Courting Darkness (38 page)

“Take her to the loo and see that the Correan’s blood is thoroughly removed.”

Rebecca gave him a curt nod, her vibrant curls bouncing as she rushed forward, taking Olivia’s arm and ushering her down the hall. They passed the white column arches separating the living room and study, not stopping until they reached the last room on the right at the end of the hallway. Guiding her inside, Rebecca kicked the door closed with her foot and instructed, “Take your clothes off.”

The urgency in her friend’s voice stayed any reluctance to balk at the lack of privacy. Besides, the pain was excruciating, and she wanted nothing more than to shed these violence-ridden clothes.

Rebecca rushed to the tub, cranking both faucet handles inward. Water blasted into the claw-footed bathtub, and she squirted something into the water. Bubbles foamed and the light scent of gardenias filled the room, competing with the stench of death covering her.

Turning to Olivia, Rebecca began helping her strip off her clothes, as if she wasn’t moving fast enough. After shedding her panties, the last article of clothing she wanted to part with, Rebecca nudged her into the tub while grabbing a jar of salve from the medicine cabinet and handing it to her. “Here, this will help get the blood off.”

Olivia took it, twisting off the lid as she mumbled her thanks. Rebecca scooped her clothes off the floor and hurried to the door. “There’s a robe in the closet, feel free to use it. If you need help—”

“I’m fine. Thank you,” she interrupted, cutting short the offer, more than capable of bathing herself and anxious to rid her body of this demon’s filth in private.

“Just call. I’ll be listening for you.”

With that parting comment, Rebecca closed the door behind her and Olivia dove her hand into the jar of gritty salve that smelled of blessed rosemary. Coating her neck and chest, she began scrubbing her flesh, grinding her teeth against the searing pain of her scorched skin.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Rebecca had a hot cup of chamomile tea waiting for her when she came out of the bathroom. Olivia accepted the thoughtful gesture on her way to her room, doubtful there was any tea strong enough to help her sleep this night. Before climbing into bed, she lit the night candle at her bedside, going through the motions of preparing for bed, all the while knowing it would be of futile use.

Plagued with uncertainty and doubt, she exhaled a heavy sigh and sat on the edge of the bed. Slipping under the covers, she turned to face Liam, her mighty angelic warrior who in this “stasis” still appeared breathtakingly masculine but unsettlingly vulnerable. It scared her to think of what could have happened had this occurred outside of
Landaketa,
what Haden would have done if he’d followed her and discovered Liam like this. Would he have given her warrior the same measure of mercy Liam had shown him at her request? Doubtful.

The mere thought of Haden left an unsettling knot of dread in her gut. It was so easy to pretend the rest of the world didn’t exist here. Was Haden even now searching for her?—hunting for the stone he believed would ensure his vengeance? It wouldn’t be long before the hunter became the hunted. There was no doubt in her mind Liam would uphold his vow to deliver the Nephilim to the High Court as promised. She told herself that what came of Haden wasn’t her concern, but she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t worried about the retribution he’d surely face at the hands of the elders. Nor was she comfortable with the idea of Liam returning to the same court that had incarcerated him. What if they tried to imprison him again? What if he didn’t return to her?

Her heavy sigh mirrored the weight smothering her heart. She turned toward him and reached out to gently brush his hair from his face and whispered, “What will become of us, huh? What kind of a future will we have? How can I let you walk away from everything you are? And yet I would rather die than let you go again.” Leaning forward, she brushed her lips against his. “I wish I were stronger.”

Settling in, she laid her un-bruised cheek against his chest and draped her arm over his stomach. Listening to the steady beat of his heart, the slow rhythmic draw of his breaths, she traced her fingers over the large scar on his side, remembering the story of how he got the wound that nearly took his life. Such a proud, fearless warrior, her angel…

Olivia woke to teasing kisses trailing down her neck, across her collarbone, following the path of exposed skin as Liam tugged her robe open, baring her shoulder…her breast. In her haze of sleepy bliss, a surrendering moan escaped her parted lips, and was answered by a low throaty growl. Although her mind remained dull from sleep, her body swiftly awakened—hypersensitive and responsive to Liam’s gentle, insistent touch.

Her pain from the Core blood muted to a dull ache as Liam’s mouth, his hands, took her to a place of pure ecstasy. Here, nothing mattered beyond his next touch, his next kiss, and the delicious pleasure he’d wring from her ready and willing body.

Olivia’s breaths quickened with panting expectancy as his massive, virile body crawled down hers with the stealth and fluid grace of a predator stalking its prey. A thrill of excitement shivered in her core, muscles tensing in heady anticipation as his breath teased across her stomach—then lower. A strangled gasp caught in her throat, her hips arching off the bed as her hands dove into the errant waves of his silky hair. His large hands scooped beneath her bottom, gripping tight, lifting her up as the sacrificial lamb of his erotic feast.

Moments she wished would last forever, passed in a fleeting heartbeat. Her body shattered into a million pieces as she swiftly came apart in his hands, undone by the rapture of his kiss. He took possession of her—mind, body, and soul. As the waves of ecstasy receded and she struggled to regain her presence of thought, Liam worked his way up her body, slid his hips between her parted thighs, and took her all over again.

Olivia’s release rode her hard; as did the male she’d given her all to—her guardian, her best friend…her lover. She was his in every way, and try as she might to rationalize her impudence, she couldn’t help but wonder if these last few days were just the first of many consequences to come.

As she lay sprawled across his sweat-dampened chest, still heaving from the workout of his own release, Olivia lifted her head to meet his brilliant sapphire gaze. “You know, you could have warned me that unlike the
Energizer Bunny
, you actually do wear out.”

