Immortal Craving: Immortal Heart (10 page)

“Alright, I’m on it,” Kale said as he entered the house.

Kat was still holed up in her room. Kale had to remind himself that this wasn’t just about him finding closure—they had a whole race to protect. If what they suspected was in fact the truth, then this particular Succubus was suffering and she would be for another week. They had to find her.

“Kat,” Kale said her name as he knocked on her door.

“What do you want?” she called.

“I need you to come out of there. We need to talk about the Succubus who is killing all these men.”

Kale took a deep breath as he waited in the kitchen, his elbow in one hand while his other hand palmed his forehead. He didn’t know if he could wrangle his emotions long enough to get answers from her.

“Take a seat,” he said as he lifted his head at her entrance.

“Are you going to interrogate me now?” she bristled.

“Only if I have to.
I just got off the phone with Lothar; it seems you’ve been working with one of our people to track down the
Succubi
you fled here with.”

Kat’s eyes widened briefly. So this wasn’t about them? This was about work.

“Who told you that?”

Kale arched a brow. “Who do you think?”

“I never should have trusted that Siren.”

“
Trevan didn’t betray you. He’s just doing his job. We have to find her—she’s killing innocent people.”

“You don’t understand,” she said, blowing off his concern for the humans.

“Oh, I think I do. I know more than you give me credit for.”

Kat narrowed her eyes, crossed her arms over her breasts, and leaned back in her seat. “Then enlighten me, Kale. What do you really know of what she’s going through?”

“
Mata.
”

The one word had her sitting forward, arching her brows at him.
Trevan had told him more than he had any right to. Mata was a sacred rite of passage for her species—one that few outside of
Succubi
and
Incubi
families knew of.

“What else did he tell you?” Kat felt the need to be careful of the information she shared at this point.

How much had Trevan divulged?

Kale narrowed his eyes.

Was she testing his knowledge?

He didn’t have time to play games with her so he laid it all out on the table—everything he knew about the true mating. He told their suspicions that the murdered men were collateral damage from a
Succubi
Mata
and that Kat knew the Succubus in question.

Finally he said, “I know what
Darion is, and about the
Succubi
he’s kept captive… I just didn’t know you were one of them, Kat,” he added softly.

Kat nodded. She didn’t know what to say. She now knew the lies that had been woven around the both of them had stolen years from them. While her scars were not of the physical variety, she knew Kale could see them.

Kat raked her eyes over Kale. He’d found a different way to pass the time… a tightness took up residence low in her belly as she thought of inspecting each and every piece of art that now decorated his chiseled body. She already bore witness to what his talented tongue could do with its new piercing.

Kat sighed. She was a fool. They couldn’t trust each other then—now was really no different. And then there was all this new guilt to come to terms with… Why had she so willingly believed
Darion?

Resigned to deal with the most pressing matter at hand, she asked, “What do you want to know?”

Kale moved to the table and sat across from her. “I want to know everything that happened to you, but right now I need to know about the
Succubi
that escaped with you.”

“I’ll tell you what happened and what I know, but I want to see the Siren and I want to see Jake.”

Kale was silent for so long she thought he would deny her, but he slowly dipped his chin and pulled out his phone. Once he’d finished speaking with Lothar, he ended the call. “You heard him; he’s going to bring them to you.”

“When?” she asked.
“Can they get here before sunrise?”

“It’ll take them a couple hours to get here.”

Kat looked to the green numbers displayed on the microwave, 1:45 AM. They would be here before the sun rose.

“Fine.”
She settled into her seat and began. “I escaped with five other
Succubi
after Jake helped me from my cell. I released the others and we fled. We’d heard rumors of a group of Fae who would sell passage to the Human World, so not only did we escape Darion’s castle but we took enough jewels and gold to buy our freedom. Once we were here we separated. We reminded each other too much of what we’d been through. Only two of the others I left with stayed together and I’ve already cleared the two of them and one other.”

