I can survive it for him.
I count to three, then force my body to roll, screaming in pain as I do from both the pressure on the wound and the fire that has now sparked my clothes. But that is good, I think, because I need the flame. I need to burn. I need…
I need…
And then there is just black. Black and pain.
Then something soothing. And a light. Blue and yellow and a deep, blood red.
Shining. Healing. And rising into the sky on jeweled wings.
Illusion? Or reality? Or is there even a difference?
I do not know. I don’t even know if I am alive or dead.
All I know is that the pain has stopped but the black has come. So deep and thick that I know that Raine was wrong. This is the end.
This is death.
And death is cold and black.
* * * *
“Time to wake up, sweetheart.”
“Daddy?”
I’m surrounded by black, the floor beneath me cold and hard.
“You did good. You found the amulet.”
I search for him, but there is only his voice and the black.
“We lost it.”
“You survived. You’re alive. And you’re with Raine.”
“I love him, Daddy.”
“I know. And I love you.”
“I miss you.”
“I’m here. But right now, Callie, you need to leave this place. Follow the path, Callie,” he says, his voice fading as a faint, golden path seems to shine on the floor.
“Daddy?”
I reach for him, but he’s gone, his voice drifting away down the path. I crawl that direction, and as I do, the blackness turns to gray, and then the gray turns to light.
And I open my eyes.
I’m on the floor of the studio, gasping and naked in Raine’s arms.
I look down at my chest, right were the bullet got me, so close to my heart. The skin is completely unmarred.
Beside me, Raine stirs, blue eyes overflowing with relief. And with love.
“We’re really safe?” I ask. “We’re really alive? Are you okay?” And not just alive, but immortal. The thought is still too big for my head, though I am certain that if I am going to tackle immortality, I want to do it with Raine beside me.
“I am. We are.” He brushes his hand over my hair, his eyes still focused on my face as if he can’t believe I am here.
I understand completely. “Make love to me,” I beg. “Please, Raine. Please prove to me that I’m really alive.”
“Oh, angel, you’re alive. More alive than you’ve ever been.” He brushes his hand over the curve of my shoulder, his expression filled with awe.
I look too, and when I see the vibrant, colorful phoenix tattoo my breath hitches and I feel something that I would call joy, except that the feeling is too big to fit into such a small word. “It’s true? I’m really immortal?”
“It’s true,” he says, but I do not really need his answer. I can feel it. This new energy swirling inside me. The connection that I have sought for so long. And the full feeling inside me that has completely conquered that horrible sense of emptiness.
Raine.
He is my mate, my love, my life.
And I will never be alone.
“You’re smiling,” he says.
“I have reason to.” I shift on the ground so that I am straddling him. The floor is hard, but I don’t care. I’m desperate for him, overwhelmed with the need for our bodies to prove what my heart already knows. That this is real. That this is forever. And that this man is a part of me.
I move my hips in a slow motion. “Let me give you a reason to smile too,” I say huskily.
I see passion light those ice-blue eyes. “Angel, I’m already smiling.”
He pulls me close and closes his mouth over mine. The kiss is wild and deep and bruising. I don’t care. I want the bruises. I’ve already got the tattoo, now I want to be marked by Raine as well. Marked by him. Filled by him. Taken by him.
I feel wild—hell, I feel alive—and I break the kiss and then sit up, stroking his hard, thick cock even as I rise up on my knees and position his head at my slit, and then lower myself slowly, so painfully slowly, so that I am teasing us both.
“You’re killing me, angel,” he says, and then takes hold of my back with one hand and my rear with the other, and in a surprisingly fluid movement, flips us.
Now I’m on my back and he is on his knees. And I’m gasping with pleasure as he holds my hips and pistons into me, hard and fast and deep.
He is taking me higher and higher, and we are joined now, body and soul. And when I explode in a thousand pieces, he is right there, too, merging with me, dancing with me, filling me completely.
When we both finally come back to earth, I snuggle close, my head on his chest. He reaches into the playhouse for the blanket and pulls it over us.
I frown, remembering what else was in that playhouse. “I’m sorry about the amulet.”
“We’ll get it back. It’s as useless to them as it is to us without all seven pieces.”
“Thank goodness.”
I sigh and press closer to him, then trail my finger over the tats that mark his chest. “So am I different now? After the fire, I mean?”
“You’re immortal, like me. Other than that, you are still you.”
I smile again, both amazed and content that I will never leave this man. But something in his words makes me wonder. “Does that mean you’re more than immortal? Do you have powers or something?” I feel a little silly asking, as if I’m trying to turn him into a comic book hero. I expect him to laugh off the question, so his answer startles me.
