that Hayden still had a long road ahead
of him, but despite this divergence from his path, Daniel truly felt that Hayden
was at heart a good guy. He’d be okay after a bit of time, distance and perhaps
searching for a new path to follow.

Daniel held out his left hand, his right shoulder killing
him by now, and they awkwardly shook hands.

“Go get that seen to,” Hayden insisted gruffly. “And maybe I
can give you a few bouts in the boxing ring. My jaw barely aches, whereas you
look like you’ve been through six rounds and can barely keep your feet.”

“Cute.” Daniel snorted. “Real cute. Asshole.”

The two men laughed and Melissa simply shook her head and
muttered something about the “idiotic male ego”, though she ruined it by
laughing lightly at them both.

Daniel half staggered, half helped Melissa toward his car so
they could go and get themselves patched up.

Melissa stood in the shower and let the steamy hot water
pound down on her head and shoulders and run down her back. Not for the first
time, she thanked Circe her apartment had unlimited hot water. The healer had
fixed up her hand, though it still ached and she had been warned it would
continue to do so for at least the next few days.

Daniel, she figured, was still in her bedroom doing a very
slow, very painful-looking run-through of a yoga routine to try to stretch the
kinks out of his arms, shoulder and back. His skin was still a mass of bruises
in various stages of healing, a bizarre mixture of sickly-looking black,
purple, green, yellow and blue patches.

Melissa had wanted to shower more than take her next breath
and had left him to it, ordering him sternly to come and join her when he was
done, as the hot water and steam would work wonders on his aching body. Daniel
had grunted but nodded reluctantly. Melissa washed her body over and over again
with her special cleansing soap, breathing carefully and slowly to empty her
lungs of all the stale air and rotten incense smoke.

Even though they had not actually killed Ben, they had
effectively caused his death. As she had been heading into the bathroom, Hayden
had called her home phone to tell them that Ben had gone into cardiac arrest
shortly after they had left, and not come back despite the Special Op agents
performing resuscitation. She didn’t feel a single iota of pain or upset, but
she still felt faintly tainted by it.

She had thought Ben’s death would give her closure on
Falconn, and in a sense it gave her peace to know that his killer was also
dead, but it didn’t stop her from feeling the entire situation was a tragic
waste. She jumped slightly as the bathroom door snicked open, but Daniel’s
familiar footfalls soothed her. As her lover joined her stiffly in the shower,
she turned to hand him the soap.

“Between all our antics and now this, I almost feel old for
wanting nothing more than to crawl into bed with you,” Daniel murmured.

Melissa grinned sexily and they kissed softly, passionately.

“I bet after a few hours’ sleep and letting the healers’
work really kick in, you’ll be back up to your usual frisky pace,” she
reassured her lover. His hands circled around her back and each hand cupped one
of her ass cheeks, the soap slipping from his grip and falling to the base of
the shower.

“Mmm,” he murmured huskily.

Melissa laughed as she let her hands lightly graze a trail
around his flat stomach to wrap around his waist, and they both winced. She
felt a shooting pain in her hand as she flexed it closed around his ass,
whereas Daniel sucked in a breath and bent forward slightly and massaged the
angry red line along his side where Ben had sliced him open with the knife. The
healer had closed the wound but it was still raw and new, the muscles only just
beginning to heal.

“We’re pathetic,” she giggled, and reluctantly stepped out
of the shower to let Daniel wash himself in peace and without any temptation.
Melissa wrapped a large, fluffy towel around her body after wiping herself dry
and leaned back against the basin as she thought.

“You mentioned to Hayden that you know a few of the good managers
and team leaders in the Enforcers,” she began hesitantly. “Were you talking it
up or were you being honest?”

“I was being honest,” Daniel replied over the sound of the
shower spray. “Will is one of those guys, and I could list four or five more
just off the top of my head. I’ve worked with them all over the years and not had
any problems. Why?”

“I was thinking the two of us working together, as a
partnership…it could be a very powerful thing. Not magically, but just for our
careers,” she explained. “So often we end up calling in a good friend’s trusted
acquaintance because we need the extra backup and firepower. But if you and I
were a permanent team, maybe with Aiden and one of your friends as a semi-formed
crew, we could almost command our own projects and prices. It could be a solid
step toward a new manner of working for many of us.”

Daniel was quiet for a moment as she watched him soap
himself and think. Finally he nodded, and Melissa felt some of the weight that
had been bearing down on her shoulders over the last day lift.

“I think you might be onto something,” he agreed. “It would
take some work, and maybe a few contracts, but there would definitely be a
niche for that. Could you be happy with that, though? I mean genuinely, long-term
happy?”

Melissa nodded. “I knew if I ever really settled down with
another Assassin—or even someone from the law enforcement side of our lives—I
would have to come out. I’ve been preparing for it these last few years. Being
an Assassin is so much a part of who I am. It’s not something I can deny or
leave behind, so I knew it would come to this sooner or later. I’m ready—it
feels like it’s time.”

