Eternally Yours 1 Read online

  Like hell! “None of us are leaving here until the Fury is tied down and ready for transport.” He spoke the threat aloud, intending everyone in the tower to hear.

  “Oh, for God’s sake!” Jodie responded in kind. “She doesn’t need to be tied down. She’s not dangerous anymore. She just needs you guys to go away and leave us alone.”

  “Forget it, babe. We do this together or we stand here for eternity.” In one swell, the other hunters stepped forward, straight, solid, ready for battle.

  Her sigh whispered through him like a spring breeze. Fine. Stubborn ass. You can stay. But tell your pals to back off.

  No.

  Amanda’s not going to stop the damn raven circle until she no longer feels threatened. Send your friends home, and I’ll try to assure her you’re harmless.

  Indecision stirred, and he cast a glance at Sean, who set his jaw. A clear message of “Whatever’s going on, pal, I’ve got your back,” communicated from his eyes.

  Luc returned his focus to the swirling circle. Two of us are staying.

  Yeah, okay. That sounds like a fair fight. Two big, strong, strapping men against a pair of women. Don’t worry, Luc. We’ll try not to hurt you.

  A woman’s laughter erupted from inside the circle, loud and mocking.

  Turning to the dozens of bounty hunters looming behind him, Luc waved them away. “Sean, you stay. The rest of you, go back.”

  A cascade of stars twinkled, and then disappeared, leaving Luc and Sean the sole occupants on the outside of the spinning raven circle. Okay, Jodie. I held up my half of the deal. Your turn.

  He waited, breath held, fists at the ready in case he had to punch his way through the black storm. Finally, one at a time, the birds flew upward, a One Way arrow pointed to the top of the steel circular staircase.

  While he watched their retreat, a sharp elbow caught him directly under the ribs. “Is that her?” Sean pointed to where the two women stood. “That’s Jodie, Jodie Devlin?”

  “Yeah.” The single syllable left his lips in a shocked hush.

  She looked like hell. The scars from her earthly life, those burn marks that she’d always worn so proudly, now paled in comparison to the new ripples raking her face. Four straight lines: angry, red welts resembled the scratches of a set of fingers. Her hair tangled around her head and snarled at her shoulders. Oozing cuts crisscrossed her arms. Bruises, already turning purple, swelled the flesh of her cheeks and littered the bared shoulder peeking from her torn collar. She was missing a boot. And yet, despite her disheveled appearance, she had the balls to grin as if she’d just ridden an amusement park’s Tilt-a-Whirl.

  “See you at the Welcome Level.” After a quick wink at Luc, she turned to grab hold of the Fury’s claw, interlacing her fingers around the talons. “Ready, Amanda?”

  Within the blink of an eye, the Fury became a pinch-faced woman in black. Definitely a lot less threatening, she looked as if she’d stepped out of a nineteenth-century portrait. The wings, claws and fangs had disappeared. At the widow’s nod, a burst of stars soared upward. The two women floated up and out of the lighthouse.

  From beside him, Sean emitted a long burst of air. “I see what you mean,” he murmured. “She definitely has a certain charm about her.”

  “She’s out of her freakin’ mind,” Luc grumbled as he prepared to follow her. “Let’s go.”

  Chapter 16

  Luc and Sean landed at Samantha’s desk in Reception, beside an exhausted and slumping Jodie. The widow was already gone, whisked away by Sherman’s Correction Guards for reprocessing. Furies were forbidden to mix with incoming souls. Placed in high-level seclusion, Amanda Kroger would not begin forward movement until she’d come to terms with the pain and anger she’d carried throughout her past. Only after her bitterness had been completely cleaned away would she know a new life in a new time.

  Not that Luc could blame her. The glimpse he’d had into her hellish life had provided enough insight for the hardest heart to empathize with her drive for murder and why she might fear beginning a human existence all over again. Still, his job had nothing to do with understanding a bounty’s motivation. He roped ‘em in and brought ‘em back. Empathy never entered the equation.

  Meanwhile, Samantha squeezed Jodie with the power of a boa constrictor suffocating a piglet. “Oh, we were all so worried about you!”

  Obscured inside the volume of her padded-shoulder suit, the plum-colored one Luc often mentioned made Samantha look like a linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings, a pained wince crossed Jodie’s face.

