Hannah nodded.
Paul drew next to Jude, frowning heavily. “This has to explain the attack in the north, how those families died. The ancient fae must have used this mist to immobilize them, then killed them.”
“I’d have to agree.”
Paul extended his hand down to Jude, lifting him to his feet. Jude shifted on his feet, then planted a hand on the railing to keep his balance. “By all the elf lords, I’m still damn dizzy.”
Hannah moved close and settled her hand on his arm, but it was Paul who spoke. “Mastyr, Hannah defeated Margetta. She even wounded her.” He touched his own wrists and hands, patting them, trying to explain. “She released fire, Mastyr. From here, like this.” He swept his arms back-and-forth in the air. “Fire.”
“Sweet Goddess.” Jude turned toward Hannah and took her gently by the shoulders, looking her over. “You’re flushed again. Did you really do this?”
She nodded.
“Are you sure you didn’t get hurt? You’re shaking.”
“No, not hurt. Adrenaline.”
“Right.” Then to Nathan, “How you doin’?”
“F-i-ne.” the word came out slurred as he struggled to his feet. Picking up his pot, he shuffled in the direction of the back door. Hannah could see that the mist had really taken the troll down, another reason to believe that Paul was right, that Margetta had used the mist to kill the two troll families on North Island.
To Paul, Jude said, “I’ll want all the team leaders here as soon as possible. Reese should be here by now. Tell him what you saw and have his team guard the castle for now. I doubt the ancient fae will come back tonight if she’s been wounded, but I want to be careful.”
Paul got on his com at once, talking to Longeness at the Kellcasse Communication Center, and delivered Jude’s orders.”
Jude slid his arm around Hannah’s shoulders, then guided her toward the door. “Let’s get you inside.”
Hannah was happy to leave the balcony. “Good idea. I just wish I could stop shaking.”
“You will. Give it time.”
Once inside, Hannah saw that Nathan was sitting on the window seat with his pot in his lap. “I think your troll could use some rest.”
“Good idea.” He called out to Nathan. “Why don’t you head to the boathouse and get some sleep.” When Paul appeared, saying that the team leaders were headed in, Jude swept a hand in Nathan’s direction. “Paul, can you see that he gets back to the guest house?”
“Of course.”
Paul moved to the much shorter troll, and offered a foot.
“Oh, hell yeah,” Nathan murmured. He set the pot on the table, then hopped on. When Paul had a tight arm around Nathan’s shoulders, he levitated slowly to the door, then flew into the air, crossing over the balcony and heading toward the boat house.
Jude guided her to the kitchen island and had her sit down. “I’m going to fix some tea. How does that sound?”
“Really good. Thanks.”
She perched on a stool as Jude opened a box and pulled out a couple of tea bags.
“Can you tell me exactly what happened?” he asked. “What you saw and experienced?”
Hannah understood. Jude now had his realm-ruler hat on. He needed to start figuring this out, then to take what precautions he could on behalf of his people and his Vampire Guard.
She spared no detail.
~ ~ ~
When Hannah finished her recounting, Jude filled the tea-kettle with water and set it on the cooktop to boil. He offered her a cupcake, but she shook her head.
Jude had never, not once in his long-lived life, faced a situation in which the enemy had employed something akin to a nerve gas. Nathan had fallen quickly to the effects of the sickly-sweet scent, and he hadn’t been far behind.
He tried to recall what he’d experienced, but it all seemed vague and he still felt slightly disoriented.
So the ancient fae had a new weapon in her arsenal.
Great.
He agreed with both Hannah and Paul that Margetta must have tried out her mist first on the troll families at North Island and now here, hoping no doubt to make a quick kill, then move in on his realm.
And the only reason she’d failed was because of Hannah.
Sweet Goddess.
Moving about the kitchen eased him. He needed to be doing. Hannah now sat on the stool at the island, her hands clasped together on the marble. She no longer shook, but she had grown very quiet.
“You know what’s funny?” she said at last.
He brought two cups down from the shelf and planted them next to the cooktop, adding a tea bag to each. “What’s that?”
“That once Paul told me you needed help, I didn’t think twice. I could feel your desperation. How is that possible?”
He shook his head, checking to see if the water was boiling yet. Not quite. “I honestly don’t know.”
“I’m guessing it’s connected to my being a blood rose. Maybe even because I’ve donated.”
He met her gaze and thought her expression might be accusing. Instead, she just looked confused.
And beautiful.
He didn’t say anything, but waited beside the tea kettle, checking until finally the water started to boil. He poured the hot water slowly over both tea bags.
Bringing the cups with him, he rounded the island and sat on the stool next to Hannah. The flush on her skin had dimmed, leaving her with a really healthy glow. “So, how the hell do I thank you for this, since you just saved my life and Nathan’s?”
She’d already started lifting the bag up and down when she turned to him, a half-smile on her lips. “There’s no need for thanks. I’m just so grateful that Paul got me here in time.”
He’d almost bought it. That’s the tape that kept running through his head.
She carefully draped the tea bag over the side of the cup and stared at her hands. “And I really can’t believe that I did what I did? I had fire coming out of my hands and my arms. At least my palms are no longer tingling.”
