September Moon (37 page)

“What does that mean?” My head spun, and I hopped off the headstone, hoping the ground would feel sturdier. It didn’t.

“It means he won’t stand by while you destroy his chance. He will try to stop you. Bring backup and pray it’s enough. Now,” Falon held out both hands to me. “Shall we?”

I set the empty glass on the headstone and placed my hands in his. Trembling, I looked to Arys for support. He drew near, watching Falon intently.

“You better not be fucking us over,” he warned the fallen angel.

Falon ignored him, staring at me instead. “Here comes the really shitty part. Are you aware that some demons seal deals with a kiss?”

My insides shriveled. “Can’t we just shake hands?”

“Don’t look so disgusted. You’re the one who rubbed your ass all over my cock, remember?” Falon wore a mask of distaste, as if he felt ill. “I have to give it to you the way it was given to me. Just be grateful it’s only a kiss. Demons have been known to seal a deal with much more.”

“I’m not keen on your use of the word deal.” Arys shifted to stand closer so that he was almost shoving between us.

Falon rolled his eyes in exasperation. “It is a deal. I’m giving and she’s accepting. That’s just the way things work. So either back off and let this happen, or I’ll just be on my way.”

I was petrified. The reality that I would die the following night hadn’t quite settled in, yet I was shaking like a frightened child.

My hands grew sweaty in Falon’s, and I tried to look apologetic. “Let’s get this over with before I change my mind.”

I don’t think Falon wanted me to do that, despite his threat to leave. He never gave me another opportunity to back out.

Sliding his fingers between mine, he held tight. I gasped as the power flowed between us, a steady connection of his to mine. It was overwhelming and heavy, making it hard to breathe. I was ready for the kiss when he pressed his lips to mine but entirely unprepared for the jolt that came with it. Our hands pulsed where our palms touched. Dizzy from the sudden rush, I followed his lead as Falon deepened the kiss. His mouth was warm and inviting as he flicked his tongue against mine.

His technique was assertive without being aggressive. Gentle while also firm, Falon’s kiss revealed to me a tenderness I never would have expected from him. It was a far cry from the hungry way he’d kissed me in Vegas, though that had been an entirely different scenario.

Power shifted between us as he pushed a dark, heavy energy into me. My sense of self-preservation screamed to break off the connection. Only the seething need to give Shya a little payback allowed me to accept it. For a moment I couldn’t breathe as the force poured inside me. It was suffocating, making me lightheaded, though that could have been the booze. This really hadn’t been the best decision to make under the influence.

The black-tainted energy took hold, winding itself around my essence, making itself a part of me. It was mine now, no longer contained by Falon. He swept my mouth once more with his tongue before breaking off the kiss. I opened my eyes to find him staring at me with a bizarre mix of intrigue and horror.

“If I didn’t know better, Falon, I’d say you enjoyed that,” Arys observed with a glare vicious enough to wilt flowers.

“Yeah, well you do know better.” With a toss of his fair hair, Falon stepped back and scowled at me. “Tomorrow night. Midnight. That’s when the spirit realm will be most active. Don’t put it off. Otherwise it may kill you.”

“Right, my pathetic mortal self can’t take it. I know the drill.” Shaky and feeling faint, I leaned back against the headstone, knocking the empty glass atop it into the grass.

Falon pinned Arys with a stern look. “Don’t fuck this up. You have to make sure this happens. Do whatever you can to be ready for Shya when he gets there.”

“Will you be there?”

Arys’s question went unanswered. Falon had vanished without another word.

“Good pep talk,” I muttered.

We stood there in silence for a moment, each of us lost in our own thoughts. I was going to die tomorrow night. It didn’t feel real. I kept waiting for the earth shattering terror to strike. Other than the initial fear, I just felt…relieved. Soon the agony of the wait would be over.

“Arys? Are you all right?”

He stood stiffly, staring at the rows of headstones. I didn’t think he was really seeing them though. I laid a hand on his arm, and he turned suddenly, sweeping me into his embrace. For a long time he just held me. His confusion and pain wrapped around me like a blanket. It echoed inside me as if it were my own. Perhaps it was.

“I can’t believe it’s happening,” he whispered. “I’d started to think it wouldn’t.”

