Dark Deceiver (21 page)

“Not pleasantly. But, yes, I can live.”

“But I can't.” A hard shudder went through her. “There's got to be something we can do. What if we tried to raise the power again?”

“The power is gone, Autumn. I tried to control the cops who cuffed me, and I failed.”

“They were probably wearing holly. Jack's got the whole force wearing it even though most of them don't know why.”

“Even so, I'm not as strong. I can feel the difference.”

“Can't we at least try? I mean,
really,
what else do we have to do?”

He stroked her soft hair, hearing the hope in her words and knowing it wouldn't last. His brave, determined girl.

“Yes. Of course we can try.”

“Do we need to sit up?”

“I believe so, yes.” Kade lifted his bound arms to his head to release her.

Autumn sat up and wrapped her arms around her chest. “I never thought I'd say this, but I'd welcome a shot of that power about now. Burning from that fire sounds better than freezing to death.”

He reached for her and she unfolded her arms and put her hands in his. “How big is this cage?” she asked.

“I explored it briefly before you woke up. Not quite tall enough for me to stand up in, but long enough to lie down.”

She shuddered. “You can't spend the rest of your life like this.”

He squeezed her hands. “I'm more concerned about
your
life at the moment.” He lifted their joined hands. “Now, concentrate. Fight me.”

Autumn rose until she was kneeling, then took a deep breath and squeezed his hands. He could tell she was pushing, could feel the quivering begin in her muscles, but nothing happened.

Finally she sat back, panting. “It's not working.”

He'd known it wouldn't. Despair lapped at his courage, but Autumn was not yet defeated.

“Kade, there has to be a way. There has to be something we can do. In the morning, when the sun comes up, one of the boaters will see us.”

“No human can see within a shadow cage.”

“You mean, we'll be able to see the boats overhead, but they won't see us?” For the first time, he heard real fear in her voice.

He pulled her against him, slipping the circle of his arms over her head and cradling her head against his shoulder. “I'm sorry, sweet one. There's no way out of this.”

“Dear God. He's buried us alive.” Shivering now as much from fear as cold, he suspected, she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face against the warm skin of his throat. “This can't be happening.”

He pulled her against him, wrapping his open jacket as far around her as it would go. Her breasts flattened against his cotton shirt. His cheek rubbed against her hair, misery stinging his eyes. “I won't let you suffer. When it becomes too hard for you, I'll end it. All you have to do is tell me you've had all you can take and I'll end it for you quickly and without pain. I promise.”

Then he'd hold her corpse until it fell apart in his hands and hate himself for not protecting her. For not saving her from this fate.

“I'm sorry, Kade,” she murmured against his throat. “I shouldn't have insisted on going with you.”

He pulled back and kissed her. “No recriminations. No looking to the future. We have now. We have each other.” He kissed her again, her lips soft and welcoming against his. “Until I met you, I realize now, I'd never lived at all. I'd gladly trade the rest of my existence for these few days with you. I love you, Autumn McGinn.”

Her arms tightened around his neck. “I love you, too.”

He held her, letting her words flow over him, but knowing they were born of the desperation of the moment and not true reflections of her heart. No one could love a monster.

He kissed her. “Thank you.”

She unwrapped herself from him and put her hands on his cheeks. “You don't believe me. I can hear it in your voice. But I do love you, Kade. Honest-to-God, cross-my-heart.”

The wish to believe her threatened to overwhelm him. Along with the certainty that she couldn't. Mustn't. His hands tightened at her back. “I'm not worthy of your love.”

“Oh, Kade. Why? Because you're Esri?”

“Because I'm not a good man. I've done terrible things. Millions of them.”

“You hurt people.”

“Yes.”

“But they healed right away.”

“Yes, but you don't understand. The fear…The terror in their eyes as they begged me for mercy…” He pulled her into his arms, needing her warmth to battle the cold tearing at his insides.

His hands fisted at her back as memories poured through him and the need to end the lies. She couldn't love him. And she deserved to understand why.

“There was one…” His voice broke as his mind shied away from memory. But he had to tell her. She had to understand why she couldn't love him. “There was one that haunts my sleep even though it's been centuries.”

“Tell me,” she murmured.

“Yes. Rith had just risen to power. The law in the land required girls to be twelve before their virginity was sold, but it was well known most were ripe younger. King Rith changed the law and demanded all ripe virgins be brought to him.”

“He wanted to rape them himself?”

“He wanted their virgin's power, yes. There were only three. Two Esri and a Marceil slave. The Esri came willingly, but the little Marceil ran. She was ten years old. She'd just come into her ripeness, but was still little more than a child. And Marceils are so small anyway…” She'd been a wisp of a thing, barely reaching his waist. “I was sent to bring her in.”

