Embrace the Passion (The Blood Rose Series) (21 page)

He smiled and leaned close. He touched his lips to hers, a gentle kiss that felt full of all that he was. She returned the kiss, sending her gratitude for his willingness to leave his solitary world and pull her so completely out of her own isolation.

When he drew back, he held her gaze once more. “Tell me where Margetta is, what you see, through your faeness?”

She closed her eyes, focusing the whirlwind on her mother.
I see her in flight, her entire Invictus army with her, two hundred pairs and that two of the pairs are the extremely powerful mastyr vampire wraith-pairs, the kind that almost killed Mastyr Quinlan.

Understood. Can you see where they’re headed?

She began to describe the array to him, that there were four columns, how fast they were moving, and how each split off in a different direction, toward one of the four gorges.

Where is Margetta?

Hovering directly north of us though several miles away. She’s orchestrating.

Just as we will. Keep feeding me information and I’ll translate what you see to the alphas.

Seth, it’s the strangest thing, but it’s as though I’ve moved high into the air and I’m looking down at the Shauck Mountains. I can see her armies advance.
She squeezed his arms.
I’m going to show this to you, or at least try to. Ready? This will come through the battle frequency.

* * * * * * * * *

Seth received the images like something he could watch on his flat screen. He opened his telepathy to Ephyx, but on instinct, expanded it.
Ephyx, are you seeing this in your mind?

Holy, shit, mastyr, I’m watching Margetta’s army advance down the gorge.

Can you translate this for your troops? Can you communicate with your lieutenants?

Yes.

Good. This is all new to Lorelei and me, something we’re doing together. I’ll keep sending you these images, but I need to contact the others. If I can, I’ll stream this to each of you at the same time.

The moment Seth focused on all four alphas at once, what came to him from Lorelei was that she had already separated out each frequency just as she had when she’d connected with the packs earlier. But this time, he felt the different vibrations as very separate streams of energy. Holding all four in his mind, he contacted Cohoet, Valgus, and Alophi like a conference call. Because of his bond with Lorelei, it turned out to be a very simple thing to do.

He explained what he would do and the moment he let the images stream to Cohoet, Valgus and Alophi, all four alphas gave a shout of triumph at what they were seeing.

As long as Lorelei and I can stream the images, you’ll know exactly where the enemy is and how to direct your troops.

The battle unfolded like a dream, Margetta’s army flowing through each gorge, the alphas directing their men, camouflaged and hidden behind rocks or trees, letting arrows fly.

As soon as either member of a wraith-pair got hit, the other faltered and both fell out of the sky. Shifters sent battle-energy to disable the pairs one after the other.

The Shifter Brigade especially enjoyed feigning a wound to draw the enemy into a trap. Or they’d run south with wraiths shrieking overhead, and a net would catch their prey.

They were also quick to help their wounded to safety in nearby caves, where troll and shifter families waited to help the injured.

Surrounded as he and Lorelei were by her layered enthrallment shields, he had no fear of Margetta, not even when she saw her army dropping like flies before a Shifter Brigade that appeared and disappeared like ghosts behind their camouflage.

From miles away, he heard Margetta shriek her rage and finally call her army back to her. He heard the cheering from all four alphas and as he stretched his hearing, the sound from the four gorges became a joyous ringing in his ears.

Lorelei, keep tracking Margetta’s army. We need to see where they go.

Will do.

He watched Margetta’s retreat. She took what was about fifty remaining wraith-pairs into the far north, then veered west. She returned to the camp and through Lorelei’s continued vision, he watched as within minutes, tent after tent was struck. Margetta had a huge supply line, which every good general maintained, and a support staff of realm slaves. With her army in flight, he was hoping he would find the ancient fae’s lair.

Instead, as she reached the northernmost boundary of Walvashorr, Margetta and her army simply disappeared, as though walking into a fog.

I can’t see them anymore,
Lorelei pathed.
We’ve lost them.

And there’s no access point in that part of my realm.

Lorelei shook her head.
I don’t understand. Where do you think they went?

