Waking Up (7 page)

Pain stabbed through her, the force of it almost taking her breath away. Yet again, her body had betrayed her heart and she had to fight back the tears. She knew what she had to do.

Curling up against his side, she took a deep breath. This was going to be one of the hardest things she’d ever done.

“Declan, wake up.”

“I’m awake. I’m just trying to regain the use of my limbs.”

“Honey, we need to talk.”

He rolled over and looked at her. “That is never good.” Sitting up, he leaned against the headboard and gathered her close. “Go ahead, lay it on me. I can take it.”

“I think you should leave in the morning. You need to find the woman who can break your curse and since I’m infertile, I’m not her.”

“Fuck that! I don’t want to leave you.”

“And I don’t want you to go. But—”

“But nothing.” He ran a frustrated hand through his hair, then captured her fingers. “What we have between us is magical. I’ve lived a thousand years and never felt its like. I won’t abandon it or you because of Morrigan’s whims. I don’t deny I deserved her punishment. I was callous and selfish and didn’t care who I hurt, but I won’t hurt you. I won’t leave you.”

Joy surged through her, suffusing every cell in her body. She knew she should protest, should force him to go, but it was so damn hard to go against everything in her heart. “I love you. I don’t know how it happened so fast but I know what’s in my heart.”

“And I love you. I’ve never said that, felt that before. I can’t lose you.”

“But if I don’t let you go, you may never find the right woman. The one who can save you.”

“How do you know if I did find this imaginary woman, I wouldn’t turn to dust and die right then? That’s what happens when the fairies release you from under their hill. You think it’s only been a few hours or so but it’s actually been years. Once you touch mortal soil, you turn to dust.”

“That’s only in stories and myths.”

He gave her an arched look.

“Oh yeah, you’re probably in a position to know whether that’s really true, huh?”

“Absolutely.”

“Isn’t that a risk you’d be willing to take to end your torment? It must have been hell watching people grow old and die while you stay the same. I really don’t know if I could handle getting old and wrinkly while you still look the same.”

“So you’re just going to give up? You’re not willing to fight for what we could have together?”

Anger surged through her. How could he accuse her of giving up when it was the hardest thing she’d ever done? She was trying to do the right thing, the noble thing, and he was weakening her resolve.

“It’s not fair. I know that sounds petulant and immature, but it’s just not right.”

“I agree. I’ve finally found a woman to love and she doesn’t want to keep me.”

“You know that’s not it. I’ve never felt like this before. You make me feel strong, powerful, like I can do anything I want.”

“You can. You have such strength inside you.”

“But I can’t have your child.” And the pain of that lack damn near killed her.

“Then I’ll live with you, as long as I can for however long the gods give us.”

Ciara gave up fighting him. She couldn’t resist his desires as well as her own. “We’ll have to move around every few years so people don’t realize you’re not getting any older.”

“I own hotels around the world. We can stay in a different place every night, if you’d like. As long as you’re with me, I’ll always be home.”

Her throat clogged with tears and she tried to blink them back, but a few spilled down her cheeks onto his chest.

“Here now, what is this?”

“These are happy tears. I love you so much.”

As she reached across him to get a tissue off the nightstand her left wrist brushed against his chest. Her mark pressed against his and she felt the wetness of her tears before a blinding flash knocked her back.

“So, my insolent warrior, you’ve met your match at last.” The voice was weird, like three women talking at the same time. It rang like a hundred church bells inside her head.

“Curse you, Morrigan! Have you come to torment me more?”

“Are you not deserving of such torment?”

“Aye, but Ciara is not. She has done nothing to merit such treatment.”

“So you would protect her?”

“With my life.”

Ciara did not like where this was going, but when she tried to speak, to defend Declan, she found herself unable to talk. She couldn’t move a muscle except to breathe.

“What if I could give her her true heart’s desire? I have the power to fill her womb with a babe.”

“What would be the price?”

“She would discard you as you did my priestess.”

Suddenly, she had the power to move, but shock froze her. This goddess, hidden in a flash of light, could give her a baby? But only if she lost Declan?

“You are cruel,” Declan rasped out.

“Not cruel, just.”

“No,” Ciara burst out, finally able to speak. “I will not reject him to satisfy your sense of justice. I love him.”

“So did my priestess, but he spurned her love and her child.”

“That was a thousand years ago. And she chose to take her life and that of an innocent child instead of sucking it up and moving on. Don’t you think she should share some of the blame? Maybe if she hadn’t been such a psycho, when Declan came back from the battle he might have at least provided for the baby, even if he didn’t love her.”

“You dare much, mortal.”

Ciara’s muscles were frozen once again.

“Leave her alone. I will not forsake her, nor she I.”

“Even if it means you will suffer my curse through eternity?”

Declan looked at Ciara. She still couldn’t move so she tried to show all her love for him in her eyes.

“Yes. I’ll take what time I have with her and be thankful.”

Relief ran through her body. He wasn’t going to give up on them either.

“So be it.”

The flames of the candles around the room shot to the air, scorching the ceiling and sending the smoke detector peeling. The power flashed and then went out and Ciara’s limbs were freed of their paralysis.

For a second, the only noise was the alarm blaring, then Declan let out a deep breath. “Well, that’s done.”

