ThirteenNights (4 page)

“I don’t really know. I was left with the Gargareans when I
was about a year old. I tried hacking, found nothing. Most likely, the records
were destroyed.”

“One year? That’s on the older side. Male children are
usually delivered at six months. Do you know your mother?”

“Her name’s Phoebe. I have her family history of deeds and
kills. It was required for the Gargareans to accept me. I’ve never met her, but
sometimes I’ve felt eyes at my back, and I’ve always wondered…”

Her eyes widened. “Hmm…I think I’ve heard of her.” She
pressed soft kisses at the base of his throat, her hands explored the lines of
his shoulder blades, traced each vertebra of his spine.

Tangled together, they slept and she stayed until morning.
Another rule broken.

Tai arrived at Rock Creek Park Horse Center at twilight,
pleased as punch to find Annie holding two horses saddled and ready to ride. By
this point, they should be doing nothing except bonking each other’s brains out
in an all-out attempt to conceive a child. That she’d willingly accepted his
transgression from the breeding rituals was one thing. Now she initiated them
herself and it sent jet streams of warmth flowing through his bloodstream.

“Meet Frick and Frack. I rescued them with others from a
carriage company. One horse was dead from starvation, the rest emaciated from
malnutrition with severe dental problems. It took me months to calm them enough
to allow human riders. Pick one.”

He hopped on Frack, a black stallion that stank of power and
arrogance, and sped off, knowing she’d follow. The warrior races learned to
ride as soon as they could walk. The night wind against his face, the scent of
pine in his nose, calmed his soul. And the woman catching up to him was
becoming his heartbeat.

The dull whoosh of a branch ticked his ear up, the only clue
that Annie passed him. “Follow me,” she yelled.

Anywhere.
He couldn’t tell her that, yet.

Going as deep into the woods as possible within a city park,
she stopped near a small clearing. After tethering Frick to a tree, she pulled
out a picnic basket and a blanket from behind it that she had to have hidden
earlier. Tai followed suit, hooking Frack to a neighboring branch, then joined
her on the blanket to a feast of baguettes, several fruits, sliced cheeses and
red wine.

“Interesting food choices for a warrior. I would have bet on
cold meats and beer.”

“Pantheon negotiations had me in and out of Europe. I
developed an obsession for wine and cheese. And cappuccino, but that’s
breakfast.” Dipping her finger in a wedge of Brie still firm from the cool
night air, she brushed it along his lower lip. “Do you mind?”

Mind?
He adored her more every time she bent a rule.
His arousal flamed hot, sousing the air. Her nostrils flared and her body
detonated in response, her scent a spicy temptation. It took every ounce of
control he ever had to stop himself from tearing off her clothes and riding
them both to paradise. His heart was intent on seduction—her heart, not her
body, the target.

After a survey of the delicacies she brought, he selected a
wedge of cheddar and fed it to her in several bites until his fingers touched her
mouth. Next, he lifted a glass of wine to her lips, serving her small sips.

“How is it?” he asked before setting the glass down on the
ground.

“Excellent. Try some.”

“I think I shall.”

Her face cupped between his hands, he lapped up the crimson
drops still on her lips. “I want more.” His fingers stroked her cheek to
maintain the skin-to-skin contact that was becoming as necessary to him as breathing.
Angling his head, he pressed his lips to hers, gentle pressure until she opened
to him with a small, eager moan. His tongue swept inside, openly possessive in
its exploration. Her arms circled his neck and her body pressed against his as
she drank in his kiss with a greed that made his heart sing. Still glued
together, he coaxed her to the ground, intending to keep her locked in his kiss
until the sun chased the stars from the sky and her warmth became the eternal
flame that lit his soul. He didn’t want to be anywhere else but in her arms,
sheltered in a kiss that made him whole.

Her legs wrapped around his waist and she rubbed against
him, making her desire clear. At the tempo she was driving them, he’d soon be
unable to deny her but now he wanted an intimacy of a different kind. When “Now,
baby,” groaned out of her and she broke the kiss, he grabbed the moment.

