Embrace the Wild (The Blood Rose Series Book 6) (16 page)

She smiled sleepily, pulling the covers up to her chin. “Here, of course.” She patted the space next to her. “I’m too distressed to have you farther away than an elbow-nudge.”

He smiled. “Okay, then. I’ll shower up.”

He laid the bag over the chair across from the bed. Though he usually slept in the nude, he’d planned on wearing PJ bottoms for Willow’s sake. They might have hooked up a couple of times, but he didn’t want her to think he had expectations.

He took his time showering so that by the time he got into bed, she was asleep.

Once under a light quilt, and the shades drawn against even the smallest ray of sunlight, Malik lay on his pillow stunned that he was here.

In her sleep, Willow tossed her hand in his direction but after making contact, she moved close so that she was stretched out beside him. He lifted his arm, and the next thing he knew, she nestled her head in the dip of his shoulder. He held her close and once again his heart seemed to light on fire with his growing affection for the woman.

Yeah, he was honest enough with himself to know that he could get used to this, to having her in his life. He just couldn’t figure out how the pieces could all fit together.

His chest felt tight yet full at the same time, and his veins flowed with something very warm.

~ ~ ~

Willow awoke slowly on her stomach, feeling slightly drugged. The hour was late and it wouldn’t be long until full-dark, which meant she’d slept over eleven hours. Unbelievable.

But then the prior night had been one of the roughest of her life.

Malik lay on his side facing her, his brows drawn together, as though even in his sleep he worried about Ashleaf Realm.

She could relate. She’d had a few unnerving dreams about wraith children dying.

She turned and stretched out on her back, giving her body and brain time to catch up. She blinked several times, trying to clear away the lethargy.

She recalled now that she’d awakened more than once in Malik’s arms and his presence in her bed had done more to ease her than she wanted to admit.

Glancing at him again, she realized she could get used to having a big male body in her bed. Desire rose suddenly. The need to be kissed and held by him, to make love with him, swept through her. She almost reached for him with the intention of waking him up, but she held back.

He needed his sleep as much as she did and her instincts told her that tonight might be even more difficult than the previous night. The fae acting behind Axton was working fast on his behalf. Who knew what the pair would throw at them as the evening marched on.

More than once, she wondered if Margetta might be the fae, the one who’d created the Invictus. Her bid to take over the Nine Realms wasn’t over and her army was always looking for wraiths to subvert. What if she’d discovered the existence of the Ashleaf Colony and wanted the pure-bloods for her army of vile wraith-pairs?

When her brain finally cleared and her thoughts made sense, she rose quietly, showered, and dressed for the night in jeans and a purple, tank top. After all that she’d been through, she didn’t really want to be in a gown or even in her favorite long skirt.

She padded barefoot across the rope bridge toward the main treehouse. The waning sunlight bothered her a little and would definitely blister Malik given his extreme vampire sensitivity to the sun. But her faeness wasn’t quite as affected and the short distance made it tolerable.

Right now, however, she wished she had a spell that could counteract the effect for Malik’s sake.

When she reached her living room, she almost wept with relief. Her home looked perfectly restored and a bowl of fresh fruit sat on the counter with a note propped up beside it.

She opened the folded paper, and her eyes blurred with tears. Hank basically said that a couple of minor things needed to be taken care of, but otherwise her home was good to go.

Her spell had blocked all the noise, and by the looks of the repairs, Hank’s crew would have made a serious racket for hours on end.

She slid the bowl across the counter and started working on a wonderfully ripe pineapple. A nice fruit salad would be exactly what was needed. Perhaps some eggs. Maybe a frittata.

And coffee. Definitely, coffee.

She spent the next half hour pulling ingredients together, including cutting thick slices off a slab of bacon. She set the table for two.

The scene was so homey that a fluttering started in her stomach and kept ranging northward to her heart. Between having found herself several times cradled in Malik’s arms during the night, and seeing a table set for two, the solitary nature of her existence rode down on her like a heavy, autumn rain.

