Tempest of Vengeance (34 page)

“Ours,” Devlin supplied, inclining his head
at Lash. “You’re ours, Sar.”

“Yes,” I said, contentedly. “I am.”

Lash started the SUV, and drove us the rest
of the way up to the house. We parked inside, and got out. But
before we got to the door, Lash backed me against the garage wall,
and began to undo his pants.

“Can’t wait to get upstairs?” Devlin said,
laughing.

“No,” Lash said brusquely, giving him a
get-lost-look. “Why don’t you go check on our guards for me?”

“Okay,” Devlin replied with a chuckle. He
went through the door to the kitchen, closing it behind him.

Lash turned back to me. “Is it okay?” he said
seriously, even as he trembled beneath my hands. I pulled him into
my arms and kissed him hard. Lash wasted no more time. He pulled
off my underwear, and pushed down his jeans, baring his engorged
penis. I reached down for him, wrapping my hands around the hot
shaft. He let out an eager and excited hiss, then kissed me as if
he would devour me before breaking off to speak. “That day, in here
with you, I wanted so much for you to tell me that you wanted me
one last time,” he said, looking into my eyes. “To tell me that it
didn’t matter what anyone said, that you wanted me to take you
again right here, that you were dying for it, to feel me in
you.”

“I am dying to feel you. I want you in me,
Mate. Now take me!” I said coarsely.

Lash shuddered in my arms. He picked me up,
his hands under my rear, and stepped closer to me. In one motion,
he impaled me, letting out a loud hiss as he entered me. Then he
was loving me, and I lost all sense of time and place. There was
only him, and me, and my love for him. For the first time in a long
time, we came together, shouting as we gripped each other, as I
contracted around him, helping him to empty his seed in me.

Lash eased me down the wall, until I was
standing again. I held him close to me, kissing him gently. I felt
him softening slightly, and then he slipped out of me, easing
himself back into his jeans with a contented sigh. He buttoned his
pants, and helped me put on my underwear, holding it out for me so
I could step into it. Lash kissed me again, and then he was lifting
me, one of his arms under my legs, and the other under my back.

I gave him a funny look, as I grabbed on to
his neck with my arms. “What are you doing? I can walk just
fine.”

“You’re my mate,” he hissed meaningfully.
“The only woman I’ll ever be mate to, the only one I’ve ever wanted
like that. And I’m taking you to our bed, so I can show you the
best way I know just how much you mean to me.”

I reached out and brought his forehead to
mine, then let out a deep contented breath. “You should never think
that you have to watch your words, that you don’t know just what to
say to me,” I said in a breaking, uneven voice. “Because I can tell
you exactly when I first loved you. It was that moment you told me
you wanted to die in my arms.”

Lash looked at me in surprise. He walked in
through the doorway, kicking the door shut behind us before he
began to walk up the stairs. “I thought maybe it was after the pool
table incident,” he said with a laugh, his dark eyes flashing.

“That helped,” I giggled, stroking his hair.
“And saving me, and talking with me about things we both like. And
always respecting me enough to ask my permission, to make sure that
having sex was what I wanted, too. No one else has ever done
that.”

“I hadn’t done that before with a woman,
ever. Waiting each time for her to tell me it was okay, I mean. But
I felt it was right to ask you,” Lash said, his tone hesitant. He
settled me on the bed.

Devlin came in a few seconds later, shutting
the door behind him. “Nick wanted to talk to you,” he said in a
serious tone. “There’s been some suspicious activity near our
western field.”

That field is over near the back of
Hayden’s land, a good mile away or more. There’s no close road.
I shifted in bed, suddenly uneasy.

“What kind of activity?” Lash asked,
immediately all business.

“Looks like just some tents,” Devlin
finished. “But who camps in the middle of winter?”

“Could be poachers, after deer,” Lash said,
turning to me. “I’ll be right back,” he said tenderly, stroking my
cheek with his callused hand. “Wait for me?”

I nodded.

Lash strode out and closed the door. Devlin
grabbed me in his arms in two seconds, and suddenly he was singing
to me, holding me in his arms. He reached up with my hands to place
them around his neck, and put his hands at my waist. Then, we were
dancing.

“The strands in your eyes that color them
wonderful

Stop me and steal my breath.

They’re emeralds from mountains, and frost of
the sky

Never revealing their depth.

Tell me that we belong together

Dress it out with the trappings of love.

