Chapter 28 #3
Absolute chaos erupted. The senators of the UFH turned on the representatives of the CoS.
People surged past the barriers, everyone shouting.
Soldiers moved to intervene, but there weren’t enough to hold back the tide short of using deadly force.
Furious voices demanded that I be executed anyway.
Others cried for new laws to be written and the old to be cast aside.
More asserted their own grievances at the hands of these governing bodies.
And the media broadcast every single second around the world.
Director Starling gave me an appraising look before slipping through the throng to be closer to the representatives of the CoS. My own mad laugh bubbled out of me just as hands closed around my arms and spun me around. I came face to face with Elijah and laughed harder. “It actually worked.”
“You’re certifiable. Now come on. We’re getting out of here.” He grabbed my hand just long enough to get me going in the right direction, where Lombardi waited, anxiously clutching his briefcase. Last time he’d been surrounded by such a volatile crowd, he’d almost died.
I made it all of five steps right beside Elijah when an inhuman scream split the air.
My feet stopped dead, and I instinctively sought the source.
I didn’t have to search long. Pushing through the crowd, her face a mottled canvas of indescribable rage, was my mother.
I quickly took stock of my surroundings even as she shoved an irate vampire out of her path.
Despite the slew of bodies separating us, she was gaining ground and quickly.
I grabbed Elijah’s arm. “Did you file charges?”
“What?” he questioned, oblivious to the threat bearing down on us.
“Quickly, did you file charges against my mother?”
“Y-yes,” he stammered. “Yes, okay?”
In one fluid motion, I released Elijah, stole the nearest soldier’s sidearm, and spun to face the woman that had just broken free of her retainers.
Beatrice Harker stepped clear of the nearest mass of frantic people and right into the line of fire.
I had just enough time to register the sheer animal fury on her face before her head snapped to the side.
There was a split second where I stood there, my arm stretched to take the shot, my ears still ringing from the crack, then she crumpled lifelessly to the ground amidst a fresh chorus of panicked screams and shouts.
I lowered my arm and replaced the safety as Director Starling emerged from a group of stalwart soldiers. “Beatrice Harker, for your confessed crimes against the Klamath Pack and lycanthropes around the world, I find you guilty and sentence you to death.”
My stolen weapon fell to the ground from numb fingers. Any lingering remorse I’d anticipated wasn’t there, just an incredible feeling of lightness, of freedom.
Director Starling’s cold, calculated gaze lifted from where she stood not ten meters away to meet mine. “Detective Hart, I fully expect you to report for duty once your leave of absence terminates.”
“Yes, Director.”
She gave a sharp nod and signaled for the soldiers to take care of the body.
A warm arm circled around my waist and lurched me out of my mindless stare at the corpse of the woman that had tormented me for thirty-four years.
I looked to the side and was greeted by the soft compassion in Elijah’s eyes.
“Come on, moonbeam. Let’s go home.”
Elijah
We met Lombardi just outside the courtroom doors.
The chaos inside was currently in the process of bubbling out to join the scramble of reporters trying to get in.
I shook my head and caught sight of Josh’s vacant expression.
He’d been prepared to shoot his own mother.
As much as I hated the woman and everything she’d put him through, I was still glad that Director Starling had been the one to fire the shot.
Definitely inviting that woman to the wedding.
“You two need to get out of here before the press realizes you’re not inside.” Lombardi’s words grounded me back in the moment.
“Can you get us to the hotel?” I asked, tightening my hold on Josh. Over my dead body was I ever going to let anyone take him from me again.
Josh spun to face me. “Not the cottage?”
“No, he’s right.” Lombardi gave me a knowing look, and I sent up a silent prayer to the Goddess herself that he wouldn’t say anything. He shifted his attention to Josh’s confused expression. “That’s the first place the paparazzi will look. Your days of anonymity are over, Joshua Hart.”
I quietly released the breath I'd been holding. “We can spend a night or two at the hotel while things settle down.” Hopefully, that would buy me enough time to convince Josh not to go to the cottage at all. “Plus, imagine their disappointment when they get there and no one’s home.”
Josh looked from me to Lombardi and back again. His shoulders slumped, and he actually pouted. “But…”
I pulled him close so I could press a kiss to the side of his head. “Come on, someone is going to recognize us soon.”
He grumbled beneath his breath, but allowed me to guide him behind Lombardi to the waiting hovercar. We slipped into the back, and Lombardi gave the driver the instructions. In a matter of minutes, we were being let out at the hotel I’d been staying at for the duration of the trial.
I bid Lombardi a good evening and closed the door, leaving me alone with Josh for the second time in less than twenty-four hours, except this was infinitely better. The relieved breath I’d been holding back finally escaped.
“Are you okay?” Josh paused, undoing his cuffs to look at me with concern filling those green eyes I’d fallen in love with over a year ago.
I took in the sight of him with his deep crimson vest already hanging open and those skin-tight pants that vanished beneath the thigh-high boots hugging his deliciously long legs.
Unadulterated lust fueled every step as I crossed the short distance between us to wrap my arms once again around him. “Better than.”
His body molded to mine as I captured him with a heated kiss that he eagerly returned. Drowning in that searing passion was literally the only item on my agenda for the rest of the foreseeable future, but apparently he wasn’t quite done with our previous conversation.