My guess is that Margetta has a stronghold hidden behind a dozen different spells. She’s retreated for now, but probably intends to rebuild and attack another realm at its most vulnerable point.

We won’t be able to find her.
Lorelei’s voice sounded somber within his mind.

Seth sighed, knowing that the war would continue.
I’ll let the other mastyrs know what happened here and what you and I saw. Beyond that, we’ll have to wait to see what she does next.

The victory celebration quieted down with the disappearance of Margetta and her troops from the realm. For one thing, each pack had to get on with the business of clearing up the different battle fields, making sure that the injured shifters were taken care of, and determining how many members of each pack had died in the attack.

In the end, there were only sixteen casualties to the three hundred Invictus that had died during the brief, coordinated battle, an extraordinary occurrence. But the Shifter Brigade had become a disciplined fighting unit and had been extremely well-prepared. Seth also knew that the images he and Lorelei had streamed, had given each pack the information needed to deliver a crushing blow to the entire enemy force.

The deceased shifters were prepared for their return to family members and each would receive the highest honors for their realm service. But the uninjured and surviving Shifter Brigade warriors began heading for Big Timber.

The first to arrive built up the four enormous bonfire pits, and case after case of dark ale made its way out of the cellars of the main lodge.

In addition, hundreds of realm-folk soon streamed into the area, and a major celebration was underway.

* * * * * * * * *

Lorelei held Seth’s hand and had never known such joy.

From the time Margetta had taken the remnants of her army out of Walvashorr, Seth hadn’t let go of her once, not even when the alphas arrived ready to do high-fives and congratulatory chest bumps.

At first, she thought he was still afraid that the moment Jude showed up, she’d be all over his fellow mastyr.

But when Jude finally arrived, Lorelei felt nothing for him, no impulse to go to him or to feed him.

Jude’s brows rose as he settled his gaze on her, then shifted his attention to Seth. He nodded knowingly several times, a smile on his lips. “You’ve bonded, I see.”

Seth’s chest puffed a little, something that made Lorelei smile as he said, “We have.”

Jude clapped him on the shoulder. “I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks. The way this is going, you’ll have your turn as well, just be prepared and try to be open.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“It’s easy now, but you’re right.” He glanced at Lorelei and squeezed her hand. “Getting to this place wasn’t simple, mostly because I didn’t believe myself worthy.”

Jude snorted. “You, of all the mastyrs I know, deserve to have a woman like Lorelei.”

Seth cleared his throat a couple of times. “I think there might be a few bottles of ale with your name on them.”

“I’m hearing the call even now.” Jude waggled his brows. He then wished them both a realm-full of happiness, afterward heading toward the long table now laden with cases of brew.

Even after Jude left, Seth kept a tight clasp on her hand.

As she walked beside him and up the steps of the main lodge, her heart swelled. The alphas were inside and had called for them both.

The doors swung wide, and as they crossed the threshold, a thunderous cheer rang to the three-story high rafters. The space was packed full of triumphant warriors, as many within as there were outside in the snow. Each held a bottle of ale in hand.

Lorelei realized that part of her joy had to do with the men and women before her, all shifters of Walvashorr, the place she now belonged.

When the roar quieted, Seth raised his bottle of ale with his left hand. “To the finest Shifter Brigade in the Nine Realms.”

Another deafening cheer pushed against the rafters. Lorelei drank to the toast, and found the heavy, bitter ale the most wonderful flavor on her tongue.

Ephyx called out, “To our regis and the prime female.”

The cheers, shouts, and stamping of feet that followed brought a painful grin to Lorelei’s cheeks and tears to her eyes. She’d found an unlikely home in Walvashorr as the blood rose to Mastyr Seth and the prime female to the four shifter packs of the realm.

Several more toasts followed, as each pack honored their leaders and lieutenants and as Seth offered a final word on behalf of the several men and one female shifter who’d given their lives tonight on behalf of their fellow realm-folk. Observing a long minute of silence, Lorelei bowed her head and blessed their swift journeys into the arms of the Goddess. She added another blessing for those enslaved realm-folk, who had succumbed to the Invictus wraith-bonding.

