It was impossible for him not to join her. She looked so glorious, felt so incredible. He gripped her hips so tightly he may have bruised her as he emptied himself inside her in long, hot pulses.

She collapsed onto his chest, panting hard for breath, her silvery gray hair tumbled all about his chest and shoulders. After a moment she sighed.

“I think that was better than the last time!”

“Imagine how the next time will feel,” he said.

She sat up a little and looked down at him, bracing a hand against his shoulder. “Surely you don’t mean tonight.”

“Not if you don’t want to,” he amended.

“But you can’t possibly…aren’t you tired? It’s been such a long night and you’ve used a great deal of magic. Don’t you ever get tired?”

“I do,” he admitted. “And I am. But something about you rejuvenates me.”

“Really?” she asked shyly.

“Really. I can’t remember the last time I wanted a woman with such appetite.”

“You don’t have to say that,” she said, biting on her lip.

“I do not lie,” he said sharply to her, making her startle.

“I did not say that you do!”

“You implied it. That I would speak words I do not mean would be the same as lying. I mean what I say, Viève. It has been almost a century and a half since I have taken a woman to my bed. True, one hundred years of that was spent in the Ether, but to go from one lifetime to the next without craving another and then suddenly there was you…I am still blown away by my reactions to you. I had not intended to take a lover today. It was the furthest thing from my mind. But I could not resist you.”

“I wasn’t trying to seduce you or anything,” she said softly.

“You did not need to try. This came naturally to both of us, and that is something to be treasured. I will not take it lightly or for granted.”

“I won’t either,” she vowed. “I never thought I would be so lucky. I never thought I deserved a lover.”

“I hope now you see the error in your thinking,” he said.

“I think I do,” she said with a little lift to her chin. “Everyone deserves a lover. Even me.”

“Especially you,” he said firmly.

“If you say so then I must take you at your word because, as you said, you do not lie.”

“No, I do lie. We all do. But I will not lie to you. Can we be agreed on that much?”

“I think I’d like an agreement like that. I will not lie to you either.”

“Not even a little?” he teased her.

“Not even a little. Now come on, let’s get some sleep. It’s been a long night. Many things have happened and I need time in which to process it all.”

“So sleep,” he said, easing her down onto his chest. He pressed a kiss to her hair. “Know I will watch over you now.”

“Mmm. What a nice thought,” she said with a sleepy yawn. “But you need to sleep too. I will watch over you.”

He chuckled. She wasn’t making much sense and was probably half asleep already. He should not have made demands on her. She had clearly been weary. As had he. But they had each found energy in each other.

“Shh shh shh,” he hushed softly.

His lids grew heavy, and within minutes he too was asleep.

Chapter 12

Sagan awoke the next evening with a huge yawn. He rolled over and found his wife’s warm body not too far away. He drew her in close, thoughtlessly waking her up.

“Mmm,” she murmured.

The room was pitch black as always. It needed to be. The slightest bit of light could kill Sagan. When they were awake, Valera could cast a spell that blanketed him in darkness allowing him to go out amongst the others, but he did that very rarely. All it took was one little accident to disrupt her concentration and the spell would dissipate, leaving him vulnerable to whatever light there was. Luckily the Nightwalkers had excellent night vision, so it was easy for them to shut off all the lights and allow him to walk about without risk.

Still, there was always the danger of someone accidentally flicking on a light switch. In all of their training drills, the first thing they did was hit the main breaker and kill all the lights. This would allow for Sagan to come out into the darkness and use his deadly kurkuri blade in battle. The curved blade was his favored weapon, a katana coming a close second.

Valera ran her hand up along his arm as he kissed her ear.

“Sweet dreams?” he asked.

She sighed. “Not really. I don’t think I’ll have sweet dreams until this is all over and we’re back in Alaska with nothing but darkness around us. I have this continual nightmare that someone somewhere is going to flip on a light switch and that will be the very last of you, my love.”

“That isn’t going to happen. We spend most of our time in this room. And when we leave it they shut off the main breaker to the house. Plus we cast your spell to protect me at the same time. There’s no way any light is going to touch me.”

“That doesn’t help you in the thick of battle. According to Marissa and Jackson, Apep throws beams of light.”

“I’m not going to engage Apep, and neither are you. You and I are limiting ourselves strictly to ground forces.”

“The Curse of Ra that Templars use is a red light beam of energy. It’s just as bad.”

“Your spell will protect me. That’s why it’s important you stay back and focus on protecting me while I do the fighting.”

“I still don’t like it.”

“We’ll keep practicing until you are confident.”

“We may not have any more time to practice.”

“Valera, would you prefer if we returned to Alaska? They sent us because you’re the only one that can protect a Shadowdweller in the world of light. If it’s too much—”

“No. No, we have to stay. Remember what they said earlier? They need all twelve races in order to have any hope of breaking this curse.”

“That’s if they can break the curse. There are no guarantees, love.”

“There never are. No,” she said with another sigh. “We have to stay.”

He bent his head and kissed her again. “I’ll make it worth your while,” he said on a teasing growl.