“Yes.”
“Do you love her?” she asked, leaning toward Tobias. Her body was as hard as marble underneath her satin tunic, yet her movements remained fluid.
“Yes, but not…”
Rhia’s face appeared to soften. She could appear twenty years old, or twenty thousand, mummified and skeletal. “I know, my child. It is never as it was with Nicolette, but you proposed. You are a man of your word, yes?”
“Yes, and I do adore Emerald.”
“And in the marriage contract it states when your destined love enters the earth plane again you may go to her and the current marriage is dissolved.” She paused for a moment. “Why did you propose?”
Rhia asked questions though she already knew the answers. It was rare when she didn’t know the information asked of her. But it did happen.
Tobias stared off into the distance, breathing in the salty sea air, remembering another time and place. “Emerald wants it desperately. I am content for things to remain the way they are, but she deserves more.”
Rhia’s voice vibrated through Tobias’s being. “What she deserves, you cannot give her.”
Tobias looked into his queen’s soft green eyes. She was right. He couldn’t give Emerald the love she wanted, and she wasn’t the first woman to want his love. There had been many others in his past, but only one for him. He knew he was only making the situation harder for both him and his partner. It was the loneliness that coaxed him. Like a demon demanding its due, loneliness taunted him to seek companionship. The voice whispered to his mind, reminding him of how the warmth of another’s body could make the days pass more quickly.
Rhia reached out to touch Tobias’s hand. Hers was cold as winter’s snow. “Don’t worry. Your beloved is still waiting to be born again. She has to see things through with her daughters first. Then she will start the wheel of life again, and you will find her. You always find her.”
He looked into her sea foam-green eyes. “Where is Raven?”
“I’m sorry, Tobias, but that information is hidden, even from me. I can tell you, you will find your Nicolette on the other coast of the United States, near the state of Washington. But you have time for that.”
He finished the wine. “Yes. All I have is time.”
“And family. All is not lost.” When Rhia sighed, it sounded like the winds howling through the trees. “Follow the heart, Tobias. The heart knows more than the mind ever could.”
Chapter Eighteen
The plane touched down at Miami International Airport at 6:45 p.m. It was the last plane allowed to land that day. The storm, predicted to develop into a category-one hurricane by nightfall, did not disappoint the local meteorologists.
Jade slept during most of the flight, but Bo was as restless as a caged animal, which was precisely how he felt. The wolf wanted out.
He hated flying. But he had managed to doze off for a little while-at least long enough to dream of Raven.
They were on a secluded island, just the two of them. The sun was languidly settling into the tropical waters. Palm trees swayed in the gentle breeze, and a fire blazed in a hole he had dug out of the ground. A blanket spread out before them on the pristine sand, and a bottle of wine rested in a crystal ice bucket.
Raven’s eyes were the blue-green hazel of human irises, her skin a tawny color and her cheeks flushed with youth. She licked her lips before taking a sip and swallowing the wine.
Gods, he loved those lips. Soft and full, they felt luscious wrapped around his sex. And he wanted nothing more than to tear her panties off and show her his lust-and express the love within his heart.
He was patient, though. Despite the discomfort caused by the bulge in his jeans, he waited and sipped his own glass of wine. His gaze rushed over her as she sat on the blanket, wearing almost the identical outfit as she had the first night they’d met so long ago-on May Day Eve.
Only this dress was black as night and it was much more translucent-so much so that he could see her taut nipples through the fabric, begging to be touched.
Raven didn’t speak.
She just stared at the water and breathed in the heavily scented air. Her chest rose and fell with each inhalation. He knew those aromas, the jasmine, bougainvillea and the frangipani. Clouds were heading to the east as if a storm had cleared. She turned and looked at him. Her lips seemed to be inviting him to kiss her. She sat on her knees and faced him, placing her hands on his cheeks. The heat between Bo and Raven burned with a palpable ferocity.
“I love you.” Her mouth formed the words, but he could not hear.
He kissed her, just to make certain she was still there and not a vision. He felt her as she kissed back. Their lips parted and tongues swirled. She went limp in his arms, and as she leaned back he caught her, cradling her in his embrace.
She pressed her body closer, grasping at his shirt, tugging and pulling, trying to remove it. He sat back and peeled it off, revealing his rippling muscles and slender waist. He took her hand and placed it between his legs, rubbing the center of his longing.
She unfastened his jeans, bringing her arms together as her dress slipped down around her shoulders. Her breasts peeked out of the silky fabric, and Bo reached to taunt, tease and stroke them. She let out a soft moan, and it catapulted him to a still deeper level of yearning.
He guided her down onto the blanket.
His lips followed his hands as he traversed the valley between her bosom, up and around the soft rise of her breasts and down her belly to her sacred mound. Her back arched as his tongue stroked the soft folds of her skin, driving her over the edge. He heard her fight to catch her breath.
Grasping at the blanket beneath her, she let out a whimper as he lifted her to get a better taste of her sweet juices. She was exquisite-he could not get enough of her, and it appeared she could not get her fill of him.
Riding the crest of her climax, she cried out to him, begging him to slip inside her.
“Bo…now,” she moaned.
He leaned over her, his cock throbbing in anticipation. “Raven, my love,” he declared as he entered her, craving the surrender of his aching and obsession. “Oh, Raven.”
“Bo…”
“Huh?”
“Bo, we’re landing,” Jade said, shaking him.
Jade and Bo made their way through the airport in record time. With one bag each, they reached the car rental office within fifteen minutes of disembarking the plane.
Bo rented an SUV. He threw their belongings in the backseat, hopped in the driver’s side and started the vehicle. He felt Raven. She was closer. He didn’t know how or why he knew. He supposed it was the instinct he’d explained to Solaris. The wolf within him growled. Have to get to her. Danger. He felt his eyes changing. Must tame the beast.
Rain pelted down. The sky darkened, as did Bo’s mood.
Jade shifted in her seat. “I hate to be a pain, but can I get a little bit of that blood out of the cooler? I’m really not used to this weird feeling-hungry, but not for food.”
The rain was coming down harder, but thanks to Bo’s keen eyesight, it didn’t hinder their travel. “Help yourself. Hey-do you feel Raven? Use some of that Lamai intuition.”
Jade closed her eyes. “Nothing. I think I need some blood first. All I feel is…”
“Yeah, weird,” Bo finished her sentence.
Jade reached in the back for the cooler. “Aren’t you hungry? You should eat.”
He answered more harshly than he meant to. “No. I haven’t been hungry since…”