“Not to hurt her?”

“At that point, no. I caught her quickly enough. She begged me to hide her. To protect her. But a girl's virginity is a powerful weapon. Though she might have had a couple more years to get used to the idea, she would have had it taken from her eventually. No, I pitied her for her fear, but no girl keeps her virginity past twelve.”

He shuddered with the memory of what came next. “What gives me nightmares was Rith's punishment for her disobedience. He took her brutally, then locked her in a room with me and told me he wanted to hear her screams until morning.”

“You tortured her all night long?”

“No. She was already on the verge of hysterics. I broke a few of her bones while Rith watched. Her bones healed quickly enough. Once Rith left, all I had to do was look at her to get her screaming again. But her screams live in my nightmares. Not until today have I ever been so close to renouncing my loyalty to my king.” He'd hated Rith that night.

“What happened to her?”

“I don't know. She was sold to a new master soon after and I never saw her again.” He laid a gentle kiss on her head. “Don't love me, Autumn. I'm not worthy of so precious a gift.”

“You're wrong.”

Her words astounded him. Hadn't she heard his confession?

“You hurt people because you had to, Kade. Not because you enjoyed it. There's a huge difference. It was Rith's cruelty that hurt that girl, not yours.”

“But it was me she feared and would have continued to fear if she'd remained at court.”

“Another bit of Rith's cruelty.” Her sweet lips touched his cheek. “You don't enjoy hurting others. When you were sent to kill innocent people, you couldn't do it.” Her mouth brushed against his temple in a touch so gentle, he could swear he felt the kiss caress his heart. “And when you realized the evil your king meant for this world, you turned against him.”

She kissed him full on the lips this time, stirring his senses. He was so tempted to capture that mouth in a thorough kiss, but he sensed her words weren't finished. And her words were like light filling the darkness of his soul.

“You're a good man, Kade. A wonderful man. I knew you were the one for me within an hour of meeting you, though I think I fell in love with you on the roof that night.” Her eyes went wide. “Dear God, they could have killed you up there.”

“I thought they were going to.”

“But you never acted like it. You threatened to sue them!”

“I had to make them think I was human.”

“It worked.” She planted another gentle kiss on his cheek. “Afterward, you were standing there in the middle of that circle, surrounded by the Sitheen and you looked up at me, where I was standing by the rail. I can't even explain what happened. I felt as if you saw me.
Really
saw me. And I knew you were the one I'd been waiting for.”

“And then you discovered I was Esri.”

“Yes, well, that threw me for a bit. But even while my mind was screaming,
He's Esri!
my heart was saying,
He's Kade.
”

Her words seeped into the cold chambers of his heart, filling them with warmth and light and a love beyond bearing.

“I knew I loved you after you hit me in the head with that pole, then pushed me into the chair to find the injury. You were so concerned. No one had ever shown me such concern.”

“I was afraid I was going to have to call an ambulance. I've been a klutz all my life, but that was the first time I nearly killed someone. I could have done some real damage to you with that thing if you'd been human.”

“You changed me.” He kissed her soft cheek.

“No.” Her slender hands cupped his jaw. “You were always in there. You were always a good man, Kade. I'm convinced of that. I'm just the first one you ever let see it.”

L
ove for Kade poured through Autumn as she sensed he was finally starting to believe the truth. To believe she loved him.

His mouth covered hers in a deep, drugging kiss, his tongue sweeping inside, ending the conversation. She could feel the need in this kiss as she had his others, but something had changed. There was a gentleness beneath the passion this time. Almost a reverence. And she
felt
the miracle of his love.

Slowly their kiss deepened. Kade slid his hands down her back and into the waist of her sweatpants, his fingers cupping her buttocks, sending heat of an entirely different kind flooding through her system.

While his hands kneaded her bottom, he kissed her cheek, then trailed kisses down her neck, making her shudder again with a feeling that had nothing to do with cold or fear. And while her mind was abuzz with questions and fears of what might be happening on the outside of their cage, she understood what he was asking for. Understood what he was offering.

Paradise. For a few hours. Maybe a day. Before she became too thirsty, too hungry, too cold to give him anything more.

Could she forget and give herself up to him for those hours?

Kade kissed her forehead, then her temple, sending shivers racing through her. “Let me love you as you've never been loved. I can make you forget everything but me, everything but us. If you'll let me.”

And this would be the last joy he might have for centuries. The last memory. The last love.

She slid her arms around his neck and kissed his mouth. “Love me, Kade,” she whispered against his lips. “Love me as no one ever has before nor ever will again.”