  Before he could say anything, Sean stepped forward. “Okay, Samantha.” Placing his hands on Jodie’s shoulders, he gently pulled her out of Samantha’s solid embrace. “I think our Jodie’s had enough for now.”

  Our Jodie? Annoyance marched in double-time down Luc’s back. Since when was she our Jodie? His irritation only increased when Jodie’s wince turned to a moon-eyed stare at the good-looking NYPD detective.

  “Hi,” Flashing a toothpaste-ad smile, Sean thrust out a hand. “We haven’t been properly introduced. I’m Sean Martino. A friend of Luc’s.”

  “Hmmph!” Samantha sniffed and jerked a finger in Luc’s direction. “That one hasn’t got any friends.”

  Luc walked a fine line between Samantha’s disdain and the affection blooming around Sean and Jodie. One step in the wrong direction and he’d blow like fireworks on the Fourth of July. After a moment, he opted for the less lethal enemy territory. “I’ve got no female friends,” he said, leaning toward Samantha and waggling his brows. “When it comes to women and me, there are only ex-lovers. And challenges yet to conquer.”

  Stealing a glance at Jodie, Luc caught her yawn.

  Once again, Sean came to her rescue before he could react. “While you and Samantha debate your shortcomings, Luc—or lack thereof—I think I’ll take our brave little bounty hunter home.” He slipped an arm around Jodie’s waist. “Come on, sweetheart. You’ve had quite enough for one day.”

  An immediate retort sprang to Luc’s lips, but he bit his tongue. Instead, he folded his arms over his chest, shot his weight to one hip, and waited for Jodie to explode at Sean’s attempt at intimacy.

  She inhaled deeply.

  This ought to be good. Go ahead, babe. Give him hell.

  As the breath left her lungs, she sagged deeper into Sean’s embrace and even laid her head on his shoulder. “Thanks.” A smile lit her golden aura to twenty-four karat pure.

  What the--?

  If Luc had hinted she might be winded by her experience with the Fury, Jodie would have lashed him to ribbons with a screech fest. But dammit, Martino got a grateful smile and a snuggle. Luc’s hands clenched into tight fists. Oh, he really, really wanted to beat the snot out of Sean.

  But…why? It wasn’t like he had any claim on Jodie, or wanted one for that matter. In fact, if Jodie and Sean had some kind of attraction brewing, maybe the Board would assign them to work together. Then he could return to his sane, organized, solo existence.

  Jodie sighed, a hiss of ultimate satisfaction. “God, how can I be so tired, but so excited at the same time?”

  Sean kissed the top of her head with a loud thwucky sound. “Adrenaline, honey. You kicked ass.” His gaze, filled with gushing adoration, locked on Luc. “Didn’t she?”

  Oh, yeah. He definitely wanted to punch that goofy look off his friend’s face. Hard to flutter your lashes like a four-year-old girl with two black eyes.

  Rather than heap praise on Jodie or give in to the needs of his fists, he nodded in Samantha’s direction. “I’m outta here. Give my regards to Sherman.”

  Before anyone could stop him, he transformed to a lightning-filled cloud and zoomed out of the Reception Area, aimed toward the Halfway House. He landed on the floor in the hall that housed their rooms. Seconds later, Jodie fell beside him, sinking to the stained carpet with a thump.

  “Where’s your new friend?” Luc couldn’t stifle the derision that rose in his tone.


  “Who knows, who cares?” she murmured, her cheek pressed to the filthy rug like a crushed cigarette butt. “I’m too tired to entertain right now. And I really don’t want to fight with you either, Luc. All I want is sleep. Lots and lots of sleep…”

  “So then get up and go to your room.”

  He reached to help her to her feet, but she turned away from him. “Leave me here. I just need to lie down for a bit.”

  “Forget it,” he grumbled, kneeling near her fallen form. “Get up. You can do this, Jodie. One more surge and you’ll be in bed.”

  “I don’t have one more surge in me,” she gasped. “I’ll just nap here until I’ve regained some strength, and then I’ll go to bed.” She lifted a hand, offered a half-hearted wave. “Go on without me. I’ll be fine right here.”

