Dark Legends, page 57
Then he was kissing me.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I rose on my tiptoes to meet him, kissing him back with a hunger that surprised me. But sharing a kiss so wholeheartedly with Zane probably wasn’t wise. Not for my heart. I gave into the urge to touch him, binding my arms around his neck, straining toward not away like a smart girl.
He crushed me close, his tongue sweeping over mine. Full body contact sent my senses into chaotic hyperdrive.
His breathing choppy, he pulled back slightly. “Open your eyes, Piper. I want to see you melt when I touch you.”
My lashes fluttered open. The intensity I saw in him mirrored my own. There was something between Zane and me that I couldn’t explain, so much more than a girl crush. His hands roamed down my sides and over my hips, but when his fingers flirted with the top of my shorts, grazing my skin, I could barely stand.
His mouth slanted over mine, and I caught his lower lip as I started to pull away. He took the kiss deeper, igniting those delicious sensations that made my body come alive. A heady blend of emotions warred inside me, and I kept telling myself this was crazy even as I slid my hands to his chest. When his fingers inched under my shirt, every cell in my body warmed.
“I’ve never wanted anything as much as I want you,” he growled against my lips, not all too happy.
My blood pressure went bananas. It couldn’t possibly be healthy, but I doubted the way Zane kissed was healthy for any female.
Sweet mercy. Did they give out master’s degrees for perfecting the kiss?
Things got a little heated. One minute I was on my feet, and the next we were on the bed. He pulled me into his lap. Or maybe I climbed there. It didn’t matter how. What mattered was I was there, in his bed, and it was exactly where I wanted to be. Maybe if I was honest with myself, it was where I’d wanted to be from the moment I’d laid eyes on him.
The weight of his body pressed into the curves of mine. His chest rose as he drank me in. “This doesn’t make sense.” His hand came up, and he rubbed the pad of his thumb lightly over the bottom of my lip. “I shouldn’t be attracted to you.”
Mood killer. I pushed at his chest. Hard. “Thanks a lot, douchebag.”
He let me go, staring at me with a frown. “That’s not what I meant, Piper. Obviously, I’m attracted to you. I can’t keep my hands off you. What I mean is, I shouldn’t have feelings for you.”
As if that was better. “But you do have feelings for me?” I asked, just to be clear before I gave him a black eye. I knew when a guy wanted me, and Zane wanted the heck out of me. My body was still tingling from his touch.
I was greeted with silence.
My response was a dirty look. “I’ll take that as a yes. Why is it so hard to admit?”
Zane straightened up, dragging his fingers through his already tousled hair. “Because it will only hurt us both, and the last thing I want to ever do is hurt you, Piper.”
Well, shit. When he said it like that, it alleviated some of the sting. I leaned into him, pressing my lips softly to his.
He framed his fingertips around my face. “This can’t work between us,” he said.
It felt like I just had a bucket of ice water dumped on my head. “You sure know how to make a girl feel special.” Disentangling our limbs, I crawled off him.
I got to the edge of the bed, before his hand covered around my wrist. “Just wait.”
I spun around. “What? You want to dog on me some more?”
A muscle popped at his jaw. “I’m not trying to hurt you.”
“Don’t worry. You didn’t.”
He looked at me straight on, a tiny glint in his eyes. “You can’t lie to me, remember. I can sense what your feeling.”
“This sucks.” Actually, sucks didn’t even cover it.
“It’s not that I don’t want you, Piper, because trust me I do,” he added.
“Then what’s the problem?” I protested.
“It’s complicated.”
I was officially done. If he couldn’t give me a straight answer, then he didn’t deserve the time of day. I started to get up.
“Okay. Fine. But promise you’ll listen. To all of it,” he added, driving home the point that I wasn’t to leave until he said everything he had to say.
I paused in the center of his room, contemplating. He’d better not make me regret this. Arms folded, I turned around. “You’ve got five minutes.”
