Claimed (28 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

E
very step made Galena tenser as they trudged back to their quarters. Dec was awake and healed. She was immortal and whole. Cacy and Eli seemed like they might be okay. Dec had just told her the murder charges were going to be dropped, and that he would make sure she had all the facilities and resources she needed to resume her research.

He was giving, and she was taking. Yes, sh
e’d
wanted to tell him how she felt about him, how she never wanted to leave his side, but it all felt selfish now. She needed to go somewhere and rethink all of this. When they reached the door, she stopped. “I’m guessing you’re pretty thrashed.”

His brow furrowed. “I was unconscious for several hours. I basically just got a week’s worth of sleep.”

She nodded, her cheeks heating. “So you must have a lot to do. You probably want to reconnect with your paramedics at the station and all that.”

His look of puzzlement intensified. “Yeah, I was going to do that later this afternoon. Are you all right?”

“Fine.” She chuckled. “You must be sick of me at this point.”

His gaze was piercing; she could almost feel it inside of her, sorting through all her shaky, self-conscious thoughts. Then he took her hand and led her into the small apartment where sh
e’d
waited for him to recover. “What if I told you I didn’t think that was possible?” he asked, closing the door and turning to face her. “What if I asked you to stay with me?”

“Here, you mean?”

He tugged her hand and brought her closer. “Here. My apartment. My cabin. Anywhere in the world you need to be, anywhere yo
u’d
be happy and safe.”

“Dec, stop,” she whispered. “It’s too much.”

“Why?” His voice had taken on an edge.

“Because you got your head bashed in and your guts clawed out trying to protect me, and now you’re offering to spend a billion dollars of your own money on my research?”

He gestured at his body. “The only reason my head and guts are absolutely fine right now is because
you
protected
me
. You went back to the most terrifying place in the world for you, and you did it to save me.
I’d
say we’re even.”

She put her hand on his chest, willing herself to be brave, to stop putting the moment off. She owed this vulnerability to him. He was worth it. “Okay, how about this: I’m falling in love with you.” Her eyes met his. “Completely, crazily, beyond logic or reason. And I can’t take more from you unless you feel the same way.”

“Take more from me?” Dec coiled his arm around her waist. “For a minute, I’m going to brush that one aside, even though every time you accept something I offer you, it lights me up in a way nothing else has in a very,
very
long time.” His gaze traced over her face. “Galena, the first time I was in the Veil with you, it seemed like a brand-new place. You saw a wonder in it that I stopped seeing ages ago, that
I’d
forgotten was even there. You understood things about it that
I’d
never even bothered to question.” His palms slid up to her shoulders, then her neck, and he took her face in his hands. “You have no idea how badly I needed that, how ready
I’d
been to walk away from all of it, how tired of everything I was. Being with you changed that. It was like stepping from the Veil into the real world, where things are warm and messy and complicated and confusing, but goddamn interesting at the same time. You brought me back to life.”

Now her heart was pounding for a different reason. “So I guess you do feel the same way?”

“Hell, yes, I do.” He pulled her face to his. The kiss was desperate, rough-edged and unsteady. Galena’s fingers closed over the taut muscles of his shoulders, giving herself up to it. His stubble scraped at her chin as he possessed her mouth, as his hands roamed her body. Her palms skimmed down to his chest to feel the miracle of his heartbeat, then ventured lower to lift the bottom of his shirt. Fierce need for him consumed her as she pulled his shirt off, as he edged her toward the bed, offering no more words, only his actions, which were more than enough.

She undid his zipper slowly, taking control. Dec frowned as she shuddered and placed his hands on her arms, and she stared at his mouth until it felt okay again. And then she dipped her fingers into his boxer briefs, teasing and caressing him as he kissed her with a passion that made her knees weak. She peeled his clothing from his body. Feeling powerful and dizzy with want, she pushed him onto the bed. He guided her on top of him, pulling away from her mouth to nip his way down the column of her throat. Galena gasped at the hard shock of desire that shot down her spine, melting her.

His hands wrapped around her thighs, spreading her legs over him, and then he pulled the collar of her T-shirt aside to nibble at the junction of her neck and shoulder, making her whole body clench. “I just want to make sure you understand—you’re immortal now. You don’t need to be with me, not really,” he mumbled against her skin.

“Yes, I do.”

“But only by choice. Always by choice. Because I would never take the immortality away, even if you wanted to leave me.”

She looked into his glacier-blue eyes, desperate to read what lay there. “Dec, I know our relationship started in the strangest possible way, but I’m glad it did. And not because of the immortality. Do you understand that? If Aislin took it away tomorrow, or if you decided to retire and give it up yourself, I would still want to be with you.”