“Me too. Wishful thinking. Once it’s over, we won’t have it hanging over our heads anymore. It could be a good thing.” My words were true, though my tone lacked conviction. I wanted to believe it.

“Everything will change.” There was such tension in Arys, as if he might burst at any moment.

I threw my arms around his neck and stroked a hand through his hair. “Not everything. This won’t change. Me and you, like this.”

“You don’t know that.”

I forced him to meet my gaze. He was the strong one in the face of insanity, and I needed him to remember that. “I do. And so do you. You said it yourself. We are for always. Nothing can change that.”

After a few minutes of consideration, Arys kissed my forehead and said, “You’re right. It won’t change us, but it will change you. I just wish it didn’t have to be that way.”

Though we didn’t discuss it often, I knew that Arys carried a lot of guilt. He had blood bonded me almost a year ago, guaranteeing that I would rise as a vampire upon my mortal death. He’d known that it would tip the balance between light and dark that we shared.

“It doesn’t matter. We will still have the light when we need it most. Tomorrow night when we destroy Shya’s chance at greater power. It will be worth it.”

Staying strong was what mattered now. Of course I might not be quite so confident when the liquor wore off.

“So what now? Do we tell Shaz?”

“No. We don’t tell anyone. Not tonight.” I turned to find the glass that had fallen, and the world seemed to turn with me. Somehow I righted myself without doing a head dive. “We go back to the party and have a good time. No, better than that. We have a fucking kick ass time. If it’s my last mortal night on earth, then I want to enjoy it.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

The party was raging when we returned to the yard. Abandoned clothing littered the ground, a sure sign that there were wolves roaming the night. I was tempted to join them, but I knew that if I did I might never come back. So I stayed with Arys who stuck to my side like glue.

Shaz and Coby were having a loud, drunken discussion about cars. Apparently Shaz was trading his in and trying to decide if he wanted a truck or SUV. Kylarai and Jez had gone to run with the others, and Kale had left as he’d come, stealthy and unseen.

Those who remained were doing a great job of polishing off what was left of the booze. I exchanged my glass for a bottle instead. My last night with my favorite human vice called for it.

It was incredibly difficult to keep my thoughts from turning dark and negative. Only when I’d filled my blood with whiskey did the thoughts finally become too muddled to make sense.

We joined Shaz and Coby at the picnic table on the patio, successfully avoiding their questions about Falon by redirecting the conversation. I kicked off my heels, glad to be rid of the torturous things. I groaned and rubbed a foot, vowing to never wear such torture devices again. Too bad. They sure were pretty.

Shaz grasped my foot and began to massage the sore arch. He flashed me a sly grin, and his touch became unbearably sensual. Oh yeah, if I was going to die, I was going to do my damndest to die happy.

Leaning against Arys, I stretched out on the bench between them. Naughty desires formed as Shaz ran a hand up my calf. With a brow raised flirtatiously and a teasing smile, I encouraged him. My gaze fell to the pulse beating steadily in this throat. I wanted much more than that though.

“The new Jeep Cherokee is supposed to be pretty bad ass,” Coby was saying. His eyes were bloodshot, and the scent of beer clung to him. He was joyful though, and I savored it, knowing I could face the following night when those I loved were happy and safe.

“I like the new Dodge Ram, but I’m not sure I need a truck that big,” Shaz replied, playing with the amulet tied around my ankle.

“Of course you do.”

Arys had little to contribute to the conversation. Being stone cold sober had him trapped in reality. I had to put a stop to that.

I ran a hand along the inside of his thigh, pausing when I felt him tense up. With a gentle push of power, I touched him metaphysically, drawing his gaze to me. I gave him my best innocent expression, knowing I failed miserably when he grinned.

I giggled when Shaz tickled the bottom of my foot. Clapping a hand over my mouth to stop the girlish sound, I protested when he didn’t stop.

“I suppose I’d better find my wife. We have a flight to catch in six hours,” Coby announced, standing up and knocking over his beer bottle in the process. Beer soaked the table, running in a steady stream until it spilled over the side in a bubbly waterfall.

“Maybe you better let her find you,” I suggested, finding it hilarious when he had a hard time stepping over the attached bench.