Zane leaned back, his head resting against the plush silver headboard. “There has been a lot of tension building between reapers, talks of a change in management…”
This I had already suspected after talking with Rose. He was telling me nothing I hadn’t already figured out on my own, and I didn’t understand how disobedient reapers had anything to do with us locking lips, but I’d promised to be patient.
“So your grandma and my father devised a plan. Nothing good ever happens when the two most powerful reapers get together, but at that time it was of little concern to me. That was before I knew you, before I knew what you were to me. If I had known…” A fire leapt into his blue eyes, scalding. “I would have fought for you.”
My heart backflipped. The possessiveness and fierceness in his voice made me shiver.
Several second passed as our eyes locked, and then he said, “I need you to know that there wouldn’t have been a reaper or human alive that could have stood between us.”
Sweet Mary mother of Joseph.
When he said stuff like that, I all but liquefied at his feet. Still, I was as confused as ever. Hearing him tell me he would have gone to the ends of the earth to be with me only made me want him that much more. I was in serious jeopardy of falling head over heels in love with Zane.
Fists clenched, he closed his eyes briefly. “They decided the best way to enforce the continued peace between sectors was to join our families.”
My jaw hit the floor. “Let me take a shot in the dark. By join, you’re referring to Zander and me?”
His eyes flashed. “Afraid so, Princess. You’re betrothed to my brother, a deal signed and sealed by Death and bound by blood.”
Ew. Why did everything supernatural have to be written in blood?
Me? Engaged to Zander? The hell I was. No one, I repeat, no one decided who I was going to marry but me. I didn’t care if it had the stamp of approval from the freaking Pope.
I shook my head, dumbfounded. “You can’t be serious.”
Regret shone in his expression. “You have no idea how much I wish I weren’t. It’s an unbreakable treaty. On your eighteenth birthday, you are to wed Zander, thus giving you the power and protection you need to govern the rebel sectors. With our families combined, there isn’t a sector or a reaper that would dare challenge our authority. My father stands behind your grandmother, but a marriage between Ravens and Crows will solidify our place without posing a threat to Earth.” His little speech was monotone, emotionless.
I had a very different reaction. “I can’t believe this. I’m not doing it. She can’t make me marry him.” I was barely out of high school, and Rose was ready to make me some guy’s wife. A guy I barely knew. Zander was nice enough, but that didn’t mean I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. It would be like marrying my brother. There was no spark between us, not like the fireworks that went off when Zane and I were in close proximity.
He sat still on the bed, his knees bent. “Someone is trying to overturn the pecking order, which starts with taking out the Raven line. Your family is the weakest in numbers. There are only you and Rose left. The other sectors have countless. Rose is extraordinarily powerful, but even she can’t fight off both the Hawks and the Sparrows singlehandedly. It would be a suicide mission. And don’t take my head off for saying this, but you are no help to her. Not as you are. You weren’t raised as a reaper, and haven’t even begun to explore the power that resides inside you, Piper. We have all been trained, either from birth or the day we were turned.”
It sounded like Zane was trying to convince me that marrying Zander was the right thing to do. That he was onboard with me being with his brother. “So, you’re basically telling me I’m useless and I should go along with this archaic plan.”
“For now.”
I leaned all my weight on one foot. “What does that mean?”
“Only you can change your lack of skills. Train. Learn to be a reaper, to protect yourself. Gain power from souls. You were born to be a leader. With someone as spunky as you, there has to be a fighter inside you. I feel it from your soul, the need to kick some ass. It’s there. You only need to learn to tap into it. But, until then, the only way for you to survive is under the protection of a really stellar reaper. Rose chose Zander. She had hoped your souls would align.”
“Souls? Zander’s and mine?” I made a face. I didn’t want to soul link with Zander. “But I thought our souls were a perfect match?”
He gave a sour laugh. “That’s the kicker, Princess. Our souls are mates. They are more than a perfect match. They resonate.”
