Memory of an Immortal Heart (Immortal Hearts) (49 page)

She
froze, noting the odd – almost awed – expression in Brand’s eyes.
Panic shuttered through her as she remembered what had led to this. What had
led to
now
. “Is this okay? Or do Rainey’s memories…”

Brand
blinked, clearly startled. His hands smoothed up over her ribcage, halting just
below her breasts. He traced a slow line there with his thumbs, heightening the
wet hunger in Eva’s body. His voice was ragged when he responded. “Rainey’s
memories are Rainey’s memories, Eva. They aren’t my memories. What we’re doing
is about
us
.” He gave a faint smile. “You ground me, Eva. Better than
Khael or Seth’s fists ever have.”

The
anxiety that had strung tight inside Eva relaxed.
Thank god
. She braced
herself on his shoulders and leaned back down, licking his throat before she
nibbled her way across his collarbone.

“Then
what’s the matter?” she murmured.

Brand’s
fingers wrapped over the back of her neck. Then, quietly, “I can see your soul,
Eva.”

She
stared and then, as his hand came around, it twined with something in the air
and she saw…it was the
blood mist
, the
Changing mist
.

And,
Eva realized, it was coming from her – her mouth, her nose. As Brand’s
hand dipped down to caress the wetness between her thighs and send another
shudder of pleasure through her, she realized: it was coming from there too. “
What…
I
don’t…”

“It’s
normal, Eva,” he said softly, with a fierce tenderness as his hand came up to
cradle her cheek; he met her eyes. “This is what happens when you’re open to
the bond. This is how we complete the bond.”

Eva
breathed out and watched, unsettled, as the red-black mist flowed from her. “I
don’t feel like I’m about to Change.”

“You
aren’t. You’re about to tie yourself to me.”

“Then
why aren’t you…”

“Because
you haven’t Marqued me yet.”

Oh
.

And
suddenly, that was all she wanted to see. She wanted to see Brand with the
Changing mist surrounding him – she wanted to lick his lips and pull that
mist into herself. She wanted to make him hers as he made her, his.

“Then
I’m going to Marque you,” she whispered and leaned to kiss his chest.

Those
fingers tightened, pulling her tight. Eva smoothed her palms over his taut
flesh, determined to do this right. If there was one thing she ever did right,
it was going to be this. Carefully, she set her teeth over his chest and
watched the blood mist rise about her as a frightened excitement pulsed through
her veins, and…

Brand’s
fingers tightened on her nape, pulling her back at the last moment.

Eva’s
heart froze in her chest, shock shooting through her followed by an immediate
sense of horror. She stared down at Brand; his face was serious, almost grave,
strained with tension and something else. His eyes were pure ruby.
He
changed his mind. He doesn’t want me to Marque him
. Brand didn’t want…

Brand
pulled her face to his own and roughly kissed her, sharply inhaling her into
his lungs. “Evita. I want to be inside you.”

“What…”

“When
you Marque me, I want –
need
– to be inside you.”

The
demand shivered through Eva, unbearably erotic. But, “I’ve never taken top
before.” She knew her cheeks were red as Brand gripped her hips, using his
strength to raise her up over his thick erection so that it nudged the entrance
to her body. Dark mist flowed between them as Eva steadied herself against him.
“
Brand
.”

“Eva.”

Okay.
She
wanted
him inside her body too. She wanted to feel Brand with
everything she was. Eva bit her lip, met his eyes, then reached down and slowly
guided him inside.

She
shuddered against the long heavy slide of his shaft, mewling softly as he
pulled her body down tight against his hips, sealing them together as he thrust
upward into her unbearably sensitive depths. Eva’s focus fractured, everything
in her centered upon the throbbing pressure that pierced her. Her hand dropped
down and she steadied herself against his chest as she panted. Brand swore,
then slid his palms to her thighs in a viselike grip.

“Christ
Eva, do it quick…”

“I
didn’t want to do this quick…”

“I
swear to you Eva, we’ll take our time later.” Brand’s eyes were pure ruby, his
jaw a knot of muscle; his lips were peeled back, baring his teeth in a
half-snarl as the sweat trickled down his forehead and beaded his chest. He was
beautiful. Eva wanted to lick the entirety of his golden skin, to taste him in
her mouth. She was aware her blood mist surrounded them now completely. Slowly,
Eva levered herself forward, down against his chest. The movement pulled at his
erection and they both groaned, Brand thrusting upward with his hips so Eva
cried out, shuddering at the pleasure, clawing his flesh.

“Marque
me, Eva.” Brand thrust into her again, sharp and deep, before drawing out
slowly, only to repeat the movement, his teeth bared in a raw snarl.

Eva
focused on his chest, brushed her fingers over the spot she had chosen. She
licked her lips, licked her teeth, crying out softly as Brand thrust inside
her.
God
…

“
Marque
…”

Eva’s
fingers slid up, stopped Brand’s mouth, and he lightly caught them with his
teeth.

Then
she kissed the spot over Brand’s heart, licked it once, and as he thrust, she
sank her teeth into him.

The
world exploded.

Brand’s
blood exploded into her mouth, Eva exploded around Brand. The red-black of
Brand’s blood mist – his soul, his essence – erupted about them
like a dark cloud and tangled into her blood mist. It settled along her flesh,
it tangled along her body as she gasped him into her lungs…and screamed as a
wave of pure dark sensual pleasure spiked through her entire being.

Beneath
her Brand roared, bucking, and she found herself crying out again – and
again, arching back sharply as he came, as the mists twined and knotted about
them, as their souls were bound.

God
.

She
could live like this forever.

