Exile: Sídhí Summer Camp #3 (14 page)

“Prince Raymond Mackenzie in awake-years
you’re only seventeen. You’re actually a bit younger than she is.”
Exasperation flared through her. She hated being outside of the
loop. “Are you ever going to explain why you - why all phoenix -
refuse to date outside your race?”

“No,” he said, face devoid of all emotion.
“It is our burden to bear.”

The dark blue lake appeared in front of her.
A tumble of large rocks created a small peninsula into the lake.
“We’ll talk later. Whatever happens between Nick and me, I don’t
want you to interfere.” She didn’t wait for his answer. Crossing
the stones, she hopped from one to the next, stopping on the last
rock. Sinking down, she dangled her legs off the fifteen-foot
drop.

She didn’t have long to wait. From the edge
of the trees, she heard a twig break. A shoe scrapped across the
first rock then the second, following her own path.

“Can I join you?” Nick asked softly, towering
over her.

“We are no longer mates so I don’t see any
point in it, but whatever,” she said icily, trying to put as much
distance between them as possible.

He sat close enough that her shoulders
stiffened in response. Another inch and his leg would touch
hers.

As if it held the answers to the world’s
greatest puzzle, his gaze focused on the deep lake. “I
disagree.”

“You can disagree all you want, but it won’t
change the basic facts. One, my lifeBud was destroyed. Two, you are
no longer my mate. Three, your synth will sing for someone else
within the month, and you’ll have a new mate.” She gritted her
teeth together to keep from rambling any more. She’d said
enough.

He leaned toward her, pushing into her
personal space he forced her to look into his eyes. Holding her
gaze, he mimicked her response but with heat in his eyes, not
frost. “One, you will always be my mate. Two, I will refuse any
other girl my synth sings for. Three, I love you more than life
itself.”

A single tear slipped down her face. Angry at
her lack of control where Nick was concerned, she swiped at the
stupid display of emotion. “Right, of course, how could I forget?
You can’t have me, so now you want me. Go away, Nick.”

“No,” he said obstinately, refusing the
order. “I will never leave you, not again. This is my fault. I fell
in love with you the first minute I laid eyes on you.”

Her snort of derision made him pause.

“Yeah, I didn’t exactly act in love, but
every time I turned around I was hunting for you. I wanted to be
with you even though I hated what I thought you were.”

“What you thought? I’m worse than what you
first thought. Or perhaps, you have forgotten that I attacked your
brother?” she demanded, trying to make him go away. His words were
killing her, destroying her from the inside out.

“I haven’t forgotten,” he said quietly.
“Early this morning, after we came through the Olitiau portal,
everyone showered and went to bed. I didn’t go to bed. I couldn’t
sleep knowing how much I’d hurt you. I knew I loved you, but I kept
seeing Richard’s face in my head.”

Raking his fingers through his hair, he
sighed. “In the end, it was simple. Either, I picked you,
everything about you, or his memory. Maybe one day you’ll tell me
why he had to die but I have a bad feeling his insatiable curiosity
is how he ended-up on your hit list. I’ve learned enough about you
to know you had no choice. You told me - repeatedly - that every
action you take is aimed toward protecting your people. You
wouldn’t have killed him unless he ignored your warnings. You see,
I may be stubborn as a mule but I do listen.” His fingers feathered
gently down the side of her face. “Lady Sarah Trellick, you are
everything to me. I can live without a lifeBond, but I can’t live
without you.”

She scrunched her eyes shut and shuddered,
trying so hard not to cry. She had killed people. She was a mean,
hardcore assassin, not a crybaby that bawled at the drop of a hat.
She looked up at him. “When Katie went for you, I heard you. You
refused me,” she said bleakly, remembering the pain his rejection
had caused her.

“I didn’t refuse you. I just didn’t want to
talk right then. I was saying a final goodbye to Richard. Katie and
Emily are always trying to fix everything, and I thought she was
trying to convince me not to refuse you. I didn’t know the blasted
Dyrst’Lye was actually in the cabin,” he snarled heatedly.

“Oh,” she said miserably. Another tear
escaped, silently rolling down her cheek. He wanted her. She had
destroyed everything. That’s all she seemed good at, destruction
and death.