Daniel turned off the faucets and Melissa handed him a towel
as he stepped out of the shower stall. She watched as he dried himself off, and
when he held out his hand she placed hers in it.

“Let’s sleep for a few hours, let the healers’ work really
kick in,” he suggested gently. “Then we can convince each other of how much
better we are and talk about this further.” Melissa grinned wickedly, really
liking the idea of how that sounded.

“I love you,” she replied quietly, the words still new on
her tongue and sounding slightly strange to her ears. Daniel grinned broadly
back at her—a rare, brilliant and beautiful smile that she knew she would never
tire of seeing.

“I love you too,” he returned. “Totally, completely,
obsessively. I nearly came apart back there when I thought I’d lost you. I
don’t honestly think I could stay whole and sane without you. You’re my anchor
now, love—you’re the glue holding me together.”

Melissa nodded and stepped into his embrace, her naked body
pressed tightly against his. “I knew you’d rescue me. Even when I thought I
wouldn’t need it, when I felt certain I could get free and escape myself, I
never doubted that you would come for me. I knew it as an absolute certainty. I
trust you with everything I am. You’re my anchor too—you’re what holds me
together and keeps me safe.”

With their arms wrapped around each other they kissed
passionately, tasting each other and gently running their hands over each
other’s skin. When they were struggling to catch their breath and wincing at
the tender, aching spots on their bodies, they took each other’s hands and
walked into the bedroom and climbed into bed.

Wrapped solidly in each other’s embrace, feeling safe and
whole and clean, they fell asleep together. They were both sure in the
knowledge that whatever they had to face in the future, together they would
conquer whatever crossed their paths.

Elizabeth Lapthorne has been writing professionally since
2002. She has been astonished by the success of her Rutledge Werewolf series,
and finds immense pleasure in hearing from her fans. To date she has more than
ten books out, a few of those even in paperback.

Elizabeth regularly goes to the gym to chew over her ideas;
many a book has begun or been worked through while cycling on the bikes. She
also loves to read, eat chocolate and talk for hours with her friends.
Elizabeth would love to hear from her fans, and checks her email religiously.

Liz welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website
and email addresses on her
author
bio page
at
www.ellorascave.com
.

Tell Us What You Think

We appreciate hearing reader opinions about our books. You
can email
the
author
directly or you can email us at
[email protected]
(when
contacting Customer Service, be sure to state the book title and author).

Bonded
for Eternity

Ellora’s
Cavemen: Legendary Tails I
anthology

Hidden
Desires

Kinkily
Ever After

Lion
in Love

Merc
and Her Men

Montague
Vampires: Desperate and Dateless

Montague
Vampires: Flaming Fantasies

Montague
Vampires: Heated Fantasies

Montague
Vampires: Secret Fantasies

Payback

Rutledge
Werewolves 1: Scent of Passion

Rutledge
Werewolves 2: Hide and Seek

Rutledge
Werewolves 3: The Mating Game

Rutledge
Werewolves 4: My Heart’s Passion

Rutledge
Werewolves 5: Chasing Love

Rutledge
Werewolves 6: Twin Temptations

Urban
Seductions 1: Retrieving Love

Urban
Seductions 2: Retrieving Desire

Urban
Seductions 3: Enforcer Seduced

Urban
Seductions 4: Enforcer Ensnared

Urban
Seductions 5: Seductive Tracks

Urban
Seductions 6: Tracking Desire

Behind
the Mask
anthology

Bonded for
Eternity

Ellora’s
Cavemen: Legendary Tails I
anthology

Love’s
Payback

Merc
and Her Men

Montague
Vampires: Desperate Fantasies

Montague
Vampires: Fangs and Fantasies

Rutledge
Werewolves 1: Scent of Passion

Rutledge
Werewolves 3 & 4: Wolf’s Passion

Rutledge
Werewolves 5 & 6: Wolf’s Tempation

Urban
Seductions 1 & 2: Retrieve My Heart

Urban
Seductions 3 & 4: Enforcer Enflamed

Ellora’s Cave Publishing

www.ellorascave.com

Edge of Ecstasy

ISBN 9781419945700

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Edge of Ecstasy Copyright © 2014 Elizabeth Lapthorne

Edited by Rebecca Hill

Cover design by Dar Albert

Cover photography by Andriy Bezuglov and Yurkaimmoral/fotolia.com

Electronic book publication January 2014

The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of
Ellora’s Cave Publishing.

With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not
be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written
permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home
Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this
copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or
distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without
the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement
without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5
years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.  (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/).
Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not
participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your
support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons,
living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The
characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

The publisher and author(s) acknowledge the trademark status and
trademark ownership of all trademarks, service marks and word marks mentioned
in this book.

The publisher does not have any control over, and does not assume
any responsibility for, author or third-party websites or their content.

Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the
multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Be sure to visit EC on the web
at www.ellorascave.com to find erotic reading experiences that will leave you
breathless. You can also find our books at all the major e-tailers (Barnes
& Noble, Amazon Kindle, Sony, Kobo, Google, Apple iBookstore, All Romance
eBooks, and others).

www.ellorascave.com