StrategicSurrender (9 page)

Even after he finished ejaculating, Hayden continued for a
moment to thrust inside her, seeming loath for their blissful copulation to
come to an end. Kiera lifted her hands to gently stroke Hayden’s scratchy,
stubbled cheek. Delicately her hands moved from there to his forehead, and then
on to lightly brush the small, fine black hairs that had fallen over his face
to push them away.

They touched each other tenderly, proving silently with
their actions that regardless of what this was—or wasn’t—this interlude held
meaning and significance to them both. It wasn’t something casual to be thrown
away or something to hide and be ashamed of now they had consummated the
attraction and mutual desire they had both felt upon first laying eyes on each
other.

“Would you like to come to my bed?” Hayden asked with a
wicked grin and a laugh in his tone. The knowledge of the hard, unyielding,
uncomfortable bench reasserted itself in Kiera’s mind. She chuckled.

“Shouldn’t you have asked that before you ravished me on
your kitchen bench?” she asked, amused.

“I didn’t have time,” Hayden defended himself with a laugh.
“Besides, I didn’t hear you complaining, sweetheart.”

“That’s true,” Kiera agreed with a nod. “But I guess there’s
not much more we could do up there…” Her words trailed off as she tried to get
her sluggish brain into gear. She almost never spent the night with a wizard,
especially not after the first date—which they had not even made it to—and
after only knowing each other a few hours. A part of her mind insisted this was
careless and too fast, but she couldn’t ignore the over-riding feeling of how
very
right
being here with Hayden felt. The entire situation just
snapped together and sat in her heart warmly. It didn’t feel too fast or wrong
in the least.

“You don’t have to,” Hayden insisted softly. He cupped her
cheek and they both gazed deeply into each other’s eyes, naked and baring their
souls to one another. “But I would like you to. I would enjoy waking up to you
tomorrow morning, if you want.”

Kiera’s heart melted and she smiled softly.

“I’d really like that,” she insisted honestly. “I know I
should say it’s too fast or make up some excuse, but the brutal honesty of the
matter is I would really enjoy waking up to you tomorrow morning too.”

“It’s settled then,” Hayden closed the topic as he kissed
her lips decadently. They ate hungrily at one another as if they had not just
shared an amazing intimacy and if she had not just come twice, Kiera knew she
would have been tempted to swap their positions and ride him like the stallion
he was.

“My bed is enormous and very soft,” Hayden whispered tantalizingly
as he pulled a few inches away, barely enough so he could form the words. He
pointed in the direction outside the kitchen and Kiera laughed, too busy
staring in his eyes to bother following where he directed.

“The sheets are fresh and I swear it will be more
comfortable in there,” he assured her. With a reluctant groan Kiera swung her
legs down off his shoulders and maneuvered her hands to press down on the
bench. Hayden carefully climbed down from the tabletop and she sat up gingerly,
not wanting to fall to the hard tiled floor.

“Do I get to be on top this time?” Kiera teased him with an
impish smile. Hayden bowed gallantly and held out his arm like an old courtier.

“Anything my witch desires,” he replied softly. Kiera
stepped down off the table and took his arm. Beaming happily at him, she nodded
her head in appreciation.

“Now that is what I like to hear. Lead the way, dear sir,”
she said. Following him, they headed down the corridor and to his bedroom.

Kiera woke up to a shrill beeping. Groggy and still half
asleep, she automatically reached a hand out to where her alarm clock should
have been and felt around to turn it off.

“Mmpft,” a deep, masculine voice sounded from next to her as
she brushed a lock of silky hair that was not hers.

Her eyes flew open and Kiera jerked back, startled. The
phone rang again and Hayden lifted his head, one eye cracked to glance around.

“Mornin’,” he mumbled, his voice thick with sleep. Kiera’s
heart returned almost to its normal speed.

