Deadline Read online

“Where to?” she asked and shivered.

  “To bed.” He leaned down to kiss her.

  “You don’t have any clients tonight?” she murmured. Her arms circled his shoulders.

  “No, and you don’t have to work on the World Tapestry tomorrow.” It was about as close as they’d get to a honeymoon since the night she’d ascended. “So, what do you say?”

  “I’d love to.” She blushed and ran a finger down his chest. “Can we go to the Goddess’s Grotto?”

  “Your wish is my command.” Moving his mouth over hers, the warm glow of life infused his body. My love.

  “Ahem,” Morpheus interrupted them. “Can we move this along? I have a hot date with a filly from the Warrior Glade waiting for me back in the Third Realm.” Niko laughed as he cupped her cheeks in his big palms. He searched Lyra’s face with his steady gaze. “Ready?” His hands fell to her shoulders.

  She glanced at the building before gazing at him. “I am.”

  “Then let’s be about it so we can visit the Goddess’s Grotto.”

  “Tell me you love me.”

  I don’t need to tell you. You know it. “Scared?”

  “A little. They think I’m dead.”

  “Actually, I had Morpheus deliver a message to Mayor Fergus that you were fine and living with me in the Third Realm.”

  “You did that for them?”

  “I’m not completely cold and callous.” True, he despised Jacinda, but his wife did not, and there were others who cared about Lyra. “Vigor deserves to know you weren’t dead.” He was also sending the good mayor and the other residents of Strange Hollow the message that Lyra was under his protection. Nothing, not fae-magick or wolf’s bane would separate them.

  “Thank you. That was sweet.” She rose up on tiptoes. “You’re sweet.”

  “The hell I am.” Niko couldn’t help sounding offended, he was. “And for the record and any person who would care to notice, I love you, Lyra.”

  “Time’s a wasting, folks. My filly ain’t gonna wait forever for me,” Morpheus stated. “We have twenty-four hours off. I intend to make the most of them. You should see this filly’s flanks. Whoa and yee ha.”

  “Sorry, Morpheus.” Lyra licked her lips. She tipped her gaze to meet Niko’s. “I love you too.”

  “Forever?”

  “Forever.”

  He closed his eyes. The sensations he’d felt since her ascension thrummed through his system.

  “Lyra? Lyra, is that you?” Mayor Fergus’s tone raked along his nerves.

  “I’ll make this quick,” Lyra assured him.

  “Thank you, my love.”

  Lyra ran into Jacinda’s arms.

  “Do you think she understands exactly how much her addition to the Ethereal Dynamic has changed the Third Realm?” Morpheus asked in a whisper.

  “No.” Niko shook his head. “Lyra is innocent.”

  “Your innocent. Your ingénue.” Morpheus clapped him on the shoulder.

  Niko bit back a smile when Lyra tried to hug Vigor. Her arms passed right through the ghoul. She was his. His lover. His wife. His destiny.

  She smiled at him and gave a little shrug as if to say, oh well, I tried.

  “I’d have her no other way.”

  The End

  About the Author:

  In Belladonna’s formative years, her mother told her, “an imagination is a terrible thing to waste.” That’s what happens when your mother is also an author. In adulthood, life took her in a different direction. She became a professional portrait photographer.

  Her mother never gave up on her imaginative daughter and finally convinced her to try to write a story. Drawing inspiration from the candid moments that occur in her daytime job, she believes every human being has a story to tell. She writes paranormal, multi-cultural contemporary romance with emphasis on real life cultural divides; historical, fanta-historical and science fiction.

  When not working on her next story she’s out with friends or kills time with her family, but her camera is never far from her side and the next story never far from her thoughts.

  Web site: www.belladonnabordeaux.com

  Facebook: Belladonna Bordeaux

  Blog: http://bellabeenbad.blogspot.com/

  Meet Lsb Authors At The House Of Sin

  Lsbooks.Net

  We invite you to visit Liquid Silver Books

  LSbooks.com

  for other exciting erotic romances.

  2007: Terran Realm

  Urban fantasy world: TerranRealm.com

  Featured Series:

  The Zodiac Series: 12 books, 24 stories and authors Two hot stories for each sign, 12 signs

  The Coven of the Wolf by Rae Morgan

  Benevolent lusty witches keep evil forces at bay

  Fallen: by Tiffany Aaron

  Fallen angels in hot flight to redeem their wings

  The Max Series by JB Skully

  Meet Max, her not-absent dead husband, sexy detective Witt, his mother…

  And many, many more!

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five