“Thank God. Or goddess. Whatever.” Ciara got up to take the battery out of the alarm. As she climbed out of the bed, she saw his chest and gasped. “Declan, your mark. It’s gone!”

His chest was bare, without even a scar where the mark had been. He lifted her wrist.

“Yours too. What does that mean?”

“Maybe your curse is gone?”

In her haste to reach him, she bumped into the nightstand that held the wine glasses. The fragile crystal tumbled and Declan lunged to catch them before they hit the floor. The glasses smashed together in his hand and sliced his palm open.

Almost instantly, blood began to drip from the slice.

“Hold on, let me get a towel,” Ciara said as she carefully stepped away from the broken glass.

“No worries, this is only a minor wound. It will heal in a minute.”

“Well, you’re covered in wine, so I can at least clean that up.” She grabbed a hand towel from the bathroom vanity and skirted the glass on the floor to get back to the bed.
 

“Let me see.” She reached for his hand.

“It should be almost gone—” Declan stopped mid-sentence and Ciara knew why.

Blood still welled from the cut in his palm.

“How long does it usually take to heal?”

“From something like this? Less than a minute.”

They both watched the clock by the bed. Ciara lifted the towel to see blood still oozing from the cut. The second hand ticked by. One minute passed. Then two. By the third minute, Ciara needed another towel.

Declan let out a whoop and jumped out of bed. He wrapped his good arm around her waist and swirled her around the room. “I’m free! At last!”

Ciara laughed in giddy delight as her head spun. “Not quite, you’re stuck with me.”

“Forever and a day.” He captured her mouth in a tender kiss which soon turned heated.

“Let’s get you patched up the old-fashioned way. I have some bandages in the bathroom. You may not be able to use that hand all that well until this heals.”

“Clean me up and I’ll show you how good I can be even one-handed.”

Ciara hurried to clean everything up so he could prove his point.

As he made gentle love to her, Ciara’s joy knew no bounds. Things might not be easy, but with a warrior on her side they’d survive.

Epilogue

Nine months later

“Push, love, you can do it.” Declan wiped the sweat off Ciara’s brow.

The pain was hideous but she didn’t care. Every second of her pregnancy and labor were gifts and she embraced them. Although, feeling the baby move was a lot more enjoyable than this ripping pressure.

“I can see the head, just a little more,” the doctor said from between Ciara’s legs. “One more hard push and you’ll have a baby.”

Ciara dug deep and pushed with everything she had in her. A primal shout tore from her throat as she felt the baby slide out of her body. There was silence then a tiny scream echoed in the birthing room.

“It’s a girl! And she’s got a ton of red hair like her mom.”

Euphoria coursed through her as the doctor laid the baby on her chest. Her daughter. Their daughter.

“She’s beautiful,” Ciara said through her tears.

Declan’s eyes were glassy as well. “Just like her mother. He leaned down to kiss Ciara’s sweaty forehead. “I’ll have to polish off my fighting skills to keep the boys away.”

Laughter, that of three women at once, ghosted through the room. But only Declan and Ciara seemed to notice.

About the Author

Arianna Hart lives on the east coast with her husband, three daughters, two Siberian Huskies, and a fat cat. She loves to read, write, and listen to live music. She can be reached on Facebook and loves to hear from readers at
[email protected]

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A love to last a lifetime…or a dream turned to ash?

Love in Flames

© 2011 N.J. Walters

Spells, Secrets and Seductions, Book 3

When Esther goes along with her friend’s candle-magick spell, it’s not because she wants a lover. But a good old-fashioned one-night stand could be just what she needs to get her mind off Ryan Jameson. Having lost her father in the line of duty, she has no plans to lose her heart to a firefighter.

Not that Ryan doesn’t heat up her nightly dreams. Those erotic fantasies invariably end in deadly flames—a still-smoking echo of her ancestral namesake, whose wedding day ended in the fiery loss of her husband. A man whose dying breath was a promise to one day find his beloved.

All his life, Ryan’s dreams have taken him backward in time. As he matured, so did those dreams—erotic fantasies of a woman he loves but has yet to meet. Then he finds her in Burnt Cove. But she’s not only holding him at arm’s length, she refuses to acknowledge their time-proof bond.

On a magical Samhain night, undeniable desire is stronger than the walls around her heart. But time has one last test for them—one that will meld them into one, or drive them apart forever.

Warning: This book contains a simple candle-magick spell, a hunky fireman, past lives, lost lovers and enough heat to start a bonfire.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Love in Flames:

Ryan stayed her hand before she could touch her mug. He laid his own cup on the counter. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she snapped. He raised one eyebrow in question and she sighed. “Really. I didn’t sleep well and I wasn’t expecting to have to work today.” She offered him a weak smile and reached for her mug again. She really needed to put some space between her and Ryan. Work beckoned like a lifeline.

Ryan raised his hand and cupped the side of her face, freezing her in place. “Bad dreams?”

Esther felt all the blood drain from her face. How could he know? She stared up at him, lost for words. He was watching her expectantly, almost as if he wanted her to tell him about her dreams. But he couldn’t possibly know about them. No one did.

Common sense finally kicked in. He was just making conversation. He couldn’t know about her dreams. And thank God for that. It was nothing more than a polite question. “I’m fine.” For some reason she couldn’t bring herself to lie and say that she hadn’t had any dreams.