  “Yeah, sure,” he retorted. “Maybe you should consider giving up bounty hunting in favor of a permanent position as a speed bump.”

  Sean should see her now. He might want to recant his glowing praise about our brave little bounty hunter.

  She groaned. “I didn’t know sparks of energy could feel pain. God, I ache everywhere.”

  “I’m not surprised. That Fury gave you a helluva fight.”

  With a trembling hand, she rubbed her hip. “You don’t know the half of it.”

  Yeah, he did. And damned if she hadn’t scared ten years off his life—or his Afterlife. The vision of her slumped on the ground, beaten and spilled, would haunt him for eons. And yet, despite her injuries, she’d proven him wrong once again. She might be soft and totally naïve, but something about that side of her seemed to resonate with the spirits they sought. Using her gooey, gushy side, she managed to gain cooperation without ever raising her voice or threatening repercussions. Beneath the growing shadow of his admiration, any impatience with her fled.

  “You did good today, Devlin.” He kept his gaze trained on the pale color surrounding her fallen form.

  “Coming from you, Luc, that’s pretty high praise.” Her tone remained flat, but her aura suddenly glistened. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t stand up and cheer. Right now I just want to fall into a void of oblivion.”

  Poor kid. She’d really taken a beating. But she was right about one thing. The sooner she got some sleep—real sleep—the sooner she’d heal. And not on some filthy carpet.

  “Come on,” he coaxed, reaching for her again. “I’ll get you there. Meld with me.”

  One eye peered up at him from beneath a brow arched in suspicion. “Meld with you?”

  “It’s a process, babe. You just lie there and let me take over.”

  “Hmmm…” she replied on a frown. “Sounds like a married couple I once knew.”

  “Shut up and save your strength.”

  Cripes, between the racquetball game and the scene with the Fury, he had very little stored energy himself. Melding with Jodie now would completely deplete him. But he couldn’t exactly leave her on the floor. So he called up any stray pairs of electrons bouncing from his feet to his head. He amassed a small pulse, barely enough to spin a child’s top, but it would have to do.

  Touching this pitiful ball to her fingertips, he linked his magnetic field to hers, expecting a weak but effective flux to flow between them. Instead, the surge hit Luc like a tidal wave.

  Jodie. Her name echoed in his soul, guiding him, pulling him into her astral vortex. He became need, hard and throbbing. As if surrendering to her fate, she arched her back into a fluid waterfall, naked, yearning, slick with need. Her hands, hot and seeking, found his length and pulled him inside. He wanted to devour her, but forced himself to savor every electrifying cell. His tongue lapped, delighting in the tingles she evoked on his tastebuds. While his teeth nipped the juncture where her neck met her shoulder, her hands clutched his head, fingers threading through his hair in reckless abandon.