He captured her tear with a gentle touch of
his finger. “I had already planned to ask you to bond with me, but
after saying goodbye to my big brother, I was emotionally
wrung-out. I didn’t want you to see me in that frame of mind. Now,”
he voice cracked, he tried to clear it, but it didn’t help. His
eyes filled with unshed tears, “now, I’ve screwed-up so badly we’ll
never be able to bond. If you’ll have me, I want you for my mate.
Please, Sarah, please accept me as your mate.”

When she didn’t answer, the hand holding her
face began to tremble. “Sarah?”

Pulling away from his touch, she shook her
head, her heart ready to crumble into dust as she denied him.
“Nothing has changed, not really. You hate what I am. You’ll never
truly trust me. Every time you see me with blood splatters, your
first question will be what innocent died.”

“I trust you. I don’t understand the harsh
disguise you want everyone to believe, because I’ve seen the real
you. I’m not saying you aren’t scary as hell, but your heart is
pure.”

He paused, searching her face. “Trusting you
doesn’t mean I won’t ask questions. I want to be part of your life;
I want to understand everything about you. Without the bond, I know
you have secrets you can’t share, not until I’ve proven myself to
you. I’m willing to wait as long as you need. Just know this, if
you refuse me, I won’t accept it. I’ll follow you, and wear you
down. If it takes a thousand years, I’ll keep after you,” he said
intensely, never moving his eyes from her face.

“And when your blood sings for another? When
the synth crystal in your body demands you love someone else? What
then?” she asked softly, fearing the answer.

He growled. “I’d rather not destroy someone
else’s life, but I absolutely refuse to ever hurt you again.
Earlier when you screamed, and I realized the Dyrst’Lye was in the
cabin and actually burning-out your lifeBud, I thought my very soul
was going to shatter.”

He cupped her face with both hands. Inching
nearer, he stopped just short of her lips giving her time to pull
away. “I love you, Sarah. I need you more than the air I
breathe.”

When she didn’t turn away from him, he leaned
forward. His firm lips brushed hers. Groaning, he pressed forward,
capturing her lips in a world-changing kiss, capturing her heart
with a gentleness she had never seen from him, capturing her soul
as his eyes promised her forever.

Sliding his arm around her slender waist, he
pulled her onto his lap. Heat built between them, growing quickly
into a fiery flame as the tip of his tongue swept across her
lips.

Opening, she drank him in, relishing the
spicy taste of him.

His lips trailed down her neck, licking her
pulsing vein. Desire pulsed through her and she shivered from the
demanding force of it.

A single thought hammered at her brain,
trying to reach past the burn of his touch. There was something she
needed to do, something she needed to say, but she couldn’t think
as his tongue and teeth danced a path across her skin.

“Wait,” she managed to say in a breathless
whisper.

Breathing hard, he stopped. A shudder rippled
down his body. The muscles of his chest contracted with
tension.

“Stop?” he questioned as he rubbed his cheek
gently against her silky hair.

He pulled back and looked into her eyes. He
must’ve seen the doubt flicker across her face. “Too fast?”

She sighed disgustedly, knowing she might as
well stop trying to control her emotional responses around him. He
was simply impossible to resist. Her lips quirked and she said,
“Too fast and too slow, all rolled into one.”

He chuckled. “At least you didn’t tell me to
go away. I’ll take whatever I can get just don’t shut me out.”

She knew - at that moment - he believed every
word he said, but how would he feel later? If nothing, she needed
to give him time to meet his next mate. She didn’t think her heart
could stand his rejection, not after hearing his words of love.

She entwined her fingers with his. “You
pretty much blindsided me.”

He squeezed her fingers. “You’re afraid I’ll
change my mind.”

At her startled look, he shrugged his wide
shoulders. “I deserve your doubt. I’m ashamed to say that I’ve
earned it.”

Air slid through her teeth in a frustrated
hiss. “I’m sorry. Everything you’ve said is like this dream come
true, but one fact still remains: one day soon, your synth will
sing for someone else. Your body will see her as your perfect mate,
and you will feel compelled to love her.”

