Phoenix Burning Read online

  “True enough,” Lord Kýlan said as he stood and walked toward them. Ivar tightened his hold on Aythe, certain it was necessary. “But I am a clan lord and I have the ability to compel all within my clan to obey me.” His sire’s fangs dropped, the irises of his eyes went black. “Tell me who murdered Emily, I command it.”

  The struggle was silent, mental, not physical, but it didn’t take long for Aythe to writhe as the battle of wills went on. It was Aythe who broke. “I did. I loved you forever and you never saw me. She wasn’t worthy of you.”

  “Silence.” The word was whispered, but the threat was palpable.

  The clan lord turned to Robert. “My apologies for hunting you all these years. She framed you perfectly, even setting up the bedroom to appear as if a tantric vampire had been present. I never viewed Emily’s body or I would have seen through her falsehoods then.”

  “I’m sorry, too, my lord.”

  Lord Kýlan nodded and went to Ivar. “Give her to me,” he ordered.

  Ivar inclined his head and handed his prisoner over. Restraining her was no longer necessary because she was being held under mental control. With a yank, the clan lord tugged her to the door, and Robert Cahill followed them.

  It was the most privacy they were going to have for a while and Ivar took advantage of it because sooner rather than later, Phoenix was going figure out that he’d been sent to bring her father in and that he’d been using her to do it. “I love you, Phoenix. Remember that each time you think you’d like to wear my testicles as earrings.”

  “LeBlanc, with me!”

  “Yes, my lord.” And with one last glance at Phoenix, Ivar left.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Phoenix watched her father lock the door behind the three vampires, looked at the glass littering her floor and decided she wasn’t ready to deal with it yet. She wasn’t ready to deal with anything yet, including the fact that Ivar said he loved her and that he’d been sent to get her dad, probably dead or alive.

  “So,” her father said, as he sat beside her, “that vampire with Lord Kýlan is who you shared your bed with.”

  She grit her teeth and swallowed a curse. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

  “Would I be right about his moving into this building about a month and a half ago?”

  “Yes, next door.” Her tone couldn’t make it any clearer this topic was off limits, but her dad ignored the warning.

  “He’s the reason you reached full Awakening so quickly.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I heard him tell you that he loves you. Do you feel the same?”

  Okay, so apparently her personal life was going to be the second act of the night’s entertainment. “Yes, I love him, but it doesn’t matter. I still have to give him up, I know that, and I’ll do it even if it hurts forever.”

  “Why would you give him up?” her father sounded genuinely perplexed.

  With exaggerated patience, Phoenix said, “Because you and Mom told me to not use the same man more than once, and I’ve fed from Ivar over and over. Sure vampires can tolerate more than humans, but I know I’ll kill him sooner or later if I don’t stop.”

  “Your mom and I also told you about soul partners. Do you remember that?”

  “Of course, that’s when two tantrics match and they can mate with each other over and over without either one killing the other. They’re energy neutral together.”

  Her father shook his head. “You weren’t listening. A soul partnership isn’t limited to two tantric vampires. It can happen between a tantric and a human or a wizard or a demon or, yes, even a regular, everyday blood-drinking vampire. You Awakened because your body recognized its soul partner, it’s that simple, Phoenix.”

  She froze, almost afraid to breathe. “I want to believe that, but what if you’re wrong? What if Ivar isn’t my soul partner? I couldn’t live with myself if I was responsible for his death.”

  “How many times have you fed from him?”

  Phoenix shrugged. “I don’t know—twenty times? Twenty-five? Maybe more.”

  “Even a vampire couldn’t tolerate that many times without serious and visible consequences, but when I look at him, I see nothing wrong with him. Do you? Have you noticed something in him diminish?”

  “No,” she said, half afraid to hope. “Are you sure?”

  “Have I ever lied to you?”

  “You let me believe in Santa, and the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny and—”

  With a laugh, he cut her off. “I mean something beyond childhood stories.”

