Runestone (15 page)

“We’ve gotta reach it. Evangeline and Sean are searching for it now. They believe there are answers there.”

“What sort of answers?”

Unable to respond, Will focused on Sean’s text.
Runes say will lead to her mate n the destructive forces.

His blood ran cold. In a flurry, he texted back.
Do not let her be led into danger.

I won’t!

Turn back.

We can’t. She needs you. Where R U?

No. Too dangerous.

A long pause ensued, and he wondered what the hell Sean could be thinking. He was terrified he would tell Evangeline about this conversation. He had to keep her out of his head. If he didn’t, he’d never focus enough to keep fighting. He’d crack if her voice filled his mind.

He scuffed a hand over his head. The beginnings of hair growth made it nubby. He couldn’t allow Evangeline to touch this world, but he could combine forces with Sean.

Keep our darling safe.

For you I’ll do anything.

Will swallowed hard, touched beyond words.
Let’s work together. Pass me all info. I’ll give you mine.

Ok.

I’m with an immortal. We’re hunting army started by Marcus.

There was another pause, and Will could almost hear Sean’s teeth mashing.

We know. Evangeline had Vision.

Fuck!

Emotion washed over him. At that moment, he felt indescribably close to Sean—united in their need to keep her safe as they had been in the moment when they defeated Marcus. Now months later they were battling the man’s memory.
We’ll succeed in the end,
he texted.

Hell yes. We can help you.

Will looked out over the plains where they’d stopped to rest, but he didn’t really see it. His mind worked furiously, wondering exactly how deep to allow his friends and loved ones, but knowing that their combined information might destroy the army faster.

All the women w/U?

Yes.

So take care. When U reach triple stone, I’ll B near. But Evangeline can’t see me.

Sean didn’t reply at once. Will could nearly see him running his knuckles over his jaw, the way he always did. How many times had he heard that rasping sound, felt Sean’s dark facial hair on his skin as they made love?

The fine hairs on the nape of Will’s neck lifted. A shiver ran through him, making his fingers twitch to hold Sean, his thigh muscles cramped to straddle him, his cock harden to be pleasured by him.

Amsdell squeezed his shoulder, bringing him back to the present. Fresh worry weaseled into the creases of Will’s brain. Should he tell Sean about his new lover?

Let us B w/U.
Sean’s words popped up on the display. Tears jumped into Will’s eyes. Dammit, everything in his being strained toward her and Sean. His forearms locked, and with supreme effort, he managed not to reply with his heart.

I want that. But you can’t. Let me finish this. Keep her safe. I’ll B in touch.

He had to cease communication with Sean before the fissure opened in his soul, allowing Evangeline in headlong. God, he wanted her and Sean with a ferocity akin to the bloodthirst he’d felt hours before. More.

Gotta go. I’ll contact you same time tomorrow.

Ok. Take care, man.

U 2.

With a heavy sigh, Will pocketed his phone. Amsdell’s mouth was at the side of his neck, delivering warm kisses. He wrapped an arm around Will’s chest. “I know that was hard. But it was a good move.”

Will nodded and leaned back against his friend’s chest, staring off into the distance again. The mountains rose up around them like jagged teeth slicing the sky, their peaks wreathed in cloud and ice. Somewhere out there his lovers were searching for him. He had to neutralize the dangers before they found him. He had to do it quickly—before Evangeline lost her mind. And he had to keep Walking.

Evangeline picked her way through the thick underbrush carefully, poking the ground before her with a long stick, as they all did to scare away any reptiles. Her feet ached and her thigh muscles burned from lifting the heavy hiking boots Sean had insisted on buying her before they set off into the jungle. She was sick and tired of being coated in dirt and sweat.

And if she didn’t stop shaking soon, she’d run screaming into the nearest swamp. The tremors were bone-deep. They rattled her teeth and constantly whipped her stomach out from under her, so that she’d fold in half. When this happened, another immortal would scoop her up and calm her with his touch. But she needed one person, and he wasn’t responding.

For one dizzying moment she had seen into his soul. Seen the glimmer of his red rage and smelled the blood and known the fear beating in his chest. Madness was on the horizon. She felt it marching for her with heavy feet, its steps jarring and ruthless.

Deep down, she knew he was safe, but dammit, why couldn’t he open their link for a single moment to let her know he was safe and wasn’t angry with her over her misstep with the wedding?

She jabbed the forest floor ahead of her.

“Whoa, Evangeline, you trying to spear a snake for our supper?” Nathan asked.

“Maybe. I’m sick to death of jerky and nuts.”

“What would you eat if you could choose?”

She felt Sean’s gaze on her. Did he know what she was thinking? The last meal she had shared with Will and Sean in their villa had been a breakfast of fruit, omelets and fresh coffee. She longed for their sunny breakfast nook, longed to glance over the rim of her favorite mug to see Will speed-reading the newspaper which was shipped in all the way from the states and and Sean’s boyish grin. She longed to feel her men around her.

Tears lay thickly on her tongue and she rubbed it against the roof of her mouth, trying to wipe it clean.

