The Relentless Warrior (34 page)

“I know you will,” he whispered as he dropped his head to just an inch away from mine.
“I know you’ll always love me. And I will always love you. You will take me into eternity
with you, Liv, and I will gladly go. I cannot wait to spend the fullness of this life
with you. You were made for me. And I know you didn’t come here through pleasant circumstances,
but I am too selfish to regret that you are here. How can I, when you mean everything
to me?”

He didn’t let me answer and that was probably a good thing since I didn’t have an
answer for him anyway.

He kissed me instead, long, drugging kisses that left me senseless and desperate for
more. His kisses were insistent but so much more at the same time. He wasn’t convincing
me to kiss him back this time; he was claiming what was already his.

His Magic hugged mine, embracing it in such a way that made me feel both secure and
utterly and absolutely loved. His mouth moved against mine so softly, so sensually,
that I wanted to drown in him, to let go and let him pull me completely under.

God, this man.
 

He was my present. My future.

He was my everything.

And I had not one regret with him.

“Alright, we all feel it!” Sebastian called from the top of the hill. “Congratulations
on your happy union now get your arses over here before they come for us.”

“Oh, my gosh,” I whispered against Jericho’s lips. “They can
feel
this?”

He smiled with his mouth still pressed to mine and squeezed my hips. “It’s a good
thing,” he promised. “That means all the other bastards out there will keep their
hands off you.”

“It’s so embarrassing,” I groaned, ignoring his possessiveness even though I found
it adorable.

“Just wait till I really get you alone,” he murmured against my neck. “They won’t
be able to look you in the eye for months.”

I swatted his chest. “You are so full of yourself.”

He pulled back and grinned at me. “But you love me anyway.”

I relented with a smile of my own. “I do love you anyway.”

We stared at each other adoringly for a few more seconds before he said, “Good, now
let me save you one last time.”

And then he took my hand and pulled me down from the rocks and up over the hill. He
seemed pensive as we went, but so very content.

I could relate.

His Magic filled in every empty place outside of me and his love erased all the vacant,
hollow, hidden places inside of me. I couldn’t imagine wanting or needing anything
else in life besides this, besides him.

And I didn’t need to imagine it.

I had him.

I had him forever.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Jericho

“Let me taste, Woman,” I demanded.

Liv stood at her parent’s stove, stirring a béchamel that I was dying to get my hands
on. She glanced over her shoulder at me and shook her head. She was so nervous about
her clear talent that it was hard for me to take her seriously.

Even without her Immortal qualities that made school easy for her, despite her determination
not to let it interfere, she was a really good chef. She put me to shame on a daily
basis.

Although I was getting better; but only because I made her go over every new skill
she learned at school with me once she got home. She’d begged me to just sign up for
classes so I would stop bothering her, but we both knew she loved it. She loved getting
extra practice in and she loved sharing something with me that we both cared about.

Besides, I had signed up for classes at her school, I just hadn’t told her yet.

I wanted to surprise her on my first day. It wasn’t easy to keep secrets from this
girl, but as soon as the war was over, I wanted to quit being away from her. I wanted
it to be about her and me and nothing and nobody else. I would do whatever it took
to get us to that point.

Including culinary school.

Not that I was going to complain about it.

College had been interrupted for me when I followed Avalon to Omaha and joined the
Resistance. With my pending resignation from the Monarchy’s staff as soon as Terletov
was taken care of, I couldn’t think of something I’d rather do than go back to school
and spend every waking and sleeping moment with the love of my life.

It had been two months since the Citadel fell.

Two months since the Kingdom had fallen back into turmoil and chaos reigned again.

Two months since I’d told this beautiful, spirited girl that I loved her and she had
promised the words back to me.

Things were bad right now. I lived my life hunting Terletov’s followers and plotting
ways to storm a castle that should already be in our possession. I’d killed more men
in the last two months than the rest of my life combined.