“How?”
Kale asked.

“The Siren you call
Trevan took me to the first body and I memorized the scent of her magic, though I won’t know who it is until I’m near her—our magic changes with our
Mata
.”

“
Trevan said he knew it wasn’t his sister because he would recognize her magic. If your magic changes, could it still be her and he just didn’t recognize it?”

Kat shook her head. “No, his sister was already in
Mata
when she went to Darion.”

Kale nodded for her to continue.

“There are only two
Succubi
left that it could be, unless more have come here that I don’t know about.”

“Ok, once you see your
Trow, you and I are going to find the two
Succubi
in question.”

“I want Jake with us,” she told him sternly.

Kale resisted the urge to growl at her. Why did she need her bodyguard
Trow
? He could and would protect her this time.

“Listen to me, Kale. You may not like hearing this but Jake is the one person in the world I trust implicitly. He comes with us or you might as well lock me up now, because without him I won’t lift a finger to help you.”

Kale felt the lick of flames at his fingertips—his control over the fire that burned just beneath the surface of his skin threatened to lash out.

He understood that some things would take time. But he’d tasted her again and he felt that low hum in his body that told him he wanted to taste her again and so much more.

There had been something so profound in the kisses they shared earlier. He hadn’t given himself much time to truly analyze what had passed between them. She knew now that he had never done a thing to hurt her and she damn well was going to have to find that trust in him again. He was feeling a little proprietary towards her—she was back and he wasn’t sure he could let her slip through his fingers again.

“You don’t need him to protect you. I. Will.” He punctuated his words.

“It’s not enough,” she said, her voice raising an octave.

Kale growled this time. “Do you want to test that theory? I know with no doubt in my mind that I am all you’ll ever need.”

Kat felt her eyelids drop just a fraction, hooding her eyes with lust. She forced her legs to hold her weight as she stood. “No,” she murmured softly. “It’s too late.”

Kale was on her in a matter of seconds.
“For what, Kat?”

“For all of it,” she said, looking up at him. “We live in a cruel world, Kale. It was never going to work. Jake and I will help you, but there will be stipulations.”

Kale took a step back. “Like what?”

“Once we help you find out who she is, you promise not to send her back to
Darion. And you let me and Jake go. We haven’t hurt anyone; we just want to be left alone.”

The statement wasn’t entirely true. She had vengeance in her heart, even more now than a few hours ago. Life really was cruel… she could be too. She would help the Siren free his sister. Once she was safe,
Darion would pay for what he’d done to all of them. Then she and Jake would disappear and she would try to forget and finally start over.

Kale stared down at her. If Kat didn’t know better, she would have sworn she saw the briefest flash of pain in those espresso depths.

“Can you honestly tell me that no part of you wants to try and make us work? That no part of you wants to make up for what was stolen from us?”

He was
so sincere as he asked and while every part of Kat wanted to simply fall into his arms and shout to the heavens,
Yes, I want it all back, all I want is you.
She couldn’t help but think of what lead them to this point… they didn’t trust or believe in one another. She couldn’t have a true mate that she couldn’t or hadn’t trusted enough to believe in. They both deserved better than that.

“I’m sorry. Can you promise me what I’m asking for?”

With a voice that sounded husky and dangerous, he leaned close to her. “Why would me promising you anything matter? You don’t trust or believe me anyway.”

Kale pulled back and left the kitchen through the back door. Leaving her alone in a house she had no escape from.

Kat watched Kale through her bedroom window. He looked relaxed leaning against a tall pine, but she knew he was coiled. She wished she knew what he was thinking as he stared out at what… she had no idea.

He was unbelievably still.

He looked like a god chiseled out of pale marble; the moon giving his skin an unearthly and completely beautiful glow.