“I’d have a cheeseburger,” Gracie piped up from the head of the group. She had knotted her T-shirt on the sides so it rucked up her belly, exposing her breathtaking tattoo, which was indeed tiny songbirds in various poses. Her long hair brushed it as she walked, which had obviously mesmerized Javier. The man’s dark gaze never left her.

“I’d have Maria’s French toast,” Nathan added.

Dante groaned, clutching his stomach good-naturedly. “Ah, Nate, my stomach is growling at your words. But if we’re having French toast, I’d add thick sausages.”

“What would you have, baby?” Nathan asked Lillian.

She guided a lock of mahogany hair and quickly answered. “Seafood.”

“That’s no surprise.” With a laugh, he bent to kiss her plump lips.

Javier said something in his native tongue, and Maria translated. “Rice, beans and spiced chicken, he says.”

“What would you have, Sean?” Gracie asked.

Sean’s deep timbre sounded behind her, so close that his breath caressed Evangeline’s nape. “Anything but jerky and nuts. And,” he said, straining onto tiptoe to reach into the branches of an orange tree. “I think that can be arranged.”

With a twist of his wrist, he plucked a heavy globe from the tree and dropped it into Evangeline’s hand. Her fingers curled around it, feeling the warmth of the sun in its skin.

Suddenly, the air was clouded with black flying insects, swarming Sean. Nathan grabbed her around the waist and yanked her off her feet, depositing her on the other side of him. “Go,” he yelled. Lillian took her hand at once and hauled her through the brush.

“No,” Evangeline cried, struggling against her. She craned her neck to see her husband covered by the stinging creatures. He swatted and flailed as they attacked—the swarm the biggest she’d ever seen.

“Help him!”

Sean thrashed away from the wasp’s nest, running through the lower brush to the edge of a water hole. Evangeline followed, desperate to help, to keep him in her sights. She reached into her pants pocket and clutched the pocket knife Nathan had given her. That many stings could be life threatening to a mortal, even a big strong man like Sean.

He threw himself prone in the deep mud along the edge of the swamp and Dante was there, scooping great handfuls of the reeking stuff and coating Sean’s bare chest, back and arms.

As Evangeline neared, she glimpsed the blood red welts rising on his neck before Dante smeared them. For one excruciating moment, she stood frozen, hands fisted, throat closed against a cry, uncertain whether or not to touch him.

Then she hurled herself at him. She sank into mud up to her knees and grasped his broad shoulders. He cracked one eye and peered at her. “I’m. . . okay,” he gasped.

But he clearly wasn’t. His skin was rapidly swelling. His breathing labored. Frantically, she met Dante’s gaze. “Do something else!”

He laid a hand on her shoulder. “There’s nothing more to do. The mud will take the worst of the pain from the stings, but his body must do the rest.”

She searched her beloved’s face, trying to discern through the mud whether or not his color was good. She flattened a palm on his chest and gauged the rise and fall of his chest to make sure his breathing was normal.

“Sean, you’re not allergic to bees are you?”

He shook his head. “No. I’ll be all right.” He pushed her back gently, and then crawled further into the swamp. Here he sat in the waist deep water where God knew what dangers lurked in the murky depths. He scooped water over his ravaged flesh.

She pressed the back of her fist to her mouth. Fear was a hot stone in her belly. People died from extreme stings. Here in the Amazon, were the bees worse? She wished she knew more about this part of the world. If Will were here, he’d know.

Will. Please answer me. I need you so bad!

Deafening silence resounded in her core. No deep voice filled her with joy and ease. No warm presence touched her soul. She was alone. Horribly alone.

“Evangeline!” Nathan caught her as her knees buckled. Convulsing with tremors, she clawed at her chest and arms as the low contralto of need in her veins sharply escalated into a soprano. She bit off a scream.

People were touching her. Hands caressing her throat, shoulder, ear. Soft feminine lips at the corner of her eye. The pad of a thumb digging into the blood medallion over her heart—a place which had only been touched by Will or Sean.

She broke into sobs. And suddenly, Sean was there, removing her from Nathan’s hold. He tipped her against his mud-caked chest and strode up the bank with her. She felt the weakness beginning in his limbs, heard the rasp of his breath.

“Sean, you’re not okay,” she burst out.

He shook his head. Rivulets of mud streamed down his throat and jaw. In a less frightening moment, she would be turned on by the dirt smearing his muscled body. But now she was beyond terror.

His mouth worked over her throat. “Baby, baby, I’m okay. Really. Calm down.”

Even in his obvious pain and physical distress, his concern for her burned in his voice. He stopped walking and sank slowly to the ground with her in his arms. He cradled her against his chest like the most precious cargo. She wrapped herself around him, still afraid of what would result from the stings. He must have a hundred.

Dante had disappeared into the brush to gather the rest of the group, who had been told to remain on course. In the thick of the jungle, it was easy to get off the path, and since it was daytime, they weren’t navigating by the constellations. A second later, Dante returned with Javier and Maria.

Javier crouched before Sean, his dark eyes scanning his inflamed skin. He spoke in his disjointed way. “Mud help. Be okay.”

