Return to Me (Storm Lords) (22 page)

He needed to touch her, and he reached out with one hand and stroked her silky hair. The shackle held him in place and he snarled his frustration. She glanced up at him, her lips still around his cock, and then she released him slowly and held his gaze.

“Make love to me,” she whispered the words against him.

He wanted to be inside her so badly in that moment, his body shook. He nodded. Just give us some time, he prayed.

Rising gracefully to her feet, she tugged her T-shirt over her head, tossing it to the floor. Beneath it, she was naked, her breasts small and perfect, the nipples already dark red and hard as pebbles. His mouth watered with the need to taste her.

She kicked off her shoes and then stripped off her jeans in one fluid move to stand before him naked. She stepped closer, within touching distance, but for a minute, all he could do was stare. Her skin was white, almost luminescent, the curls at the base of her flat belly dark red. Finally, when he could hold back no longer, he reached out and cupped one small breast, and a shiver ran through her. He teased the pad of his thumb over the nipple and she moaned. Lowering his head, he sucked the swollen peak into his mouth, laved it with his tongue, nipped with his teeth, and the strength went out of her. She sagged against him and he pulled her hard against his body.

He needed both hands, and he silently cursed the chain, which held him to the wall. How was he supposed to make love to her shackled like an animal? But she reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, rubbing her bare skin against him, as though she couldn’t get enough. Releasing her breast, he ran his hand down over the indent of her waist, the curve of her hip, the softness of her ass. He slipped his fingers between the firm globes, delved between her thighs, and found her slippery with desire.

A small gasp left her throat as he explored the swollen folds of her sex. She shifted slightly, opening her legs, giving him access. Then gasped again as he found the taut bud between her thighs. He ran his fingers, slick with her arousal, over her, and she whimpered low down in her throat. The sound made his cock harden until he thought he would explode with the need to be inside her.

He turned her, pressing her back against the rough stone of the cell wall.

It shouldn’t be like this. She should be on silk sheets, or on a sandy beach under a blue sky. Not in some stinking dungeon deep in the Abyss. But he couldn’t stop now. This might be all they ever had, and he couldn’t go to his death without the feel of being inside her one last time.

And another hunger was rising. He tried to force it down, but it refused to be subdued. He ached with the need to taste her. And he drew back.

She gazed up into his face, her eyes dark with need. “What is it?”

He shook his head. How could he tell her what he desired? She would think him evil, a monster. “I don’t want to hurt you.” His eyes flickered to her throat, and he groaned.

Understanding flashed across her face. She reached up a hand and stroked her finger along his lower lip, then pushed inside. Her eyes widened as she ran her fingertip along the edge of his incisor, fully extended now. “What are you?” she murmured.

“A monster,” he replied bitterly.

She examined his face, and he forced himself not to close his mind to her. She must see him as he was; see the things he had done.

“No. You’re no monster. You want to…” Her gaze fixed on his mouth.

He wanted to deny the need, but it burned through his veins and instead he gave a slight nod.

She raised her head, baring the long line of her throat. “Do it.”

Her offer nearly undid him, and for a moment, the hunger retreated. “Wrap your arms around my neck,” he ordered roughly.

She did as he asked and then pulled him down to her and kissed his lips. She thrust her small tongue inside his mouth, and he tasted her blood as she raked her tongue across his fangs.

Heat exploded inside him, sizzling along his nerve endings. He kissed her back as she pulled herself up his body, and wrapped her legs around his waist so that his rock hard cock pushed against the softness of her belly. His free hand slid beneath her buttocks, balancing her as he pressed her back against the wall, shifting until he could feel himself nudging at the entrance to her body. He pushed inside her slowly. She was so hot and so tight, and he went still, battling down his need.

She pushed against him. “Please, Torr.”

He gave a thrust and, at last, he was lodged deep inside her, and she was wrapped around him like hot, wet velvet. He was home. And for a few stolen moments, it was enough. He rested his head against her shoulder.

***

Bella held herself still, waiting for her body to accustom itself to the unusual sensation. Torr was huge, stretching her, filling her. But it felt so right, and need was building inside her. She tensed the muscles in her thighs tighter around him and shifted slightly. The small movement sent pleasure shooting through her, turning her insides molten.

Then he flexed his hips, withdrew, and pushed into her again so exquisitely slowly, and she was drowning beneath a tidal wave of need.