Moving so that she could lie along the length of his body,
he kept her close with one arm around her shoulder. The other hand tangled in
the silk of her hair. “Why did you bring me here?” he asked, his gaze locked
onto hers, insisting on an answer.

“It’s my favorite place. I thought you might like it too.”

“Thank you. I do. Tell me more about the other horses.” He
gently pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “The ones you didn’t choose for us
to ride tonight.”

A startled look flashed through her eyes. He only caught it because
he was focused on her face. He wanted her secrets, needed them if he was going
to win this unique warrior. Losing had never been in his vocabulary. Raised in
a Gargarean camp with his heritage, it would have meant death or dismemberment.
He took a chance. “I think you know by now you can trust me.” He stroked her
back, softened his eyes, let her feel him care in every way he could.

“There were three others. Two were like Frick and Frack,
damaged but able to heal. Then there was Quicksilver. He’d been a champion
once. I found him buried in mud, his leg broken in three places. By all that is
Amazon, I should have shot him. Quick and merciful.” Her body had gone rigid in
his arms. Remaining quiet, he kept up his caresses, using touch and silence to
relax her, coax out more of the story. “Instead, I brought him here. They
mended him to a fashion and now use him for their recreational therapeutic
riding program. A fallen warrior to serve other fallen warriors.” Her body
snuggled closer against him as if searching for warmth and forgiveness. Very un-Amazon,
like her tale. It stoked the fire already blazing in his heart.

“Did they find out?” He felt her nod against his throat.
“What did they do?”

“Retraining.” Six months of a brutal physical and
psychological regimen to beat out any weakness such as sympathy or human mercy.
Elders used it to threaten out-of-control teens to stay in line. Only Tai’s
computer skills kept him under the radar because those traits were a gift from
his human father and he wanted to keep them—like he wanted to keep Annie, who
dared to save broken horses.

“By the way you’ve reacted to me, I guess the retraining
didn’t really take.” He fluttered kisses against her, stroked her back to let
her know that she made him proud, that he valued that part of her.

“I didn’t let it.” Her voice was pitched so low, he wondered
if he imagined the answer. Or was it just the one he needed to hear?

“Do the Elders know?”

“I don’t know if they’ve figured it out or just don’t trust
me but they’ve made my sister my keeper. We need to have sex. Marta
periodically drops by to test me, make sure I’m following the rules.” Rolling
out of his arms, she robotically removed her clothes and waited for him to do
the same.

He’d give her the rules, but he didn’t say how. His clothes
off, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Then he made love to her, slow,
tender, and very, very human.

“Marta came by last night to check on me,” Annie told Tai after
she let him in. Her eyes burned from lack of sleep. She couldn’t get her older
sister’s disapproving scowls and harsh words out of her head. “I was full of
your seed, I don’t know why she suspects anything.”

“You reveal a contentment in your eyes, carry it deep in
your soul after we’ve been together.” His thumb stroked along her cheekbone,
the other hand gripped her hip in a hold so possessive she was sure his
handprint would be branded there for eternity. “I feel it too…but you know that.”

As an empath, she sensed his emotions but hearing him say it
was still a kick in the gut. She wasn’t used to having someone care for her and
she liked hearing it. “It was my sister who reported me for saving Quicksilver.
She always seems to know.”

“Maybe she’s like you, but can’t accept it like you have.”

Her brain raced through the implications of that statement,
a possibility she’d never before considered. “Even so, it was still a knife in
the back.”

“I could hack in, check her records.”

“Doesn’t matter. She’s a threat either way. I don’t want to
have to endure a second retraining.”

Creases formed on his forehead, his head quirked to the side
but sunshine glittered in those beautiful dark eyes of his. “The Elders don’t
know what the genetic anomaly does, do they? Am I the only one who does?”