He kissed her, his mouth covering hers, his lips brushing over hers with tenderness, his kisses growing harder, more urgent with every brush of his lips. But the fire erupted between them and the tenderness turned to need and want. A shiver went through her, part cold, part pure heat as he slid one hand lower, stroking the dampness between her legs.

She gasped and rocked with pleasure against his hands. “I want you. I want to feel you beneath my hands. I want to feel you against me. Over me.
In me.
”

Kade groaned. “If only I could get out of these damned handcuffs.”

He would be wearing them until they disintegrated and fell off him. The thought was too terrible to contemplate. She pulled her mind back from the abyss and embraced the moment, refusing to look ahead even a few hours. They had now. And now would have to be enough.

He pulled his arms from around her and pressed her back to the floor. She could see his dark form moving across the wavering moon, then felt his hands at her waist. Her sweatpants and panties slid down her thighs and legs. She heard the soft whisper of fabric on skin and knew he was probably removing his jeans and boxers. The thought made her moist and hot.

He stretched out beside her, his hands moving over her in tandem, the cool chain of the handcuffs between them. One strong hand traced the contours of her body, setting her aflame with each touch, with each kneading of her breast, with each stroke of her hip.

She leaned up and kissed his shoulder and his chest, then grew bold in this desperate hour and reached for him, wanting to feel him in her hands. Her fingers slid over the soft head to the hard, silken shaft. It filled her hand, moving against her palm.

A groan escaped Kade's throat and his lips fastened on her shoulder. “So beautiful,” he murmured, his kisses trailing to her neck.

“You can't even see me.”

“You feel beautiful. And my hands feel what my eyes have seen before, remembering the contours, raising the pictures in my head. You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, ever known.”

She gasped, excitement shivering through her body as his tongue trailed beneath her ear.

“Lie down for me.”

She did and reached for him, but he didn't cover her body as she expected. She felt him rise onto his elbow a moment before his mouth grazed the top of her breast. His kisses moved lower until his hot mouth covered her breast, sucking the fullness into his mouth right through her bra. She dug her fingers into his hair, holding his face against her, never wanting the wonderful sensations to end.

Her breath caught in her throat as his mouth left her breast. She felt him shift onto his knees. Her stomach quivered as his kisses resumed, leaving damp shivers down her abdomen. His hand hooked beneath her thigh and lifted, opening her to his seeking mouth. Even as the chilled chain dragged across her tender flesh, the heat inside her exploded to fire.

“Kade!”
She feared she would come out of her skin at the exquisiteness of the feeling. His tongue slid over her, inside her, sending sensations shooting through her body and spiraling down her limbs, melting her from the inside out. She gasped and arched against his mouth, rocking her hips, desperate for completion.

Just when she thought she would come undone, he lifted his face and kissed her belly. He moved back up her body, kissing the top of her breast.

“I've dreamed of this,” he murmured, his voice rich with satisfaction. He covered her mouth with a deep, drugging kiss, and her body with his as he cradled her head in his bound hands.

She opened her legs, welcoming his weight and his warmth, and the full, hard length of him as he pressed that great fullness against her most sensitive flesh. He entered her slowly, stretching her with ease, sending shafts of brilliant joy arcing through her body. She was ready for him, incredibly in need of this closeness, this completeness.

He filled her, the feeling so intense, so perfect, that on that first stroke he sent her tumbling over the edge in an explosion of passion, finishing what he'd started with his mouth.

He pulled partway out, then thrust into her again and again, every slide of his thickness sending more wondrous contractions cascading through her. Slowly, the heat began to build all over again, her body rising toward another crest.

Kade's body melded with hers in a perfect symmetry. Higher and higher she rose this time. Love for the man in her arms nearly overwhelmed her and tears trickled down her cheeks.

“I love you, Kade,” she gasped against his cheek as she neared that final crest.

“I love you, Autumn McGinn.”

With the next thrust, she was gasping, swept away by the intensity of the explosion that went through her, an explosion that banished the cold and sent strength barreling through her body. She felt Kade tumbling with her on a groan of pure pleasure, thrusting hard. Again.

“Autumn.”

“Hmm?” She opened her eyes, then froze as she stared into a pair of blue nightlights.
Kade's eyes.
In the glow from his eyes, she could see his hair flying above his head.

The stab of fear left over from before, dissipated in a wave of confusion. “But…I'm not a virgin anymore. How did we raise the power again?”

“I don't know.”

Against her back, she felt an icy wetness and jerked. “It's cold! Get up! I think we've sprung a leak.”

Kade pulled out of her in a last, shivering pleasure, then rolled away and pulled her up. As he looked toward the floor, his blazing eyes shone blue on what was definitely a growing puddle of water.