“That is the best feeling in Heaven or on Earth,” he murmured.

He kissed her lips, then her cheeks as he flexed again, each movement controlled, and she writhed against him, out of control, and needing him to feel the same.

“More,” she urged, bucking her hips against him.

He raised his head and gazed down at her, his eyes glowing with desire as he pressed her back harder against the wall. “Hold on,” he whispered against her ear. She tightened her arms around his neck as his muscles tensed. Then he shoved into her, withdrew, and plunged again until he was pumping into her hard and fast, and the world shrank to the feel of his body inside her.

He shifted her so her legs widened and each thrust of his hard body ground against the bundle of nerves between her thighs. She was mindless, writhing against him. Reaching for something. It was so close. So close.

As pleasure exploded inside her, she flung back her head back, and screamed. At the same moment, Torr buried his face in her neck, his fangs piercing the vein, and another orgasm rocked her. The pain mingled with the pleasure, on and on. She felt Torr reach his own release, his hot seed pulsing inside her

Finally, he went still against her. He kissed her throat, swiping his tongue over the small wound, and a shudder ran through her. They stayed like that while residual flames of desire wracked her body.

“I love you,” she murmured the words against his throat. Then kissed him, tasting the salt on his skin.

He raised his head. “I know. I thought I would never hear those words again. Whatever happens, it’s enough.”

She clung for one more minute before wriggling free, a sense of loss washing over her as his body left hers. Sliding down to the floor, she clutched his shoulders for a second as her legs threatened to give way. When she knew she could stand, she stepped away and had to force herself not to move back. Already, she couldn’t bear the idea of being parted from him. Having found him, he now expected her to accept this was enough.

Never going to happen.

“It’s not enough. You promised me eternity. It’s
not
enough.”

He shrugged a helpless gesture. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry isn’t good enough either. There has to be a way.”

She watched as he adjusted his clothes, pulling up the zip of his pants. She looked at him carefully then ran her palm down over the swell of his muscles. The bruises and cuts were gone as though they had never been. “How?”

“Blood has the power to heal us.”

She touched a fingertip to the small wound at her throat. “You never used to…” she trailed off.

“No. I never used to do lots of things. After I lost you I thought I had nothing left. We were cast into the Abyss and there we were offered a new life. New powers. I took them because I didn’t care about anything but revenge. And I made those I held responsible pay. For a thousand years, I wreaked destruction on the world of men and angels.”

“The Destroyer,” Bella murmured.

“Yes. I became known as the Destroyer and I earned that title. And now I must pay the price.”

She cupped his face, looked into his eyes, saw into his mind. There was darkness there, but also remorse, regret, and a rock bottom goodness that he would never lose.

“You’ve paid enough.” She touched the tip of one midnight black wing. “I saw what they did to you.”

“I have done things since then in the name of revenge that can never be taken back. I would have ravaged the Earth and everyone on it.”

“But you didn’t.”

“I did enough.” He considered her for a moment. “Bella, I made a deal with Gabriel.”

“How could you? He’s the one who did this to you.” She stroked her finger down the scar on his cheek.

“He has promised to watch over you.”

“I don’t want him watching over me. I don’t want him anywhere near me.” She gave him a sharp look. “What did you offer in return?”

“That I would destroy Razul and his Army.”

“Razul is the demon who has your soul?”

He nodded.

She was still naked, her clothes scattered around the floor of the cell, and she gathered them up and pulled them on, before she turned back to Torr. “You’re not the only one who did wrong. I knew it was a sin to take the Elixir. I knew it was a crime against Heaven to steal immortality. I took it anyway to be with you.”

“I led you astray. I told you we would be safe.”

She snorted. “I was a grown woman. You couldn’t lead me astray if I didn’t want to be led. Anyway, who led who? You were a goddamn angel. You were so perfect sometimes I was scared to touch you. So good.” She gestured at the black wings, the scar. “I did this to you. I was human and I dragged you down to my level.”

“Sweetheart, I sank way lower than that.” He shook his head. “And you died for it. A terrible death. But you’re wrong. Your love raised me up. Before I met you, I never knew what love was. It was some sort of abstract emotion until you made it real for me. And I will never regret that.”

She was silent, not knowing what to say.

“Cade can take the memories if you want,” he added. “You’ll forget.”

