Tempest Reborn (19 page)

I’d never take a hug from him for granted ever again.

He held me back, lowering his cheek to rest it on the top of my head. We stayed like that for a long time, the water running red beneath us as it slowly made us clean.

‘I missed you so much,’ I finally managed to choke out around the knot in my throat.

‘I missed you, too. And I’m so proud of you.’

I raised misty black eyes to his iron-gray. ‘I’ve never been so scared as when I hacked you up.’

He chuckled. ‘It wasn’t me. It was the White. You freed me.’

I shuddered with relief. I’d been so afraid that he’d been aware of the whole thing, from the first ax blow to the last.

‘Where were you?’ I asked.

He shrugged. ‘Who knows? I was in there, but as you saw me. Trapped somewhere, in that space I built the hut. I figured it was just my mind, but I guess it was all of me somehow.’

‘Was it horrible?’

‘Not too bad. Not after you found me, at least.’ His voice was scratchy. I think it had been that bad, although he’d not admit it yet while I was still so shaken up.

I made an inarticulate noise, then reached up my right hand to try to rub some of the blood off his face. He caught my hand, kissing my knuckles.

‘I love you,’ he said. My heart swelled and broke, then swelled and broke again. The barghest was going to be the death of me at this rate.

‘I love you, too,’ I said. ‘Now let’s get you clean…’

The first round of shampooing and soaping was not at all sexy, believe you me. Anyan had bits of dragon stuck in the unlikeliest places, and it took both of us to clean him off. I wasn’t much better, although the fact I’d been clothed helped. We had to clean out the drain twice, since it looked like someone had tried to make stew in it, and I had to be careful to help Anyan keep his feet underneath him. He was still weak, and would probably be so for another day or two, even with some supernatural healing help.

The second round of soaping was a lot nicer, however. The major cleaning was done … this round was just about being thorough. And perhaps also about being able to touch each other for real after so very long.

I did spend an awfully long time gliding the soap over Anyan’s long arms, loving the feel of his biceps under my hands, and the soft hair on his forearms. His chest needed quite a bit of attention, obviously, especially those tender nipples. That I kept licking them just meant I had to soap him up again, and then they were so clean they just begged to be licked when he’d washed off the soap…

And it wouldn’t have been fair just to clean his top half. Those lovely long legs needed attending to. Moving up from Anyan’s calves to his muscular thighs, I soaped him to a fine polish. And that brought my face so perilously close to the other part of Anyan that begged to be tasted. Of course, I couldn’t resist, even if taking him in my mouth was risky since he was already a bit unsteady on his feet. Even with the help of the wall propping him up, his hands were soon in my hair, pulling me roughly away. Another gentle tug let me know he wanted me on my feet, so I obliged.

‘I can’t stay upright. At least not on my legs anyway,’ Anyan said with a chuckle, kissing my mouth hungrily even as he wobbled.

I rubbed my belly against that part of him that was having no problem keeping erect, sucking on the moan he emitted, then his bottom lip for good measure.

‘Let’s get you to bed, then,’ I said, pulling away and turning off the shower. ‘Although I fully intend to take advantage of your current weakness.’

He chuckled, using my shoulder for support as he followed me out of the shower. ‘Finally get your chance at dominance, eh?’

‘I’m a dragon slayer, and don’t you forget it,’ I reminded him as I swept my long black hair up into a towel, then began vigorously drying him off with another. By the time I was done with the barghest, I’d shaken most of the water off myself and only needed a few passes with another of the clean, dry towels that Iris had set out for us.

Then I led him back into his own bedroom, as if he were the visitor, and laid him on the bed. He watched as I pulled the towel off my hair, scrubbing at it vigorously for a few minutes, then pulling my fingers through it so it was only slightly crazy-looking, rather than full-on Mad Shrubbery-style.

But there was no way in hell I was spending another second of my time on my toilette, not with Anyan lying naked in front of me.

I threw the towel on the ground and crawled onto the end of the bed, starting with Anyan’s toes. Each little piglet got a kiss, then my hands swept up his calves, carrying me with them. I scissored his legs apart so I could kneel between his thighs, my mouth returning to that heavy, hard cock.

