Wicked Waves: Solsti Prophecy #2 (18 page)

“Not yet.”
 
Rilan sat on the leather couch and gestured for her to join him. “I know you’re worried sick. I thought we could try something that would distract you, and may become a weapon for you one day.”

Nicole stood up, a tiny smile threatening to burst through her fear. “Are you gonna teach me spells?”

“First, you need to learn some Demonish basics, but yes. I have no idea if a Solsti can cast a Demonish spell, and there’s only one way to find out.” His eyes twinkled warmly.

She settled cross-legged on the huge sectional sofa and took a deep breath. Determination beat a steady tempo in her chest, putting a chokehold on her worry. For right now, she’d listen. She’d learn. She’d memorize the tongue-tangling words that the males spoke. Any advantage she could carve out would only help her and her sisters.
 
“Let’s do it.”

C
HAPTER
13

K
AI
’
S
EYES
SNAPPED
OPEN
IN
the dark. The floor was rough and cool under his bare back. He tried to sit up. Nausea crashed over him, and his muscles and ribs screamed in protest.
Bad idea.
He lay down on the stone, thankful his stomach was empty.

Despite the pain, the throbbing in his chest and legs told him his body had healed a little. For that to happen, he guessed several hours must have passed. Maybe ten or twelve. There was no way to know for sure in this shithole.

Brooke had moved away as they slept. She lay facing him, curled on her side, close to the wall anchoring her chain. It couldn’t have been comfortable for her to lay stretched out on her stomach, the way she had earlier. But he wouldn’t have traded her nearness for anything.
Ah, hell
. Guilt plagued him. He wanted her close, but she was in this mess because of him.

A warning prickle of dread crawled over his skin. They were about to have company.

“Brooke!” he called, wanting to wake her before whatever was coming through that door made its sure-to-be-ugly appearance. She sighed, but didn’t open her eyes.

“C’mon, Sprite, wake—” Metal scraped in the lock and the wooden door groaned as it shoved over the uneven floor. It gaped open, revealing six guards. And in the front of the group stood Draven.

He sauntered into the cell and pinned his beady red gaze on Kai. “I can’t wait to kill you, demon,” he snarled. “But I want as many spectators as possible to see you die.”

Kai heard a sharp intake of breath from across the cell as Brooke sat up.

Draven swiveled to look at her. “And you’ll get to watch. Tomorrow night. The crowd will be standing-room-only. But don’t worry. My viewing box in the stands has plenty of room. You’ll have the best seat in the house. On my lap.”
 
His thin lips curled into a leer. “Or maybe between my knees.”

“Fuck you!” Kai shouted.

“Oh, I intend to fuck
her
. Over and over,” Draven said. “I’m still deciding if I should keep you alive to watch.”

“Touch her and I’ll kill you,” Kai growled.

Draven chuckled. “You’re in no position to kill anything. You can’t even defend yourself.”
 
He stalked closer to Kai and aimed a swift kick to his barely-healed ribs.

Waves of sizzling fire crashed over Kai’s body as he bit back an agonized groan. He dimly heard Brooke shriek in fury. Draven’s boot connected with his stomach next, forcing Kai to lurch to his side and dry heave.

“No, demon, you’re not going to help anyone,” Draven said. “Especially not this pretty creature.”
 
He turned to Brooke and yanked the metal links connected to her ankle. “Get used to this chain, little fae. My bed has a matching set.”

Agony blurred his vision. Brooke’s short gasps echoed in the cell.
Have to get her out of here.
She didn’t belong here. Neither did he, but he’d been prepared for death in that ring a hundred times before. How ironic that now, when he found a woman who made him want to be a better man, his life circled right back to this hellhole.

Loud shrieking cries echoed down the hallway, and Draven’s perverted laugh filled the cell. His calloused palms rasped as he rubbed them together. “That would be my torture room’s next guest.”

The air in front of Kai shifted, and Draven’s greasy stench rolled to his nose. “Hear that, Lash?
 
You’re gonna scream worse than that tomorrow. I’m still debating how many days to drag out your death.”

