Embrace the Wind (24 page)

She screamed as Zane pumped into her and as their mating frequencies became one.

She held him tight, digging her nails into the muscles of his shoulders.

No words could come, not even mind-to-mind.

Zane lifted off her throat and began to roar.

She was all sensation, lost in the rapture of the moment, of Zane connected to her with his cock and his mating frequency.

She became more in that moment, more of herself, more of a shifter, more engaged with her realm. Mostly she was now and forever Zane’s blood rose. And no other mastyr could touch her.

She sensed what he was feeling as well, which was one of the benefits of the bond. She could feel the pleasure he took from having his cock buried deep, of nuzzling her neck, of making the soft grunting sounds as he kissed her face, her throat, her ears.

“You’re mine,” he murmured, nuzzling her some more.

“I’m yours.”

“And I can feel how you’re savoring my touch, my kisses, my cock inside your body.”

“This is amazing,” she whispered.

The deep sense of loneliness she’d lived with her entire life lifted from her body. She’d experienced two decades of living apart, of isolation, of sadness, but in this moment the sensation simply turned to vapor and disappeared.

Never again would she be alone. She would always have a home with Zane and they would build a life together.

~

For a long moment, Zane couldn’t put into words what he felt. Finally, he identified the sensation: He was happy. The five years of grief had ended, to be supplanted by a kind of contentment he’d never known before, not in all his long life.

Now that he’d bound his mating frequency to Olivia’s, he felt amazingly complete and deeply satisfied. At the same time, he could feel and experience what she experienced when he brushed his lips against her check, or caressed her with his hands, or what his lips felt like to her when he kissed her.

The pain that had lived in his heart was now long gone. Gone perhaps, the moment he’d sensed Olivia on the front porch of her green house in Barker’s Bend.

“I’m so glad you’re here, Olivia.” He couldn’t help that his throat had grown tight, or that one or two tears escaped his eyes.

She caught one of them and like the shifter she was, she slid her finger in her mouth. “Mmmm, like the hillside grasses near the ocean. I love your flavor, the way you smell, all the scents and tastes of you.”

He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “I have no more pain because you’re here and I don’t just mean physically.” He pressed a hand to his chest. “I mean here. I was in agony before you came. I just didn’t know how much.”

She slid her arms around his waist and dipped her hips into his. Because he was still connected to her, he moaned the pleasure of her strong shifter movement. Not surprising, he began to grow firm once more.

“Make love to me again, Zane, then do it again for the next thousand years.”

He smiled and kissed her.

Yes, he would do that for at least a thousand years and maybe more depending on how much time each was given in the world of the Nine Realms.

~

Three weeks later, Zane clutched Olivia’s hand as he stood outside the Freeport Art Gallery. One of his wife’s paintings was on an easel in the large, picture window. A small girl with long, black hair stood in the middle of a field holding a bouquet of purple wildflowers in her hands.

The painting was beautiful, like Emily, like her work had always been.

Olivia covered her hand with his. “I can feel how tense you are. Sure you’re ready?”

“I am.” He squeezed her hand. “But it’s hard as hell because this was my failure. I failed this woman.”

“Maybe you’ll find a way to make it up to her that will ease your heart and hers.”

After he’d bonded with Olivia and spent a proper amount of time in bed with her, he’d spent many nights talking over what to do about Emily. Legally, for one thing, he was still married to the woman.

In the end, the greater struggle had been with his guilt-laden feelings about having made it impossible for her to walk away from their marriage. He’d gone the entire gamut of absolute rage that she’d left without telling him, to another round of grief that she’d been so afraid of him, she’d faked her own death.

When he’d finally contacted her by phone. She’d been only mildly surprised to hear his voice, having confessed she’d always known this day would come. She’d also apologized more than once for having left as she did.

Thankfully, she’d agreed to see him.

He wanted to make peace with her and to let her know she could move back to Swanicott without fear of repercussion of any kind, if that’s what she wanted to do.

And now he was in Freeport.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and saw her standing at the end of a row of paintings. A window beyond offered a view of the docks.

