Fallen Angel: Mythic Series, Book 2 (16 page)

“Who is that?” David asked. “I don’t remember meeting her.”

“Danielle. Matthew’s younger sister.”

“Matt, the werewolf Alpha?”

“The same,” Vlane said with a quirk of his lips. “The whelp is quite fond of my Ana, and often creates her own invitation when none is forthcoming.”

Rather than be annoyed by that, Vlane seemed amused. David noted that Vlane’s security took no steps to remove her from the private gathering. “You don’t seem bothered by that.”

“On the contrary. I find anything that vexes Matthew extremely entertaining.” Even as he spoke, the large golden Alpha was striding purposefully across the room, his expression thunderous. David couldn’t blame him. If he had a younger sister and a room of paranormal bigshots were looking at her that way, he’d be pissed, too.

“You did well tonight, David,” Kristoff said, suddenly appearing beside them. “Vlane, if we’re done here, I’m going to take off.”

“Anything I need to know about?” Vlane asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No,” Kristoff answered. “Just need to check on something.”

Vlane nodded his agreement, and Kristoff was gone. One by one, guests began taking their leave as well. David breathed a sigh of relief when Zarek, the head of Vlane’s security, finally closed the door. “That wasn’t so bad.”

“Not bad at all,” Ryssa agreed, sliding her arms around him. He loved that she was just as anxious for his touch as he was hers. Beside them, Ana did the same for Vlane.

“You are welcome to spend the day,” Ana told them when David couldn’t completely conceal his yawn. “It’s nearly dawn. That way Ryssa can come to the Sanctuary with me this afternoon and visit with Dani while I work.”

Vlane had told him that Ana worked part-time at the shifter-run animal hospital. David didn’t quite understand how that worked. He knew how protective Vlane was of Ana, and those shifter males seemed like a pretty libidinous group to him. He knew
he
wasn’t crazy about the idea of having Ryssa anywhere near them without him being there, too.

His rational mind told him she was more than capable of taking care of herself, but now that he
knew
what was out there, his irrational, possessive side didn’t care. She was his, and he didn’t want any other males sniffing around her.

Ryssa must have picked up on his thoughts, because she said, “If it’s okay with you, Ana, I’m going to stay here with David. Maybe we can both stop by around sunset?”

“An excellent idea,” Vlane agreed immediately, then looked to David with glistening black eyes. “I would appreciate the company.”

David had to bite the inside of his mouth to keep from laughing. Apparently he was not the only one feeling overly protective of his mate.

“Honestly, Vlane,” Ana chastised lightly. “You should know by now that we will be safe in Matthew’s territory.”

“Indulge me, my love,” Vlane replied, sweeping her into his arms.

“I’m glad I’m not the only one,” David murmured as Vlane disappeared with Ana. He nuzzled Ryssa’s neck. Raw hunger rose up within him. Beverages had been available throughout the night, but nothing compared to his Angel.

Mere seconds later, they were in the guest room, now permanently David’s. Every close member of Vlane’s lineage had his own space in his palatial mansion.

“I thought the night would never end,” he whispered, divesting Ryssa of her clothing as she did the same for him. “You look beautiful tonight, Ryssa. You always look beautiful. No one could take their eyes off of you. It was driving me crazy, knowing their thoughts.”

“You can read minds already? I thought that skill didn’t develop until much later.”

“I don’t need vampire skills to know what they were thinking.”

Ryssa laughed and jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. David palmed her behind and lifted her enough to slide into her welcoming depths. Both sighed in relief as they came together.

“I know what you mean. I was ready to scratch the eyes out of every woman who was checking you out.”

He chuckled, then carried them both to the bed where he proceeded to slake both of his carnal hungers and get her to scream out his name no less than three times.

“I think Vlane suspects something,” David said sleepily. Ryssa sat beside him, finishing off the last of her Danishes.

“I know,” she sighed. “But I’ve taken care of that.”

“Oh yeah? How did you do that?”

“When I hugged Ana earlier, I wished that she be content with the present and not worry about the past.”

As a Fae, Ana had the power to grant wishes. “Didn’t she question it?”

“No. I did it in such a way that she thought I was wishing for myself. Since my past is her past, it worked.”

“Clever.”

“I thought so,” she smirked. “I can be quite devious, you know.”

“I do know. Look how you’ve corrupted me,” he teased. She snuggled down beside him and pulled up the covers.

“Yeah, well, I’m a fallen angel. I like you a little corrupted.”

“Something tells me life with you is never going to be boring.”

He felt her smile against his neck in the darkness. “Count on it, Gilligan.”

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... t
hen check out this excerpt from the next book in the Mythic series,
The Oracle at Mythic
...

––––––––

A
nother brilliant bolt of lightning split the night, startling her into a vertical takeoff several inches above the couch-turned-bed. The earsplitting crack of thunder and shuddering vibrations that followed almost immediately suggested that either a) the earth was wrenching apart at some undiscovered fault line directly beneath her, or b) the strike had been
really
close. Neurons fired in her brain at the speed of light, calculating the probabilities of each possible scenario simultaneously with quad-chip accuracy.

Previously undiscovered fault line, 17 percent. Lightning strike in immediate vicinity, 96 percent.

Numbers didn’t lie. And if they weren’t convincing enough, the prolonged sharp cracks and whooshes audible over the howling winds were. Tucking away her mental calculator, her mind translated the sounds into an internal video clip of a large tree falling in slow motion.

