Night Beyond The Night (39 page)

“Are you hurt?”

“I was,” he said, his blue eyes meeting hers. Still flat, but no longer cold with loathing. “Your Elliott healed me, so I could help you.”

It took only an instant for the meaning of his words to register.
Oh my God
.

“Keep your father out of my way—and you too,” she said, running out the door.

Out the door, down the metal stairs, past the constantly rushing water, falling from every level . . . she reached the bottom of the stairs and didn’t know which way to go. There were two rooms. Cries and shouts from the right, and she dashed that way first.

Three tries to get the right bloody key to work and at last she had the hold opened. “Theo!” she cried, seeing him slumped against the wall. The room was filled with familiar faces—the same kids she’d saved from the
gangas
less than a week ago. “Geoff Pinglett!”

Theo raised his head and squinted at her through a swollen eye. “Jade! Thank God!”

“Where’s Elliott?” she asked, fumbling with the keys. There were so many of them, and they were slick with blood, and she was desperate.

“I don’t know. I heard someone shouting . . . he’s down here I think,” he said.

Jade finally got the right keys, loosened Theo from his manacles, and said, “He’s hurt. I’ll be right back. It’s safe now.”

She ran back down the hall, heart thumping madly, to the other door. Three keys later, she got it open just as Theo dashed up behind her. Flinging the door open, she burst in and saw him, huddled on the floor.

“Elliott,” she cried, starting toward him.

“Jade,” he murmured, his voice thick. “
No. Don’t. . . .
”

She turned to find Theo there. “Take the keys, get the kids out of here.”

There was a loud noise from above and the boat vibrated. “What the hell—?”

“It sounded like an explosion,” Theo said, looking up. The smell of smoke tinged the air.

“Get the hell out of here,” she said. “Ian told me everyone was gone, but he must have lied. Get the others and see what’s going on up there. And get away!”

Theo hesitated, then nodded and ran off with one more backward look.

That left Jade to turn back to Elliott. She moved toward him, her heart in her throat, the smell of blood deep and heavy in the room. Frightening.

“Don’t . . .”
he said again as she drew near, desperation coloring his voice. “Don’t do it, Jade.” Then he seemed to focus on her, seeing her bruised and bloody face for the first time. “My . . . God . . . Jade. I’m sorry . . . I tried. . . .” She heard him swallow . . . try to swallow. “Preston. . . .” He managed.

“He’s dead,” she said, almost reaching to touch him. It was automatic, she
needed
to give comfort, as well as receive it . . . but she pulled back just in time.

She saw streaks on his face, grime and sweat. His hair was plastered to his head and she nearly cried when she saw the tears in his clothing, the scrapes on his wrist from the manacles.

She wanted to brush the hair from his face, to ease the pain, wipe the blood away. Kiss him. She couldn’t even do that. “Elliott. . . .”

But . . . what if she didn’t touch him directly . . .? Maybe she could—

“Don’t . . .”
he said, as if he knew what she was thinking. “Don’t chance it. Jade.
Please. Please
.”

“I want to touch you, Elliott. I can’t just sit here and watch you . . . I can’t even. . . .” Her voice broke. She couldn’t kiss him, couldn’t help him out of this room . . . she couldn’t even unlock him from the damned chains. He was going to die, here, a prisoner, with her watching him. Without a last kiss or caress . . . with no comfort. She was crying in earnest now, flinging the tears away with shaking fingers.

Blood pooled around him, soaking his shirt, dripping onto the floor. She literally saw the life draining from his face even as his eyes fastened on her, focusing for a moment.

Love blazed there. Something she’d not seen before, never recognized. Not this way. This deep.

“I . . .” He began. Then coughed. The deathly rattle sounded hollow in the room.

Jade looked at him, biting her lip.
No
. There had to be something. . . .

“I . . . want . . . you . . .” he said, drawing in a damp breath.

“I want you too, Elliott,” she cried, bending forward to kiss him. She didn’t care.

He jerked away before she touched him, gasping with pain at the sudden movement. Fury blazed in his eyes when he turned back to look at her. “
Don’t
.” He pulled in a shuddering breath and said, “Don’t . . .
dammit
. . . Jade.” He paused, gathered himself, and continued. “I want . . . you to . . . go
back
. Rogan . . . loves you. Will take care. . . .”