She nodded, unable to speak as she tried to process why she first
revealed her most deeply held secret to this man and now just let him know
that. When he hauled her inside his arms and kissed her like a man kisses a
woman he intends to keep for a lifetime and more, a part of her relaxed. No
matter how this ended, he’d keep her confidence. Seven nights left with a
warrior who saw her, accepted her, reveled in her—all of her—and she was going
to enjoy every minute of each one, because it’s all they would be allowed to
have.

When his lips left hers an eternity later, her body fidgeted
with too much energy, her senses overloaded with emotion. She needed to move. “Let’s
run.” He had come in a tracksuit as she requested last night. The part of her
that was pure warrior needed to test his physical skills, know he could take
her on, give her a real fight. It was a fair question to ask about the man who
might father her child, even if that wasn’t why her heart wanted to know.

They ran the first five miles at a leisurely eight-minute
mile along the paths in Rock Creek Park. She was content to feel motion in her
body, the wind against her face, the ground against her feet. The Hunter’s moon
provided a soft, dusty light but it was sufficient for their superior eyesight.

Without skipping a beat, Annie body-slammed Tai, but found
herself on the ground, no prey beneath. Sleek and graceful as a jungle cat, Tai
leapt forward into a forward roll and escaped. Her shoulder ached where it
crashed into a rock.

Quickly, her brain assessed her error—since Tai was smaller
than the average Gargarean, he mastered flexibility, speed and technique. This
would be a fight of strategy, not strength. Up in a flash, she circled him,
channeled her pain into power. His eyes had gone lethal but a smirk danced
across his face—giving her credit but determined to have fun. He was like no
warrior she’d ever known—that unpredictability made him the most dangerous
adversary she’d ever fought. His looks were deceiving. While he lacked the
brawn of the standard Gargarean, the sharp intelligence in his gaze and the
polished agility in his leanly muscled, toned physique showed he was built to
kill—fast and clean. What did this say about her sisterhood in that they couldn’t
recognize and appreciate the vigor and dominance of this man? But she did.

She flipped high over his head, twisting her body to land on
her feet behind him. As soon as she hit dirt, she launched at him, but he
whipped around, caught her mid- jump and slammed her back to the ground. This
time, she was ready. Grasping his waist between her legs, she hoisted him over,
reversing their positions. Her hands sealed his wrists, her legs held his in a
vise, and her ass rested on the tender area of stomach.

“This all you got?” The lightness of his words made it clear
it was far from over even though her grip was ironclad and unbreakable.

“Looks pretty solid to me. Only way you can break out is if
I let you.”

“Think so?”

“Know so.”

With an elasticity she didn’t know was possible, he arched
up, coiled his muscles so tight they narrowed, and prey became predator. She
found herself facedown, his hand holding her neck to the ground, and the other
clasped her wrists behind her back. His cock, hard and thick, rubbed her
bottom, an invitation that had her body revving up in anticipation.

“You’re not fighting fair.”

“All’s fair in love and war last time I heard.”

“Which one is this?”

“It’s not war.”

Love, warm and flush, blanketed her, stroked her skin, gushed
through her veins, filled her breath. He loved her and projected it loud and
clear. Where aggression strengthened her, love softened her. This was why she
avoided humans, why she preferred the extreme bounty hunting to the diplomacy.
The emotions made her less Amazon, less warrior, but did it make her less as
she’d always thought? As he rubbed against her, wanting her, loving her, it
didn’t seem so.

“I beat you. Yield to me.”

“Make me.”

“With pleasure.” Releasing her neck, he used the free hand
to yank her pants to her thighs, inserted a finger to test her readiness and
mounted her. Lunging in and out with a slow rhythm, he fastened his hands to
her hips, chaining her to him. Fire surged through her every pore and burned
away any thought of resistance. As soon as she began to pump back, signaling
her yield, he pulled out, drew her upright, and cut off her running shorts with
the pocket knife.