He paused, staring into her eyes. “Then you’re going to have to let me do a few things.”

She wriggled against him, letting the hard feel of him stoke her desire. “Like what?”

“I want to make you breakfast and see you eat it. I want to watch your face as you learn something new.” His hands stroked across her back and down her sides. “I want to memorize every single inch of your body and figure out how to make it sing for me. All of that. More than that. Everything.”

“Me too. Every second,” she murmured, touching her lips to his.

“Every breath.” His fingers curled under the hem of her shirt and pulled it up, and Galena allowed him to strip it off. He had her bra undone in a matter of seconds. His gaze slid over her breasts as he rolled her over onto her back. His eyes met hers. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She tangled her fingers in his hair as he lowered his head, tracing his tongue down the center of her chest as he teased a nipple with his thumb. Her palms smoothed over the raven on his muscular back. She arched up as his mouth closed over her breast, sudden and hot, the sensual pull making her whimper. He drew the tight, pearled bud between his teeth, and the exquisite pleasure had her guiding his hand down. He pushed her sweats and panties down her hips, his movements growing more frantic right along with her desire for him. As he sat up and pulled the garments over her ankles, off her feet, tossing them onto the floor, she stared at his body, now fully healed, strong and beautiful, and she felt nothing but hunger. No fear.

It wasn’t that it was gone. And she never knew when sh
e’d
be reminded, when the memories would rise. But when Dec turned her onto her side and kissed his way up the back of her leg, her ass, her spine, when his hard arousal nestled against her, she knew sh
e’d
face it with him, that he would be here, that he wouldn’t run. H
e’d
proven that. H
e’d
seen everything; he knew everything. He was aware. She smiled and reached back, pulling his cheek to hers as his hand stroked down her belly, over the scars, between her legs.

His fingers slid through her arousal, and he cursed, bucking gently against her backside. He hooked his fingers beneath her knee and raised her leg, and she reached down and found his rigid cock, hot and silky. She guided it to the place she needed it most.

“Yeah,” she whispered, and as soon as she did, he thrust into her. She was so wet that he slid in easily, and both of them moaned.
God, this feeling.
The pressure and friction as he pushed himself inside her body was overwhelming, but not in a painful way. More like every nerve was firing at once.

He released her leg, letting it slide over his as he slowly pumped his hips. He folded his arm over her chest, and his hand closed over her breast. His mouth fastened to her neck, teasing her with teeth and tongue. Galena shut her eyes and felt all of it at once, his hard body wrapped around her, inside her, claiming her. She welcomed every stroke. Another miracle. He gave pleasure while taking his own, his hands steadying her, teasing her, spinning her higher while plunging her deeper into the ocean of her feelings for him.

His palm flattened over her belly, over the scars, possessive and protective. She raised her knee, spreading her legs wider, offering him more. More. She wanted to feel him deep; she wanted him to own her body like he owned her heart. He raised his head and looked down at her, his eyes hazed with need. His lips were parted, his breath bursting from him every time her body accepted his rigid cock. She looked up at him, her arm winding behind his neck. The tightening of her fingers in his hair had an instant effect on him. His hand curled over her hip, and his pace increased. “Yeah?”

“Oh, yeah.” She was so close. And when he reached between her legs again to tease her clit, like he knew exactly what she needed, it sent her over the edge. She gasped his name as the ecstasy swallowed her whole, drenching her mind in swirling colors and sparks. She clutched at his hair, at his arm, using him as her anchor while the rest of her spun and danced with sheer, blinding pleasure.

Dec groaned as she clenched around him, rhythmic spasms that carried aftershocks through her belly and up her spine. Galena turned her head, panting every time his hips snapped up, driving his shaft deep. His eyes were closed, his teeth gritted, and his hand was a vise on her hip. Not bruising, just possessive. “I’m yours, Dec,” she murmured. “Yours.”

He let out a ragged, desperate noise and wrapped his arms around her, burying himself inside. She felt the throbbing heat of his climax as his body shook, the tremors rumbling along her bones. Sh
e’d
never felt so treasured, so needed, so safe. After a few frenzied moments of their bodies locked together, every muscle trembling, Dec relaxed slightly. His head was bowed against hers, his breath in her ear. “Did you mean that?” he whispered.

She looked up at him, nestled against his powerful body, feeling his stubble scrape at her skin. “Yeah.”

His grin was the most profoundly beautiful thing sh
e’d
ever seen.

