~ Mine For Eternity ~

by

Cheryl Pereira

“Darn it! This heat will be the death of me,” complained Rayne, she wiped the perspiration dripping down her forehead and surveyed her painting with a frown. “I’d kill to have an air conditioner.”

“You have it in you--getting an air-conditioner shouldn’t be a problem,” said a sardonic voice she recognized only too well.

Rayne whirled around quickly. “Garrett, what are you doing here?”

He walked in, confidence and arrogance in his every stride.

The sight stuck like craw in her throat. “I thought I told you I never wanted to see you again,” she spat, and threw her paintbrush on the palette. Immediately, her hands balled into fists. Her heart hammered as memories flooded her mind with breathtaking force.

“True--but, I don’t follow orders too well.”

“Could have fooled me,” she retorted.

He shrugged and surveyed her rather messy attic filled with her artist paraphernalia. Bare canvases, finished paintings, tubes of paint, and an easel containing her latest work. The large, airy attic with its abundance of natural light suddenly seemed two small for the two of them.

“We’ll argue that point another time, Rayne.”

“Great! Then you can just beat it because I don’t intend to argue or discuss anything with you.” His lemony aftershave assaulted her sensitive nose. Long banked desires stirred to life. She didn’t need this--not now. Not ever. She peeked at him from beneath her lashes.

He stood near her easel with his arms folded across his broad chest. Waiting.

“Still here? I don’t think you heard me the first time--beat it.”

“Not going to happen.”

Rayne clenched her teeth so hard, her jaw ached.

“Why are you here?”

“You have chosen to walk away from your destiny. From who you are and the Council doesn’t accept it.”

“Too bad for them,” she tamped down the urge to run from the room. Away from his razor sharp gaze seemingly able to see clear into her soul. “Anything else?”

Garrett only smiled and walked around the easel. His blondish brown eyebrows drew together as he glanced down at the splash of colors on the canvas. “Very startling.”

“What? Too much blood and gore? Or not enough?” asked Rayne as she flicked through the pile of mail lying on her desk. Pretending to ignore him never worked. All her senses gravitated toward his animal magnetism. His maleness.

“You don’t want my opinion.”

“You’re right, I don’t.” She frowned as she noticed the stamp on one particular envelope.

“Too bad.”

“Don’t pretend to know my art, Garrett. The people I cater to like it--unlike some people I know.”

“Sarcasm doesn’t become you,” his fingers trailed the length of the wooden frame. “Besides, your paintings reflect a total lack of subtlety.”

“You dissing on my talent now?” Rayne tossed the mail back on her desk.

He’s delicious, but still insufferable.

“Obviously you haven’t got any work to do, or you wouldn’t be here wasting my time,” she raised her eyebrow at him. “What happened, Garrett? Not enough dark creatures to hunt down?”

“Plenty, but you’re needed for a special job and the Council has commanded your presence before them.”

“Commanded? Well! Isn’t that typical!” She grinned and flung her arms out. “You can tell them to go to hell.”

“Not a chance. You have to come back.”

“I have my own life here to live.”

“This is important.”

“Oh no! Really?” She cocked her head.

“Don’t be flippant. This is important,” he ground out through clenched teeth.

“I--left--that--world, Garrett, or didn’t you notice?” She ignored the flare of temper in his storm tossed eyes. “The Protector community holds no interest for me.”

“You still have a smart mouth on you. That hasn’t changed.”

“True, and I usually get to put it to good use when you’re around,” she replied with mock sweetness.

“I can think of a better way to put it to use. One you might even enjoy.” A glint of pure desire flickered in his gray eyes. “Care to try it?”

Rayne ignored him and sat in her chair, her weakened knees too much of a threat. “Don’t even go there--I don’t want to know.”

“Your loss.”

“That’s debatable.” She steepled her fingers. “There now, you asked and I answered all your questions. Get out.”

“I’m going nowhere without you.” Long strides ate up the distance between them in a blink of an eye. Garrett stood in front of her desk, the mask of inscrutability dropped. Frustration was evident in his harshly spoken words. “Your clan needs you, Rayne, and yet you turn your back on them.”

“My clan--as you so succinctly put it--dropped me right in the middle of a situation I had no control over. They betrayed me in the worst way possible.”

“They had no control of the elements.” He leaned forward with his palms flat on her cluttered desk. “It could have happened to anyone.”

