Sacrifice of the Septimus: Part 1 (Afterlife saga Book 7) (28 page)

“Yeah, well maybe if you had dealt with this better, then I would have been happy to give you one, but because you have been a world class dick, I don’t owe you shit! Call me when you realise this for yourself!” I told him and started walking towards the road.

“Oh so that’s it, the Keira classic, I am going to run from my problems because I don’t want to face them!” he shouted back and I stopped dead, hating that he was right and hating that he threw that truth in my face like a verbal slap.

“Fine! We will do this your way Draven, got any weapons or punching bags hanging around?”

“Now you’re being ridiculous.” I shook my head at him and said,

“Oh am I? Isn’t that how you deal with shit you don’t want to face? Or do you just force others to bury their head in the sand so they never get to find out the truth!” Okay, in the grand scheme of things I knew this wasn’t the smartest thing to say, but who said anger was always rational.

“What did she tell you?”
He snarled the question at me.

“Ha, so that just confirms it!” I said, thankfully thinking of a quick way to save myself before I went too far.

“Confirms what?!” he barked.  

“That you’re scared she got to me and told me something, which just proves you know something that I don’t and I’m thinking that it’s something that I should know!”

“You don’t know what you are talking about.” he told me and it was said as a complete cop out, dodging answering me.

“Maybe not, but there’s only one person to blame for that and I’m looking at him.” He looked so frustrated with everything I threw back his way and I could understand why. It was the guilt that was making him act this way as it was the same with me. Guilt can make you lash out at those you lie to or hurt because they are the cause of your self-inflicted grief. You want to blame them, when in reality all you want to do is confess and beg them for a forgiveness you aren’t sure if they would grant you. If I had never found out what fate had in store for me and about the choice I had to make, would I forgive Draven when the time came for me to find out? Especially if it was at a time when it was too late for us to change the world’s end?

I don’t know if I would want to die beside a man I didn’t forgive, not one I would love no matter what. But would Draven feel the same way when I come back into this time, walking down the aisle knowing I was carrying his child from another time?

I wasn’t so sure.

And because of it I was scared and angry not knowing. Torn up by guilt and wanting to blame him, all at the same time. Love wasn’t a smooth road, it was one fought with fear, lashed with pain and raw to the heart of you. But the right kind of love was always worth the risk on the rocky road you faced. Because at the end came the kind of happiness that stands alone. There is nothing you could compare it to and knowing that you would still wake to thousands of new reasons each day why you loved them more
,
well knowing this, it simply lights up your soul. So it was worth every hard step you took, knowing the possible fear of loss, the pain they could lash upon you and the raw emotion that touches your heart.

Yes, because,

Real Love is always worth the Journey.

And this was why I said what I did next.

“I can’t do this anymore, Draven.” I told him and for one awful moment I know he took this the wrong way. So I just walked right up to him, reached up with both hands placing them on his cheeks and I kissed him. At first he didn’t react but then he pulled back a little and said,

“If you think this is goodbye…” I put a finger over his lips to stop him and said,

“No, never goodbye, it’s only ever going to be me saying
I love you!”
I told him and then moved my hand so we could crush our lips together in a deep and powerful kiss. He knew now what I meant when I said I couldn’t do this anymore and that was arguing with him, not walking away.

“I’m sorry… you… worried.” I said in between kissing him and he pulled me closer, wrapping his arms around me in a way that told me he never wanted to let go.

“I’m sorry…I …was a…dick…to you,” he said in between his own kisses and after this we lost ourselves further into passion. I don’t know how it happened but I must have pushed him back against the parked SUV. I was trying to climb him again, anything to get closer and I started mumbling what I wanted him to do.

“What is it, baby?” he asked me softly and I nodded behind him, kissed him again and then pulled back to give him a breathy order,

“The back, get in the back.” He grinned down at me and then using his hand behind his back he opened the door. I started trying to push him inside and finally he got the hint. He heaved himself up and I started to climb on top of him, straddling him and pushing him down so he lay flat. Then I turned around and reached to pull the door closed behind us.

“We could just…”

“No…here.” I told him shutting him up by kissing him. We were lucky that it was pretty spacious back here considering Draven’s huge body took up the whole space.

“Off.” I told him trying to pull his long sleeved t-shirt over his head and he got the hint, helping me. I decided to leave him to his own devices as I tore off my jacket, getting one arm stuck.

“Let me help you, my love,” he said grinning with not only his lips but his beautiful eyes, eyes I could get lost in. He reached back and pulled the jacket all the way off and then sat up slightly as he lifted off my top.

