Steal Me From Heaven (24 page)

I lower my legs off his back. He stands. His smile turns quickly hostile, and I see his wings expand behind him. His spears emerge from the tips. I close my eyes for a brief second. The sight of him like this is frightening. He turns quickly around. I see black wings with shiny blades flashing before I hear the sound of metal clanking together. Jacob and Malachi are fighting right in front of me. They could kill each other. I sit up in the bed and shout at the both of them. No one is looking at me. They are cutting each other to pieces. After I have seen enough of this behavior, I rise from the bed and try to leave. I feel my shoulder get slashed. By whose blade, I do not know.

When I wake, my head is in Malachi’s lap. His light is all around me, and his still naked manhood is under my head. I am drinking Jacob’s blood from his wrist. He is sitting beside me. My eyes are looking between the two of them. No one is injured or dying. I wish that I could just disappear. I push Jacob’s wrist away. I do not wish to drink too much now. I prefer to drink from him during sex. I lift my head and try to crawl under the covers.

“No,” Jacob says as he grabs my wrist to stop me. “I haven’t seen you in such a long time. Please do not hide from me now.” I turn my gaze to Malachi, who is getting up off the bed.

“How did you get past the door anyway?” I ask as I see Malachi leave to find some clothes.

“What do you mean? I just walked up the steps and heard him hurting you. After a few minutes I knew it was pleasure instead so I got outraged and charged after him.”

“But there is a force field, and he was only hurting me at first. How long have you been there?” I realize that Malachi probably held him at bay until he finished having sex with me. He must have been aggressive because he knew that Jacob was on his way here. My temper flares at the thought.

“I know you well enough to know that he satisfied you completely.” Jacob stands and walks away. “Have you made your choice?” he asks me with his back to me.

“Turn around,” I say as I get up to move towards him. When he faces me, I kiss him. He responds by taking me in his arms. I know that I smell of Malachi, and I also know that he detests the taste of him on my lips. His kisses are hard, almost bruising my mouth. My lips are swelling in response. He backs me up towards the bed. I panic. I cannot do this in Malachi’s bed. Realizing that I have on the necklace, I reach up and remove it. While placing it on the bedside table, I notice that the blue pearl is now a dull gray color. My thoughts quickly turn to Jacob. I can read his mind now that I have had his blood, but he cannot read mine. He wants to bite me so he knows for sure that he is the one I want.

“Jacob, I cannot do this here, just as I could not stay with Malachi at your house.”

“You mean our house,” he reminds me.

I cringe at my choice of words. Malachi walks back into the room in a pair of shorts, and he is carrying a waterproof bag. “I have to go make preparations for the procedure. We will begin at dusk. You have permission for the use of my room for the day. Do with it as you wish. Jacob, I am truly sorry for my behavior. Marion is yours. I acknowledge you as her mate.” Malachi sees the necklace on the table and sighs. He knows that I took it off. “The stone may not shine anymore, but you should wear it. I may need to make it glow once more for you.” He leaves through the door and jumps into the water.

“What does that mean?” I ask Jacob.

“He did not tell you what the necklace represents?” After I shake my head no, he tells me. “Malachi placed his essence into that stone. If you were to die, his soul would enter you and revive you.”

“But what would that mean? I do not understand how he could be living without his soul.”

“He would have to die in order to bring you back to life from a total death.” I gasp at the knowledge.

“So when Malachi was dying, that is why Gerald told me to put on the necklace and make love to him. Once I started there was a light that shot from my chest to his heart.”

“I would assume that his essence is no longer in the stone. The fact that he hasn’t replaced it yet means that either he is too
weak to do so or chooses not to at this time.” He takes my hand in his. “Marion, I cannot make love to you with you smelling like him, and I choose not to before he performs this procedure on you. He will know if I touch you, and he does not need those thoughts running around in his head while he is cutting you open and snapping your bones.”

“Will you be there?” I ask.

“I will stay if you insist and only if he doesn’t mind. It will ultimately be his choice. Your life is in his hands. I have to trust him and so do you.”

