Kiss Across Time (Kiss Across Time Series) Read online

  “I have been trained to deal with that sort of chaos,” Taylor said simply. “I have been training to deal with it since high school. That is one outcome of Brody’s accidental nudging. He pushed me in the direction of studying history, immersing myself in it.”

  Tira nodded. “Fate has a way of ensuring these things happen as they should. Perhaps Brody’s interference in history wasn’t as ill-timed and unfortunate as we’re assuming—at least not for you three, anyway. I’m not so far removed from my own humanity that I’ve forgotten that side of my nature, for all that it was over three thousand years ago.” Tira smiled a little. “The waking dreams you are experiencing you should consider a gift from whatever gods still walk this earth and accept them for what they are.”

  “What are they?” Taylor said bluntly.

  Tira blinked. “You do not see it?”

  “No.”

  “Ah.” Tira put her hands together in her lap. “Brody and Veris have been together for a long time. You are aware of that, yes?”

  “Yes.”

  “And their lives, even before they met, stretched for many years longer than that of a human.”

  “I know the circumstances of their raising. Both of them.”

  “The sum total of their experiences is so vast, young human, that your little life is but a blink of an eye to them. Yet they have chosen to mark you. To make you theirs.”

  Brody’s fingers tightened against her flesh.

  “We had experienced the dreams before they marked me,” Taylor pointed out.

  “It’s a chicken and egg thing,” Tira responded, nodding. “Don’t get caught up in trying to resolve that issue. You never will, believe me, young one.” Tira waved the point away with a flick of her slender hand. “These waking dreams, these experiences, are so real because they are as close to time travel as we will ever get. While you are in the dream, you can walk around that time and place and touch, feel and taste, hear and smell everything as it was. You already know that you can make love there, eat and drink. Be warned, all of you, that I believe it is possible that you can die there too. You can be run through with a sword, or shot with a gun. You can be harmed, just as you can do harm.”

  “But why?” Taylor insisted.

  “Because a bond is forming between you and your lives are being pooled,” Tira said simply. “This is how the sharing is taking place for you. Instead of talking and sharing memories, like humans do and like vampires normally do, for you three, you actually experience each other’s memories. They’re distorted because the act of a second person experiencing your memory will change it. Even inside your memory Einstein’s general theory of relativity remains constant.” Tira smiled at Taylor. “The more this happens, the more you will begin to feel like you have lived for centuries, just as these two have. You will have shared their lives as symbiotically as they have shared each other’s. You get to play catch up in a very real way.”

  Tira slid off the table and stood up. “All that remains to be resolved is the mess left over by Brody’s meddling. What are we going to do about Domhnall being out there and a public name? He would never have been known if you had not woven your fairytales twenty years ago, Brody.”

  Taylor realized that Veris was suddenly standing closer to them. A lot closer. His shoulder was almost blocking her view of Tira. Was he shielding her from the queen?

  “Taylor has lost her job at the university, ma’am,” Veris said evenly. “That aspect is no longer a threat.”

  Threat. Taylor focused on the word. He was protecting her. Her heart began to race. After all this talk of bonding, would the queen really kill her to put history to rights?

  “True,” Tira agreed easily. “But her research is on file. How long before someone else becomes curious and goes digging?

  “I’m a laughing stock at the university, ma’am. I doubt anyone in their right minds will seriously consider following in my footsteps.” Taylor didn’t have to embroider the truth to make it sound bad enough. “I was an embarrassment to them. That’s why I was fired. I refused to change my thesis despite pressure from the dean. He thought I was insane. They’ve probably buried my research in a deep dark hole and hope it’ll never be found again.”

  “Do you intend to resurrect your research at another campus?” Tira asked.

  “I can’t,” Taylor said simply. “The only proof I’ve ever found is in this room or originating from the book in this room, so I can’t use it. The only reason I ever began the quest to prove the existence of Inigo Domhnall was because of the stories Brody told me as a child. Now I know that every influence and source connected with Domhnall is vampiric. It’s a closed circuit.” She grimaced. “It explains why I was never able to get any closer to the man using human sources. There aren’t any.”