It took her a moment to realize what he was suggesting, and fury rushed through her like a whirlwind. “Don’t you dare even think about it. I will not forget you a second time.”

She bent over to pull on her boots to hide the tears she knew would show in her eyes. He didn’t need to see her cry. And she wasn’t giving up yet. There had to be something they could do. Some way to get Torr away from here.

“You have to go.” His tone was harsh, but she could sense the pain behind his words.

She came back to him and wrapped her arms around his chest. He stroked her hair with his free hand. “I don’t want to. Let me stay a while longer.”

He sighed but tightened his hold, and she closed her eyes, pretending for a while they were back where they’d started so long ago. She remembered her first sight of him. He hadn’t revealed what he was, but she had known right away that he was more than human. He’d glowed with a goodness, and he’d had the face and body of an angel even without his wings. Then she’d looked into his mind and fallen instantly and forever in love.

When he’d finally revealed what he was, it had been far too late. She was irrevocably in love, and would have done anything to stay with him. She’d told him the truth; she had known it was wrong and had done it anyway.

But she had paid. They’d both paid, though she suspected Torr more than she. Her death had been slow, but it had not lasted for two thousand years.

The sound of the door opening brought her out of her memories. Torr’s arm tightened around her, and she glanced over her shoulder; Cade stood in the doorway.

“Razul is on his way.”

Despair hit her with the force of a tornado. She wanted to cling to Torr, to scream, but she battled the emotions down. She swallowed hard, then pulled herself free and took a step back.

“Go,” Torr said.

She nodded. “But I won’t give up.”

There must be some way. She would find it.

They didn’t speak on the journey out of the Abyss. Not until the portal opened, and they were back in Torr’s office at the top of the Stormlord Securities building.

Cade set her down and she paced the floor. “There has to be something we can do.”

He flashed her an angry look. “If there was, don’t you think I’d be doing it?” The words were snarled, but his fear was clear beneath the harsh tone.

They were waiting for the others to arrive. She knew they wouldn’t give up without a fight, but what could they do? Torr was right; no way could they risk opening the portal.

Jesus, this whole thing was so surreal. In five days, she had gone from a total disbelief in anything ‘weird’, to contemplating how to save her angel-husband’s soul, and the whole of mankind from an army of demons.

Bryce arrived first, looked her over, and nodded. Phoebe slipped into the room next, her eyes widening with relief when they settled on Cade. She looked around took in Bryce and Bella. “Didn’t you find him?”

“We found him,” Cade said. “Razul has him though, and we couldn’t get him out.”

“So you just left him?”

“For fuck’s sake, Phoebe, you’re not helping.”

Bella had never heard Cade raise his voice to his wife before. It was a measure of his distress. Beside her, Bryce sighed. “I’m going to go round up the others.”

Phoebe waited until he’d left the room and then crossed to Cade and took his hand, tugging him down onto the sofa to sit beside her. “Tell me what happened?” She glanced across at Bella. “Did you…?”

Bella nodded. “Yes, I remember.”

“Are you okay?”

“Not really.” Bella forced a weak smile. “I would be if Torr was here.” She ran a hand through her hair, trying to ease some of the tension.

“He’s not gone,” Phoebe said. “There’s still a chance.”

Bella wanted to believe it, but she remembered that last look Torr had sent her as she left. The sadness and resignation in his eyes. “You never saw him. He won’t open the portal. He plans to attack Razul and his army instead.”

“And Razul will destroy his soul,” Cade finished.

“What happens then?” Phoebe asked.

“No one really knows.”

But Bella remembered what Torr had told her. “Torr says he will vanish, as though he has never been.”

“You need to stop him,” Phoebe said.

“We’re open to ideas.” Cade’s tone was full of weary defeat.

Phoebe must have heard it, and she jumped to her feet. She crossed to where Bella stood, hugged her, and then stepped back. “I’m so sorry. I know what you must be going through. If anything happened to Cade…”

“I’m not giving up,” Bella said.

A wave of exhaustion washed over her and she sank onto the couch opposite Cade, hugging her knees to her chest. The past and the present were whirling in her head. Her first life was clear. She could remember it so well, each moment, each kiss, and each time they made love. She even remembered Phoebe and the others. They had all died that day.

