Jamie's Heart [Amazon Warriors 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (8 page)

“Jordon, calm down.”

“Calm down? You’re basically dying! Fucking dying, and you want me to calm down.”

“The only way to save your sister is for Conrad to fulfill the code and have Jamie recognized as his true life partner.”

“Great. We’ll call him back, explain what’s happening, and get him to fulfill the code.” Jordon spoke in a stern and unyielding manner, as if everything was fixed.

“No.”

“What? It’s the only way to save your life. I don’t care what’s happened between you two. He’ll do it!”

“Jordon, I said no!” She stood and turned away from her sister.

“But…”

“No! I know he’d do it. He’s a self-sacrificing and honorable man who wouldn’t think twice about what he might be giving up. I’m not going to force or guilt anyone, especially Conrad, into being with me. I’m not going to make him spend his life with a woman he doesn’t and can’t love out of a misguided sense of duty.”

She broke down and crumpled to the floor in tears. She had never felt such gut-wrenching pain as when she admitted to herself that Conrad could never love her.

Jordon was kneeling beside her in an instant, wrapping her in the warm embrace of her arms, crying right along with her.

Lucia left the room as Jamie spoke to her sister, “I can’t do that to him, Jordon. He’ll hate me, I’ll hate myself, please, and this is painful enough.”

“Okay, okay we won’t tell him.”

They just sat on the floor, holding each other as the reality of the situation sank in. They were leaning against the sofa, Jamie resting her head on her sister’s shoulders.

After a while, Lucia came back into the room with a bottle of whiskey and three shot glasses.

“I think you need it.”

Jamie gave a weak smile in thanks, taking a shot when one was offered.

When the burn in her throat had subsided, she had to ask, “What will happen to Conrad?”

“When you become mortal, he will feel the loss of a small piece of himself, much like Jordon will, but his heart will repair itself, and if he hasn’t already in six months, he will go on to find his own true life partner. Being left with fond memories of his friend he cared about.”

Jordon rubbed her arm for comfort. She appreciated it, but it didn’t do much to heal her pain. Jamie just took another shot, hoping to drown her pain.

“Will it hurt?” The way she was feeling right now, she was going to be in agony for the next six to nine months.

“The realization of your partner not loving you back is the worst part. The pain you are in now will eventually fade into a constant ache in your chest.”

They all drank another shot. She was relieved when she started to feel its effects.

She poured her next shot while she implored the two women with her to keep her heartache between them.

With a subtle nod from Lucia and a squeeze on her arm from her sister, she drank her drink.

“You have to tell Crimson.” Lucia was right. The tribe leader deserved to know, but that could wait until tomorrow.

The only thing she could do was enjoy the time she had left, and with that in mind, she poured another round and said the first thing that came to mind to lighten the mood as they raised their glasses.

“At least I won’t die a virgin.”

Jordon spat her drink all over Lucia’s expensive-looking coffee table. “What?”

After a moment of silence, they all burst into laughter and drank the night, and Jamie’s sorrows, away.

* * * *

Crimson walked back into her office with Sloan, her true life partner and the most irritating man she had ever met, by her side.

“You’re seven weeks pregnant! What the fuck did you think you were doing in the training room?” Sloan demanded in his pissed-off tone of voice.

She fell onto the sofa in the corner of the office as she watched Sloan start pacing around the room.

“I have a responsibility as leader of this tribe to make sure our young Amazons are being trained appropriately and effectively,” Crimson replied as if trying to calm a wild beast and finding it hard to hide her irritation.

“You have a responsibility to our child. I understand you checking up on the cadets, but did you really have to spar with them? You could have gotten hurt.” Sloan sounded so frustrated.

“I would never do anything to hurt our child. You know that. Besides the cadets know that if they hurt me, an agonizing death awaits them at your hands.” Crimson shrugged indifferently.

Crimson smiled when Sloan huffed out a small laugh.

“Now…are you going to be this unbearable for the next five months?”