  “Not anymore,” Brody said. “Veris’ people burned them all as they came through the town. That book is the only thing I was able to pull out of the monastery library before the roof caved in from the fire the Saxons set. I buried it in a box in a cave in the mountains nearby, where it stayed for the next fifteen years, because I was caught coming down out of the mountains.”

  “Caught?” Taylor asked. Then she recalled from her own researched what that might mean. “Oh, Brody, you mean…”

  “I imagine he means enslaved,” Tira said, her voice without inflection. “Slavery was still the coin of the realm then.”

  Veris’ shoulders lifted and settled heavily. A sigh.

  “When I returned to claim the box once more, I was a vampire,” Brody said. “Slavery is not an easy path for most. I made it harder for myself because I would not yield as often as they wanted me to. But I lasted twelve years in irons. Longer than they wagered I would.”

  Taylor looked at Veris, her eyes stinging with tears.

  “Don’t blame him, young one,” Tira said, her voice harsh. “The Saxons were no meaner or softer than any other conquering race in any other land. They needed land to farm for food to feed their young. It was the way of survival and slavery was part of it. We knew no better then. Besides, four hundred years later, Veris’ people became the whipped underdogs when the Normans took their lands and treated them like diseased vermin. History is an interesting cycle of patterns, if you live long enough to watch for them.”

  Veris smiled grimly. “So all Taylor’s proof is unreachable as far as she is concerned. That ends her thesis. It also ends my quest too. Domhnall’s name can disappear.”

  “That just leaves the matter of your mate,” Tira replied. “A human who does know of Domhnall.”

  Taylor could feel Brody standing at her back. He was so close, his jacket was brushing her flesh. Veris was standing almost in front of her and she knew it wasn’t her imagination that he was shielding her. Both of them were.

  Her heart squeezed and thudded unhappily.

  Tira gave a small smile. “This could be resolved quite simply if she were not human.”

  “No,” Veris said flatly. Instantly.

  Tira’s head tilted as she studied him. Her eyes narrowed.

  From the corner of Taylor’s vision, she saw Brody’s hand lifted to press against the back of Veris’ shoulder in warning. Or perhaps in support. It was a gesture that was hidden from the queen.

  Veris drew in a breath. “Your idea has merit, my queen, but Taylor has a long human life ahead of her and too many influential associates who would notice her change. She has lost her job and been removed from further harm and she is ethical – her word and our monitoring of her activities should suffice.”

  “It’s not the same guarantee that turning her would give me.” Tira crossed her arms.

  “With all due respect, ma’am,” Brody said softly, “there’s no such thing as a certainty in this world. Not even turning her would give you the peace of mind you’re looking for.”

  “You don’t know Taylor, my queen. You’re just as likely to make her rebel if you forced her turning,” Veris added.

  Tira’s brow lifted as she l
ooked at Taylor. “Is that so? A stubborn human woman. I begin to understand your attraction to her. I wish you well, the pair of you. You will find life a merry hell if you insist on keeping her human.” She waved them away. “Go. Monitor her. Keep Domhnall out of the history books and the news and I will be satisfied.”

  “My queen,” Veris intoned with a low bow.

  Brody picked up their coats and shepherded Taylor out of the room. Both men were hurrying even though they didn’t appear to be walking fast at all. Taylor could barely keep up with them.

  * * * * *

  The limousine had been moving for three minutes and complete silence gripped the interior. Taylor stayed in her corner, the faux fur wrapped up under her chin, opposite Veris, who brooded behind his mirror glasses in the other.

  Brody was on the opposite seat, his arm along the back of it, his boot on the cushion, his knee cocked. She couldn’t read his eyes behind the wraparounds, either.

  Finally, he looked over at Veris. “I’m sorry,” he said simply.

  Veris shrugged. “It was the only way we were going to get her off our backs.”

