Dark Divine (The Divinities Book 3) Read online

  Once they were alone, he moved closer to Lydia and dropped the shield that blocked others’ emotions. Allowing his empathic ability to pick up on her nervousness and worry.

  “Why are you worried?”

  She snapped her gaze to him, holding his stare for several moments before speaking. “Logan. I fear the demons want him because he’s a Dark Divine.”

  He knew that, but hearing her say it fueled his need to destroy the creatures and lock down the gates to the Underworld for good. He reached out and took her hand, linking his fingers with hers. Desire rolled off her in sweet waves. “Have dinner with me.”

  She shook her head. “Logan…”

  He stepped closer to her, and she sucked in a breath. “Bring him.”

  She hesitated, and his heart sank as he feared she’d reject him. After a moment, she nodded. “Okay.”

  Relief washed over him, almost bringing him to his knees. “Good. We can leave when he wakes up from his nap.”

  She drew her brows together. “What about Beth?”

  He smiled. “She’s taking my car home, and we’re teleporting. I just need to call my mom.”

  A shy smile formed on her lips. “I’ll get Logan ready when he wakes up.”

  Fighting a moan, he watched as she rushed up the stairs. The sensation of her desire lingered in the air, flaring his hotter. He shook it off, pulled out his cell, and stepped out the back door.

  He punched in his mom’s number and waited, curious why she wanted to talk to him. That morning, she’d seemed fine, happy as usual. A sinking, dark feeling had settled in his gut since reading her text.

  “Hi, baby.”

  Zach smiled and rolled his eyes. He’d accepted a long time ago that she would always consider him her baby even though he was the middle child. Bethany was her boo, and Annmarie was her princess. “Hi, Mom. Is everything okay?”

  She paused briefly before answering. “When I logged into Magical Enchantment this morning, I noticed I had a private message. It was from Eleese.”

  The dark feeling turned to a gut-tightening fear as he opened his shields. His mom’s voice trembled as she spoke, and Zach didn’t like it. No one upset his mother. “What did it say, Mom?”

  “It said for me to guard the children with my life. That the gates of hell will open.” She released a sob and then asked, “What does that mean?”

  He fisted his free hand at his side. He had a guess or two as to what it meant, but he needed to talk to Ayden first. Maybe he could see if Kalissa could use her Divine sight to see into the future. “I’m not sure yet. Have you shown the message to Papa?”

  “Yeah, and he told me to tell you.”

  “Yeah. Thanks.”

  “Zach, what is it?”

  He took a deep breath in then released it slowly. “Khan is cooking something. We don’t know what, but I believe that message is meant to warn us. I think it’s best to increase the wards around the coven. I have to go talk to Ayden. Love you, Mom.”

  “Love you, too. Do be careful.”

  “Always.” He let out a slow chuckle in hopes of easing her anxiety. It was no use. She was a worrier. She was also a very strong, caring woman. Zach would do anything to keep her and his family safe.

  The call ended, and he slid his phone back into his pocket just as Ayden stepped out on the porch. A quick glance, and Zach noticed his cousin was still in his uniform. “Mom got a message on ME.” He repeated the warning his mother had relayed.

  Ayden nodded while working his jaw. “The sooner we take care of Demetrius, the better. I’ll have Khloe talk Lydia into taking Logan to the coven. Papa and Ma will protect him.”

  Zach nodded, knowing their grandparents would take Logan in without hesitation. He turned to walk back inside, but Ayden stopped him with a hand on his upper arm. “We’re more like brothers than cousins, and not once have you told me about your elfin half.”

  Shocked, Zach narrowed his gaze on Ayden’s. The glow of silver in the man’s blue eyes told Zach that Ayden had used his Divine gift. After a moment, Zach sighed. “Did you tap into Kalissa’s visions again?”

  Ayden pursed his lips and hardened his stare. “You could lose your heart and humanity if you don’t open up to your dark half. Embrace it, and use it to the Divinities’ advantage, and then to your own.”