“You are perfect for me. No one else
matters,” he paused, “but I really do understand your fear.”

“Fear?” she asked with an arch look.

“We all feel fear. Even you, my fierce
exile,” he chuckled.

She looked at him and true understanding
crashed around her. He wanted her, wanted everything about her. She
had destroyed something beautiful when she had her lifeBud burned
out.

She shoved the grief into the back of her
mind, shutting the painful emotion in a dark place. What was done
was done. She couldn’t change the past, but she could work towards
making the future as perfect as possible.

Nodding, she came to a decision. “Can we take
it slow? Give it some time?”

So very gently, he kissed her forehead before
looking into her eyes. “However long you need as long as I’m the
only one allowed to do this,” he said, giving her a quick kiss on
her lips. “I’ll kill anyone else that touches you.”

“That goes the same for you,” she said in a
deadly soft tone, a low growl rumbled from her chest. An instant
later, she ruined the effect with a playful grin. Yes, a grin, if
anyone ever found out, it would ruin her rep. “Does this mean we’re
going steady?”

“Exclusively,” he said, holding her
tight.

^____________

Nick rubbed his thumb across the smooth
surface of Sarah’s leg. He couldn’t get enough of simply touching
her. For an hour, they had sat together, talking about movies,
music, and other not-too-touchy subjects as they tried to learn
each other.

“Which movies have you re-watched more than
three times?” he asked.

Her pearl-colored skin turned pink, and he
chuckled.

“Laugh at your own risk, vampire,” she said
with a twinkle in her eyes.

“It’s worth the risk. Watching your face,
seeing your true emotions puts me on a high.”

A small frown marred her forehead.

“I’m not asking for your secrets. I’m just
sharing how I feel,” he said somberly.

“I know, but you need to hear one thing,” she
said, looking him in the eyes. She opened her mouth and snapped it
shut. “Sorry, I really am trying.”

“I know you are,” he said gently.

Her hand restlessly caressed his arm. Her
hesitation was entirely his fault. He had shoved his distrust in
her face for so long that he wouldn’t blame her if she never told
him everything. “That day at the cave,” he began slowly, testing
the waters, “you offered to share some things with me if I swore on
my honor I’d never repeat them.”

She cocked her head. “Not some things, I
said, I’d tell you every secret I had.”

Yes, she had, but that was before he pushed
her into a horrible mistake.

“I don’t need every secret, only the ones you
want to share with me,” he said, listening to her heart rate
increase, seeing the hope flair in her eyes, was worth every
word.

“On my honor, I swear an oath of silence to
you. Anything you tell me in confidence, I will take to my grave. I
swear to you, my love, I will never betray you,” he said. As he
gave his oath, he felt an invisible strand stretch between them,
tying them together. It wasn’t a lifeBond, but given time, as more
truths and promises tied them together, perhaps they could create a
full life together, a life built on love and trust instead of a
mental bond.

He watched the same knowledge appear in her
eyes. “Thank you,” she said, heart in her eyes. She took a deep
breath. “Okay, don’t freak-out okay?”

“If you tell me you are Chi’Kehra, I might
freak-out a bit,” he chuckled at her look of slack-jawed shock.
“Anything else has no shock value for this tough-as-nails
vampire.”

Her soft laugh warmed him from the inside
out. Leaning her head on his shoulder, she sighed. “Well, then, I
won’t admit to being the boogieman, not just yet.”

“Good,” he said grinning. “My parents will
love you, but if you had been Chi’Kehra it might have made family
picnics a bit tense.”

Pulling back, she looked into his face and
blurted, “Richard is not dead.”

He stopped breathing, not daring to say
anything, primarily because his brain had ceased functioning. As
she started speaking, he knew his mouth had to be hanging wide
open.

“When Richard slipped into Trellick Valley,
he had already made several dhark lords angry. Then he stumbled
onto one of Trellick Valley’s secret, a very critical secret. I
gave him a choice of house arrest or service. Now, that I know him,
I’m not surprised he refused the first option.”

“Know him?” he parroted, still unable to
absorb her words. His heart began to race. His brother was alive!
“Oh, God, Sarah, he’s really alive?”