A Kiss of Ashen Twilight (Ashen Twilight Series #1) (50 page)

“What are you doing?” Ariya said with a smile. Within the darkness she saw him move away from her once he let her down on the bed. She leaned back and kicked her shoes off. Her skin was hot under the corset top and thin black skirt she wore.

Jace unbuttoned his shirt and let it fall to the floor before grabbing a box of matches. “I want to see you Ariya and I don’t want to use my night vision to do it.”

With a chuckle, she lifted her hand and blew him a kiss. The air was visible with tiny ripples floating in a swirling motion. The air brushed against the stacks of candles placed around the room and they lit up with bright, flickering flames.

“Why didn’t you just ask then?” Ariya said with a wide grin.

He moved toward her with a deep, husky laugh and placed a gently kiss on her lips as his body covered hers. “Ever the smart one.”

Ariya giggled and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close. When his gaze froze upon her, she narrowed her eyes and turned her head slightly to the side. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

His knuckles brushed the side of her face and Ariya swore she could get lost in the way his eyes looked upon her. “You are so beautiful. I don’t know why I was ever hesitant to be close to you. Right now there is no other place you belong.”

“Wait. What about your powers? Don’t you need rest before—I mean—”

“You’re near full regeneration. Right now I need to feel you feed me with your body energy, Ariya. And I’ll do the same for you. Just let your feelings for me rise to the surface.”

Ariya pulled Jace to her body, crushing her breasts against his hard chest. Her hands slid across the hard planes of his torso and she felt the hardness of his sex pressing against her hot center. She wanted him. She wanted him to erase all that had happened between them for the past few days. She wanted his body, his scent, his being connected with hers so they could truly be one. In exchange, she would share with him all that he meant to her.

“Jace,” she breathed, feeling the muscles contracting within his thighs. His breath grew labored and sharp against her neck as he leaned down to kiss her neck. His strong grip slid up her thigh to make quick removal of her skirt and panties. She maneuvered her body to slide them off beneath him and with a soft shuffle, they fell into a pile on the floor. In seconds her corset top joined them. Ariya fumbled for his pants and unbuttoned them, slid the zipper down and reached down into the dark opening.

Jace slowly licked his lips and groaned once her hand gripped his hard shaft and moved on him, amazed at the soft yet hard thick length of him. His hips moved against her hand and she felt her body tingle as she watched her power over him. Her rhythm intensified along his shaft as she gripped him tighter.

He breathed in sharply and smiled. “Ariya, your killing me here,” he said through gritted teeth. “You know you’re going to have to pay for this.”

She leaned up to his ear. “Oh yeah. I know.”

Jace caressed the inside of her thigh, moving up to the apex of her center between her legs. She felt his thumb caress her sensitive bud and her body jolted in reaction, her grip tightened on him.

“I want you inside, Jace,” she whispered. “I want us to be sealed as one forever.”

She didn’t have to ask twice.

Jace slipped his pants off and moved over her, balancing his weight over hers.

Already Ariya could already feel his tip, wet with need to be inside her. She braced herself and reached down to grip him once again. His eyes locked on her as she slowly guided her to her waiting sex. In one swift movement he slammed into her and she let out a cry. Her legs wrapped around him, pushing him in, deeper and deeper into her depths. Jace’s body moved over her, the shadows of the candles outlining the hard strength of his body. His handsome face contorted as pleasure threatened to consume his body.

Ariya leaned into him and welcome his hard, thick length to fill her as she welcomed him home. Her fingernails dug into his back as she felt him throb within her. His hips settled into a rhythm from long, slow passionate thrusts to quickened, sharp harder strokes. She didn’t know how long she could hold on before exploding around him as her enclosure contracted and relaxed in a massage around him. He pumped his hips against her as a deep guttural growl caught in his throat. She gripped her legs tighter around him, clenching down on his hardened sex to ease him to the edge of explosion.

“Are you ready?” His words were lost in a sea of breaths he forced through.

She merely nodded, all words and clear thought were completely lost to her.

And then it happened.

Ariya’s body illuminated a bright glow as Jace slammed into her one last time. His body became rigid against hers, emptying his essence into her as his climax overcame his body. She held on. All sound in the room was lost in his deep moan and her stifled cry as she gave into the rise of pleasure instigated at the tips of her toes and spreading through her entire body.

As his body relaxed over her, Ariya threaded her hands within his damp, silky hair. She urged him to lay his head down on her bare chest as he caught his breath. He maneuvered to move out of her when she clenched her legs around him once again.

“No wait,” she breathed softly. “I want you to stay there. Inside.” Gently she kissed the top of his head. “At least for a little while.”

