Forever Burning (3 page)

“Ha,” she barked. “Toss the gauntlet, and you’ll be sorry.” This game had her wanting to giggle, but his sudden serious look, and the way he started leaning down, got her attention in a hurry.

Archer nipped at her lower lip before slanting his lips over hers and meeting out a soul searing hungry kiss.

“Don’t think I can wait for the soft bed.” He growled as he thrust his growing erection against her hip, and lowered his mouth to suckle at her nipple.

“Is that so?” she teased, but it was half-hearted, because she was as turned on as he was. Tired or not, she didn’t think she’d ever get enough of this male.

Scarlet gasped in pleasure and melted under him, silently begging for more attention.

She worked one hand free from his grip and raked her nails down his back, leaving welts in his tanned skin.

He growled against her breast and rewarded her with a nip, swiftly followed by a long languorous lick to make it better.

“More,” she moaned, wriggling under him to get him to listen. Archer moved his attention to her other breast and nipped small trails all around the swollen bud before sucking it into his mouth.

Scarlet nearly flew off the ground with the pleasure that he gave her, and she shoved at his shoulder to get him to lie on his back and let her explore his body, but he wouldn’t budge, so she gave it up as futile—for the moment, and decided to let him have his way.

Scarlet pulled his face up to capture his lips in a kiss, but he stiffened above her, and in an instant, he was up, yanked Scarlet to her feet, and shoved her behind his broad body.

There was someone else by the old oak. Someone Archer considered a threat.

“What do you want?” he bit out, but Scarlet felt his body relax, and that told her whoever was there was not that much of a danger

She peeked out behind Archer and saw the woman from the clearing.

“Belay that question. First, tell us who you are?”

“My name is Ena.” That was all the information she gave before she spoke directly to Scarlet. “It’s time.”

“What? Time for what?” Archer asked, and ignored.

“Come, Scarlet.”

Ena held out a hand, and Scarlet felt a strange compunction to take the offered hand. She tried to fight it, but the urge was so strong, she stepped out behind Archer and laid her hand in Ena’s palm.

Archer looked confused. “What are you doing, Scarlet?”

“I don’t know, but I have to go with her. I can’t stop myself.”

Ena waved her free hand in a downward arc and flames appeared in midair, opening up into a tear. Scarlet could see another place through hazy air. It looked like pillars and columns.

Ena tugged at Scarlet. “We must leave.”

“No.” Scarlet managed to jerk her hand out of Ena’s hands. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Scarlet tried to step towards Archer, but her feet wouldn’t obey the command.

Archer reached forward and grabbed her hand, refusing to let go as Ena tried to pull her into the rift.

“Be reasonable. You cannot stay on this plane. You are phoenix, no longer of this world.” Ena’s argument seemed so right, but yet Scarlet shook her head, the phoenix playing with her mind. There was no way she was leaving Archer. The mere thought of leaving him caused a pain in her chest that made her refuse to move. She
couldn’t
leave him.

“Come with me, Archer,” she begged him.

“No! Men are not allowed in the Phoenix realm.”

“Then I’m not going anywhere.” Scarlet dug her heels in and tried to pull away from Ena.

Scarlet turned her face to Archer, her eyes pleading and he stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her.

“Enough. I will not keep with this tug of war. You
will
return with me, because that is our way. Archer, you will let her go or…” Ena let the words trail off as she filled her palm with fire.

“You may pray for death if my burn finds you. My fire is strong.”

“I don’t care. Burn me, but I’m not letting Scarlet go. She is mine.”

His words made Ena pause. “The deed is done?”

Archer nodded in reply.

Scarlet watched as Ena sagged, only to straighten her shoulders. “It matters not—she will come with me now. That is our way. Let her go, or I will burn you to ash.”

Scarlet saw Archer’s decision in his eyes. There was no way the stubborn male was going to release her, but she also didn’t want him dead.

She noted he was distracted with Ena and wiggled out of his grip. Scarlet bolted past Ena, and dove through the rift. She wouldn’t have Archer die because she wanted to stay with him.

