The Darkening (Dawn of Ascension) (16 page)

Tears sprang to Vela’s eyes.

They’d caught him just in time.

Duncan had almost died.

Samuel slid an arm around her waist. He was sweaty from battle, and the leather harness had stiff edges, but it was the best feel in the world as he drew her against him.

You did good
, his words a thrill through her mind.

She’d never been in a battle before and for a first one, yes she’d done good. Her heart swelled as she wiped away tears that kept falling.

Duncan began to heal, faster than anything she’d seen before, but after a minute, Fiona sat back and separated from Horace.

She looked exhausted.

“I’ve got it now,” Horace said. “Go home and get some rest.” He smiled tenderly at her.

Fiona nodded. The couple hadn’t made a formal announcement, but rumor had it she was pregnant. She turned to Madame Endelle. “Permission to leave?”

“Granted. Jeannie, send Fiona home straight from here.”

“Of course, Madame Endelle.”

Fiona simply vanished.

Alison crossed to Vela. “You did an amazing thing tonight and showed so much courage. Well done.”

“Thank you.”

“I wish I could stay, but I have a flying toddler at home who will be up at the crack of dawn.”

Endelle once more barked at Jeannie and Alison disappeared.

Both Leto and Thorne stood on either side of Duncan, who was still unconscious. Horace, his hands moving from wound to wound and performing his healing magic, glanced up at Thorne. “This will take some time and he should have rest. I’d like to move him to the hospital but not by fold. Some of these cuts are deep and grazed his organs. He would have died if you hadn’t gotten to him.”

Vela’s throat tightened and Samuel rubbed his hand up and down her side and waist.
We got him.

We did.

He saved me,
Samuel added.

And now you returned the favor.

We saved him, all of us and my part was the damned least I could do.

By the time Horace had a still unconscious Duncan packed up in an ambulance for the drive to the hospital, Leto had returned to the Gateway to Third Earth.

Thorne took all three sawed off shotguns, intending to have his firearms expert work with them to see what shells were used and how the wreckers added their power to enhance the shot. Scowling, he muttered something about practicing with them at the Illinois Seers Palace, as he headed back in the direction of the Command Center.

Vela addressed Merl. “What would have happened if you hadn’t been here to finish seal up the Gateway?”

“Nothing good.”

“Sweet fucking Christ,” Endelle muttered.

“Is there anything I can do to strengthen my own power to seal up the breach?”

“I think so. You’re pretty amazing.”

Vela glanced at him, stunned that not a single flirtatious lilt attached to his words,  Even Samuel remained settled beside her.

She smiled. “Thank you for that.”

 “Well, that settles something for me,” Endelle said. “For the time being, the two of you stay with Merl. And stay in contact.” She turned to Merl. “I’ll need you to work with Vela to get this skill up to par because I’m guessing we haven’t seen the last of the grid wreckers.”

“Probably not.”

“So, you okay with this, Third ascender?”

“Hell, yeah. Least I can do for the Supreme High Administrator of Second Earth.” His nostrils flared. “You know, I don’t have to go home right away.”

Endelle chortled. “You’ve got balls, I’ll give you that. And I’m tempted because everything about you says you’ve got the right equipment and know how to use it.”

“Damn straight about that.”

Vela stepped a little closer to Samuel. She could almost see the sparks flying from one ascender to the other.

The heat in this room,
Samuel sent in what felt like the quietest telepathic voice he could manage,
could melt a glacier.

I know what you mean.

But I thought Endelle had hooked up with Braulio?
Samuel scowled like he somehow disapproved.

Vela squeezed his hand.
That’s just it. He hasn’t been around for the last month and she has no way to contact him.

Gotta be a bitch.

Exactly.

Well, Braulio had better get his ass back here because that’s one determined vampire.

No kidding.

Finally, after a long half minute of staring at Merl, and maybe debating the offer, Endelle said, “Thanks, but I’m sort of in a relationship.”

For a reason she couldn’t explain, Vela released a sigh of relief.