“By the way, how long had your hands been bothering you like that? I can recall you mentioning it a couple of times over the past few weeks.”
She chuckled softly. “Can’t you guess how long?”
“Since the closet?”
“Yeah. Since then.”
“Well, I suppose it makes sense.”
She took a sip of her tea. “I should have known something was going on, but I ignored it. I guess I just didn’t want to see that there was anything more to my interest in you than just this.” Her gaze encompassed his body.
He smiled. Once again she’d offered him an ego-boosting moment.
He searched her beautiful violet eyes. He tried to think back to the moment he’d become entranced by them, and realized it might have been well before the supply-closet incident. “Hannah, I’m just now remembering something that happened about a year ago, and which I think first set me down this path with you. Do you recall the time that a couple of human males were harassing an elven woman about her body, asking her terrible questions?”
“Oh, I remember that, and it was well over a year ago. I don’t think I’ve ever been so angry.”
“You threw them out. Well, you didn’t, but Hector did, on your orders.” Hector was her well-muscled bouncer who performed his duties extremely well.
Hannah scowled. “Both those idiots were drunk, but they had no right to ask about her pointed ears and her sexuality. It was completely degrading.”
“Yes, it was. But you stood up for my people and that’s when things started to shift for me. I saw you as more than the little girl I’d known. I finally saw that you’d become a woman.”
He held her gaze and all his cooling-down desire for her, suddenly heated up once more.
“Jude,” she whispered. Her cheeks turned a rosy color once more, but this time not because of her fiery power but because he sat next to her.
He drew in a deep breath. This wasn’t the time to
be sexing her up. He had men flying in. “How’s the tea?”
She nodded. “Good. I like the cinnamon flavor.”
He drank from his mug. “Hmm, needs something.” He left his stool and headed back into the kitchen, “Want honey with that? Because I do.”
He hadn’t realized what he’d said until suddenly her perfume, a scent that he now understood was part of her blood rose-ness, permeated the air.” He turned to her and saw that though she’d brought the cup to her lips, she wasn’t drinking.
‘Honey’ conjured up all kinds of things and she’d apparently started conjuring.
He closed his eyes, drinking in the smell of her with heavy drags through his nostrils. She tasted like that as well, like the seashore and roses, and he wanted more of that flavor in his mouth.
Ah, hell.
He left his tea on the sink and moved in behind her. He stroked her arms up and down, then leaned close and nuzzled her neck. I want your honey. Will you give me your honey again?
He felt a shiver pass through her and she slowly turned her head so that her lips were now inches away.
When her lips parted, he closed the distance and kissed her. And not a simple kiss, but deep and probing.
She responded, moaning softly. I keep thinking about the bunkroom.
Me, too. He drove his tongue in and out. I want to do that to you again.
I’d love it if you did.
He drew back and looked into her eyes. “It will complicate everything. I mean, the first time, in the bunkroom, we were both caught up. But if we sleep together now, after we both know what’s going on, I don’t think it will be simple.”
She caressed his face. “Right now, nothing is simple, but the moment that Paul came in, telling me that you needed me, I guess I knew then that whatever this is, what it will become, can’t be denied. I feel so much for you and not just sexually. The way I felt coming here was as though some part of me had already planted roots in Kellcasse. But please remember that I’ve built a life in Port Townsend, and I mean to keep that life.”
“Hannah, I would never want you to do anything else. I know what the bar means to you, even the communication center. And I would hate to have what’s happening here take you away from what is most important to you.”
She kissed him, once, warmly, then held his gaze. “And I do understand your commitment to ridding the world of the Invictus. I’m with you one-hundred percent. Please know that. I value more than I can ever express what you and your Guardsmen do.” She nodded briskly several times in a row.
His heart was on fire. He pulled her swiftly from the stool, gathered her up in his arms and kissed her again. From deep within his body, he felt his mating vibration thrum to life, wanting to connect with Hannah, wanting to make her his forever.
She drew back, her eyes glistening with desire. “What is it that I’m feeling?”
He told her.
Her eyes went wide. “Really? Your mating vibration? But that’s rare, isn’t it?”
“It is for me.” He drew her close again and just held her. He knew they would make love again soon and he wanted to be with her, to be connected to her in that way, so badly, he ached.
“I’ve turned this situation over and over in my head and I know it’s asking a lot, but Hannah I really think we should stick close together, at least for the next few days.”
“That’s my thought as well. If Margetta attacked you again and I couldn’t get to you—” She broke off, clearly unwilling to say the rest.
He nodded. “So we’re agreed?”
“Absolutely.”
He stayed with her like that for several minutes, just holding her, rubbing his hand along her waist and up her back, letting her feel his gratitude.
He only released her when the first of his men arrived on the balcony. “And my men are here.”
She pulled her cell from the pocket of her jeans. “And I’d better contact the Gold Rush.”
~ ~ ~
Hannah called the bar and spoke to Amelia, her right arm, letting her know she wouldn’t be in for the night. If Amelia sounded astonished, why wouldn’t she be? Hannah never took a night off, or rarely, and even then just for a couple of hours.