  Without waiting for a reply, Ayden released Zach’s arm and walked back inside. Zach dropped his shoulders and stared out into the back yard. A moment later, Teddy-Bear exited the barn where they had their own place to sleep. They saw him and shook their heads. “Too many secrets.”

  Then they went back inside.

  Zach ignored them. They wouldn’t share what they knew anyway. Besides, he wasn’t in the mood to bribe them. He already had to woo someone and win them over. Since Noah had mentioned that Lydia might be Zach’s magical partner and possibly the one to soothe his inner demon, she was all he could think about.

  The Divinity Roses on his arm weren’t going away anytime soon.

  He was blessed and cursed at the same time. He hoped she wouldn’t run once she found out about his dark secret.

  Chapter Four

  Lydia stood in the middle of Zach’s condo, amazed. “How long have you had this place?”

  He slid the diaper bag from his shoulder and chuckled. The rough, masculine sound went straight to her core.

  “I bought it several years ago after learning that Khloe had a unit in the building.”

  Lydia walked over to the wall of floor-to-ceiling windows to stare at the beautiful view of the St. John’s River and downtown Jacksonville. The Maine Street Bridge was lit up with its blue lights reflecting in the water below it.

  She felt Zach move up behind her. “It’s beautiful at night.”

  She nodded. “So peaceful.”

  Zach moved to stand beside her, facing her. He ran a hand gently over Logan’s head. She watched how he instantly looked relaxed. That was something she hadn’t seen in him since the night they’d met.

  He raised his lashes and held her stare. With a smile, he said, “Come on, you can lay him down in the spare room.

  She followed him down a short hallway and then turned left into a…nursery. A nursery? Whirling around, she peered at him with a load of questions running through her mind. “This is more than a little creepy. Please tell me you’re not hiding a wife somewhere and that you didn’t lose a child—”

  He pressed a finger to her lips, stopping her from saying anything more. “I’ve never been married, and have never gotten anyone pregnant.”

  “Then what is this?” She motioned to the room, keeping her voice calm and low so she wouldn’t wake Logan.

  He let his shoulders fall as he leaned against the doorframe. “I started on it after Cassia was born. Bethany had a hard time adjusting to motherhood at first and needed a quiet place to stay. So she stayed here with the baby.”

  She frowned. “Bethany? I can’t imagine. She’s a wonderful mother.”

  “She always has been. It’s more like the witch’s version of postpartum.” Zach motioned Lydia inside.

  He was not telling her something, but she let it go. For now. “But why haven’t you taken down the crib? I mean, Cassia is sleeping in a toddler bed now, right?”

  “I had a feeling that I’d need it.” He rolled up the sleeve of the blue button-down he wore. When he got the sleeve rolled up to his elbow, he turned over his arm. Lydia gasped, her heart beating so fast that she feared it’d leap right out of her chest. On the inside of Zach’s forearm were faded double roses connected to a vine that held a small bud.

  She started to shake, but it wasn’t out of shock. Fear, glee, and confusion consumed her. She’d tried to deny it over the last few months. Hiding her own new faded rose that had appeared next to the Divine Rose she’d been born with.

  Zach stepped closer and spoke in her ear. “Yours appeared, too, didn’t it?”

  Afraid to speak, she just nodded. There was no use lying to him. He was an empat
h, he’d know before she spoke the words.

  He gently took Logan from her arms and carried him to the crib. When he came back to the doorway, she said, “I’m not moving in.”

  One side of his mouth lifted in a half-smile. “I didn’t ask you to. I figured while we’re getting to know each other, Logan could have a comfortable room to sleep in when we’re here.”

  He started walking down the hall, and she followed. “What do you mean?”

  “We can’t ignore the pull to each other anymore. We are fated to be together.” He turned suddenly, making her run into his chest. He gripped her elbows to steady her. “Say yes, Lydia. Be my girlfriend.”

  Girlfriend? She laughed. “That sounded so high school.”

  His grin widened into a smile. “I never said I was mature.”