She wore a flowing, green cotton gown, the kind fae women generally preferred and which suited her artistic temperament. She nodded to him, but didn’t seem particularly upset by his arrival. Instead, he noticed tight tension lines creasing the skin beside her eyes that he instinctively knew had nothing to do with him. She began moving in his direction.

She was as lovely as he remembered, with long flowing brown hair and blue eyes much like his own.

He waited with Olivia near the front door, still holding her hand, only now his heart raced.

When Emily drew close, he shook his head and began, “I’m so sorry, Em. Like I said on the phone, I was a brute. If I’d understood—”

“It’s fine. Sweet Goddess, it’s fine. Because of what I’ve done, you have nothing to apologize for.”

She glanced at Olivia. Zane took the hint and made the introduction.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Emily said.

Olivia nodded. “And you.”

Zane had told Emily he had a new woman in his life and she’d sounded genuinely happy for him.

But when Emily’s lips quivered and tears filled her eyes, Zane didn’t know what to think. He was so surprised that he glanced at Olivia whose green eyes were wide. She shrugged as though she, too, didn’t have a clue what was distressing Emily.

“Hey,” he asked quietly. “Why are you upset?”

Suddenly, she simply covered her face with her hands and burst into tears.

Again, he glanced at Olivia.
I don’t know what the hell’s going on.

Did she say anything on the phone when you spoke to her?

No. Nothing.

Once more, Olivia shrugged.

Zane cleared his throat. “Emily, will you please tell me what’s going on?”

She finally stopped weeping and met his gaze. “I know I don’t have the right to ask, but I need your help.”

“If it’s within my power, I’ll help in any way I can. I owe you that.” He wondered if she was having financial difficulties.

“It’s your daughter, Zane. I don’t know what to do with her anymore. She’s completely out of control and she’s only five.” More tears, almost hysterical now, her face once more buried in her hands.

But Zane just stared at her head, her dark brown curls bobbing now because her tears had turned to sobs. Had he heard her correctly? Had she just told him, in an oblique way, that he had a daughter? “What did you just say? Emily, do I have a daughter?”

“Well of course you have a daughter.” She then looked up and squinted, wiping her face quickly. “Oh, no. Sweet Goddess, I thought you knew.”

“You said nothing on the phone to me. How else could I have known?”

She put a hand to her cheek. “I guess you couldn’t have. I’ve been miserable and distracted and I wanted you to come here so badly. I’m sorry. I should have said something. I should have handled this differently. Sweet Goddess, what I did was so wrong?”

“Emily, are you saying you were pregnant when you left?” It was bad enough that she’d disappeared on him when she did, leading him and the rest of his realm to believe she was dead. But this was beyond the pale. “What the holy fuck!”

His rage rose swiftly and he was preparing to blast her but good when Olivia disrupted the moment. She quickly drew his hand to her lips, opened her mouth, and bit down on his thumb, hard.

He turned to stare at her, now furious that she’d intervened.
What are you doing? Let go of me. Now.

She didn’t ease up, not one bit, the hardass shifter she was. Instead, she glared up at him, growling, then pathed.
Would you pull in that Goddess-be-damned temper of yours? Emily may have just given you a shock with her news, and I don’t in any way condone that she held back this information from you, but pull it together. Now. This needs to be a conversation not a war. Wake up!

Zane froze as he stared at Olivia. This was why Emily had left him in the first place, because he had an out-of-control vampire temper.

He turned his attention back to his soon-to-be ex-wife and saw that she’d retreated several feet, just like she used to do, both hands raised in defense. Tears streamed down her face.

He’d never hit her in his life; he’d never strike a woman. But she’d always reacted to him as though he’d been abusive. Maybe that was a deep issue of hers, something he’d never understood. However, his temper and obstinacy hadn’t served him throughout his marriage and it sure as hell wouldn’t help now.

Would he ever fucking learn?

He nodded to Olivia, who gauged him carefully for a few seconds more, then finally let go of his now aching thumb. But he’d needed the intervention.