“Breathtaking,” he told me and he laughed when I pushed him back and said,

“Enough of that, I want you…
now!”
  Then I ground myself against his erection, feeling it hit all the right places with each roll of my hips.

“Oh Gods,” he murmured as I put a hand between us, gripped him tight and rubbed the length of him. Then I felt for his zipper and was ecstatic to find he’d gone commando.

“I love the feel of you.” I told him and he groaned, putting his head back as I gripped him even tighter. I loved seeing the strain in his neck as he endured the pleasure I gave him. So I lowered myself to his neck and nipped, bit and licked it, wanting to drive him as insane as he made me with wanting him.

“Gods woman, do you wish to render me less than a man?” I think this was Draven’s way of saying making him come too quickly, which made me giggle.

“I will see what I can do.” I told him winking and then before he could respond I lowered myself down on him suddenly, being more than ready for him.

“GODS!” Oh the Gods were getting it tonight I thought on a breathy sigh.

“I love that you’re always wet for me but when you are soaked it tells me my girl needs some quick attention,” he told me as I kissed up his neck, giving myself time to adjust to his size.

“I always need your attention.” I told him and then I started to ride him. He put one hand to my hip, gripping it tightly as the other hand went exploring. His fingers found my clit and I screamed as he started rubbing it faster and faster. This was when I went crazy, riding him as my orgasm built, needing to explode around him in untamed and unrestrained passion. I placed a hand flat to the roof over us and used it to steady myself as I rode him faster than I thought myself capable.

“Fuck! Yes, yes, yes!” I don’t know who shouted what as we both couldn’t hold it much longer and in that beautiful, unexpected moment we came together, holding nothing back. He bolted upright, banding an arm around my waist and holding me to him. My head fell forward onto his shoulder as I gasped for breath and for long moments we stayed this way allowing our bodies the time they needed to calm once more.

“Okay so I am thinking that pissing each other off should become a weekly thing, whatcha say?” I said making him laugh and just before he could respond the door suddenly opened, making me scream at the sight of the giant axe held high.

“Oh shit! Ragnar?!”

“Ragnar!”

“My Lord, I… by Odin I swear I thought you…she…both…attacked.” Then he slammed the door shut and I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing. Thankfully so did Draven, especially when we heard Ragnar walking away saying,

“It’s not funny.”

“Well on the bright side, at least we had finished.” I told him and he grinned at me. Then I got closer and whispered a naughty thought in his ear,

“Because I wouldn’t have stopped.”
He pulled me back, nipped at my lips and said something equally naughty and beautiful…

“That’s my girl”

Chapter 27

All on Board

The next day was a blur of activity in the Afterlife household and I suddenly became one of those people who wished I was more organised than I was. For starters I hadn’t even packed and I woke in a panic, tearing myself from Draven’s arms at stupid o’clock, much to his dismay.

“Keira, what are you doing?” he asked in that gorgeous sleepy, husky voice of his and if I’d had the time that would have been enough to get my ass back into bed.

“We are flying to England today and I haven’t packed a damn thing! I haven’t even got my passport, and shit, my wallet is …I don’t know where my wallet is…and I wanted to get new trainers, and then there’s which coat to take, ‘cause it’ll probably be raining. Bugger did anyone check on the weather forecast for the day of the wedding?” Draven burst out laughing and I looked up at him from my bag that I was currently squirreling through.

“What?”

“Come here,” he said in that soft amused voice of his. I went to him and when I was close enough he lifted me back up onto the bed with his hands under my arms. Then he pulled back the covers and wrapped us both in them. I sighed, feeling his comforting warmth envelop me and I inhaled his intoxicating scent, one that I remembered from the first time I ever saw him in that enchanted meadow.

“The only thing you need to do is relax and let me take care of you,” he told me and I snuggled deeper and closer into him, soon fast asleep back in his arms, as he knew I would.

That brought us to now and on a plane on the way back to my homeland. It was both exciting and terrifying at the same time. I was excited to be going home and seeing my family for the first time…well, since I was taken and became a different person. So I knew that this was going to be hard and it was going to be emotional, two things I was hoping to hide. But it was different from my folk’s perspective as they had seen me a few times, with Draven of course and they had also spoken to me frequently, again thanks to Draven.

I was just thankful that, like Libby, they hadn’t had to go through any unnecessary hurt due to my disappearance. Sometimes it was hard keeping this side of my life from my family as it was such a big part of me and a life I was marrying into. But I knew it was for the best as it wasn’t exactly the type of thing you could expect the people you loved to accept.

“You look deep in thought, sweetheart.” Draven hummed in my ear as he walked back through from the cockpit. I was just thankful that when he did this it wasn’t when he should have been flying the plane. I looked up at him and instantly he knew something was wrong. He got down on one knee, putting himself at the same height as me and he gently tucked my hair behind my ear.

