And just like that, the bubble of expectation popped. A breath I didn’t know I’d been holding released.
“Both of you are crazy,” Reagan said, now watching him.
“In answer to your question”—Emery took down two glasses—“aside from a question/answer segment, nothing changes. Who would I tell? I’m in exile. I have no friends, other than Penny and a couple of shifters that want no business with politics, and apparently we have a foretelling pinned to our collective heads. Penny and I could use the help, quite frankly.”
“I still don’t understand what’s happening,” I admitted, feeling even more dunce-like and out of touch than usual. Could Emery really be saying Reagan was an heir to Lucifer?
Emery filled the glasses with water and headed back to the table, glancing at Reagan as he passed her. He sat down next to me. “We have an ace in the hole, that’s what’s happening. And if I’m reading the situation right, and if the rumors are true—which I had scarcely believed, because they were so far-fetched and told to me by gamblers and thieves in the Realm—if she helps us, we can’t let anyone get away to share the tale.” He placed a glass of water in front of me, looking at Reagan. “You really went down there?”
She poured herself a generous helping of whiskey. “Yes. And while this was probably inevitable, it’s not sitting well that another person is in on this secret.”
“Tell me.” Emery leaned forward. “Were there dragons?”
Her lips didn’t move, but her eyes glimmered. “I’m not telling. You’ll have to go down and see for yourself.”
“I can’t. I don’t have any demon in me.” He sipped his water, his eyes hungry.
Now a smile did break through. “Darius knows you well, I’ll give him that. What mischief-maker wouldn’t want to tour a place he isn’t supposed to go?” She shook her head with a sly smile. “You’d better be careful. He thinks you’re integral to getting his people in.”
“Me?” Surprise flitted through his eyes.
“You and your brother played that trick in the Realm, right? Pissed off the elves with your illusion?” He nodded slowly, pain sparking in his eyes at the mention of his brother. Reagan nodded. “Then yes, you. There’s a wall set up down there. That’s what keeps people out. Take down the wall, and in ye git.”
Emery blew out a breath and his gaze fell on me. His eyes softened. “Probably a challenge for a different life.”
“Yeah, right.” Reagan took another sip of her whiskey. “Point Penny in the right direction, tell her it’ll be fine, and let her bumble around until the whole place is in an uproar. She’ll do great.”
“I’ve gotten better,” I mumbled, shaking my head. “So…you have power from the underworld?”
“Yes,” she said. “A lot of it. And I can do things neither of you can even imagine.”
“And that is what you need to take to this fight,” my mother chimed in, amazingly silent up until this point. “The three of you will need to solve this problem. I see no other way. And I agree with Emery. Leave no witnesses. The cards are very clear on that. Also, when you talk about important secrets that mean your life and death, you should probably make sure the phone isn’t on speaker. Just for future reference. You don’t have to worry about me, but just for the sake of pointing out what should’ve been obvious, you’d do best to remember that.”
Reagan stared at the phone with a gaping mouth. My mother did have a point…
“So what is it we’re going to do?” I asked.
“We’re going to let them think they’re surrounding us, and then we’re going to show them who they are really messing with.”
An hour later, after coming up with a horribly loose plan that involved very little planning at all, something that Emery seemed to have no problem with, I said goodbye to my mother and decided to turn in for the night.
“Three is a crowd for a house this size,” Reagan said as we left the kitchen. “Extort Darius to get you a place of your own. Better yet, I just found a secret bank account of his. Let’s go on a spending spree and see how long it takes him to realize the money is gone.”
“I cannot believe…” Emery shook his head as he followed me into my room. I closed and locked the door for the first time since moving there. Nervousness hatched butterflies in my stomach. “She is truly one of a kind. Naturals are rare, but there are a few of us. She’s in a league of her own.”
“It doesn’t change anything major, though, right?” I asked.
He shrugged as I wrapped my arms around his middle, his eyes softening and his breath dusting my face. “Not your friendship, anyway. Or her annoyance of another person in her house.” He smiled. “As for our lives down the road, who’s to say? I thought my life would be over by now. And yet…” He bent to kiss me, running his lips across mine.