He drew a deep, settling breath and retracted his vile temper. “I apologize for yelling, Emily. But I truly didn’t know anything about us having a child. I only learned that you were alive a few weeks ago.”

Emily gathered in her own emotions as well and wiped at her cheeks a few times. “And I apologize for not telling you about the baby and for leaving you as I did. I’ve regretted it a thousand times over, but I never knew how to fix it. I wish I’d been stronger … ”

“You don’t need to explain. I know you believed you didn’t have a choice and for that I’m sorry. The truth is, I should have let you have the divorce you wanted.”

At that she met his gaze. “You mean that, don’t you?”

“I do.”

“I wasn’t the right woman for you.” She shifted her gaze to Olivia and inclined her head. “But I can see you’ve met the right one. And I’m glad. I truly am.”

He glanced at Olivia. “Me, too.”

Olivia responded with a dip of her chin.
Much better, Zane. Keep going.

He nodded then reverted his attention to Emily. “So, it sounds like you’re having some trouble with …
our
daughter.” How strange the words sounded.

He had a daughter. He was finding it hard to compute.

A heavy rush of air came out of Emily. “Zane, I don’t know what to do with her. She’s five now and flies everywhere but she’s been electrocuted twice by running into power lines and mercifully survived because she’s so strong. Like you. But I can’t control her.” She pulled a kerchief from the long sleeve of her gown and blew her nose. “I think … no I’m sure the Goddess is punishing me for what I did to you. But, if you can see it in your heart to forgive me -- or if not to forgive me then at least to help in this situation -- I would be so grateful. I’m afraid Tiffany is going to do something foolish and then she really will die.”

Zane worked hard to process his new, completely unexpected reality. Part of him was furious with Emily for what she’d done. The rest of him felt numbed out with shock. “Just give me a sec.” Wisely, Emily remained silent.

He had a daughter and it seemed like the little girl was in trouble. She was a powerful vampire child without proper support and guidance from those of her kind.

He blinked a couple of times, then said, “She sounds like she might take after me.”

Emily lifted her head. “Oh, she does. She has the worst temper and is always disobeying me.” She fell silent for a moment, then continued, “I mean, I guess that’s not much of compliment to you and I really shouldn’t speak badly of my … I mean
our
daughter … ” She trailed off.

“But just to be clear, she is a vampire and not fae?” he asked.

“Very much a vampire.” Realm genetics always picked sides. Tiffany would have some fae characteristics, but mostly her vampire nature would take front-and-center her entire life.

He had a vampire daughter.

Emily dabbed at her cheeks once more with her kerchief. “Will you come home with me, both of you, and meet her? I’d like you to see for yourself the difficulties I’m facing. But only if you want to. I would never force anything.”

She looked hopeful, yet completely desperate. And he could see she harbored a concern he wouldn’t want to meet his child.

“This is all a shock, but of course I want to meet our daughter. You know I always wanted a family.” His anger threatened to surge once more, especially because she’d robbed him of the early years of his daughter’s life, but he suppressed it. Olivia was right; a show of temper would be of no use in this situation.

He could give vent to his rage later, maybe punch a block wall a few hundred times. Right now, however, his daughter needed him. He took a deep breath, letting his anger go. He knew it would take time for him to truly forgive Emily for what she’d done, but for this moment, he’d be grateful. And he’d help in any way he could. “How about I meet her now.”

Her head bobbed several times in acknowledgement. “Good. Okay. Good. She’s with a new flight instructor, the fifth one this month. Now would be wonderful.”

With that, she turned and set about closing up the gallery up for the night.

Once outside, he held his arm wide for Olivia. She took up her now very familiar place on his boot and he flew them both above Freeport. He tracked Emily’s car as she drove to her home on the outskirts of town. He thought he understood; there were fewer electrical lines to interfere with a difficult young child, who apparently had a will of granite.

As soon as he headed up the long driveway, he saw Tiffany flipping back and forth through the air at the back of Emily’s two-story home. She darted this way and that, clearly with the purpose of tormenting her fae teacher who kept shouting, “You’re too close to the trees again. You’re going to hit the branches. You’ll get hurt!”