  Trying to hold back another laugh, she flattened her palms on the cotton shirt covering his chest and pushed. He let her go and turned back toward the living room. She watched how his broad shoulders rolled as he walked. She allowed her gaze to roam over his back and down to his denim-covered ass.

  Why was she debating it? She had nothing to lose by dating Zach. Well, nothing but her heart. Yet that had been broken so many times in the last few years, she wasn’t sure it was still there.

  “Zach, I’m not sure I have it in me to love anyone else.”

  He turned then and studied her, then reached out and ran his knuckle down her cheek. “I believe you are wrong. You’re a wonderful mother, and I’ve seen the love you have for your own mother. I’m not asking you to fall in love with me just because the Fates think we are mates. I’m just asking for a few dates, phones calls, and I want to be able to touch you without feeling like I need permission.”

  That made her smile. She’d never seen this side of Zach. It’d always been the stressed out deputy, or the sarcastic witch that hung out at the house. She wanted to see more of this side of him.

  She wanted to see all his sides.

  Taking his hand from her cheek, she pressed a kiss to his palm and watched as he closed his eyes. “Yes, I’ll be your girlfriend.”

  He flung his eyes back open, his brown irises a little darker than she’d seen them. She gasped as he wrapped his arms around her waist, tugged her into his body, and kissed her. When his tongue brushed along the seam of her lips, she opened and groaned as it darted inside.

  Her nipples grew hard, and each movement of his chest against her bra sent hot pinpricks of desire over her skin. She cupped the back of his head and drew him in closer as she twined her tongue with his.

  She felt him move her backwards. Her heart pounded as anticipation raced through her. For so long, she secretly wondered what it would be like to make love to Zach. Tonight, she wouldn’t have to wonder anymore.

  A little part of her warned that she was moving too fast, that it was too soon. She pushed all of that away, not caring. She needed this. Needed Zach.

  Her back flattened against a wall, and Zach pressed his body to hers, placing his thigh between her legs. She broke the kiss with a soft cry as pleasure rushed through her. Peering into his eyes, Lydia saw swirls of gold in his brown depths, marking him as magickin—magic born.

  His lips lifted in a sensual yet playful manner and sent scalding, liquid desire to her core.

  Damn, she’d never been so hot for anyone.

  “We shouldn’t do this, not yet.” He frowned.

  She moved in and bit his bottom lip and tugged. He groaned and ground his hard, denim-covered erection into her stomach. After she’d released his lip, she said, “You don’t get to back out now.”

  The gold in his eyes intensified, almost dominated the brown. He raised a brow, then nipped at her nose. “I was just giving you a chance to back out.”

  She felt the corner of her lips lift. “I don’t back down from anything. Especially from something I want.”

  Suddenly, the room faded out, and she felt as if she were being pulled through thick jelly. In a flash of soft, white light, the bedroom next to the nursery came into view. She smirked and held Zach’s gaze. He’d teleported them into his bedroom.

  He walked her backwards until the backs of her thighs touched the bed. He pushed her, and she fell backwards on the mattress. Lydia’s breathing came in long, deep gasps as she watched him kneel down in front of her and start to remove her jeans.

  His fingers grazed her belly, and a spark of magic tingled her skin. It didn’t hurt. It was more like static electricity. But it concerned her. Zach was holding on to too much magic.

  She grabbed his hand, drawing his attention to her. “If you need to release some magic, I can help.”

  Being a magical healer meant she could help other magickin, witches in particular, in a number of power transfers. She wasn’t too sure how it worked exactly. She could absorb the overflow of magic and convert it to her natural ability to heal.

  He fell silent and averted his gaze. Fearful she’d ruined the mood, she sat up and cupped his face. “I’m a Divine healer. I can take any power overflow you need to release. No questions. No judgment.”

  He studied her for a moment and then nodded. She gave him a quick kiss on the lips and lay back on her elbows.

  Zach resumed the slow movements of undressing her. This time, starting with her tennis shoes. She held in her amusement and just watched. He held her gaze as he let her shoes hit the floor, then moved up her legs to undo her jeans. She laid back and lifted her hips so he could pull them off, along with her panties.