“I understand the concerns about the press, but why couldn’t we go back to the cottage? Atlas is more than capable of protecting our privacy.”
“Is it really so much to want to spend some time with you without reporters banging on the door?”
“No, but I was looking forward to going home.”
I stroked my thumb across his cheek. “It’s just a house.”
His fingers wrapped gently around my wrist. “It’s home.”
My heart skipped to hear him think of that place as home, but at the end of the day, it was nothing more than four walls and a roof.
I leaned forward and brushed his lips with mine.
“No, moonbeam. Home is wherever you are.” I captured him with another kiss, and this time he didn’t pull away.
I deftly pulled his shirttails free and began popping buttons.
He gave a light moan and arched into me. Meanwhile, his lithe fingers worked their way down from the top of my own row of buttons.
I slipped my hand beneath his parting shirt to feel the flat of his stomach.
His breath hitched as I slid my palm upward and forced the silken fabric to his shoulders in order to reveal his gorgeous chest with its constellation of scars.
I trailed kisses across his jaw and down his neck as I guided him back towards the well accommodated bed.
He let out a surprised gasp as the back of his legs came into contact with the mattress and he fell backwards.
Either he must not have been paying attention, or he really was that caught up to lose track of his surroundings like that.
He regained his bearing quickly enough. “I don’t think that’s entirely necessary at the moment. ” He gestured to my gaping shirt.
I couldn’t help but smile as I stripped out of the garment, and his green eyes all but disappeared into lust-filled pools of black. My skin practically burned as his gaze wandered greedily over me. By the time I finished stripping off everything, he wasn’t the only one panting.
“You’re beautiful.”
I leaned over him to tease his mouth with a kiss and groaned at the light friction the move generated. He wiggled beneath me, and I let my hand travel down his torso to his straining trousers. His eyes rolled back, and a moan fell from that delicious mouth as I palmed him. “You’re beautiful.”
“Elijah.” The breathless plea had an unmistakable edge of desperation.
I abandoned his mouth to trail kisses down the smooth plane of his chest and abs while I worked to liberate him.
He arched his hips up in anticipation. I gently pushed him back into the bed before stepping back to appreciate him.
He gave a soft whimper of disappointment that turned into a groan when I wrapped my hand around his calf and stroked up.
The hidden zipper of his boots slid down with the barest whisk of metal.
As I pulled the footwear off, I met his impatient gaze.
“Do you remember the night of the rave, when you got back from the hunt?”
He tugged his leg lightly, and I tightened my grip on the appendage. “Are we really talking right now?”
I set about liberating his other leg. “A little. Do you remember when you came back to the hotel?”
An edge of wariness joined the overwhelming scent of desire coming off him. “Yes.”
“What were you thinking about when you came in?”
He hesitated only a moment. “I was thinking that you probably never wanted to see me again after what you witnessed me do. That I was a monster and, bond or no bond, I couldn’t really blame you for not wanting anything to do with me, and that much as it would hurt me to let you go, I would.”
I placed a kiss on his still pant-encased thigh. “Do you want to know what I was thinking?”
He swallowed and didn’t answer.
“I was thinking that I’d never been more turned on in my life.
That scared me a little, but I also knew it wasn’t the bond.
” I paused to let that sink in. “Josh, I need you to know that even if we had never bonded, I still would have fallen for you.” I kissed my way up his side, taking my time on my way to his full mouth.
“You’re incredible. Smart, cunning, confident, sexy as hell, and one of the most compassionate people I’ve ever met. ”
“That’s not…”
“It is true. The bond just gave me a chance to see it. You’re not a monster, and one of these days I’ll get you to believe that.
” I curled my fingers into the waist of his pants.
“In the meantime, I will literally never tire of peeling you out of these things.” I slowly worked the skin-tight material off of him to a backdrop of shallow breaths.
He bowed off the bed when I at last wrapped my mouth around his length, his fingers instantly curling in my hair. “Baby.” The sharp cry went straight to my aching cock.
I pushed him further up the bed and grabbed what I needed from the nightstand.
My mouth conquered his, tangling our tongues, while I worked him over.
He dropped his head to the mattress and let out a moan that echoed back at us as I finally sank deep into the only home that would ever matter to me.
He wrapped those incredible legs of his around me and pulled me as close as I could get.
My groan slipped free at the sheer possessiveness of it. I gripped one of his thighs hard enough to bruise while I sought his with my other hand in order to lace our fingers together. His hold on me tightened as I rolled into him.
“I love you, Joshua Hart. I wanted to tell you that night after the hunt, and I should have told you every night after.” I snapped my hips harder, and the fingers of his free hand dug into my scalp.
“I fell in love with your prickly demeanor, your sharp wit, your snarky comebacks, the way you hold yourself no matter how impossible the situation. But I knew I was done for that night at Sweet Surrender when you smiled at me.”
“Elijah,” he gasped.
“I’m yours for as long as we both shall live.”
He shuddered beneath me. “You’re mine.” He released my hand in order to cup my face with both of his as he claimed me with a kiss that sank deep into my soul and set the bond on fire. “All mine.”