“Drake was yours even then, Moira. Love always find its way. Be worthy.”
Exactly the words I’d heard when I opened the pyramid. My jaw dropped. “Was that you?”
He laughed, and then he disappeared, gold sparkles trailing in his wake. Ruadan was wily. I had no doubt he was harboring information, secrets, and God knew what else. Keeping it all from me. From everyone.
“Moira?”
Drake’s voice filtered through the trees.
I stuffed my clothes into the duffel bag, and zipped it up. “Yeah?” I called back.
He stepped between two trees, his gaze traversing the area. “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” I said.
His gaze swept over me. Then he suddenly grabbed my arm, yanked me into his embrace, and kissed me. It was ravenous, this kiss. He plundered my hair with his hands as his tongue stroked mine.
He pulled away just as suddenly, his eyes dilated, his lips swollen from mating with mine.
“We are not over,” he said.
“No,” I said just as fiercely, “we are not.”
He gave me one of his wicked grins. “Glad that’s settled, Liebling.” He gave me a quick kiss. “Let’s go to the Underworld.”
Chapter 26
We stood in the field, and Amahté placed his thumb on our foreheads: mine, Drake’s, Ax’s, and Larsa’s. As soon as we all had the all-important pass to the Underworld, Amahté strode a few feet away, lifted his arms in a wide arc, and shouted some words in his ancient language.
A slit of darkness formed, the wink of a god’s eye, and then it slowly opened into an oval. We joined Amahté, and I looked into the portal and sighed. Nothing but darkness. No discernible shapes, no hint of sound, and certainly no yellow brick road. Going into the black of supposedly nothingness was turning into the theme of my life.
Ax saluted us, gave us a give-’em-hell grin, and stepped inside. Larsa gave her mom and Amahté a quick hug, and then she stepped into the portal without hesitation. Drake kissed me, winked, and said in that luscious German-tinted voice, “After you, my beauty.”
I grinned at him. Then, I, too, stepped into the breach of the beyond.
As soon as I had entered, the Underworld formed around me.
It was a dance club.
I shit you not.
The Underworld, or at least this part of it, was a get-your-groove-on, booming-beat, neon-splattered, crammed-bodies-undulating par-tay.
Wow. Anyone who’d ever written about the Underworld had gotten it way, way wrong.
Larsa and Ax stood less than a foot away, pushing at the jostling dancers, trying to maintain a perimeter. I felt Drake’s arm snake around my waist, and pull me close.
“Where do we go?” I shouted.
“Anywhere you want, sweet cheeks.”
The chocolate-smooth male voice did not belong to Drake. Eep! I pushed out of the embrace and whirled around. The . . . um, demon, I supposed, shot me a sex-me-up smile. His skin looked like it was made from red leather, and his eyes were completely, totally black. His head was free of hair, which really made me focus on the two black horns curving out of his forehead. He was dressed in shiny, tight black pants, black cowboy boots, and a bone white shirt open to the belly button. He left the shirt open to show off a multitude of gold chains.
He grabbed his horns and stroked them. “You like what you see, babe?”
“Sorry,” I said, caught somewhere between a laugh and a scream, “I’m with someone.”
“Who?”
“Him,” I said, pointing behind his shoulder.
He turned to look, just in time to get a fist full of werewolf fury. The demon, or whatever, went down like a pile of whipped cream, which kinda surprised me. I’d thought demons were more bad-ass. But no, red guy slid to the floor and lay there like a sad Mob reject. Drake stepped over him and said, “You are mine.”
“So long as I’m not his,” I said, ignoring the thrill caused by Drake’s words. I know, I know. The feminist in me should probably protest the male-ownership angle, blah, blah, blah. But instead, I decided to like it. Because you know what? Drake was mine, too.
“If you’re done flirting, Moira,” said Ax from behind us, “we should probably go.”
Ax took the lead. Larsa followed him, and I followed her. Drake stayed behind me. Ax was an expert at making a path through the gyrating crowd of supernatural beings. He had no problem shoving the creatures aside, and they didn’t seem to take offense.
I wasn’t sure if Ax knew where he was going or if he was just trying to get to a place where we could have conversation to decide the next course of action.
The place seemed endless. The farther we went, the more frenzied the dancers, the louder the music, and the more dizzying the multicolored strobe lights.