“You might say that.”
I sit up. “Really? More than your power to make me feel very, very good?”
He laughs. “Energy. Within certain limitations, we can manipulate it.”
I frown, trying to understand. And then I remember. “That first day. I did lock the door.”
“It’s an electronic keypad lock. I simply told it to open.”
“That is pretty damn cool.”
“What can I say? I’m a very cool guy.”
I roll over and kiss him again. “You’re a hell of a lot more than that,” I say. “You’re my cool guy.”
“I am,” he says. “Forever.”
He strokes my hair and looks into my eyes, and the tenderness in his gaze makes me melt all over again.
“I love you,” I whisper.
“And I love you.”
“Make love to me, Raine. Slow and long. I want to feel you inside me. I never want to stop feeling you.”
“Anything you want, angel.” He brushes my lips with a tender kiss. “We have all the time in the world.”
Epilogue
Mal continued to study the chessboard as Liam dropped into the seat across the table from him, then put his phone down.
“That’s excellent,” Mal said as he considered the position of the rook in relation to the bishop. “It can only help Phoenix Security to have someone in the DA’s office.”
“Agreed,” Liam said, and then said nothing else.
Mal closed his eyes, silently cursing, then looked up. “Something else?”
“I don’t know. Is there?”
Mal said nothing, just waited.
“Dammit, Mal, you need to talk to me. You’ve been brooding for two days, sitting over this damn chessboard, half the time without an opponent.”
“There’s always an opponent,” Mal said.
“Jessica’s worried.”
At that, Mal bit back a smile. “Jessica?”
“Fine. I’m worried, too. Tell me I don’t have reason to be.”
Mal sighed, then combed his fingers through his hair. “I’ve been thinking about games. About strategies.”
“Mal. Don’t do this to yourself.”
“To myself
?” A sudden fury burst through him, and he lashed out, sending chess pieces flying. “Do you think I want this pain? Dammit, Liam, not a day goes by that I don’t think of her. That I don’t crave the moment when I will see her again…even as I dread it.”
Liam drew in a breath. “I wish I didn’t have to tell you this. But she’s back. She’s in New York. ”
Mal’s body turned to ice. “Are you sure?”
“Dante saw her. She was at least a block away, so he could be wrong, but—”
“He’s not,” Mal said flatly as the cold settled into his bones. He turned his attention to the now empty chessboard.
“Do you think it doesn’t destroy me, too? She was your mate, but she was my friend, my crew. But there’s no other way,” Liam said, accurately following Mal’s thoughts. “There is no other strategy, no trick we haven’t thought of. There is only one way.”
He stood, and Mal could see the pain on his friend’s face, as potent as his own. “You have to kill her again, Mal. Because if you don’t, she’ll end up destroying us all.”
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The First Night
by Lexi Blake & M.J. Rose
Turn the page for a full list of the
1001 Dark Nights fabulous novellas...
1001 Dark Nights
Click to purchase
FOREVER WICKED
A Wicked Lovers Novella
by Shayla Black
CRIMSON TWILIGHT
A Krewe of Hunters Novella
by Heather Graham
CAPTURED IN SURRENDER
A MacKenzie Family Novella
by Liliana Hart
SILENT BITE: A SCANGUARDS WEDDING
A Scanguards Vampire Novella
by Tina Folsom
DUNGEON GAMES
A Masters and Mercenaries Novella
by Lexi Blake
AZAGOTH
A Demonica Novella
by Larissa Ione
NEED YOU NOW
by Lisa Renee Jones
SHOW ME, BABY
A Masters of the Shadowlands Novella
by Cherise Sinclair
ROPED IN
A Blacktop Cowboys ® Novella
by Lorelei James
TEMPTED BY MIDNIGHT
A Midnight Breed Novella
by Lara Adrian
THE FLAME
A Desire Exchange Novella
by Christopher Rice
CARESS OF DARKNESS
A Phoenix Brotherhood Novella
by Julie Kenner
WICKED WOLF
A Redwood Pack Novella
by Carrie Ann Ryan
WHEN IRISH EYES ARE HAUNTING
A Krewe of Hunters Novella
by Heather Graham
MASTER OF FREEDOM
A Mountain Masters Novella
by Cherise Sinclair
CARESS OF PLEASURE
A Dark Pleasures Novella
by Julie Kenner
ADORED
A Masters and Mercenaries Novella
by Lexi Blake
HADES
A Demonica Novella
by Larissa Ione
RAVAGED
An Eternal Guardians Novella
by Elisabeth Naughton
DREAM OF YOU
A Wait For You Novella
by Jennifer L. Armentrout
RAGE/KILLIAN
Bayou Heat Novellas
by Alexandra Ivy/Laura Wright
DRAGON KING
A Dark Kings Novella
by Donna Grant
PURE WICKED
A Wicked Lovers Novella
by Shayla Black
HARD AS STEEL
A Hard Ink/Raven Riders Crossover
by Laura Kaye
STROKE OF MIDNIGHT
A Midnight Breed Novella
by Lara Adrian
Also from Evil Eye Concepts:
TAME ME
A Stark International Novella
by J. Kenner
THE SURRENDER GATE
A Desire Exchange Novel
By Christopher Rice
Acknowledgments from the Author
For Liz and Kim … who jumped through hoops and bent over backwards and saved my sanity in the process!