She had to sit down for a moment. Not once had she ever regretted her decision to become the wraith colony’s Protector. And she didn’t even feel any regret right now.

But during this short time with Malik, she was left with deep longings she couldn’t easily set aside.

Maybe she’d been flippant last night — a state induced by the fact that she’d imbibed almost two beers in a very short period of time — when she’d asked Malik to bond with her. But right now, she swore that if he suggested it, she’d say yes.

The bacon sizzling in the pan called to her, and she returned to flip the strips again. The frittata was almost done as well.

She thought about returning to the bedroom treehouse to wake Malik up, but right then he called out that he’d join her shortly. She loved the sound of his deep male voice in her home.

The evening twilight had disappeared and full-dark now covered the forest, but her flexible fae vision began adjusting so that the woods always looked as though bathed in a soft golden glow.

How she loved her home and her world.

The night-birds, peculiar to the Nine Realms, had begun chattering as well, streaking from branch to branch, diving down to the stream to drink and to bathe. From the kitchen window, she could see down into the stream and that an entire group of sparrows splashed in shallow eddies, tending their feathers.

“Hey.”

Malik’s rich, masculine voice brought her turning away from the sink and the window.

She’d meant to greet him as well, but dammit if she didn’t forget how handsome he was. And this time, with the apparent intention of supporting her journey through a domestic-bliss fantasy, the man helped her along by wearing jeans, a snug black t-shirt that accented his incredible body, and like her, he was barefoot.

She knew her lips were parted as she unabashedly checked him out. And she truly had meant to offer a greeting, but her mind couldn’t seem to force the words from her throat.

His smile broadened. “You look beautiful.”

“So do you,” she gushed. “And you look great in jeans.” That’s when her cheeks heated up. She felt like a schoolgirl with a crush. “Uh, coffee?”

“Love some.”

She poured him a large mug, which he took then sipped with his gaze fixed on her. And that’s when his rich forest-like scent, like leaves in the fall burrowing into the earth to replenish the land, swept over her.

She turned the flame off beneath the bacon and pivoted in his direction.

When he set his coffee down, she opened her arms.

He moved so fast, she hardly saw him. But she felt him as he gathered her up in a powerful embrace and kissed her.

Willow slid her hands over his shoulders, his back, the muscles of his arms that flexed and un-flexed for her. She felt the raw physical power of him again, his strength covering her the way she covered the wraith colony.

When she parted her lips, he dipped his tongue inside and she leaned into him, cooing softly. The times they’d had sex slipped through her mind and she wanted him all over again, buried inside, driving into her, making her feel so many good things all at once.

But he drew back and took a deep breath. “You prepared breakfast and I’d hate to see it go to waste.”

She looked into his eyes, searching their brown depths, wanting … what? “Right. Breakfast.”

She released him and set about draining the bacon and serving up the frittata and sliced fruit.

The small dining area had a plate glass window overlooking the stream, and Malik’s gaze went there often. Willow had a hard time not watching him as though she needed to memorize the angle of his cheekbones, how he turned his wrist when he lifted his mug to his lips, the set and breadth of his shoulders. She felt as though she was losing something infinitely precious, though she couldn’t explain why she felt that way. He was right here, right in front of her.

But he couldn’t be permanent. There just didn’t seem to be a way to blend their worlds or their responsibilities into something that made sense.

After most of the meal had been consumed, she addressed an issue that had been on her mind since she’d awakened. “I want to bring the five leaders of the Fae Guild into the colony.”

He shifted his gaze to her, his brows raised. “What? Why?”

She felt his sudden tension. “You think it would be a mistake?”

He gestured with his fork in the air. “I think the fewer the people who know about the colony, the safer we’ll keep all those citizens. But tell me what you’re thinking.”

“That I need help and that you won’t always be able to stick this close. You have the realm to think of. But as I told you last night, I’ve reached the absolute limit of my ability to serve as the Protector.

“I believe what I need is someone who can share the task with me. The five fae would probably be able to help out and they might also be able to locate another Protector. Maybe even one of them would have this ability.”

