Passion Ignited (37 page)

“Absolutely not,” Dellingr chimed in. “It’s
bad enough that you’re enthralled by one vampire who feeds off you,
but to add another? That’s ridiculous.”

For once, Draven and Dellingr agreed—except
for the enthralling part. There was no way he could ever allow Ally
to feed any male—even if it was one of his brothers.

From the corner of his eye, he saw his mother
descending the staircase. She walked slowly, slouched over as she
took each stair one at a time. She looked as though she were ready
to fight, with her hair braided and wrapping around the side of her
neck. It was then that he noticed that she’d slung a backpack over
her shoulder and carried a suitcase.

“What’s going on?” he asked, heading out into
the foyer. He met her at the bottom of the stairs, taking the
suitcase from her hands.

“I’m leaving,” she said.

“What do you mean?” Draven and Ally said at
once.

She looked at both of them before focusing on
Draven. “Your father and I need a break. I’m just going to stay
somewhere else for a while.”

He scowled, not liking where this was going,
and not liking the tiredness in her voice. “Where are you
staying?”

“With the other Valkyrie. I feel stronger when
I’m with them.”

“You could stay with us,” Ally offered. “It
would really be no trouble at all. I even have nail
polish.”

Raine waived her hand dismissively. “I
couldn’t do that. There’s a lot going on and that’s why Caleen,
Savannah, Raven, and Odette have come. I should stay with them
until it’s worked out.” She didn’t mention why the Valkyrie were
here, though Draven had been curious after first seeing his…well,
his aunts.

“Is there anything we can help with?” Ally
asked.

“Maybe. I’m not quite sure yet. I’ll let you
know.”

“I’d argue that you shouldn’t go out on your
own, but I know how Valkyrie can get. No one stands a chance if
they try to cross you,” Draven said, half-smiling at his mom. “Call
us anytime if you need anything.” He pulled her in for a hug. His
mother was likely right. If there was Valkyrie business to attend
to, then who better to be with? It still didn’t change the fact
that he didn’t think it was safe for her to leave the protection of
the mansion.

“Tell the others that everything is fine, this
is just temporary,” she said. “And please keep me posted on Raider.
I hate leaving him like this.”

No, she wouldn’t want to leave Raider behind,
so whatever had happened to her was too serious for her to want to
stay here. He had assumed the lightning display outside had been
due to pleasure, not pain. “Mom, what happened?”

His mother dropped her gaze and grabbed her
suitcase. “I’ll let you know when I’m settled.” She walked through
the foyer, heading toward the garage entrance.

Draven flashed ahead of her, stopping her in
the hall. “What. Happened?”

She sighed and stepped forward, inching up on
her tippy toes as she gave him another hug. “Be careful around
him,” she whispered. “Something’s…wrong.”

She walked around him, leaving him staring
confusedly after her.

****

“Holy gods,” Blaze said. He openly gawked at
Nitro as she strolled through the front door.

Her eyes met his as she tossed her keys at
him. “Go get my bike. I left him at the gate.”

He didn’t argue. The look on his face told her
how glad he was that she’d made it out alive, but bewildered on how
she’d pulled it off.

That made two of them.

She followed her senses, finding exactly where
her male was. She walked the main floor hall, approaching the only
room that was occupied. Oddly enough, the door was in perfect
condition, no longer splintered the way she’d left it.

She stepped inside, and found that Raider
wasn’t alone. Draven sat next to his bed with Ally standing by him;
Ethan sat on the other side. Both of them were staring at Raider,
waiting for him to wake. She looked at her male then, taking in the
sight of him lying flat on his bed with his hands crossed over his
stomach. She rushed forward, pulling his hands out of that
position. It was too morbid for her liking. He wasn’t
dead.

But, she realized, he also hadn’t made the
decision to
live
. It was her desire to live that had brought
her back, and the redhead had known it. She’d been thrown back
through that dark tunnel only to find that as soon as she had woken
up, she’d been forced to dig and crawl her way out of the rubble
that was left of the hospital. And she’d had to pull that off while
remaining hidden from the humans that were scouring the demolition
site. She’d accomplished that well enough, found Thadius and had
hustled to the Guardians’ mansion.

Seeing Raider now, all the anxiousness
returned. He was still deadly pale, the dark circles around his
eyes no better than when she’d seen him last. In fact, they looked
worse.

“How is he?” she whispered to no one in
particular.

Draven cleared his throat. “We’ve fed him a
lot of blood, but he won’t come around. We can’t even get his color
back.” He stood up, gesturing for her to take his seat.

“He hasn’t responded to anything?”

“No,” Draven and Ethan said
together.

Tears stung her eyes. This must be how he felt
when their roles had been reversed. She gripped Raider’s hand,
pulling it to her lips. “Please come back,” she whispered. “I need
you.”

Something passed between Draven, Ally, and
Ethan and the three of them made their way toward the door. Just as
Draven pulled it open, Ash rushed in. He froze three steps into the
room.

“You’re alive,” he said, awed. He knelt next
to her chair, wrapping his arms around her.

She hugged her brother with her free arm,
grateful for the strength he was offering.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “I thought you were
dead. And I thought…” His voice hitched. “I thought maybe he
thought that too, and maybe that’s why he wouldn’t wake
up.”

Nitro pulled out of the hug, meeting her
brother’s eyes for a minute before looking at her vampire again. “I
was with him.”

“What?”

“I was with him, but when I made the decision
to live I was pulled back,” she explained. “What if he doesn’t
choose life? What if he doesn’t choose me?” Never before had Nitro
been so vulnerable. Her life hung in the balance, awaiting Raider’s
decision to stay with his wife and kids, or to stay with her.
“We’re Fated.”

