Seal of Destiny (31 page)

Kagan tensed beside her. Mira’s eyes filled with sudden tears.
Here it comes. Rejection.
It was all good fun until someone lost their unconditional immortality. Honestly, she couldn’t blame him. She would have sacrificed for him, yes. But then she didn’t have as much to lose. Best not to put off the inevitable. She turned and looked up at Kagan.

“It’s all right, Kagan. I understand if you don’t want to do this. We hardly know each other, and you said you love me, but eternity is a long time and — ” Her words were cut off by his kiss.

“
Piccola
, I knew from the first moment I wanted to spend all of my days with you.” She rolled her eyes and shot him a “Yeah, right” stare. He shrugged and quirked his lips. “Okay, maybe the second moment. Either way, I can’t imagine my life without you.” He grabbed the fruit from Divinity. “I love you and pledge my eternity and my heart to you.”

He bit off half and extended the rest to her. With trembling fingers, Mira took her portion. “I love you too, Kagan. I love how you stand up for me and stand up to me. I love how you protect me even when I can protect myself. Most of all, I love how you know everything about me and still want to be with me. I love you and pledge my eternity and my heart to you.”

Mira devoured the fruit with her eyes clamped shut. After several minutes, she peeked out at Divinity and frowned. “I don’t feel any different. Maybe it didn’t work.”

“Oh, the binding worked,
mio tesoro
.” Kagan said, smiling.

A rush of electricity shot through her belly. Mira’s eyes widened, and Kagan placed his hand on her lower abdomen. “
Si, piccola
?”

Mira winked at him. “And here I thought the tingle was from being with you.”

“I am Scion,
ti amo
.”

She punched his arm and his purely macho smirk crumpled into a grin. Kagan drew Mira close and kissed her deeply. This time, something joined the rush of heat flooding Mira’s system. Something beyond lust, beyond love. Home. She’d found her home.

• • •

Divinity withdrew as the couple grew more amorous, satisfied to leave them in privacy. She wandered out to the front porch and discovered Xander sprawled on the steps. The chaos of the evening had lifted with Mira’s resurrection, but the air still held a slight chill. She grabbed a sweater off a peg by the door before exiting.

Xander glanced up when she approached and fumbled in his coat, pulling out the twin amulets. “I believe you’ll want to secure these in the vault.”

Divinity slipped them into the pocket of her cardigan.

“What happened?” Xander reclined on his elbows while she leaned against the railing.

“They chose the binding ritual.”

Xander frowned. “Are you sure that’s wise?”

“Are you questioning me, Scion?” Divinity quirked a brow in his direction, her gaze narrowed.

“No. Only surprised a forever match could have formed so fast.”

“When two souls are destined, time is not a factor. You of all people should understand.”

He stood and brushed off his jeans. “I thought I did. Now, I’m not so sure.”

Divinity smiled at his pragmatic tone. “Xander, you have no idea what the future holds.”

• • •

The next day, Zoe peered into the opulent marble guest room and stifled a gasp. It looked like a friggin’
GQ
photo shoot. The Scion milled about, waiting for the ceremony to begin. She’d never seen them looking better — or, in Chago’s case, more uncomfortable. A giggle escaped before she could halt it.

Chago tugged continuously on his black bowtie, muttering something about a hangman’s noose. Barron and Sloane, the two newest Scion — and polar opposites — took turns in front of the full-length mirrors. Barron’s loud comments regarding the color of the tuxedo accentuating his tan and gleaming white teeth were rivaled only by Sloane bemoaning the lack of custom tailoring and shoddy stitching along with the mismatched cufflinks and studs. Luther, the Scions’ middle child and expert profiler, had given up on the fiasco and rested in the corner with his ever-present fedora pulled low over his eyes. Wyck and Xander sat against the far wall, ignoring the cacophony of bitching.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think I was in the women’s dressing room,” Wyck said, his thumbs tapping away on his smartphone. Xander snorted in agreement.

Zoe confirmed the time on her watch. Noon. She pushed the door all the way open and announced they were ready. She fingered the frothy skirt of her gown, the pale lilac silk sliding through her fingers like water. Mira had helped her with the design, and Divinity had whipped the creation into being. Yeah, their new friends were way cool.

