14. Diana

Diana

T he oasis soothed the ragged edges of my heart, and I didn’t think it was just the water, food and safety. Those would have been enough to recharge me and the others, but it was more than that. There was something about this place that was magic incarnate, and I couldn’t fight the desire to just…be. To exist only as myself and nothing more. Not a queen. Not a warrior, just me. Diana.

Which is why I found myself lying awake, in a tent made of silk, staring up at the sky through the place where the material connected. A small gap, but the stars peeked through, blinking and dancing in and out of sight.

Myrr slept soundly in the tent to my right, her snoring and snorting in her sleep perhaps a small part of why I couldn’t sleep. Maverick chose a tent behind mine, his breathing soft and even. Nicholas and Theo were to my left.

Raven…Raven wasn’t resting. He was somewhere in the oasis, keeping guard over all of us. Despite me telling him not to.

Out of all of us, he was the only one that still didn’t trust Nefir even a little bit. I rolled to my side, the plush bedding below me cushioning my hips and shoulders like a lover’s embrace.

A flash of Raven’s arms around me had me squirming. “Don’t think about that.” I mouthed the words.

I needed to focus on what would come next. Finding Jade. Understanding that pieces of the Veil themselves had been ripped free and…placed? Embedded? In people?

That had my mind spinning back to when Nicholas had placed his hand on Maverick, and Mav’s memories had lit up in front of us. How the explosion at Stonehenge had sent a shockwave through all…through all those little girls.

A chill swept through me, and I sat bolt upright. That was it. Nefir had pushed my mind in the right direction.

“You sneaky bastard.”

In the air around me, I thought I heard the whimsical god laugh. Was he pleased I’d figured it out? Was this part of the entertainment he sought?

Everyone else was asleep, but I had to say this out loud…share my revelation with someone.

I was on my feet and pushing through the silk tent flap in a flash.

I took a deep breath, scenting the air. Raven had passed by not that long ago; I’d heard him pacing. But he had moved away and hadn’t circled back.

Following my nose and the scent of the vampire who made my blood burn hot, I tracked him through the oasis, down to the edge of the crystalline pool.

He stood, outlined by the light of the three-quarter moon. Raven cut an imposing figure with his wide shoulders and lean, muscular frame, but he didn’t intimidate me. I’d felt those muscles under my hands, traced the scars and lines of his limbs. I knew how gentle he could be, given the opportunity. I sucked in a sharp breath and tried to steady my libido. I was here to talk, not fuck.

He didn’t even turn around. “You should be sleeping, Frostbite.”

“Says the kettle to the pot.” I made my way to stand next to him, staring out across the water. That was better than looking into those turquoise eyes in the moonlight. “I…I think I’ve sort of figured out what we are looking for.”

I felt more than saw him turn to me and my skin prickled. “Tell me.”

“The vision we saw out of Maverick’s memories, Stonehenge exploding? There were little girls everywhere. Sienna was there, her hair was blonde, not red, but…she was there. And she has this power and connection to Lilis with that power.” My words picked up speed as my thoughts tumbled from my lips, “And now we are hunting for another girl, Jade, who took a shard of the Veil from her sister, before she died. That same sister was there, with Maverick and Sienna at the sight of Stonehenge and the Veil shattering.”

I did turn to look at him then, my excitement rising above my desire. He didn’t ask any questions, patiently waiting for me to get it all out.

“They both carry a piece of the Veil itself. That is where the power Sienna has is coming from. It’s why we have to find all of them and somehow…I don’t know, use them to heal the Veil? Piece it back together?” I shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know the rest, I just…”

Raven’s eyes flickered and he closed them. Did he think I was a blathering fool right now? Was he going to argue or try to tell me that?—

“Gods above, Diana. I think you’ve cracked it.” He opened his eyes and stared down at me. “But why did Sienna survive then, and not Jade’s sister? What’s different about them?”

I frowned and shook my head. “I don’t know.”

Raven ran his hand through his hair. “We could have Nicholas pull up that idiot’s memories again, see if we can slow it down and get some clues?”

“Don’t call him an idiot,” I said, half-heartedly. “He’s saved us.”

“And still, he left you. Only an idiot would walk away from you.”

My heart squeezed, as if he’d reached in and grabbed it with his words. “And you wouldn’t leave me?” I asked, fully aware of the challenge in my voice.

Because truly…everyone left at some point. That was life, wasn’t it?

He lifted a hand to my cheek, sweeping his thumb across my cheekbone. “Never.”

I wanted to laugh at him. “You don’t know that.”

His smile was…sad? Why sad? “I do know it, with every breath I take, Diana, I know it. I will never leave you. You could command me away, you could tell me you hate me for a thousand years, and it would not change this truth. I will never leave you.”

I turned into him, letting my body lead as I leaned against his chest, pressing my face against him, his words digging deep under my skin and settling somewhere around my heart region. “I don’t want to believe you. I want you to be…”

“A liar?” His hands found their way to my lower back, tugging me closer. “You want me to lie to you and tell you I don’t feel something for you that I’ve never felt before? That what this thing between us isn’t all consuming?”

I groaned, my eyes pricking at his words. This place was making me weak, the illusion of safety allowing me to think about things that had nothing to do with saving the world.

I should tell him to knock it off. To end the flow of pretty words. “Stop.” It was all I could manage and even that was strangled.

“I will lie to you if you want me to, Frostbite.” He wrapped his arms around me fully, pressing me so tight to him that it felt as if I were bound in ropes to him. “I will tell you I feel nothing, that my every breath does not whisper your name, that my every heartbeat does not continue only because yours beats too. I can tell you all the lies you want.”

A shudder slid through me, tears trickling down my cheeks, absorbing into his shirt. Because the sincerity in his words, the feeling in them, I couldn’t escape or deny. But I would still try. I had to try, or I would lose myself in this.

