leaving himself wide open, his defenses down in more ways than one. He took her hand and turned it over to trace the nearly healed cut. Without preamble, he said, “I was afraid you would leave if you knew about the serpent prophecy. Or that you would tell Strike and . . . well, things would blow up.”
Her expression was lost in the shadows. “And now that it’s happened?”
“They learned to trust me once. Hopefully I can convince them to give me another chance.” He paused. “And, yeah, I should have told them everything right up front.” If he had, they wouldn’t be up Hell’s creek without a scepter.
He expected her to tell him he’d been an idiot, which he couldn’t argue. Instead, she turned her hand and twined their fingers together, giving him a jolt. “They’ll forgive you eventually, because they’ll see what I see in you.”
The heat that had flared at her touch was joined by something strange and unfamiliar. He thought it might be hope. “What’s that?”
“They’ll see a man who, even after everything Keban did wrong, still does the right thing for him in the end.” Her gesture encompassed the ruin. “You did good here, Mendez.” And coming from Reese, that was high praise.
He exhaled, letting it go. “In his own way, he was obeying the gods.”
“Um. It wasn’t the gods talking to him. It was Anntah.”
“It was . . . What?”
“I saw him in a dream, talked to him.” She briefly described her vision. “He told Keban what to do, though not how, which was his mistake. I don’t think he realized how badly losing Joy had damaged him.” She paused. “He gave me a message for you. He said to tell you that you need to fulfill the prophecy or Vucub will reign. Which isn’t news, but it underscores what Anna said.”
They were out in the open, but invisible walls seemed to press in on him from all directions, hemming him in. He tightened his grip on her hand. “The man the prophecy was talking about doesn’t exist.” But he knew that wasn’t good enough; the messages suggested that what mattered was fulfilling the serpent prophecy, period. “I won’t challenge the king and I sure as hell won’t kill him.”
Though back in Denver he had done exactly that, and history repeated. Could he really promise that he wouldn’t backslide straight into being the bastard he’d once been?
Yes, he decided, he damn well could.
When Reese was silent on that point, his heart sank a little, but he said only, “Was that it for Anntah’s message?”
“Not exactly.” She turned away so the setting sun lit her face. “I’m supposed to tell you what he said and leave, because you’re supposed to fulfill the prophecy alone. And”—her voice got a little smaller—“we’re not destined mates. We never were.”
“Bullshit,” he said flatly.
She lifted a shoulder. “I’m just telling you what he said.”
It wasn’t until that moment that he realized he’d been taking it as a given that she was his gods-chosen mate. Why else had he locked on to her from that very first moment? Why else had he known he had to save her, keep her, be with her? Why else would she have come back into his life now? It had to be magic. Nothing else made sense.
When he didn’t say anything, she put in, “According to him, you would have fallen for the star twins if they had lived. They were your true mates.”
“Twins? Really? Damn.”
She scowled. “Be serious.”
He sobered, willing her to believe him when he said, “I am serious . . . about you. I always have been, even when I had my head up my ass.” He moved in closer, putting a hand on the Compass’s hood on either side of her and leaning over her, crowding her back on the vehicle’s hood. “If you’re planning on leaving because Anntah told you to, or because the gods, or destiny, or what the fuck ever didn’t mean for us to be together, think again. Because I say we belong together. So what if it wasn’t magic? We’ll call it something else and move on. The only destiny I give a shit about is the one that’s right in front of me, right here, right now.”
He was braced for an argument, pumped for it, even. Instead, she looped her arms around his neck and touched her forehead to his, so they were leaning on each other. “Say that again.”
“Which part?” But he knew. He lowered his voice and whispered, “We belong together, baby.” And then he kissed her for real, because he was through waiting for the perfect moment.
Reese’s heart raced, heating her blood and making her exquisitely conscious of the cooling night air when it brushed against her skin and rushed to cool the dampness as he kissed her cheeks, her throat. She caught his ear between her lips and savored his groan, tugged up his shirt to revel in the feel of muscles strung tight with need.
Driving up here, she had known it would end like this, or at least she had hoped so. It might not be what she had pictured when she woke up—God, had it been just this morning?—but that didn’t make it wrong. The overanalytical part of her wanted to worry that she was making excuses, but the rest of her knew better. He wasn’t the boy she had loved or the criminal she had hated, or even a mix of the two. He was a new, better man, a mage. And that was who she wanted.
Flashes of desire built quickly to greed as they kissed and touched, twining together. Then he pulled away and stared down at her, his eyes unreadable in the gathering darkness. He touched her cheek, traced her jaw, brushed his thumb across her lips. “Come home with me?”
Something shivered deep inside her at the way those four simple words suddenly took on greater meaning. Once, she had dreamed of making a home with him. Now, she was dreaming of tonight. Tomorrow. The day after. But no more than that. She didn’t dare. Brushing aside a poignant sting at the thought, she kissed the thumb he held pressed to her lips, took the tip in her mouth for a longer, moister kiss, and had the satisfaction of hearing his breath catch. He urged her legs up around his hips and slid his hands to cup her ass, his thumbs working delicious pressure through her jeans as they kissed. The world spun around her and she cried out as a small orgasm caught her unawares, bowing her against him in a rush of unexpected pleasure.
He shuddered against her. “Gods, Reese. That was so fucking sweet.”
The rasp of passion in his voice set off chain reactions inside her, turning the fluttering nerves to an imperative: She had to have him. Now. She slid off the Compass’s hood, letting her body graze down his. Then, when he reached for her, she dodged and shoved him toward the driver?s side. “You’re driving.”
She might be channeling some of her inner nineteen-year-old’s long-ago crush, but now it came with a woman’s experiences and fantasies. And this was one of them. Because if the world was on the brink of disaster, the future unclear, she was taking this for herself.
Once they were off the road and onto a relatively flat stretch of hardpan where they couldn’t get into too much vehicular trouble, she checked her armband to make sure there weren’t any messages or emergency transmits. Reassured that no new shit had hit the fan—or at least none that they had needed her for—she gave herself permission to take tonight, starting now. So she stretched her belt to the limit and slid over to him, enjoying his hiss of pleasure when she slipped an arm around his neck and caught his ear in her teeth. He stroked his free hand along her ribs to her hip, then lower to trail across her upper thigh and inward.
Her heart raced and her breath caught, but no more so than his did when she got his fly undone and freed his hard, thick length. When she ringed him with her hand, he surged up into her touch in a reflex arc that skewed his foot off the gas.
“Keep going,” she whispered, “I’ll make it worth the trouble.”
He responded with a stream of curses in a low, reverent voice that shivered along her nerve endings and sent fire into her bloodstream. But he followed orders and accelerated, though going slower than before, breaking his shaky concentration to skim his hand down to her knee and back up, trailing fire to her center even through her jeans.
She closed her eyes and stilled her stroking hands for a second, absorbing the delicious sensation. He chuckled, low and masculine. “Like that?”
“I like all of it.” She suckled his ear, his throat, then shifted without warning to tongue the flat plane of his abdomen where she had his clothing open.