“You almost scared the life out of me,” she said
breathlessly. Ducking her hands beneath the warmth of the covers, she scooted
closer toward Hayden to wrap her arms around his waist. Without even looking at
the phone Hayden picked up the receiver and mumbled into it as his other arm
snaked around her shoulder and drew Kiera’s body flush against his.

“Yeah,” Hayden said huskily.

Kiera smiled seductively, her mind and body both waking up
slowly now. Her face and neck itched slightly and she felt certain she would
have a bit of stubble burn. They had remained up into the very early hours of
the morning exploring and experimenting with one another. Softly they had
whispered secret fantasies as well as cherished dreams and exchanged hopes for
adventures—sexual and otherwise—that they would one day like to indulge in.

“Hayden, damn I’m glad I caught you, you’re my last hope,
man,”
the deep voice on the other end of the phone spoke. Kiera frowned,
puzzled as she glanced at Hayden. Even though her ear was only a few inches
from where her lover held the receiver the voice sounded slightly tinny and
distorted from the distance.

Hayden caught her gaze in his own dark one and shrugged.
Apparently he didn’t recognize the voice instantly either.

“There’s no answer at Kiera’s house and Josh’s cell must
have fried, again. I keep on getting some out-of-range message. The Tribunal is
insisting on the three of you turning up to this morning’s meeting. They want
to know where the grimoire is, and they’re starting to play hard-ball. I wanted
us to all meet up before we portray a united front before the council.”

Kiera’s eyes widened as she realized it must be Morgan on
the other end of the line. Her body stiffened in worry and surprise. The events
of the previous night rushed back to her and Kiera’s stomach dipped in alarm.
Hayden lifted the arm around her shoulder and made a few hand gestures to
indicate whether she wanted to speak with Morgan.

After wrinkling her nose in thought, Kiera nodded her head
silently.

“Ah, Morgan, I honestly can’t help you with Josh,” Hayden
started after clearing his throat. “He was fine when Kiera and I left him
around dinner time. He had a date as I recall—”

“Ah, well that explains the phone,”
Morgan replied as
he cut the wizard off.
“Sexual energy often is quite strong. I am positive
it’s one of the reasons Joshua loses his cells so frequently.”

“Um, yeah,” Hayden replied with an ironic snort. “As for
Kiera, well, I
can
help you there. She’s here. With me.”

Kiera rolled her eyes but smiled softly at her lover to take
any sting away from the gesture. As explanations went it was blunt and to the
point, much like Hayden himself. A slightly surprised silence seemed to grow on
the other end of the line and Kiera reached a hand up out from under the covers
and Hayden passed the receiver to her.

“Morgan, hi,” Kiera started a little nervously. Morgan
wasn’t her father or her keeper, but he
was
her mentor and a respected
friend. She didn’t want to make him feel awkward or put on the spot.

“Did Josh call you last night?” she asked, hoping the small
detour would help them both settle back into their usual, comfortable
friendship.

“Yes,” Morgan replied promptly, obviously pleased for the
more simple conversation. “He tried to explain something to me but I insisted
he merely tell me whether you dealt with the manuscript. He said you had but he
tried quite urgently to tell me more. I’m afraid I might have been a little
harsh on him. I was about to step into the meeting and I didn’t want to know
more than the barest of basics. At first I thought Josh might have turned his
cell off to pique me.”

“Oh,” Kiera replied with a quick look up to Hayden.
Listening in on each word, he made a small face then gestured with his hand she
should go on.

“Oh, well I guess you need to know what we did with it
then?” Kiera continued with deep misgivings.

“Kiera, are you all right?” Morgan insisted, a small tone of
urgency in his voice. Kiera laughed nervously.

“Well, that depends on how you take the news,” Kiera replied
in what she hoped was a calm-sounding voice. “Morgan, we
did
deal with
the manuscript, and we all agreed after quite a bit of discussion on the route
we took, but well…I’m not sure the Tribunal will be too impressed with our
actions.”