Ash pulled her chin toward him. “I know.” He
smiled sadly as he gestured to the others in the room. “We all
do.”

She looked up then, surprised to see who had
crowded into the room. No longer was it just she, Ash, and Raider.
Now the room was half-full of weapon-clad warriors. Draven, Thrash,
and Blaze all knelt behind Demetrius. Not one of them stood tall
and proud. They each kneeled with their fists crossing their
hearts, their heads bowed in honor of their fallen brother. Nitro’s
lip trembled as tears streamed down her cheeks. Choking back a sob,
she looked at Raider’s eyes, hoping to see them open.

The warriors remained silent as Nitro held his
hand. What would happen if he chose to stay with Melinda and the
kids? Would his heart cease to beat? Or would he stay the
same?

What if he’d already made his
decision?

“Come back,” she said again, leaning close to
his face. “Your brothers need you.
I
need you.” Turning to
Ash, she asked, “Are you sure you gave him enough
blood?”

He nodded once, but she didn’t take that as a
good enough answer. She bit into her wrist, tearing at it enough
that it flowed freely from her veins. She placed it to his
lips.

Silence stretched on as she watched and
waited. The Guardians remained in their spots, heads bowed with
their hands over their hearts, as silent as they’d been since they
arrived.

Urgency overtook her, afraid she’d missed out
on her chance to tell him how she felt. She didn’t care what the
others would think. She was in love. That didn’t make her weak, and
she didn’t care if any of them thought less of her for it.
“Raider,” she said. “I’ll understand if you don’t want to come
back. Seeing Melinda and your children, I know why you’d want to
stay with your family.” She didn’t miss the fact that Ethan and
Draven had jerked at the mention of Raider’s family. “But we’re
your family, too. We’re here with you, hoping you’ll choose to come
back.”

Again, nothing happened. Her lips trembled
even more as she swallowed the lump in her throat. She brought her
wrist to her mouth again, tearing at the flesh that had just woven
shut. Crimson dripped from her wound, dripping on the sheet and on
his chest as she brought it back to his mouth. She’d do this as
long as it took. Either until he returned to her, or until his
heart ceased to beat.

“The best part of my life has been meeting
you,” she cried. “I’ve existed for a long time, but I never knew
what it was like to
live
. I tried not to fall in love with
you, but you’re everything I never expected.” She kissed his hand
again before resting it against the bed. “And even if you don’t
come back, I’ll never regret that I gave you my heart.”

Raider jerked as he swallowed a gulp of blood.
His hands reached up, pulling her wrist from his lips as his eyes
focused on her.

Nitro gasped, throwing herself on him. “You
came back,” she cried.

The others in the room stood to their feet,
the room erupting in hysterics as they rushed to his
bed.

Raider stroked Nitro’s arms as she lay on him.
A weak chuckle escaped him. “Of course I came back.”

She raised her head so she could look into his
brown eyes, admiring the golden flecks that glinted back at
her.

Raider reached up and cupped her face, gently
wiping her tears away with his thumbs. “Don’t cry.”

“I didn’t think you’d choose me. I wouldn’t
have blamed you if you hadn’t.”

“I thought you knew me better than that,” he
said, a grin forming across his face. His eyes gleamed the same way
they had in the sun as he looked up into her eyes. The next thing
he said was the sentence that sent her heart wrenching open. A
sentence she’d only ever hoped he’d say but had never believed he
would.

“I will always choose you.”

Chapter
Thirty-Seven

“Where do we want to eat? I’m starving,”
Savannah said.

Raven arched an eyebrow before rolling her
eyes. “We just ate.”

“Well, I know we just ate, but I didn’t eat
very much. I didn’t like it.”

“Sushi’s not for everyone, I guess,” Odette
said, laughing. “I, for one, loved it.”

Savannah’s face screwed up in distaste. “Ugh,
as soon as I found out it was raw fish, I just couldn’t eat
anymore.”

“You’ve eaten fish before,” Odette
argued.

“I’ve eaten Valhalla fish before. This realm’s
fish taste completely different, and I’ve never eaten it
raw
.”

“Well, if you want to eat then you need to
find out who is open this late.”

“There are some twenty-four hour places open,”
Raven offered.

“Shhh,” Caleen said from the couch, flipping
through the channels on the big screen TV. “We rented a condo with
plenty of space. Why don’t you jibber-jabs run off and talk
somewhere else?” She turned back to the TV and resumed flipping.
“Oooh,” she said excitedly. Arching her back a little, she pulled
the device Raine had referred to as a “cell phone” from her pocket.
She punched the button that Raine had instructed her to when she’d
given her the down low on how it worked. She sat there silently,
holding it to her ear.

“Hello?
”

“Hello. Who is calling me?” Caleen asked
informally.

“It’s Raine. Where are you
guys?
”

“Oh, hello Raine.”

“Ooooh, hi Raine!” one of the other Valkyrie
yelled as she raced over to Caleen’s couch. “You can actually talk
to her on that?”

“Shhh,” Caleen hissed. Pulling the device to
her ear she said, “We rented a housing unit.”

“Where?
”

Her eyes narrowed. “In your realm.”

“No
.
Where is it located so I can
come see you?
”

“Oh,” Caleen said cheerfully. “We’ve been
navigating the streets and we’re on one called ‘
Broad
.’ We
are in the five hundred and sixty-first housing unit.”

“Great, I’m heading your way right
now
.”

“How did the cleanup go?” she asked, going
back to Guardian business.

“Didn’t. A lot has happened since you left
earlier. It’s hard to explain over the phone.
”

“You can explain once you are here,” Caleen
offered.

“Yeah, actually I had a question about
that. Can I stay with you guys?
”

****