Rowena's Revenge (Broadus Supernatural Society) (4 page)

“We will always be watching. We will see you in Montana!”
She yells, and then she’s out of sight. I’m flying through the meadow, the dark
storm clouds surging above. Raindrops hit my face as the wind picks me up,
spinning me in a circle as if I am trapped in a tornado. Lightning flashes,
blinding me just as a loud crack of thunder strikes me deaf; my flames are
still burning bright, trying to fight off this invisible force.

The swirling winds stop and I can feel that I’m floating, my
vision still spotting and trying to recover from the lightning as I begin to
fall; fast. I hit something hard and cold, forcing the breath from my lungs,
and my eyes fly open to stare at a ceiling, glowing with bright sunlight.

“Fuck, Row, wake up! You’re gonna burn the damn place down;
wake up!” I hear the shouts and grunts of pain through the high pitched ringing
still buzzing through my mind from the thunder, and my vision clears totally.
I’m on the floor of our hotel room, the charred bed sheet tangled around my
body as Blaine and Penton are jumping around the bed, trying to smother the
stray flames.

I shoot to my feet, reigning in my flames and patting out
the nearest smoldering spot on the bed. I’m breathing so hard; I feel as if I
might pass out, and I brace myself against the mattress. Letting the familiar
after burn tingle roll over my skin and through my joints, it causes a thin
layer of sweat to cover my flesh. I close my eyes and take a calming breath,
the conversation and words of advice from my dream powering through my mind
like a freight train.

“Row, are you okay?” Blaine’s voice breaks through, and I
snap my face up to see both Penton and him staring at me, their eyes wide and a
slight feeling of fright rolling around the room. “You were screaming and
thrashin
’ around. Are you alright?”

“I…um,” is all I can get out as I slowly move my eyes to
Penton. His white-blue eyes are roaming me slowly, and I quickly realize I’m
standing bare naked in the middle of the room, panting like a cat in heat. His
stare comes back up to mine, and I can clearly see the desire hidden behind the
ghostly color, burning as bright as my flames, and it pulls at something deep
inside, sparking a flash of desire that rolls through me like a landslide. My
legs tremble and my breath catches in my throat as our eyes remain locked, his
scent finding me and wrapping me in a blanket of lust and longing.

A sharp, shrill howl breaks through the silent moment and my
attention goes to the men before me, the tension in the room appearing and
thickening instantly. As I remain frozen in place; both from the intense moment
shared with Penton and still trying to recover from my dream, I see from the
corner of my vision as Blaine yanks his leather bomber jacket from the closet,
hopping to the door as he tugs on his boots.

A panic fills me as he reaches for the door handle, and I
rush to his side, covering his hand with mine and putting my body between him
and the door. His wolf growls, the sound vibrating in his throat as the smooth
material of his jacket brushes lightly against my bare breasts, sending a silky
wave of lightning through my chest down to my core, and I have to squeeze my
thighs together to keep from jumping in his arms and straddling my legs around
his waist, demanding that he take me up against the door.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I manage to get out after
swallowing hard, forcing the need to have his perfectly pierced cock buried
deep within me aside, for now. There are Berserkers close and looking for us,
we need to focus on surviving. I can’t have him going out there and doing
anything foolish just for me.

“I’m going out to draw them away from the Inn,” he gives me
a slight grin, meant to reassure me, but it doesn’t. He’s cocky; thinking he’s
invincible, but he’s not. His big head might get him trapped and losing him now
after what Siobhan advised me of—well, I don’t know if I would get through
that.

“Are you crazy? There are probably more than two, like there
was last night. They’ll surround and trap you. You can’t go out there alone; wait
for me to get dressed.” I start to turn to throw on some clothes when Blaine’s
large, work roughened hand wraps around my forearm just above my elbow. He
pulls me flush to his chest, his body heat seeping into my naked front and
making me want to melt from the inside out. His hazel eyes roam my face, and a
sexy little smirk lifts up the one corner of his perfectly luscious lips.