“What’s wrong, love?”

“Just thinking about my family and…stuff.” He gave me a warm smile and asked,

“Stuff? Is this the kind of ‘stuff’ I should be worried about?” I smiled back at him and put a hand to his face when I shook my head telling him no.

“Ah, your family.” I nodded not trusting myself to speak. Because it wasn’t just seeing them again that had my stomach in knots, no, it was seeing them again and knowing that it could be the last time. That was what I was struggling with the most. It was imagining the pain they would have to endure of losing me, and no parent should have to go through losing a child before they themselves said goodbye to the world. It was the most unnatural thing to happen and one that broke the hearts of too many good people, and soon I knew that would also include my mum and dad. But I couldn’t say this to Draven. So when he swiped away a single tear, I couldn’t tell him that it was a tear filled with guilt.

“I will be with you, always.” he told me, thinking the most likely reason was because I hadn’t seen them for a long time. I nodded and hugged him, wrapping my arms around his neck and burying my head in his shoulder.

I didn’t cry but inside I was sobbing.

Thankfully this comfort from Draven had been all I’d needed to move on and get a hold of my emotions. I had so many things running through my mind that it was like spinning a roulette wheel and seeing which picture the arrow would land on.

I was at least grateful that after our little romp in the car last night Draven and I were once again on equal footing. We had talked about what had happened but not in too much depth and I knew it was for the best on both fronts. I simply told Draven that whilst on my way to sort out his wedding gift (and also admitted lying about seeing Libby because of it) that I had a phone call from Pythia asking me to meet her. Draven was happy with this, well as much as he could be, but his happiness was most likely due to me not asking him anything regarding why the Oracle was running from him or wanted to speak to me alone.

I guess the way we looked at it was that the less said, then the less lies…yep, it was a good motto to have right now.

It also turned out that in the end my early morning panic about packing had been in vain, considering we had his sister gliding in our room informing us that we were both packed and ready to go. She was a machine, and one I was very fortunate to have working her magic for me. Okay so it was true that I didn’t know what was packed and just hoped for razors and a toothbrush to be in there somewhere. I was at least thankful that I wasn’t due my period or that would make a trip into the past an utter joy…
not!
I didn’t even know what they used for keeping it all ship shape down there, and I can’t say that I particularly wanted to find out either.

The only other change was poor Ragnar still couldn’t look at either of us, having once more explained to Draven that all he saw was what looked to him like a ‘struggle’ and instinct took over. Draven tried to reassure him that it was simply an accident and there was nothing to be sorry about but he just muttered another sorry and walked away. I wouldn’t be surprised if Draven and I starred in a few of his nightmares over the next few nights. Of course Pip hadn’t helped when she started singing,

“I don’t see nothing wrong, with a little bump and grind” and I had to nudge her on the way to the cars this morning, now cursing myself for telling Sophia what had happened. She had just giggled and Adam followed, rolling his eyes, telling me that he felt my pain. Poor Ragnar turned an even deeper shade of red, muttering in another language, which made Zagan laugh. I had been about to ask Draven when he whispered down at me,

“You really don’t want to know.”

So here we all were on his private jet and heading to England. We were staying the first few nights in London, which thanks to Sophia had been planned this way for a good reason. I still was unsure on the details but I knew that my Hen do was the next night, which also happened to be my last chance to get the last piece of the puzzle from a certain someone.

All I knew was that Sophia had booked us into the same Royal Suite I had stayed in at the Savoy hotel and I wasn’t sure whether this was a good thing or not. For starters I had quite a few strange memories of that place, one including the Oracle as a child, jumping on my bed. And the other also included a bed, only this was a lot less childish and featured a ridiculously tall and broody hooded male, who was bossy, swore a lot, could eat his body weight in bacon and was also known as the Shadow King.

But I guessed I should have counted myself lucky because if this was where my Hen do was being held, then one, it was human friendly and two, it wasn’t in a strip club. Both of which were astounding considering Pip was involved. And speaking of Pip, who was at this moment playing Harry Potter Monopoly with Adam, she had been so excited about this it could almost be believed she had forgotten completely about our mission back in time.

Sophia was sat with Zagan and watching me closely as if waiting for me to bolt out of my chair at any minute and shout ‘I can’t do this!’ and knowing of course, what I would be referring too. It was a cruel feeling to know you were getting married in two days’ time and allowing that excitement to build, only to then to have to remind yourself that it could be weeks before you were allowed to live that day in your own time. Pip, Sophia nor I had any idea how long we would be gone for and the only thing I was thankful for was that the people in our time would have no clue. What for us could be weeks, for them would be no time passed at all…or so we hoped.