Malik frowned as he settled his elbows on the table, his mug held in both hands. “I can’t help but believe that we run a huge risk here. What if one of these fae is the woman that’s supplying charms to Axton? I mean, I trust Alexandra the Bad with my life, but I don’t know the other four as well at all.”

“Then maybe I should lay the issue before her and let her make the call. Do I have your permission to contact her and tell her about the colony? Although, as I did with you, I’d prefer she actually experienced the colony for herself.”

Malik leaned back in his chair, his gaze cast off to the side. She could feel how hard he was processing what she’d said, working through all the ramifications.

She thought she understood. He ruled Ashleaf and any decision made about the wraith colony would undoubtedly affect the realm for decades.

He glanced back at her. “Our being inside the colony changed things, didn’t it?”

She nodded. “From the time I made the decision to include you, yes, I believe it did.”

Malik rose from the table and picked up his dishes, taking them to the sink. Without a word, he started to clean-up, something that warmed her heart. Decades ago, she’d dated a few men who treated her like a scullery maid when it came to keeping the house tidy.

As she brought her dishes to the sink, he took them, saying, “Let me take care of those.” And right then she knew she was in serious trouble with this man.

“Call Alexandra,” he said, his gaze fixed out the kitchen window. “And do you know you have a colony of bats in that neighboring tree?”

“I do. I encourage them.”

He cast his gaze down into the stream below. “You also have a battle going on in your stream involving about a dozen night-sparrows?”

She chuckled. “They love to bathe there and some insist on attempting to establish territorial rights.”

At that, he smiled at her over his shoulder. “Sort of like I did with Axton.”

She drew close and planted a kiss on his lips. “Yeah. Sort of like that. And now, I’m going to make my call.”

She found her phone on the coffee table and sat down before dialing. She felt nervous calling Alexandra the Bad, who’d gained her reputation and the handle to her name several centuries ago. She’d routed a group of fae out of the Guild who’d been selling spells on the black market for all kinds of criminal and indecent activities.

Today, she’d be called a ‘badass’, so the nickname really fit.

“Alexandra? Willow here.”

“Sweet merciful Goddess on high, how are you, my child?”

Willow laughed. “I’m eighty-three, hardly a child.”

“No, I guess you’re not. You’ve been on my mind lately, so tell me what’s going on.”

Willow laid it out for the older woman, including details about the colony that kept Alexandra very quiet. When she finally did make an utterance it was a very long expletive that involved a lot of terrible things she’d like to do to Axton.

When her tirade ended, she said, “Very well, tell me more about this colony.”

When Willow finished, Alexandra muttered, “Why the fuck have I been kept in the dark? I don’t think I’ve ever been so pissed in my life. I’m the head of the Fae Guild and sometime in the next century, I’ll be sitting on the Sidhe Council. I’d be madder still if Malik hadn’t also been treated like he was a worthless idiot.”

“The decision was never mine,” Willow explained. “The colony leadership had the final say and I always deferred to them.”

Alexandra didn’t speak for a moment, then, “Are you saying that you violated the leadership’s directive by telling me these things?”

“I felt I had to bring Malik in and now you if we stand a chance of saving these wraiths. Axton is after them, but he’s aligned with a fae of tremendous ability. I was hoping you could tell me if there’s anyone in Ashleaf Realm with the kind of power to create charms that could burn up the Protector shield I’ve sustained all these decades. Maybe one of the black market fae?”

“I’m really not sure. As you know, we have a lot of fae who work in secret, so it’s possible we’re looking at one of them. But tell me, is the reason you haven’t come to the meetings because you’ve been serving in this capacity all this time?”

“Of course it is. I’ve been sworn to secrecy. But in more recent years, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to hold the shield intact. I need your help, possibly even the assistance of the other four Fae Guild leaders.”

“Sweet Goddess.”

Alexandra fell silent again, and Willow let her be. She’d just unloaded a lot of information on the old fae’s shoulders.