Frustration rippled through me. “Then why can’t it be you?” Crap. Did that just come out of my mouth? Did I more or less just suggest that Zane marry me?
For freak’s sake, what was wrong with me?
I wanted to find the nearest hole and bury myself.
“It can’t be undone. The agreement goes beyond this realm, Piper. The best I can do is train you.”
“Oh, that’s rich.” I didn’t want a trainer. “What makes you think I would want you to help me?”
“Because I’m—”
“A prick,” I supplied.
“I was going to say awesome,” he mused.
“Your five minutes are up.” I walked out the front door, floating on anger and humming with the knowledge that Zane wanted me, but considered me off-limits.
Someone was going to pay. And I knew just who was going to be the lucky recipient of the storm churning inside me.
I walked aimlessly around town. If I had gone straight to the manor and confronted Rose, I would have killed her. Or at least tried and probably gotten myself killed in the process. How could she do such a thing to me? Her own granddaughter? We had never even met until this summer, and here she was dictating my life—my future.
Rose had another thing coming if she thought I was going to do her bidding.
I was no one’s puppet.
“Piper!”
I jumped at the sound of Aspyn’s voice. “God, are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
I had almost forgotten how stunning Aspyn was. She beamed at me, not in the least apologetic for scaring the piss out of me. “I was just going to get my nails done. Keep me company. You look like you could use it.”
I glanced down at my chipped polish that had been lingering on there for about two weeks. “Why the hell not.” It would give me time to cool off before I went commando on Rose’s wrinkly butt.
The salon was inside a cute little house that had been remodeled for a business. We had no sooner wiggled into the leather chairs when Aspyn, asked, “So, is he a good kisser?”
I held out my hand to the lady on the other side of the small table. She was rocking big 80s’ hair and snapping her gum. Keeping my face as neutral as possible, I wracked my brain trying to figure out whom she was talking about. “Who? Zander? I wouldn’t know.”
A sly look crossed Aspyn’s pretty face. “I was talking about Zane.”
My stomach did a funny dipping thing.
She pressed back into her chair, one hand soaking in a glass dish with whatever amazing stuff they put in there. “Tell me the rumors aren’t just rumors.”
It was no surprise that gossip swirled around Zane’s lips. “How did you know we kissed?”
“Small towns talk. And everyone is buzzing about you.”
It had been such a long time since I had gotten a manicure I’d forgotten how boring it was. Aspyn’s lively chatter kept my mind off the lady grinding at my nails. “Um.” I squirmed in my chair, feeling the color heighten in my cheeks. “Is it hot in here? Do you think they have the air conditioning on?”
She laughed. “I bet he’s an awesome kisser,” she supplied, enjoying this.
It was sort of weird that she was asking. I just assumed Aspyn and Zane had hooked up. “You mean the two of you haven’t…”
She gave an un-lady like snort. “Nope. But not due to lack of effort on my part. I gave up on him. Apparently, I’m not his type, but you are.”
There wasn’t any bitterness in her tone, and I was glad, because I would have hurt her, which would have made me sad. I was starting to really like Aspyn. If I had to base his kissing skills on what I’d already experience, I’d say that no one kissed like Zane. Great doesn’t do his kisses justice.
“Oh. My. God. You did a lot more than kiss,” she squealed.
My mouth dropped open. This was not the type of conversation I wanted to have with a crowd. I swear every ear in the place was leaning toward Aspyn and me, waiting to hear what juicy detail I would divulge.
Aspyn changed hands, and as the nail tech pecked away at her cuticles, I caught a glimpse of a familiar mark.
Aspyn was a Black Crow.
I scowled. “It doesn’t really matter what Zane and I do, does it?” It was a chance, assuming Aspyn knew, but I figured in my current mood, I had nothing to lose.
“Hmm. I knew there was something eating away at you, and I don’t blame you for being pissed. Not that Zander isn’t a prize, but Zane’s the jackpot.”
“You’re so not helping.”
