Aflame (Apotheosis) (18 page)

“No, not really.” Grayce stood and stretched. “It’s like that, but in a house.”

Secretly, he was glad. “It’s warm here. And it smells so good.”

“Yeah, it does, doesn’t it?” Stephen reached out to Grayce and grabbed her hand. He felt so much better when she was touching him.

* * * *

Chelsea stumbled as she skidded into the office, face flushed, chest heaving. She grabbed the corner of the desk to avoid a bump-in with Zander.

“Nikolas, Zander.” Struggling to catch her breath, she hunched and gripped her knees, then flashed her pearly whites in her husband’s direction.

“My love.” Nikolas pulled her to his chest and kissed her hard.

Zander folded his arms, rested his hip against the table and waited for the finale. When the Compton’s greeted each other, it always started with a kiss and ended with an ass squeeze and a groan. At least once a day, when they thought no one was looking, Chelsea’s hand would slide down to Nikolas’ crotch and she’d whisper something into his ear. Zander didn’t mind their public displays of affection. Hell, they’d been flaunting their sexual attraction for so long now, he hardly even noticed anymore. If they didn’t grope each other every time they were in the same room, it would worry the shit out of him.

Chelsea pushed herself free and turned to Zander. “He’s awake. He’s smiling and talking. His eyes are bright.”

“That’s wonderful.” Nikolas pried his eyes away from his bride to study the document that inched its way out of the printer.

Concern clouded Chelsea’s angelic features. “Something is bothering you, love. What is it?” She sauntered to her husband’s side.

“You’re not going to believe this.” Nikolas gestured for Zander to come closer as Chelsea took the document from his hand.

After a short perusal, her face lit up. “Does this mean what I think it means?” Her head bobbed in barely contained excitement.

Zander rolled his eyes. “Anyone want to fill me in?”

Nikolas took a deep breath and let it out slow. “We can’t tell her, not yet.”

“Tell her what?” Zander demanded.

Chelsea handed over the printout. He read it. Looked at Nikolas. Read it again. “Impossible,” he whispered.

“Listen, Zander.” Nikolas snatched the paper from him. “Not a word. I want to run more tests.”

Zander scratched his head. “Yeah, you’re right. That’s a bomb we don’t need to drop on her right now.” Or ever. He roughed his hands through his hair. How would he break this new mind blowing, life altering revelation to her? Was she stable enough to hear it? Would she be happy, or freak and disappear? Would she reject a child? His heart seized for a fleeting moment then beat double-time. Nikolas was right. It was too soon to tell her. First things first.

He kissed Chelsea on the cheek and made a beeline for the door.

Zander strode through the hall anxious to get to Grayce. He was hesitant to update her about the latest reports on the morning news programs, but decided it would be worse if she heard it on her own. Shit, Carrie from the gym found dead in Grayce’s car. And Georgia, another employee of Jane’s bar, was missing. He hated to admit it, but if they were going to find and stop this maniac, they’d have to work together. The sick bastard was going to keep killing people until he found her. Zander trembled with rage. Grayce was his number one priority, but fuck, they had a responsibility to protect anyone else who might get in the monsters path, didn’t they?

Zander had grown up hating the curse. That’s what he called his power. A curse. It frightened his parents and left him no choice but to hide from the world. People had a hard time accepting things they couldn’t control or explain. That was one lesson he learned early in life.

After he met Nikolas, his feelings changed. He found a purpose. Grayce. Grayce became his focus, his new life mission. He never took time to consider what would happen after he found his mate. But maybe, just maybe, their new role as a couple was to wipe the psycho killer, Tyr, from the world.

“Baby!” The door flew open and made a god awful racket as it crashed against the wall. Zander hadn’t intended to scare anyone, but he was just so damned happy to be near his lady. Grayce stood bedside, fluffing the boy’s pillow. The young child’s eyes burned blazing white and before Zander had a chance to react, Grayce was thrown to the floor and a blue streak of light had him pinned to the wall of the hallway outside. Stunned, he watched a blue bolt of electricity fizzle and fall in tiny sparks to the floor. The boy stood with brave form on the bed holding unsteady arms toward Zander, ready to shoot again.

“Leave her alone. I won’t let you hurt her.” His threat was backed by a whole lot of attitude and absolutely no muscle.

Stunned and more than a little embarrassed, Zander stood in the sterile hallway. Not what he’d expected. “Fuck.” He rubbed his shoulder. The kid packed a powerful punch.

Grayce jumped to her feet and placed herself between Zander and the boy. “No. No. No. You’ve got it wrong Stephen.” She tried to coax the child to sit. Stephen wouldn’t budge and with noble resolve, refused to take his eyes off Zander.

“Grayce, step away from him,” Zander commanded as his protective fury echoed through the room.

He recognized the look in the boy’s eyes, the primal, uncontrollable emotions radiating from deep inside his tiny body. Zander had been there and knew exactly what was going through Stephen’s frightened little mind.

“No fucking way,” Grayce barked her refusal. “Stephen, he isn’t going to hurt me, you can lie back down.”

“Firecracker, it isn’t a request.” The instant Zander took a step forward, another bolt flew past her head and grazed his ear.

Shit. That was close.

“Very well, then.” Zander smirked.

He stalked past Grayce, held up an arm to block another strike and pinned the boy’s deadly weapons to his sides. “You and me are gonna have a little talk. Somewhere safe.”

The boy weighed less than a sack of potatoes. With one arm, Zander tucked him safe and secure against his chest. He gave Grayce a hard peck on the cheek. “Watch your language around the boy, baby.” He goosed her ass and gave his best Terminator impression. “I’ll be back.”