An Amazon pregnancy usually only took four and a half months, to ensure warriors would not be missing from battle for too long, but as the love of her life was born mortal, the tribe’s doctor estimated that their baby would come to term around the seven-month mark.

“If it means keeping you and the baby safe? Hell and yes.”

Crimson couldn’t help it. She smirked at that.

Sloan saw it, made his way over to her, and knelt in front of her, maneuvering himself between her knees and lifting his hands to caress her slightly swollen stomach.

“You are the most infuriating woman I’ve ever met,” Sloan said softly to her.

Crimson cupped his face in both of her hands and looked him in the eye.

“But?” she asked expectantly.

Sloan smiled devilishly at her as his hands moved from her stomach to her hips. “But…” he said seductively before trailing off and pulling her forward to the edge of the sofa, forcing her to drop her hands to the sofa to find purchase.

“You’re also the most sexy”—he placed a soft kiss to her jawline—“strong”—the corner of her mouth—“independent”—on her lips—“stubborn woman I know.” Now Sloan was looking at her as his hands slid from her hips to stroke along her outer thigh before moving back up under her skirt and between her legs, getting ever closer to her increasingly wet pussy.

Crimson’s moan of anticipation turned into a groan of annoyance when Sloan stopped advancing toward her pussy.

He leaned forward to whisper in her ear, “It’s a damn good thing I love you.”

“Sloan.” Crimson’s moan of pleasure came out sounding like a plea, and it probably was, because as much as she loved hearing those words, right now she was just desperate to be touched.

His hands once again started moving to her molten core as his lips started tantalizing and teasing her own. Sloan’s fingers snuck under the edge of her panties, and a featherlight touch stroked the outer lips of her pussy. Crimson began grinding her hips into his hand, trying to get a deeper and more thorough touch.

Knock. Knock.

That sound seemed to increase Sloan’s fervor as his tender kisses became ferocious and his light touch became merciless.

Two fingers penetrated her pussy with ease as Sloan growled his approval. Crimson knew they should stop, but it just felt too good.

Knock. Knock.

Sloan tore his lips away from hers. “Whoever it is, I’m going to kill them.” All Crimson could do was grunt in agreement as Sloan turned his wrist so his thumb could reach her clit.

Crimson gasped as Sloan worked, with single-minded precision, on her sensitive bundle of nerves. Every muscle in Crimson’s body wound tight until a wave of ecstasy washed through her bringing her to a fast and intense orgasm.

She screamed out her pleasure, telling whoever was behind the door why they had been left waiting. Crimson didn’t give a fuck.
Let them hear.

Sloan was gentle as he slowly brought her down from her high. He placed soft kisses all over her face.

After a few moments, Crimson righted her clothes and pulled Sloan up from the floor to sit beside her.

She snuggled up closer to him as she yelled for the person behind the door to enter the room.

Crimson was surprised to see Jamie Price walk through the door. Young Amazons rarely came to see her. They usually went to their teachers or trainers with their troubles.
Something must be very wrong.

She left the comfort of her lover’s arms, much to his annoyance, to put her arm around the shoulders of this promising young Amazon warrior.

“What’s wrong, Jamie?” Crimson asked with concern. She saw Sloan sit forward. He’d obviously deduced from her tone of voice that it must be something serious.

As Crimson guided the cadet into one of two single chairs opposite her desk, Jamie said sheepishly, “I’m sorry I interrupted.”

Crimson took the chair opposite Jamie’s as she let the young woman go on. “But I thought you should know as soon as possible.”

“Know what?” Sloan asked as he came to rest against the desk near Crimson.

“I won’t be able to graduate in five months.”

“Why not?” Crimson asked, confused.

That’s when Jamie told her and Sloan about everything that had happened to her in the last two weeks.

For a long time, Crimson was shocked into silence. It was one of the most tragic love stories Crimson had ever heard.

The idea of loving and being bonded to Sloan forever without his love in return would have torn Crimson up inside. Crimson would have welcomed death if it had been her, but from what Crimson understood, it would take nine agonizing months of deterioration for that death to come. That would be torture for any Amazon, let alone for someone so young.