‘Gods, Jane,’ Anyan moaned, his hands knotting in my already snarled hair. Within seconds of my lips on him, he was chanting my name, and other deliciously filthy expletives, until he came. I swallowed him down, keeping my mouth on him until he pulled me up by the hair so he could kiss me. He never lost his erection, though, and after a short, hard kiss, he sat up just enough to manhandle me into position.

Then he pulled my hips down hard, and I saw stars as he shoved into me. I moaned, hugging him to me, his face buried in my breasts as I pushed myself down on him, forcing myself down, down, stretching around his thick length.

He groaned the whole time, and then I pushed him back, hard, onto the pillows, and rode him like a cowgirl.

I wish I could say we held each other and whispered sweet nothings while making gentle, decorous love. But it wasn’t like that at all. It was hard and rough, and it was exactly what I needed. I needed to know that he was there inside me, under me, all around me, and that he wasn’t going anywhere. He was mine, goddamnit, and no ancient force of evil could change that.

So I fucked him, surprising both of us with my vehemence. Not that Anyan was complaining – not at the bite marks I left on his neck, or the scratches down his arms and chest, or the filthy things I whispered into his ear. He was mine, and I told him so, and I think he liked it.

At least he seemed to like it as he writhed beneath me, trying to touch me, to bring me off, but allowing me to pin his wrists to the bed despite the fact he could have taken control at any time he wished.

It was only when I knew he was nearly at the brink that I let him touch me. His fingers found my nipples, pinching with delicious cruelty that made me gasp. Then he pulled me down so he could suckle the sting away as his thumb found my clit to swirl gently, shatteringly, around the center of my pleasure.

I gasped, thinking how much better this was than a dream, even if the dreams had been pretty good. Nothing could be like this, with my real Anyan underneath me, with his powerful body at my command.

And his power. I’d forgotten about his power.

But I remembered then, when I felt a cool brush like two heavy hands roaming down my back. As one of Anyan’s real hands held my hip so he could ram up into me, his other real hand was busy frigging me into oblivion. But those hands of power that he could conjure up, those were busy stroking my back, pulling my hair just the way I liked, kneading my backside.

I knew I was a goner when those hands parted my cheeks, stroking that most intimate place. When I felt an invisible finger of power push inside me, then another, stroking in and out in a dizzying rhythm that matched the thrusts of Anyan’s cock, I was done.

I came, screaming his name, and maybe offering to have ten million of Anyan’s babies and/or gift him with a kidney, should he ever need one.

Anyan’s own orgasm broke seconds after mine, and the part of me that could still think over the buzzing of my brain thought yes, yes, yes, yes, yes … a universal affirmation of the fact I loved this man, more than I’d ever loved anything, and that he was here with me now, and he was safe and whole, and we were fucking.

If that wasn’t a moment of triumph after the shit show that had been my life for the past few weeks, I don’t know what was.

We didn’t move for quite a while after we’d finished. I just lay there on top of him, his heavy arms wrapped around me, my hands twined in his hair.

It was only when Anyan started snoring that I realized he was dead asleep. I clambered ungracefully off him.

I covered him up and went to the bathroom to clean myself up a bit. And when I returned, I sat in the darkness, holding Anyan’s hand and watching his chest rise and fall, till exhaustion swept me away, too.

That night I dreamed of Anyan, but it was only a dream. And the real man was there, still with me in bed, upon waking.

It took me a while to drag myself from Anyan’s side. I’d awoken about an hour earlier, and crept over to use the bathroom and freshen up. But despite every intention of heading downstairs for some much-needed coffee and breakfast, I ended up back in bed, staring at the barghest with what were probably enormous seal eyes.

Who needed breakfast when the man in front of you was good enough to eat?

Part of me just couldn’t get over the fact that my lover was here, and safe, and no longer trapped inside a homicidal dragon. I also couldn’t believe I’d rid the world of said dragon. There had once been a scourge on humans and supernaturals alike, free to roam the world, and I – Jane True! – had killed it.

Granted, I would probably have nightmares about the killing part for the next few decades, but I knew it was all for a worthy cause. All that life lost over the centuries, and I was the one to take away that threat.