Now, seeping out of her subconscious, were vague memories of other lives. They had not been happy. The dream had followed her through each rebirth, scarring her mind, making her incapable of normal relationships. Her empathic powers had made her susceptible to others’ pain, as well as her own, sometimes driving her to the edge of insanity and beyond. She pressed her fingers to her skull, trying to ease the ache.

“How did you cope?” she asked Phoebe. “With all the memories?”

Phoebe had sat back down next to her husband. She looked at Bella, compassion clear in her eyes. “It was hard, but Cade helped me…”

As Torr would have helped her, had he not been chained up in some stinking dungeon, deep in the Abyss. At that moment, Bella’s need was a physical pain, clawing at her insides. She bit her lip to keep from moaning aloud.

Information. That’s what she needed. If nothing else, it would distract her from this pain, and she might find some way to help Torr.

“What happened to his soul?”

Cade looked away, then back, his expression wary. “Didn’t Torr tell you?”

“Just that he’d given it away in exchange for powers. But who did he give it to? How did this Razul get hold of it?”

“What does it matter?”

She narrowed her eyes on him. What was he hiding? “Tell me.”

“He gave his soul into Lilith’s keeping,” Phoebe said.

“Lilith? Who’s that?” Though she remembered Torr mentioning her in Mexico City.

“She’s a bitch,” Phoebe said. “But she rules down there. When they first arrived, she offered them a place and other things, but she wanted Torr’s soul as a sign of their allegiance.”

“What other things?”

“She gave us back our wings. Gave us power over the storms—”

She remembered the name she had heard whispered in the bar in Mexico City. “You were Storm Lords?”

He nodded. “And Torr was the Destroyer. We could gain strength from drinking blood, some of us can shape-shift, and other things. For a while, we reveled in those powers, slaked ourselves on the blood of our enemies until even Heaven feared us. But such things come at a price. We allowed the darkness inside us.”

“So what happened? What stopped you?”

“Torr and Lilith were about to invade the Earth. Together they were so strong, and Lilith had always wanted dominium over mankind.”

“And Torr?” Bella asked.

Cade shrugged. “By that point, I don’t think he cared. This was a thousand years after we were banished to the Abyss. The need for revenge had faded, but nothing replaced it. Torr was without his soul. He was like an empty shell.”

“And…”

“Gabriel discovered the imminent invasion. He came to us. We’d always believed you were lost to us forever. Gabriel told us differently. He said your souls had been tied to the Earth by the Elixir you had taken; you were caught in a cycle of death and rebirth, and that one day we might find you.

“Lilith didn’t want to let us go, certainly not Torr. But with Gabriel’s backing, she couldn’t hold us completely. So she made a deal and the Covenant was drawn up.”

“The Covenant?”

“A set of rules, agreed between us, Lilith, and Gabriel. We had a thousand years to find you. And after we found you, we had five days to make you remember your love, but we weren’t allowed to tell you what we were or what had happened in the past. If you hadn’t spoken the words by the end of those days, then we lost you, and this time it would be forever. You would die and not be reborn.”

A shiver ran through her. Five days. Such a short time, but it seemed like forever since she’d looked up in that interrogation room at the police station and seen Torr standing there. “Five days and this is the fifth day.”

“Yes. You cut things close.” He glanced at his wife. “Though not as close as Phoebe. The strange thing is we were all afraid of failing. All except Torr. He swore you would see into his mind and know him.”

“Instead, I brought him to this.”

“It’s not your fault. There would still be the problem with his soul.”

“But he wouldn’t have made a deal with Gabriel.”

“He made a deal with the archangel?” Phoebe asked.

Bella nodded. “He promised to kill Razul and destroy his armies, if Gabriel would allow me my one life and watch over me.”

“And Gabe agreed?” Cade sounded skeptical.

“Yes. Tell me more about the Covenant, how you planned to find us.”

“We knew you all looked the same, Gabe had told us as much. We wandered the world searching, but it was an impossible task, and we were running out of time. Then technology came along, computers, surveillance…facial recognition. We opened up Stormlord Securities, and set about searching in a more systematic manner.”

“Is that how you found Phoebe?”

He smiled for the first time since they’d returned. “No. I almost fell over Phoebe. But it is how we found you. You came up on the police files.” He considered her for a few minutes in silence. “You know, now I can’t help thinking that the timing is suspect. Maybe your arrest was arranged. Lilith knew we were hunting you. Maybe she told Razul and he found you first.”