The warriors filed past her and out into the marble foyer, now decorated with dozens of white lilies and roses for the occasion. A few mutters of “about damn time” could be heard as they passed, and Zoe lowered her head to stifle another giggle.

A clearing throat brought her eyes up. Xander’s quicksilver gaze froze her heart, mid-beat. He placed a hand on the door beside her and leaned in. “Ladies first.”

“Thank you.” Her words clumped together and tumbled out in a less-than-attractive mumble. Zoe smiled past the heat burning her cheeks and hustled into the foyer, staying clear of Xander’s warmth behind her.

• • •

Kagan shuffled at the end of the aisle in front of Michael, the archangel who’d first discovered Mira alive and whom the couple had chosen to lead the rites.
Dai!
He hadn’t been this nervous when facing down Constantine’s hordes.

Michael gazed at Kagan’s fidgeting with cool disdain. “Settle down, Scion. This is serious business.”

“
Si
, you’re right.” He drew in a deep breath and straightened his tuxedo jacket for the umpteenth time before peering down the long hallway toward a set of double doors. “I’m ready.”

Xander took his place beside Kagan as best man and clapped him on the shoulder. “Congratulations, my friend.”

Harps began to play. Zoe started the procession. She was lovely in her pastel purple gown, her dark hair pinned up and her eyes sparkling. He slid a glance at Xander and chuckled at his commander’s star-struck expression. “Uh, Xan. You might want to wipe the drool off your chin before she gets here.”

• • •

The assembled heavenly host rose to face her as she walked down the aisle. Mira’s long veil covered everything in a halo of white. She neared the altar and smiled when the jolt of Kagan’s nearness tingled through her tummy. From the way he fidgeted, she suspected he was dying to burn off his nervous energy. She climbed the few stairs to reach her groom, and Zoe helped her lift the veil.

Mira turned to face Kagan with a smile. A year ago — hell, a month ago — she’d never have dreamed she would have been standing here today, marrying the man she loved. He took her hand in his, and his eyes glowed with warmth. She perused his tuxedo-clad form, admiring how the expensive material clung to his muscled frame and the dark hue contrasted with his midnight-blue gaze. The smoldering stare he shot her made her toes curl in her white satin pumps.

The ceremony blurred by. Between remembering what she was supposed to say and do and fighting the urge to jump her husband, Mira had her hands more than full. When Michael spoke the famous final words, “You may now kiss the bride,” Mira couldn’t believe the proceedings were over so fast.

Caution tossed to the wind, Mira grinned at Kagan and was delighted to see the tension surrounding him dissolve. He linked his fingers with hers and they faced Michael together. Tears of joy welled in Mira’s eyes. The scent of flowers filled the air, and Kagan’s warmth permeated her being. At last, she was safe. Together, they would find sanctuary.

Chicago — One month later

Music blared through the large speakers surrounding the open dance floor. Mira smiled at her husband from behind the bar, deep in conversation with Luther about the proper mixing of a Brain Hemorrhage. Luther had been coerced into bartending for their belated reception. After buying and refurbishing The G Spot, she and Kagan had been busy getting the place ready to reopen as a karaoke bar. Turns out the Scion loved karaoke. According to Kagan, all the Otherworlders did. He’d been right. Business was booming.

She demonstrated, holding up bottles of peach schnapps and Irish cream and pouring them into the glass together to achieve the exact brain tissue effect. Luther wrinkled his nose. She added a final splash of grenadine for bloody gruesomeness and held up her creation. “See? It’s spectacular. Our best seller.”

“Disgusting is more like it. People actually order these?” Luther’s dazzling, tiger-gold eyes filled with horror as Mira tossed the drink back in one swallow.

“Yummy!” She grinned, plunking the empty glass down on the bar. “Now where’s that damn husband of mine? I want to boogie!”