“We've punched a hole in the cage.” A triumphant grin lit his face.

Autumn stared at him. “Does that mean…? Do we have an escape? Or are we…am I…going to drown?”

He swung those blue beacons toward her. If anything they grew brighter. “You're not going to drown. If we raised enough power to do this, we can enlarge it.” He moved away from her, screwing up his face as he yanked his hands apart. With a satisfying snap, the chains of the handcuffs broke.

He shrugged out of his coat and swirled it over her shoulders. “If we get out of here, we'll be swimming. The fewer clothes the better.” He tore off his shirt and knelt before her, magnificently naked, his hair flying, his blue eyes aglow. As wild and magnificent a male as was ever made.

He held out his hands to her, the cuff chains dangling from his wrists. She took his hands and he led her to the puddle.

“Sorry, this is going to be cold, but we need to focus all our energy on this one spot.”

Autumn nodded, looking into those glowing orbs with amazement. And love. “Let's do it.”

“If calling our power hurts, tell me.” The smile that lit his mouth was nothing less than feral. “We'll try raising it through more lovemaking.”

“Could you do it again so soon?” She hated being such an innocent.

His thumb stroked her cheek. “All I have to do is touch you and I want you all over again.” Lowering his hand, he tugged on hers. “Let's try this first. I have an idea.”

He knelt in the puddle. “Come around behind me and put your hands on my shoulders.”

Autumn rose and went to kneel behind him, her knees sliding between his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he reached for her hands.

“I want you to hold on to my shoulders and envision your power going through me, sweet one. Do you understand? Don't push against me. Push through me.”

“Okay. If this works, will the hole get bigger, or will the cage disappear?”

“I don't know.” He squeezed her hands. “I hope we find out.”

He released her and she kissed his cheek. “Let's blow this Popsicle stand.”

“Let's…what?”

“Don't ask.” Autumn laughed, something she never thought she'd do again. But hope was a heady emotion.

“Ready?”

“Do it.” Autumn cupped Kade's bare shoulders with her hands and imagined the power surging through her, into him and through his hands.

The water was rising, covering her ankles. Her pulse pounded in her ears. “Is it working?”

“Something's happening. Are you okay?”

“Yes. My hands are warm, but the power doesn't hurt.”

“Keep doing whatever you're doing. The hole's getting bigger.”

Autumn concentrated hard, pouring everything into Kade on a river of love. Her hands grew warmer as power tingled through her, rising and growing, her mind and body clawing toward an unseen pinnacle. She almost felt as if she were racing for an orgasm, except this release, if it worked, would be literal.

The freezing water lapped at her calves. It
was
working. The water was rising quickly now.

Hope soared as she pushed harder, willing the power into Kade's body.

More.
More.

The power exploded in a rush, pain shooting through her body on a river of fire and joy.

“That's it!” Kade shouted. “Hold your breath!”

She took one quick, gasping breath and the cage imploded.

Autumn struggled toward the surface, Kade holding tightly to her hand, pulling her up with him. Her head broke the surface and she expelled her caught breath in a gasp, her body still hot with pain. Icy water ran into her eyes and she pushed her hair back, blinking hard.

Kade caught her and pulled her to the ladder on the dock. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

“The power hurt you. I felt it attack you as it surged.”

“It only hurt for a moment. That surge was what we needed.”

“Yes.” He helped her, half carrying her up the ladder, until they stood, dripping and all but naked on the docks beneath an almost full moon.

“Anyone who sees us is going to think we're crazy.”

“Anyone who sees us is going to think they're hallucinating.”

Autumn tried to laugh, but the effort was too painful. “We've got to call Jack. Tell him Zander has the stones.”

“We've got to get you dry and clothed before you get sick.” He swept her into his arms and headed for the houseboat.

Autumn laid her head against his shoulder. “Clothes are good. Maybe they left my purse on the deck with the house keys.”

Kade rushed onto the boat. “Can you stand?”

“I think so.”

He set her on her feet, propped against the side of the cabin. His eyes had stopped glowing, but the docks were relatively well lit.

“Do you see my purse?”

“No. Zander may have taken it to keep the stones in.”

“Cute. Unfortunately, that's where my keys were.”

“I'm more concerned about the lack of a phone.” He took the sliding door in his hands and wrenched it off its track, removing it from its frame. “What time is it?”

“Why?”

“Because Zander's opening that gate tonight.”

Autumn gaped at him. “But…it's not the full moon.”

“He means to use the power of the stones. Apparently, Ustanis has the ability to manipulate them in that way.”

“But…the Sitheen won't know. They won't be there to stop him.”