Wicked Wind (Solsti Prophecy #1) (30 page)

Raniero had never been there, had never had any motivation or means to go. But if Cale had a porter, he could travel to Evena. And anywhere the porter could go would become a potential hiding place for Ashina.

Raniero’s head reeled with the possibility of a new place to search for her, but he mustered the strength to bring his mind back to the matter at hand. “I’ve heard of this Cale,” he said carefully. “He’s a gangster with his hand in a lot of pies. He has a lot of enemies.”

“Would the Vipers be among them?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.” Hell, he knew for certain that the Vipers were Cale’s enemies, but divulging that information would give away his unwilling association with the corrupt demon. He gritted his teeth in angry frustration.
Almost free
. He could taste it.

Fury shot through Raniero’s blood at the thought that his assassination of the Viper lord may have led to the attack on the gentle wood nymphs. And he seethed with the thought of Ashina being shuttled off to a desolate place like Evena for all these years. As always, when he thought of her, old familiar doubts crept into his mind. Could she forgive him for the choices he made in the last hundred years? Was there a chance that she still loved him? Was she still alive?

He needed to get outdoors and clear his head. Focus on that wide perimeter patrol. “This conversation has been helpful, my friend,” he said to Taszim. “I’d like to dwell on it a bit. Some of my men and I are going out to check the perimeter.”

The nymph leader nodded and turned to the books on his desk. “As long as I’m in here, I may as well go over my ledgers. Definitely not as interesting as a patrol.” He waved Raniero out.

Anxious to get out into the untamed woods, Raniero’s strides ate up the colony’s paths. A run outside would help him focus. But not even a hundred years could push aside the image of toffee-colored skin and bright green eyes gazing sweetly up at him from among the orange trees.

C
HAPTER
21

N
ICOLE
AWOKE
FEELING
rested, every muscle relaxed and blissful. She opened her eyes to spy a scrap of red on the floor and, realizing it was her panties, stretched in lazy satisfaction. She reached for Gunnar, her hand gliding across the expanse of crisp cotton sheets. Empty sheets. She blinked, raised her head, and scanned the room. No Gunnar.

He’s probably busy.
He’d said he didn’t need much sleep. She dropped her head back down to the pillow. It had only been a few days, but she was already used to waking up wrapped in his warm embrace. She liked the ways he found to wake her up…she smiled, thinking of how relentless he had been last night. Her own energizer demon.

So determined,
like he had something to prove
. But exactly what had been going through his head, she wasn’t sure. She hadn’t realized how tired she had been. She didn’t even remember much after they made love. But she did remember how he reacted to her message panties. Grinning, she debated which pair to wear for him next. She really did have a whole collection, which she’d bought at a lingerie party and never worn.

She took a quick shower, dressed in a pair of jeans and a bright pink tank top, and went downstairs.
I need a jolt of caffeine
. Walking into the kitchen, she stopped in front of the fancy coffeemaker. She found a mug in a cabinet, and stood at the counter examining the machine when she sensed a change in the air pressure behind her. Gunnar.

She tried to turn to kiss him, but he pressed his big body flush against hers, wedging her between him and the countertop. A small gasp escaped her mouth as his muscular chest warmed her back, sending tingles through to her breasts. He brushed her damp hair aside and bent to kiss her nape, his lips moving languidly across her skin. Her body melted into his sinewy strength.

“Good morning,” she murmured.

“Good morning,” he whispered, moving his hand up to close over her throat as he continued to nuzzle her neck. His other hand slid down to her hip, gripping her tightly. His hold was proprietary and dominant, and yet she felt safe and utterly adored as he lavished affection on her. Her thoughts returned to last night, with him huge and hard and demanding as he loomed over her.
Mine
. His words echoed in her head, and she recalled their conversation from days earlier. Immortals didn’t marry, he’d said, they mated. He never explained quite how that worked. But his words and his body language screamed that she belonged to him.

His hand on her hip worked around to her abdomen with fingers splayed wide, then moved down between her thighs. She gazed with unfocused eyes at the white numbers marching up the side of the glass coffee pot. Last night, with her heart ready to stop from the delicious agitation of his skillful hands, she would’ve done anything he asked. Last night, with her hands pinned above her head and his teeth gripping her earlobe, she whispered the one word her mouth had been able to form.
Yours
.

