Through The Veil (14 page)

“Absolutely.” He stood with her, watching her with concern
for a moment. “I’ll meet you back here in five.”

“Okay,” she agreed. He seemed so unsure all of a sudden, she
wanted to reassure him. “I’m having a really good time, Marcus. Thanks for
bringing me here tonight.”

For the first time ever, he gave her a full smile that
encompassed his entire face. Her breath whooshed out of her lungs at the pure,
stunning beauty of it. Holy hell, this man was dangerously sexy.

She scampered away, needing some separation from him
immediately or else she was going to tackle him to the floor and ravish him in
the middle of the bar.

It took her a few minutes, but she did manage to compose
herself in the bathroom. But when she came out, she ran into
Roxi
, waiting for her in the hall.

Roxi
grabbed her by the shoulder
and pulled her back further into the dark recesses of the hall. For a moment,
Lori worried about her intent. But the girl was so tiny it wouldn’t be that
hard for Lori to overpower her. She wasn’t completely without skills.

They halted and
Roxi
stared at her
for a moment. “I don’t know you,” she began with an earnest, hard voice. “But
it’s been years since I’ve seen Marcus smile. I like that. We
all
like
that a lot. No one deserves happiness more than that poor man. When Audra died,
I wasn’t sure that part of him didn’t die with her.”

Audra.
His pain had a name now. Who was she—a
girlfriend or maybe more?

“He didn’t deserve what happened to him,”
Roxi
said. “Right now you’re doing good and he’s happy.
Don’t screw that up.” Her voice softened. “Please don’t screw that up.” For a
moment,
Roxi’s
eyes filled with tears and emotion
overwhelmed her before she drew herself up and pulled back on her tough-girl
act. “If you hurt him, I will hunt you down and make you pay.”

“Okay?” What could Lori say to that? She wasn’t offended.
Although, she did wonder what happened to Audra, but it wasn’t her place to
pry. It did make sense with the flashes of pain she saw in his eyes when he
thought no one watched him. His friends just wanted Marcus to be happy. They
didn’t know her, so they had no reason to trust her.

And the fact was, she wasn’t planning on staying. She had to
get the Others free or die trying. She planned to bring them back here, but
there was no guarantee that she would be successful. Suddenly, this didn’t seem
fair to that sweet man who had done nothing but try to protect her. She
couldn’t start anything with him, especially knowing what could happen in the
ES. She understood loss and how devastating it was. With the very real threat
of death or imprisonment on the horizon for her, she couldn’t hurt him anymore.
No, she needed to remain strong and avoid any more of his kisses.

* * *

Marcus hated the wariness that crept deeper into Lori’s gaze
with each day that passed. He could feel a wall coming up between them and he
didn’t like it. He hated to push her about her abilities, but they needed to
know more. Bethany wouldn’t wait much longer for her answers. Marcus had put
her off with the excuse that Lori needed to heal, but that wouldn’t work for
either one of them much longer.

The kiss at the pub had been incredible, but there hadn’t
been anything more than flirty banter since. In the last two days, they’d
settled into a comfortable routine that came from living together day in and
day out, but Lori maintained a careful distance. Marcus kept reminding himself
that no matter how connected he felt to her, they had truly only known each
other for a small amount of time. On one level he wanted to delve into so much
more with her, but he understood her reticence. Hell, he felt the same thing.
No matter how good things felt between them, opening up for more also opened
him up to the possibility of so much more hurt.
 

But for now, Malcolm had given the all-clear for Lori to go
down to the springs after he had dressed Lori’s wound with a waterproof
dressing.

They all had running water in their homes, but the village
had been built near a natural spring source and most of them enjoyed the luxury
of a soak there every couple of weeks.

Marcus thought a soak at the springs would help her relax
and re-energize after the ordeal of the last week. He hadn’t told her where
they were going, though, because he wanted to surprise her. This would be her
first trek outside the village.

They walked along a narrow dirt path flanked by the dense
foliage of the huge trees of the forest. She turned to him. “Where exactly did
you say we’re going?”

He smiled at her. “Hmm, I don’t think I ever said.”

“Not even a hint?”

“Nope. It’s not much farther. Maybe another quarter of a
mile.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t fly me there. Is there a reason
for that?”

“Yes, I wanted you to be surprised.”

She mumbled, “Well, that didn’t help at all.”

He chuckled low. “You aren’t very patient, are you?”

“Not particularly, no.”

She looked around the lush forest they were walking through.
“Does the fog ever lift here?”

“No, not since the Veil. The fog is ever-present, which has
created a really fertile environment as you can see. We may have to deal with
the fog all the time, but that means we don’t ever have to deal with snow or
cold temperatures anymore.”

“Seriously? It never snows here?”

“Not anymore.”

Suddenly they rounded the bend and he heard her intake of
breath even over the pounding water of the falls.

“Oh, wow.”

He leaned down to whisper in her ear, “Do you see now why I
wanted you to walk in?”

She nodded mutely as she took in the amazing beauty of the
natural falls. He loved this area and tried to see it from her point of view.
The falls fell about thirty feet into the pool below. Lush foliage and huge
trees surrounded the entire area. Rope swings hung off several of them. The
pool itself was massive with crystal clear water except around the base of the
falls where the mist boiled and roiled from the force of the falling water.