EPILOGUE

A
islin paced her office, her heart thrumming. She felt like a fox, hunted and cornered by dozens of snarling hounds.

The fate of the Ferrys rests with you.

Those had been her father’s last words to her. At the time they had both thrilled and baffled her, because Rylan was the Charon. But as his evil had been revealed, Aislin had assumed the role of head of family without hesitation. Sh
e’d
been certain that was what her father had meant, what h
e’d
intended for her.

Now she wasn’t so sure. How many mistakes had she made? Sh
e’d
lost count. And now she was about to lose everything. In a few days, she might be known as the last Charon, the one who presided over the fall of the Psychopomps empire. Assuming her cousin Hugh didn’t find a way to take the Scope of the Charon from her first.

She walked to the window and laid her hands on the glass, looking out over the city. Her city. The haze was rising through the midnight air, steaming the pane, making everything seem unreal.

God, how she wished this wasn’t real.

“I’ve always thought it was a lovely view,” said a voice she knew all too well, one that sent confusing chills along her skin.

She whirled around to see Moros standing by her desk. “I’ve always thought it was incredibly ill-mannered to enter without knocking.”

Moros smiled. “You Ferrys do enjoy lecturing me, don’t you?”

Aislin took a step toward him, watching his face. He was ancient, thousands of years old, though he looked no older than Rylan. His wavy black hair was tousled, not slicked back as usual. There were faint shadows beneath his steel-gray eyes. If she didn’t know better, sh
e’d
say he looked tired. Exhausted, actually.

“Did you ascertain the security of the souls in your charge?” she asked.

He nodded. “Though my sisters swear they have been secure all along.”

“You don’t trust them.”

Their eyes locked. His glinted red. “I no longer trust anyone.”

Aislin knew what that was like, and for a moment, she felt a pang of sympathy for the Lord of the Kere. Then she reminded herself who he was and what he could do. “Can you ensure that Eli is no longer a threat? He’s closer to us than any of the Kere, and my sister will never give him up.”

Moros pulled a small object from his trouser pocket. It looked like a cigar case, sleek and polished. “Eli is no threat. He is under my control.”

Aislin eyed the case. “You have his soul in there.” It was both terrifying and fascinating, knowing that this man carried another man’s soul in his pocket, that he did it with the same casualness that most men carried their phones.

“Because of his proximity to both you and Galena, I felt it best.”

“You believe that someone has been taking the souls?”

His eyes traced over the case. “There is no other way to control them.”

“So Eris stole Eli’s soul—and then put it back?”

He slid the case back into his pocket. “I’m not yet certain of that.”

“Have you been able to locate the rogues?”

“Luke is himself. Nader has returned to my service, and Tamasin is by his side. Their souls are safe and sound. But Trevor’s is nowhere to be found.”

“And my brother? Do you have any idea where they’ve taken him?” It had to be in the real world, since he was no longer a Ferry. It chilled her beyond words to know that Rylan was in the hands of an enemy. “Rylan knows every detail of our business. He could be very dangerous under the wrong influence. But he is also human now. You should be able to track him.”

Moros’s nostrils flared, and he bowed his head.

“Is it that you can’t find him, or you won’t?” she asked.

He walked over to the window and stared out. “The fabric of fate is in tatters,” he said quietly as Aislin watched his reflection in the glass. She had long since memorized his expressions; she felt as if sh
e’d
been watching him her entire life, and yet sh
e’d
never been able to figure him out. “My sisters are distraught. If it continues to fray like it has been, it’s going to fall apart completely.”

“What happens then?”

He looked over his shoulder at her. “Chaos.”

Aislin folded her arms over her chest, frustration coiling within. “Our summit with the Keepers is in six days, Moros. They will want an explanation. The stakes are incredibly high for both of us. So I suggest we decide, right now, if we’re going to work together or against each other.”

Moros tilted his head. “Come now, my dear. We both know that if you were working against me, yo
u’d
never say it openly. You’re far too clever for that, and so am I.”

She forced a superior half smile onto her face. “What a compliment. I have no desire for war, Moros.”

“But you wouldn’t mind having the dominion of death to yourself.”

“What I wouldn’t mind is having the business running smoothly,” she snapped. “What I wouldn’t mind is knowing that there aren’t rogue monsters on the loose, threatening my family and trying to destroy the future!” She stalked toward him, too angry to be intimidated. “Stop these petty little games. You’re in too weak a position to play.”

Moros’s eyes glimmered. “Have you considered the risk of allying yourself with me at a time like this?” He sobered, his smug smile fading to nothing. He walked back over to her, close enough for her to feel the heat rolling from his body. “Aislin, I cannot sense your brother. And I don’t know what that means.”