And Seth still held her hand.

When the silence ended, he glanced at her and she saw enormous longing in his eyes, something she almost didn’t recognize.
What is it?

You.
His chest rose and fell in a deep breath.
I need to be with you, Lorelei. Tonight. Now.

She glanced down at their joined fingers.
Is this why you’ve been stuck to me for the past hour of celebration?

Yeah, it is.

He looked almost pained.
You have to understand, I haven’t had a woman in my life for a thousand years.

When she finally understood, her eyes widened and maybe unfortunately for Seth, the shifter in her took precedence over the more orderly fae part of her genetics.

In a loud voice, she called out, “Hey, fellow shifters, sorry to be leaving the party so soon, but I need to get my man to bed.”

The slow glide of the ‘o-o-o-o-hs’ that this announcement fostered, as well as the grins and a few not-so-subtle hip-grinding gestures, made Seth turn to her and frown.
Really?

But she was too much part-shifter, not to respond with anything else, except,
Would you rather I went home with one of your men? Maybe one of the alphas?

You’re gonna start with me? Here?

Anywhere, anytime.

She got up close and slung an arm around his neck. He did the only appropriate thing and kissed her.

Another gliding set of ‘o-o-o-o-hs’ washed over her ears.

When he drew back, his eyes were at half-mast. “Let’s go home.”

At the mere mention of the word, she lost all her taunting shifter-bravado and nodded. “Yeah, let’s go home.”

* * * * * * * * *

Seth had never been this happy in his entire life. As he flew Lorelei south toward Defiance Falls and his home above Shauck Gorge, his body felt flooded with love, with triumph, and above all gratitude.

Never in a hundred years could he have predicted all the events of the past few days, or perhaps more importantly, of the past month from the time that Lorelei had appeared to him at his backdoor. She’d stolen into his life, on command from Queen Rosamunde, to serve as his bodyguard, and she’d stayed to become his confidant, his blood rose, and the woman he loved with all his heart.

She would probably never know the changes she’d wrought in his life, taking him from a solitary mastyr, who rarely socialized, to a shifter pack regis and part of a community that would probably never leave him in solitude again.

Yet he felt unsettled, as though something important hadn’t been resolved between himself and Lorelei. And the only place he could think to do it, was in his home, with his woman, in his bed. He needed her to feel him as he told her all that needed to be said, aloud, nothing hidden, or cloaked in telepathy, but the words vibrating between them, their bodies on fire.

Defiance Falls came into view first. The great river that created the falls, then broke into three distinct rivers, billowed with mist, the sound deafening, familiar, and welcoming as he passed overhead.

I love that sound.
Lorelei spoke reverently, another thing he valued about her. She had an appreciation for the land around her.

I do, too. It feels like home.

A few seconds more and he touched down on his wrap-around porch. Snow created a soft round appearance to his flat railing, a single track of squirrel footprints the only breach.

But he didn’t release Lorelei until he had her inside his house with the front door shut and locked. He lowered the day-blinds as well, uncertain what hour they’d finally rise from his bed.

By the time he’d secured all the blinds in the house, he heard the shower running in his master bath, which of course meant that Lorelei was naked.

She was in his shower and she was naked, with him, for him, bonded to him.

His feet were moving before he’d wrapped up the last of his amazed thoughts that love had found him and his woman was in his shower.

“Join me?” Her feminine voice, which always carried a happy tone, reached him from the open, stone-tiled doorway that led to the shower.

“Yes.” He removed the woven clasp from his hair, then stripped vampire-fast, even working his boots off quicker than he ever had before.

Seconds later, he stepped into the stone-chiseled shower. Lorelei faced him, her head back as she rinsed shampoo from her hair. The row of amethysts along the rim of her left ear winked at him.

His heart was full of love for her, his body full of need, and his blood-hunger raging once more because of all that had happened in the past few hours. But he didn’t want to hurry what needed to happen next.