“Zander!” Her scream echoed through the corridor as he made his exit. “I fuc—I had this, you mother fu—ooh!”

He smiled wide. His lips sizzled with her lingering fury as he engaged super speed and headed for safer ground.

8

Growing restless, Tyr stretched on the bed next to his toy. While she was no doubt easy on the eyes, she was beginning to lack in the recharge department and didn’t come close to giving him the buzz he needed. Not like his little dove, anyway. Of course, there wasn’t a woman on earth who could fill the deep chasm her absence had created in his soul—if he had one.

Thinking about his little dove made his erection stand proud. He hadn’t used it against his other playthings. No. He reserved that for Grayce. Funny, before meeting the woman who’d given birth to his power, who was responsible for his reign of terror, he’d fucked whomever he chose. Rarely had to do little more than fake interest and flash his net worth to get a woman in bed.

After Grayce? His sex drive didn’t fizzle. He merely lost interest in sticking his member anywhere other than between
her
legs. That didn’t stop him from having fun with the other females. He simply changed tactics. Didn’t take long to figure out that he could feast on their fear, that it fed his dark energy. Wasn’t the same, but it would do, until he got his little dove back.

From a young age, the darkness beckoned to him. Fuel to a starving soul, it guided his actions, encouraged his impulses, cloaked his spirit with confidence and a sense of omnipotent self worth. His wealth, social status and power; he owed it all to the darkness. After accepting who he was, everything came easy, especially the women. Simple, pathetic creatures. They weren’t even a challenge anymore.

After a lazy stretch, he rolled over and bit his blond toy’s nipple, hard enough to draw blood and a scream that didn’t disappoint.

“Wake up, toy.” With a shove, he forced his fingers between her teeth and pulled her face toward his. “I’m bored, let’s play.” With a long, slow stroke, he licked the hot tears that cascaded down her cheek. “There will be no more crying today, do you understand?”

From under the blanket, he retrieved his large metal hook. Her eyes widened and she twitched and shook violently against the binds that tore her wrists and ankles. Fear pulsed through him as it rolled off her skin in vicious waves.

Yes, that’s what he craved. Fear. It would do for the time being.

“What?” Waving the hook over her face, he couldn’t hide his pleasure. “Does this frighten you?” Gray eyes rolled into her skull as she nodded.

“Good.”

* * * *

Plopped down faster than he could protest, Stephen took in his surroundings. Oh, man. He was standing on the tip top of a mountain with nowhere to go but down. And to go down, he’d have to scale rock cliffs. He could see nothing but smaller mountains and tree tops for miles. Confused and cold he blinked and looked around again. Fear sent prickles across his scalp.

Oh no.
He screwed up. He scared them and they didn’t want him. Nobody would ever want him. What a freak.

With all the courage he could muster, Stephen turned to face his punishment and bounced off a rock hard leg. Large hands grabbed his arms before he fell backward.

“Sorry about that little man.” The giant squatted. “I couldn’t have my lady in the line of fire. I’m sure you can understand that.”

Stephen looked into the giant’s blue eyes. Gulp. “But I saw you fighting with her by the lake.” Blinking, he looked down at his feet. “I thought you were going to hurt her.”

The deep chuckle that rose from the giant’s throat made Stephen’s stomach feel a little less queasy.

“I get it little man. I feel you.” He patted the ground, motioning for Stephen to sit by him. Stephen sat and felt no bigger than a mouse.

“You pack quite a punch. Let me feel those muscles.” The giant lifted Stephen’s arm and squeezed above his elbow. “Hmm...impressive. You work out much?”

Stephen laughed. It came out too fast and sounded girlie.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Stephen.” He didn’t like the way his voice trembled.

“I’m Zander, but my friends call me Z.” He held out his massive hand but Stephen only stared. It was huge.

“Little man, it appears we have something in common.” Z’s dark blue eyes had Stephen spellbound. “We both want to protect Grayce.”

“Yes, I thought you were gonna hurt her.”

“I would die before I let that happen.” Zander leaned toward him, and instinctively he leaned away. “What you saw by the lake, that was nothing. Grayce doesn’t know how to control her power yet. She needed practice. I was helping her.”

“Oh.” Stephen scooted his butt toward the edge of the mountain and strained his neck to see over the side. “Why did you bring me here? Are you going to kill me?”

“No. I’m not going to kill you. We just need to get a few things straight. You were trying to protect her, I get that, but you could have killed her. That’s why I brought you here. Where nobody could get hurt.” Zander grabbed Stephen’s waist and pulled him away from the edge. “That’s quite a skill you’ve got.”

“My lightning. I’m sorry if I burned you.” He didn’t want to cause pain. He wanted to use his power to save people. To save his mom.

“Have you hurt people with your lightning?” Zander rubbed his shoulder.

Until that point, Stephen hadn’t realized that his lightning hadn’t damaged Z. “Yes.”

“Was it an accident?” Zander wrapped a large arm around Stephen. It felt better than the warm blankets he woke under. Safe and strong.

“Yes. My mom. He was yelling at her. I tried to stop him, and the lightning came out. It hit them both. She told me to run. She told me to run away and never come back.” Memories of her frightened face caused him to cringe. He’d seen his mom scared before, but never as bad as that day.

“Listen, I know what you’re going through. That’s way too much power for a boy your age. How would you like to stay with us for a while?”

“Really?” He was so tired of camping.

“Really. Besides, we need another man around the house. You know, to help out.”