Evangeline fought her tears. Of all the people to be stung, why wasn’t it an immortal? The stings would not affect them as much, and certainly not threaten their lives. The knife in her pocket seemed to scald her thigh through the fabric. Immortality was a nick away.

But Will had warned her about sharing her blood with mortals who weren’t at death’s door. It wasn’t something to be taken lightly. Though he’d never seen it happen, he knew the lore from Dante and Maria. A mortal whose life was taken just to gain immortal blood might experience deadly results when he received the Calling, causing bloody deaths to him, his mate, or both. He might still have mortal frailties that would send him roaming the earth in a state of madness not unlike that of mates when separated.

Without warning, Javier reached out and stroked Evangeline’s tattoo. His strumming touch rippled through her like an electric shock, and though it helped her, she was also annoyed. In the past week, her tattoo had been poked and prodded more than ever before.

Sean’s palm struck Javier squarely in the chest. With a low grunt, he shoved him.

Javier fell onto his ass. His black eyes narrowed dangerously. In an instant he jumped up and strode off.

“Why did you do that?” Evangeline asked.

Sean’s hand clamped on her jaw and his muddy fingers forcing her mouth to his. “I don’t like him,” he rumbled. “And you’re mine.”

He kissed her hard. Evangeline gasped at the scalding touch of his mouth. His fingers seared her skin, and heat emanated from his very pores.

She jerked away.

“Sean, you’re starting to burn with fever.” She scrambled off his lap just as he lurched to the side and vomited. His shoulders hunched and his chest jerked as he emptied his stomach.

Tears spurted from Evangeline’s eyes and drenched her cheeks. “Do something,” she implored Maria.

The woman came forward and laid a small bronzed hand to the back of his neck, which was muddy and slick with sweat. Her dark eyes flashed to Dante, and Evangeline knew they were silently communicating.

“What is it?” Her voice cracked on the question.

“He’s going to be ill for a spell. It’s best if we find a safe place to camp and let him ride it out.”

Evangeline twisted her hands. “How ill?”

Maria slipped an arm around her shoulders, her fingers hovering close to her tattoo. “Fever, chills, vomiting and swelling are not uncommon after sustaining that many stings. But he’ll be okay, Evangeline.”

“Come on, Sean. Can you walk?” Dante gripped his broad shoulders.

Sean backhanded his mouth clean and nodded.

“I saw a clearing where we can camp. If you can make it there, you can rest.”

Evangeline watched Sean struggle to his feet with Dante’s help. Once he was on his feet, he scrubbed a hand over his face, further smearing it with mud. When he looked at her, she saw his eyes were bleary and his color rising.

“Dizzy,” he said faintly.

She thrust a hand into her pocket and fingered the warm metal of the pocketknife. A voice whispered in the back of her consciousness.
A few drops of your blood can heal him and keep him well forever.

When she thought of Will’s cautions about giving Sean tainted blood, she removed her hand from her pocket.
No. Not yet.

Maybe never.

As she allowed Maria to lead her away, knowing Dante followed with Sean, she longed for Will’s comfort more than ever before.

* * * * *

Evangeline shifted her spine against the rough tree trunk she leaned against, trying to get more comfortable without disturbing Sean, who was sleeping with his head in her lap. After his debilitating bout of the chills, she’d spent an hour spackling him with mud, dipping a fingertip into a large leaf filled with the thick stuff and carefully dabbing every exposed inch of his skin.

Not far off, Nathan sat in similar fashion, keeping watch. His hand lay in his lap, his fingers curled around a pistol grip. His gaze alternately swept the clearing and rested tenderly on Lillian’s sleeping form.

A fire was banked in the center of the sleeping immortals. Lillian was curled on a pallet close enough to Nathan that if he wanted, he could reach out and touch her ankle.

“Do you think we’re close to the runestone?” Evangeline whispered.

His eyes glittered in the faint glow of the fire. The night was warm and alive with the soughing of insects, but she heard him clear his throat.

“Maria thinks so. Dante is keeping an eye on the sky, especially The Southern Cross, which is only seen in the southern hemisphere. We’re extremely lucky that he has navigated these seas before in his early explorations.”

Evangeline mused over this for a silent minute, imaging him at the helm of one of the ships bringing men to a new world. She felt very small in comparison. The closest she’d come to greatness was hearing her songs on the radio, but this seemed insignificant in her current situation.

She ruffled the hair on Sean’s forehead. The sensation of the silky strands tickling the webs of her fingers shot her with desire. Being on the trail for long days and surrounded by people, her appetites were barely being sated. As her nipples puckered hard beneath her thin T-shirt, she thought of being made love to by both her men—each sucking a breast, their fingers plunged between her thighs, finding a rhythm together.

Heat pooled in her pussy and she fought to remain still. Even masturbation was out of the question right now—not with Sean lying across her lap and Nathan looking on. Yet the tendrils of need were insistent. If Sean wasn’t suffering from the worst of bee attacks, she’d drag him off to a secluded place and straddle his face. Let him bathe her slippery folds with his tongue and bring her to orgasm again and again before mounting his thick cock and riding him to utter exhaustion.