“Don’t worry ‘bout me, kitten,” he whispers, pulling my face
up to his and erasing all the worry I had with one swipe of his lips along
mine, then nipping on my ear as he pulls me into a hug. “Penton and I talked
over a plan while you were healing. I’m gonna take them out into the woods,
find your scent, and lead them off in a confusing path. Then I’ll meet you two
on the road.”

“But then where will we go? Are we going to just walk out of
town?” We don’t have a car or money to buy a car, so where do these two jerks
think we are going on foot?

I remove my ear from Blaine’s teasing and look him in the
eyes again, seeing the mischievous glint and the smirk still on his lips. I
swing my head over to Penton. His tall, lean, and muscular figure is just
standing by the window, his arms crossed over his chest as he grins at me,
shaking his head and looking back out the window.

“What?” I say, as Blaine slowly pushes me away,
straightening his jacket and reaching for the door handle again.

“The Inn keeper is going to,
kinda
,
loan
us her car.” Penton tries to hide his smile, but as I come up to his
side, the silly little grin is on full display as he looks out the frost
covered window.

Stepping in front of him, I’m all too suddenly reminded that
I am still naked as the chill seeps through the panes and
hits
my skin, giving birth to goose-bumps all the way down to my toes, and I shiver.
As I peer out the window to the driveway below, covered with at least two feet
of freshly fallen snow, I see a brand new looking
Landrover
sitting there, just waiting for us.

“I really don’t want to know what you guys did or said to
that nice old lady to get her to give us her car, do I?” I spare Penton a quick
look before I feel his arms wrap around me, his fingers lacing together over my
shoulder as he pulls me into his chest. His touch alone sets me on fire, and I
take a deep breath to keep the flames from bursting onto my skin.

“I just used my charm.” Blaine laughs from the doorway, and
Penton swings me around just in time to see Blaine wink and shut the door
behind him. I hear his footsteps fade down the hall and then the stairs, his
running form disappearing into the swirling tornadoes of snow as he hits the
driveway, headed for the trees. Just as the black leather of his bomber jacket
fades into the pines, another shrill howl echoes through the room, seeming to
vibrate on the panes of the window, and I can’t help but shiver slightly from
fear as Penton squeezes me.

“He will be just fine,” he whispers, his voice low and laced
with a deep caring; so deep it makes me turn and look up at him. I search his
face for who this man is and what he means to me. He’s still watching the snow
out the window as I take in his regal looking features. The dark, short, and
kind of spiky hair that matches the color of the five o’clock shadow on his
face; the perfect nose, void of any breaks or scars, sitting between those dark
lash framed eyes. Then there are his lips… hell, just looking at them quickly
makes me want to take a serious chunk out of him right here, right now.

I’m dreaming and lusting over what I can do to him when I
snap out of it and he’s looking down at me, smiling wickedly. I realize that
I’ve sunken into his arms, my bare chest resting against his dark green thermal
shirt and my breathing is rapid, my heart beating like I’ve just run a
marathon.

I can feel his is doing the same, and as I look back up at
him, I see his want to give into the lust warring with his self-control, his
pupils dilating and then shrinking, his nostrils flaring, no doubt taking in
the scent of my desire as it grows with the heat between my legs. My leopard is
purring and slightly chuffing, telling me she is content and safe with this
man, or whatever he is, and before I know it I’m up on my tiptoes with my lips
only a whisper from his.

“Rowena,” he whispers, a strange thick, Scottish like
tinge
coming to his voice as he cups my cheek, brushing my
hair behind my ear. I lean into his warm touch, closing my eyes as his thumb
runs over my bottom lip. His touch quickly leaves me and I’m left with the cold
breeze from the window, and I open my eyes, seeing him an arm’s length away.
“We need to…uh.” He clears his throat as he adjusts the waist band of his
jeans, no doubt trying to make the enormous bulge I can see more comfortable to
deal with. “We need to get going. Blaine will be stranded if we don’t get a
move on.”

“Right,” I mumble, not hiding the deflated feeling that
fills me. I see the hurt look in his eyes when I walk past him, not sparing him
a second as I pull on the warmest clothing I have; throwing everything else
into the few grocery bags that we have laying around.