She explained that she was helping the Mastyr of Kellcasse at his Castle Island home – difficulties with his communication center – and that she needed to stick close to him for now. Not quite the truth, but she didn’t like the idea of telling any of her staff that she could now shoot fire from her hands.
Despite that, Amelia drove way to close to the truth when she teased, “Geez, Hannah, sounds like you’re a blood rose.”
Hannah swallowed hard, then covered with, “As if.” She had no interest in broadcasting her own personal difficulties right now.
Amelia giggled. “Well, enjoy your time with the mastyr, but if I were you, I’d ask to see his bedroom.” She then laughed again and Hannah ended the conversation with her own forced laughter, asking to be transferred to the communication center.
After asking Sandy to call in a couple of people to fill in for Hannah’s slots, she could finally be at ease. This wasn’t exactly how she’d expected her night to go.
When she slid her phone back into her pocket, movement on the balcony drew her eyes once more.
The Guardsmen, who served as team leaders had started arriving.
Hannah realized she knew every one of them by name and it pleased her when each greeted her like an old friend. Yet somehow it didn’t surprise her that Jude never moved more than an arm’s length away from her.
When the last arrived, and Paul drew up the rear as he herded everyone into the living room, Jude held back. Once out of earshot, he turned to Hannah. “Did you have to touch at least half of them?”
Hannah had never been so surprised. “I like touching. And I only held back with the hugs because I could feel you bristling beside me.”
“Damn right I was bristling.”
But Hannah only laughed and kissed him on the mouth. “It’s nice to know I’m not the only one suffering here.”
“That’s not exactly the reaction I was looking for. I don’t like you touching other men.”
She wanted to chuckle again, but she could see that he was serious. And whatever weird realm creature she was becoming, she could tell that to keep laughing wouldn’t just wound his pride but would make him distrust her.
She recalled all the chatter on the loop about this one aspect of being a blood rose, that the men who bonded with their women, became rather ferocious in their territorial marking rites.
Something inside her went weak just thinking about it. She drew close and grabbed his woven shirt with both fists, pulling him down to her. But she wouldn’t let him kiss her. Instead, she whispered, “Any way you can mark me, vampire, so that other men will stay away?”
She wasn’t sure exactly what kind of response she’d been looking for, but he suddenly picked her up in his arms and flew her outside, onto the balcony, to a portion of the wall that would hide them from anyone inside.
He pressed her up against the stone and ground his hips into her. She felt his arousal and her legs lost function all over again.
He spoke hoarsely into her ear. “I’m going to mark you again and again, do you hear me? I’m going to fill you up so that no male, human or realm, will dare to touch you. Does that answer your question?”
He kissed her hard, so that her entire body just about melted into the stone behind her. What Jude could do to her with just a few words, the wonderful mass of his muscular frame, and his warm, moist lips.
She had that eternal sensation again of wanting to stay with Jude just like this, never moving, just being with him and feeling him, and having desire move like fire through her veins, forever.
Finally, he drew back, breathing hard. He held her gaze. “Part of me wants to apologize, but to hell with that. We’re in this, and you need to know everything, especially what it’s like for me.”
She grabbed his shir
t again. “Jude, let’s make a pact right now not to apologize for anything that relates to this blood rose madness, okay? I know I’ll want to as well, but I think it’ll just make things more difficult.”
He nodded. “Agreed.” Slowly, he shifted his hips away from her, but stayed close. “And I need to calm down.”
At that, she smiled again. “What? You don’t want to face your men like this?”
She reached low and ran her hand the entire length of his arousal.
He arched and hissed. “Oh, Sweet Goddess, Hannah.”
She planted her hands on his face and kissed him with more affection than passion. “Do you know how many times I imagined kissing you just like that?” She couldn’t help but smile.
“No. How many?”
“About a thousand.”
“Is that all?” His turn to smile.
“Okay, I’m going inside. I need to freshen up a little, but I’ll join you for the meeting.”
“Good. I want you there.”
She didn’t try to prolong the moment. Instead, she located the downstairs bathroom and splashed water on her face. She stayed put, giving herself a little alone time to collect herself.
Ten minutes later, she heard Jude’s deep voice coming from the front living room and headed in his direction. She caught the décor along the way, as well as the style of the architecture and knew instinctively that a woman’s hand had been involved.
Probably his wife’s, the woman he’d lost all those decades ago.
As she entered the living room, she stayed near the entrance to the dining room. Seeing a dozen heavily muscled Guardsmen in one room was an overwhelming experience. Each ranged in height from six-three to six-six and wore what she considered to be their supremely sexy black leather-based uniform.
If the ceiling hadn’t been as high as it was, the room would have felt claustrophobic.
Jude relayed all that he knew about the mist, the sickly-sweet scent, the effects on him and also on Nathan, and his belief that Margetta had used the mist to kill the troll families in the north.
What he didn’t know was whether her wraith-pairs were immune or not. And if they were, the entire realm faced a crisis of enormous proportions.
“But how can we find any of this out?” Paul asked.