Kai raised his head to snarl a
No fucking way
, but Draven’s heel slammed into his jaw. Kai’s head snapped back as splintering pain shot down his spine. His upper body lurched forward on the recoil. He sucked air as his face bounced once on the hard floor, and everything went black.

Raniero stood concealed in a rare copse of healthy birch trees, studying the small frame house across the dirt road. The home’s weathered gray panels were beaten smooth, almost shiny, by wind and rain. Despite the abuse from Evena’s climate, it looked sturdy.

His acute hearing detected two adult females inside, as well as the cooing of an infant. Though he couldn’t discern their words, the relaxed emotion in their voices carried to him. Impatience warred with hesitation. He didn’t want to meet Ashina’s guests. He needed to see her alone.

Would she remember him?
 
Had she mated another?
 
His sternum prickled with anticipation and worry. Questions and fears circled in his head as he waited.

Years of training kept him from jumping at the metallic click of the door knob. Two women walked out onto the front porch. One of them he didn’t recognize, but the other…It was
her
. And she held a baby.

His world suspended in stunned disbelief. He stared, transfixed, at Ashina’s radiant profile. Her loveliness left him as breathless as the fist time he’d laid eyes on her. A white T-shirt clung to her slim frame, and below it she wore faded jeans that hugged her curves like a second skin. Her silky ebony hair dipped to her small waist, and her toffee-colored skin begged for his caress.

She laughed with the other female and their conversation continued as they moved to the front yard. Spotting a bird, she smiled and turned as she bounced the baby, trying to get it to focus on the tiny creature. The infant grunted but kept its gaze trained on her, fisting a lock of her hair and holding on tight.

Raniero’s chest tightened. He had hoped and prayed that if he ever had children, Ashina would be the woman to give them life. The thought of her with another male gnawed at his soul. But what did he expect?
 
They’d had no contact for a hundred years. And he’d bedded scores of women. Hell, he tried to combat the emptiness in his heart with the bodies of willing females. But the thought of taking any as a mate never entered his mind. The females provided a release, nothing more.

Maybe that was cold of him. But all the warmth in his soul died when her father forced them apart, threatening both their lives unless Raniero did his bidding. To protect her, he did what Cale asked. He murdered at Cale’s command. He eliminated his marks with cool efficiency, and then he slipped back into his “official” duties as one of Arawn’s Lash fighters.

Raneiro shook his head to clear the thoughts of Cale. How such a monster could have played any part in the creation of his kind, beautiful Ashina, he had no idea.
 

The women walked to the middle of the yard. Ashina cuddled the babe to her breast, then dropped a kiss on its head before handing it gently to the other female. The other woman hugged Ashina with her free arm, murmuring words of thanks. With that, she turned and made her way along the road, back toward the town
.

He sucked in a breath.
Not hers
.

Ashina smiled and watched the pair walk away, arms wrapped around her waist. Of course. The bartender said she was a healer. Residents of all ages probably came to see her. His heart swelled with pride that she had chosen to serve others in that way.

That pride was drowned out by the blood pounding in his veins, urging him to go to her. He moved silently out from the trees. If she turned her head, she would see him. His heart crashed against his ribs, his desire to enfold her in his arms warring with the question of her feelings for him. He could never cause her any pain. If she rejected him, he would walk away. And leave every last shred of his scarred heart and soul at her feet.

He stalked across the road. She stood in profile to him, still watching her friend. In seconds, his movement would catch her eye. His feet landed on the gray-green grass of her yard.

She turned toward him and froze. She stared at him for several moments, her eyes flickering first with confusion, then recognition and shock, before growing wide. Her lush lips parted. Then she blinked and drew a shaky breath.

Her eyes narrowed as they quickly swept up and down his body, and she opened her mouth farther as if to speak. But he stopped her, wanting to speak first.

“Ashina.”
 
Her name fell from his lips in a rasp of emotion he had no prayer of hiding. He took a step closer to her. His body vibrated with the need to hold her, to make sure she was really there. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Raniero!” she gasped, her shocked voice breaking as she ran to him. She stopped just short of touching him, hands shaking, stunned eyes never leaving his face.