And yet I had her to come home to. I had Liv’s Magic to keep me company and her sweet
seduction to bring me back to her.

I would fight for this Kingdom with everything that I had; but the truth was, I had
more now. Liv had given me more and demanded more from me.

She gave me hope and forced me to trust again. She let me love her and loved me in
return.

This was more than a relationship between us, this was forever.

This was more than a connection, this was eternal.

And it still didn’t feel like enough time.

“How long are you home for?” she asked me softly.

“Just tonight,” I told her. I stood behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist
and pulling her back tight against my chest. I pressed my forehead into the curve
of her neck and inhaled her. I loved that she said “home” like it was ours. This wasn’t
our home, and we wouldn’t have one to ourselves in the foreseeable future, but we
didn’t need one. We were home whenever we were together.

That was all there was to it.

“Is O doing alright?” I asked in a soft voice since she was probably just upstairs.

“She’s okay,” Liv shrugged and I felt the movement of her shoulders in my entire body.
I let my fingers slide beneath the hem of her t-shirt and explore the silky softness
of her perfect skin. “Her eyes changed a couple days ago. They’re pretty fiery orange.
That freaked her out, but other than that, I’m teaching her how to control her powers
and what to do with them.”

“How did you learn to do that?” I trailed kisses across her shoulder blade, so proud
of her for how she was dealing with Ophelia and her sister’s frustrations.

“I had a pretty good teacher myself,” she murmured and then sighed when I let my tongue
slide up the column of her neck.

She made a delicious little moaning sound and sunk into me. “How’s Eden? How are the
babies?”

“Great,” I told her.
 

Eden and Kiran had made it out of the Citadel that night. Avalon and Sebastian had
gone back for them. They were unsettled when they’d joined us and Eden had Syl do
an immediate workup on her and the babies. But so far, everything seemed to be fine.

They were lying low and staying surrounded by their Guard.

I didn’t blame them.

It was funny how happy I felt for them now. I mean, I’d always been fine with their
relationship, even though it had always felt like I lost. They were meant for each
other, even I couldn’t deny that. But I’d also be a liar if I said there wasn’t a
little bit of jealousy and bitterness mixed in there, too.

When I’d walked out of the tunnel, after we escaped Terletov, the early morning sun
had hit Liv, making her glow in the soft light. In that moment, I knew that whatever
feelings I had for Eden were long gone.

And not even comparable to the love and devotion I felt for Olivia.

The entrance to the secret tunnel into the Citadel was an odd place to confess all
my feelings for her, but I couldn’t wait another minute.

Years ago, I’d helped Avalon rescue Eden and Amory after her fateful courtroom interruption
at Lilly’s trial. I remembered walking over a hill and catching Eden looking up at
the sun. The early light had hit her face in much the same way as it had shone on
Liv’s that morning and I had felt my lungs lose breath completely. I had never seen
anything more beautiful than Eden in that moment.

It was in that very second I started to fall for her.

She had been so brave to face Lucan and fight for her friend. She had been through
hell and risked everything… and then she was just this vision of light and sacrifice,
loyalty and purity.

I didn’t stand a chance.

Yet, that vision of Eden’s loveliness faded to black and white with the image of Liv
I held in my mind. I couldn’t even compare the two. They belonged in totally different
realms of reality.

Eden was my past and a short, temporary moment of time.

Liv was my present, my future… my forever. Our love would grow stronger through the
ages and there would be nothing that could come between us or tear us apart.

“I don’t want you to go,” Liv sighed against me. She set her spoon down and laid her
hands over mine.

“Then come with me,” I offered. “Come help me.”

“You want me to go?” she sounded truly surprised. “I’m not trained. I could get you
killed.”

“You
won’t
get me killed,” I laughed. “You’ll probably save my ass faster than anyone else on
my team.”

“Sebastian won’t be mad?”