Goose bumps erupted down her arms, and not just from the velvet strokes of his tongue on her skin. She craved him with a fierce possessiveness. She’d been ready to drop kick any of the nymphs at Rivkin who would have dared to flirt with him. She wanted him all to herself. Was he…
hers
?

She reached both arms up and back to twine around his neck. The length of his cock, thick and heavy in his jeans, pressed into her backside
. Forget the coffeemaker.

She turned and gazed up into his handsome face, tracing his jaw and cheekbone, remembering how his face had altered in the midst of the battle rage. The sharp-toothed, savage creature inside him had sought to help her, had calmed down for her.

And Gunnar had finally opened up to her about his years of scraping by as a lonely, lost child. She didn’t know if he would ever be able to be free of the battle rage when it came to Ghazsul demons, but it didn’t scare her. He was strong and lethal, but he was just.

She looked into his blue eyes, glowing slightly from desire, and tried to read him. She’d never stopped to think about what was blooming between them. What with running around Torth and trying not to get killed, there hadn’t been much time to think. She only reacted, and her body responded to his in a way that it never had with anyone else. The sexual heat between them had never been in doubt. Even now, with questions running in circles around her head, she felt a rush of heat at her core as his hands kneaded her bottom.

What was he to her? ‘Boyfriend’ seemed like a ridiculous term after what they had been through. Lover? Partner? She wasn’t sure, but she knew she wasn’t going anywhere. Especially since she was somehow supposed to help save the world, a venture he was fully vested in. If they were going to fight some heinous foe, she wanted to be at his side. And when it was time to take refuge from the evils they had faced, she wanted to be in his bed. She wanted to be wrapped tightly in his arms, forgetting everything but how he made her feel.

A shiver ran through her at the rather permanent direction her thoughts seemed to be taking.

“Are you okay?” he murmured.

Unable to give voice to her emotions, she only nodded. She’d never expected to find someone who would accept her strange ability. She assumed she’d be single forever, that she would never fully open herself up to another for fear of ridicule or exploitation. But Gunnar recognized her gift immediately, and saw it for what it was: something extraordinary.
He
was extraordinary. She leaned up to press her lips to his sensuous mouth, needing to tell him with her body the feelings that she couldn’t speak.

His lips were so soft, his tongue enticing as it tangled with hers. She deepened the kiss, pushing against him, exploring every delicious part of his mouth. Knotting her hands in his hair, she felt the urge to rub herself against him just so he would smell like her. She pulled back a bit, wondering where the heck that had come from, when Rilan rushed into the kitchen.

“I’ve translated the old grimoire,” he said excitedly.

The other three males walked in behind the Elder. “Everyone in the great room, stat,” Kai barked.

Nicole was still wedged between Gunnar and the countertop.

“Get a room,” Rhys joked as he brushed past them.

“I was just saying good morning to my girl,” Gunnar replied, not taking his eyes off her.

Rhys snorted. “Heard you two saying ‘good morning’ the whole damn night.”

Nicole gave Gunnar a tiny smile and shrugged. He wrapped an arm around her as they walked to one of the massive couches in the great room, where he sat and pulled her onto his lap.

They all turned to Rilan. “This spellbook contains what Xarrek considered to be his masterpieces. It contains warding spells, locater spells, and spells to increase one’s power. And one of these power spells requires human blood.” Rilan looked around the room, his gaze landing on each member of the assembled group. “The interesting thing is, this spell doesn’t call for a large volume of blood from one or two humans. It requires just one drop from each of five hundred human souls. And,” he paused, “the more destitute and downtrodden the human life is, the more power will be transferred in the spell.”

“That’s why none of them have been drained.” Kai looked at the ceiling and blew out a breath.

“And that’s why they’re working the drug addicts and the gang-ridden neighborhoods,” Nicole added.

“So say he collects all of this blood. What will Maeron be able to do?” Gunnar asked.

“Almost anything he wants.” Rilan shook his head grimly. “He’ll be able to teleport virtually anywhere. He’ll be able to summon demonfire, create illusions, and even assume another form temporarily.”