Pulling on my non-blood stained pair of knee high boots, I
feel the soreness of my calf, but ignore it and grab the bags, following Penton
out into the hall and down the stairs. The sweet, elderly Inn keeper, Ruby, is
sitting at the front desk, knitting what I think might be the hundredth pair of
mittens I’ve seen her work on in the last forty-eight hours. She looks over the
glasses on her nose, and a wide smile fills her face.

“
Leavin
’,
dears?”
She grins, standing slowly and sliding a set of keys across the
mahogany top as Penton gives her a handsome grin. Her hand covers his as he
takes the keys, and she gives him a gentle pat, bringing her big brown eyes to
me. “Now, you take care of these two handsome men, Hon. See that they never
leave the house hungry, or the bedroom, you know,” she elbows me slightly while
lowering her voice, “
un-satisfied
.”

“I won’t.” I almost choke on air as she pats my hand,
kissing me quickly on the cheek as Penton waves from the front door. I turn
back before hitting the cold, and give the sweet lady a final wave. She smiles,
picking up the unfinished right hand of the mittens she is working on and
settling back into her chair, giving me a picture of the grandmother I had
always wanted when I was a child.

As I hear the door close behind me, I turn my face up to the
white sky, feeling the flakes of snow hitting my cheeks as I silently pray. I
don’t really know who I’m praying to, maybe Siobhan and Kade, but it’s just to
anyone who will listen. I ask them to make sure this sweet lady, and anyone
else who has and will help the three of us get to wherever Penton is taking us
safely, don’t come under any harm for doing so.

A sharp, bitter wind kicks up around me, forcing the flakes
against my face and neck as it flings my hair wildly. I swear I can hear an
“I’ll
do the best I can”
on the breeze, and as I look to the
Landrover
,
Penton has his eyes closed, his head cocked to the side, as if he hears it too.
He eyes snap open, locking on me, and he smiles softly, nodding for me to hurry
up. I do, jumping from the steps and making it to the passenger door before he
starts the engine.

Settling into the heated leather seat, I snap the safety
belt into place. I don’t know what I did to whatever force created the universe
to deserve this fucked up, gypsy, dangerous life, but it’s what I have, and I
need to make it right. I need to make sure no one else gets hurt because of me.

“It’s not your fault,” Penton says, covering my hand with
his and squeezing my fingers. “The vampire, he tried to hurt you, right? He
deserved his death. There really is no call for retaliation like this.
Whatever, or whoever, is behind the Berserkers, and whatever else might come
after us, isn’t just because of the Master’s death.” He brings my hand to his
lips and kisses my knuckles lightly, sending a ripple of warmth that travels
right down to my core, making me squirm a bit in my seat, and making him laugh.

“Let’s get out of here,” he grins, throwing the SUV into
reverse out of the driveway, and then flooring it in drive, heading out of the
quaint little town toward the rural highway to meet up with Blaine.

He may say the words, but this is my fault. If I had kept my
temper and powers in check, we wouldn’t be in this mess and we could just be
happy. But no, I always find a way to fuck everything up.

That’s me.
Rowena “Fuck Up” Byrne.
Happy to meet you.

~~~~

Penton

“Where is he?” Rowena hisses, squirming in the passenger
seat beside me with her face almost plastered against the window, her breath
fogging the cold glass. She puts her hand up to the glass as if she is reaching
out into the woods, searching for Blaine, and I can feel the hurt running
through her from the worry.

I’m feeling it too. He should’ve met us by now, and I’ve
been out in the surrounding tree line, searching for his scent but finding
nothing. Nothing on the wind either. No
howls,
or even
growls. Absolutely nothing,
which worries me even more.
I take my eyes off of my beautiful mate for only a second and peer out the windshield
to the still rising sun, seeing it almost at the ten o’clock position.

We’ve sat here, making small talk and it’s been nice, but
her worry has been growing. Even through me telling her a little about her
half-sister, Siofra, and her family, I could tell that Rowena was only half
listening, but her heart did skip a beat when I mentioned that Siofra is
anxious to meet her. I can sense that Rowena is nervous about all of this
information being thrown at her about having a family now, and two mates; I
can’t imagine the questions she must have.