I’ll be captivated, I’ll hang from your
lips,

Instead of the gallows of heartache that hang
from above.

I’ll be your crying shoulder,

I’ll be a love suicide—”

I looked up at him lovingly and finished the
song with him. “And I’ll be better when I’m older. I’ll be the
greatest fan of your life.” We both held the last note, and then
let it fade into silence.

I looked up into his melting golden eyes.

“Will you?” he asked softly. “Will you love
me forever?”

“I already do,” I said, bringing his lips
down on mine.

The kiss was gentle, and Devlin drew back to
sing me the rest of the song. This time I joined him in singing it.
When we were done, I noticed Lash leaning against the wall.

“I wanted to hear you both,” he said, giving
me a surprised look of pride. “Sar, I didn’t know you could
sing.”

“I’m pretty good, but Dev’s much better,” I
said, blushing at his praise.

“You were really good,” Lash rectified. “Will
you sing something else?”

“What?” I said, blushing hard now.

“Something that’s happy. Nothing about lost
love,” Lash offered. “Despite Dev’s extensive repertoire, I don’t
know many songs myself, if they aren’t from the seventies and
earlier. And I don’t know any mushy...um, love songs.”

I thought for a moment. “I do have a song
I’ve been meaning to sing for Dev for a while.”

Devlin looked afraid, but smiled bravely.
“Please do, Oathed One.”

“Be advised, I’m going to garble some of the
words,” I warned. “I haven’t heard it in years.”

“What’s the artist, and title?” Devlin asked.
“I can sing it with you, even if it’s a woman; I’ll just sing a
lower octave.”

“Pat Benetar,” I said. “Can you guess the
song?”

Lash didn’t get my teasing dig, but Devlin
did, by his mortified look. “Not ‘Heartbreaker’ I hope?” he
whispered sadly.

“No, though I’ve wanted to sing you that on
more than one occasion,” I smirked, feeling only a small pang at
his discomfort. “What did you just ask me to tell you? That ‘We
Belong’, of course.”

“Ah,” Devlin said, relieved. “I can remember
that one.”

He and I took a breath and began.

“Many times I’ve tried to tell you, many
times I’ve cried alone.

As always, I’m surprised how well you cut my
feelings to the bone.

Don’t want to leave you really, I’ve invested
too much time

To give you up that easy, to the doubts that
complicate your mind.

We belong to the light, we belong to the
fire,

We belong to the sound of the words we’ve
both fallen under,

Whatever we deny or embrace, for worse or for
better,

We belong, we belong, we belong
together.”

We finished the song, and Devlin kissed me
gently.

“I was wondering at first if that was a love
song,” Lash said thoughtfully. “It sounded bad to start with. But
the end was nice.”

“I’m glad it wasn’t the other song,” Devlin
said with relief. “I’ve heard that one too many times as it
is.”

“You
are
the right kind of sinner to
release my inner fantasy,” I said in a lilting tone.

Devlin clapped his hand over my mouth, making
a face. Lash laughed, garnering a look from Devlin that was part
annoyance but also part pride.

“I’m ready for bed,” I said, gently removing
his hand. “Are you going to stay up, or not?”

“I need to make one last pass around, and
then I’ll be back,” Lash replied. “Titus sent an owl to spy on the
tents. Titus will watch through its eyes, and wake me, if it’s
anything of concern. T’s coming for sparring in the morning.”

“You must like him, to still be teaching
him,” Devlin commented casually.

“It’s nice, having more than one friend,”
Lash hissed defensively. “T’s a good kid, not to mention my mate’s
son. His safety always mattered to me because of Sar, and that he’s
your nephew, but it matters a lot more now, after what’s happened.”
He left quickly, shutting the door behind him

I sank down on the edge of the bed, my
memories hitting me like a pile of bricks. Devlin sat down beside
me, putting his arm around me. “Do you want to talk about it? Would
you rather go and talk to Rosalyn? Titus said she’s very good.”

“I’m okay,” I said softly, pushing my agony
over Devon’s death and Elle’s rape back under it’s careful
wrapping. “I’m not ready to talk about it, Dev, but I will be
eventually. Time is the only thing that’s going to heal that
wound.”

“Take all the time you need,” Devlin
consoled. “Lash and I are here for you.”

“I need to clean up,” I said, standing and
stretching, “and put on my nightgown.”

“Don’t dress for bed. I’d prefer you slept
naked, Sar. Lash would, too.”