“Will you hold me?” I ask him.

“Of course.” He climbs into bed and settles under the covers. I rest my head on his chest and wrap my arm around him. I breathe in his scent. He smells masculine, woodsy, and of the sea. I know that he has been to the estate because of the smell of pine trees.

“How did you get here?” I ask.

“Deborah transported me.”

I scowl at the mention of her name and the fact that they embraced so closely during the teleporting process.

“Does that bother you?” He must have noticed my reaction.

“It shouldn’t, considering, but yes, it does upset me.”

“Good, at least I know you are still territorial towards me.”

“Jacob, I love you. Frankly, I’m surprised you didn’t throw me up against the wall and reclaim me even with him here.”

“The thought did cross my mind, but I’ve waited so long for what I want to do to you. I am not going to rush things now. Plus, I believe we have another wedding coming up.”

“But that is five days from now. I can’t wait that long.”

“Marion, I need some time to adjust. Consider it foreplay.” He smiles down at me.

With everything going on, I had forgotten about what he must have gone through. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No. In time, maybe, I don’t know. It’s not something you want to hear, and I don’t want to relive it. You should probably get some rest.”

I close my eyes and snuggle up closer to him. I am almost drifting off to sleep when his voice breaks into my mind.
I didn’t smell Malachi’s blood in you when you were bleeding. Is it safe to drink from you?
I do not answer him. He does not need to hear my thoughts, and I am too tired to block them.

Jacob wakes me as the night approaches. I dread what lies ahead for me. He tells me to just put on something simple since there will be a robe waiting for me when we arrive. I hesitate to get back into the icy water. The coldness takes my breath away. I follow Jacob as he swims straight up beside the iceberg. I notice that he has reached a ladder and is now climbing to the surface. I follow. He helps me up and onto a platform. His wings are already out and ready for flight. I go to remove my shirt.

“No, I will carry you,” he tells me. I look at him standing there as the moon is rising behind him. I swear I see reddish sparks in his irises. I blink at him.

“What?” he asks as he seems uncomfortable.

“Nothing,” I comment quickly as I wrap my arms around his shoulders. He bends down and swoops up my legs. His wings create a chilling air around us. I shiver and move closer to his bare chest.

“You’re freezing.” He speeds up his flight, and we land a few moments later. I am shaking and trembling all over. Harrietta runs over with a robe as I am rushed into another carved doorway. I do not understand how anyone could survive more than an hour outside. Jacob grabs the robe and holds it out to shield my body as I remove my clothes. Once naked, he wraps the warm terry cloth material around me, and I slide my arms inside.

“Come. It’s warmer in the room.” He leads me towards a big wooden door that is somehow attached to the ice. Once inside, I am about knocked backwards by the heat. The walls are insulated to keep the ice from melting, and there are three stoves that are heating the space. In the center of the room, there is a six-foot-wide stainless steel table that is about eight feet long. Ridges in the table run lengthwise and lead to a bucket hanging on a hook at the end of the table. I gulp as I realize that the bucket is to catch my blood. The room is brightly lit.

Malachi is not there yet. I need time to warm up. Jacob wraps his arms around me from behind and draws me back into him. I lean my head towards his shoulder and close my eyes. He sways back and forth, soothing me. I jump when the door opens.

“Jacob, are you staying?” Malachi does not even look at me.

“Yes.”

“You know what I will do. You may need to hold her down. The procedure will take less time if you do one side and I the other. You will need to give her your blood since I assume that she will no longer drink from me.”

“I will do it,” Jacob answers.

“Good. Then get her in position and let’s begin.”

Jacob unties my robe and pulls it off my shoulders. He leads me to the table and helps me to lie on top of it. Surprisingly, the metal is warm beneath my skin. Malachi pulls the drape off of the first tray and and I see surgical instruments neatly lined from smallest to largest. The second tray is larger and contains the weapons and hooks. I breathe in deeply as I look at them.