• • •

Zoe giggled as Mira stumbled past her table and gave her a thumbs up. She watched the couples twirl in time to the music. Chago got conned into dancing with one of the light bearers. The woman kept insisting he looked exactly like the guy in those hot underwear ads. To shut her up, he agreed to a dance.

Wyck and Xander were picking their way through the buffet table opposite her. If she concentrated, she could catch Wyck’s stray thoughts about the latest round of hacker attacks sweeping the Internet. Xander glanced up and caught her eye; his gaze held a certain twinkle, like he knew what she was doing. Zoe looked away and frowned, tuning out the internal dialogue around her by downing the rest of her wine. She lowered her glass in time to see Divinity join the warriors at the food table.

• • •

“At least the First Seal is safe,” Xander’s attention remained focused on Zoe as he spoke.

“For now. There are six more to guard,” Wyck said, digging into his third shrimp cocktail, a dollop of sauce running down his chin.

Divinity smiled. “Having a good time, boys?”

Wyck mumbled something incoherent around a mouthful of food and Xander smacked him across the back of the head. Divinity turned with her small plate of goodies and spotted Chago’s awkward slow-dance moves. She grimaced. “Too bad I don’t have a plant to cure that.”

Xander tossed his trash and grabbed a drink off a passing tray. “What’s next on the agenda?”

Divinity shrugged and nibbled her meal. “Wyck’s right. Six more Seals have been activated.” She gestured to the party around them. “If this case is any indication, a few of those Seals might become permanent members of the family.”

Xander followed the path of her gaze to Chago and sighed. Chago shot him a look filled with pure panic. He shook his head and finished his champagne then glanced over at Zoe again and caught her stare before she turned away.
Now or not at all.
“Excuse me.”

He placed his empty glass on the buffet table and strode across the room, halting in front of Zoe. “C’mon, let’s dance.”

• • •

The next song signaled the wedding couple’s first dance, and everyone gathered around to watch as the couple symbolically began their life together as man and wife. Kagan led a tipsy Mira to the floor and cuddled her into his arms.
Merda
! Eternity would never be long enough with her. He trailed kisses over her flushed face and snuggled closer.

They swayed to the music while the smooth crooner sang about how lovely his lady looked tonight. Kagan nuzzled the side of her neck. His lovely wife purred and he grinned. “Happy,
piccola
?”

Mira smiled. “Beyond happy, love.”

A Midwestern native, Traci Douglass is the author of paranormal and contemporary romances with a sly, urban edge — including her Seven Seals Series. Her stories feature gorgeous alpha-male heroes rife with dark humor, quick wits and major attitudes; smart, independent heroines who always give as good as they get; and scrumptiously evil villains bent — more often than not — on world destruction. She enjoys weaving ancient curses and mythology, modern science and old religion, and great dialogue together to build red-hot, sizzling chemistry between her main characters.

A storyteller since childhood, she began putting her tales on paper in 2011 and made the decision to pursue a full-time writing career in January 2012. Her life has now become a rollercoaster crash course in achieving your dreams. She is an unrepentant lover of chocolate, quotes, and animals, and is known to her friends as a more than occasional smartass.

For more information and her latest projects, please check out her website:

www.tracidouglass.net

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It was half-past two according to the fourth hand of the scuffed gold watch that otherwise read ten minutes to the hour of six. It lay in the grass just inches from Michaela’s now bare face. Aunt Hazel would have iced murder for this unsanctioned breach of rule number two, as if it were Michaela’s fault an extended nail from an old school bench had targeted her bag for a savage attack.

The gold gleam had captured her eye, while something else captured her foot. Michaela’s landing was implemented with practiced expertise. The contents of her arms spewed everywhere. She had long ago learned that life and limb were much dearer than physical possessions and her instinctual habit was to relinquish whatever she was holding — this time a weighty stack of school books, notebooks, pencils, papers, chewing gum, and a torn book bag — and brace herself for the inevitable. Punctured hands healed faster than broken limbs.

She landed on a concrete path that wound through four acres of trees surrounded by high fencing toward her aunt Hazel’s vine-smothered house.

Michaela unburied herself, smeared a crimson dotted hand in the grass, and reached for the timepiece, the face of which had popped open.