“Who cares,” I grunted. “If I have the choice to share a room with you or that smelly
bastard, I’m going to pick you every single day. Besides, if Lilly wakes up, he promised
Talbott he would help secure a location for the wedding. I could use the backup.”

“Is she still the same?” Liv’s voice dropped with sympathy and my own heart squeezed
at the pain and suffering Lilly and Talbott still had to face.

I just wanted her to wake up. I just wanted her to be okay, for once. For once I wanted
her to be out of danger.

“Alright,” Liv agreed and I could hear the smile in her voice.

“Are you going to tell your parents?” I asked her cautiously. She was an adult, besides
being an Immortal, but she had the opportunity to have a relationship with her parents
while they were still around and she wanted to do everything in her power to preserve
their relationship and cherish it.

I wholeheartedly agreed with her.

While my own mother was still missing, along with Analisa and my father confirmed
dead… I could admit that family was important. Especially when you had one as good
as Liv’s.

I’d had some issues with my dad’s death at first, but Olivia helped me work them out.
I knew the grief would hit again, and continue to hit. And not just the grief, but
the loss of any substantial relationship and of the man that I thought he could be
but never was.

There were a lot of issues for me to deal with and sometimes they felt overwhelming.
But other times, I held this girl in my arms, completely drowned in her love and her
Magic and I knew that everything would be fine.

Everything would work out.

“I love you, Jericho Bentley ,” she whispered as she let the sauce bubble and burn.

“I love you too, Olivia Taylor,” I promised against her ear. “Forever.”

“Forever,” she sighed sounding truly happy.

Liv hadn’t been the only one afraid of forever, but now that we had each other I knew
it would never be enough time together.

But I would live out the time we did have together to their fullness, with Olivia
at my side.

Acknowledgments

To my God. Every book is yours. Every book is your miracle.

To Zach, the best man I know. Thank you for feeding the kids, cleaning the kitchen
and reminding me that I need to get to work. Without you this wouldn’t be possible.
Without you I wouldn’t know how to write love. You are the best thing that ever happened
to me.

To my children. One day I want you to fight for your dreams and never, ever stop fighting.
I can’t wait to see what you can do.

To my mom, thank you for being my biggest fan. Thank you for the hours upon hours
upon hours of babysitting and encouragement. And thank you for knowing how a mother
should react. A mother should faint.

Thank you to Sarah Hansen at Okay Creations for envisioning and creating such a phenomenal
cover. I had no idea what this should look like. But you did. And I’m blown away by
your talent.

Thank you to Carolyn for editing and the hours that go into that monumental task.
Thank you for making me sound smart and educated. Thank you for putting up with my
phrasing that doesn’t make sense and my thousands of dashes that don’t belong. Thank
you for your advice and your tips and for taking time out of your life to help me
follow my dreams.

Thank you to my dear friends Candice, Diana,
Jenn
and Lindsay. Your support means the world to me. And thank you for believing these
characters are real. Because they are. I just need people to talk about them with.
I should hug you all… you know, if I did that kind of thing.

Thank you to my Hellcats. Amy
Bartol
, Georgia Cates, Lila Felix, Shelly Crane, Quinn
Loftis
, Angeline
Kace
and Samantha Young you MAKE this industry. You all are the most talented women I
know. And I’m so thankful for your advice, friendship and support. You make this lonely
job feel like a community. I love you to pieces.

Thank you to my Reckless Rebels. You girls are some of the best people on this planet.
I am so thankful for all of you! Thank you for your opinions and excitement and thank
you for always being honest with me. You don’t feel like readers at all. You feel
very much like friends.

And thank you to the readers!! You have been impatient and passionate for and about
this book for way too long now! When I didn’t think I would be able to give Jericho
what he needed, your enthusiasm pushed me forward. I hope this story gives Jericho
the Happily Ever After you believe he deserves. And I hope that you fell as in love
with Jericho and Olivia as I did. I love you all so very much. You make my dreams
come true and there is no amount of gratitude that is enough for you. Thank you.