“What the—”

“I want you facing me, I want the woman’s submission now.”
He took her mouth with a ferocity that would have had her begging for him if
she had any breath left. Never letting go, he backed her up to a tree, picked
her up, making sure his hands formed a barrier between her skin and the
harshness of the bark and took her. Her legs wrapped around him in invitation
and possession, claiming him, as he just did her.

Tai made love like he lived. Fiercely. Passionately. He demanded
everything, gave everything, never allowed either of them to be less than whole.
Stars burst behind her eyes, her body tightened, she was on the edge, so ready
to explode into the oblivion he delivered so well. He stopped, ripped his lips
from hers.
No.

“Say it, Annie,” he whispered against the edge of her mouth,
his breath hot against her cheek.

She knew what he wanted, could read the feelings he
projected loudly. “I feel love, Tai, but I don’t know if those feelings are my
own, or I’m reflecting yours.”

“Yes, Annie, you do.” He did a slow lunge in, pushing his
chest tighter against hers.

He was forcing her to choose, asking her for a different
kind of courage. Not that of a warrior picking up a sword or a gun and running
into the fray of battle, a job she’d trained for since she was four. He asked her
to find the courage of an ordinary life, of choosing to love when the world
said no, to break the rules that bound hearts and minds from reaching their
potential. Did she have this kind of courage?

A bite on her chin. “Annie?”

Lovely Tai, who believed in her, loved all of her,
challenged her to accept the true greatness and the difference within herself.
“I love you too, Tai.”

Butterfly nips along her cheekbones interspersed with
whispered
I love yous
, and slow, seductive lunges, as if he were
fluttering kisses inside her. When her moans got louder and her nails dug
deeper in his skin, he fucked her until they both shattered, let her rest and
took her again. Loving her, feeding her, digging himself deeper into her heart
and soul until she was sure she would never be able to live without him. After
he dropped her off at home, he left her with a kiss so tender she thought she
might break.

Not long after Tai left, Annie whistled her way to a
drugstore that catered to the supernatural population with a hidden shopping
area behind the hallway with the bathrooms. She never remembered feeling so
energized, so damn happy. At the halfway point of the Rite of Thirteen Nights,
she was required to test her pregnancy. The pantheons had their own technologies
for detecting conception much earlier than humans were able. She wanted to do
it alone, without Tai. If she had conceived, he would take on the pantheons to
keep his life and make their union permanent. For her, that was a decision she
must make alone with no other influences—true only to her own values, her own
sense of justice.

Unlike Tai, she had a mother and sister with whom she shared
rituals and celebrations, even a sense of fondness. Even if they struggled with
her otherness and interpreted all her actions as a betrayal of their culture,
duty and obligation kept her connected to them. She suspected they cared for
her, albeit in their own way.

When she returned home, she spiced her living room and
bathroom with incense and flickering candlelight to give her spirit a boost to
tackle the task at hand. The stick turned blue. Conception. Her empathy
guaranteed that she would build an emotional bond with her child that would
grow stronger as it came to term. Could she give it up to the cold metal rooms
of the crèche to be brought up in the camps?

Once they discovered Tai had reshuffled the pairings, which
they would when they recorded the child’s DNA, the Amazon Elders would do
everything in their power to make sure Tai was put to death. Their
protectiveness of the royal line was obsessive, dangerously so. Even if the
Gargareans wouldn’t permit his destruction, they would agree to keep them apart
and take their baby, and drop him or her into the fiercest of all training
regimes—to compensate for its inferior genes. She could never let that happen,
she knew that in the inner reaches of her soul. Damn that half-human warrior
who had smirked his way into her heart and was quietly freeing her from the
restrictive rules that prevented her from being fully herself. The future
without him was a nebulous cloud—nowhere she wanted to be. Tai had been leading
her toward full rebellion since he first stroked instead of tested her fingers.
Did she have the courage to follow him?

Her phone rang. Her sister’s number flashed on the screen,
she was checking up on her again. When Annie hung up, she knew what she had to
do next.

She called Tai. “Babe, here’s the plan for tomorrow night.”