  Currents of energy propelled them higher, past the universe and beyond, in a titanic waterspout. Caught in this ocean of longing, he rolled over her, felt her give beneath him. And still he took. Again and again he rode her wave, cresting and curling with the rhythm of the tides. A roar welled up inside him, a mating call older than time. She urged him on, harder and faster, her cries feeding him, driving him to the pinnacle. At last, with one final thrust, his essence ebbed into her tide.

  ~~~~

  One minute Jodie lay on the floor, too drained to lift her head. The next she soared through the stratosphere, shedding clothes in a haphazard frenzy. She was the moon, bathed in Luc’s pale blue aura, using gravity to keep him suspended in her orbit.

  Driven by need pulsing deep in her core, she pulled every one of his cells inside her. Still, she craved more of him. His tongue licked her into madness, and she writhed, riding him into the cobalt blanket of sky.

  “Deeper,” she urged, her voice razor-sharp, as completely unfamiliar to her as the command she uttered. “Deeper.”

  She soared into the cool breath of oblivion, intent upon nothing but the insatiable desire surging through every energized molecule. Passion sparked, sputtered, and then sparked again. Finally, she teetered at the edge. Luc thrust upward, the walls inside her broke, releasing the flood. With one last sigh, she exploded into a million glittering droplets.

  Ripped from Luc, she fell headlong, landing in a pool of sweat. Drained, she allowed the languor to carry her into a soft, soothing bath of light. When at last she opened her eyes, she found herself naked, sprawled on her bed inside the Halfway House, an equally nude Luc flung protectively over her shuddering body.

  “Wh-what…” she managed in ragged inhalations. “What…the hell…was that?”

  “I think,” he whispered through his own panting breaths, “we just experienced an Afterlife quickie.”

  Chapter 17

  Shock ignited booster rockets in Jodie’s butt, and she shot up from the bed, tossing off Luc with one supersonic thrust. “Are you saying we just had…” She swallowed hard, but the lump in her throat, big as a baseball, didn’t budge. “…sex?” She barely managed to get the word out louder than a hiss before her knees buckled.

  “Well, yeah.” He punched the pillow, apparently in no rush to leave her bed, and laid his shaggy head against it. “At least, I’m guessing that’s what we experienced. Terrific, wasn’t it?”

  She sank to the edge of the mattress beside him. The half-assed grin he flashed raised hackles on her nape. With a trembling hand, she soothed the fine hairs dancing there. “You said we couldn’t have sex. That people in the Afterlife were only energy.”

  “I said I didn’t think we could have sex,” he corrected. “So I was wrong. Apparently, we can have sex. Terrific sex. God knows, I feel like I always do after terrific sex.” His voice grew low, a seductive growl that slinked into her core and set her nerves jumping. “Come on, admit it. You shuddered around me as if your entire world had exploded. That had to be a major-league orgasm for you.”

  As if she’d admit something so personal to him. “Oh, right!” She slapped her hands on her thighs. “Because any woman who has sex with you is guaranteed a major-league orgasm.”

  Cheek buried in the rock-hard pillow, he turned one dark eye toward her. “No. Because you look exactly how I pictured you in the prime of life. Tousled, sated, and sexy as hell.”

  His smile wreaked havoc on her snapping synapses. “You wish.”

  “You can’t argue with my eyes, babe. I see what I see.” He jerked his head at her. “Go ahead. Play the wronged virgin seduced by the big bad wolf all you want. But you and I both know you were an eager participant. You could have stopped me at any time. You weren’t exactly incapacitated.”

  “I never said I was incapacitated,” she retorted, her face hot. “But I honestly didn’t know what was happening to me.”

  “Neither did I. So we both just went with the flow. Which is indicative of two people having terrific sex.”

  “Will you please stop saying that?”

  “Why? It’s true, isn’t it?”

  She cla
mped her lips shut.

  Luc yawned, his mouth a cavernous O. “Look, I’m too damned tired to debate with you right now. Why don’t you and I lie down and get some sleep? If it’s a fight you want, you can choose pistols or swords later, when I’m more alert.”

  Did he honestly believe she’d lie down beside him now? After what had just happened between them? Considering the hunger growing inside her for more? “Forget it, pal. You are not sleeping here.”

  Confusion whirled around her like a twister. She needed time alone with her thoughts. Time to regain her equilibrium. The sooner, the better. She poked his shoulder with an angry thrust. “Get up. Get dressed. And get out.”

  On a deep sigh, he rolled over, one arm draped across his forehead. “Dammit, Jodie, I’m wiped. I couldn’t revisit that experience again right now if the Board commanded it. Now, come on. Lie down. Or at the least, be quiet so I can get some sleep.”

  With the flat of his hand, he patted the empty space beside him. As if drawn by the action, Jodie’s gaze traveled over the glory of his human form. Heat bloomed in her cheeks. To cover her embarrassment, she jerked her head to his six-pack abs and the generous gift a few inches lower he’d recently shared with her. “How much of that is really you and how much is…umm…” While her mind struggled for a better description, her mouth went with “…digital manipulation?”

  Amusement burst from his lips in raucous laughter. “It’s all me, babe. I’ll prove it to you later, if you like.”

  “Yeah? How?” Her tone dripped acid strong enough to melt the sheets. “You going to show me your Playgirl layout?”

  “Sorry. I left my portfolio back on Earth.” With a smirk, he hefted his hips higher.

  Jodie was about to let out a cry of disgust at his piggish behavior when he yanked the quilt from beneath his torso, bunched it into a ball, and threw it to the floor. Then, he sank between the sheets and covered his magnificently hewn flesh from neck to toes.