In other words, for the first time in, well, ever, I felt like what I was supposed to be – a champion.

And here’s my prize
, I thought smugly, leaning over to kiss Anyan gently on the cheek. He didn’t even twitch, his heavy breathing continuing unchanged. The barghest was exhausted.

Eventually, my grumbling tummy wrestled control from my puppy love, and I got up from the bed again. I put on clothes – yoga pants and one of Anyan’s T-shirts – then headed downstairs.

My steps were light as air as I descended, and for a second I imagined myself tripping lightly downward like Cinderella, my steps buoyed by the help of singing birds. I giggled at the thought.

But all giggling ceased when I saw what awaited me.

I’d thought Anyan and I were alone in his cabin, as there wasn’t a peep from downstairs. I was wrong, however. Ryu sat with his chin in his hands on Anyan’s big, overstuffed chair and a half. Iris was cuddled against Caleb on the sofa, both looking utterly dejected. I noticed the gwyllion had returned, although Daoud didn’t appear to have come with him. Even Hiral, whose skin was blue already, looked decidedly bluer. Tracy and Grizzie were sitting at the kitchen table, Tracy with her hands on her stomach as if holding on for dear life, Grizzie watching her worriedly.

No one had made any coffee.

‘Um, what’s up, guys? Y’all look like someone died.’

I immediately regretted my choice of words when Ryu informed me that, yes, someone had died. A lot of someones.

I sat down on the bottom stair, where I’d stopped upon seeing everyone looking so depressed. Luckily I hadn’t gotten any farther into the room, as my legs weren’t up for carrying me anywhere.

‘All of them?’ I said, my voice strangely calm.

‘All of them.’ Ryu’s reply was patient, if distant.

It still took me a second for my brain to catch up. ‘Gog, Magog, and Daniel? All dead?’

‘Yes. Their helicopters were destroyed.’

‘But I thought the Red—’

‘Not by the Red. By the Chinese.’

‘What?’

Ryu got up and strode into Anyan’s kitchen, where he started making coffee. I think he just needed something to keep his hands busy so he wouldn’t choke anyone.

‘We already told you how the Chinese feel about supernaturals. They took the opportunity to rid the world of what they consider a scourge – a few supes and the humans who supported them.’

I watched Ryu dump in water and coffee grounds, trying to figure out which question to ask first.

‘But I thought they had that glamour…’

‘It blocked magical probes and regular eyesight. Not heat-seeking missiles working on human technologies.’ Ryu’s answer was blunt. So was the way he slammed down the mugs he pulled from the dishwasher.

‘So why did we work with the Chinese at all? If they were going to—’

‘Because they weren’t “going to”,’ Ryu said, his voice gone sharp with anger. ‘They had reached out to Daniel’s government in the beginning, telling them that they knew the dangers of the dragons and would help in any way they could. They promised to lend their support, to fight a greater evil. Asking them for help seemed obvious. Faraway location, lots of military support if we needed it, no explanations necessary as to why we needed the airspace. Daniel and his people thought it was the perfect answer. So did I.’

Ryu gazed out the kitchen window as the coffeemaker burbled and dripped, its brew scenting the air with far too homey and peaceable a smell for the conversation we were currently having.

I finally felt my legs could hold me enough to make it into the kitchen. I flopped down into one of the available kitchen chairs, and both Grizzie and Tracy reached out a hand. I took theirs, squeezing them lightly, before getting back to Ryu.

‘But how could they blow Daniel up, too? He worked for the British government. And did they blow up all the helicopters?’

‘Yes. There were only three. And we know Daniel worked for the British, but there’ll be no trace of him anywhere. He’s probably on the books as some sort of tax collector or claims adjuster or something. Maybe a meter maid. The unit he worked for didn’t technically exist, so how could he exist within it?’

‘So they can just blow up three helicopters, killing how many people?’

Caleb answered that question, his rumbling voice deep with grief. I think he’d spent a fair amount of time with Gog and Magog, picking their brains about life overseas.

‘Sixteen, total,’ he said. ‘Nine supernaturals, including the three Alfar in each of the other choppers, and then the one with Gog and Magog. And seven humans, including the pilots and co-pilots, and Daniel.’