  “It’s not like I wanted the old bastard recorded in the annals of history anyway,” Brody added. “I never did get why you were so set on it.”

  “Because we wiped your fucking people off the face of the Earth! For Christ’s sake, Brody!” Veris sat up, pulling off his glasses. “People don’t even know if Arthur really existed! We did such a great fucking job of it, they call it the dark ages!” He stopped and took a breath and Taylor was shocked to see that his hands were shaking. “You think I don’t still remember them screaming as we herded them back into their huts?” He pointed to Taylor. “Or Taylor’s expression back in the boardroom when she realized it was my people that sent you into slavery?”

  He thumped the cushions. “One key. One piece of proof. They’re not stupid. That’s all humans need to unravel history and figure it out. Domhnall could have been the key. He wrote about it all. Arthur, Saxons, Celts, the life at court, the life of peasants, everything. It was in all of his plays, all his poems, the lot. If I gave humans that, I could…” He stopped. Took a breath. “I could give them back what we took.” He looked away. “Fuck,” he muttered.

  Taylor started to move toward him but Brody was there first. He tore his glasses off, knelt in front of the other man and held his face. “You cannot be the conscience of a whole race. It doesn’t work that way.”

  There was pain in Veris’ eyes. “For something like this, I’m happy to give up the role.”

  Brody kissed him, his lips hard and firm and Taylor caught her breath at the sight of the two men sharing such an intimate expression. Veris thrust his hand into Brody’s hair, keeping his head steady so that he could return the kiss properly. When Brody moaned and snagged Veris’ coat in his fist and dragged the man closer, Taylor drew in a ragged breath, her own excitement fizzing hot and fast in her veins. It was suddenly warm in the car. Too warm. Too bright.

  She shrugged off the coat and glanced at the dividing window. It was closed up, locking them away from the driver, thank goodness.

  Her attention was dragged back to the two men locked together in an erotic dance of lips and hands. She couldn’t look away.

  When they separated, they both turned to look at her. She licked her lips. “I’m sorry… I couldn’t help but watch.”

  “You liked it,” Brody said, his voice flat, thick with growing lust. It wasn’t a question.

  She nodded. She could feel her face heat but her clit throbbed even as she gave the positive answer, for both of them were looking at her with feral, hungry expressions.

  Veris shrugged out of his coat and it dropped into the corner of the seat, forgotten. His suit jacket and tie followed. He was watching her as he stripped and her pussy clenched at the look in his eyes.

  Even Brody was slipping the buttons out of his shirt, his gaze on her face, his eyes sleepy with arousal. The crotch of his pants was swollen with the thickness of his erection.

  Taylor could feel her heart stutter and her thoughts scatter. Nerve endings sizzled as the power and potential of what might happen with these two occurred to her. Their dominant attitude filled the car and made her feel small, weak, feminine and pathetically human. Her nipples hardened beneath the dress. She was suddenly very aware of the tiny lace panties she was wearing and how damp they were.

  Veris stripped himself of the last vestiges of elegance, even removing the leather binding from his hair, returning to the ancient warrior he was. He turned to her, kneeling on the soft carpet and spreading her thighs. Even on his knees, his head nearly brushed the roof of the limousine. He gazed into her eyes. “You’re ours, Taylor Yates, in more ways than you know.”

  She gasped. “There’s such a thing as free will.”

  He shook his head. “It’s an illusion. Fate takes care of that.” His lips brushed over hers, making her lift her head toward him for more. “I’ll have you scream ‘yes’ in agreement,” he added.

  She drew back, shocked.

  Veris licked her top lip. “Ah, you think I’m being cruel now. I just know you better than you think you know yourself.”

  “You don’t know me at all,” she shot back. “Eighteen hours does not make a relationship.”

  “It’s enough to begin a bond, and I do know you, Maggie Taylor Yates. We will make you scream ‘yes’ before this car stops.” He caught her face in his hands. “I saw your face just then, Taylor. Oh…I know you, lover. I know you now.” His voice was low and hoarse with erotic promise that sent a shiver through Taylor. He picked up her hand and brought it to his rearing cock. “Stroke it,” he crooned. “Curl your hand around it. Do it.”