He swallowed hard as he gazed down into those luminous green pools that had owned his life the second they locked on to him. He watched them travel down to his chin, her face showed a clinical concern, and he guessed she was studying his scar.

She extended her hand toward his face, then stopped in mid-air. He ached to grab that hand and kiss it, but he waited.

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “It happened a long time ago. Viper fight.”

Her eyes flicked to his, then back to the thin scar. As light as a bird’s wing, her fingers landed at the top, near his eye, and gently traced their way down to his lips.

Trembling with emotion he could no longer control, he whispered her nickname, “Sheena…Gods, I’ve missed you.”

A smile lit her delicate features. “I’ve missed you, too,” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. The honeyed tones of her voice reached into the deepest corners of his being, making him more alive than he had been in a century.

He took her hand and turned it to kiss her fingers. Her smile broadened. She pulled her hand away, only to lean up on her toes, fling her arms around his neck, and press her lips to his. He growled as a thousand emotions rocketed through his body.

She’s mine
.

His one and only love. He wound his arms around her waist and crushed her lithe body close, kissing her gently, relearning the contours of her mouth.

She rested her hands on either side of his face and broke the kiss. Her gaze radiant, she spoke the words he prayed to hear again. “I love you, Raniero.”

“And I love you,” he said, resting his forehead against hers. “I never stopped searching for you.”

“I knew you would find me.”

He raised his head and looked at her solemnly. “I will never let you go, Sheena. Never.”

“Good,” she murmured. “Kiss me again.”

His body trembled as their lips met. This sweet, tiny female, banished alone to a wasted realm, found her purpose in doing good. While he murdered in cold blood, year after year. A century of death. Would she forgive him?

Her hands slipped into his hair and pulled out the tie holding back the dark waves. She twisted her fingers into it and sighed. “I love your hair,” she said against his mouth.

He pulled back to study her face. “I love everything about you.” He kissed the tip of her little nose, then scooped her into his arms and spun her in circles until she shrieked in delight. “Fuck, it feels so good to hold you,” he growled.

Her hands locked at his nape and she buried her face in his chest. “You’re making me dizzy!”

He set her down and kissed her with more hunger, bending her backward.
She’s mine
. Nothing else mattered.

She knotted her hands in his hair and met his lips with an urgency of her own. Then she smiled and slid one hand into his. “Let’s go inside.”

A rumble vibrated from his chest as heat rocketed through his limbs. “I need you closer.”
 
He bent to slip one arm under her knees, wrapped the other around her shoulders, and lifted her to his chest. With a sly wink, he pressed a swift kiss to her mouth. “That’s more like it.”

Raniero had to duck his head as he carried her through the doorway. Ashina’s house was tidy, with a cot against one wall of the large front room. Cabinets and shelves lined the walls, with bandages and vials arranged in neat rows.

She directed him through a hallway and into the back portion of the house, which held a kitchen and a bedroom. “Sit,” she commanded, and pointed at one of the chairs surrounding the dining table. “I’ll make us some tea.”

He didn’t release her as he lowered himself into the chair. “No. I’m not ready to let go of you. And the tea can wait.”
 
As much as he ached to pin her beneath him, now wasn’t the time. First, she deserved to know what kind of life he’d been living.

“Okay.”
 
Smiling, she settled on his lap and linked her arms around his neck. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

She tilted her head and held his gaze, his soul captured in the gently whirling vortex of her green eyes. His mind flooded with memories from a hundred years ago, when she walked into a meeting looking for her father. Raniero lost his heart to her right then and there. He surrendered his soul as well, when she gave him her innocence one magical night.

He didn’t know how long they sat like that in her kitchen. It could’ve been minutes, or an hour. He reluctantly pulled himself from the sweet memories and back to reality. She needed to know about the darkness that filled him. He was no longer the hopeful young warrior, filled with desire to quench the evils of the world. Now he was jaded, his hands covered in blood, his body wielded as a tool to dominate enemies and females alike.