His brow arched in question at her light scolding. Clearly feeling no worse for the wear, he bent his arm, tucking it behind his head. A roguish grin tugged at his top lip, promising his energy was far from depleted.

“I’ll have you know that Niall took great pleasure in informing me I’d broken you.”

Liam chuckled, his low rumbling chortle still wrought with unspent desire. “I assure you, you did not break me. But if you care to have another go at it, I’m more than game.”

“Liam, it’s not funny. Do you realize three days have passed?”

At her news, the playful grin on his seductive lips vanished and he scowled. “Three days? Are you serious?”

“Yes, quite. You mean you don’t know? How much time do you think has passed?”

“A few hours.”

“Well…times that by twenty and you’re getting close. I was really scared, Liam. Why didn’t you tell me that could happen to you?”

“Because it never has before.”

Rolling out from under her, he planted his feet on the floor, face in his hands. A familiar gesture she’d come to recognize when he was frustrated or upset. Dread turned the blood surging through her veins to ice. “Never?”

He shook his head.

“How can that be? It must happen sometimes. Niall said it was quite common.”

“Niall is a different kind of angel than I am. He’s Hititsu—they’re mercenaries who hunt demonic creatures like the one you saw with him the other day.”

Like the one that nearly killed me last night,
she mentally amended.

“They are nomads, relentless hunters that protect your world from beasts who intend to harm the human race.
Landaketa
is the closest thing Hititsu have to a home. Their power source is different than mine, and they live by a different set of laws than I do. I am Ronnin. I come from a legion of angels created to war against other angels. I fight those who fall from grace, and I enforce Eternal Law—” Exhaling on a curse, he scrubbed his face with his hands and grumbled, “—when I’m not breaking it.”

Olivia didn’t know what to say, struck speechless with the realization of how little, after all this time, she actually knew about him.

“Ronnin are like the peacekeepers of the universe. My power comes directly from my Creator. We do not become unplugged.”

She rose up and walked on her knees across the mattress. Laying her un-bruised cheek against the wide expanse of his shoulders, she slipped her arms around his waist and held onto him. “Well, you did, and it really scared me,” she whispered. “How do you feel now?”

“No different. Strong as ever.”

“Perhaps you’re taking too long to return with Haden and the court is growing impatient.”

“No doubt that, but they don’t possess the power to sever my connection. Would that they could, a steeper penance could not be imposed.”

Sighing, she brushed a kiss against the nape of his neck and returned to her pillow, watching him grapple with a number of truths that gave cause for more questions than answers. “We have to go back, don’t we?”

He nodded. “In the morning.”

The morning?
But already the darkened room was slowly growing brighter with the promise of a new day. The low drawl of Liam’s voice sounded no more eager over the prospect of leaving than she felt. Suddenly, an idea hit her. An impetuous thought, true, but she couldn’t resist voicing it. “What if we didn’t…go back, that is. Can’t we stay here? You and me?”

The muscles in his back rippled and flexed as he dragged his hand through his hair and exhaled a breath she didn’t realize he’d been holding. “Were it that easy... Olivia, if you lived here, you could never leave. The passage of time between your world and here is great. The aging would be too hard on your body. Already, we’ve tarried longer than I wanted to. I’m concerned for your health in returning as it is. No doubt you’ll feel the effects. If this were our home, you would have to walk away from your entire life as you know it. Your family, your friends…you’d never see them again, at least not in this lifetime. And that’s a sacrifice I fear you’d live to regret.”

A sacrifice no greater than the one he was willing to make for her, she wanted to point out. But the argument died on her lips as she considered the gravity of his words. Even as angry as she was with her parents for deceiving her, for keeping the truth from her, Olivia wasn’t ready to turn her back on them, on all her friends and loved ones.

He turned his head, looking over his shoulder to meet her gaze. Then, as if just now getting a clear glimpse of her face, he tensed. His expression vacillating somewhere between concern and barely controlled rage. “Bloody hell, Olivia, what happened to the side of your face?”

Truthfully, she’d forgotten all about it, her heartache over their situation dwarfing any physical pain that remained from the beast’s assault. Until this moment, he must not have gotten a good look at her. Her injuries had been concealed by the cover of night. Reaching up, she brushed her fingertips over the tender spot on her cheekbone and wondered just how bad it truly looked. Judging from the shock and anger on Liam’s face, it wasn’t good.

“It’s fine,” she answered dismissively, trying to reassure him.

“The hell it is!” he barked. “What happened to you?” His gaze dipped to her throat and he shoved her robe aside, baring her breasts to the scrutiny of his gaze. A snarled oath tore from his lips. “Why didn’t you tell me? I’ve been touching you, kissing you—”

“Because you weren’t hurting me.” Feeling self-conscious, she pulled the robe from his grip and refastened the tie. “Rebecca gave me some salve for the burns. It’s much better now.”

“I’ll ask you one last time before I get the truth from Niall, and I can damn well promise you, he’ll give it to me. How did this happen, Olivia?”

She shivered at the amethyst glow in his piercing gaze, the room crackling with the energy of an impending electrical storm, making the fine hairs on her arms stand on end. “I went into the barn. I didn’t realize the Correan was in there…”

The foul oath that flew off his tongue would have, no doubt, scalded her ears had it been in a language she could understand.

“What are you going to do?” she demanded as he leapt from the bed and grabbed his pants off the floor. Jerking them on and past his hips, Liam was still fastening the button and yanking up the zipper as he stormed out the door.

“I’m going to save Niall a trip to Sheol,” echoed his snarled response down the hall. Liam’s heavy footfalls became a rapid staccato of pure male fury as he hit the stairs. A moment later, the front door slammed shut with a wall-rattling
bang.