“Shit. Last night that maggot we caught said Maeron was ‘almost ready,’” Kai growled.

“Why don’t you fill us in on last night, bro?” Brenin asked.

“We only found one Skell, but he didn’t know why Maeron was collecting blood. Only would say that he was ‘almost ready.’ Then we ran into an old friend–a Deserati–and she was able to show us Maeron’s hideout. Wait.” Kai held up a hand to quiet the burst of shouts to go after the Domu. “She showed us what his lair looks like. But we don’t know exactly where it is.”

“Some help,” Rhys muttered.

“She didn’t have an iPad, dude. She couldn’t zoom out and give us a fucking map.” Kai glared at the other Lash. “Her scrying bowl showed us a virtual snapshot of his location. It’s an old beat-up farmhouse. Looks like it’s about to fall down. It’s near a river. That’s what we have to work with.”

Rhys jumped over to the computer and his fingers tapped out a staccato rhythm. “Thank the gods for satellite photos.”

“So, we have no idea how close Maeron is to having all that he needs for his spell,” Nicole said.

“Man, why has this fucker been so hard to catch?” Kai snarled as he paced the room.

“He’s very smart,” Rilan replied. “And Skells are expendable and easy to come by. There will always be more of them to do his dirty work.”

“Yeah, since he can’t show his ugly mug around here.” Brenin raked a hand through his long blond hair.

“You know what he looks like?” Nicole asked.

“Well, we know what Domu demons look like, and my guess is Maeron fits the general description pretty well.” Gunnar went on to describe the physical traits of the Domu species.

Nicole made a face. Yes, a seven foot tall, charcoal skinned, yellow-eyed creature would cause quite a stir walking around Chicago. No wonder he utilized the Skells.

“We have to find him before he can alter his appearance,” she said.

“We have to find him, like, yesterday,” Rhys grumbled as he scrolled through screen after screen of images. “Hey, check this out.”

Everyone crowded behind his chair to peer at the computer screen. “If you head south of the city on I-57, after about ninety minutes or so you start getting close to the Kankakee River. It has all these little streams that feed into it, here.” He gestured to a maze of tiny blue lines on a map. “And, in that area, there are three of the shittiest looking buildings around.” He pulled up the first image.

“That’s not it,” Gunnar said right away.

Kai agreed. “The one Miranda showed us didn’t have a barn that was still standing.”

“Okay, how about this one?” Rhys closed the first image and opened another. Gunnar and Kai looked at each other and frowned.

“That could be it,” Kai said. “It’s worth checking out. Is it occupied?”

“Real estate records show that all of these are foreclosures. If anyone’s there, they’d be a squatter.” Rhys minimized the second page and opened the third one.

“Could be that one, too,” Gunnar said. “Are there more?”

“Hell, yeah.” Rhys hit a button and the gray printer on the table whirred into action. “These were just the first three I found, moving south from here.”

“I say we take a closer look,” Gunnar said. “Let’s split into two teams and check out these two houses. Surveillance only–we wait to move in until we can regroup. We know he has Skells, but he probably has other creatures around his headquarters for security.”

“I’m going with you,” Nicole told Gunnar.

“No you’re not. It’s too dangerous.”

“I’m not helpless,” she reminded him, as the other demons drifted out of the room.

“True. But you’ll be safest right here.” She opened her mouth to protest and he laid a gentle finger across her lips. “I need to focus on recon today. Maeron may have some fiendish guard dogs. We’re going to have to get in and get out quickly, without him knowing we’ve been sniffing around. I can’t be as effective if you’re there because I’ll be worried for your safety.”

She glared at him, pissed and hurt at the same time. Hadn’t she proven herself during their time on Torth?
I held my own against the Vipers and the Ghazsul demons.
She narrowed her eyes and started to tell him that, but he stopped her again.

“Nicole, if you use your power anywhere near him, he’ll know it. He may not know what you are, but he’ll sense your unique energy, and he’ll come after you. He’s a crazy, power-hungry bastard. He’ll want you. Who knows what kind of shit he’d try if he could use you?”