I looked to RJ, who was sat looking out the window, and I decided to get up and speak to her. We had talked a few times and I had hinted that I wouldn’t be upset if she didn’t feel up to the ‘happy occasion’. But in the end I had been thrilled to hear that she not only wanted to be there, but she also wanted to be a part of it as one of my bridesmaids.

“So, any ideas on a dress yet?” I asked nodding down to the bridal magazine that Sophia had given her to look through. She was on a section which showed lots of elegant looking dresses and none of them I would have picked for RJ’s style. She raised one eyebrow at me and said,

“Uh…”

“I’m taking that as a no then.” I said laughing, happy when she quickly joined in.

“Hey, have you got your phone on you, we could look for some alternative looking styles.” I told her getting excited when her eyes got wide.

“You wouldn’t mind if I did…you know…they’re not really my…” I stopped her by putting my hand up and saying,

“Trust me, I don’t mind. Everyone is wearing a different styled purple dress, besides
you wanna see Pip’s dress, definitely not something you’d buy at a bridal shop.”
  I whispered and Pip snorted,

“And Omen to that sister!” obviously hearing me. RJ and I laughed and I looked to the side to see Seth was watching us like a hawk.

“Don’t mind him,” RJ told me frowning and I wondered what had gone on with these two now. I would have loved to have asked but knew doing so on a plane full of supernatural listeners probably wasn’t the smartest idea. RJ obviously got the look I was giving her, so she whispered,

“Laters.”
I nodded and we went back to our gothic purple dress finding search thanks to good old Google.

“Oooh, what about this one?” Sophia shouted as she had quickly joined in on the dress finding mission, being more than happy to help and all in the name of fashion of course. Pip had also got in on the action, long ago abandoning her game after throwing down her cards and shouting,

“Quality Quidditch Supplies my ass! I’m not paying times ten the amount of the dice, you cheating muggle!” Adam picked up her scattered cards off the floor and said,

“My Sweet baby cake, I am not cheating it’s in the game and next time I suggest not spending all your money at once so you can pay your bills.” If this was Adam’s way of scolding his wife, then my word it was very tame, although in Pip’s world you would have thought he’d slapped her.

“I buy my own shoes!” she snapped back and I don’t think any of us listening understood what this had to do with anything…unless she considered shoe buying as ‘bills’. Then she got up and stormed over to join the three of us and huffed when she sat down.

So there we were, the four of us on our phones scouring the internet for purple dresses that would suit RJ’s style. Sophia’s choice had been close but in the end it was Pip and her unique eye for anything different who had been the winner. It was a purple tartan mini dress, that had black velvet roses and skulls patterned all over it. The cute halter neck design would suit RJ’s body shape and the skirt flared out thanks to an under layer of black net. It reminded me of a gothic 1950’s style swing dress and with RJ’s pink hair I thought she would look fab in this outfit.

“You are soooo getting that dress!” Pip told her and RJ’s eyes lit up when seeing it.

“Yeah, but will it come in time?”

“Honey, that’s what credit cards and express delivery is for!” Pip told her yanking the phone back and adding it to the checkout, along with a few other items Pip wanted, which included a hair clip that looked like a bloody zombie hand. She then passed the phone over to Sophia to fill in the address of where we were staying. Well it was nice to know I wasn’t the only one who was shit with knowing the details.

RJ had tried to insist on paying but Sophia and Pip just thought this was adorable and funny. I shook my head at RJ, secretly telling her not to bother as this is what they were like. Thankfully she got all that with a nod.  The rest of the trip you could see RJ was getting more and more excited, never having been to England before. It was also nice to see that her mind had finally been taken away from the emotional stress she had been made to endure the last few weeks. But I knew for myself that fun with these girls was one of life’s greatest healers.     
       

“Time to wake up, Sleeping Beauty.” Draven whispered down to me. I hummed dreamily in my sleep making him chuckle, which was what really woke me.

“Do you want me to carry you inside?” he asked and I had to think for a moment where I was. I opened my eyes to see the familiar sight of the Savoy’s grand entrance. I almost groaned out loud when seeing those damn infuriating plaques again as, thanks to Pythia, I still had nightmares about decrypting the stupid things.        

Our trip to England had flown past, no pun intended. We arrived at Heathrow airport where cars were waiting for us. The car journey was little over an hour away and I had spent it fast asleep, tucked under Draven’s arm. In fact, by the time we got to the hotel itself, I was so tired that I was ready for another nap. The flight had been over ten hours and added to that England was five hours ahead, it was no wonder it was so late by the time we arrived.