About Julie Kenner
J. Kenner (aka Julie Kenner) is the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal and International bestselling author of over seventy novels, novellas and short stories in a variety of genres.
Though known primarily for her award-winning and international bestselling erotic romances (including the Stark and Most Wanted series) that have reached as high as #2 on the New York Times bestseller list, JK has been writing full time for over a decade in a variety of genres including paranormal and contemporary romance, “chicklit” suspense, urban fantasy, Victorian-era thrillers (coming soon), and paranormal mommy lit.
Her foray into the latter, Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom by Julie Kenner, has been consistently in development in Hollywood since prior to publication. Most recently, it has been optioned by Warner Brothers Television for development as series on the CW Network with Alloy Entertainment producing.
JK has been praised by Publishers Weekly as an author with a “flair for dialogue and eccentric characterizations” and by RT Bookclub for having “cornered the market on sinfully attractive, dominant antiheroes and the women who swoon for them.” A three time finalist for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA award, JK took home the first RITA trophy awarded in the category of erotic romance in 2014 for her novel, Claim Me (book 2 of her Stark Trilogy).
Her books have sold well over a million copies and are published in over over twenty countries.
In her previous career as an attorney, JK worked as a clerk on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and practiced primarily civil, entertainment and First Amendment litigation in Los Angeles and Irvine, California, as well as in Austin, Texas. She currently lives in Central Texas, with her husband, two daughters, and two rather spastic cats.
Dark Pleasures
Don’t miss the next novellas in the Dark Pleasures series!
Mal and Christina’s story coming in January, Find Me in Darkness, Find Me in Pleasure, and Find Me in Passion…
A doomed woman. A dangerous and mysterious man. And an epic passion that cannot be denied…
Learn more at Julie’s website: http://bit.ly/DarkPleasures
Also from Julie Kenner
Erotic romance
As Julie Kenner
Caress of Darkness
Find Me in Darkness
Find Me in Pleasure
Find Me in Passion
Caress of Pleasure
As J. Kenner
Stark Series novels
Release Me (a New York Times and USA Today bestseller)
Claim Me (a #2 New York Times bestseller!)
Complete Me (a #2 New York Times bestseller!)
Stark Ever After novellas
Take Me
Have Me
Play My Game
Stark International novels
Say My Name
On My Knees
Under My Skin
Stark International novellas
Tame Me
The Most Wanted series
Wanted
Heated
Ignited
Other Genres
Kate Connor Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom Series (suburban fantasy/paranormal)
Carpe Demon
California Demon
Demons Are Forever
The Demon You Know (short story)
Deja Demon
Demon Ex Machina
Pax Demonica
The Protector (Superhero) Series (paranormal romance)
The Cat's Fancy (prequel)
Aphrodite's Kiss
Aphrodite's Passion
Aphrodite's Secret
Aphrodite's Flame
Aphrodite's Embrace
Aphrodite’s Delight
Aphrodite’s Charms (boxed set)
Blood Lily Chronicles (urban fantasy romance)
Tainted
Torn
Turned
The Blood Lily Chronicles (boxed set)
Devil May Care Series (paranormal romance)
Raising Hell
Sure As Hell
Shadow Keepers Series (J. Kenner writing as J.K. Beck)
When Blood Calls
When Pleasure Rules
When Wicked Craves
Shadow Keepers: Midnight (e-novella)
When Passion Lies
When Darkness Hungers
When Temptation Burns
On behalf of 1001 Dark Nights,
Liz Berry and M.J. Rose would like to thank ~
Doug Scofield
Steve Berry
Richard Blake
Dan Slater
Asha Hossain
Chris Graham
Kim Guidroz
BookTrib After Dark
Jillian Stein
and Simon Lipskar
Table of Contents
Book Description
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5