  She felt his teeth nip at her inner thigh and she jumped, a hot shudder rolling through her. He trailed light kisses up her leg to her sex. His warm tongue licked her clit, and she bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out and waking the baby.

  She tingled everywhere, and she could feel Zach’s power reaching out to hers. The power was warm and soothing as it wrapped around her body until it covered every inch of her. She opened up to his magic, to him, allowing her own gift to give him the release she could feel he needed.

  A need that was raw, sensual, and a little dark.

  She didn’t focus on the dark. Instead, wrote it off as the stress they had all been under the past months.

  The power transfer was a natural part of sex among magical lovers, especially soul mates like she and Zach. By allowing this transfer, she was accepting what the Fates had in store for them. They were magical mates, life partners.

  Another wave of pleasure washed over her as Zach sucked and licked her to orgasm. She gripped a handful of his hair and rocked against him, riding the current until she couldn’t stand it anymore.

  Zach gave one last lick, making her shudder before he stood and removed his clothes.

  He settled over her but didn’t touch her. She reached out to cup his face, but he grabbed her wrist and held it against the mattress over her head. A shot of excitement burned within her, calling her element of fire closer to the surface.

  Fear flashed, and she started to yank on her hand. She had to get a handle on the fire before it took over. It’d happened before with Mikal, and she’d ended up burning his chest with her hand.

  Zach pressed the lower half of his body to hers. “Stop fighting it, Dia.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t understand why the fire is rising. I didn’t call it.”

  “I know. Just let it go. I have the ability to shield, remember?”

  Yeah, she remembered, but that only gave her a little comfort.

  She nodded and relaxed under him. He lowered his head and pressed a kiss above her left breast, then her right, before moving down to take a nipple into his mouth and suck. Her body jerked under his hold, and her pussy ached for him to be inside her.

  Moving her hips against him, she groaned. “Please.”

  “Patience,” he purred into her ear right before he gently bit down on her earlobe. Her skin felt tight and much too warm.

  “I don’t want to be patient. I need you. Now.”

  He let out a low, husky laugh and kissed her n
eck just as he lifted his hips and thrust into her. She let out a muffled scream of pleasure as he filled her and stretched her in the best possible way.

  Her fire licked at her just below the surface but didn’t threaten to consume her. Still, her body temperature was much higher than Zach’s. She couldn’t help but wonder if he minded.

  Zach bit down on her shoulder, bringing her back from the fear of losing it. “I’m fine. I can feel your worry. All I want to feel is your pleasure. Now.”

  Gods, his demands turned her on. Who knew that the sarcastic deputy could be so controlling in the bedroom. She lifted and bit his ear. “What if I don’t?”

  He thrust deeper inside her, making her cry out. “That’s better,” he teased and claimed her mouth.

  He dipped his tongue inside, and she twirled hers around his in an erotic dance. His tempo increased, pushing her further over the edge. She met each thrust and scored his back with her nails as another orgasm crashed into her.

  Zach followed with one of his own, and she wrapped her arms around him, hugging him close as he shuddered and rode out the last waves of his orgasm.

  He settled on his side next to her and drew her close so they spooned with his leg tucked between hers. “That was…”

  Lydia took a breath. “Yeah.”

  Chapter Five

  Samoan Greyson paced her father’s laboratory in the basement of his downtown warehouse, trying not to kill the Divinity sitting at one of the workbenches.

  Desiree Sanders wasn’t only a Divinity, she was also a Porter. Commonly known as a soul keeper. She could pass through to each of the three worlds at will, yet she couldn’t recharge the piece of crystal that had once been a part of the Sinew—the crystal sphere that held all the worlds’ magic. Samoan was about to call her on her bullshit.

  Frustration wore on her last nerve. Storming out of the room, Samoan headed down the hall to her father’s office. She had a mating ceremony to plan. Wasting time watching Desiree pretend to be unable to recharge the crystal was hazardous to Samoan’s mood—and the witch’s life.