The Immortals After Dark 11: Dreams of a Dark Warrior

"Gabriel was a privateer who answered only to his queen," Regin said. "His flag-a crimson pennant with two ravens in flight-struck fear in anyone who had the misfortune of seeing it."

Had Chase just flinched at that?

"He overtook the ship I was on, taking me captive."

"How did you recognize him?"

"His eyes glowed. Just as yours did after you gutted me in the street." Filter, Regin!

When Chase's jaw tightened, Regin quickly continued, "He knew we had some kind of connection. But he didn't question it, just accepted it. He turned his back on queen and country, wanting only to start a life with me."

Regin fel silent, remembering how nothing could dissuade Gabriel. No matter what she said, no matter how she tried to warn him: "You must believe me! If you do not free me, you will die in some ghastly way. I'm cursed. You understand about curses-you're a Spaniard, for the gods' sakes!"

"A curse would be living without you by my side," he said so smoothly.

"At least get me to land." So she could consult a witch about how to save Gabriel before he died, to find a way to beat this.

"Land? We do not make the Indies for months."

"The Indies?" she shrieked.

"So. By that time, you will have surrendered to me."

In the end, Regin hadn't had much choice. ...

Suddenly Chase said, "I don't want to hear of the Spaniard."

She blinked at him. And there goes that plan. "I thought that's why I'm here."

"I want to hear what you'd tell the next reincarnation of Aidan." He got a shrewd look in his eyes. "What you'd tell him ... about me."

Chapter TWENTY-FIVE

About you?" The Valkyrie raised her blond brows.

"That's right."

"I'd tell him ..." She dug one fang into her bottom lip. "I'd tell him how Declan Chase freed all my friends and all ies, then let me pimp-slap Fegley til he pissed himself."

Declan merely glowered.

"Then I'd tell him that I hadn't real y known much about Chase, not until the magister and I ran away together. On this very night, he flew me to his hometown of ..." She trailed off, as if waiting for him to answer.

Why not play? She'd already determined his accent. In fact, he'd stopped bothering to disguise it around her. "His hometown of Belfast."

Clearly surprised he'd answered, she canted her head at him, and her wet hair streamed over one glowing shoulder. "Exactly. Belfast. He showed me around the city while tell ing me all about himself. For instance, he outlined his likes and dislikes ..."

Likes and dislikes? Declan had no ready answer. He knew what he hated-his enemies-and he knew what he loved-destroying them.

As if sensing he was stuck, she said, "He liked, um ... weaponry." She cast him an appraising glance.

"And working out."

As close as any. He inclined his head.

"He disliked the bubbles concealing a certain glowing Valkyrie's br**sts."

No' goin' to deny that.

"After our tour of the city, we stayed at this posh Irish resort-"

"Cabin," he interrupted. "He'd have taken you to a cabin in the mountains or near the sea." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Chase didn't stay at resorts."

A shadow of a grin surfaced, then she seemed startled by her reaction. "Wel , this cabin was in the Mourne Mountains, just south of his hometown."

"You know the area?" His da had taken him hiking there when he was a lad.

"I've been there once or twice or a hundred times over the last mil ennium. So we went to the cabin, and explored the moorlands. Chase hadn't realized what good times I was. We laughed and got up to mayhem of the practical joke variety-until anyone within a ten-mile radius of us had evacuated. But don't worry," she assured him, "no mortals were harmed in the making of the mass evacuation."

"Good to know." Those damned bubbles dissipated too slowly. He still couldn't see her br**sts.

"And all the while, both of us knew how the night would end. But we were purposely prolonging the anticipation. By the fire, I fed him Guinness and ..."

"And Galway Bay oysters."

Again she seemed to curb a grin. She liked this game. Or more, she liked that he was playing it. But then, wasn't she the fun-loving Valkyrie, the prankster?

"Once his hunger was sated, I couldn't take it anymore-I was dying to show him how much I appreciated my freedom. And I was aching to demonstrate how much I missed him. We decided to share a bath in front of the fire-"

He opened his mouth to tell her that wouldn't be happening, but she quickly said, "He didn't feel comfortable at first, because ..." She trailed off again.

He smirked. You're on your own, lass. And the water's gettin' deep. "Nice try."

With a chal enging lift of her chin, she said, "He wasn't comfortable because of myriad reasons that we soon worked through. Completely. I reminded him that it was just me. Just his Regin. And that I'd seen him in so many guises and had known him in so many lives."

Her eyes got a faraway look when she said, "We'd been through too much together to ever hold back from each other." She faced him again. "Declan realized that I'd never judge him and that he could always trust me. Once he relaxed, we started kissing and petting each other, exploring each other with slow, grazing touches." Her voice was growing throaty.

Declan was literal y on the edge of his seat. Though his body felt strung tight as a bow, his mind's turmoil continued to ebb. He dimly thought, This is what it's like to feel normal. Somehow this Valkyrie made him feel ... right.

"Soon neither of us could stand it any longer. He saw how my claws were curling for him-"

"I ken what that means now," Declan said, cutting her off. Then his eyes narrowed. "Let me see them."

She raised her hands from the water to display her little shel -pink claws.

-Curling for her man.- He swal owed. "You're gettin' aroused right now."

"I don't deny it."

"Then by all means, woman, keep talkin'."

Another reluctant grin. "He lifted me from the bath and laid me down on the rug." She pointed to the one beside the tub. "Which, coincidental y, looked a lot like this one."

"And what'd you do on it, then?"

"We were both dripping water and breathing heavily as he knelt between my legs. His hand trailed down my body, caressing with the back of his fingers. Descending inch by inch. On the way down, he circled my navel with the pad of his forefinger, round and round-"