“But I don’t love him,” she retorted. “Elliott, please. . . .”

“Let me . . . talk. Don’t have much longer.” He tried to smile. Failed. Pain washed over his face, his cheeks so hollow, his mouth flat and agonized. Those blue eyes, now empty and flat, closed for a moment, then opened. Slowly. “I love . . . you. So. Much. I. . . .”

Jade was shaking her head, tears coming from her eyes, dripping down her face and onto the floor. “I love you too, Elliott. I don’t want anyone else . . .”

“Listen.”
He let out a long breath. “Just once. Please.”

She bit her lip, but didn’t speak. Tears rolled down freely now.

“I . . . can’t live . . . in this world. . . .” He made a little movement that might have been a smile, but it was more of a grimace. “It’s not . . . mine.”

“Yes it is. You can. With me!” she said fiercely, and by God, she didn’t care anymore. She reached for him, touched him through his clothing. She felt him stiffen, in pain or fear, she didn’t know, but she felt him, spreading her hands over him, felt his strong legs and hips . . . the warmth seeping through. And at last she felt a little comfort.

Jade moved her hand and felt something hard, and rounded. In his pocket. He shifted and it moved. “What is this?” she asked.

“Crys . . . tal,” he breathed. His eyes had lost their focus. His lips barely moved.

But she caught the word and suddenly . . . a ray of hope.

A crystal. . . .

She dug it out of his pocket and the cloth wrapping fell way, dried with blood. Slender glasslike tentacles radiated from it, and hope surged deeper. She’d just seen one. Preston’s immortality crystal.

This might just work. It
might
.

“Elliott. Hold this.
Hold the crystal
,” she said, moving toward his hands . . . hands that she’d had to refrain from touching, hands bloody and dirty and torn from his battles. His fingers barely moved, but she thrust the crystal into his palm, careful not to touch those lethal digits, and waited.

Prayed.

Watched.

Listened.

She knew it had worked when she heard the change in his breathing. Hardly daring to hope, she raised her face and found him looking at her. Eyes, clear. Focused.

Shining with a variety of emotions that made her suddenly feel weak . . . and comforted.

And because the moment made her feel more than a bit out of control, she seized it back, saying, “Elliott . . . I think I’m falling in love with you.”

He smiled. A real smile this time. “That’s a relief,” he said, his words clear and strong, “because I’ve been in love with you for a few days now.”

“A few days?” she repeated. “We’ve only known each other for five.”

“Then I’d say it’s been about four.” And he kissed her.

“So you killed Preston, single-handedly,” Elliott said. He looked ridiculously delicious, with mussed dark hair, well-kissed lips, and a wide, bare chest. “What a woman you are.” His eyes crinkled at the corners as they focused on Jade with pride and heat, a combination that stirred her belly and made her feel as if her glow would burst forth.

Of course, that glow could have had something to do with the tangle of white sheets thrashed around them and the lump of clothes on the floor.

They’d returned to Envy late yesterday, riding in three humvees driven by Fence, Simon and Wyatt, and filled with the rescued teens. The explosion that rocked the houseboat turned out to have been a bottle rocket, lobbed by Fence, who’d arrived just as Jade was freeing Theo in the hold.

It hadn’t done any real damage to the boat and by the time Theo came up to investigate, the cavalry had arrived . . . too late, as Fence complained, to do anything but shepherd the shell-shocked teens off the boat and into the waiting humvees.

“I can’t believe he’s really gone,” she said, sliding her hand over the plains of his warm chest.

“He’s really gone, Raul’s gone, Ian Marck’s disappeared . . . and we’re really here.”

“We almost weren’t, Elliott.” Her voice tightened and her throat closed. When she thought about how close she’d come to watching him die in front of her, chained and alone . . . “You said you couldn’t live in this world.” Tears stung her eyes as she remembered the stark expression on his face, the intent. “But I need you. You won’t . . . you. . . .” Words failed her as fear reared inside her. Surely he wouldn’t leave . . . or try to sacrifice himself again?

Elliott sat up, his expression growing serious. “Jade. . . .” He shook his head, reached to comb away the hair that had fallen into her face, his fingers strong and warm over her skin. “We woke up to find the world completely different than we’d left it,” Elliott said. “We spent the last six months trying to come to terms with the fact that everything we knew and loved was gone. Had been gone, for fifty years.”