* * * *

Archer stared down at his empty arms for a nanosecond before the reality hit him and he made another grab for Scarlet’s arm, but she slipped out of his grasp like an intangible ghost and dove through the fissure.

She’s left me!
his mind screamed.

Chase!
his beast roared in his ears, and Archer dove for the fissure intending on following his
She
to the plane of the Phoenix.

A wall of heat and fire hit him, throwing him back to land six feet away on his back, skidding across the dirt and grass of the clearing. He shook his head and surged to his feet, ignoring the pain of the burns and the smell of singed hair and burnt skin.

He wasn’t fast enough as he saw Ena step through the tear and close it behind her.

For the second time in a day, Archer sank to his knees and howled his pain to the sky.

He’d lost his sense of Scarlet. She was nowhere in reach and he couldn’t feel her.

Archer’s wolf was making so much noise in his head, he couldn’t think. There had to be a way.

“Shut up and let me think.” Archer grabbed his head with his hands as if gripping it might make his Lycan settle.

Gone, gone, gone, gone,

the wolf inside keened.

“No, we will get her back.” Archer’s determination more than his words must have soothed the creature, because it quieted in his head.

“We need to go back to the others.” Archer took off at a lope, speeding up to a sprint through the forest.

He came around the back of the cabin, between the Impala and the SUV.

The reality of losing his
She
hit Archer hard. He knew Scarlet would die if he didn’t get her back.

His animal roared, and Archer lashed out. His arm connected with the back window on the SUV, shattering the glass, then he hissed in pain as he felt the shards cut his forearm.

Archer heard the Outsiders laughing. Obviously, they hadn’t heard him break the window of the SUV. He needed to get into the cabin.

He took the last steps to the cabin at a lope and burst through the door. He skidded at the last moment, so he didn’t hit the back of the couch.

The reaction was instantaneous as the Eternals jumped up in various stages of reaching for weapons and getting ready for battle. Then they got a good look at Archer.

“Oh, fuck,” Erik hissed. “She burned you up, didn’t she?” He was looking around behind Archer for Scarlet.

“Shut up, douche,” Heath shot at Erik.

Sophia stepped closer to Archer and held her hands out. “What happened, Archer?”

That the rest of them had expected attack spoke volumes about his entry.

Gone,
Archer’s beast whined, and he repeated the word, his body on the point of collapse from the pain and the loss. “Gone! She’s been taken.”

Sophia pulled a chair up and made him sit. She then turned and went to get him a glass of water from the kitchen.

When she returned and started to hand it to Archer, Heath rolled his eyes, grabbed the glass out of her hand, and put a bottle of whiskey in Archer’s hand instead.

“This will get you drunk, and will make you feel better,” Heath muttered.

    Tate pulled a chair up to Archer and sat. “Start at the beginning, and tell us what happened.”

     Zane fetched some medical supplies, and between Sophia and him, they cleaned Archer up as he told them about Ena’s return and Scarlet’s kidnapping.

His story was met with,
no
, and,
That fucking bitch
.

“She dove through that fissure.” Archer pushed Zane’s hands away from his face. “She fucking dove.”

“Don’t be an ass, Archer. She did it for you.” Sophia pushed his hand out of the way, and
cleaned
 
an open blister on his cheek.

Archer hissed in pain, then glared at her.

“Big baby.” She gave him a calm smile. “It’s not so bad.”

“My
She
is gone...my
claimed She
,” he said in a dark tone. “She left willingly. I can’t feel her presence. Where do you get the idea that she did it for me?”

The rest of the males looked at Sophia, not seeing the obvious reasons for Scarlet’s leap into another world.

“Ena was going to burn you, but Scarlet doesn’t want you dead.” Sophia shrugged. “It’s a bit of a no brainer, guys.”

Heath nodded as if he got it and even Zane had an,
ah okay
look on his face, but the rest frowned, and it was Erik who stated their version of obvious. “Archer coulda handled that Ena bitch with one arm tied behind his back, and both feet hobbled.”

Archer’s glare said the same.

“Think about it. If you had the same choice Scarlet faced, and you wanted to protect someone, what would you do?”

“I still don’t buy it,” Archer murmured, his tone dark.