But Merl actually moved until just a spare few inches separated him from Endelle. “Well, you let me know if your boyfriend stops hiding out in another dimension. I’d love to spend some time taking care of you.”

Vela broke a sweat and it wasn’t helping that Samuel now rubbed his thumb in circles over the palm of her hand. She’d never quite understood why the gesture was so damn sexual but it was working. That, and his smoky, chocolate scent had started flowing in her direction.

Those flowers of yours are getting to me.

I want to be alone with you.

He released a soft growl.

Merl glanced at Samuel. “I’m going to stay here and check out Thorne’s operation, maybe see if I can help. Why don’t you two head back to my house. And just so you know, after I leave here, I’ll be heading out to a couple of clubs and I won’t be back until dawn.”

Vela almost said something in response, but Samuel called out, “Sounds like a plan.” By then he had hold of her hand and urged her in the direction of the doorway. She took to the idea right away and started walking faster.

His smile expanded by the time they reached the landing platform, a very male, satisfied response to what he knew would soon happen between them.

By then, Vela wore her own smile, so she could hardly complain.

* * * * * * * * *

“I need a shower,” Samuel said, almost trembling with his need to get Vela underneath him.

“Here’s an idea. How about I join you?”

He groaned then hauled her into his arms. A weapons harness, stiff by nature, wasn’t the most comfortable piece of clothing to press up against a woman, but Vela didn’t seem to care.

He folded it off anyway, even while he held her in his arms. Vela landed against his chest and that’s when things got a little crazy as she slung her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. With his tongue deep in her mouth, he tried to walk her backwards and finally ended up just folding her to the bathroom.

She let go of him, dropping her feet to the floor, but her eyes had a dazed look and when she waved a hand to get rid of her clothes, her jeans ended up around her ankles. She would have toppled over, but he caught her.

“Allow me.” He dropped to his knees, lifted a bare foot, slid the pants off the old-fashioned way, then the other.

He kissed the inside of her right ankle and being the smart woman that she was, she shifted her feet farther apart to increase the room he had to work as he began kissing his way up her leg.

Soft moans flowed down on his head, then little whimpers.  He added bites and sucks, one after the other, moving ever upward. He was just about to get busy when Vela said, “Samuel, I really like what you’re doing, but I’ve got this funny feeling about something.”

He squeezed his eyes shut for a long moment. He so didn’t want her called back into the darkening, not right now.

He looked up at her. “What do you mean?”

She stepped away from him. “What do you think is on the other side of that door? I mean, the guest room has a closet, and the toilet’s on the opposite side of this room. So…” She let the word hang.

He lifted his head and saw that an archway, centered in the wall well beyond the massive shower, led to a door. “It can’t be Merl’s bedroom.”

Vela met his gaze. “Knowing Merl, I think I know what it is and that’s exactly where I want to be right now.”

She left him kneeling, wondering if he’d lost his touch, then he got it, which of course launched him to his feet. By the time she shoved the door open, he fit right up against her back, one hand on her hip, as he crossed the threshold with her.

“Oh, my God,” she said, “this is the most decadent room I’ve ever seen.”

He couldn’t have agreed more. The lights had come on the moment Vela opened the door, mood-lighting, with a rim of pot-lights glowing in a soft teal all round the perimeter. A dark sensuality permeated what was a very private room. Directly across from the door, a screen dominated the entire wall, featuring the portrait of a couple from the waist up, naked, and in a tight embrace, the man kissing her neck. He glanced to his right and saw a video camera and some controls. So the screen could also be used to project images, maybe to play a movie.

His gaze drifted to the center of the room. One large overhead pot light lit up an apparatus he’d always wanted to try out, a tall, leather, bench-like mount, over which the woman would recline face down.  And if Vela was game, he’d love to do this with her because the room served one purpose: to allow for wing-mount while making love.

His erection punched at his kilt, which reminded him that he’d only partially undressed.