He closed his eyes. Jade’s heart swelled, filling her chest. What she’d been through was nothing compared to his experiences. At least she’d had some choices about her life. Sure, she’d lived through some frightening, painful moments, but at least her whole world hadn’t disappeared. How
could
he ever come to accept it?

“Elliott,” she said, and his eyes opened again, catching hers. For a moment, she felt like she might fall into them, literally sink right down into the rich, ocean-cool depths . . .

“I
don’t
know how to live in this world. It’s nothing like what I know, what I expected, planned for, nothing I could have conceived.” He squeezed his eyes closed for a moment, then opened them. “But I have to learn. I need to find a place. Someplace that feels right, that . . . I guess . . . grounds me. A haven.”

He planted his hand on the bed next to her, and she felt the mattress dip from his weight as he leaned closer. His eyes held hers, and she saw emptiness and sorrow there . . . and hope. Blazing hope. Something else . . . something that made her belly dip and slide.

Something infinite.

“I need you, Jade,” he whispered. “Will you?”

She met his lips halfway in answer, her eyes closing as they came too close to keep hold of his gaze. Her mouth sank into his, a glorious burst of warmth cascading through her.

Her injured arm in a sling was awkward, but it didn’t stop her from pushing forward, easing him back so that his head rested on the pillow. His strong arms pulled her with him, solid and gentle, curved around her back.

They faced each other, long legs shifting and twining together, his bare toes sliding up to gently caress her skin. The comforting weight of his thighs closed around one of hers and she felt the warmth of his belly and hips against her, raising little bumps all over her body.

He moved his hands down around to cup her bottom, drawing her close up against him, firmly but with tenderness, silently telling her how much he loved her. All the while, they kissed slowly, with great thoroughness, as though they would never stop. As though neither of them needed to breathe.

When at last he decided that they must breathe, he pulled gently away, his mouth pressing still against her cheek and jaw, the warmth of his breath gusting against her damp skin.

“This is much better,” she murmured, pulling him up against her. She wanted that bare chest against her, the heat, the muscle and hair and strength. She wanted to taste his skin, slip her hands down over the hard, ridged belly, down farther, beyond the tangled sheets.

“Better?” he murmured against her ear, just as she managed to slip a hand down into the heat, and around her quarry. He sighed as she touched him. “Oh God. Much better.”

She closed her fingers tighter around his erection, feeling the soft heaviness, the gentle pounding of his desire within her palm. “Better than last night. We were a little bloody. Dirty.” She smiled against him, remembering the flurry of tearing clothes and frantic, eager bodies the moment they had a bit of privacy. “And in a big hurry. . . .” She gave a quick little stroke and smiled with delight when he breathed in sharply.

“So what’s the hurry now?” he murmured, settling against her, heavy and hard in her hand, hot and smooth. His cheeks curved against her throat and his lips nibbled gently.

Then, he moved. She was on her back with the breath knocked a bit out of her before she quite realized what had happened, her hand slipping from him and sliding up his chest.

His grin was a little crooked, his eyes hot and determined as he looked down at her. “Let’s see about taking our time,” he said, bracing himself on one hand over her while he pulled the sheet down . . . then bent and covered her perked-up nipple with a hot, slick mouth.

Jade sighed, arched up into him, and then felt her world become sleek, languorous pleasure . . . long, slippery strokes of his tongue over the sensitive top part of her nipple, the gentle suction of his lips closing over the taut point, drawing it long and hard into his mouth. Pleasure burned through her, curling into her belly, down into her depths.

She couldn’t help but smile . . . smile at the beauty of making love. So different than anything she’d known before.

His hand slipped between her legs, fingers sliding into the slick warmth as he moved upward to nuzzle and kiss her throat.

Jade shivered, trembled, and then as he slipped and slid around, gently teasing her, she realized her whole body was gathering up . . . curling into the center of her universe, right where his hand was, his finger moving more quickly just where she needed it . . . She gasped in surprise, closed her eyes, and let the pleasure tighten up . . . tighten, unbearably sweet . . . and then roll over her in long, undulating waves, sending warmth radiating from her core to the tips of her fingers and toes.
Oh God . . . Elliott
.