  “No. Dad, I want to believe—I do—but Ivar...he means everything to me.”

  “And you’re scared. It’s natural, but are you such a coward that you’d let your soul partner walk away rather than take the risks that go with a relationship?”

  When he put it that way—”No, I’m not that scared.”

  “Then go after him, kid, and hogtie him before he gets away.”

  * * *

  Ivar could have spent the night at his sire’s estate, but he needed to see Phoenix. By now she’d figured out that he’d used her to get to her father and she probably wanted his head on a platter. He stepped outside the wrought iron front gates and started walking before movement caught his eye. A figure was leaning against a car parked across the street and it straightened as soon as the gates closed.

  It took him less than a nanosecond to identify his woman. Ivar changed course.

  “I don’t see a machete,” he said when he was almost there. “Does that mean I get to keep my balls?”

  She brushed aside his comment with an impatient hand. “You might have moved in the building to get my father, but what happened between us was personal and had nothing to do with your job. I know that.”

  He relaxed enough to grin. “I’m glad because that’s the truth, I swear.”

  She waved that aside, too.

  Phoenix had something on her mind, but it wasn’t the topic he thought would be at the top of her list. “Why don’t you pick what we talk about since I’m batting zero.”

  Without hesitation she asked, “Did you mean it when you said you loved me?”

  Ah. That was the number one. Good. “Yes, I meant it. I love you, Phoenix, and I will forever. Deal with it.”

  “I’m a tantric vampire and—”

  Ivar cut her off. “You’re going to have to feed only from me. I’m not sharing you. Sorry,” he tacked on, although he wasn’t sorry at all.

  Her eyes narrowed, but she said, “I can live with that. Here’s the thing, though, I’m a tantric and—”

  “And you can kill me, I know. I’ll take my chances.”

  She growled low in her throat. “Will you let me finish?”

  He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her. “Go right ahead.”

  “I’m a tantric and we have this little quirk. You see, when we find our soul partner, our feeding from them doesn’t hurt them, not even a little. And as it turns out, meeting a soul partner can trigger an accelerated Awakening, which is what happened to me. After we met. Get it?”

  Not exactly, but he ran through what she said again, sorting out her choppy sentences as he went, and then the light bulb clicked on. “You’re saying we’re soul partners and that you don’t have to worry about killing me and I can gloat about being so hot, I triggered your Awakening. I got it.”

  “You’re going to be a pain the ass, aren’t you?” she asked, but Phoenix wrapped her arms around him as she spoke.

  “Yes, but I’ll be your beloved pain in the ass for the rest of our lives.” His humor faded. She’d never told him she had feelings for him. Maybe she thought she was stuck with him because he was her soul partner. “You love me, right?”

  Phoenix pressed her lips to his. “Yes, I love you. I’ve known that for days.”

  Ivar held on tight as he kissed her. When he came up for air, he asked, “Is your father still at your place?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Then
we better go to my house. I want to take you to bed and make you scream with pleasure, and we need some privacy for that.”

  “I bet I can make you shout before I scream.”

  “Yeah?” She nodded. “You’re on, my dear fledgling. May the better vampire win.”

  He held the driver’s door for her and then got in the passenger side. He punched his address in her GPS and then sat back, hiding a grin. It didn’t matter who came out victorious in their bet, he had an eternity with the woman he loved—he’d already won more than he’d ever imagined.

  * * * * *

  About the Author

  National bestselling author Patti O’Shea has walked around an island of Papua New Guinea, seen a shark fin break the surface off the coast of Australia, sung songs while driving in the Yukon and watched a soccer match in Kiribati. When she’s not off having an adventure, she’s in Atlanta, Georgia, working in Technical Operations for a major U.S. airline and writing stories filled with action and danger. She enjoys torturing her characters and considers it their karma because of how much they torment her. Patti also likes watching baseball and reading.

  ISBN-13: 9781459255562

  PHOENIX BURNING

  Copyright © 2014 by Patti J. Olszowka

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