“Are you actually suggesting that I work against you?”

He gave her a smile tinged with sadness. “No.
I’d
hate to have you of all people as an enemy.”

Her brow furrowed. Her
of all people
? “I am not like Rylan, Jason. I will not sacrifice order for power.”

“I believe you. But now we are playing a game with gods. Lesser gods, perhaps, but still gods. Ferrys are the most vulnerable players on the board. You cannot look at what Eli did to Declan and think otherwise.”

“And yet Declan is alive and well, and so is Galena, whom he was protecting.” She arched an eyebrow. “If you’re trying to manipulate me into asking the Keepers to release us from the treaty altogether, you are both arrogant and foolish.”

He laughed, and his smile was startling in both its power and its beauty. His sharp canines glinted as he grinned at her. “You remind me so much of your father.”

She turned away. What she wouldn’t give to have her father by her side now. She missed him so much it hurt. “Stop patronizing me.”

“Aislin,” he said quietly, “that was a true compliment. Take it.”

“Thank you,” she said, wishing her voice didn’t sound so strained.

His gloved fingers brushed her sleeve, and she faced him again. His eyes were gray once more, with no hint of red. “I don’t want to be your enemy,” he said.

Aislin stared. Sh
e’d
never seen him look so human.
He’s tired,
she thought again.
He feels hunted, too.
It almost made her reach for his hand.

His gaze was riveted to her face, and he seemed to read something in her eyes, because he added, “But right now, being my friend is a very dangerous proposition.”

She lifted her chin and gave him the coldest stare she could muster. She was the Charon, and she couldn’t forget that, even for a moment. “We are business associates.” And though the idea of ruling the empire alone had its appeal, the thought of having to control the Kere, especially now, was abhorrent. “Our alliance stands for now. But we will never be friends.”

Moros’s arrogant smirk returned as he opened his mouth to reply, but she never found out what h
e’d
planned to say.

With a rush of hot air, Rylan appeared in the middle of the office. He wore a finely tailored suit and his face was cleanly shaven. His dark hair was combed and neat. “Hello, Aislin,” he said, straightening his tie.

Aislin blinked in surprise. “Rylan? What—? How—?”

Moros took a half step in front of her. “How did you get here?” he demanded.

Aislin moved to stand beside Moros. Rylan watched them, a look of amusement on his face. “Look at the two of you, squirreled away in here, trying to figure out how to stop the inevitable.”

Moros tensed, ripping one of his gloves from his hand and letting it fall to the floor.

Rylan snorted. “Don’t bother. I’m here to deliver a message and nothing more.”

Aislin willed her voice into a steadiness she did not feel. “We’re listening.”

Rylan’s brown eyes glowed red, and Aislin couldn’t stop herself from recoiling in horror. She looked back and forth between Moros and Rylan. “You’re a Ker?”

Her brother grinned. “So perceptive. You stole my rightful status, but I think I negotiated myself a better deal.”

“Negotiated.” Dread was suffocating her. “Did you really betray your entire family like that?”

Rylan’s eyes faded to a dull dark crimson. “I would have taken care of the entire family, sister, if you hadn’t betrayed
me
. So whatever happens now is on your head.”

“Who made you?” Moros snarled. “Who owns your soul now?”

“Not part of the message I’m here to deliver.” His gaze shifted back to Aislin. “But this is: You can join us, or you can welcome your own destruction. This is your chance. We won’t ask again. Be a wise leader—choose the winning side. Not for yourself, but for all the Ferrys. Their fate rests with you.”

Aislin stared at her brother, trying to read the shrewd look in his eyes as he echoed their father’s last words to her. It took a great deal of effort to keep her voice even despite the terror growing inside her. “Join you in
what
?”

“Awakening Chaos, Aislin,” Rylan said. “We don’t have to be servants anymore, to fate or anything else. And we will not stop until the fabric of fate is nothing but a mountain of tattered thread.”

And then he vanished. Aislin sank into a chair, unable to remain upright for another moment. Rylan was a Ker. “Could Eris have created him?” she asked weakly.

“I wouldn’t have thought so.” Moros glared at the place Rylan had been. He was silent for several moments before he finally spoke. “So what will you do, Charon? Will you join them, or will you remain my ally?” he asked in a low, rough voice.

He turned to her, his eyes glowing as crimson as Rylan’s had, and she felt the heat inside her, burning right through to her soul. “Because whether you wanted a war or not, it seems one has found you.”