“Kiera, I explicitly told all of you I trust you,” Morgan
reassured her in his strong tones. After years of hearing the same
compassionate tinge to her mentor’s voice, Kiera couldn’t help but think this
would all work out for the best. “The council wants to convene within the hour,
if you and Hayden are out at his place you need to tell me quickly where the
three of you put the manuscript so I can track down Josh and we can present a
united front before the Tribunal. Just let me know and we can sort out the rest
later.”

“Well,” Kiera spoke with a crack in her voice. She sat up,
somehow instinctively feeling more in control and seated than lying down next
to her naked lover. Straightening her back and clearing her throat, she tilted
her chin to a high, determined setting.

“We didn’t put the manuscript anywhere, Morgan. Exactly like
you said, there was
no
thread of solution that didn’t lead to the ritual
eventually corrupting all those who retained possession of the manuscript and
it being used for evil. That thing
reeked
and both Josh and I studied it
quite thoroughly. H—we
all
agreed, the three of us in accord in the end
that the only solution was to destroy the manuscript. And so we did.”

There was a long, pregnant pause on the other end of the
line. Hayden snorted, shook his head and climbed out of bed. Silently with
quiet motions he opened and closed dresser drawers and hastily began to dress
himself. Kiera pointed in the direction toward the kitchen. Hayden nodded as he
pulled on a neatly pressed set of slacks, zipped the fly up and walked out on
bare feet to collect her clothes for her.

Grateful she had showered around three a.m. before they had
curled up together to fall asleep, Kiera knew that like Hayden she would only
need to dress and they could leave immediately. Just as Hayden returned a
moment later with her clothes in his hand Morgan seemed to stir back into
coherency.

“I’m sorry,” he said thickly. “I’m sure I misheard you. What
did you just say?”

Her mentor didn’t sound angry or upset, but Kiera had the
feeling that for the first time ever in their relationship she had managed to
completely side-swipe her mentor. Obviously he had
not
seen this coming
in the least. Kiera knelt up onto the soft mattress and began dressing herself
while wedging the receiver between her chin and shoulder.

“I hate to say it, but you really did hear me correctly,
Morgan. The three of us burned the manuscript. Not only that, we let the ashes
cool and then scattered them from the window. The tiny dust particles are all
over the city and beyond now. Irretrievable.”

The silence this time was not more than a moment or two
long, but clearly Morgan was still struggling to get his head around such an
action.

“I’ll hunt Josh down, heaven knows what state he will be in
when I get to him,” Morgan said faintly. “You and Hayden need to be outside the
council chambers in about fifty minutes. Don’t go in without me, no matter who
says what. Tell them I gave you an order from mentor to protégé if they press
you. Not even the Tribunal will make you break that oath.”

Kiera nodded and pulled her trousers on over her high-cut
panties. Realizing Morgan couldn’t see her nod, she spoke.

“Yes, Morgan. I promise. You’ll find Hayden and I both
waiting for you when you arrive with Josh. We’ll explain things to the Tribunal
with you.”

Morgan muttered slightly under his breath, something low
that she didn’t catch. Although the dark-skinned man did not appear angry, he
still seemed as if he couldn’t believe it. Finally, with more humor in his tone
than she would have given him credit for, he repeated himself again, almost
sounding as if he expected her to laugh and tell him she was playing a joke on
him.

“You did
what
?”

Kiera laughed this time.

“You heard me, Morgan,” she insisted. “Hayden and I will see
you very soon. You can make me repeat it a million times then.”

They said their goodbyes and Kiera knelt over to replace the
receiver in its cradle. She cast a knowing look to Hayden.

“He didn’t sound upset to me,” Hayden suggested. Kiera
nodded in agreement with him.

“Oh no, he didn’t sound angry. Stunned. Amazed. Utterly lost
for words, sure. But not angry. I think once he gets his head around it
privately at least he will be grateful,” she replied as she put on her bra and
shirt.