For Jamie to be able to fight hoplite soldiers in the gods’ army for ten days was a feat many Amazons would have died from and just proved what kind of warrior their tribe would be losing.

Choked up, Crimson had to clear her throat before asking, “Is there nothing we can do?”

“Thank you for asking, but from what I learned from Lucia last night, no, there’s nothing. Not unless Conrad is willing to fight for me, which he has proved he’s not. Besides, like I told my sister, I don’t want to force him to be with me. That wouldn’t be fair to anyone. I have accepted my fate, and out of respect, I thought you should know why I would no longer be in training. As I get weaker, it will no longer be safe for me to spar with the other cadets. I only ask that you not tell anyone of my situation.”

“You have our word. We are sorry this is happening to you, Jamie. You would have been an impressive and formidable warrior,” Crimson said with sadness and regret.

Crimson saw Jamie smile at her compliment, but it never reached the young warrior’s eyes.

She watched as Jamie seemed to inhale a fortifying breath before continuing. “I would like to continue to live at the estate until shortly before my six months as an Amazon are up. Shortly before I become mortal, I will leave the tribe and find somewhere peaceful where I can live my last few months.”

“You don’t have to lea—”

Crimson was cut short when Jamie interrupted to say, “I will be a liability. Besides, I do not want the tribe to see me or remember me like that.”

Crimson nodded in understanding and watched with a heavy heart as Jamie rose from her seat and made her way to the door.

Before she left, Jamie turned back and looked Crimson dead in the eye with fierce determination.

“You shouldn’t discount people’s strength or ability based on their age. From what I hear, you won’t let cadets attempt to prove they shot the arrow to kill the Cyclops. I think that’s a mistake. Some of them might surprise you.” With that, Jamie left her office, leaving Crimson stunned.

She’d learned a lot in the last hour, and none of it had been good.

Jamie.

Conrad hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her the whole time he’d been gone. It had been almost five months now, and during that time he’d had to make do with hearing secondhand information about Jamie from his parents and Jordon.

He’d missed Jamie’s beauty, her sense of humor, her take-no-shit attitude, and even though they only had sex once, he found himself craving more of her.

The bite mark she had left on him had faded a long time ago, before he left the estate. He had hated watching it slowly disappear and often found himself touching that very spot when he thought of her.

He was doing it now.

Conrad was dying to see her and dreading it at the same time. What if she still hated him? What if she still refused to see him?

It was thoughts of Jamie that got him through the long, hard days of soldiering. When he’d lost his friend and spotter to enemy fire, she was who he had wanted to call, who he wanted comfort from. The last few months had made him realize that she had been right. There was and always had been more than just friendship between them.

Conrad had let his sense of duty and honor toward someone he had grown up with cloud his judgment and his feelings, worried what others may think.

Well, fuck what other people think.

He pulled up outside his family home and took a deep breath before he walked inside.

Hearing his sisters squabbling in the kitchen brought a smile to his face when nothing else had been able to in months.

Some things never change.

Shaking his head, he walked into the kitchen to see his whole family gathered around the table, eating breakfast.

Conrad froze in place.

It wasn’t the fact that both of his brothers were sitting at the table talking to his parents and sisters that had him frozen in place. It wasn’t even the two unknown, sexy women giving each other a brief but heated kiss over by the stove. He wasn’t surprised to see Jordon sitting at the table either, but seeing Jamie sitting there looking pale and lethargic had shocked him into imitating a statue.

She was the first one to notice his presence. They gazed at each other as one by one all of his family started to notice him standing stock-still in the doorway, and silence fell across the room.

Everyone looked between Conrad and Jamie as if expecting one of them to spontaneously combust. They must all know by now that something had happened between them.

They just stared at each other. The woman he could once read like a book looked closed off to him, and he couldn’t think of a thing to say to change that.

It was Cole, his eldest brother, who finally stood and walked over to him. He squared up to him, dragging his attention away from Jamie. When he knew he had Conrad’s attention, Cole smiled his Cheshire cat grin at him and threw his arms around him in a bear hug.