Page 14 of Embers in the Wind

Rupert looks up in the tree, flaps his wings, and then looks back down again. I glare up at the bird, who is usually a friend and has never been a foe. “What are you keeping from me, Rupert, and don’t you dare leave anything out or I will decide a bird’s blood is as good a source as any.”

His feathers ruffle but his eyes roll. “Drama, drama, and more drama. Ever since you came to the Forest. I warned you to go back. Do you listen to me? No, you do what you want when you want.”

Lord Corvinus clears his throat, and his eyes turn a dark bright red in the night. “You’ll mind your tongue, or you’ll find yourself missing one, you impotent old crow!”

Rupert tucks his head into a wing, as if to fend off the wrath of a lane of fire. “Tell her what she wants to know,” Corvinus bellows, causing Rupert to peek his eyes out once he realizes he’s not going to be barbequed by the heat of the lord’s firestormed eyes.

Rupert walks along the branch, shining in the light of the moon, getting some of his courage back now that he senses he has information of value to share. He looks to me and then to the vampire who is about ready to lose his patience.

My eyebrows raise. “I’d hurry this along if I were you, Rupert.”

Those red eyes turn to me, and I swallow hard, mesmerized by the fires glowing deep inside their depths, wondering if his eyes would look like this while plunged deep into my heat.

Rupert clears his throat. “Earth to Embry.”

My eyes roll. “I’m listening, speak.”

He flaps to a lower branch. “Your grandmother saved Lucas and many other vampires one fateful night many years ago, during a battle in North America, Chicago to be exact,” the black bird says. “She was a real warrior but paid for her alliances withthe pureblooded vampires and Overmaster Descallia’s vision through a bloody and painful death.”

My eyes mist thinking of my gramma so many years ago, the stories she would tell, her kindness and love for the vampires who she believed were fighting for what was right—an end to the unnecessary slaying of humans in order to drink their blood and kill their souls.

I blink, trying to hold the stinging of tears at bay. “I’ve heard the stories, but everyone has sheltered me from the truth about the way she actually died. I knew it was protecting the vampires. She used to tell me how much she loved them and their visions for the future. I would just lie on the hammock and listen to her talk about the vampires for hours. Gramma meant the world to me and her stories always endeared me to them.”

The vampire lord’s eyes have returned to black, but the magnetism of his gaze still heats my skin. Rupert says something but I barely hear what he says. It takes effort to pull myself away from the draw of the lord’s alluring gaze, which keeps pulling my mind from the task at hand. “What did you say, Rupert?”

He flaps his wings in a tizzy, squawking and ruffling his tail. When he’s calmed the drama he turns a beak to me. “If you had been listening to me young lady and not making googly eyes with the dark beast who you’ve dragged right into the middle of the fight between the vampires and witches, you would have heard me say you should have heeded my warning and gone back home.”

Lord Corvinus guffaws. “Finally, some words of wisdom from the dismal crow.”

“Raven!” Rupert screeches, but tucks his head back under his wing the minute Corvinus turns those eyes that have lit right up again onto him. “Enough, or I’ll burn you alive!”

Rupert glares at me from the protection of his wings. “Do you see what I mean now? Everything had settled down, therewere no rumblings of invasions of the land by the vampires, no mention of putting curses and magic hoaxes on the vampires for stepping foot on sacred land. This land all around us, the Mystic Forest. Now all the creatures are on high alert again.

“Even the shifters who at all costs avoided taking part in the battles between the vampires and witches, who hid out in the forest, and laid low trying to remain neutral are all stirred up. You my young lady have caused a hell of a mess.”

My mouth drops open. “What do you mean I’ve caused this? I’ve done nothing of the sort! I just wanted to find somewhere comforting, my gramma told me to come here if I ever needed safety or refuge for whatever reason, and I would appreciate you minding your tone! What do you know about my gramma that I do not know, Rupert? Tell me now!”

His beady eyes narrow and his plume of feathers ruffle in the wind as I gaze up at the insolent bird, awaiting the answer he seems unwilling to give. My eye catches a flitting of light just past the trees drawing my attention away from the matter at hand. “Come out,” I call, watching closely and stepping softly on the dried leaves to close the distance between us and the intruders.

“Embry,” Corvinus growls.

So intent am I on the dark flowing cape moving in and among the trees I barely realize how far I’ve hovered when Corvinus grabs me by the waist and lifts me into the air. “You’ve had quite enough exploring for one night.”

“Let me go, you big bossy beast!” I whisper hiss, certain that whoever is wiggling among the trees in the Mystic Forest is spying on us and may just have answers that I need.

“Quiet,” he whispers in my ear, holding me tightly against the hardness of his body, causing every neuron in mine to ignite with a powerful desire I have not felt in such a very long time.

His mouth grazes against the column of my neck from behind, finding my pulse with his fang. “This is a bad idea.”

He’s not wrong, yet the clawing ache every time he gets near is not going away, not without the ultimate consummation. He knows it, I know it, and it is just a matter of time. The only question is how long will we deny ourselves, and hold out for what? “I’m not looking for love. Did that, done that, vampire,” I whisper.

Chapter 13

Corvinus

Idon’t dare inhale as I turn and take her hand instead of ravaging her right here and now, consummating our need right in the forest with all the eyes of the creatures watching. Instead, I wrap her in my cape, holding her close as I transport us to a place only before yesterday, I would have never been. A sacred witches’ cavern with a vampiress whose heart belongs to someone else and crosses the line of propriety in my position.

And if she wanted to be left alone, that’s where I would leave it. But we both know this attraction, whether just physical or not, will not be sated with time alone. No, we both crave and desire the other, the feel of our skin, our breath and every little touch. It is an all-consuming drive on both of our parts to mate.

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