“I love you too,” I said against his lips, and my stomach flipped over. “It’s deep, it’s constant, and it will never go away. I can feel that as strongly as I feel the nature around me. It’s a certainty. I don’t know that I believe in fate, or soul mates, but…”
“I do.” His lips curved. “Or, I should say, I do now.” He went in for another kiss.
The pounding ache was back, deep in my middle, and then lower and lower. Heat unfurled within my body as our kiss deepened. I pulled him by the neck toward the bed before settling on it. He lay on top of me, the weight of his body pushing me into the soft mattress.
“Will you make love to me, Emery?” I asked, my voice filled with lust and longing. I couldn’t hide the quiver of doubt, though. The fear of what was to come. Of how this might change things.
“Are you sure?” he asked softly, his hips pushing forward, applying pressure where I needed it most.
My body responded eagerly, desperate and needy. A glorious fever broke across my skin, and suddenly I’d never been so sure of anything in my entire life.
“Yes.” It was spoken on a sigh, and he didn’t hold back any more. He pulled up the bottom of my shirt before tugging it over my head. My bra went next before he fastened his hot mouth on my budded nipple.
His fingers worked at my pants and I struggled with his belt, ripping it open before sliding his pants down. He yanked his shirt away and I marveled at his hard chest, corded with defined muscle. Power and strength in a gorgeous package.
Skin on skin, frenzied kissing. Then his frame went taut, signaling a struggle for control. No, I wouldn’t let him hold back now. I took hold of his face, kissing him more deeply, my heart pounding as hard as my core.
“No, wait,” he said, out of breath. “Wait.” He leaned his forehead against mine. “Are you still…” He licked his lips. “Will I be your first?”
“Yes.” I stroked the side of his cheek.
He shuddered softly. “I love you.” He captured my lips before backing off again, his body tensing. “I need to be completely in control for your first time. I’m scared I’m going to hurt you.”
“That’s kind of how it goes, isn’t it?” I said, my voice breathy. “You can’t really get around that.”
“I know, but…”
I felt his heat against me. Yearning made me reach out for him.
And then my mother’s obnoxious voice sounded in my ear.
“Hold on,” I said, and he practically jumped off me.
“It’s okay. We can wait. I know this is a huge decision—”
“Would you relax?” I laughed, letting out a little pent-up nervousness, and dug through my nightstand drawer. I checked the date on the foil packet before handing it over with a burning face. “I thought you’d be back sooner. But they last a while, so we’re good.”
His eyes, so deep, so full of emotion, watched me settle back onto the bed. He ran a hand up my thigh, over my belly, beside my breast, and up to my chin before lowering himself over me. Softly, he touched his lips to mine.
“You are a dream come true in a life full of nightmares.” His lips traced my jaw. “You’re my savior, Penny, and I’m honored you have chosen me. That you had enough faith in us—in me—to wait for me. I am completely undeserving, but I know how lucky I am to have found you.”
He drifted down my body then, stalling in various places before gliding his lips to my apex. I arched and gasped, relishing in the tremors the warm pressure of his mouth sent through my body. My knees drifted wider and I clutched at the pillow, soaking it in. My loud moan saw him headed back up, his kisses soft but urgent. Needy.
“Here we go,” he said under his breath, and I heard the foil crinkle.
His body was shaking, and it wasn’t from pent-up need.
I smiled as he took my hands and lifted them above my head, entwining our fingers. Crinkles of skin folded at the corners of his eyes.
When I smiled, he shuddered out a laugh. “I’m really nervous,” he said.
“I’m not.” My smile melted away as a strong, deep feeling took over me. “I’m not even remotely nervous. I’ve been waiting for this moment. For you. For this life. I was always going to end up here. My path was full of zigzags, but there’s no one else I could’ve ended up with. Or you. The proof is all around us.” I let my head fall to the side, and his gaze followed.