Malachi turns to face me. I see his eyes graze up and down my body. Jacob looks down at the floor. “Sit up and expand your wings.” I rise to a seated position and thrust my wings out to the side. I hear Jacob draw in a breath as he sees their bluish-gray color. His hand runs down the length of the wing closest to him. I smile at him as I lay back down. The position is uncomfortable with the bulk of feathers at my back. Stretching my right wing tightly out to the side, Malachi places his hand in two locations about six inches apart.

“Look at me,” Jacob says. As soon as I turn my head, I feel pressure and then hear the snapping of bone right before the pain shoots up
my appendage. I scream in pain. Blood oozes from the break and onto the floor. Malachi grabs a steel hook and maneuvers it through my feathers and into my bone. He closes the break around it and holds it in place. I turn my head to look at Malachi in time to see him nod at Jacob. I scream as Jacob breaks the bone in my left wing. He takes a hook from the tray and repeats the process of placing it in my bone.

Just as my right wing fuses back together, Malachi moves up to the midpoint and snaps my bones again. Tears roll out of my eyes as Jacob quickly does the same to his side. I do not scream this time, but my legs are crawling up the table as I squirm in pain. After the two new hooks are in place, Malachi pauses as he grabs the thickest part of the bone closest to my head. “The humerus bone hurts the most and is the hardest to break. It will take the both of us to do one side. Come around.”

Jacob hesitates. “If you do not assist me then I will have to get out the saw. You should know that the healing is slower if I have to cut the bone.” Walking around my head, Jacob comes to my right side and grabs near my shoulder joint. Counting up to three, they each pull down. I jerk my broken wing away and sit up on the table. My voice is hoarse from screaming.

“Hold her down. We have to align the bones before she heals.” I shove Jacob away from me and swing my feet off the table. Jacob is right in my face. His eyes are simmering a red hue beneath his almost black irises. The sight reminds me of campfire embers at night.

“Lie down,” he hisses at me. He places his hand on each shoulder and lowers me to my back. I grimace as my wing shifts and the broken end pieces grind together. “Be still. Be quiet. I cannot take anymore screaming.” Malachi bites his tongue from speaking. When my bones are in the proper place and the metal hook is inserted, I do not even whimper. My body trembles, and I feel cold even though it is almost a hundred degrees in here.

Jacob walks over to the left side. Malachi stops at the head of the table and stares down into my eyes. “One more time,” he says as he brushes the hair away from my face. I nod my head up and down, signaling that I am ready. Malachi lifts his arm over my head and rests it on my chest. I hear Jacob growl low in his throat. “I have to hold her down. You need to be ready to give her your blood. Now on the count of three. One, two…” I hear the snap and shout out once more. I try to rise but Malachi holds me down with his arm across me and his hand now on my shoulder. My teeth extend, and I bite hard into his arm tearing away at his flesh.

Jacob is now standing against the door. I hear his thoughts. He is struggling to stay in the room. He wants to be here for me but the heat and my screams remind him of his torturous ordeal with Lilith. The fact that he is causing this pain in my body is too much for him. Malachi is not fighting my malicious chewing of his flesh, I release his arm. “Go,” I plead with Jacob through my clenched jaws.

“No,” he says as he steps forward. Malachi looks towards him. “I’ve got it from here,” Malachi says. “You should wait outside. She’s already swallowed my blood so your purpose here is done.” Jacob runs his fingers through his hair and then opens the door. Once he has left, Malachi places the final hook and holds my bones together to mend. I bite my bottom lip and moan in pain. My body is exhausted, my mind is in turmoil, and my heart is torn in two once again.

Malachi releases my left wing and tells me to lie still. He walks over to the sink in the corner and pours cool water and soap into a large stainless steel bowl. After getting a towel out from under the sink, he heads in my direction. I did not think that I was capable of sweating anymore, but I notice that liquid drops are pooling on my body. Malachi dips the towel in the bowl and squeezes out the excess water. Going to the head of the table, he starts by washing my face. The coolness of the cloth startles me but I relax into it quickly and close my eyes.