That was blunt. “All right.”

Devlin laughed. “It feels good, to have your
skin against mine,” he said with longing. “You’re always so warm,
and it feels so good to me, because I’m so cool.” He stopped
abruptly. “Would you like it, if I made myself warmer?” he offered.
“I can, if you like?”

“You’re fine as you are. But thank you for
being considerate.”

Devlin took my hand and kissed it. “I’ll try
to be considerate always,” he said lovingly. “But tell me if I’m
not. Lash is right, that I sometimes enjoy being, um, hurtful. I
don’t want to hurt you. It’s good that he is part of us, so that he
can keep me in line. And being jealous is good for me, too. I
appreciate you more.”

I thought that odd, but let it slide. It was
a very Devlin-like comment.

Devlin was curled up beside me in bed when
Lash came in a few minutes later and began undressing. “Well?”
Devlin said, annoyed. “Was it anything to worry about?”

“Titus is still watching them through the
owl’s eyes, but they are just sleeping,” Lash said with a yawn.
“He’ll wake us, if they do anything. Rip will take over at dawn
with a crow, but unless they make a move, there’s nothing to see.
And I’m tired out.”

The three of us snuggled together, and fell
asleep.

Chapter
Twelve

The next morning, when I awoke, I awoke
alone. I was scared at once, as it was only eight or so, and
shrugged on some clothes as fast as I could. I wanted to just put
on my bathrobe, and go looking for Lash and Devlin, but if there
was trouble, I wanted to make sure I was both armed, and dressed
for running.

Once I had on my knife, and my new explosive
bullets gun buckled on, I stepped into my sneakers, and threw open
the door. Walking quickly downstairs, I went into the kitchen to
see Serena and Nick having breakfast. I saw before she looked away
that whatever feelings she had for T were not in evidence this
morning: there was too much guilt on her face. Nick on the other
hand was grinning ear to ear, a defiant look in his eye as he
stared back at me. I hoped Serena had told T about how she felt
before doing this. But even if she hadn’t, I didn’t have time to
worry about that this morning. “Have you seen Lash, or Devlin or
Venus?” I asked, worried.

“Devlin is in the ballroom with Venus,
playing some music for her on the piano,” Nick said easily. “Lash
is with Titus, looking into those men who were camped in the field
last night.”

“Was there an attack?”

“No,” Nick said with a shrug. “They packed up
and left this morning. But Lash went to check it out anyway.”

“It’s nothing,” Titus rumbled from behind me,
his bass voice coarser than usual. “Some hunters poaching deer. We
found a pile of guts, and some evidence of a salt lick, a piece of
bloody rope, and a lot of blood, deer blood.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. I felt even more
relieved to see Lash come in behind Titus and shoot me a quick
smile.

“He’s right, it’s deer blood,” Lash said,
sitting down in the nearest chair and pulling me down on his lap.
“How about breakfast, Sweetness?”

“Sure,” I said. “But I should go see if Venus
wants any.”

“She already ate,” Devlin said, striding in
behind a smiling Venus dressed breathtakingly in gold satin. “I’m
glad to hear it was nothing.”

Nick got up, and took Serena’s hand, and
without one word, he led her out of the kitchen, and up the stairs.
A door shut a few seconds later upstairs.

“Well, I can tell spring is coming,” Titus
rumbled, his teeth like knives in his grinning face. We all burst
out laughing. “I need to get moving. I’ve got to take my future
daughter-in-law to a cake tasting, and later to pick out shoes,” he
said. “Call me, if you need me, but not unless its an emergency.
Today is my day off.”

“Agreed,” Devlin said, nodding once. “Rip
will be around, as T said he didn’t have any meetings this next
week, because of the holidays.”

That reminded me, Elle was due for her next
therapy session that day. I gave her a quick call, and arranged to
bring her to see Ros about noon. Then, I fixed Lash a speedy
breakfast, after which he excused himself, saying he would go later
with me to the therapy to guard us. I told him it wasn’t necessary,
but both he and Devlin insisted. He left right after as he said he
had some target practice to do, giving me a quick good-bye kiss.
For a while, I sat with Devlin and V in the ballroom, and Dev
played us both some music on the piano. It was nice, to hear the
crystal notes so beautifully played, and know they were only for V
and me. I knew I had work to do on the computer, but put it off.
This was something like a honeymoon for me, and damn it, I was
going to enjoy it.