As the branches scraped ominously along the outside walls of the cabin, Tedi did what any mature thirty year old woman would do:  she slipped her treasured laptop under the sleeper sofa in a protective gesture, curled herself into a ball, and pulled the worn, faded blanket over her head.

With the sounds of the storm only slightly muffled, her genius level brain ran through a myriad of possible outcomes, thankfully very few of which were likely to end in death or serious injury. Lightning rarely struck in the same place twice, after all, and as scary as that last strike had been, she remained unscathed.

Before she could draw comfort from that fact, however, another ground-shaking strike and clap resounded. It was almost immediately succeeded by horrible, metallic crunching sounds, resulting in a second series of mental images involving another big tree and her tiny car. Pulling the blanket tighter around her, she trembled and assured herself that it was just a car, and not even one she liked, really. Better the aging Honda than her.

And really, what could she do? It wasn’t like she had a lot of viable options. Leaving the relative safety of the cabin greatly increased the likelihood of grievous bodily harm or worse. Small as it was, the stone and wood structure was a sturdily built thing, crafted with the skilled workmanship of an earlier time. A quick mental playback of the surrounding area confirmed that it offered the best shelter in the immediate vicinity. Surely it had weathered many such storms over the years.

Her thoughts continued at a rapid fire pace, searching for knowledge directly related to survival during a natural disaster. Should she situate herself in a doorframe? Centering herself between the supportive beams would offer the greatest chance of survival should the cabin begin collapse.

No, wait. That was earthquakes, and she’d already established that this was most likely
not
an earthquake.

Maybe she was supposed to wrap her arms around the toilet and hang on for dear life? The plumbing was anchored somewhere beneath the ground, and was the best defense against a sucking vortex...

No, that was tornadoes. This was a bad storm, but not a tornado. At least she didn’t think it was. From what she remembered from her Introduction to Meteorological Studies course (and the classic Helen Hunt film “Twister”), most tornados occurred in the Midwest and needed long stretches of flat land to build up steam. Oh, and trailer parks. For some reason, post-destruction news coverage
always
included trailer parks. And drive-in movie theatres.

Good thing she was in the mountains, then, surrounded by acres and acres of pristine forest with nary a trailer park or drive-in in sight.

Convinced that the sofa bed was her best option under the circumstances, there she remained, huddled and trembling and processing, until she heard an unfamiliar, rhythmic tattoo. At first she thought it was her heart pounding against the interior walls of her chest, but this noise came from outside her makeshift blanket shelter and was far less erratic.

Curiosity piqued, she lifted her head and let the covering slip down to her shoulders, listening intently. Rain hit the roof and sides of the cabin in heavy sheets. Thunder rolled and rumbled constantly, sounding like a great big semi was circling in laps just outside. And something else... There!  From the left! The same pattern repeated:  three raps, a brief pause, then three more.

With verses of Edgar Allen Poe’s famous poem
The Raven
looping in the recesses of her mind, Tedi’s natural inquisitiveness overcame her fear. She eased from the safety of her nest and felt her way through the pitch blackness to where the sound originated. Any noise she might have made was cancelled out by the storm raging outside, but she tiptoed anyway, her fingers held out before her warily to feel for the wall she knew was there somewhere. 

Close now, Tedi leaned forward until her ear pressed against the solid surface, waiting to hear it again. When it came, the slab of oak beneath her cheek rattled beneath the force of it and she screamed.

A heartbeat later, the door was thrown open, knocking her off her feet. Tedi looked up into the doorway just as another bolt of lightning illuminated the outline of a large, dark figure. The brilliant background flash left the creature’s features shrouded in mystery, but whatever it was, it was
big
.

Man-shaped, its shoulders nearly spanned the width of the doorway and its head nearly reached the top. In the span of a heartbeat, an onomasticon of mythological creatures paraded through her mind – Sasquatch, Mogollon Monster, Golem, Argopelter, SlenderMan – automatically filtering out those indigenous to other parts of the world or not of the proper size and shape.

Wind and horizontal rain rushed through the doorway and she felt, more than saw, the figure step forward. Ignominiously sprawled on the floor, she attempted to scream again but found her lungs and throat paralyzed and wholly uncooperative.

The door slammed closed, muffling the tempest outside. Panic released her from immobility, allowing her to push to her feet, her head swiveling back and forth frantically in the Stygian darkness. Had who, or
what
, it was come inside?

Without warning, strong hands gripped her shoulders and a deep, smooth voice penetrated the haze of terror.

“Are you all right?”

Just that quickly, her fear ebbed and a sense of calm washed over her. Tedi reached up with curious hands, searching in the darkness. The pads of her fingers found the creature, solid and real. They traced wet, smooth skin. Moved along beautifully sculpted cheekbones and a strong jaw. Paused at the feel of full, soft lips that parted slightly beneath them. One finger slipped inside and discovered something long and smooth and sharp. Tedi pressed her finger to it, murmuring a soft exclamation when her skin was unexpectedly pierced.

She tried to pull her hand back, but a strong hand gripped her wrist and kept it where it was. Lips closed around her finger and she felt a gentle tug, one that sent nearly orgasmic spasms through her very core. For several long moments, all thoughts fled, her mind becoming blessedly blank. Her eyes drifted shut and her head lolled back while she simply enjoyed the wondrous sensations rippling through her body.