“We’re on a tight schedule,” Hayden insisted with a wicked
grin. “Lucky for us we ate around two in the morning.”

Kiera shot her lover a hot look.

“I was actually just thinking myself it was a good thing we
showered before we crawled into bed. We might be exhausted and brain dead, but
at least we won’t reek of sex and musk,” she agreed.

Briefly they kissed each other as they finished getting
dressed. Five minutes later they were locking up Hayden’s cottage and heading
out to his car to go explain destroying a priceless—albeit evil—artifact the
Tribunal owned.

* * * * *

“You did
what
?!” Thaddeus Moninston thundered
wrathfully. His outrage vibrated on the very air between where Kiera, Hayden,
Joshua and Morgan stood before the seated Tribunal. Moninston shook with the
force of his outrage and anger.

Kiera swallowed hard but refused to back down or cower. She
did not consider herself personally very brave at all, but that did not make
her a coward any more than her not having any practice out in the field made
her a useless bean counter. Hayden stood right beside her, his shoulder
pressing lightly against hers. Kiera found comfort and support that she stood
flanked by her lover as well as her mentor and best friend, even if her legs
did wobble somewhat.

“Thaddeus,” Morgan chided gently, his voice pitched low but
the steel running through his tone unquestionable.

“I told you I and I alone gave the manuscript to these
three,” Morgan continued unperturbed, as if they were discussing a memo that
had been sent to the incorrect parties and not something quite so serious. “I
told them to study it and do what they deemed best. As all three of them agreed
that burning the ritual was necessary then I do believe Fate has spoken.”

“Fate has
nothing
to do with this, Kingsburg—”
Thaddeus began only to be cut off by another member of the Tribunal.

“This isn’t the first time in recent months this wizard
Foxworth has appeared before us in relation to dark magic. And if these two…
Strategists
…”
Jeffrey Wymer interrupted. The manner in which he spoke of Josh and Kiera’s
jobs was similar to how one would talk about a dog sullying the carpet. “If
they have studied the ritual as you say, Kingsburg, then I insist we should
have their memories. No two such as these should have the knowledge not even
the Tribunal has access to.”

Almost immediately three or four others began speaking
loudly all at once, some agreeing, some disagreeing. Kiera swallowed hard, her
heart pounding in fear as she tried to take in the full measure of the room.

More than two dozen of America’s most powerful, wise and
elder wizards and witches filled the room, seats packing one side of the large
chamber. Morgan, Joshua and she stood on the other side of the room, the odds
not even remotely in their favor. It took every ounce of her strength and
courage to keep Kiera from shaking in her shoes or worse, turning around and
fleeing the room entirely.

Only the fact Morgan stood with her, Hayden and Josh, a half
step in front of them and bearing the brunt of the Tribunals outrage and anger
kept her standing where she was, fighting with every breath not to show her
fear. Kiera had never heard of such a large meeting of the Tribunal. Clearly
many wizards and witches from nearby cities had flown in specially for this
meeting, and potentially more still had come in at the last minute when it had
become known that she and Josh had burned the manuscript in question.

Kiera had always wanted to be a part of something
interesting and exciting. More than a few times she had daydreamed romantically
about an adventure all her own and some thrilling mission she and she alone
could perform. Suddenly the old adage
be careful what you wish for
held
more meaning than a cutesy little saying her mom had warned her about. An
entire room full of Tribunal elders yelling, venting and angrily discussing
what to do with her best friend and herself was
not
the sort of
“adventure” she had envisioned.

“
Enough!”
Morgan boomed, his deep voice echoing
throughout the room and hushing all the wizards and witches within. A tight,
unfriendly smile twisted on Morgan’s face and he continued at a more reasonable
tone.

“Kiera, Joshua, did either of you read the manuscript in
full before destroying it?” Morgan asked. Kiera’s gaze flew to Morgan in a
sudden panic.