“Holy crap,” Coby muttered, rubbing a hand over the stubble lining his jaw. “I can’t believe I’m married. It feels surreal.”

Mumbling to himself, he wandered over to one of the lounge chairs on the other side of the patio and passed out face down. I erupted into more annoying drunk-girl giggles and searched for a phone so I could take a picture.

Forgetting that I’d left my phone in the house, I settled for swiping Shaz’s. After taking several out of focus photos, I accepted defeat. The noise had started to die down as people either became wolf or passed out.

“Shall we take this party upstairs?” Shaz asked, a hunger in his eyes that I knew I might never see again.

What if he didn’t want me after it was all said and done?

Arys looked to me for a response. It had been quite some time since the three of us had shared a bed. The past few months had been filled with drama, pain, and poor choices. Looking at them both, I was enticed by the prospect of being nestled between them again as we fed our illicit hungers.

“Yeah,” I said, clutching the whiskey bottle as if it were my lifeline. After one last swig from the bottle, I thunked it down on the table. “Let’s go upstairs.”

I was far too drunk to be nervous. Had I been sober, I would still have eagerly taken them both to my bed. I was a dead wolf walking. I needed to feel alive while I still could.

Arys was quiet, lost in thought. He hung back, ensuring nobody took a drunken fall down the stairs. When he stepped into the bedroom and closed the door, I clasped his hand in mine, sighing at the familiar spark that leaped between us.

‘No worries. No thoughts. Just here and now.’ I pushed the thought to him, willing him to be in this moment with me rather than already living in tomorrow.

I didn’t give him a chance to stay lost in the future. Slowly I began to unlace my dress. His midnight-blue gaze was locked on me as I disrobed. Satisfaction thrilled through me when his desire ignited.

Shaz approached from behind, slipping his arms around my waist. His mouth was hot against the back of my neck. I reached to touch the side of his face, but my eyes were on Arys. With the other hand, I beckoned him to me.

I let the dress fall to my feet where it created a big pink puddle of soft material. Standing there in my underwear, I let the succubus force inside me spill forth to capture both men in my spell.

Arys shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it on top of my dresser beside the TV. For a moment he stood stiff, as if reluctant to touch me. Then he came to me and captured my lips in a kiss that conveyed everything he was feeling.

The force of his emotion washed over me. Fear, worry, relief, love. All of these things and more crashed through him, in turn crashing through me. My gasp was the only sound. The intensity of Arys’s emotions promised that he would burn hot in every way. And I couldn’t wait.

The sensation of Shaz’s lips and tongue on the back of my shoulder was rivaled only by Arys’s tender kiss. My vampire kissed a path down the side of my neck while my wolf’s warm hands slid along my spine, causing me to tremble.

Shaz hooked a few fingers in my skimpy black underwear and dragged them down my legs. I stepped out of the pile of clothing and climbed onto the bed.

“Your turn,” I instructed them both with a mischievous wink.

The amount of liquor racing through Shaz’s veins was evident when he was first to disrobe entirely. Arys hung back, taking his sweet time, watching Shaz crawl atop me on the bed and adorn my body with kisses. His platinum hair was feather soft in my hands. I hoped that I would never forget the way it felt. The touch of his tongue on my midriff got my pulse pounding. The atmosphere grew thick with arousal. It sated one hunger as it encouraged more.

“Arys.” I said his name as if it were a plea and a curse, because it often was.

For a moment I suspected that perhaps he was afraid he would hurt me. But he peeled off his clothing one item at a time, allowing me a great view of his hard, naked body. He approached the bed, and I reached for him, trailing my fingers over his firm stomach. Down lower, I wrapped my hand around the smooth length of him. His eyes closed, and he groaned.

Shaz rolled over to the inside of the bed, giving Arys the outside. They put me between them, where I so desperately wanted to be. There was nothing better than being pressed between the gorgeous men on either side of me. I sought to take in all they were giving.

There was a desperation in Arys’s touch that made my heart bleed for him. He held me like I might disappear if he dared to let go.

We fell all over each other. Shaz sought out the warmth between my legs and stroked me into a frenzy. Teasing, bringing me ever closer to the edge, he took command of my pleasure. Two fingers slipped inside me, forcing me to cry out. I needed so much more than that.