She turned to him, her eyes dilated, her scent perfuming the air. “The mount has leather straps at the top. I could really hold on, keep my balance. Samuel, I want to do this. Are you game?”

He shoved the door shut with his foot and while kissing her again, and almost tripping over her as he moved her in the direction of the mount, he sent,
More than game. We’ll both be able to let our wings fly.

I know, I know. Now lose the rest of your clothes, warrior.

He drew back from her and laughed. He waved a hand and got rid of his kilt, briefs, battle sandals and shin guards. He meant to kiss her again, but she planted her hands on his pecs, fondling him with just her thumbs. “Hey, you were magnificent in the darkening. I mean it. The way you fought, your speed, that you could fold like that and levitate and all the while your mist flowed around you in the most elegant streamers. I was mesmerized.”

Her words heated his mind and electrified his body, making his muscles pop in some kind of remembered action of the battle itself. “I kept thinking about you, Vela, about finishing the fight so that I could get back to you. I wanted you safe.”

Her hands slid down his chest and around his back. “I am safe, so thank you for that, for getting us through.”

He smiled. “I wasn’t the only one there.”

“I know. But you’re here and I’m thanking
you
.”

He kissed her, more intensely this time, because he knew she admired him, thought well of him, and had approved his part in Duncan’s rescue. As he slid his tongue into her mouth, she suckled, which forced a groan from his throat.

Her hands moved slowly from wing-lock to wing-lock, her fingers kneading the length of each lock then teasing the apertures. He wept for her so that as she moved, the lubricant that allowed for wing-release spread over his back.

By now, he arched over her, pushing his cock against her, savoring that her hips pushed back.
Let’s try out that mount,
he sent.

But as he released her, she said, “I want you to lie down first, on your stomach. I need to suck down some of those juices.”

Okay, he almost came because her choice of words were as erotic as what she wanted to do to him. He didn’t argue with her either but stretched himself out on the mount.

“Spread your legs a little more.”

He smiled and a thrill shot down his testicles. Her hands were on him first, but not touching his wing-locks. Instead, she fondled him low. “You have a beautiful ass,” she said. Then she was stroking his buttocks, kissing and licking. When she dipped low and licked and plucked at his perineum then his balls, he emitted a sound that fell somewhere between an anguished groan and a grunt.

“You’d better stop,” he called out. “Or I won’t last.”

She chuckled. “Well, we can’t have that.”

He felt her move in close to him from behind, lean over and that’s when more of the magic happened as she got busy with his wing-locks. She started at the upper right and he closed his eyes and savored. She sucked at the tip, moaning, her hips pumping into him in the nicest way.

He decided then and there that he needed to add onto his house. He had to have a room like this, one where he could be with Vela as often as he liked, maybe everyday for a good long stretch.

As she sucked on his wing-locks, the thought of having her with him always worked on his mind and on his heart. What was happening to him? What was the
breh-hedden
doing to him?

He seemed to be falling for her, straight off a cliff, tumbling over and over. But that made no sense in his solitary life, the one he lived, a wolf’s life, functioning with his Militia Warrior pack, but moving at the edges of society, never fully engaged.

Whatever this was, he’d reached a point where he wanted to be inside her, to bury himself, to feel that connection to her.

I need you
, he sent. He lifted up and she drew back at the same time. He turned toward her and kissed her again, his erection pressing against her, his hips angling, seeking.

Let me get prone, Samuel. God, I need you inside me, too. Now. My wing-locks are screaming because they know I’m going to release.

Mine, too.

He let her go and she whirled to lie face down. “Oh, this is heaven because your scent is all over the leather.” She took a deep breath and groaned. “Incredible.” She took hold of the straps.

He split the mass of her blond hair, pushing it away from her back to hang down on either side of her. He loved the sight of her beautiful back, glistening from her wing-locks doing what they do, swelling, moistening, getting ready to mount. Even looking at the swollen ridges worked his cock.

She spread her legs and he had to have a good look at her beautiful bareness, her swollen lips and folds, that she also glistened below.