Kat ran her hand through her long blonde waves. She felt moisture catch on her lashes. She was crying again. Her heart was such a fucked up mess. She loved that Immortal… her Immortal. She just couldn’t seem to get her brain and heart on the same page. He was her true mate and her heart wanted him, needed him, like a flower needs the sun to bloom, like the desert needs the rain. Her heart needed him in order to keep beating. Though her brain reminded her that regardless of what her heart desired—it just wouldn’t work.

Kat sighed, pushing off the windowsill and flipping off her light. She had a few hours before Jake should arrive. She hoped to get some sleep while she waited for him.

Kale felt eyes on him. He glanced back at the house just in time to watch the lights go out in Kat’s room. It had been an emotional few hours. It hadn’t even been twelve hours since he found her in that bar, and yet it was the most drained he’d felt in a long time.

He’d held her again. After fifteen years of believing she was dead and beyond his reach, likely residing with the
Immortal Four,
he’d found her in a bar. The most beautiful, breathtaking woman he’d ever known was within his reach again and yet she was emotionally cut off from him. He wasn’t sure there was a way to bring her back. She was physically there but what he truly desired from her was lost somewhere he couldn’t get to.

Flashes of their time together plagued him and his body hardened as he remembered tasting her only a few hours ago in the living room. It had been so different—more intense than it had ever been between them.

Kale shook off the memories and reminded himself that he had a job to do and while Kat’s words hurt, he would deal with his pain as he always did. Lock it up for a later date.

****

“Are we recklessly disregarding the rules now, sister?” Alistair asked as he approached Acacia.

It wasn’t often any of her brothers journeyed over to her and her sisters’ domain. And though she could hear the chiding in his voice, she still warmed at the thought of getting to see her brother.

Acacia lowered her face from the sun that held no heat in her world and smiled.

Alistair was tall, just as
Makyle, Josiah, and Zarek were, though that was where most the similarities ended with her brothers. While she and her sisters all had varying hues of green eyes and black hair, her brothers were across the spectrum.

Alistair had that too stern look on his sculpted face. Unlike her and her sisters with their fine features, Alistair had high, sharp cheekbones, a straight nose, and full lips that were currently pursed. His citrine eyes were slightly narrowed and framed by faintly furrowed chestnut brows. Acacia knew that look too well.

With a bright smile to hopefully lighten his mood, she held her hand out to him. Alistair clasped it and helped her from her sitting position in the picturesque green grass. As soon as he let her hand go, she threw her arms around her brother.

“Please tell me you didn’t come all this way just to scold me, Alistair. It would be a shame as I have missed you and have technically done no wrong.”

Alistair refrained from shaking his head at her. He had a soft spot where Acacia was involved and while he was angered with her, he couldn’t help but return the hug.

“Not technically, but what were you thinking?”

Acacia stepped back and held his gaze. “He was meant to know—it was in the fates,” she said simply.

“If it was meant for him to know, he would have found out.”

“Perhaps it was meant for me to be the one to set him on the path to find her.”

“You changed the course of others involved,” Alistair told her firmly.

Acacia tilted her head. “What have you seen?”

“I’ve seen others’ time cut short—there are new names on our list. Have you thought to check yours?”

Acacia dipped her chin.
Had she truly interfered in the fate of others by leading Kale back to Katarina?

“I have not, Alistair,” she admitted.

“I suggest you find Jelena and see what course all involved are now on.”

“And what would you have me do if in fact our list has changed?” she asked, truly wondering how far she could go to help change what course she may have set in motion.

Alistair’s lips twisted into a grimace. “I don’t have an answer for you, but this is why we are not meant to interfere.”

“I did as I am bound. I answered what he asked of me.”

“He would not have known to ask had you not told him he could,” Alistair pointed out.

“Do you not believe that as soon as he found her these names would have appeared on our lists?”

“No, because I have seen Katarina’s path change to include Kale in something that was solely her fate. Now they will take this path together and it may end badly for the warrior.”

With a deep breath, she lifted her gaze to him, “Would you like to accompany me to find
Jelena?”

Alistair nodded and extended his elbow to Acacia. “Lead the way, sister.”