“But why would they want Torr to find me?”

“Maybe because once he had set eyes on you, then the five days would begin. He needed to see you, and then lose you. Otherwise he’d most likely not give up on his love, even when the thousand years were up. And he would not go back to Lilith. I think she wants him back more than anything, even to the point of risking his soul.”

Bella frowned. “She wants him back? You mean she actually had him at some point?”

Cade shifted uncomfortably. “This is for Torr to tell you.”

“Well, Torr isn’t here.”

“He thought you gone forever. Lilith wanted him and he didn’t care enough one way or the other.”

A black tide of jealousy rose up inside her. She gritted her teeth and tried to put it in perspective. This was over a thousand years ago. Still, she couldn’t completely banish the feeling. She’d have it out with Torr if they all survived this night. She jumped to her feet and paced the room, finally coming to a standstill, hands on her hips. “And Lilith kept his soul.”

“It was to be returned if ever the Covenant was completed.”

Frustration gnawed at her. “But it is complete. I told Torr I loved him. She’s lost. She has to give back his soul.”

“Except she doesn’t have it.”

“She’s the goddamn queen. Can’t she order this Razul to give it back?”

“Maybe. Maybe she’d rather Torr be destroyed than for him to find happiness with another woman. Specifically with you. She hates you.”

“I told you,” Phoebe said. “She’s a bitch.”

“But unfortunately a powerful one. I suppose—” He broke off, as a light tap sounded on the door and the others trailed in. They appeared subdued and she presumed Bryce must have told them what was going on. Finn was at the rear and at his feet trotted Skip. The little dog caught sight of Bella and leaped forward, straight into her arms. She burrowed her nose in his soft fur, hugging him tight.

“So, we’re getting him back?” Bryce asked.

Finn stepped forward. “Torr was very clear when he left. Perhaps we should do as he asks.”

Bella glared at him. “And perhaps we shouldn’t.”

“Then we fight.”

“We haven’t decided yet,” Cade replied.

“What’s there to decide?”

“Razul would still destroy his soul, and he would be lost.”

It all came back to his soul. Bella tuned out the conversation as they argued back and forth. She needed to think this through. She was a con woman, the best there was. Well, until she’d been caught, though it sounded now as if that had been some sort of set up.

This Razul had been responsible. Just as he’d been responsible for Justin’s death, the plane crash, and no doubt those murders, which had lured them to Mexico City in search of Bryce.

But Lilith was also to blame. Probably more so. And she pretended to care for Torr, which made her actions all the more horrific.

They both had to pay.

So how to plan a good con?

Start out with what you wanted to gain, and work your way backward from that. So what did she want?

Torr alive and reunited with his soul. Her alive and preferably in one piece. She looked around the room, her eyes settling on Phoebe and Cade, Finn and the others. She wanted them alive as well, and she wanted Razul and Lilith dead.

The easiest people to con were always the ones who believed themselves invincible. She was guessing that Razul and Lilith fell squarely into that group.

You had to play on their greed. You had to understand what they wanted. Lilith wanted Torr, but she probably wanted him to come to her voluntarily. She might be an evil bitch, but Bella reckoned what she wanted most from Torr was his love.

And who could blame her?

What about Razul? What did he want? Power? But this whole plan smacked of more than that.

The others seemed to have run out of arguments; the room was mostly silent. Cade was talking to Phoebe quietly on the sofa, but he glanced up as though he could feel her gaze on him.

“Is this personal for Razul?” she asked.

“He hates Torr, has done so for over two thousand years.”

“But why?”

Cade studied her, head cocked to one side. “You don’t know?”

Irritation flickered at her nerve endings. “Why should I?”

“Did Torr never tell you how the two of you came to meet? In that first life.”

She frowned. “Just that he’d been sent to investigate some sort of anomaly. He told me you were part of a peace-keeping force.”

“We were. Anything unusual on the earth, we looked into. We’d been told there had been a lot of demon activity, and we came to investigate. Do you remember anyone new just before you first met Torr?”

“I remember a man, a stranger.” A shudder ran through her. “There was something not right about him. He came to my father. Offered him money for my hand, but I refused, and my father loved me enough to listen. But he was persistent, wouldn’t leave.”