  The whiplash command in his last words made her reach out and take the velvety length of him in her hand. He hissed in a breath as she drew her hand along his shaft, his pelvis thrusting. He leaned forward, resting his hand on the back of the seat, his well-muscled arm thrusting forward to support him, as she stroked. His tight hips jerked in little twitches.

  Brody sat on the seat next to her. He was naked and his cock was red and pulsing above his swollen testicles. His dark eyes were narrowed with excitement. As Taylor worked on Veris’ cock, he reached up behind her neck and unfastened the cuff of her dress.

  Her breath hitched unsteadily, her thoughts scattering. They were going to undress her…and do what to her? She could barely think beyond that. Her clit was throbbing and her pussy aching with empty need.

  Brody lowered the front of the dress, revealing her breasts and Veris caught her hand and pulled it away from his cock. “Play with your breasts,” he instructed, his voice hoarse. He placed her hand on her breast as Brody picked up her other hand and placed it on the other. “Go on. Let us see you enjoy yourself.”

  Brody was tugging at her dress, lifting her hips and Veris was helping him but they were both watching her. Taylor licked her lips. Arousal was coursing through her like electric current, in powerful surges she could barely stand and that finally was what allowed her to tug experimentally on her own nipples. The sweet rush made her moan and close her eyes and she heard both men groan in response. She opened her eyes again, surprised, and saw craven hunger on their faces as they stared at her breasts and what her hands were doing.

  Encouraged, she closed her eyes again and let her head fall back. She rolled her nipples in her fingers and stroked the tips. Her hips jerked as the silvery streak of pleasure zapped through her and she moaned and gasped. Dimly, she felt her dress being tugged over her knees and down her feet. That left her in the indecent little panties and her stay-up lace stockings and stilettos.

  Veris pulled her hips forward on the seat and spread her knees wide. Taylor pushed her hips forward. She desperately wanted to be fucked now. She was trembling with the need to have someone inside her.

  She felt a hand on her wrist and snapped her eyes open and looked down. Brody’s hand was on her wrist, lifting up her arm. “No, you don’t,” he said. H
is own voice was guttural, thick with lust. And it took her a second to realize that he had spoken the Irish Celtic of his birth. His control was narrowing down to a pinpoint.

  Her own control had slipped altogether. She had been reaching for her own clitoris.

  “Hold her for just a moment,” Veris told Brody.

  Brody spread her arm along the back of the seat and held it down. Given his extraordinary strength, she might as well have been in irons. Veris picked up her other arm and pinned it in a similar fashion. “You’re crumbling,” he whispered in her ear and thrust his tongue inside. She gasped at the invasion and again as he slid it down her neck.

  Brody began to mirror Veris’ movements and Taylor knew then she really was doomed. Two tongues stroking the nape of her neck, the sensitive hollows next to her clavicle, the upper slope of her breast, then each breast in concert.

  Then, heaven itself…each nipple at once. She cried out when their mouths latched onto the tips of her breasts and her back arched, thrusting her breasts upward in an involuntary motion.

  When Veris’ hand curled over her soaked panties and squeezed, she screamed and bucked. But she didn’t say yes. He stroked her pussy through the lace with knowing fingers and Taylor writhed, crying and panting at the rough assault. She lost track of thought and time. She just wanted to come but Veris kept her on the edge with delicate expertise.

  When the two men finally lifted their heads from her breasts and sat up, she was a desperate wreck.

  “Say ‘yes’, Taylor,” Brody told her.

  She could barely breathe. “Just fuck me,” she said. “Make me come.” It took three breaths to say that much.

  The two exchanged looks.

  Brody snatched at her panties and with a quiet rip, they tore away from her, leaving her soaked pussy bare to their gaze. Taylor moaned. “Please…”