Aspyn chose a daring red polish. “I see your point. But…I don’t think you’re the kind of girl who follows the rules.”
She had a point. “I’m not.”
“That’s what I thought. So again I ask, is Zane a superior kisser or what?”
My lips twitched. I had to think that Aspyn had been put into my path today just when I needed that boost. She was absolutely right. Zane was a fantastic kisser.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Home. Sweet home.
“Rose!” I screamed, her name bellowing through the glass palace as I stepped into the circular foyer.
Fat wad of good it did. I went over to the intercom system and stared at all the buttons. If I went searching for her, it could take all day. This was the fastest method. Spamming every button until they all lit up, I wanted her to hear me no matter where she was in the house. Even the bathroom.
“Rose.” I flinched at the electronic sound of my voice. “I need to—”
“Piper? What is going on?” she demanded.
I spun around, a renewed anger whipping through me. “How could you?” My voice shook.
She stood in one of four doorways, dressed in a white flowing dress, arms crossed. “Why are you yelling?”
The condescending tone was like dousing fuel on the flame. My anger spiked, a haze of red clouding my vision. “You are a liar and a fraud. You never cared about me. All you wanted was for me to be an idle pawn in your pathetic attempt for power.”
A normal person might have winced or displayed any emotion. Rose showed none. She wasn’t capable of them. She folded her arms. “It isn’t power I am after. Believe it or not, I am trying to save your life.”
“By making me marry someone I don’t know! I don’t love!”
Her silver hair was pulled into a bun as tight as her lips. “It’s more complex; trust me.”
“That’s just it. I don’t trust you. And can you blame me? All you’ve done since I arrived on this wretched island is lie to me, keep secrets from me. At least Zane has the decency to be honest with me.”
“Why don’t we have tea and talk? Soothe the negative energy.”
Tea? Was she shitting me? Did I look like someone who wanted to drink tea? “Screw your negative energy. I don’t want tea. I want answers. I want you to tell me it’s bullshit.” The woman was off her bloody rocker.
She let out an audible sigh. “Then let’s step outside.” Her arms gestured to the wide-open door, a speckle of white feathered on the apples of her cheeks. “A walk through the gardens will do us both good and give us privacy.”
“Whatever,” I shot back. I was so worked up I could have run a marathon and not broken a sweat.
With loud, sullen strides, I followed her outside, sincerely doubting that smelling the roses was going to calm the turbulent storm inside me. As unattainable as it was, I still was holding onto a shred of hope that this whole thing was a cruel joke and Zane was just an a-hole.
Not worried about thorns or sharp rocks, she walked barefoot under the vine-cloaked archway. “It’s true.”
And there went my dash of hope, crushed by two simple words.
“Before the end of next summer, you will marry Zander,” she stated without hesitation.
Just like that. No questions asked. Fall in line, Piper, like a good girl. She was batshit crazy. Before I could let a string of colorful swear words fly, she was rambling on, attempting to reason her actions. “If there had been any other way, we wouldn’t be having this tiff.”
Tiff was putting it mildly. I was a grain of salt away from losing my shit. “I know you’re old, but for Christ’s sake, this isn’t the eighteenth century.” A branch brushed against my leg, and I couldn’t have cared less. “Explain to me why I should even consider marrying Zander. Why I shouldn’t take the next ferry back home.” I wasn’t convinced she didn’t have an ulterior motive.
Then there was Zander. He couldn’t possibly agree to this harebrained scheme, could he? He was just a pawn like I was, right?
I thought about our date.
Was this whole betrothal the reason he had asked me out, in a lame attempt to get to know his bride-to-be? I wanted to gag. The sweet, floral scent of the gardens was making my stomach churn.
“It is the only way to safeguard that chaos doesn’t erupt,” Rose said, plucking a petal from a nearby pink flowering bush. “If the rebels succeed in diminishing the last Raven, there will be nothing to stop them from destroying everything and everyone. Including all the loved ones we leave behind.”