He settled down, careful not to crush her with his weight. Ether way she didn’t mind. The sweat of their bodies cooled under the night atmosphere. Ariya basked in the glow of the light and held onto Jace. She could already feel his breath slowing as he teetered on the edge of sleep. She gently stroked his hair and admired the handsome outline of his face in a peaceful rest. Careful not to move him from his comfortable position, she leaned forward and again confessed the words that claimed her heart for so long.

“I love you, Jace.”

Within the silence that followed, she relaxed her body and fell asleep with the smile upon her face.

* * * *

Hours later Ariya’s body jolted awake. She lifted her head and noticed sometime during the night, they had moved positions. Jace held his arm around her while she rested on his chest. She reached up to kiss him and noticed his body was stone cold and completely still like death had claimed him.

What time was it?

The curtains were still drawn in the living room, so she couldn’t tell if morning light had come or not. As she slid off the bed, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something had gone terribly wrong. The air didn’t feel right and a nauseating feeling grew within the pit of her stomach.

She entered the hall and right away she turned toward the large window. Small rays of light filtered out of the side curtains. Another feeling invaded her mind and washed over her as she realized why she was suddenly on edge.

Liam Blakedon was now in the mortal realm inside the Ashen Twilight House—and it was broad daylight.

Chapter 18

J
ulian sensed the darkness the moment it appeared in the hall. He stood at the terrace outside his room as he did the mornings after the attack wit
h the elemental, observing the view that overlooked the city. The Nightwalkers in the house were in a deep sleep but the Lycans and Shifter Elves were on high alert. Already he could tell it would be too late before they reached him. Slowly he turned toward the door as it opened. A bright influx of pulsating light moved like electric rays around a blurred figure standing tall. The figure raised his hands, forming a ball of light over each of his palms.

“Julian,” Blakedon’s voice was loud and clear. “Where is my son?”

“He’s not your son, Blakedon.”

“I raised that boy after you abandoned his mother as she carried him in his womb. What makes you think you are a worthier father when you couldn’t even handle that responsibility?”

Julian’s hands formed into fists at his side. “I fought battles and tried to keep this world safe from its own bloody hands. I left because I loved them enough not to subject them to what was a monstrosity at that time.”

“You didn’t love them at all. Not like I did. I couldn’t stand by watching what you did to Marie and neither could she stand by the days after you left. She died—with your name on her lips—and the child within her womb.”

Julian felt as if he was kicked in the stomach. A surge of fire shot throughout his body as he walked toward Blakedon.

“That’s right. She never had a chance to see her own son. After we married I took care of your family after you left but still she never stopped loving you. I planned to make a family of our own with her but she died with you in her heart. No matter what I did or how I took care of her, it was always you. They died to you the moment you left. So it was my responsibility to pick up where you left off and be a father to Avery.”

“But how? How can you have lived all of these years and still be human?”

Blakedon smiled, a slick evil chuckle upon his lips. He laughed which soon turned into a wild roar. “You’d have to kill me to find out.”

“So be it then,” Daoine said, announcing his arrival behind Blakedon. Next to him Michael stood in full Lycan form. His nails formed into sharp, long claws at his side and his mouth watered with a taste of his inevitable kill. He nodded in agreement and the Patriarchs closed in on the figure.

* * * *

Ariya awoke from her rest, feeling as if she had just rejoined her own body. What just happened? Or was it happening now? She sensed blood being spilt, but she couldn’t tell whose it was. She turned back to Jace on the bed. He remained still, not even emitting a breath. Every fiber within her screamed to go and help the Patriarchs despite her mind not quite understanding what was going on. There had to be something she can do. A fight in full daylight had the possibility of exposing the Ashen Twilight House and she couldn’t stand around waiting for it to happen. Neither could she leave Jace.

Maybe there
was
something she could do after all.

Ariya closed her eyes, took a deep breath and prayed that her actions would be the right thing to do. She quickly rushed into the bedroom to Jace’s side and kissed him gently on his lips. She would be back as soon as possible, but for now she only had one shot at making this idea work.

And she was going to take it.

* * * *

Jace’s eyes shot open and he sat up. His senses flashed on high alert. Looking around, he noticed Ariya was nowhere in sight although her scent was left all around his apartment. He flipped the thin sheets off his bare body and stood, keeping his eyes and ears completely open. He wasn’t sure what time it was but for some reason it didn’t feel like night to him. Strange, he hadn’t seen the sun in more than 600 years and his body worked like clockwork, sleeping throughout the day and awaking in the night as he had always done.

Though this was different.

Outside in the hall, footsteps thumped across the wooden floorboard. It sounded like a herd of elephants rushing toward the exit among a sea of murmurs. He rushed toward the door but froze once he remembered his naked position. The old lady down the hall would get a whirl out of his nudity yet he’d hate to be the one to give her a heart attack shortly after getting her kicks.