“Raven, this isn’t real. Nothing that has happened is anything more than lust.”

“Of course not.” He pressed his lips to the top of my head. “But if we are lying to each other tonight, then tell me one, Frostbite. Lie to me, just for tonight.”

I slid my hand under the back of his shirt, desperately needing that connection to him, to know he was really here, and this was not another hallucination. I should have walked away, should have done a lot of things. But instead, I lied to him.

My words were shaky and low. “I…don’t wish for a future with you, Raven. I don’t dream of a time that this could be something more. I don’t want to know what it would be like to wake next to you every morning…to have a life with you.”

His arms tightened, and a sigh shuddered through him. “That’s what I thought.”

His lips found mine, dragging a moan from me as his tongue swept across mine, gentle, insistent. Kissing me as if it would be our last, which had me gripping his shoulders. I didn’t want this to be the last time I found myself in his arms.

No matter that I knew it could never be. The Werewolf Queen and a vampire were not a match made in heaven, nor hell. Evangeline and Lycan had understood that. It was why they had spent all those years apart. And when they finally had given in to their love?

Agony.

I tore my mouth from his. “I can’t.” My words caught on the edge of a sob as I pulled away. “I can’t, Raven. I can’t shatter what’s left of my heart on you. I have too many people relying on me to be whole…”

Oh, the truth, gods be damned…it fell out of my mouth before I could catch it. Damn this place, this lull that had opened me up and tangled me between Raven’s game of truth and lies.

But Raven, he was not like anyone else. He cupped my face. “For tonight, be as you wish it could be, Diana. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow, or to see this journey through. Regret is not something I want to die with.”

I blinked up at him, his turquoise eyes serious as he waited for me to make a decision. There was no coercion. No pressure.

“What do you want, Diana?” The sound of my name on his lips…that was all it took. He said it with a reverence reserved for a goddess. As if…as if I were his entire world.

“You. I want you, Raven. For tonight, that is all there is.”

He slid his hands down my arms, to tangle his fingers with mine. He lifted first one hand, then the other, kissing the backs of them, then without a word, tugged me toward the water. “Swim with me.”

Swim with him.

I didn’t like water. But any fear I had in the past wasn’t there, because I was with him.

I lifted my hands over my head, and he silently peeled me out of the sheath dress, I barely blinked, and he was stripped out of his clothes and leading me into the water.

The coolness of the pool crept up my legs, making my skin pebble, caressing my limbs, creeping up my body.

Raven was waist deep when he paused and turned to me, his eyes skimming over me, his one hand still holding onto me. “Wait a minute.” Untangling his fingers from mine, he turned and dove out into the water, disappearing under the surface.

I took a few steps, uncertainty rocking through me.

Water slid down his body, his dark hair mussed and a smile that was every bit boyish and rake, rolled into one. I walked out to meet him. “Showing off?”

“I was debating whether or not I had any control. I needed to cool off.”

A laugh bubbled up in my chest. “A cold bath?”

His grin widened. “I cannot help what you do to me. If you knew how many times you made me hard in a day…just thinking about you, replaying every touch, every kiss…”

He reached out and ran a hand from my collarbone down over my breast, tugging on my nipple. I could have stepped closer to him, but the line between pleasure and pain was knife edge thin and it made me ache.

I couldn’t reach him, he was too far away.

His eyes were on mine, the devil in them as he rolled and tugged on my nipple, then reached for the other, urging me toward him. A game of chicken, was it? My heart was light, the game making me flush in a way…how long had it been since I’d played?

I groaned and let one hand slide down between my legs as I watched him through hooded eyes. “I think you will break first.”

His laugh was soft. “Oh, this is a game I like. Are you sure you would not rather have my mouth between your legs over your hand, skilled as it might be?”

His words caused a gush of heat rushing to my core. I slipped my fingers under the water and found my aching clit. “What are we playing for?”

Fangs flashed as his grin widened. “Ah, that is difficult. Hard.” He dipped his chin, indicating his cock.

He tugged a little harder on my nipples, and I pressed two fingers to my clit, rubbing a slow lazy circle, imagining it was his mouth. His hand. I tipped my head back and let my breath come in little gasps in time with the pulses.

“Fuck, you win. You can have anything you want.”

He was on me in a flash, his mouth on mine, his hand shoving mine out of the way as he plunged his fingers into my molten core.

Laughter shouldn’t have been on my lips and yet, it was there. “Perhaps I’ll let you win next time,” I could barely say the words between the thick pressure of his fingers in me, his thumb driving a steady roll across my clit.

He huffed. “I may have to take a pity win, I do not think I could hold out against your little noises. They undo me, Frostbite.”

With a swift move, he growled and lifted me, his vampiric strength on full display as he held my entire body up, so he did not have to bend down to take my nipples in his mouth, feasting on them, dragging them across his teeth, sucking them hard enough to have me arching.

Gasping I ground my pussy against his midsection, the waves of pleasure growing fast and hard.

Pleasure. Pain. Laughter. Trust. Safety. They were wrapped up in him, in me.

They were everything.

With another growl he lifted me higher, and I was balanced on his shoulders, his mouth buried in my pussy as he latched onto my clit. Sucking, teasing, dragging me closer to the crest, holding me there long enough that I didn’t know if I could…

“Raven!”

Nothing but this moment mattered. Nothing but Raven and me, here. He let me fall and all but impaled me on his cock, catching me so that we were flush and together, the first thrust of his hip sending me over the edge.

My body spasmed and he held me there, his mouth covering mine as the scream of release erupted. I couldn’t have contained it, didn’t want to contain it.

Over and over, I rode the waves as Raven thrust deep into me, the water sloshing around us, the moon bright overhead and for just that moment…I was free.