Marcus gently pushed her forward as he explained, “It’s a
double-fed pool. There’s a natural spring on this end.” He gestured to the end
farthest away from the waterfall. “There the water bubbles up from the spring
below, and it’s hot, so it heats the pool. If you sit in that area, it’s just
like taking a hot bath. Then the waterfall flows from the high mountain passes
so the water coming over the falls is colder. It creates a warm pool that’s
just the perfect temperature for swimming and bathing. Come on.”

He tugged her around an outcropping of rocks. “We even have
our own natural changing room. There are extra swimsuits in there in the
baskets or you can go
au natural
. No one has a problem with nudity at
the falls, so it’s entirely up to you.” He smiled salaciously at her. “But if
you’re asking for my vote…”

She pushed him out of the faux room with a sexy laugh,
“Yeah, I think I can figure out what your vote would be. Go. I’ll be out in a
moment with a suit on.”

He groaned. “Damn.”

While he waited for her, he unstrapped his sword. As a
Warrior, he rarely went without it resting at the center of his back, but he
didn’t want to risk his blade by subjecting it to more water than necessary.
With the humid environment they lived in, they had to work the metal constantly
to keep their blades at their highest quality. No reason to risk that here
because the falls were relatively safe.

He’d worn shorts, so now he just had to wait for Lori to
emerge.

And emerge she did. Blood surged to his groin. Damn. It was
probably a good thing that she’d decided against the naked thing or else she
would be getting an eyeful of his pounding erection. She wore one of the
traditional wraps that the women of their village wore. The gathered fabric
wrapped around her neck, crisscrossing across her breasts and then tying again
at her back. Even with the bandage on her side, she looked breathtaking. The
deep purple color of the fabric enhanced her violet eyes so they sparkled. A
short sarong-style skirt from the same fabric topped her long, incredibly sexy
legs. The entire package took his breath away and he couldn’t hide that from
her knowing eyes.

“You look beautiful.” Damn, when had his voice become so
low?

She smiled up at him shyly. “Thanks.”

“Are you ready to head in?”

“More than you can imagine.”

They waded into the water together. She groaned. “It’s so
warm and feels so good.”

When the water rose up to their chests, he drew her up
against him. He’d resisted touching her for as long as he could. Cupping the
back of her head he tilted it up so he could have full access to those luscious
lips. Her eyes glowed with desire as he lowered his face to hers. At the first
touch of their lips, she moaned. She melted into his touch and reached up to
thread her fingers through the back of his hair.

The buoyancy of the water aided his pursuit and his cock
settled against her mound, separated by only the fabric of their swimsuits. His
cock twitched at the idea and she pushed against him causing even more friction
against his needy erection. He groaned into her neck then lowered his lips to
the tops of her breasts just above the waterline. They were perfect. He tugged
at the fabric and uncovered a dusky nipple pebbled in arousal. Quickly, he
closed his lips around it. She arched her back, which just pushed at his
tortured cock even more.

He had to slow this down before he lost control like a randy
teenage boy. It had been so long since he’d experienced this kind of bliss. He
pulled the fabric up to cover those tempting globes and started maneuvering the
two of them toward the falls. She gazed up in confusion.

He chuckled. “Don’t worry sweetheart. Just slowing things
down a little bit. I don’t want to lose sight of why we came down here.” He
plucked the soap out of his pocket just as he dunked them both under the falls.

Lori squealed at the shock of the cold water. She shoved at
him playfully. “You did that on purpose.”

“Well, you did seem a little warm,” he teased back.

“And whose fault is that?”

“Oh, sweetheart, I’ll proudly claim that one.”

She smirked at him. “You are such a guy.”

“Well, I have to admit I’m glad you noticed.”

She glanced down through the clear water toward the bulge of
his burgeoning cock which hadn’t been affected by the cold water. “It would
have been hard to miss.”

He smiled seductively at her. Pulling her back under the
water, he started soaping her up. It was an erotic and tantalizing mission as
he worked around the scraps of fabric hiding the most secret parts of her body.

She took her turn soaping him, ratcheting his arousal to
even higher levels. Having her hands on him was heaven.

As she turned her attention to his wings, she asked, “Does
it bother your wings to have them wet?”

“No, not really, but they get really heavy and definitely
don’t work as well when they’re wet. I could never fly carrying you when
they’re soaked like they are now. Luckily, it doesn’t take that long for them
to dry out.” He lowered his head to his chest as she stroked over his wings.
Electricity zinged from the tips of his wings inward, settling into his groin.
She knew what this did to him and that made it even more arousing. His already
impossibly hard cock got even harder and threatened to pulse out of control. He
wanted to sink inside her core.

He tugged her around and yanked her up against his chest as
he plundered her mouth in an all-out assault. Her moan drove him on as he
untied the wet fabric from around her breasts. She climbed up his torso, her
own body seeking relief in his with just as much desperation as he felt.

She started nibbling at his neck below his ear when she
stiffened and released a blood curdling scream.

A blast of blinding pain arced along his back, just barely missing
his wings. A bellow sounded from behind him as he quickly turned, keeping his
body in front of Lori’s. Adrenaline surged helping to numb the pain as he faced
their attacker.