Anger exploded in the pit of her belly. She rocketed to her feet. “Don’t feed me that crap. You sound like a brain dead recruit.” She ignored the red slash of fury staining his cheeks. Blood roared in her ears drowning out the voice of reason. “They knew everything. You hear me?! Everything. The mission was impossible to begin with. The information sketchy and yet, I was forced to go in there and clean up the mess they made in the first place.” She planted her hands on the desk and leaned forward, too. She stood almost nose to nose with him. “I trusted them--their information--and two innocents died because of it.”

The tingling began in her nerves. Rayne bit down hard on the inside of her cheek. She didn’t want to lose her control. Couldn’t bear to change into the ugly creature in front of him. She gripped the edge of the desk and dug her nails into the wood. Fire danced over her skin and her gut twisted into knots.

“There are always casualties in a war, Rayne.” His eyes narrowed and she forced herself to concentrate on the thick, curl of his eyelashes or the tiny laugh lines fanning the corner of his eyes. “It doesn’t mean you turn your back on who you are.”

“Casualties occur in circumstances that cannot be controlled--this was a mission controlled by the Council. I was assured of it.” In slow degrees, the gut wrenching energy in her body calmed and she pulled back an inch. A different kind of heat stirred deep in her belly. “I know what happened that day. It’s etched in my mind. Each step was a disaster waiting to happen and two people lost their lives. One of them a child I had to kill in the end!”

“Rayne, I can understand the way you feel but--” He raked his hands through his long, blond hair tied back with a thong.

“You won’t understand the way I feel because you’re Protectee was never a monster and two innocents did not die because of it.” Her voice rose as once again the hot coals of her failure burned her soul. “I was forced to shadow--no try--and keep a loose cannon in check. Keep one of the most dangerous vampires in our history from making trouble.” She clenched her hands into fists and her head began to throb with pain. “I should have driven a stake through his heart myself when...” She stopped and took a deep breath to gain some control.

Understanding flooded his face.

Rayne could handle his indifference. His anger. But never his sympathy. It weakened her. Made her want to run bawling into his arms. To be sheltered in the wide, strength of his shoulders. Once she thought she could find comfort there, but no more.

She took a deep breath and straightened. “Just leave. I’m not coming back ever--I know the Council and they have something else up their sleeve. I’m not being a scapegoat for their plans this time.”

“You’re being bullheaded. You are one of the elitist members of the best force to counter the threats posed by dark creatures.” Irritation glinted in his eyes. His entire six-foot frame bristled with frustration. “It’s what you were trained to do, dammit! It’s what you fought so hard to achieve.”

“My mistake and my stupidity. Didn’t know what I was getting into,” she snapped.

“Dammit, Rayne!” Garrett came around the desk and caught hold of her arm. “Don’t let your extraordinary talent go to waste.” He took a deep breath and softened his harsh tone. “I agree, okay. I agree the situation then could have been handled better, and you were assigned to his detail out of coercion, but don’t let what happened then stop you from coming back to your world.”

“You can afford to talk, you didn’t have to live through the repercussions.” A fireball of desire exploded inside her as the callused grasp of his palm connected with her soft flesh. Too long parched of his touch--anger and sexual desire coalesced deep within her, ripping off the lid on her memories of them together. She tried to tug her arm loose, but Garrett’s grip was near impossible to break.

He pulled her to him. Inexorably closer.

Rayne’s eyes locked with his. Inches separated them. Garrett’s harsh breaths caressed her lips. An arc of electricity singed her hair. Shivers shot down her spine as the gray in his eyes darkened with heat and desire. He zeroed in on her lips and they tingled.

“Let go off me.”

“Why, Rayne?” His silken tone skimmed down her nerve ends. The sculpted lines of his face hardened to granite. “Frightened of what might be?”

She wrenched herself out of his grasp. “Don’t kid yourself. I’m not the same green, dumb woman I was two centuries ago.”

“No, you’re not.” He stalked her.

She backed away from him.

“You’re a beautiful woman with deadly skills. You’ve matured like fine wine and I’m sure you taste just as piquant.”

Heat fled into her cheeks and warm, squishy feelings weakened her already wobbly knees. “More power to me. You haven’t lost your silver tongue either. Good for you.” She forced her frozen muscles into a smile. “Been sharpening them on a bevy of beauties I presume.”

“Curious or jealous?”

“I don’t care who you’ve taken to bed in all these years.” She turned her back on him to avoid his razor sharp gaze. “I’m in no doubt they left your bed with a smile on their face, but a time may have come when you broke their hearts. Your silver tongue stops short of honesty.”

“Like you believe I broke yours.”

His words ripped the scab open of yet another wound not yet healed and she bit her lip as centuries of septic pain flowed into her veins.