Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4))

Opening my eyes in the darkness of the bedroom, the sheer canopy surrounding the bed spark
l
es
with frost.
I si
t
up against the pillows
,
allowing the silken sheet to slip from me. Reed, s
leeping sou
ndly next to me,
looks so peaceful…angelic.
His dark brown hair is falling over his brow in messy
wisps. Reaching out, I smooth
his hair lightly away from his face, feeling his warm skin beneath my fingertips.
His charcoal-color
ed
angel
wing slip
s
forward a little, brushing against my thigh. It, too, is warm against my frigid skin.

Something’
s wrong
, I shiver
, exhaling a breath and seeing it curl in
to
a white current in front of me, as wintery air will do.
It’s to
o cold…
Goose
bumps ri
se on my arms
as dread ru
n
s
like icy water through me.
Zephyr’s island is located in the South Pacific; i
t never gets this cold
here.

I toss
my long, auburn hair over my shoulder and w
rap
the whit
e sheet securely around my body.
I put my bare feet on the teak floor
boards, feeling them crackle
with cold beneath
me. Frosty condensation covers
everything in the room, causing surfaces to sparkle eerily in t
he hazy moonlight from the half-
shuttered windows.

Walking slowly
to the bedroom door, I turn and go
to the
front
door of our
small, b
each bungalow. As I open
it, black clouds roll and boil
toward the
cove
of Zephyr’s island paradise
. My hand clutches
the doorframe, watching the ominous storm blowing in.
The wind whistles
against the feathers of my crimson wings, causing them to ruffle.
The palm trees that line the beach are swaying in the breeze as the
whitecap
water
churns against the white sand.

I hear
cracking sounds, like someone
is walking on ice
t
oo thin to sustain weight. A
dark figure
stri
de
s
beneath the storm clouds toward me
out
on the open water. A
thin layer of ice forms
beneath his feet with
each s
tep he takes
.
Coming closer, the wind carries
his sweet, sticky scent to me, covering me like it’s mark
ing me as his.
A terrible kind of l
ove swells
in my heart—
p
ainful and raw—
enslaving and cruel.

With slow,
obedient
steps,
I walk
toward the water’s edge, feeling
powder
y, icy sand between my toes. Frigid
water laps
against my feet
, wetting the bottom of my sheet, as
I wait
for Brennus to come to me. Wearing a dark, perfectly tailored
suit, he appears outwardly calm. His steps are unmeasured,
strolling
over the ice as it
continually branches
o
ut ahead of each of his strides
beneath the wicked sky
.

Stopping in front of me, only a breath away,
Brennus smiles
. He scans every inch of me
with his assessing gaze.
His black hair
, which
contrasts
starkly with his pale, white skin i
n the moonlight, doesn’t hide
his eyes
as they
darken
with pleasure.
“
Mo chroí
,” he breathes
,
calling me “
my heart
.
”
“Y
e
seem ta have
escaped da f
allen
aingeals
quite well
.”

I nod
numbly, whispering,
“You survived
, too, I see
.” There is
fear and
relief in my tone, betraying my feelings
for him. Looking into his light
green eyes,
they’re registering his relief
at finding me.

Brennus shrugs
.
“I’m a good
swimmer
, so I survived da
spell
ye cast ta scatter da fallen
aingeals
and wi’out Casimir
ta lead dem
, da F
allen lost deir focus and began ta recognize dat dey were losing
da battle
,” Brennus replies
with an angelic e
x
pression on his beautiful face.

S
eeing him smi
ling, it’s hard for me to re
member that he’s truly a killer—
a lethal predator.
It’s difficult
for me to thi
nk of Brennus as evil now because he
protected me, not only from the Ifrit, Valentine
,
who would’ve killed me,
but also from the
army of fallen angel
s
who stalk
me
still
.
But, he ha
d
also enslaved me, keeping me from everyone
that I love so that he could make me his queen: a
queen to
reside over the Gancanagh—
his race of
undead
,
magical F
aeries with enthralling, toxic skin.

Brennus
adds
,
“I tought dat ye were taken by da fallen
aingeals
. Dat’s where we’ve been looking for ye.”

His word
s
evoke
images of the last time I saw him
a few weeks ago
. Casimir and his army of fallen angels had cornered us at
Brennus’ estate in Ireland.
I had used magic to
save us by
summon
ing
the sea and drenching us all in a churning, swirl of ocean water. I
t had s
eparated me from Brennus,
washing me away from him
and into Casimir’s control.

“How’
s
Molly?
Finn? Declan?” I
ask
, not able to stop myself from inquiring about Brennus’ bro
ther
, Finn,
and my Gancanagh body
guard
, Declan
…my prison guards.

“
Molly is grand.
Finn is better.
’
Twas Declan dat we were all worried about. He took losing ye
very hard. He improved a wee bit
when we found Casimir’s corpse
in pieces
on the lawn of da
estate
. Was dat ye
who killed him
?” he asks
with approval
.

I shake
my head,
“No. Reed killed him,” I reply
, seeing
a flicker of jealous
y enter Brennus’
eyes
at the mention of Reed’s name
.
He warned me never to speak my angel’s name in his presence, so
I try
to cover my slip by asking,
“How did you find me?”

“Ye took me blade wi’ ye.
’
Tis moin…it calls for me, jus as ye do, but ye do
na know dat, do ye?” he replies. I close
my eyes, feeling my
heart begin to race as I think
of the knife I’d taken and shoved i
n
to
my boot when we were escaping from the
army of
fallen angels.
“Come, we’
l
l find a way for ye ta leave dis island now
.
Yer family misses ye. I miss ye,
”
Brennus says
softly.
“
’
Tis time we had ye home.”

Opening my eyes and staring into his, they reflect absolute certainty that I’ll follow his orders and return with him.
As his captive
for the last few months, I had
done my best to act like I was one of them, a Gancanagh, in order to survive. Bu
t now, I’m no longer his hostage
. Now, I have a chance of staying with Reed, my love.
Moistening my lips t
hat have become very dry, I say
, “I can’t come with you, Brennus. I’m sorry.”

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