Several
minutes later, Brand murmured, “Shortest ride of my life,” as he panted beneath
her. Eva licked the blood from his chest, kissing the spot where the dusky
sworls of his Marque were already forming, and smiled as she felt him shiver.
The mists had dissipated – but she felt him now. She felt his presence
like an extension of her soul – steady and sated, fierce and loving,
exquisitely
hers
.

“Mmm.
But a fast recovery time,” she murmured in response, swiping another lick
across the shadowy Marque.
Mine
, she thought, with a possessive
pleasure.
Mine
.

Brand
snorted. “If you say so,” he muttered, and Eva laughed.

They
lay in a relaxed silence, simply feeling the ease of being together. Eva closed
her eyes, pressed another kiss to Brand’s chest, and sighed. He tasted of salt
and pleasure. Sunlight and freedom.

“No
more running?” Brand asked, the words a low purr, his hand curving down her
spine, over her buttocks to cup her.

Eva
smiled. For the first time in a long time, she knew that everything was
right
.
That she would be okay, that her sister would be okay, that she was exactly
where she belonged.

“Only
if you chase me,” she whispered.

Brand
gave a low, growling laugh and turned her onto her back as he rolled above her.
He kissed Eva’s Marque, then laughed again as he raised his head to peer down
at her. Eva traced the smile on his lips, loving the golden lights in his dark
blue eyes. Her heart expanded into her throat; Brand looked so carefree. So
happy
.

But Eva
was happy too. “So. Will you chase me?” Her words came out choked, wet.

Brand
gazed at her. His lips curved wickedly. “I suppose I can do that.”

“Always?”

“Forever.”

A tall,
slender woman with a sheet of ice-blonde hair and warm brown eyes strode into a
closed conference room in Washington D. C. Her glance to the secretaries was
enough to let her pass, her nod at the guards guaranteed there would be no
interference. Now, she straightened the cuffs of her gray silk suit as she
swept her gaze about the room and gathered the small handful of high-ranking
government officials into her grasp.

“Gentlemen,
I have some findings you will be interested in,” she smiled, and as one, they
leaned forward.

So
easy.

Rohe
sat.

“The
dossiers, Strategoi,” Rohe commanded, and the officials watched as a blonde man
dressed in an expensive Italian suit silently passed her a stack of folders,
which she sent around the room. The Strategoi had chosen to stand at his
mistress’s shoulder, and when he stepped back, he automatically dropped into a
guard position that caused more than one official to sagely conclude
“ex-military.”

The
lead official, a man few had ever heard the name of, much less seen his face,
looked back to Rohe. He, for one, wasn’t fooled by the warmth in her dark brown
eyes. But neither did he care about what lurked beneath. “Your research has
progressed, Dr. Nightchild?”

“Remarkably.”

“Why
should we fund you? Money is hard to come by in Washington these days.”

Rohe’s
smile chilled as she handed the man a dossier. “Because my research will
save
you money.”

The man
looked at the dossier, paged roughly through the pictures, glanced at the lab
readings. “What is this?”

“
This
,”
Rohe tapped a long polished fingernail against the pages he held, “is your
profit, General. Beta X10-6 was developed through extensive mapping of
certain…unique…genetic structures.
This
is what happens when Beta X10-6
is injected into humans.” She tapped the data sets next to the pictures.
“Vastly improved healing, with improved clotting of traumatic injuries, longer
timeframes for the viability of damaged tissues and increased retention of
damaged nerve function. None of the side-effects of other, more synthetic,
substances. I believe Washington has been concerned over its troop casualties?”

Murmurs
of interest.

Rohe
smiled. “This, gentlemen, is your solution. Imagine it in the field – it
could save more lives than you could imagine. And it could save
you
more
money than you could imagine. Think of what your lives would be like if you
simply didn’t
have
to run all of those PR campaigns.”

“And
your overall goal for this research?” a man asked from the back of the room,
his gaze devouring the results. There was a close-held excitement to him. “The
test subjects?”

“Permanently
enhanced healing in humans.” Rohe glanced over her shoulder and smiled at Corin
King. “And do not fear, gentlemen. My associate has already located a
most-eager group of volunteers.”

“If you
can prove this, then yes,” a third man, a scientist, muttered staring at the
dossier, “the clearance, the facilities, the funding you’ve requested…most
definitely
yes
.”

The
officials descended on the research, muttering excitedly among themselves.

Rohe
glanced over her shoulder and smiled at her Strategoi. It was a bare, cold,
curving of her lips. And this time her eyes were absolutely devoid of all
warmth, all life.

Only
two people in that room knew those results didn’t belong to anything human.

Only
two people in that room knew Rohe didn’t care any more for human healing than
she did for healing cats, dogs or rats.

And
only two people in that room knew Beta X10-6 – as it was described
– did not exist, would not exist, and would never exist. That such had
never been Rohe’s goal in allying with the shadow branches of Washington. Rohe
was after much more than healing, much more than humanity, much more than
political gain: Rohe wanted power. Real power – old power.

Old
magic
.

As for
the rest?

Rohe’s
gaze flashed red.

No one
cared.

For
more stories and deleted scenes go to
www.KitaBell.com

For a
sneak peak at Joshua’s story in book two of the Immortal Hearts series, keep
reading…

Chapter
1

She was
more than he had expected from this little hole-in-the-wall pizza joint.

Joshua
Elisaie tilted the bottle back before he settled his broad shoulders against
the solid brick of the restaurant’s corner wall. The room was pleasantly warm
and filled with the low rumble of music and conversation. A line of colorful
Christmas lights had been up strung along the bar, in keeping with the season.
The beer was rich, dark, well-brewed. Good.