“That’s ‘cause you are being a blind-ass fool,” Sophia said, giving him another smile.

“This isn’t for your entertainment, Sophia.” Archer snatched the piece of gauze out of her hand and pressed it to his cheek.

“Oh, it isn’t?” She put her hand on her hip. “I disagree, because I’m going to enjoy the hell out of you kicking yourself in the ass when you realize what an idiot you are being.”

Archer leapt off the chair as if it had burned him, and started pacing. “It doesn’t matter. I will get Scarlet back even if she doesn’t want to be with me.”

“You have a plan?” Tate asked in his usual taciturn way.

“We go back to Outsiders Inc. We go through the archives, then we pool every contact, tug every string and yank every favor we are owed. There has to be someone who knows more about the phoenix, and how to get over to their plane of existence.”

He stopped and looked at them all. “Are you with me?”

“Sure, whatever you need, but we have one small problem.”

“Two,” Heath corrected Tate.

Tate glared at the Precog, then nodded.

Archer let out a frustrated breath, then hissed. “Well?”

“You know our team of Outsiders is on Jasmine’s hit list, right? Well, going back to your headquarters means we are in Jasmine-ville, so to speak.”

“So? We kick her ass if she tries anything.” Archer held his hands palm up and shrugged as if Tate’s worry about Jasmine was beyond stupid.

“Yes, okay, but then there is the problem of Dimitri. He doesn’t know we managed to get our headquarters destroyed.”

“I was wondering why you were staying at that old diner.”

Tate had the grace to look sheepish. “Yeah.”

“Don’t worry. After you explain that it was Jasmine, Dimitri should back off.” Archer turned his head to stare out the window as if he was looking for something.

“Sorry—have you met Dimitri? If there is one word guaranteed to make him nuke the place, it’s that bitch’s name.”

“Don’t worry about Dimi,” Zane cut. “Poe is there, and between Poe, Archer and me, we should be able to tame the chaos demon.” The he shrugged his broad shoulders. “That, or we chuck him in the panic room.”

“Pack your things. We are leaving now.” Archer turned to face the room, and the glowing amber of his eyes left little room for argument.

Zane tried anyway. “It’s only three hours to sunrise. I bet you are glad I made those modifications to the SUV now.”

“I kinda, well, I broke the back window of the SUV. It’s not vampire friendly any more, so you are going to have to ride in the Impala’s trunk.” Archer stepped past Zane to climb the stairs.

“Come on!” Zane yelled after the disappearing werewolf.

“I owe you one,” Archer yelled back down.

“You owe me way more than one,” Zane muttered. “Thanks for the backup, everyone.” He glared at the Eternals.

“Hey, if you want to argue with a Lycan who has misplaced his
She,
you go right ahead. I like all my bits and pieces where they are now.”

“Shut up, Erik.”

Archer grabbed his clothes, stuffing them into his duffle without caring that he was creasing them so badly that only a washing machine and iron could fix the damage. He grabbed his weapons, and with more care, packed those, too, but when he reached for the sweater that Scarlet had left lying on the bed when she was supposed to have gone for her nap, he paused.

Bringing the soft wool to his face, he inhaled deeply, taking in her sweet honeysuckle scent. His reaction was so visceral, Archer felt a pull down to his toes. Scarlet might be his fate-chosen
She
, but somehow, she’d become more than just the woman fate had chosen. Somewhere, she’d become important, and the thought of being without her caused him so much pain that he knew it wasn’t just an instinctual Lycan response. He’d gone and fallen in love with the pyro.

A small smile curled his lips at the thought. That tough, mule-headed, determined, beautiful female was just what he needed, and that the phoenix could go toast marshmallows. He was going to get her back, and he was going to do it soon. Because living without his dark-haired fire was unacceptable.

Archer packed Scarlet’s bag with care and slung it over his shoulder with his duffle and weapon.

He took the stairs four at a timeand landed on the bottom with innate grace.

“Get moving, Eternals, the night is fading and Zane isn’t going to like you very much if he has to spend hours longer in the trunk than necessary.”

One after another, the Outsiders appeared—his crew, his back up. With creatures like this on his side, no force in the universe would keep him from his
She
.